Last night, I went to dinner with 3 of my flatmates and Satoru bought me a drink for my birthday! It was so nice of him! It was a wee bit expensive for my liking (the food) but it was good anyway. After that, I went to Aikmans to discuss spring break with Pat, Katie, Adam, and Calen. Once we decided what to do, we went to the library to search for some last minute hostels and such. We didn't have a hostel in Geneva because for some reason, Geneva has like one hostel and it was full. By the grace of God, I found a youth hostel in Geneva and booked Pat, Katie and I a room...Phew. I'm not quite sure what we would have done if we didn't find a hostel.
It is a beautiful day here today in Scotland today and it is soooo nice! There are a few clouds in the sky, pretty much no wind, and warm (relatively...) temperatures. I cleaned my room today and packed my stuff for my trip to Europe, which will commence in a few hours. I am excited to go! I am bringing my homework with me with hopes of studying...I sure hope it works out! I went and played some foosball today with Calen and we played some pretty tight matches. I am getting better...Julia and Justine you'd better watch out! I made my way back to town, bought some kleenex (I unfortunately still have that cold...) and some coffee and a muffin from Costa Coffee. It was such a pleasant walk back to my room. I talked to Justine for a little while and soon I'll be off to class. I have about an hour after class until we need to get to the bus station, so I'm going to purchase some candy for my trip...emergency rations...just in case! I am excited to see Jon tomorrow! It's been awhile. Wish me luck!
By the way, I am living in the senior apartments next year with Jon, Willie Flores, and Dave Casper. It's going to rock! We even got one of the tower rooms! Score!!
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Back in Black
Hey everyone! I'm sure you've all been wondering why I haven't written in awhile...(yeah...i bet you have) but I am going to catch up now...so this may be a long post...I'm not sure.
Well, my family was here to visit since last Wednesday and we had a lot of great adventures! The first being my going to get them from Edinburgh. I got up really early in the morning and caught the first bus to Edinburgh from St Andrews. It was a nice long boring bus ride and I finally arrived at the Edinburgh Bus Station. I got off and expected to find my family waiting for me there (I had given them directions to the BS) because their plane was to arrive earlier than when my bus was to arrive. However, that was not the case and I ended up waiting for 45 minutes for them to arrive at the station. It was good to see them! I helped them stow their luggage in the lockers there and we headed off to see some of Edinburgh. We didn't have all that much time because we needed to get to St Andrews that night, so we started off quickly. The first place we went was Edinburgh Castle. We went through the park and eventually, found our way to the castle and explored it. I was basically a tour guide for them because I had been there before already. (I am just realizing I think I already posted something about this...I will skip ahead to our journey to Ireland)
So...yeah. Friday was our scheduled trip to Ireland. I had class in the morning, but right after class I went to my parents house and we headed to the bus station together. After another long boring bus ride, we made our way to Waverly Station and took the Airlink 100 bus to the airport. We checked in with RyanAir and headed to our gate. My mom was quite nervous...I think it may have been because we told her that budget airlines use propellers still and she didn't like that (RyanAir doesn't use propellers). Anyway, we boarded and the flight went well except for my mom...she didn't like it much at all. We went through passport security and got our passports stamped (green ink of course for Ireland!) and we were in Dublin! We arrived when it was quite late and we didn't exactly know where we were going or what we were doing...but I had a general idea. I had the directions to our hostel and I found the bus we needed to get on. We went to the ticket machine and the one ticket we wanted was out of order and they didn't sell them on the bus...so of course, certain people got nervous...but we found some from a shop in the airport. We got on our bus and headed to the city centre. We got off on one of the main streets in Dublin but neglected to get food because we wanted to find our hostel. It was a longer walk than I had anticipated and we asked a nice Irish fellow for directions. It was a tense walk to the hostel as I think my navigations skills may have come into question (for the record, I had a spotless record for getting us where we needed to get to this entire trip!) We (finally) made it to the hostel and the first thing I saw was a sign that said 'Youth Hostel'. Some youth hostels have an age limit and, sorry to say, my parents did not fit that age range. Fortunately, this one did not have a limit and we got our room. We had a fantastic time making our beds...it was a real treat and so were the matresses. We hadn't had any food, and the only place open was a take-away shop (Ireland pretty much closes on Good Friday), in which we got some food for 20 euro! It was quite expensive. We ate our lovely dinner and hit the hay for the night.
Our next day started with complimentary breakfast. We headed to the dining hall and got a basic breakfast. I got my food and headed to the table and the next thing I know, my mom puts her tray down with her lone glass of orange juice and says, 'I don't know what's going on.' I was shocked; I didn't know breakfast was hard to get! ha ha...anyway, I got her some toast and that made everyone happy. We walked to the street we had got dropped off on the night before and caught a tour bus that lets you get on and off as many times as you want for the day! It was great! We toured around and the first stop we got off at was Dublin Castle, which was a little bit lame. Part of it looks like an old castle, but the other part of it doesn't. We hopped back on the bus and got off next at St. Patrick's Cathedral, the national cathedral of Ireland. It was a beautiful cathedral! We again hopped back on the bus and the next stop we were really looking forward to! The Guinness Storehouse! However, we opted out of getting off the bus when the line for the Storehouse was over two blocks long...:( how disappointing...however, little did we know that our next stop would definitely make up for it! We got off at (with a wee bit of Bryan's awesome navigation skills) the Old Jameson Distillery! I will take a tour anyday where you learn about the fine art of making whisky and getting a complimentary dram at the end. We got our tickets for the tour and waited for a little bit...finally we got on our tour and watched a wee movie about John Jameson. After the movie, the tour lady announced that everyone would get to taste the whisky at the end, but six people wouldn't...because they'd get to try 5! I was so pumped! First, she picked 3 women...and then the moment of truth. She asked for 3 men to raise their hands and mine shot up like a rocket! She picked me first!!! WOOO!! I was so excited!!! I went through the whole tour waiting for this special moment. At the end, there was a table set up for us six people with 5 different whiskys set up...one Scotch (Johnny Red), one American (Jack Daniels), and three Irish. Each little cup probably had a half a shot in it...possibly a little less. My parents and Zac each got a free drink as well! I got to try each one! After I was done, they gave me a certificate saying I was a certified whisky taster and I got another free drink! It was fantastic! Then Zac didn't finish his, so I drank the rest of his. I was feeling good when I left Jameson. Real good. We got back on the bus and got off next at Trinity College and headed to the Hard Rock Cafe in the Temple Bar area of Dublin (the tourist area). After a fine meal, we took one more aim at the Guinness Storehouse. We made it there and the line outside the door wasn't long at all! It was great! However, when we got inside, there was another huge line...oh well! The seven story tour was good, and cumulated with a nice pint of Guinness at the end. Everyone in the family had one! I do say though, after Hard Rock, it's hard to finish a Guinness on a full stomach! So we left Guinness and had to find alternate means of getting home, since our tour bus was over for the day. We found a bus that took us back to the city centre and we made our way home. It was a good day overall! :D I was very pleased.
The next day we went to Easter Mass as a Catholic Church close to our hostel. The church was beautiful! After church, we went found our way back to the airport, after not knowing what to do since where we were going to wait was closed off and we had no idea which way the buses were going to go...and flew back to Edinburgh and waited in Waverly Station for our train to come that would take use to Leuchars. The bus doesn't run on Sundays from Edinburgh to St Andrews so we had to take the train! Another exciting experience for my family....
Monday we took it easy and just stayed in St Andrews. My dad made us lunch and for dinner, we went out for steaks and celebrated my birthday early. I might elaborate on this day more later, but I'll stick to the exciting parts since this is getting long!
Today, we got up really early again and headed to Stirling. We got there at 9 am and caught the bus that took us to the castle. We toured the castle and were having a lot of fun when we realized it was already 11...and we needed to leave by 1 and wanted to see the Wallace Monument. After a long time of trying to decide what to do...I decided that would walk to town and catch a taxi to take us to the monument. It ended up working well and I got to experience hailing a taxi. It didn't even cost all that much. My mom and Zac got to see the Wallace Sword like they wanted to. Zac and I climbed to the top of it! It was a long climb...I'd done it before as well with Justine, but the crown was closed then due to high winds! It was open today luckily. We caught the bus back to St Andrews after that and I said goodbye to my family. They are staying in Edinburgh tonight because they fly back to the States tomorrow morning early! I am so glad I got to see them; It was a good experience for them to be here and I was happy I got to spend some time with them here! I hope they get home safely (to Florida...for more vacation)!
I am sick now and really sore and tired. I think I will rest for awhile.
Well, my family was here to visit since last Wednesday and we had a lot of great adventures! The first being my going to get them from Edinburgh. I got up really early in the morning and caught the first bus to Edinburgh from St Andrews. It was a nice long boring bus ride and I finally arrived at the Edinburgh Bus Station. I got off and expected to find my family waiting for me there (I had given them directions to the BS) because their plane was to arrive earlier than when my bus was to arrive. However, that was not the case and I ended up waiting for 45 minutes for them to arrive at the station. It was good to see them! I helped them stow their luggage in the lockers there and we headed off to see some of Edinburgh. We didn't have all that much time because we needed to get to St Andrews that night, so we started off quickly. The first place we went was Edinburgh Castle. We went through the park and eventually, found our way to the castle and explored it. I was basically a tour guide for them because I had been there before already. (I am just realizing I think I already posted something about this...I will skip ahead to our journey to Ireland)
So...yeah. Friday was our scheduled trip to Ireland. I had class in the morning, but right after class I went to my parents house and we headed to the bus station together. After another long boring bus ride, we made our way to Waverly Station and took the Airlink 100 bus to the airport. We checked in with RyanAir and headed to our gate. My mom was quite nervous...I think it may have been because we told her that budget airlines use propellers still and she didn't like that (RyanAir doesn't use propellers). Anyway, we boarded and the flight went well except for my mom...she didn't like it much at all. We went through passport security and got our passports stamped (green ink of course for Ireland!) and we were in Dublin! We arrived when it was quite late and we didn't exactly know where we were going or what we were doing...but I had a general idea. I had the directions to our hostel and I found the bus we needed to get on. We went to the ticket machine and the one ticket we wanted was out of order and they didn't sell them on the bus...so of course, certain people got nervous...but we found some from a shop in the airport. We got on our bus and headed to the city centre. We got off on one of the main streets in Dublin but neglected to get food because we wanted to find our hostel. It was a longer walk than I had anticipated and we asked a nice Irish fellow for directions. It was a tense walk to the hostel as I think my navigations skills may have come into question (for the record, I had a spotless record for getting us where we needed to get to this entire trip!) We (finally) made it to the hostel and the first thing I saw was a sign that said 'Youth Hostel'. Some youth hostels have an age limit and, sorry to say, my parents did not fit that age range. Fortunately, this one did not have a limit and we got our room. We had a fantastic time making our beds...it was a real treat and so were the matresses. We hadn't had any food, and the only place open was a take-away shop (Ireland pretty much closes on Good Friday), in which we got some food for 20 euro! It was quite expensive. We ate our lovely dinner and hit the hay for the night.
Our next day started with complimentary breakfast. We headed to the dining hall and got a basic breakfast. I got my food and headed to the table and the next thing I know, my mom puts her tray down with her lone glass of orange juice and says, 'I don't know what's going on.' I was shocked; I didn't know breakfast was hard to get! ha ha...anyway, I got her some toast and that made everyone happy. We walked to the street we had got dropped off on the night before and caught a tour bus that lets you get on and off as many times as you want for the day! It was great! We toured around and the first stop we got off at was Dublin Castle, which was a little bit lame. Part of it looks like an old castle, but the other part of it doesn't. We hopped back on the bus and got off next at St. Patrick's Cathedral, the national cathedral of Ireland. It was a beautiful cathedral! We again hopped back on the bus and the next stop we were really looking forward to! The Guinness Storehouse! However, we opted out of getting off the bus when the line for the Storehouse was over two blocks long...:( how disappointing...however, little did we know that our next stop would definitely make up for it! We got off at (with a wee bit of Bryan's awesome navigation skills) the Old Jameson Distillery! I will take a tour anyday where you learn about the fine art of making whisky and getting a complimentary dram at the end. We got our tickets for the tour and waited for a little bit...finally we got on our tour and watched a wee movie about John Jameson. After the movie, the tour lady announced that everyone would get to taste the whisky at the end, but six people wouldn't...because they'd get to try 5! I was so pumped! First, she picked 3 women...and then the moment of truth. She asked for 3 men to raise their hands and mine shot up like a rocket! She picked me first!!! WOOO!! I was so excited!!! I went through the whole tour waiting for this special moment. At the end, there was a table set up for us six people with 5 different whiskys set up...one Scotch (Johnny Red), one American (Jack Daniels), and three Irish. Each little cup probably had a half a shot in it...possibly a little less. My parents and Zac each got a free drink as well! I got to try each one! After I was done, they gave me a certificate saying I was a certified whisky taster and I got another free drink! It was fantastic! Then Zac didn't finish his, so I drank the rest of his. I was feeling good when I left Jameson. Real good. We got back on the bus and got off next at Trinity College and headed to the Hard Rock Cafe in the Temple Bar area of Dublin (the tourist area). After a fine meal, we took one more aim at the Guinness Storehouse. We made it there and the line outside the door wasn't long at all! It was great! However, when we got inside, there was another huge line...oh well! The seven story tour was good, and cumulated with a nice pint of Guinness at the end. Everyone in the family had one! I do say though, after Hard Rock, it's hard to finish a Guinness on a full stomach! So we left Guinness and had to find alternate means of getting home, since our tour bus was over for the day. We found a bus that took us back to the city centre and we made our way home. It was a good day overall! :D I was very pleased.
The next day we went to Easter Mass as a Catholic Church close to our hostel. The church was beautiful! After church, we went found our way back to the airport, after not knowing what to do since where we were going to wait was closed off and we had no idea which way the buses were going to go...and flew back to Edinburgh and waited in Waverly Station for our train to come that would take use to Leuchars. The bus doesn't run on Sundays from Edinburgh to St Andrews so we had to take the train! Another exciting experience for my family....
Monday we took it easy and just stayed in St Andrews. My dad made us lunch and for dinner, we went out for steaks and celebrated my birthday early. I might elaborate on this day more later, but I'll stick to the exciting parts since this is getting long!
Today, we got up really early again and headed to Stirling. We got there at 9 am and caught the bus that took us to the castle. We toured the castle and were having a lot of fun when we realized it was already 11...and we needed to leave by 1 and wanted to see the Wallace Monument. After a long time of trying to decide what to do...I decided that would walk to town and catch a taxi to take us to the monument. It ended up working well and I got to experience hailing a taxi. It didn't even cost all that much. My mom and Zac got to see the Wallace Sword like they wanted to. Zac and I climbed to the top of it! It was a long climb...I'd done it before as well with Justine, but the crown was closed then due to high winds! It was open today luckily. We caught the bus back to St Andrews after that and I said goodbye to my family. They are staying in Edinburgh tonight because they fly back to the States tomorrow morning early! I am so glad I got to see them; It was a good experience for them to be here and I was happy I got to spend some time with them here! I hope they get home safely (to Florida...for more vacation)!
I am sick now and really sore and tired. I think I will rest for awhile.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
So tired...
Today I picked up my parents from Edinburgh! I got up at 5:30 am this morning after going to bed at 2 and not sleeping well or getting to sleep right away. I tried to sleep on the bus ride there but it turned out being very difficult. So anyway I get to the bus station in Edinburgh and my parents should have been there waiting for me...but they weren't. It turned out their plane was delayed an hour so I had to wait a little longer for them. We finally met up and gave hugs and stuff and then ventured out to the castle. It was a rough day for my dad; he had a lot of trouble getting up to the castle (it was a long steep climb). But no worries, we got there and toured the castle! After we left, we were walking down the royal mile and an insane orange Lambourgini was parked on the side of the road (I'll post a pic soon!) It was beautiful! So after taking a few pictures...we headed to an exhibit called 'The Real Mary King's Close'. So here's the story behind it...Edinburgh used to be kind of a craphole where most of the people lived and they lived in tall apartment-like structures with narrow alleys in between called closes. The merchants of the time decided they wanted somewhere they could do all their merchant dealings in one single place so the government demolished the buildings except for the maybe the first or first two floors, which were then used as structural support for the new building and storage. Once the new merchantile building was completed...the merchants decided they didn't want it anymore and it was given to the local government. The exhibit was a tour of essentially underneath the Royal Mile where these houses and alleys still exist! They were just built on top of. This particular close was named after Mary King, who lived in the house at the end of the close (the rich part...not in the 'slums'). It was called the 'real' MKC because the tour guide gave us stories about real people and real happenings of what went down in these living areas and ultimately underneath the present day Edinburgh. It was really neat...only Zachary and I went because it was kind of expensive and my parents didn't really want to go. I was sad because I couldn't take any photos...
After that awesomeness, we went to a store called Jenners for my mom and ended up eating in a cafeteria in the store. Roast pork :) After eating, we made our way back to the bus station and caught the bus back to St. Andrews.
When we got back, I showed my family where they were staying and trouble struck...the little combination lock holder wouldn't open and thus, we couldn't get in the house. I tried calling the tenants number but it wouldn't work on my phone. Finally, I got ahold of the woman and my dad talked to her and she came to open the house. It was a pretty nice house, smelled kind of weird but whatev...after getting organized, we went to eat at Bella Italia and had fun there. We stopped at Tesco on the way home to get some essentials and went back to their place and had some tea. I was so out of it...I decided to come home and here I am! Tomorrow we are heading around St Andrews! Hopefully it doesn't rain...
After that awesomeness, we went to a store called Jenners for my mom and ended up eating in a cafeteria in the store. Roast pork :) After eating, we made our way back to the bus station and caught the bus back to St. Andrews.
When we got back, I showed my family where they were staying and trouble struck...the little combination lock holder wouldn't open and thus, we couldn't get in the house. I tried calling the tenants number but it wouldn't work on my phone. Finally, I got ahold of the woman and my dad talked to her and she came to open the house. It was a pretty nice house, smelled kind of weird but whatev...after getting organized, we went to eat at Bella Italia and had fun there. We stopped at Tesco on the way home to get some essentials and went back to their place and had some tea. I was so out of it...I decided to come home and here I am! Tomorrow we are heading around St Andrews! Hopefully it doesn't rain...
Monday, March 17, 2008
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Happy St. Patrick's Day to you all! I hope that you spent it well and had a good time since this is, of course, the one day where we are all a wee bit Irish! My day didn't start off so exciting. I woke up and for some reason, started thinking about how much money I am not going to have after I get home and what I am going to do during the summer...It made me quite depressed. My spring break trip is costing me so much...but it's something I should do (and have to now since I booked all the stuff...). It will be fine...I just don't want to think about it. One of the big things that makes me think about it is how I need to purchase a mountain bike when I get home. That will be a big check, and I really want to get a new computer. I don't think that will work out for awhile...anyway! back to my day!
I left my house at 2 to head to the travel centre to pay for the rest of my reservations and travel insurance. Afterwards, I headed to the library to study some chemistry and Greek. I stayed there for a little while and went to class...The class is moving so quickly because it is an 'accelerated' course or something like that. So when our lecturer missed most of last week while he was sick...we have to make up for that and we are making up for it by going faster. Great. It's tough to learn a language this way...but we'll see how it goes :) After class, I walked home briskly and made my dinner. I had orange chicken and steamed veggies. I had to hurry because I had football tonight. At football, we got destroyed. it was probably like 15-2 or something like that. It wasn't as bad as last week when I didn't go...they told me it was 20-0...not good. I did manage to score one of the goals...woot! After football, I headed over to New Hall and hung out with Calen for a wee bit and played foosball. I brought him some of the irish cream that I had made...courtesy of Mrs. Sherry Koehler, who gave me the recipe! It turned out quite well! Better than I had thought and it tastes amazing! After winning foosball (me and Calen, we beat two of our other friends) we went to a pub called the Pilsner. They have pub trivia night on Mondays. We got there and I got a Guinness, to celebrate the holiday at hand and we waited for trivia to start. It was a lot of fun and we ended up getting second to last! A lot of it was British trivia...quite hard! After trivia, the pub does bingo and every team gets a bingo card. The first team to get a line wins a bottle of wine and the first team to get all of their numbers called wins the entry fees for the night! (1 pound a person). The girls who with us won the bottle of wine and our manly team won the entry fees! We won 33 pounds, but for some reason which I can't explain, we shared with the girls. I ended up getting 4 pounds...which is better than nothing! It was so much fun to win! After triumphing at bingo, us guys and pat and katie walked to Empire and they got some food. I opted out in lieu of saving money. Katie and I walked back to Albany Park and I am here now! For some reason, my neck is so sore! I think it might be from football...it really hurts to move it. Hopefully sleep will make it feel better :D I'd best go try that remedy out...bye!
I left my house at 2 to head to the travel centre to pay for the rest of my reservations and travel insurance. Afterwards, I headed to the library to study some chemistry and Greek. I stayed there for a little while and went to class...The class is moving so quickly because it is an 'accelerated' course or something like that. So when our lecturer missed most of last week while he was sick...we have to make up for that and we are making up for it by going faster. Great. It's tough to learn a language this way...but we'll see how it goes :) After class, I walked home briskly and made my dinner. I had orange chicken and steamed veggies. I had to hurry because I had football tonight. At football, we got destroyed. it was probably like 15-2 or something like that. It wasn't as bad as last week when I didn't go...they told me it was 20-0...not good. I did manage to score one of the goals...woot! After football, I headed over to New Hall and hung out with Calen for a wee bit and played foosball. I brought him some of the irish cream that I had made...courtesy of Mrs. Sherry Koehler, who gave me the recipe! It turned out quite well! Better than I had thought and it tastes amazing! After winning foosball (me and Calen, we beat two of our other friends) we went to a pub called the Pilsner. They have pub trivia night on Mondays. We got there and I got a Guinness, to celebrate the holiday at hand and we waited for trivia to start. It was a lot of fun and we ended up getting second to last! A lot of it was British trivia...quite hard! After trivia, the pub does bingo and every team gets a bingo card. The first team to get a line wins a bottle of wine and the first team to get all of their numbers called wins the entry fees for the night! (1 pound a person). The girls who with us won the bottle of wine and our manly team won the entry fees! We won 33 pounds, but for some reason which I can't explain, we shared with the girls. I ended up getting 4 pounds...which is better than nothing! It was so much fun to win! After triumphing at bingo, us guys and pat and katie walked to Empire and they got some food. I opted out in lieu of saving money. Katie and I walked back to Albany Park and I am here now! For some reason, my neck is so sore! I think it might be from football...it really hurts to move it. Hopefully sleep will make it feel better :D I'd best go try that remedy out...bye!
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Lazy Lazy Lazy...
Yesterday, I was so lazy. I got up late and spent most of the day on the computer. Granted, I needed to be on the computer because I was finalizing plans for spring break and booking hostels, but being on the computer that long gives me a headache. I am about 90% finished with my final itinerary with only deciding either to spend two nights in Geneva and one in Nice or two nights in Nice and one in Geneva. I booked my hostels for Berlin, Paris, Rome, Florence, and Grindelwald in Switzerland. After I booked all those rooms, I was invited over to Katie's house (House 31...right next to mine) for dinner with her and Pat. She made quinoa and steamed vegetables. It was good and probably one of the larger meals I've had since Justine left. It was very delicious! After that, I headed home and had a little bit of a headache...I talked to Justine for a little bit and, being the smart kid I am, closed my eyes for a little bit and fell asleep for almost two hours and woke up around 11...bad choice. I talked to Justine a little more and went back to bed, but couldn't fall asleep right away of course! Anyway, I eventually fell asleep and woke up around 10 and decided to do my laundry. I searched through my spare change and found the amount I needed and went to the laundry room. I put my clothes and detergent in and put my money in until I found out the machines don't take 5p coins. I only needed 30p more! And I was out of 10p coins. Uh oh...I ran back to my room and searched through my coins to find, luckily, two 20p coins. Phew. Otherwise I would have been out of luck with my clothes covered in detergent and not enough money to do the wash. I came back and ate an egg sandwich for breakfast. I got my laundry when it was done and hung it to dry in the common room. I like to hang dry stuff because it's cheaper and it's more environmentally friendly. Now I'm heading to town to get some coffee and meet my friend Calen at 2. We are going kilt shopping!! :D
Saturday, March 15, 2008
The Sun Will Come Out...sometime??
Yesterday was a beautiful day here in bonny Scotland, the first nice day in awhile. The temps got up to the low 50's and it was sunny! I actually went out and sat on the grass and looked at some of my spring break plans for awhile; it was quite lovely. I only had one tutorial yesterday so I didn't have a whole lot of class going on. The tutorial gave me new hope for the module. I also found out both my chemistry courses are only 2.5 credits each. Nice :D After class I went to the travel centre and booked my reserved trains and took a large sum of money from the ATM to pay for it :( It always hurts to give that much money to someone at one time. But I am glad I have the method of how I am getting around settled.
My friends were making sushi tonight so I met them at Tesco and bought some stuff for myself...a pomegranate, some croissants, and some muffins! Breakfast and/or lunch for awhile... after Tesco we went back to New Hall and they started making the sushi and I ate my pomegranate. I didn't pay for any of the sushi supplies so I didn't want to really partake in eating it, though I did take a piece or two. After sushi, Pat, Katie, Calen, Adam and I went looking for a pub to chill at, but beforehand, played some intense fooseball. It was so much fun and I played really well for some reason! Pat and I ended up playing Calen and Adam and we lost, so eventually we'll have to buy them a pint. Oh well...it was fun! So we headed off after that and I had to stop at the ATM beforehand to get a little money to get a pint but the ATM wouldn't give me any money...it said I had taken out as much money as I could for the day...oh well...it was probably for the best! I wouldn't spend the money then. Trying to find a pub was quite difficult...everywhere was absolutely packed! We tried the Whey Pat, one I forgot the name of, the West Port, the Keys (a definite locals' place), the Central, the Criterion, the Byre Theatre, and finally Aikmans...We stayed at Aikmans even though it was really busy. We had to stand up for awhile and eventually got a place to sit. I didn't have any funds due to the ATM so I just sat and talked with them for awhile. They were going to have another pint and Pat and Katie bought me one even though I said it was ok! They are so nice...I have really nice friends!
After Aikmans, Adam really wanted to play Dance Dance Revolution at the Union...so we headed there and watched him get his groove on. He's pretty dang good at that game...lots of people were complimenting his skillz. After that display of footwork, we went to KFB's to get some food. I figured I'd be able to pay with my debit card there but when I ordered, the girl there said it had to be over 5 pounds...gosh! so I ended up getting chicken nuggets (yum yum!!) and some mozzarella sticks for home. While we were eating outside KFB, some intensely drunk Scottish people came up and talked to us. First it was a girl named Amanda...and Calen gave her a piece of his pizza and she wanted to know our names...then test herself to see if she remembered (I span of maybe 10 seconds...). She failed, miserable, at least 5 times. Then another girl and her older brother (both still drunk...) came up and talked to us. The guy, Sean, was in the British Army and was talking about Americans and the forces. He had a deep respect for the individuals fighting in the US Armed Forces and said it if weren't for us, everyone else would be destroyed out on the battlefield. It can be argued that we got them there anyway, but he didn't bring that up. It was really neat to talk to them about that stuff. He had started talking to me when he first got there about chemistry and he asked if I blew stuff up. Well I had no idea what he had said to me so I kind of did that whole pretend I know what you are saying...Adam told me later what he actually had said. Another weird moment was when a large truck pulled up to get food from KFB and Amanda opened the passenger door, as if she knew who the bloke was in the truck. I'm pretty sure she didn't know him...and I don't think he knew her either...awkward.
So that was my exciting night...it was good to hang out with my friends!
My friends were making sushi tonight so I met them at Tesco and bought some stuff for myself...a pomegranate, some croissants, and some muffins! Breakfast and/or lunch for awhile... after Tesco we went back to New Hall and they started making the sushi and I ate my pomegranate. I didn't pay for any of the sushi supplies so I didn't want to really partake in eating it, though I did take a piece or two. After sushi, Pat, Katie, Calen, Adam and I went looking for a pub to chill at, but beforehand, played some intense fooseball. It was so much fun and I played really well for some reason! Pat and I ended up playing Calen and Adam and we lost, so eventually we'll have to buy them a pint. Oh well...it was fun! So we headed off after that and I had to stop at the ATM beforehand to get a little money to get a pint but the ATM wouldn't give me any money...it said I had taken out as much money as I could for the day...oh well...it was probably for the best! I wouldn't spend the money then. Trying to find a pub was quite difficult...everywhere was absolutely packed! We tried the Whey Pat, one I forgot the name of, the West Port, the Keys (a definite locals' place), the Central, the Criterion, the Byre Theatre, and finally Aikmans...We stayed at Aikmans even though it was really busy. We had to stand up for awhile and eventually got a place to sit. I didn't have any funds due to the ATM so I just sat and talked with them for awhile. They were going to have another pint and Pat and Katie bought me one even though I said it was ok! They are so nice...I have really nice friends!
After Aikmans, Adam really wanted to play Dance Dance Revolution at the Union...so we headed there and watched him get his groove on. He's pretty dang good at that game...lots of people were complimenting his skillz. After that display of footwork, we went to KFB's to get some food. I figured I'd be able to pay with my debit card there but when I ordered, the girl there said it had to be over 5 pounds...gosh! so I ended up getting chicken nuggets (yum yum!!) and some mozzarella sticks for home. While we were eating outside KFB, some intensely drunk Scottish people came up and talked to us. First it was a girl named Amanda...and Calen gave her a piece of his pizza and she wanted to know our names...then test herself to see if she remembered (I span of maybe 10 seconds...). She failed, miserable, at least 5 times. Then another girl and her older brother (both still drunk...) came up and talked to us. The guy, Sean, was in the British Army and was talking about Americans and the forces. He had a deep respect for the individuals fighting in the US Armed Forces and said it if weren't for us, everyone else would be destroyed out on the battlefield. It can be argued that we got them there anyway, but he didn't bring that up. It was really neat to talk to them about that stuff. He had started talking to me when he first got there about chemistry and he asked if I blew stuff up. Well I had no idea what he had said to me so I kind of did that whole pretend I know what you are saying...Adam told me later what he actually had said. Another weird moment was when a large truck pulled up to get food from KFB and Amanda opened the passenger door, as if she knew who the bloke was in the truck. I'm pretty sure she didn't know him...and I don't think he knew her either...awkward.
So that was my exciting night...it was good to hang out with my friends!
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Woo hoo!
Today marked the final day of my chemistry lectures. It is quite odd...I've never had any class like this. I am done until I take my final exam...that pretty much gives me two months to learn this stuff! Today went well. I got up kind of early and got out of the house by 10. I went to the library to print something and proceeded to the Travel Centre to ask about reservations for the overnight train rides for spring break, as well as the other trains that needed compuslatory reservations. The lady there is working on it for me and will let me know tomorrow! I hope it's not too expensive...I also have to book the hostel's I will be staying at as well before the fill up! After the travel place, I went to BeanScene and ate a croissant and had a latte while doing some homework that's due tomorrow. After that, I moved to the chemistry library and did more homework and went to lecture. At the end of my first lecture, my tutor went outside with the class and launched a rocket for fun! It was neat...probably the most interesting thing of the course. I managed to get through my next lecture and found out we have a tutorial for that module on the day my family and I are supposed to go to Stirling. I think I'll be fine to miss :) I was on my way to Greek and found out it got cancelled for the rest of the week because my tutor is sick! oh well...I hope he feels better soon! So I got some ice cream and went home. I only had two pieces of toast and that croissant all day before that ice cream. I was quite hungry when I got home...I made tuna casarole and saved some for tomorrow so I can eat heartily without meat. I am going to a pub tonight to talk spring break stuff with Katie and Pat. Should be good! I am trying to coordinate when I can meet with them. Oh yes, by the way...I have some changes on my itinerary...most of it is the same but I will let you know the final one when it's done! :D
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Alone again...
Justine left yesterday morning. We got up at 5:20 and got a taxi that took us to Leuchars for our train to Edinburgh at 6:20. We got on the train and everything was good; we got to Edinburgh with plenty of time to spare. We hopped on the bus that took us right to the airport. After Justine checked in and checked her bag, we found out her flight was going to be delayed. We went upstairs and sat down for awhile right before the checkpoint where you need a boarding pass. Eventually, she had to go and we said our farewells... I hated it. It was definitely really hard to say goodbye. I had such a great week with her! We were together most of the time she was here and it was so nice having her around. I always had someone to talk to and, especially with us, laugh with! So anyway...I miss her tons. She eventually got on her flight from Edinburgh to London Gatwick since it was delayed a bit. I got back on the bus and it took me to Waverly Station where I got off and walked to the bus station. I walked past mc donalds and was tempted to get some chicken nuggets, but they were still on breakfast...(which I didn't expect...I had forgotten what time it was!) So I passed that up...got to the bus station and was on my way back to St Andrews. I went to class and took an exam in Greek which I probably did ok in. I got back to my room and my mom called to tell me that Justine had been trying to get ahold of me and she is stuck in London for the night...oh gosh...during the phone call Justine did call me! I got to talk to her for a minute..she was doing ok, she'd leave in the morning and she was able to stay in the airport overnight and not have to buy a hotel room. She couldn't get her phone card to work to call me and she was calling from the information desk's phone. I was so glad to hear she was all right but I really really wish I could be there with her. I don't like to think of her being alone in a big airport. She hasn't called me since then...but I kept my phone on loud next to my pillow all night just in case. I have been looking on the Gatwick airport website and I found a Northwest flight going to Detroit at 1:30ish...I am not sure if that is hers or if she left earlier... I wish I could talk to her! I love you Justine! :D
I have to do some homework today unfortunately. I am not really myself when it comes to academia here. I want to explore more than do homework. I know these classes will be on my GPA so that does push me towards doing better...but none of them, right now, are courses that are essential to my major and are just supplementary. We'll see how it works out...I am looking forward to my parents and brother coming to visit next week. It will be nice to have someone around that I know very well again. It should be a lot of fun!
I have to do some homework today unfortunately. I am not really myself when it comes to academia here. I want to explore more than do homework. I know these classes will be on my GPA so that does push me towards doing better...but none of them, right now, are courses that are essential to my major and are just supplementary. We'll see how it works out...I am looking forward to my parents and brother coming to visit next week. It will be nice to have someone around that I know very well again. It should be a lot of fun!
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Spring Break!
I've done a fair amount of spring break planning and this is what I came up with!
ok here's what i think i'm gonna do...
3/28 go to glasgow with my friends katie and pat and and take the plane to london with them as well
then i'd part ways with them and fly from london-dusseldorf 16:10-18:50
then rail it to my roommate that same day and stay in bonn
3/29- stay in bonn
3/30- take the train from koln-berlin and meet up again with pat and katie
3/31- stay in berlin for the day and take overnight train to paris
4/1- stay in paris and meet up with molly sometime? stay in hostel
4/2-stay in paris, take overnight train from paris to rome
4/3- rome, vatican and stay in hostel
4/4- rome/florence sometime during the day and stay in a florence hostel
4/5 florence overnight train from florence to vienna
4/6 stay in vienna all day and take vienna overnight train to zurich
4/7 zurich to geneva in morning and stay in geneva hostel
4/8 geneva, stay in hostel
4/9 geneva to nice meet up with pat and katie
4/10 nice, nice hostel
4/11 nice to geneva in morning, geneva to zurich, overnight train from zurich to koln
4/12 koln to frankfurt...plane from frankfurt to edinburgh for 10 euros
That will be my spring break I think!
I am sad...today is Justine's last day here...tomorrow we are getting picked up by a taxi at 05.55 and catching the train at Leuchars at 06.20 and get to Edinburgh at 07.50. I will take her to the airport and see her off...I will then come back to St Andrews by bus and do class... I don't want to think about it anymore...
ok here's what i think i'm gonna do...
3/28 go to glasgow with my friends katie and pat and and take the plane to london with them as well
then i'd part ways with them and fly from london-dusseldorf 16:10-18:50
then rail it to my roommate that same day and stay in bonn
3/29- stay in bonn
3/30- take the train from koln-berlin and meet up again with pat and katie
3/31- stay in berlin for the day and take overnight train to paris
4/1- stay in paris and meet up with molly sometime? stay in hostel
4/2-stay in paris, take overnight train from paris to rome
4/3- rome, vatican and stay in hostel
4/4- rome/florence sometime during the day and stay in a florence hostel
4/5 florence overnight train from florence to vienna
4/6 stay in vienna all day and take vienna overnight train to zurich
4/7 zurich to geneva in morning and stay in geneva hostel
4/8 geneva, stay in hostel
4/9 geneva to nice meet up with pat and katie
4/10 nice, nice hostel
4/11 nice to geneva in morning, geneva to zurich, overnight train from zurich to koln
4/12 koln to frankfurt...plane from frankfurt to edinburgh for 10 euros
That will be my spring break I think!
I am sad...today is Justine's last day here...tomorrow we are getting picked up by a taxi at 05.55 and catching the train at Leuchars at 06.20 and get to Edinburgh at 07.50. I will take her to the airport and see her off...I will then come back to St Andrews by bus and do class... I don't want to think about it anymore...
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
hooray!
I apologize for all of you who really enjoy reading my blog as I haven't written in awhile! I have been very busy! Justine is here!!!! I will highlight the key points about what's happened so far but I don't have too much time tonight!
Friday
I went to class as usual and had an extra class this friday for chemistry...it was at noon which shot my chances of taking the bus to pick up Justine, meaning I had to skip Greek lecture (not a big deal) and hurried to the bus station to get the bus to Leuchars. Once at Leuchars (where the rail station is) I waited for my train...I didn't really know how they worked and I am pretty sure I didn't do it right. I thought I had a reserved seat but I didn't exactly know where so I just kind of stood around. Next time I will get it right.... But no worries, I got to Edinburgh about the same time Justine did! I met her there with our friend Amelia and it was so exciting! I was so happy to see her!! It was also awesome to see Amelia! We then went to our hostel and checked in, dropped our stuff off and tried to get to the castle but it was closed when we got there. We also had crappy Scotland weather...we didn't end up doing too much (visited Calton's hill and the Three Sisters pub) and retired for the night.
Saturday
We toured the castle and it was amazing. After that, we went to pizza hut which also was quite amazing. We each got four pieces of garlic bread, our pizza, and a dessert for under seven pounds each. It was great! We then thought it best to find the bus station which Justine and I would eventually leave from...when we got there, we found out the last bus to St Andrews left in 45 minutes and all our stuff was still at the hostel!! I led the way back to our hostel in a hurried fashion and we managed to get back to the bus station with time to spare to say goodbye to Amelia! Phew... We got on the bus and got to St. Andrews and Justine and I went back to Albany Park and then back to town to get groceries. We ate mac and cheese that night and headed off to bed.
Sunday
We got up quite late (1:30 pm) and went to BeanScene for lunch and lattes! We then went to church and then along the East Sands and the castle. We got back and I made soup for Justine and we ate dinner and shared some wine. We then met up with Katie to go to a pub in town. We met Pat along the way and went to Aikman's. We were ordering our drinks and Justine was ordering hers when she was carded...well she didn't have her ID and got very angry and emotional. She walked out of the pub without her coat and I had to chase her down and bring her back to the pub. I took her home (she cried the entire time) and she got mad and ready for bed. I then managed to misplace my phone and she got dressed again to help me go back to find it at the pub when I found it on the window sill. She had calmed down by then and we were chipper again and went back to the pub with Pat and Katie and everything was great again. We ate at the Kinness Fry Bar and got chicken nuggets with chips before heading off to Albany Park and going to bed.
Monday
I had class this day and I made Justine some eggs and toast for breakfast in bed before I headed off to class. Class was usual stuff and after class I met Justine at the ice cream place in town. It was a pretty low key day and we had spaghetti for supper and just stayed in that night to spend time with each other.
Tuesday
Justine and I got up earlier today and I took her to St. Andrews Castle ruins. It was a lot of fun and we got to explore the mine and countermine at the Castle where enemies tried to tunnel under the castle while the people in the castle dug a mine to intercept the other one...it was an amazing tunnel! After that, we ate lunch at the NorthPoint before heading to class again, but this time after class I went home and Justine and I had the rest of the soup for dinner. After dinner, we met Calen, his friend Paul, Pat and Katie at the Byre Theatre for some drinks. After that, we met up with some more friends and went to Aikman's again and had a beer when Calen spilled a wee bit on me and bought me a Jack and Coke. After having fun at Aikmans, we went to KFB for some more chicken nuggets before heading off to bed!
Wednesday
Today, Justine and I (after getting to bed at 2:30 and waking up at 6) went to Stirling! We hopped on the bus and made it there at about 9:30. We went to Stirling Castle and walked around there before heading off to the University of Stirling where Justine had scheduled a tour of the Uni because she is going there next semester! It was a beautiful campus and a lovely town. After our jaunt at Uni, we went to the William Wallace Monument and it was absolutely amazing! It was uber windy but quite amazing!! After the monument, we caught the bus back to St Andrews and went to Katie's flat where she made beer bread! It was awesome as well! Justine and I came back to my flat afterwards and just enjoyed each other's company :) I am so happy she's here!! When she is gone, things will be much more boring...I really love having her here with me!
Friday
I went to class as usual and had an extra class this friday for chemistry...it was at noon which shot my chances of taking the bus to pick up Justine, meaning I had to skip Greek lecture (not a big deal) and hurried to the bus station to get the bus to Leuchars. Once at Leuchars (where the rail station is) I waited for my train...I didn't really know how they worked and I am pretty sure I didn't do it right. I thought I had a reserved seat but I didn't exactly know where so I just kind of stood around. Next time I will get it right.... But no worries, I got to Edinburgh about the same time Justine did! I met her there with our friend Amelia and it was so exciting! I was so happy to see her!! It was also awesome to see Amelia! We then went to our hostel and checked in, dropped our stuff off and tried to get to the castle but it was closed when we got there. We also had crappy Scotland weather...we didn't end up doing too much (visited Calton's hill and the Three Sisters pub) and retired for the night.
Saturday
We toured the castle and it was amazing. After that, we went to pizza hut which also was quite amazing. We each got four pieces of garlic bread, our pizza, and a dessert for under seven pounds each. It was great! We then thought it best to find the bus station which Justine and I would eventually leave from...when we got there, we found out the last bus to St Andrews left in 45 minutes and all our stuff was still at the hostel!! I led the way back to our hostel in a hurried fashion and we managed to get back to the bus station with time to spare to say goodbye to Amelia! Phew... We got on the bus and got to St. Andrews and Justine and I went back to Albany Park and then back to town to get groceries. We ate mac and cheese that night and headed off to bed.
Sunday
We got up quite late (1:30 pm) and went to BeanScene for lunch and lattes! We then went to church and then along the East Sands and the castle. We got back and I made soup for Justine and we ate dinner and shared some wine. We then met up with Katie to go to a pub in town. We met Pat along the way and went to Aikman's. We were ordering our drinks and Justine was ordering hers when she was carded...well she didn't have her ID and got very angry and emotional. She walked out of the pub without her coat and I had to chase her down and bring her back to the pub. I took her home (she cried the entire time) and she got mad and ready for bed. I then managed to misplace my phone and she got dressed again to help me go back to find it at the pub when I found it on the window sill. She had calmed down by then and we were chipper again and went back to the pub with Pat and Katie and everything was great again. We ate at the Kinness Fry Bar and got chicken nuggets with chips before heading off to Albany Park and going to bed.
Monday
I had class this day and I made Justine some eggs and toast for breakfast in bed before I headed off to class. Class was usual stuff and after class I met Justine at the ice cream place in town. It was a pretty low key day and we had spaghetti for supper and just stayed in that night to spend time with each other.
Tuesday
Justine and I got up earlier today and I took her to St. Andrews Castle ruins. It was a lot of fun and we got to explore the mine and countermine at the Castle where enemies tried to tunnel under the castle while the people in the castle dug a mine to intercept the other one...it was an amazing tunnel! After that, we ate lunch at the NorthPoint before heading to class again, but this time after class I went home and Justine and I had the rest of the soup for dinner. After dinner, we met Calen, his friend Paul, Pat and Katie at the Byre Theatre for some drinks. After that, we met up with some more friends and went to Aikman's again and had a beer when Calen spilled a wee bit on me and bought me a Jack and Coke. After having fun at Aikmans, we went to KFB for some more chicken nuggets before heading off to bed!
Wednesday
Today, Justine and I (after getting to bed at 2:30 and waking up at 6) went to Stirling! We hopped on the bus and made it there at about 9:30. We went to Stirling Castle and walked around there before heading off to the University of Stirling where Justine had scheduled a tour of the Uni because she is going there next semester! It was a beautiful campus and a lovely town. After our jaunt at Uni, we went to the William Wallace Monument and it was absolutely amazing! It was uber windy but quite amazing!! After the monument, we caught the bus back to St Andrews and went to Katie's flat where she made beer bread! It was awesome as well! Justine and I came back to my flat afterwards and just enjoyed each other's company :) I am so happy she's here!! When she is gone, things will be much more boring...I really love having her here with me!
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