Final Month in Scotland

Well, it has been almost two weeks since I've landed back in the States, so I guess it's time for me to finish this up.

After parting ways with Katie in Amsterdam, I flew back to Edinburgh to meet up with my parents who had arrived the day before. We spent the weekend touring around Edinburgh. On Saturday night, we went on a literary pub tour which was led by two actors who debated whether the great writers of Edinburgh were influenced by the beauty of their surrounding city or its drunken pub culture. It was pretty amusing. The next day was devoted to the Royal Family as we visited a couple of their dwellings located in Edinburgh, Holyrood Palace and the Royal Yacht Britannia. Both proved to be very impressive! It was great to get to see some touristy stuff around town I hadn't gotten to yet as well as have my parents see the city where I had been living for the past few months.

Our classes ended before the holiday so I didn't have any school commitments until my final exams which were still a couple weeks away. With the free time to do so, we decided to explore more of the country while my parents were here. Monday, we loaded up our rental car and headed up into the Highlands for the week. Like my earlier European travels, we did way too much to go into great detail about everything but here are the highlights of what we saw/the things we did.

Monday: Edinburgh to Arbroath (the Eastern Scottish Coast)
- picture stops in many of the small beach towns along the coast
- St. Andrews
.St. Andrews University - the oldest university in Scotland
.castle and cathedral ruins
.the Old (golf) Course

Tuesday: Arbroath to Aberdeen
- Signal Tower Museum (Arbroath)
- Arbroath Abbey
- Glamis Castle
- Dunnottar Castle - one of my favorite things we saw! it was windy and freezing, but the view was beautiful! (see pictures)

Wednesday: Aberdeen to Inverness
- University of Aberdeen
- St. Machar Cathedral
- Cairngorm National Park
- Tomintoul- the highest village in the Scottish Highlands

Thursday: Inverness to Fort William
- Fort George - the views of the Moray Firth were beautiful! There were supposed to be dolphins but unfortunately, we didn't see any.
- Culloden Battlefield
- Clava Cairns - prehistoric burial grounds not far from Culloden. It was kind of eerie but very beautiful too!
- Loch Ness
- Urquhart Castle - beautiful ruins and great views of Loch Ness. Unfortunately, no Nessie spottings!

Friday: Fort William to Falkirk
- Caledonian Canal (Neptune's Staircase) - We got to see them move a boat through the Staircase which was pretty cool.
- Ben Nevis - the highest peak in Great Britain. While in the visitors center, we heard the ranger tell a potential climber he would most likely die if he and his group tried to climb without the proper equiptment.
- Inverlochy Castle ruins
- Glencoe - beautiful mountain range! Unfortunately, with the overcast skies and my not so professional camera, the pictures don't even begin to do it justice.
- Loch Lomond
- Falkirk Wheel

Saturday: Falkirk to Edinburgh
- Bannockburn Battlefield
- Stirling Castle
- the Wallace Monument (from a distance)
- Abbotsford - the home of Sir Walter Scott
- Melrose R.F.C. - saw some Scottish rugby up close!
- Melrose Abbey - beautiful ruins! The burial site for Robert the Bruce's heart.

My parents were flying out early Sunday morning so after a final dinner at their hotel near the airport, we parted ways. Overall the trip was really nice! It was great to see my parents and experience different parts of Scotland! There was a lot of driving involved and I'm not normally one for just taking in the scenery, but we got to see a lot of cool things and meet a lot of nice Scottish locals. I look forward to taking more trips like this in the future!

For pictures of the trip, follow the link below:
http://picasaweb.google.com/NedPix/Scotland?authkey=Gv1sRgCJ-Th4q87b7tbA#


When I got back to Edinburgh, I took sometime to just relax. After traveling around Europe for 4 weeks, I was looking forward to not doing anything for a couple of days! When the relaxing was over, it was time to start studying for exams, which as I've mentioned before, proved to be pretty stressful, but I survived! On the plus side, two out of three of my exams were in the prettiest buildings on campus.

ex: McEwan Hall - site of my Scottish Ethnology exam, also where the University holds graduation ceremonies.

When my exams were finally over, I wanted to take some time to explore the city more and see some things I hadn't seen. I never really went too far into New Town past Princes Street so I decided to spend some time walking around and seeing what there was to see. With the University and most of the tourist attractions in Old Town, New Town seemed much more residential. But just walking around, I saw a lot of beautiful parks and Georgian architecture to see. I also spent a lot of time walking up and down the Royal Mile, doing some souvenir shopping and visiting the sites like Gladstone's Land, the Writer's Museum, St. Gile's Cathedral. One day, some of my friends and I walked up Calton Hill to see the various monuments and great views of the city. That night, we also climbed Arthurs Seat one last time to watch the sun set and take in the lights of the city.

For more Edinburgh pictures, follow the link below:

http://picasaweb.google.com/NedPix/NEDINBURGH02?authkey=Gv1sRgCPee6biP9fCnXg#

One of my last days of touring, I decided to go on a day tour called "Rosslyn and the Roman Borders." The tour was fairly small with about 15 people total. We boarded a minibus in Edinburgh and traveled down to the borders even crossing into England for a short time with a guide who filled us in with lots of historical information inbetween each site. On the tour we saw Rosslyn Chapel, made famous by The Da Vinci Code; and crossed over into Northern England to see Hadrians Wall. The weather cooperated for most of the day, and both sites were very impressive!

For pictures of the tour, follow the link below:

http://picasaweb.google.com/NedPix/RosslynAndTheRomanBordersTour?authkey=Gv1sRgCIfSxuH-9pjeQw#

On Thursday, May 28, I boarded a plane back to the States. It was a long day, but I was happy to make it home! When I first got back, it was surprising how easy it felt to transition back to being home. Though I had been away for awhile, it felt like nothing had really changed that much so it was nice to return to some familiarity. I think the real differences will become apparent when I'm back in Iowa City in the fall and it will be time for me to settle back into school mode. I think the weirdest thing about being home is realizing that that part of my life has come and gone. It seems that ever since I had started thinking about college, I thought about studying abroad, but it always felt so far away. Even when I finally entered college, I always figured I'd have a long time until the second semester of my junior year. Now, with this experience actually come and gone, it seems like things have gone by so fast! I'm actually 21 and I only have one more year of school left! Though the idea of no more homework or mandatory classes is exciting, the thought of graduating and moving into the real world is incredibly scary!

I would really like to think that through my time abroad I grew up. I've learned how to manage money better, become a better planner, and overall, I think I've learned to really appreciate the things I have and opportunities I am given a lot more. It has taken me awhile to really settle in at Iowa, but after experiencing something totally different, I've come to realize it's really been a great place for me as a student of writing and just for personal growth in general. Though it is hard to think about how fast this next year will probably fly by, I'm looking forward to a good summer and hopefully a great year back at Iowa!

Easter Holiday Travels Part 2

Hiya!



Wow, it's taking me a long time to do this, I apologize. Things have been pretty hectic the past week. As of now, I've had two out of three of my exams. I didn't really understand why everyone got so stressed out, but now that I've actually started taking my own exams, I'm starting to understand. Most exams here are given in essay format. You're put in a big room with about 200 people from your own class and other classes as well, and a set of proctors administers the exam. My first one was for my English class on Wednesday. We had two hours to complete two questions. It was pretty hard, but in talking to other people from the class afterwards, everyone else seemed to feel the same way. Friday was my Scottish History exam which I think I did ok on. We had two hours to answer three questions, so I felt pretty pressed for time. My last exam is this Friday, and then I'll be all done with the academic part of my semester abroad! And after that, it's only one more week until I'm back in the States. It's crazy to think things are finishing up already! A friend of mine left to go home Friday, which made the notion set in a little more. We had a pizza picnic dinner in the Meadows (the big park in Edinburgh) last night to see her off so that was nice, but after an hour or so of just sitting there, we were all pretty freezing. That's one thing that's been kind of depressing here. It will not get warm! It will be sunny and nice, but with the wind it still feels really cold! Normally in Iowa, I wear shorts and flip flops to my finals. Friday, I wore my winter coat! I'm ready for shorts and flip flops! The weather did get a little nicer this weekend though so I tried to take advantage of it and explore New Town some more. I went to the National Galleries which had some nice art. I thought the best parts were the Scottish landscapes and they also had some nice Impressionist stuff too. Besides that, I just spent a lot of time outside walking around. On Sunday, I walked over to the Stockbridge area which was really nice. It was a lot more residential and less touristy than Old Town and parts of New Town. I think if I actually lived here, that would be a nice area to be in. Of course, it's gone back to being rainy today.



Ok, so back to my holiday.



Paris: April 8-14


Luckily, we flew from Budapest to Paris. After our past two train rides I can't imagine how terrible or long the trip from Budapest to Paris would have been. Unfortunately, the weather was not as hot in Paris as it was in Budapest. When we arrived, it was raining, which it did on and off the whole time we were there. When it wasn't raining, it was pretty pleasant. Anyways, Claire was in Paris with me for two days and we stayed in a hotel in Montmarte which ended up not being very nice, but the location was good. We were right across the street from a metro stop so it worked well. We met up with Katie, a friend of mine from Iowa, who is studying at the Sorbonne for the semester. We had some difficulty meeting up because for some reason, our phones wouldn't work, but we were finally able to figure something out through email. Claire left on Friday and I moved into a hostel in the Latin Quarter. For the rest of the weekend in Paris, and the rest of my trip, I went around with Katie. Her first week of holiday was my last so it worked out well to travel together. I've been to Paris before with my family so it was nice not to spend a lot of time waiting in line at the Eiffel Tower or the Louvre or Notre Dame.



Some highlights of places we went/ things we saw:

Centre Pompidou, Jardins des Tuileries, the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, Musee Marmottan-Claude Monet, Sacre Coeur, Notre Dame, Galeries Lafayette, Saint Chappelle, Jardin Du Luxembourg

Best Part: When Claire and I got to Paris, we were both definitely looking forward to eating. The cuisine we sampled in Hungary was not the best, leading us to just make pasta in the hostel kitchen for dinner most nights. When we got to Paris, we were definitely looking forward to filling up on anything French and delicious! We ate a lot of crepes and pastries! Also after being in Eastern Europe for close to 2 weeks where the language was so foreign, it was nice to get a menu we could decipher without English subtitles. Claire and I tried our best to make use of what we could remember from high school French, but most people could tell we were not French and spoke English to us almost immediately.


Besides eating, I really enjoyed all of the art we got to see. Claire and I went to Centre Pompidou which had special exhibits by Kandinsky and Alexander Calder, both of which I really enjoyed. Last year we watched a video of Calder's circus in my sculpture class, so it was interesting to see up close! We also went to the Musee de L'Orangerie and saw Monet's Nympheas which was really cool.

Worst Part: On Friday, when Claire left for the airport, I hopped on the Metro with all of my stuff and moved into my new hostel. It took a little time, but I made it there pretty easily. Katie had class until 4:00 so I was on my own for most of the day. After checking in I decided to go get something to eat from the grocery store. My plan was to hop on the Metro and go eat in one of the gardens before going to see the Andy Warhol Exhibit at the Grand Palais. Coming out of the store, I couldn’t find my Metro pass which I had gotten to last me the whole time I was in Paris. I went back into the store and looked around and back to the hostel to look through my stuff, but I had no luck in finding it. The museum was several Metro stops and connections away and I wasn’t sure how to get a new pass so I ended up just wandering around the Ile de la Cite and Il Saint Louis until meeting with Katie around 4:30. She helped me get a new pass and we were good to go! It was disappointing though because I felt like I kind of wasted a day, and of course I had to pay for a new pass.

It was really nice to be back in Paris. It was a good place to relax for a bit. It's such a beautiful city, with so much to do. At the same time, I feel like you could just sit in a different garden everyday with a picnic and have a really nice vacation! Also, it was nice to have someone who knew the lay of the land pretty well and could take me around.


The Monday morning after Easter, we boarded a train to Brussels. The trip itself worked out well and was pretty quick.

Brussels/Bruges: April 14-17

Some highlights of places we went/ things we saw:
Brussels: Mannekin-Pis, the Grand Place, Jeanneke-Pis, St. Cathrine Church, Belgian Center for Comic Strip Art, the Automium, EU headquarters

Bruges: (see below)

We had some difficulty when we first got to Brussels (explained below), but once that got worked out, things went pretty smoothly. We didn't have any luck finding hostels in Brussels so we ended up getting a twin hotel room which ended up being pretty nice. It was located conveniently between the train station andthe Grand Place, the main square. We had our own bathroom and even a TV! The shower was freezing though. The weather was pretty decent most of the time we were there which made walking everywhere pretty easy. The weird thing about Brussels was that you could walk five minutes in one direction and it would look totally different than where you just were. You kind of felt like you were always walking into a different town. It was kind of strange, but interesting I guess.

Best Part: Hands down, the best part of Belgium was the waffles! Katie and I ate one for dessert after nearly every meal.

I also thought Bruges was really nice. We wanted to go after watching In Bruges last semester. It's a pretty good movie. If you haven't seen it, I recommend it. It's a pretty dark comedy, but it's good. The weather was really nice the day we went, and the whole city was just like fairytale land. My favorite parts were the canal tour and the beautiful Beguinage which we just happened to stumble upon. We also climbed the Belfort and went to the Basilique du Saint-Sang which was very beautiful. They had a vile of Jesus's blood that they take out at certain times of the day and and people can touch it and say a prayer. I bet not many other people can say they did that on their spring break.


Worst Part: We ended up getting into the train station around noon on Monday. We got off the train, and our plan was to do like Claire and I had done before and find the tourist information booth to get a better map of the city and directions to our hotel. When we got to the booth, it was closed. We didn’t know if it was just for lunch or if they were closed because it was Easter Monday so we decided to go and get our tickets for Bruges and Amsterdam and then come back and check. When we came back, they still weren’t open. Katie decided to buy a Belgian guidebook but they only offered them in French and Flemish so it really did not come in much use to me. We tried to figure out the metro, but the information place there was closed too so we decided just to walk it. The only problem was, the streets around the station were not marked clearly so we couldn’t figure out which way we had to walk. After we had walked in the wrong direction about four times, we decided to just take a cab. We asked the cabbie to take us to the hotel and he told us it wasn’t worth it, that it was within walking distance, and tried to explain to Katie in French, how to get there. We thought we had figured it out, but we decided to check the map to make sure we were headed in the right direction. While doing this, a guy approached us asking for a lighter. We said we didn’t have one and then he offered to try and help us figure out where we were going. At the same time, another guy had walked behind us pretending to talk on his phone and I turned around to realize he was looking at our stuff, mainly Katie’s purse which was on the bench next to us and had Katie’s passport and our train tickets we had just bought in it. Both guys noticed I saw him and they pretended to great each other and walk off together. It was obvious; they were trying to mug us. Luckily, I was smart enough to turn around. Frustrated we walked back into the station and realized that the tourist center had finally reopened and we were able to get a map and a woman who spoke English to give us directions we could both understand. Sure enough, we had just spent 2 hours trying to find our hotel which was literally just right down the street.


Amsterdam: April 17-18

Though we didn't have much time in Amsterdam, I enjoyed everything I got to see. Some of the parks/squares they mentioned in the book turned out to kind of be duds, but it was still nice to just walk around and enjoy the city.

Some highlights of places we went/ things we saw:
Anne Frank House, the Van Gogh Museum, Beguinehof, FOAM Photograpy Museum (exhibit of Richard Avedon portraits)

Best Part: I’d say my favorite part about Amsterdam was just walking around the city itself. I always thought Amsterdam sounded a little scary with the “coffee shops” which don’t sell coffee and the red light district and all. I expected it to be kind of run down and dirty, but it was really pretty! This also made it really easy to get lost considering everything looked pretty much the same, but the houses, the canals, the multicolored bicycles made for a very pretty sight.

Worst Part: The train from Brussels to Amsterdam ended up taking longer than I had anticipated and by the time we got there, we had already lost most of our first day there. Luckily, museums were open later around the weekends, but still, I feel like Katie and I weren’t able to do everything we could have done. Especially considering Katie and I somehow ended up getting really sick during the night, our second day wasn’t the most enjoyable. I felt like I was still able to see a lot but I’d definitely have to put it on the list of places to go back to, along with seeing the rest of the Netherlands.



All in all, it was a pretty successful trip! I think even the parts that were difficult and frustrating, served as a good learning experience. I’m proud of myself because I did most of the planning and I learned a lot about the difficulties of planning a trip and managing money and in all, probably how to act more like an adult. This trip really made me realize how much there is to see in the world, and I hope I'll have a lot more opportunities to travel in the future!

Here's the link to the pictures again:
http://picasaweb.google.com/NedPix/EasterHoliday?authkey=Gv1sRgCPHjr8W-oZrx-AE#

Easter Holiday Travels Part 1

Hiya!

Sorry it’s taken me so long to update. The past month or so has been pretty crazy! After four weeks of traveling, it’s exam time. It’s been really difficult getting back into study mode these past couple weeks, but I’m trying. Anyways, I know no one wants to hear about my studying habits, so let me fill you in on all of my travels. In four weeks, I managed to visit 7 countries and though there were some frustrating parts of the trip, for the most part it all worked out really successfully.

Note: To make the process of writing and reading this a little easier, I’m going to talk about my trip in a series of posts. This post will include our Eastern European tour of Prague, Krakow, and Budapest.

Prague : March 28-31

My sister Claire came over to travel with me for the first half of my trip. I had to be out of the dorms in Edinburgh on March 28 and with Claire’s work schedule, we decided it would be best to meet in Prague. I got there Saturday night and Claire came in on Sunday morning. I was nervous that something might get messed up with our flights and we would miss meeting, but it worked out really well. Our hostel was just off the main square which proved to be a really great location. We were within walking distance of most of the big tourist attractions so it was nice not to have to worry about figuring out public transportation. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t that great most of the time we were there.

Some highlights of places we went/ things we saw:
Frank Gehry’s Dancing House, the Alphonse Mucha Museum, the Charles Bridge, the ossuary in Kutna Hora, Prague Castle, the Infant Jesus of Prague, the John Lennon Wall, the astronomical clock

Best Part: My guidebook had a little snippet about an ossuary in a village called Kutna Hora, about an hour outside of Prague by train. The book described it as ‘a chapel filled with artistic and religious creations made entirely from parts of human skeletons.’ Claire and I both thought this sounded interesting so we decided to check it out. Though the trains proved to be a bit difficult, it was well worth the trip. We walked in and were both pretty amazed by what we saw. It was like we just stepped in a scene from ‘Indiana Jones’ or ‘Pirates of the Caribbean.’ It was strange and scary, but so unique and beautiful at the same time. We both spent a ton of time taking picture after picture, but I’m not sure if any of them actually do it justice.

Worst Part: The worst part of Prague was the weather. It ended up being cold and rainy most of the time we were there which needless to say, made things less pleasant. We even had to go shopping for Claire to buy a hat and pair of gloves! Since it was earlier in the season and still cold, nothing was really in bloom so we couldn’t see any of the gardens mentioned in our books.

Overall, Prague was nice. We ate some pretty good food, and had some good beer, which is supposed to be some of Europe’s finest. The city was very pretty, with a lot of really nice architecture. It was really touristy, which was fine except for the hordes of obnoxious high school groups. After hearing about it so much from other people, I’m really glad I got to see it, but I think it was probably my least favorite city we went to. That may be due to the fact that the weather was bad and it was our first destination so we were still figuring out a lot of things.

We took an overnight train from Prague to Krakow which ended up being a disaster. We got the 24 hour clock mixed up and realized the train we were trying to catch at 11:30 pm actually left at 9:30 pm. We had gotten to the station early and had missed it by less than half an hour. We had to wait for the midnight train. We accidentally sat in first class and got yelled at in Czech and once we moved, got no sleep in between listening to the other guy in our car argue in Czech with the conductor about his ticket and worrying about missing our two transfers. It was not a pleasant experience, but we did make it to Krakow, on schedule.

Krakow: April 1-3

After a horrible night on the train, we headed straight for the hostel. Again, we were in a good location right off the main square and within close walking distance of the train. The weather was really nice which was a welcome change! The sun was out the whole time we were there which made it warmer and more pleasant to walk around. Again, the city was really walkable so we didn’t have to worry about transportation. One perk in Krakow was our new friend Tom. Tom is the nephew of a woman that works with my dad at home. They made arrangements for us to meet up. He took us out for dinner our first night there and took us out to Wieliczka to see the salt mine as well as showing us around Kazimierz, the old Jewish quarter on our last day. He ended up being a nice guy and showed us a good time!

Some highlights of places we went/what we saw:
Wawel Castle, Auschwitz-Birkenau, Bunker Art Gallery, St. Mary’s Church, Wieliczka Salt Mines, Schindler’s Factory, Kazmierez

Best Part: On our second day in Krakow, we bought tickets through our hostel to go on a day trip out to Auschwitz-Birkenau. I guess it’s kind of weird to say that one of your favorite parts about visiting a city was going to a concentration camp, but it was. It was really interesting to see it in person after learning about it for so many years in school. A guide took us on a two hour tour around the main camp, Auschwitz, and then we were bused over to Birkenau to look around for half an hour. Our guide was really good, and the whole experience just was very thought provoking.

Worst Part: Though our hostel was nice, and very conveniently located only about a block off the main square, it proved to be kind of a rough stay. We stayed in an eight person co-ed room. When we first got there, there were four Irish guys in the room. They didn’t seem to be too happy that we were coming in and taking up their space. After the first night, they left and were replaced by five Spanish guys that had to be no older than 18. After coming back from clubbing in the wee hours of the morning, they proceeded to talk, not whisper, but talk. As if that wasn’t enough, one of them had another girl with him who was staying in a different room in the hostel. The guys kept talking and the girl’s friend kept coming in telling the girl they had to leave to catch their train. The girl finally left, and we asked the guys to stop talking, and they did, but only for about 5 minutes. At that point we decided to make it an early morning and just get up. We were not looking forward to the next hostel.

Overall, I really loved Krakow. I think it was my favorite city we saw during the trip. It was such a beautiful city, with a lot of really interesting things to see. Again, we ate really well. The sun made it a lot warmer. Also, we were there before tourist season so we didn’t really have to deal with large crowds anywhere. We walked through parts of Wawel Castle, basically by ourselves.

To get to Budapest, we took another overnight train. The tickets ended up being more expensive than we had planned. Then when we got up to the platform, we were told we would have to transfer unless we rode in a sleeper car which was more expensive. We decided to pay extra to not have to deal with the transfers again but we couldn’t figure out how much we’d have to pay because the conductor of the sleeper cars didn’t speak English. After some help from some fellow passengers who spoke French and some English, we were able to get it figured out. Luckily, we were able to get some sleep which made for a more pleasant first day in Budapest.

Budapest: April 4-8

When we got to Budapest, we were surprised to find that it was not only sunny and nice, but it was hot! If I had brought shorts, I definitely would have worn them! Our hostel ended up being kind of a far hike from the train station, especially since we started walking in the wrong direction initially. Our hostel ended up being pretty nice. Since the city was a lot bigger than the previous two places we went, the location was not as central as our other hostels had been. We were staying in a 10 person coed room which we were both nervous about after our last hostel experience. We got there, and it was small, but nice, and it turned out we only had to share the room with one other girl while we were there. She was in town for a conference so was not around too much. We basically got our own room without having to pay for it which was really nice! The staff was also very nice and we didn’t really have to worry about waiting to use the bathrooms, the computer, or the kitchen. It was a great relief after our last place! Since the city was a lot bigger, things were a lot more spread out. We still walked most places but we also ended up taking the metro a few times. It was pretty easy to figure out though.

Some highlights of places we went/ things we saw:
St. Stephen’s Basilica, Heroes’ Square, Museum of Fine Arts, the Chain Bridge, Matthias Church, Fisherman’s Bastion, Hungarian Parliament, the Great Synagogue, swam in a Hungarian Bath, the Applied Arts Museum, the Liberation Monument

Best Part: Besides our hostel, I thought Fisherman’s Bastion on Castle Hill was really cool. It basically looked like a big sandcastle made of stone which in itself is pretty cool. But also, we were able to get really great views of the city including the Danube River and Hungarian Parliament.

I also thought St. Stephen’s Basilica was pretty cool. It was very beautiful both on the outside and inside. We went up to the top of the dome and were able to get some more great views of the city.

Worst Part: One thing that was really difficult to get used to was the currency. Hungary has one of those weird conversion rates where $1 is equal to 223 Hungarian Forints. It was really hard to keep track of how much we were really spending. Our first night there, we decided to eat at a restaurant mentioned in both of our guidebooks and even favorited in one. The food ended up being bad and the service was even worse. We didn’t realize until after we had left, but we ended up leaving the waiter a $10 tip.

Overall Budapest was really interesting. It had its ups and downs. Like mentioned before, the currency was really horrible to try and figure out. Also, we didn’t get very good food while we were there until the last night. The middle two nights, we were so tired from all of our walking we just made pasta in the kitchen at our hostel. And we did a lot of walking which wasn’t terrible, but mixed with the heat, it made for some pretty long walks. It had its positives too though. The city itself was very beautiful. It reminded me a lot of Paris, with the wide tree lined streets. And I thought we saw and did some pretty cool things. I’m sure not many people can say they’ve swam in a Hungarian Bath or backpacked in Budapest at all for that matter.

I’m going to end this post here. Here is a link to all of my pictures from the whole trip including Paris, Belgium, and Amsterdam (that post coming soon). I think you can get a pretty good idea of everything we saw and did. Enjoy!

http://picasaweb.google.com/NedPix/EasterHoliday?authkey=Gv1sRgCPHjr8W-oZrx-AE#

London and Week 10

Hi ya!

This past week was horrible, but let's start with the good part, London!

As mentioned in my last update, I headed down to London for five days the other week. I loved it! It reminded me of New York a lot, but I think I liked it better. I think the accents helped, haha. Anyways, I arrived on Wednesday afternoon and was there through Sunday night. I was hoping to meet up with my friend from home Katie who's in Paris for the semester, but it didn't work out for her, so I ended up going by myself. It was an interesting experience traveling by myself for the first time. It got a little lonely at night time when the museums and attractions closed, but I found things to do and overall, really enjoyed myself! It was a good learning experience and I'm very proud of myself for navigating one of the biggest cities in the world all on my own. I ended up flying because airfare was actually cheaper than taking the train, and the flight itself was faster but when you add in transportation costs and time to and from airports it probably ended up equaling the train in time and money. I stayed in a hostel in South Kensington which ended up being a great location. I was right near Hyde Park and only a block from the Gloucester Tube stop. Once on the Tube, I was only a few stops from most everything I went to see. The Tube was really easy to figure out and I had a pass with unlimited rides so I rode it everywhere. The hostel was OK. I stayed in a five bed mixed dorm room with a shared bathroom. The hostel really wasn't anything special, but I really liked the location. Here's a run down of everything I did and saw.

Wednesday:

Westminster Abbey - beautiful! The Poet's Corner with monuments to some of the world's best writers was really cool.

By the time I got done at the Abbey, other things had closed so I walked around and explored different areas including Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, Chinatown, and took a walk along the River Thames

Thursday:

Tourist Center (Piccadilly Circus)

The Mounted Guard Changing Ceremony - nothing really happened, not too exciting.

Churchill Museum and War Cabinet Rooms - pretty cool. They had the underground war rooms all set up like they would have been during the war.

Leicester Square

Shopping on Oxford Street

British Library - had classic manuscripts by people like Charlotte Bronte, Galileo, Da Vinci, Mozart, Beethoven, the Beatles, the Gutenberg Bible. It was really cool to see original Beatles songs written on cocktail napkins, or 'Michelle' was written on the back of an envelope.

9 and 3/4 platform at Kings Cross Train Station - a Harry Potter fan must see. The girl who took my picture was wearing a Hogwarts Tshirt and a Gryffindor scarf.

I saw a performance of the play 'The 39 Steps'- a slapstick comedy based on a novel and a conglomeration of Alfred Hitchcock movies. I sat in the third row. It was pretty entertaining!

Friday:

I met up with some of my friends from camp who live around London. It was nice to see some familiar faces after spending the past couple days by myself. It was also a nice taste of home (even though they're all English). They all came in for the day and went around with me and it was a great time!

The Changing of the Guard - so many people, couldn't really see much.

I caved on my trying not to eat American food and we had the all you can eat Pizza Hut buffet for lunch. I'm not going to lie, it was delicious!!! I love the UK, but it's food is not the best.

Camden - the punk part of town, lots of markets and interesting shops. It was cool, definitely a different feel than the parts of London I had been going around in.

London Bridge

We spent the night at a pub just catching up.

Saturday:

London Eye - in all honesty, probably not worth the money. It was sunny until right when I got there and a bunch of clouds rolled in, but I decided to do it any way since I wasn't sure that the weather on Sunday would be much better. I didn't think the view was that impressive. I am glad I did it though, just considering it's a major London landmark.

Tower of London - I wish I had thought ahead and done this before the weekend, considering I had to wait in line for half an hour just to buy a ticket. But, it was really interesting. I went on a tour with a Beefeater tour guide. It was pretty entertaining. He had a lot of jokes and stories. After that, I walked around the grounds a bit on my own. There was a lot to see and a lot of people to navigate around to see it which proved to be a little overwhelming.

Tower Bridge

St. Paul's Cathedral- one of my favorite things I saw. The inside was definitely one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. I climbed some 300 steps to the Whispering Gallery which you could look down on the rest of the cathedral, then some more stairs up to the top of the dome. I thought the views of London from the dome were much more impressive than the Eye. It was worth the climb!

Covent Garden - markets, shops, restaurants, street performances. I got some falafel and people watched on the street. It was a neat area!

Tate Modern - open late Fridays and Saturdays. They had a lot of really cool pieces. This was another one of my favorite things I saw.

Sunday:

Shakespeare's Globe - as an English major interested in theater, it was very cool. I got there right when it opened (you should be proud mom and dad) and got on one of the first tours. The tour guide was a little strange, but the theater was definitely cool to see. They also had an interesting museum with costumes and props from different performances as well as history on the rebuilding of the theater.

The British Museum - very big and very overwhelming. I made sure I saw the big things: the Rosetta Stone, the Greek statues and parts of the Parthenon, the Egyptian and Assyrian sections and the mummies.

Harrods - very ritzy. I rode the Egyptian escalator and bought some overpriced gelato.

Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens - it was a beautiful day so I decided to walk around the park some before I left for the airport. I saw the Serpentine, the Albert Memorial, and some pretty amusing rollerblading lessons.

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Overall, the trip was expensive and pretty tiring, but I loved it! I still have so many things I didn't get to see, or places I would have liked to spend more time. I hope I'll get a chance to go back. If not this trip, some time in the future.

Unfortunately, when I got back late Sunday night I was faced with the reality of all the work I had to get done this week. I had a 1500 word source analysis for my Scottish History class due Thursday, a 3000 word essay for my Scottish Ethnology class due Friday, and it was my week to present for my group in my English class on top of my normal workload for the week. To make everything better, I woke up on Monday morning with a cold. I some how managed to get everything done and it was a big relief! I'm also still feeling a little congested but overall, a lot better! The past few days have been beautiful in Edinburgh with sun and temperatures in the 50s! It's been great! It definitely makes the walk to campus a lot more enjoyable!

This is my last week of classes. Next Saturday, I'll be jetting off to Prague where I'll meet up with Claire and start my 3 weeks of backpacking through Europe! I'm so excited! Plans didn't work out to meet in Amsterdam, but I think I'll be able to fit that into the last week when I meet up with my friend Katie. When I get back from break, my parents will be here to greet me and celebrate my twenty first birthday traveling around Scotland, which will also be pretty cool since I haven't seen much of Scotland besides Glasgow and Edinburgh. Then exams, and I'm done! It's so crazy!

Here's a link to my to my London pictures.
http://picasaweb.google.com/NedPix/London?authkey=Gv1sRgCOK_ua2y7JaAhwE#

Hope all is well with everyone!

Week 7 & 8

Hi ya!

Sorry, it's been so long since my last blog, but school has really been catching up with me! Here, we finish classes before spring break and then once we come back all we have is exams. Spring break, or Easter holiday as many refer to it here, begins at the end of March so as classes are coming to a close, essays are due and it seems like things are getting more frantic school wise. I got my History paper back last week and I got a B, which is considered really good here since A's are passed out pretty sparingly. I was very excited to see my grade since I really didn't know what to expect. We have another short assignment due next Thursday so I'm hoping the outcome of that will be just as good! This past week I spent a lot of time working on my English essay which was due today. I was writing about the relationship between genre and gender in the early period of the novel. I spent a lot of time reading different criticism and then finally got it written this past weekend and turned in today. Already I feel a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. Therefore, since school has been kind of hectic, I don't have any exciting sight seeing to report for these past couple weeks, but between homework I have managed some time to plan some exciting things for the near future!

First, on Wednesday morning I'll be jetting down to London for 5 days through Sunday night! I was going back and forth between whether or not to go since I have assignments due the next week but I decided to just go for it. I figured if I didn't go now, I wouldn't have the chance till May and I didn't really want to put it off. Besides I haven't left Edinburgh since I went to Glasgow and that was a month ago already! Time is flying by so quickly! But anyways, I'm really looking forward to going! I've been to lots of other major European cities but this will be my first time in London and I've heard so many great things about it. I'll be staying in a hostel in South Kensington near Hyde Park and Imperial College and within walking distance of a Tube station which should make it easy to get to other parts of the city. I'll be traveling by myself but with so much to see I don't think it will be an issue. If anything, it should be nice because that way, I can make sure I see everything I want to see. Also, I have some friends I used to work at camp with who live around London so I'm hoping to meet up with them at some point. It should be a lot of fun to get out and explore new territory.

Second, I've begun making plans for my 3 week spring break which starts March 27. Claire will be coming for part of the trip. I'm looking forward to traveling with her because I know we have similar tastes in what we like to see so it should be easy to compromise. Where exactly we're going to meet is still up in the air but if our original plan works out, we'll be meeting in Amsterdam and spending 2 days there. From there, we'll head to Prague, Krakow, and Budapest for 3 days each and then head over to Paris. We'll spend some time there before Claire fliesback to the States. There, I'll meet up with my friend Katie who is studying at the Sorbonne this semester. We haven't really decided where we'll go the last week, but we've talked about Belgium or Germany. The trip will involve a lot of long overnight train rides but I think if everything works out, we'll get to see a lot of really cool stuff! Plans aren't set in stone yet, but with luck this is what will be happening.

Third, the University finally announced final exam times. Mine will be on May 13,15, & 22. I was hoping to get done earlier, but I think I'll still have some time to travel in between studying. And it will be nice not to have to hit the books right when I get back from spring break.

So yeah, even though nothing too exciting has been happening lately here in Edinburgh, I've got a lot of exciting plans lined up which I'm really looking forward to! Expect another blog (with loads of pictures I'm sure) some time next week when I get back from London.

Hope all is well with everyone!

Week 6

Hi ya!

This week I decided I needed to culturally experience Edinburgh a little more.

Last Saturday, Ashley and I decided to go out and check out some touristy sites around Edinburgh. We started at the Museum of Edinburgh which was just right of the Royal Mile. The museum basically just explained how Edinburgh emerged into the city it is today. The museum occupied Huntly House which dates back to the 16th century. The museum was pretty small so it didn't take long to go through. When we came out, we decided to check out Canongate Kirk which was right across the street. We couldn't go in the church but we walked around the graveyard and saw the grave of the poet Robert Fergusson. From there, we decided since it wasn't much farther down, we would go check out Scottish Parliament. It turned out they were open to the public so we decided to go in and check out the debating chamber. It kind of reminded me of seeing the UN. We just went in and looked but I think I'd like to go back and take a guided tour to learn more about everything. We've been talking about it in my Scottish history class but I still don't have much of a grasp on British politics.

Wednesday we got 2 pound tickets from the International Student Center to finally go and see the Castle. Tickets are normally around 10 pounds so it was definitely a good deal. We had to meet at the ISC at 1:35 but we ended up standing around for almost a half hour waiting for everyone, which was pretty annoying. They gave us a hand out and when we got over to the castle we were free to wander as we liked. Not only were there great views of the city, but a lot of small museums associated with war and Scottish history to see. The people I was with didn't seem to care too much about all the museum stuff so they went through pretty quickly and I stuck behind to look at everything. The Crown Jewels were pretty cool and I also really liked seeing the prisoner of war stuff. They had barracks all set up like they would have been when prisoners were actually detained there. It took me about 2 hours to go through everything, and I think I may have even missed some things. But it was definitely cool to see considering its such a famous landmark in the city. And of course, its always nice when you don't have to pay full price!

Today I met up with my falafel friend Lily and we went to the Fruitmarket Gallery which is a contemporary art gallery built in the original Edinburgh fruit market. They only have one exhibit at a time and right now it is an exhibit by Scottish artist Claire Barclay. It was mostly sculpture but she also had some water colors and screen prints which were my favorite part of teh exhibit. Lily and I both decided we found her work very visually appealing but didn't really understand the message. A lot of the pieces were untitled which I also didn't like very much. I think it's always easier to interpret art when you have a title to go off of, kind of like in poetry as well. Anyways, you can check out more about the exhibit here on the Fruitmarket's website http://www.fruitmarket.co.uk/exhibitions/current/. Since it was only one exhibit it didn't take too long to go through so we decided to check out the City Art Center which was right across the street. They had a lot of really cool modern art including an exhibit of Bob Dylan's work. Lily and I were both unaware that he was also an artist but we both enjoyed his stuff. For a sample check out this link http://www.bobdylanart.com/index.php?section_id=3&subsection_id=1&category_id=1&subcategory_id=1&shopId=1&id=1. From there, we went over to Princes Street and got some tea. From there we parted ways and I headed back towards Pollock. I decided to wander around a little on my way back and saw some of the city I haven't seen before. I was kind of worried about getting lost, especially because I didn't have a map on me but I was fine. I found my way to the Meadows and once you're there it is pretty easy to find where you have to go. The whole city is so beautiful, it was really nice to just walk around and enjoy everything.

This week, we're reading Roderick Random by Tobias Smollett for my English class. I haven't gotten too far but like the other books we've had to read lately, it doesn't seem to exciting.

I've uploaded some more pictures that you can check out here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/NedPix/NEDINBURGH02?authkey=Xk_DqPcaT3c#

Also, here's a panoramic video I took of New Town from the Castle:

Hope all is well with all of you!

Week 5

Hi ya!

OK, so let me start by saying that whoever said it doesn't really snow in Edinburgh is a big fat liar! I feel like it's snowed more than it's rained since I've been here. And it's not just light snowfall, it's always heavy wet snow. Yesterday it snowed in the morning and then the snow turned into rain in the afternoon. It was ridiculous! Haha, sorry, I'm not a fan of the snow.

So, this past week...

Last Thursday, I had a nice surprise. I went to grab lunch at Elfalafel. It was kind of an off time so their was only one other person in their. I ordered and the girl who was waiting for her food asked if I was American. It turns out she was from Michigan (when I asked her where in Michigan she was from she whipped out the hand and pointed and everything, which she assumed I would think was weird but little did she know, I know all about the hand, haha). She said she goes to Bowdoin College in Maine but was here studying costume design for a semester at Edinburgh College of Art. Long story short, we ended up eating lunch together and she was very friendly and it seems like we have a lot in common. She has the theater connection through costume design and she's an English minor. Hopefully we'll be able to get together again soon! That night, Ashley and Kendall had to see a gig for their popular music and technology class. I tagged along and we went to a jazz bar over by campus. It was a lot of fun! We saw a band just finishing up their set and then the band we came to see came on. They were like a mix between jazz/ r&b/ and funk. They were really good, but unfortunately, they didn't start their set until around midnight so I couldn't stick around for the whole thing. I had to get up early the next morning to meet with my history tutor to discuss my essay that was due this week.

Friday Morning, I got up and met with my tutor. She helped me with structuring my essay and gave me some tips on sources. Even though the essay wasn't due until this Thursday, I felt kind of behind in the whole process. I'm so used to only starting a day or two early at home, but she made it seem like I was pretty crunched for time. I guess I'm also not used to having to write history essays and doing a lot of outside research. After that, I did some shopping on the Royal Mile. I wanted to show some Scotland pride at the rugby game on Sunday so I wanted to buy a tartan scarf. All the gift shops have 2 for 10 pound tartan scarves deals so I got 2, the traditional red pattern as a souvenir and then a blue one to wear more everyday, that hopefully does not look as touristy (Scotland's rugby team is also blue). From there, I went to meet up with Kendall and Amber for tea at The Elephant House. This claims to be the birthplace of Harry Potter. It's said that JK Rowling used to frequent there a lot. Anyways, Amber goes to Iowa State. We had chatted some on facebook before coming over here and then we ran into each other a couple times at the beginning of the semester, but it was nice to finally get to sit down and get to know each other a little better. Plus, the tea and sandwich I had was delicious! From there, I went down to Princes Street and did some shopping and then headed back to Pollock to help Ashley figure out how to do her laundry. Haha, I hope with my help, her first experience was not as terrible as mine! That night, we met up with Kendall and we all went to another flat to meet some of her other friends. They were all really nice and we joined in their game of charades. From there, Ashley and I left and tried to get into a club but the queue was really long so we decided to forget it and went back to Pollock to turn in.

Sunday was the rugby match! The match was part of the 6 Nations Rugby Tournament and Scotland was playing Wales (the reigning champ). Ashley and I met up with Kirsten, Ryan, Adrienne, and Kendall on Princes Street to catch the bus over to the stadium. The stadium area was pretty hectic! Lots of rowdy fans in kilts and draped in Scottish and Welsh flags. On our way over to the stadium, we got fliers about an event The Great Grouse was hosting. The Great Grouse is a brand of whiskey and the official spirit of Scottish rugby. Anyways, they handed out free samples and they had a live band playing. It was a lot of fun! When it got closer to match time, we headed over and found our seats in the stadium. We were in the second level of seats but they were pretty good. You could see everything that was going on. The match was really exciting. Very fast paced and fun to watch even though we weren't totally sure what was happening. We met a group of people sitting in front of us that tried to explain the rules but they said even if you follow it, it's difficult to keep up on all the rules because they're constantly changing. There were a couple girls sitting behind us that we talked to a bit too. They were med students from New York who were studying here for the month. It seems like just a semester is such a short time to try and figure everything out, I can't imagine only being here for a month! Anyways, Scotland lost but the game was still a lot of fun to watch! Hopefully we'll get to see some more while we're here!

Monday, I met with my ALG group to discuss Pamela. None of us had finished it and we all agreed it was probably one of the worst things we've ever had to read. It's just 500 pages of nothing happening! And then, once something does finally happen, it doesn't make any sense! I only got a little more than half way through it, but the part I read definitely was not a pleasurable experience. Luckily our questions were based on parts towards the beginning of the book so we were able to get what we needed done.

Tuesday, it was my turn to be the presenter for my ALG group in class. It was pretty intimidating. The teacher always wants you to elaborate so I was worried I wouldn't really know what to say, but I think I did OK. Conversation in class was pretty low so I have a feeling no one really finished the book. That class is starting to be pretty frustrating. Things are too fast paced and I feel like I don't have enough time to really get everything out of it that I want to. Here we have a week to read 500 pages (which in addition to other homework can be a lot) and then we discuss it in class for two hours and move on to a new novel. I'm used to spending at least two weeks on a novel at Iowa and I feel like I'm able to get more out of that because I have more time to analyze and digest things.

Wednesday, I didn't have class so I spent the day working on my history essay that was due on Thursday. I chose to discuss Scotland's poor history of health since 1914. I felt like I knew what I wanted to talk about, but it was difficult to get out on paper. Like I said before, I haven't written a history essay since freshman year at Iowa and it's definitely a different way of writing than for English since everything is based on fact and not just supporting your own claim.

Thursday, I continued to work on my paper all the way up until the deadline. It had to be 2500 words including footnotes which I had some difficulty with. You have to turn in multiple copies and the grading is totally anonymous so you can't put your name on anything. Instead, you have to fill out these forms to turn in with your essay for them to identify it as yours. It's pretty complicated and I had to scurry to finish it all in the Scottish history office with a bunch of other students. But, it's done and it's turned in so I'm happy about that. I don't really know what to expect because this is my first essay I've done here and the grading seems to be much different, hopefully it all turns out well. I learned that it's definitely difficult to procrastinate and stay on top of things here though. I need to work on that.

I haven't been feeling too well today so I just slummed around Pollock and caught up on some sleep. Kendall, Ryan, and Kirsten are all out of town this weekend so I don't have any big plans, but I'm hoping to check out some of the touristy things I haven't seen yet in Edinburgh along with all of my homework.

I've added some more pictures to my album. Here's the link.
http://picasaweb.google.com/NedPix/NEDINBURGH02?authkey=Xk_DqPcaT3c#

Also, here's a link to a song the band played before the rugby match. It's been stuck in my head ever since! It's called Loch Lomond and there's multiple versions of it, the more traditional, slower paced, folk version and the more upbeat version which I like better. Here are links to both. You can decide yourself which is the better version.

Slow:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXGVFJqSqqg

Fast:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRcurOYc0r0

Glasgow

Ok, so I should be working on my loads of homework, but it's late here and I'm just not into it. So, let me update you on the details of my first excursion outside the great city of Edinburgh.

Some of us have been getting pretty restless from school work and seeing the same things in Edinburgh over and over again so we decided it would be the perfect time to visit a new city and see what Glasgow had to offer. After making arrangements for bus rides and an overnight hostel stay, we left for Glasgow at 9:30 on Saturday morning. The Edinburgh Bus Station was kind of a hike from Pollock, but we made it in plenty of time. By train, the estimated time of travel is about an hour, the bus was estimated to take a little longer but we thought it was worth it to save a few extra pounds. All in all the bus ride was fairly easy. It took only a little over an hour, making one stop and we got to see parts of Edinburgh and Scottish countryside we've never seen before, including my first glimpse of some authentic Scottish sheep! After an extremely short bus ride, we arrived in Glasgow around 10:45. The station was right near City Center and the hostel was within walking distance. The hostel, which was right along the River Clyde, proved to be a little farther than expected, but definitely a manageable walk. We couldn't officially check in yet, but they took our information and we were able to leave our stuff at the reception desk while we went out to explore. Unfortunately, there was a mix up with Ashley and my online registration and they refused to give us the student discount but even without it, the stay only cost 15 pounds which I didn't think was too bad considering the location, that they provided bed linen, personal lockers, and a continental breakfast. We dropped our stuff off and made our way to the GoMA, Glasgow's Museum of Modern Art. They had a lot of cool modern art from many artists I've never heard of before. Though it wasn't nearly as impressive as New York's MoMA, it definitely was a worthwhile stop. Next, we decided to grab some lunch. We looked around for a bit but finally decided on picking up some Gregg's and eating in the train station. I don't know if I've mentioned Gregg's before but it's a chain they have all over the UK that serves sandwiches and pastries. They have these things called chicken bakes which are basically heaven in a flaky crust. It tastes just like chicken pot pie and you can get 2 for only 1.50. Since being here, they have quickly become one of my favorite parts of Scotland, haha. Anyways, though Gregg's is quite cheap and delicious, they lack seating so we got our food and went across to eat in the train station. There we filled up and made a plan to head over the Glasgow Cathedral and the Necropolis while the sun was still kind of out. On the walk over to the Cathedral, we stopped by City Chambers. Since it was Saturday, they were closed and we couldn't go in, but seeing the architecture from the outside was quite impressive. When we arrived at Glasgow Cathedral, they were having a concert by a chanting medieval choir. We were still allowed to look around but we had to make sure to be very quiet. It was pretty cool to walk around and look at everything while hearing some authentic chanting in the background. The architecture of the Cathedral was beautiful on both the inside and outside. Unfortunately due to the lack of light inside, my pictures don't really do it justice. After looking around for a bit, we headed out to the Necropolis right behind the cathedral. My guidebook said you were supposed to be able to see great views of the city from the top. The Necropolis was filled with lots of large beautiful graves and mausoleums. The sky had started to cloud over which provided the perfect atmosphere for walking around a graveyard. It was pretty spooky. Unfortunately, the overcast sky made the views of Glasgow not as impressive as one may have hoped, but it was still nice to be able to look out over everything. After the Necropolis, we contemplated going to another museum but realized that if we were going to make it in time for tea, we'd have to head to there instead. We went and had tea at one of the Willow Tea Rooms. My guidebook says "First opened in 1904, this became the most famous of local entrepreneur Kate Cranston's revolutionary tea rooms, where respectable men and women could meet up, in private or in public, without the shadow of the 'demon' drink." It was really nice to sit down and relax and have my first official British tea time since being here. We all got a pot of tea and a desert, and it proved to be the perfect way to relax after walking around so much. Leaving there, we found ourselves in a main shopping area so we decided to poke around in some shops. After some shopping, we decided it was time we should head back to the hostel and officially check in and get ready for dinner. We were staying in 14 person dorm rooms, which I think everyone was a little nervous about at first, but they proved to be fine. The four girls were together on the ninth floor while me and Ryan were put in the same room on the fifth. The rooms were clean and each had their own bathroom facilities. I took the bottom bed to Ryan's top and tried to just think of it as summer camp, haha. We got all set up, and changed, and headed out for some dinner. Adrienne's guidebook suggested a cheap noodle bar that sounded good. It was kind of a hike to get there but the walk was worth it. It was definitely some of the best Chinese food I've had in awhile. After dinner, Adrienne wasn't feeling very well so we walked back to the hostel with her. Ashley was really tired so she decided to stick behind as well. The rest of us decided we wanted to go check out a club so we got a recommendation from the guy at the desk of a place that was cheap and played good music. Again, it ended up being kind of far, but worth it. We didn't have to pay a cover charge and they played pretty good music. After dancing for a little while, we decided to call it a night and head home.

Sunday morning, Ryan and I met the girls for breakfast. The breakfast wasn't too exciting but it was food that was already paid for so no use in complaining. We ate and figured out where we wanted to go for the day. We decided to start off at the People's Palace. To get there, we walked through Glasgow Green, the oldest park in Scotland. The People's Palace is an interactive museum all about the people of Glasgow. It was pretty interesting. They talked about Glasgow during the World Wars and how it has emerged from being a city known for being dirty and poverty stricken to more of a cultural center. After looking all through that, we decided to head over to The Barras, a large flea market not too far from Glasgow Green. It was kind of a let down. It was basically a bunch of booths selling crappy merchandise so we didn't stick around there too long. We left there and headed back towards City Center. On the way we found an Italian place to eat which was pretty good, but the waitress didn't really know how to divide up our check so I think some of us ended up overpaying, not by too much though. We headed back to City Center and after shopping some more, we headed back to the hostel. We had some time to spare before catching the bus but we were all pretty tired so we hung out in the hostel bar and watched some of the Chelsea vs. Liverpool futball match. We had been reading about fried Mars bars being a Glasgow thing so Adrienne asked at the desk where to get some. The lady said we just needed to go to the store and get some and then take them to a chips shop and they would fry them up for us. We tried a couple places but neither were willing to do it and the last one said no one really does it anymore, so we just ate the Mars bars plain. They were still delicious. By then, it was time to head back to the bus station and back to Edinburgh. The ride home (still a weird feeling to consider Edinburgh 'home') felt even faster. I got back to my room and did some homework and turned in for an early night.

All in all, it was a good weekend! We were able to do a lot and not spend too much money so that was really nice. It was cool to explore a different part of the country and compare and contrast the two. Glasgow was a nice place to visit, but I feel as far as living goes, I picked the better Scottish city.

I've added some pictures from the weekend. I apologize for the darkness of some of them. The gray skies that lasted most of the weekend made picture taking somewhat difficult, but I hope you enjoy them! http://picasaweb.google.com/NedPix/Glasgow?authkey=aWVzFh4ud6M#

Unfortunately, this week does not seem like it will be too exciting. I have a lot of work to get done. I just finished Moll Flanders and have to have Pamela read for my English class by next Tuesday, my first ethnology tutorial is this Thursday, it's my turn to lead discussion in my history tutorial, and I have my first essay (2,500 words) for my history class due next Thursday. A lot to do, but I'm confident I can get it all done, or at least most of it. This Sunday, we have tickets to the Scotland v. Wales match of the 6 Nations Rugby Tournament so that should be something exciting to look forward to.

Hope all is well with all of you!

Week 3

Hiya! (the Brits seem to love this greeting)

This past weekend was good. On Saturday, Ashley and I went into town to run some errands. I wanted to go to the phone shop because I felt like I was going through my pounds a lot quicker than I should be since I've been mostly texting and I'm supposed to have 300 texts with my plan. It turns out our plans were never activated. We had to do that ourselves but the guy that sold us the phones never told us that! The guy acted like I was a total idiot for not knowing I was supposed to do that myself but he did it for me and I topped up while I was there. We ran a few other errands and then headed back to Pollock. That afternoon we hung out with some people we had met in the dorms and met some new people as well. That night was chicken burger night in the dining hall. By far the best meal in the dining hall so far! Finally, not a weird mashup they claim to be casserole! Haha.

Sunday we spent most of the day at the library reading. Then for dinner, we decided to go out for a traditional dinner of haggis, neeps and tatties to celebrate Burns Night, the celebration of the famous Scottish poet Robert Burns. The University was hosting a dinner and dance for only 5 pounds but tickets sold out really quickly. We didn't realize there were only a limited number of spots so we couldn't get tickets. We decided to do dinner on our own and then try and see what other festivities were going on. The place we went had a Burns Night special where we got soup, haggis, neeps and tatties, and a measure of whiskey for 8.50. We were all pretty nervous to finally try haggis. It definitely doesn't sound like the most desirable of treats. Wikipedia describes it as "sheep's 'pluck' (heart, liver and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally boiled in the animal's stomach for approximately three hours." Doesn't sound very good right? But, when in Scotland, do as the Scottish do! Well, it wasn't as horrible as we imagined but it wasn't great either. Flavor wise, it was ok, but it had a real rough, grainy texture which was difficult for me to appreciate. The tatties (mashed potatoes) were really good though! We didn't really see to much happening around where we were so we decided to head over to Teviot, one of the student unions to see if we could get into the dance, or ceilidh. We got in, but there were so many people and they had already gone through the demonstrating of the dance so we decided to save it for another time and head home. Ever since we've gotten here, I feel like people have been talking about Burns Night, but it didn't really seem like a very big deal. Maybe we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Oh well.

Monday, I met with my ALG group for English and had Ethnology. After class, I met up with Ashley and we went to grab a bite at my favorite place I've found to eat here so far. It's a place right near campus called Elfalafel and it's delicious! As you can probably tell from the name, it's a falafel place where you can get a falafel sandwhich, chips (fries), and a drink for pretty cheap. After dinner, Ashley and I met up with our other friends and went to the Harry Potter Society's sorting ceremony in Teviot. I think I've mentioned this before but it has been rumored that JK Rowling based Hogwarts off of Teviot so the idea of getting sorted there seemed like a pretty cool idea. The thing was supposed to start at 6 and go until 8. When we got there, they weren't ready and ended up not letting people in until 6:30. Once we got in, they divided us into groups and we had to do different tasks. They scored us on them and depending on how we did they assigned us to a house. The tasks consisted of 2 truths and a lie, where you tell 2 true things about yourself and a lie and the other people in the group have to figure out which one is the lie. I wasn't the best liar but I was good at figuring out other people's lies. It might have helped that I knew half the people in the group though, haha. The next task was taken from The Sorcerer's Stone, or as they call it here, The Philosopher's Stone. There were seven bottles and we had to solve a riddle to determine which was wine and which was poison. I've never been very good at logic or word problems so needless to say, this was not my kind of task! I just guessed and I don't think I did very well (they never told us the answer). After that, they had us do a taste test where we had to close our eyes and they made us sniff things and then put a chili pepper in our mouths. I guess this was supposed to test our courage? I'm not going to lie, my face was quite tingly after that. I don't do too well with very spicy things, haha. The final task was a simulated quidditch match. They split us up into two teams. One person was blind folded and another person on the team had to lead them through a path of dementors to retrieve the golden snitch. The rest of the team members had to throw bean bags across to each other and try and hit the person of the opposing team. If my memory is correct, they call them bludgers? Anyways, I was the blind folded person for my team and we won. I guess all those blind folded trust walks at camp really came in handy! After everyone finished the tasks, we were subjected to the sorting hat and told our houses. I was a Hufflepuff along with probably have the other people there. Most of us were either Hufflepuff or Slytherin, not many Gryffindors or Ravenclaws. They weren't very organized so we had to wait around a lot which was kind of annoying. It was kind of dorky, but cool at the same time. How many other people can say they've actually been sorted? Haha.

Tuesday and Wednesday were both pretty boring. I spoke up in my English class on Tuesday in our discussion of Aphra Behn's Oroonoko. The lecturer said I made a good point so that was a nice boost in confidence. Wednesday, I spent the day reading. We're starting our first novel in English, Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders. I have to have it read by Monday to meet with my ALG group, so I have a lot of reading to do.

Today, after breakfast, Ashley and I sorted out our plans to travel to Glasgow this weekend! We made arrangements for a bus ride and hostel stay. Once we figured everything out, we got it all sorted out with our friends. We'll be leaving Edinburgh early Saturday morning. It's a little less than and 1.5 hour ride to Glasgow. We'll stay overnight in a hostel and head back Sunday night around 6:30, after the sights close. I made all the arrangements so I hope everything runs smoothly! I've heard good things about Glasgow. The city is supposed to be much more industrial and much more authentically Scottish. They're supposed to have a pretty cool art scene too. A lot of the sights seem interesting and even more importantly, free! It should be interesting to explore another part of Scotland and compare it to Edinburgh. I'm looking forward to it! I had my second history tutorial today. It turns out there is another guy in the group so it's nice not to be the only one. It's kind of frustrating because I feel like half of the people in class don't talk very much. For the second half of class, our tutorial leader divided us into 2 groups and I was the only one in my group that actually talked. It was frustrating, but I hope I'll score some points with the tutor! After class, I met up with some people at Potterow, another one of the student unions. They wanted to talk about figuring out some weekend trips but it was kind of difficult because people weren't totally sure of their plans and people's schedules didn't seem to totally match up. The conversation went to making plans for spring break. I was a little overwhelmed having to think that far in advance but we'll see. I'm just trying to keep my eyes and ears open for cool opportunities. We still have time so I don't want to commit myself to anything definite yet. We'll see what happens.

I need to read more of Moll Flanders but it's difficult to focus. I'm excited about the trip to Glasgow this weekend and it's been a long week of reading. I don't have class tomorrow so I've got all day to get some more reading done before the weekend.

Hope all is well with everyone!

Week 2

Wow, week two! Still seems crazy. I think this week, the fact that I am actually living here and going to school and not just on vacation has definitely set in. With homework and struggling with every day tasks, it's definitely been an eye opening week.

Unfortunately, I didn't accomplish as much over the weekend as I had hoped. We were going to go on a ghost tour on Saturday night, but the weather got bad so we didn't make it. Sunday I spent the day reading for my Subjectivity, Modernity, and the Novel class. I didn't realize that one of the readings was 95 pages. Oops! I didn't have class until Tuesday morning but I had to have the reading done by Monday to be prepared to meet with my ALG group. There is 13 people in the class and we were broken into groups of four and five. Each week the lecturer assigns each group questions to answer before class to help start discussion in class. This past week's readings were John Bunyan's Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners and extracts from The Life and Death of Mr. Badman.

Monday morning I went to the library to finish reading before I met up with my ALG group. I came out of my dorm and it was SNOWING! I thought that wasn't supposed to happen here! Haha!I was pretty disappointed. It was a really thick slushy snow too so it made for a pretty miserable walk to campus. Luckily, none of it stuck. After finishing up the readings, I met up with my ALG group which consists of two girls and one other guy. One of the girls is a visiting student from University of Washington who is studying here for the year. She also happens to be in my ethnology class. The other girl is from Edinburgh and the guy is from Newcastle. We answered our questions and then talked for awhile. Everyone seems really nice which is cool. They all had some horror stories to share about their previous ALG groups for other classes. Afterwards, I had my ethnology class. That night, I spent some time catching up with people from home through Skype (one of the best inventions ever!) I was also able to talk to my friend from camp who lives in London. I'm hoping I'll be able to visit him sometime in February! Maybe even have a mini camp reunion of international staff from the UK?

Tuesday we had our first real Subjectivity, Modernity, and the Novel class. It wasn't too bad. Two straight hours of discussion was pretty intense, but I think I was able to follow everything pretty well. After class, I went to go talk to the visiting students office to see if I could drop my history class to get into the sociology class about popular music. they said since it was a third year class, I didn't have enough previous sociology classes to take it. So therefore, I'm staying in my history class. Hopefully it will pick up. I had history and then ethnology and then I rushed over to Teviot, one of the student unions, to watch Obama get sworn in and deliver his inauguration speech. They were showing it on big screens in one of the bars. I got there and the place was pretty packed. It was exciting to get to witness the inauguration in a foreign country. Everyone seems very optimistic and eager for change. It is cool to see how decisions like this effect not only our own country but others as well. After the speech, I met up with some friends and we got some pizzas and went back to one of their flats to hang out.

Wednesday, I didn't have class but I had to wake up early to straighten up my room for the maintenance man. Once a week, a maintenance man comes to clean my bathroom, vacuum, and give me clean sheets. It's pretty nice, but I wish he could come on a day that I have class so I could sleep in! Later that afternoon, I went into town to go see an exhibit at the National Museum of Scotland for my history class. The exhibit was called Scotland: A Changing Nation. It was pretty interesting. It explored the change in Scotland since the World War I, talking about everything from industry to pop music. Not knowing much about Scotland, I thought it was pretty informative. I thought it was interesting to compare and contrast the growth of Scotland with that of America at the same time. My favorite part was this video they had interviewing Scottish natives and how they felt about being Scottish and different things about the country. It was cool to see all the different kinds of people and how proud they all were to be Scottish. On the way back to Pollock I stopped at the grocery store to pick up some laundry detergent. Unfortunately Tide has not made it over here to Scotland, nor has any other laundry detergent brand I've ever heard of. So, after standing in the aisle trying to decided between sizes, prices, bio, non-bio for a good 20 minutes, I finally just picked something.

Thursday was probably one of the most difficult days since I've been here. I had a few hours between breakfast and my first class so I decided to do laundry. Little did I know it would be so difficult! Basically, my stuff took much longer than planned to dry so I had to leave it in the machines to finish while I sprinted to class. I was nervous leaving it, worrying someone would just throw it on the floor in order to use the machine, but when I got back from class, it ended up being fine. With having to get change, and tokens, and drying taking so long, it ended up being very frustrating. I definitely have to remember to leave plenty of time the next time. The class I had to sprint to was my first history tutorial (the discussion portions of lectures). I'd say there were 11-12 people in the class. I was the only guy which was kind of awkward, but women definitely seem to out number men by a large amount in the student body here so I guess it's not all that surprising. My tutorial leader seems very nice, so hopefully it won't be too bad. That lasted for about an hour and then I had history and then ethnology after that. After class and laundry folding, I met up with some friends and we went to the grocery store and got all the fixins for a Mexican fiesta of tacos and chips and salsa. Haha, it was really good! Definitely better than the dorm food which seems to get worse and worse. And pretty cheap, only 3 pounds when split between the 6 of us. After dinner, we went on an underground city/ ghost tour. It was pretty cool! The guide had a lot of cool stories and it was very spooky! They do another tour of a graveyard that seems pretty cool. I'd definately be interested in checking it out. When the tour ended, we got a pub recommendation from the guide and went to have a pint. The pub was pretty small, but they had a guy playing live music and it was nice.

Fridays a bunch of us don't have classes so Kendall and Ashley (both from Iowa as well) and myself decided to climb Arthur's Seat, the remains of a 325 million year old volcano. It was a pretty difficult climb, rocky, muddy, and windy, but definitely worth it! We made sure to try and go earlier in the day because the weather seems to start off sunny earlier in the day and then get progressively worse as the day goes on. The whole climb we were able to see awesome views of the city, especially from the peak. I think its the coolest thing I've done since I've been here! After reaching the peak and taking a bunch of pictures, we saw some clouds rolling in so we wanted to get down quickly before the rain came. Making it down wasn't easy. There was a lot of slipping a sliding but we made it before the rain came. Kendall went back to her flat and Ashley and I got lunch from the Pollock store. We ate in her dorm and watched a professional bocce ball tournament, haha! I definitely did not know that even existed as a professional sport! I also tried Irn Brun for the first time. It's a soft drink that's even more popular than Coke here. It's orange but tastes like bubble gum. It's pretty sweet and kind of strange, but interesting. Later today, I discovered a place in Pollock to rent movies. With your student card, you can rent DVDs for only 50 pence! I don't have a TV, but I figure I can watch them on my laptop. It hasn't been too bad not having a TV, but it's nice to have some form of entertainment that's cheap and good for nights when you just want to relax.

Overall, things have been going pretty well. Getting acclimated to the new school system has been difficult. There is a lot to do, but no real schedule set in which to do it, so it's difficult to stay on top of things. For example, for my history class, we were given a packet of documents to read for the tutorial each week. Along with those we are given a secondary reading list which you read however much or little of it you like. My tutorial leader suggested I just read enough to feel like I'm prepared enough for class. With so much going on, it's difficult to do reading you're not technically required to do! I think the more I get used to it, the easier it will get to figure out a schedule.

I've started an online album of pictures. I haven't taken many yet, but there's some pretty good one's from Arthur's Seat. Check them out! http://picasaweb.google.com/NedPix/NEDINBURGH02?authkey=Xk_DqPcaT3c#

Hope all is well with all of you!

Week 1

Hey everybody!

I've actually been in Edinburgh for almost a whole week! It still feels so crazy, but I'm having a great time so far!

I left Chicago late Friday night (January 9). Another student from Iowa was also on my flight. It was nice to know I'd have someone to travel with. Luckily, we were able to make it out on time before too much snow came in. The pilot introduced himself and I swear he said his name was David Bowie. The girl sitting next to me and I thought that was pretty cool. On the plane, everyone had their own personal television so you could pick from a selection of movies, TV shows, music to watch or listen to. It definitely made the flight go pretty fast. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get much sleep. We arrived in London on Saturday morning and were supposed to have a 3 hour layover at Heathrow, but when we got there, they said the plane we were supposed to be taking was running late due to bad weather and we wouldn't be leaving until another 4 hours after the time we were originally supposed to leave. Fortunately, the plane came in earlier than expected so we didn't have to wait around for too much longer. When we got to Edinburgh, there was a welcoming service from the University that was there to direct us to the shuttle that would take us to our residences. I'm staying in the Pollock Halls, which are their version of college dorms. My room is pretty decent. I have a double bed and my own bathroom. It kind of looks like a (kind of worn) hotel room. There is a dining hall and store on the premise. It's about a 15 minute walk to campus, but I'm hoping the more I get used to it, the shorter it will seem. I dropped of my luggage and decided to go to the visiting student pizza party at Teviot, one of the student unions. By the time I got there, all the pizza was gone, but I got a drink from the bar and socialized with some people there. Two girls from Iowa who had gotten there earlier introduced me to the people they met. After the party, we decided to walk around a bit and check out a local pub. We also stopped to get food and I got fried pizza. It sounds weird but was pretty good.

Sunday was the orientation for visiting students. They had us all in a lecture hall and talked to us about the University and living in Edinburgh. They had a visiting American who got here in September come and talk about what it was like adjusting to the city. They also divided us into groups and took us on a tour of the main part of campus. Our group was led by a visiting student from Singapore who had arrived in September. She seemed to know more about the pubs surrounding campus than actual school buildings, haha. After the orientation, myself and Ashley, another student from Iowa who is also staying in the Pollock Halls,and some kids we met the night before, decided we wanted to get our phones. We walked down to Princes Street, the main shopping area that divides Old and New Towns. We had met some kids who came through the Butler Program and had arrived earlier in the week. They gave us advice on where to get the best deals on phones, so the whole thing was pretty easy. After that, we came back and ate our first meal in the Pollock Halls. It was ok, nothing too special. The dining hall is under construction so everyone is kind of squeezed into a small area, so meal times can be pretty hectic. We spent the rest of the night trying to sort things out with our laptops and the internet which has been a pretty stressful experience. I wasn't able to finally get internet in my room until Thursday night.

Monday was our first day of classes. I only had one class which wasn't until 4:00 but I decided to wake up early to get some breakfast and head over to campus. I had to make a meeting with my advisor or as they call it here, director of studies or DoS for short, and I also wanted to walk around campus and get a better idea of where everything was. I decided to walk up the Royal Mile but I came down a different way and ended up getting kind of turned around but I was able to make it back in time for class and I only had to whip out my map once. My class was Scottish Ethnology which is basically Scottish Culture. Its a lecture class with what seems like mostly visiting students. It seems like it will be interesting.

Tuesday, I had to wake up early. My English class Subjectivity, Modernity, and the Novel starts at 9:00. It was kind of intimidating. It's a third year class, so it's smaller and more discussion based. There were 25 of us, but the professor split us up into two different sections so for the rest of the semester there will only be 12 or 13 of us. I'm hoping I will be able to keep up with everyone not being too used to the system. After that class, I met with my DoS. We didn't talk for long, but he seems nice. Later I had my Scottish History since 1914 class. He just talked about the class and good resources for things. I'm thinking I might try and change that class to something else. I'm thinking there will probably be overlap between that and Ethnology so I think it would be interesting to try something else. There is a sociology class about popular music that a friend of mine is in that seems pretty interesting. After that, I had Ethnology again. When that was done, we ate dinner and a bunch of us decided to check out the International Student Center's pub night at one of the local pubs. It ended up being pretty fun! I ran into a few familiar faces and we did karaoke.

Wednesday I didn't have classes, so I slept in. I met the guy that comes to clean my room. They clean it once a week and empty the trash everyday. He seemed nice, but I didn't realize he was coming so I was pretty startled when he showed up. It was nice to have a day to sleep in since I'd been pretty busy everyday since I'd gotten here. I did eventually wake up to go on the International Student Center's tour of historic Edinburgh which was pretty neat. Unfortunately, it didn't start until 3:30 and it gets fairly dark around 4:00 or 4:30 here so we couldn't take many pictures, but the stuff was still cool to see and it was nice to walk around town and get more acclimated. That night, some of us hung out in the lounge of Ashley's dorm and met a real Scottish person! It was cool, since none of us have really befriended any British kids yet. It's been hard coming in second semester when a lot of people already have their friends and people don't socialize as much in the Pollock Halls as they do in the dorms at home. The girl's name was Rhona and she was real nice. She talked to us for awhile and answered a bunch of our questions and taught us some Scottish slang. It turns out she's in my Scottish Ethnology class. We made plans to hang out Thursday night.

Thursday, I went to the "Refreshers Fair." The first years here are referred to as "freshers" so the fair was basically for new students to walk around and see different societies students can get involved in. I ran into some people I knew there and we checked out some of the different societies. Then, I had Scottish History and Scottish Ethnology. It turns out some kids Ashley knew from Iowa were traveling around Europe and were in the Scotland so they came down to Edinburgh and we all hung out. We went out to a club in town and went dancing. It was a lot of fun! Rhona was supposed to come and introduce us to some of her Scottish friends, but she wasn't feeling well. I'm hoping we'll get to meet them soon though.

Today I didn't have class, but was awoken by the cleaning guy again. I had a meeting with my English professor to discuss the readings and structure of the class. He was very nice and assured me that if I kept up with the reading, I should be able to keep up with everyone. After that, I went to Blackwell's which is right across from campus and supplies many of the University's books. It pretty much looked like the overseas version of Borders. I got the anthology I needed for my English class. From there, I walked down to Princes Street again to explore and bought a new scarf to help shield the wind.

Tomorrow I'm thinking we might go to a football match which seems like it will be pretty exciting! Or there was talk of climbing up to the top of Arthur's Seat. Both seem like interesting possibilities.

So far, things have been going really well! The people I've met are pretty cool and I'm looking forward to meeting some more interesting people. The weather has not been too bad. When we first got here, it was windy and rainy which proved to be a pretty bad combination, but ever since the weekend, it's been pretty nice. It's windy but doesn't get colder than 30 degrees which isn't exactly warm, but definitely nicer than the negative degree weather in the Midwest right now! Sorry guys, I hope you're keeping warm! And it rains here and there, but never for very long or very hard (knock on wood). One thing that's been really difficult is learning how to cross the street. It sounds simple enough, but not here! With the windy streets of Old Town and cars driving on the wrong side of the road, it's definately difficult to remember where to look to make sure you won't get hit by a double decker bus! But anyways, the city is beautiful! So much history and culture and beautiful architecture. I've been telling everyone that it's basically like living in Harry Potter land. Haha. JK Rowling lives and wrote the book here and we've been told that she drew inspiration from many things around the city. I think this is going to be a really awesome opportunity to grow personally and academically.

I'll try to update this at least once a week. If you want to reach me, the best way is probably by email: edward-mccully@uiowa.edu. I'm also on Skype: ned.mccully, or a Facebook message is always nice!

Hope everyone is doing well at home! I'd love to hear from you!