I'm bad at this blogging thing...

...and good at not posting.  Sorry!  I've had several things that I've meant to post about, but I keep putting it off.  But I won't let it have been a month without a post.  So, without further ado, what I've done for the past month:


EDINBURGH! (with Dylan!)
After returning from York, I stayed with (my friend from MHC) Dylan (who is spending the year at the University of Edinburgh) for a few days (Thursday-Monday?).  She lives in a flat that's kind of like my house, only a little different (only 4 girls live there, one toilet, kitchen and common room in one big room), and it's in a building with no elevator.  Lots of stairs, as she lives on the 4th (5th, 6th, 3rd?) floor.  I don't actually know.  It was tough the night I arrived and had to lug my duffel up the stairs.  We had a good time, sleeping in a lot, and exploring the city.  We went to one of Dylan's favorite cafes, which happens to promote itself as JK Rowling's favorite spot when she was writing Harry Potter.  We later went on a Harry Potter walking tour, and the guide pointed out that, while she did go there to write, she did not write any of the first book there, as it didn't open until after she had finished that one.  The cafe where she began writing Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone has been turned into a different cafe, and only has a small plaque on the outside commemorating it.  We also got to see the graveyard where (William) McGonagall and Thomas Riddell are buried, the school on which Hogwarts may be partially based (at least, where the four houses come from), the real Diagon Alley, and some other places related to the books, JK Rowling, and historical witchcraft.  It was fun, and free.  We also went to the Museum of Childhood, which has four floors of all kinds of things related to childhood (toys, clothes, food containers, etc.) going back to the 19th century.  A little ways down the road from that is the People's Story Museum, which has exhibits about the various aspects (work, home, religious life) of (mainly) middle-class/working-class life in Edinburgh over the past couple of centuries.  In both museums, there were bits about how people survived before the NHS (ooh, scary!).  Apparently, they tried all sorts of crazy home remedies so that they didn't have to pay a lot of money to see the doctor.  How funny, to not have free health care!  Hahaha.  I found it funny.  Just that it seemed so bizarre and antiquated to them to not have free healthcare.  Anyway.  We also went to see The Hunger Games.  It was my second time, and Dylan's third.  It's such an excellent movie.  We also wandered up to the castle, but didn't go in (too expensive), and wandered down Prince's Street (shopping).  I always think of St Andrews as a really touristy, super posh golfer paradise, but Edinburgh may top it for touristy.  I have never seen so many bagpipers playing on the streets.  Granted, St Andrews is tiny, but still.  All we have is a flautist, and the occasional accordion player.  No bagpipers here.  Overall, we went to a lot of cafes.  It reminded me of how much I enjoy (and miss) a good cup of hot chocolate.  When I returned to St Andrews on Monday afternoon, Dasha was quite excited to see me.  Apparently, she had been the only one home that week, and was going crazy.  The rest of the week was spent lazing about, cleaning for an inspection that was postponed at the last minute, and lazing about.


ALBANY BALL
April 15th, we had our hall ball.  I love excuses for getting dressed up.  We started the night with a (classy?) Cava reception at Albany, and then took busses to Craigsanquhar (don't ask me how to pronounce that) House, where we had a lovely three course dinner.  A ceilidh ensued, and eventually gave way to a band playing more modern music for our dancing enjoyment.  Then, more food was served, buffet style.  Along with spring rolls and shrimp tempura, there was, as I discovered only after taking several bites, the Scottish national dish of haggis, neeps, and tatties.  The verdict:  haggis is really quite yummy.  It tastes like spicy mince or meatloaf.  An overall excellent night.  

EVERYTHING ELSE SINCE THEN

Since then, I've been bogged down with essays and reading, and of course, my typical lazing about.  Hmm.

ALBANY FUN DAY

Last last Sunday (April 29th), we had a big event on the back lawn with a hog roast, tons of candy, inflatable bouncy twister, and an inflatable maze, among other things.  I had so much candy.  It was like being a little kid.  Also, HOG ROAST.  I thought that was pretty cool.  I don't know, there's not much to say about it, other than, it happened, and it was fun.

MAY DIP

The May Dip is a St Andrews tradition, which presumably goes back until forever ago, because this university is super ancient.  Every year, as the sun rises on May 1, students run into the North Sea, to cleanse themselves of their academic sins.  The sins are: 1.  stepping on the PH outside the library (it's in stone on the ground, and I've somehow managed to never see it)  2.  academic incest (students create academic families with upperclassmen here, and take it very seriously.  Actually, it's a little creepy.  One of my housemates always shrieks "daddy!" whenever she sees her academic father.  It's really bizarre.)  3.  wearing your gown incorrectly (the ubiquitous red gowns of St Andrews - if you've never seen them, you've probably never looked up any information about the university).  If you haven't done any of these, you can still do the May Dip.  Being that I'm only here for one semester, and it would have been very hard for me to commit a sin (I have no academic family or robe, and can't find the PH), I decided to opt in.  Of course, students aren't just going to get up at sunrise and run into the sea.  It's absolutely freezing.  No, they party all night, and try to remain drunk enough long enough that they don't feel the cold.  The Albany Committee threw one of its infamous house parties (they have the most ridiculously high alcohol budgets for parties), and after its untimely shut down by the cops, we all wandered slowly to the beach, and started a bonfire.  There was a lot of snuggling, several guitars, a ukulele, and a mandolin, so staying out there until dawn wasn't too bad.  I did go back home for a little while, but I spent several hours freezing on the beach in a miniskirt (why I didn't get sweatpants, I will never know).  Other people had previously checked the official time for sunrise, which was 5:24, but at about 4:45, it was starting to get pretty light, and it is Scotland (by which I mean, the sun doesn't come out here), so we stripped down to our bathing suits and ran into the sea.  It was a long run.  The tide was out.  After splashing about in the waves a bit, we came back to the bonfire to warm up and dry off.  At 5:24, some people decided to go in again, just in case, and, at that point, there was indeed a sun in the sky, so off we went again.  Also, there were a lot of naked men.  A lot.  But there's not really much to tell there, so.  Eventually, we put the fire out, and wandered home.  I tried to read (I had about 2 hours before I had to leave to turn in a paper (it was already submitted online, I just had to get a hard copy to my professor) and go to class), but I mostly slept.  I dragged myself out of bed and to the computer room to print the paper, turned it in, and went to the library to read before class.  I bought myself a mocha to help with the exhaustion.  It didn't help.  I couldn't stay awake in the library.  So I bought another, and headed to class.  I wasn't really awake, but I did manage to not drop the book laying flat on my palm, so I couldn't have been too asleep.  My notes are hilarious.  By which I mean, I wasn't even putting enough pressure on my notebook for my pen to make marks.  Oops.  Hopefully I didn't miss anything too important.  I think doing the May Dip was just a little more of an important life experience.

BEYOND THE HORIZON

As I'm pretty sure I've mentioned, I've been taking Irish Dance.  All of our hard work this semester culminated in the DanceSoc show, Beyond the Horizon, this past week, from May 2-4.  Though I was only in the show for a couple of minutes, I spent hours upon hours in the Byre Theatre last week.  It was exhausting, especially the dance itself, but so incredibly worth it.  I had so much fun, and we did so well.  Here's an article from the University radio, which notes the Beginners Irish dance for being particularly impressive.  [Article!]  I will be getting a DVD of the show, but unfortunately, it will probably be the wrong region to be played in the US, or on my laptop.  Oh, well.  I really hope I get a chance to do Irish dance again.  I will at least be taking ballet and tap next semester at Mount Holyoke.

I'M PRETTY SURE THAT'S ALL

But here's a list of things that are funny about Scotland, continued from the previous one:

1.  There are definitely bugs here.  Boy was I naive before when I said there weren't.  But they still don't put screens on their windows.

2.  Paper towels = Kitchen roll

3.  Chocolate pudding doesn't exist here. 

4.  They have Crispy M&Ms here.  They stopped selling them in the US a long time ago.

5.  Tank tops are called vests here.  A vest is a waistcoat.

Also, I gave blood for the first time a few weeks ago.  It wasn't as bad as I thought.  I should do it again.

I also went to the Gilbert and Sullivan Society's production of "Princess Ida" a few weeks ago.  It's about a princess who creates a college for women.  A fellow Mount Holyoke student was in it.  

So now it's just finals.  One on the 14th, and one on the 21st. Then my mother arrives, and we go off adventuring until it's time to go home.  My time here is so close to its end.  I don't know how to feel about that.  I also can't really handle the fact that I'm about to be a senior (presuming I don't fail my finals).  Eek!

York! with Ellen!

After spending the first few days of spring break alone in my house, I left for York on Monday.  As usual, I inadvertently made things much harder for myself by bringing my duffel bag, rather than my small rolling suitcase.  The walk from my house to the bus station was tough, as were the walks between the Edinburgh bus station and rail station, and the York rail station and Ellen’s house.  I also got splattered with bird poop.  And the bus to Edinburgh broke down at one point (although, we only had to wait 10 minutes or so for a new bus).  So, it was a rough day.  But, the train ride was great, as I had a seat at a table all to myself, and it all ended at Ellen’s house.  Also, on the way, I discovered Phizzy Pig Tails, my new favorite candy.

This is Ellen’s house.  It’s a real grown-up house.  It has a sun room.

My train arrived at midnight, so when we got to Ellen’s house, we just had some smooshed (oops) pie and went to bed.  

On Tuesday, we explored York.  There was lots of shopping (but not actually buying things) and York history.  We walked along the wall for a bit, and strolled through the Museum Gardens.  Then, Ellen brought me along to cricket practice.

That’s Ellen batting.

We stayed in that night with her housemate Raine and Raine’s friend from water polo.  We watched Madagascar and ate ice cream.

On Wednesday, we planned on going to Whitby, but reached the rail station too late, and discovered that getting to Scarborough would be much faster and easier.  So it was off to Scarborough for a day at the seaside.

Scarborough is on a big hill.  The town bit and the castle are at the top, and the beach and boardwalk-type area are at the bottom.  The WAY bottom.  We wondered through town, glancing at the stores, and then walked down the steps to the boardwalk.

Queen Victoria is at the top of the steps.

It’s very Jersey Shore-esque.  Not in the sense of the tv show, but the actual shore.  There are lots of penny arcades and ice cream shops, and candy and souvenir and cheap clothing shops.  Unlike the Jersey Shore, Scarborough has a lot of fish and chip shops.  We walked along a pier, and ate rock candy (which is not the same as the rock candy I’ve gotten before.  It’s more of a candy stick).  We walked up (and up, and up, and up) and up to the castle, but decided to not go in to save money.  It’s perfectly nice to see from the outside.

 

Scarborough definitely needs lemonade stands.  I would have paid any amount of money for lemonade after all the stairs.  We walked back down through town, stopping at a small graveyard, where Anne Brontë is buried.

Once we were back down to the beach level, we stopped for lunch at the Princess Café (fish and chips, obviously).  Then, we stopped for ice cream, and saw a real TARDIS.

We went onto the beach for a while, and I dipped my feet into the North Sea for the first time.  I live right next to a beach, but I have yet to actually go on it.  I only ever walk along the path.  It was very cold.  

Then we made a dam.  Then a dog came up, sniffed it, and peed on it.  Apparently, he didn’t like our dam.

They have donkey rides for little kids on the beach.

After my feet had dried off and I was able to put my shoes back on, we wandered back up into town to stroll a bit more.  We stopped in a few stores, and suffered through a terrible rendition of “My Heart Will Go On” by some pan pipers outside.  Then it was back to York.  I fell asleep on the train a few times, while Ellen was reading (we drew on rainbow scratch-off pads on the way there), but I did manage to see a few baby sheep while I was awake.

We stopped at Marks and Spencer on the way from the rail station to Ellen’s house to get stuff to make shrimp stir-fry, and now I know what I will probably be eating several times a week from here on out.  It was fantastic.  Also, Ellen managed to make it in the amount of time it took me to go upstairs and check my email and facebook.

After dinner, we headed out to go to Ellen’s knitting club.  They knit in a pub.  One of the ladies there lent me needles and some yarn, and taught me how to knit.  I’m not a terrible knitter.  Every time I’ve tried to learn, I find that my main problem is that I knit too tightly.  I get way too serious about it, rather than relaxing and enjoying it.  I make it really difficult for myself.  After a couple of hours, there was a pub quiz, which we did as a big group.  I knew a few of the answers, and I was able to settle whether the Statue of Liberty holds her torch in her right or left hand with my passport (it’s her right hand).  We headed out before the answers, so I don’t know how we did, but I think we did pretty well.  

Yesterday, we did more wandering around York, but more importantly, we went to see The Hunger Games.  It was excellent.  I kind of want to see it again.  And/or read it again.  It was SO GOOD. We also went into the foyer of the Minster (always saving money by not going in), and I took some photos of the outside, too.  Then, we went back to Ellen’s house for dinner (lamb roast, peas, mashed potatoes, Yorkshire puddings), and to gather my stuff, to get ready for my departure.  Then at 7, we hopped on the bus to the rail station, and said our goodbyes.  So far, an excellent week.

ZOO!!!

On Friday, at 11:45, I turned in my last assignment for the week, thus ending the worst week ever.  The plan was to wander around town a bit, enjoying the weather and being happy about not being stuck writing essays forever, but then it RAINED.  On my (metaphorical) parade.  So, I walked home, because I had left some stuff I needed to run errands with there, anyway, but, after I got there, decided to wait to go into town until the rain stopped.  And I took a LONG nap.  Well, only a couple of hour, but I hadn't slept at all the previous night, so it was quite nice.  When I got up, I forced myself to go into town, to get to the post office before it closed.  It's a very bizarre post office.  It's like a CVS, with a post office in the back.  Maybe not a CVS.  They sell books and stationary and mostly various paper goods, and some candy and soda.  I converted the last of my American money to pounds, because I really needed £5 and didn't want to have to take money out of an ATM, since it's rather expensive to do so.  I also bought some postcards and stamps.


Also, I learned yesterday that ALL ATMs give out £10 notes here.  I thought that it was just the one by the Union that did, so I always used that one, even thought it's often out of £10 notes, and now I feel really silly.  Especially after finding out that the ATM near Tesco offers £5 notes.  I was astonished.  Also, now I'm mad about all the times I couldn't take out exactly the amount of money I wanted, just because I used the stupid Union ATM.  Oh well.  Now I know.


So, the zoo.  Yesterday, the Albany Park Committee hosted a trip to the Edinburgh Zoo.  It is the only zoo in the UK to have pandas and koalas.  Those are two of my favorite animals (I also love otters and big cats).  We got on the bus at 9am, and off we went.  It takes about an hour and a half to get to Edinburgh, and luckily, we didn't run into much traffic.  Upon our arrival, we were informed by Dan, the head of the committee, that we would not be able to see the pandas, as we had not reserved tickets to see them (it's free to see the pandas, but you have to get tickets for viewing time slots).  That was a bit upsetting.  Upon receiving maps of the zoo, we found inserts telling us that, as they were doing major renovation on the penguin exhibit, there would be no penguin parade.  That was sad, too.  But still, we were at the zoo!  We were told to meet back at the bus at 5, and into the zoo we went.  The zoo is on a huge hill, but there is a bus that will take you up to the top or back down.  A group of us decided to take the bus to the top, and then make our way back down to the bottom.  Some of the animals were hard to find, but the way the zoo is set up, you can view most enclosures from several sides, so often a quick walk to the other side of the enclosure will enable to find an animal.  The animals were all feeling particularly frisky (except the koalas, they're lazy bums), and a few seemed rather keen on mating.  There were also quite a few babies.  The zoo has a TON of monkeys.  They have at least 4 different areas with large monkey exhibits.  Monkeys are usually my least favorite animals, before reptiles, but I actually enjoyed most of them.  Sometimes I think it's a bit weird to have monkeys in zoos, because they're so much like people, and it feels invasive watching them in their exhibits.  Anyway, by about 4:10, we had seen all of the animals, and were back at the entrance.  We decided to go to the panda exhibit and ask if they would let us in.  When we got there, there was only a small group of people waiting for the next viewing, so we got in line.  They announced that that group would be the last viewing of the day, and that it was a nice small group.  When they started collecting people's tickets and letting them in, we asked if we could go in, even without tickets.  They said that there was plenty of space, so sure.  We all did little jumps for joy, and went in.  They have a keeper give a short talk about the pandas, and how the zoo got them, and conservation, and then they take you into the pandas' indoor area.  They had just gotten their dinner, and so were sitting inside, eating.  We stayed there for a bit, and then, as the pandas went outside, we went around to the outside viewing area.  At about 4:40, we left to stop in the gift shop before going back to the bus.  I considered buying some postcards, but the line was way too long.  


Then, we went to dinner at Zucca, a fancy Italian restaurant near the Lyceum theatre.  I think most of us were in agreement that we'd rather have gone somewhere less fancy (typical Albany sentiment - cheaper is better), but it is nice to go to fancy restaurants sometimes.  We were allowed to get a two course meal, or pay £3 extra for three courses.  I decided against dessert.  I got bruschetta as a starter, served on fresh baked focaccia.  It was really good.  For my entree, I had grilled chicken with gnocchi and rocket (arugula) in lemon and thyme sauce.  It was okay, but I wished  had gotten something else.  Gnocchi isn't really my thing.  The chicken was good, though.  After everyone who had gotten any had finished their dessert, we headed back to the bus to return to St Andrews, getting back to Albany at 9:30.  Overall, a most excellent day.

Hell Week

It has come to my attention, via facebook, that pretty much everyone is having the worst week ever, in terms of workload.  As much as some days here feel like vacation, I also have more than enough work to keep me up for the next several nights.  This week, I have a 2,500 word essay dues for one class, a 2,000 word essay for the other, plus an 800 word reading response due.  And, like the good student I am, one of those assignments is already late, and the other two, well, I've penciled them into the schedule.  We'll see if they get done on time.  It's just very easy to get distracted here.  People either don't do a lot of their work, or they go to the library or Albany computer room during the day, so that they can play video games and drink and go out at night.  I prefer to sit in my room doing work on weeknights.  It doesn't help that we know have a Playstation 3 hooked up in the common room, separated from my room by a very thin wall.  I know that I should just head to the computer room to work, but it's easier not to.


Hm.  Not the most fun post.  Although I never promised they would all be sunshine and daisies.  Really, I'm just procrastinating.  I promise to post something more interesting tomorrow or Thursday.

Settled In

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've posted.  At this point, I'm totally settled in to life here, and so I just haven't really been able to think of anything to post.  In the past two weeks, I've managed to do a lot of reading for class, watch a lot of tv, shop for groceries, cook...not exactly exciting stuff.  I mean, I love cooking, but I don't think it's the most interesting of things.  Also, our kitchen is GROSS.  So, cooking is not as fun as it is at home.  Just a bit more necessary.  I did go to my first ball on the 24th, so I guess that's something.  It was fun.  It was held at Kinkell Byre, which is a few miles south of here.  The ball was held by DRA, one of the other halls here, and they had a bus to take you from there to Kinkell, but it's also the furthest hall from Albany, so we had to take taxis over there.  Luckily, on the way home, we were able to get the bus driver to drop us of at Albany, as it was on the way from Kinkell to DRA.  We were on the first bus to get to Kinkell, so when we arrived, we took advantage of the free champagne and ice cream before the ceilidh started.  The ceilidh band was there for a while, and was later replaced by a live band, and later a DJ.  It was not as serious and formal as I expected, but we had a lot of fun.


I've also been doing Irish dance.  The Dance Society here offers classes in a lot of different sorts of dance, from beginning to advanced levels.  The Beginning Irish class fit into my schedule, and it sounded like fun, so I joined.  Last week in class, we managed to get to the end of the dance we will be performing in the show in May.  Next week we will probably be videotaping the dance, so maybe I'll be able to post it (if I don't look absolutely awful in it).


Next Saturday I'm going to the Edinburgh Zoo, and the following week I'll probably be going to York, so I'll have something to post about.


Alas, I must get back to paper writing.  I have two fairly big ones due next week.

Shinty!

Before even coming to St Andrews, I had decided I wanted to try shinty.  I wanted to play a sport or do something to stay active, and shinty sounded new and exciting and I figured that since it seemed vaguely like field hockey, some of my ice hockey skills might be transferrable.  So, two Wednesdays ago, I headed to the "give-it-a-go" session to see what it was like.

But what is shinty, you ask?  The team's website describes it as either [field] hockey with no rules, full contact golf, or ice hockey on grass.  These are all pretty good descriptions.  Basically, everyone has a golf club sized wooden stick (caman), it has a curved-ish end, and you use it to hot a ball slightly bigger than a golf ball.  You can swing as high as you want, so it looks a bit like golf.  Except with running.  And contact.  And you try to hit it into a net, not a hole.  There are 3 attackers, 3 midfielders, 3 defenders, and a goalie.  The attackers and defenders (opposing teams) stay somewhat near their respective goals, while the midfielders run all over the place.  If you need more info, I'm sure you can find plenty by googling.

So, two Wednesdays ago, I go to the Sports Centre (AU), and learn that the pitches are all frozen, so nothing's on.  Luckily, I had met one of the girls on the team as she is friends with my housemates (and me, I suppose), and so I texted one of my housemates to text her to ask where it was.  While I was waiting outside the AU for a reply, I saw a bunch of girls carrying camans walk out of the AU.  I asked, and they led me to practice at West Sands (a beach).  It wasn't really low tide, so we didn't have much room to practice, but it was a lot of fun, and I'd like to think that I'm not half bad.

That night, there was a Disney-themed get-together.  I went as Bagheera from The Jungle Book.  At the get-together, all of the new people got their Agnes names.  (New shinty girls are called Agnes, plural Agnii.  You get an Agnes name, i.e. Agnes Mungo Jerry (that's me (think Cats, not the band)), and then, after you play in your first away game, you have an initiation night, and are given your "real" name.  The name on your birth certificate is your "heathen" name, and is not to be used.)  We had a good time.  

I have since been to two more practices.  I have also skipped two (on tuesdays at 7:30am), but I haven't been getting my Tuesday reading done in time to spend my morning at practice.  It is quite fun, and I'm looking forward to practice tomorrow.

Funny Things About Scotland

I promise to post about the past week at some point soon.  In the meantime, here is a list of things that are weird/funny/different from the US:

1.  Traffic lights - they go green, yellow, red, yellow, green.
2.  Mushy peas.  You can buy them as a frozen vegetable.
3.  They don't have bugs here! Thus, no window screens.
4.  They fry EVERYTHING.  A friend ordered a burger yesterday, and it was battered and deep fried.
5.  Almost all the deodorant is spray on, not stick.
6.  Eggs aren't refrigerated at the grocery store.

That's all I can think of at the moment, but I'll update it at some point.