Christmas, Exams, and Goodbyes

My time in Scotland is about to come to an end. I have two more full days here and then its back to Texas. As I write I’m sitting in a coffee shop off Rose Street where I’ve come probably too many times, always to write my blogs. It isn’t a cute cozy unique little coffee shop, but it isn’t a Starbucks either! Every time I come the same Spanish guy with one really long rat tail is working, I think he’s probably thinking, why does that American girl always come in and order the same thing and sit at the same table with the same little computer and type away for hours? And now its kind of strange…I won’t be coming back.

I better stop being all nostalgic, I always get really attached to people and places and even thought they say the life of an MK(missionary kid :-)) is one of constant goodbyes, I don’t think it makes me any better at it. But I think I have learned the importance of friendship and being grateful for the time we have together even if it’s short and has to change. I think every where I’ve lived or traveled to in the world, I’ve wanted to go back to. Except, maybe Louisiana, after three years there, I have no strong desire to go sit in the dirt, under a pine tree, covered in sweat with mosquito’s and love bugs buzzing around my face, but maybe that’s just me. Scotland on the other hand, I want to come back to. I think I will, it’s kind of on the way to Africa, or any where else on this side of the world.

I finally finished all of my not so wonderful classes yesterday. I didn’t think exam week was ever going to end! Fingers crossed and by the grace of God maybe I passed all of my classes(hmm….I don’t think I actually just ask God to make me pass my classes)....what was I thinking coming to Scotland taking third and fourth year classes and traveling almost every weekend. Oh well, it was an amazing semester, despite the crazy anthropologists, boring politics, and an awkward philosopher.

One thing about Edinburgh, there are always interesting people walking around….I’m pretty sure Sherlock Holmes just walked in the coffee shop, minus the pipe, but you aren’t allowed to smoke inside, so he probably just has it in his pocket. ;-)

So, where to begin, I haven’t updated the blog since Thanksgiving, before I left for London! Christmas! I absolutely love Christmas!!!! It is by far the best holiday and my favorite time of year! I know if it were Christmas time all year long it wouldn’t be the same, blah blah blah, but really…and occasional Christmas song in April…June….September…I think it’s good for the soul.

Christmas has come to Edinburgh! It came right before I left for London in the form of the German Christmas Market and Winter Wonderland on Princes Street. Being in Edinburgh for the past month has been very Christmassy, and wonderful! The stores along Princes Street all have little Christmas sections with little stocking stuffers, Christmas cards, Christmas pudding, and so much more! Lights have been strung in the trees along the street, and probably the best of all, the little winter wonderland has come to town! I haven’t been able to get any great pictures of it yet but, hopefully I will before I leave. Little wooden kiosks have been put up all along the sidewalk where vendors sell crafts and jewelry and other Christmassy things that no one actually needs to buy, but its fun to look at! They also sell candy, bratwurst, crepes and mulled wine, a yummy hot wine with spices in it! Next to all of this are the carnival rides, including a bright colorful Ferris wheel. Then right down the steps is an ice skating rink. Down the sidewalk a little ways from all of that are….reindeer! Scotland knows how to prepare for Christmas!

A few weeks ago one of my friends from Baylor told me she was coming to Scotland for a few days! I was so excited, she had been studying abroad in London, so she came with two other friends from Baylor and wandered around the city for a couple days. It was so great to hang out with some good ole Baylor bears again. J Even though I was supposed to be working on essays and studying for exams, I joined them and did some touristy things. We went to the Edinburgh Castle, Arthur's Seat and of course, the Christmas market on Princes Street. I wasn’t sure if going up Arthur's Seat on an icy day would be a wise idea, but you can’t be wise all the time. So we hiked up Arthur's seat, Kellsye and I were the only ones who hiked up all the way to the top, it was a little icy, but it was pretty and snowy at the top! I don’t see much snow in Texas, so I was so happy, and we just ran and jumped in the snow for a little while. We met a couple Spanish guys and a Korean up at the very top, we weren’t the only crazy people who decided to walk up Arthur's seat that day. Well…with my wonderful luck and clumsiness I managed to drop my camera down Arthur's Seat, yup, I just stood there and watched it bounce down the rocks about twenty feet. Surprisingly it still works, but it’s a little banged up, and it’s being held together by about 30 colorful rubber bands.

When we went to the Edinburgh Castle we just happened to be walking down the Royal mile as the bell stuck two, which sounds just like the bells at Baylor, when they start playing That Good Ole Baylor Line, our Alma mater. Just as I started to sing the song in my head, Lucy started to sing out loud, and then all four of us raised our bear claws and sang That Good Ole Baylor Line right there as we were crossing the street on the Royal Mile. I’m really sad to be leaving Edinburgh, but I’m really excited to get back to Baylor in the spring! Welcome Weekend and Orientation here I come!!!

The longer I’m here, the more it starts to feel like “home” which makes sense, and is probably a good thing. A couple months ago, I thought, wow, I have so much time here, and now I’m thinking, wow, I need a little bit more time here! I’ve made some friends that I’m really going to miss, and in the past month I think that’s a lot of what has made me feel at home. Where to start…it’s the little normal things, like running into friends at the library, getting random text messages about snow sightings, and going out for coffee that make me feel at home.

Thursday night, when I probably should have been writing my philosophy essay I went and hung out with my two wonderful American friends Heather and Katie. Heather actually goes to university here, which I think is really cool, and has been really helpful and encouraging, when I’ve been a little confused about how things work here. Oh, and she’s from the south, and says yall, which warms my heart a little. And Katie, of course, is my travel buddy, and I’m so so thankful for her! Heather decided we needed to experience the greatness of Farmfoods, the frozen food store, before we left, so we had a dinner of fried chicken and French fries and watched The Phantom of the Opera, a good college life kind of night!

A couple of weeks ago, right after our little Swahili Club Christmas celebration, while I was waiting to leave for London I went and hung out with Amy and Andrew from Swahili club. They’re both Scottish and a lot of fun! I told them about Baylor having live bears and the tradition of the Sic ‘em, so I taught them how to do a Sic ‘em and said they thought Baylor sounded like a cult…haha…..maybe kind of.

Yesterday I finished my anthropology essay and was completely done for the semester! So, in celebration, I made chocolate chip cookies, with the help of my friend and small group leader, Tim. Warm chocolate chip cookies, a good friend, and no more school stress makes for a good beginning to Christmas break!

And wow, I just realized that all of those involved food, haha, its ok, I’m going to try to run the half marathon at Baylor in the spring! There, now I’ve said it, so I have to do it!

If you’ve read my other blogs, you’ll remember about my oh, so wonderful luck and my life’s resemblance to Murphy’s Law. I think God must be trying to convince me it’s time to go back to Texas because some things that have happened in the last week, have just not been going right. I’m wondering if all students here at the university run into as many problems as I do when it comes to studying and using computers and finding books and all of those kinds of necessary learning things. After one full semester I think if I were to come back and have another whole semester here I would be able to work the system. I think there must be some University of Edinburgh Wizard who, just as I need to do something, says, mwahahaha you think the computer lab will be open, you think you’ll be able to get tokens to do your laundry, you think you’ll be able to get into that library, you think WRONG!

Last week after getting back from Inverness I though I should do some laundry, but I didn’t want to use the dryers that don’t really work, so I did what I usually do, turn up the heater in my room all the way, and open the window, it works surprisingly well…until I think I killed the heater. The first few days without the heater I was freezing, but now it’s not too bad, I also think it’s a lot warmer this week. we’ll hope it stays that way until I leave on Saturday. So that was Wednesday or Thursday of last week. On Friday, our entire building was woken up at 3:30 in the morning to the horrible shrilling, makes you feel dizzy and want to jump out of the window, fire alarm. Some poor jet lagged Canadian guy in our building accidentally set a plastic strainer on fire in his kitchen…..Then on Saturday we blew a fuse or something in our flat and didn’t have any electricity in our bedrooms….then on Sunday night I got hives from eating ramen noodles….but now the hives are gone, and the electricity is back on, but still no heating. Oh and I was supposed to go to Sweden on Monday, but I nixed that plan. I decided the anthropology essay worth 80% of my grade was more important than going to Sweden for a couples days. But I’m happy about that decision, it meant I didn’t have to stress about shopping, packing, and seeing friends all in two days, now I have three days! haha

I don’t know if I’ll be writing another blog while I’m actually here in Scotland, maybe if I feel inspired in the middle of the night Thursday or Friday I’ll write about London and my trip to the highlands, if not, I’ll update it when I’m back in Texas, and you can just pretend like I’m still off adventuring in Europe!