33

It's been ages since I updated this. Oops. I'll try to put everything I remember.

A couple weekends ago I was supposed to go berry-picking with my roommates. At the last minute, they all bailed and I was left at the train station with a ticket for a train leaving in five minutes. So I went to Cupar by myself. It's just a little village in Fife. The train ride was beautiful up there (gorgeous day). We crossed the Forth Rail Bridge which was the world's first steel bridge, or something like that.

I couldn't find a taxi in town to take me to the berry farm, so I wandered around instead. Found some books at a bookshop. I spent some time reading in the little park there. There's a little stream you could walk along too.

While walking, all the children around were picking up these brown things. Turns out they're chestnuts, but everyone calls them conkers here. They seem to exist for the sole purpose of hitting each other. Or some sort of game like that. My English roommate tried to explain when I brought one back, but didn't do a very good job.

The village also had a bunch of antique stores. One of them had a huge collection of beautiful jewelry. There were some amazing rings, all beyond my price range of course. On the flip side of the spectrum, there was a huge pound shop in town, which I had too much fun in. I caught the train back to Edinburgh a couple hours later.

I did a bit of antiques shopping in Edinburgh that weekend too. I'm on the hunt for ceramic doorknobs. I'm hoping I'll find some before leaving. One of the shops I was in had a bunch of beautiful brass and copper ones.

Last Monday I visited my grandmother in Perth. It's never been just me to visit her before. She was showing me pictures of Jamie and I when we were little and telling stories about silly things we did (namely Jamie jumping in the bathtub fully clothed - shoes and all). She also told me all about my grandfather, who died before I was born. Stories about the first time she ever saw him ("I'm going to marry that man"), their travels together, and so forth. It was interesting to hear, but somewhat sad because you could tell she still misses him. We had a nice lunch downtown before I had to get back for my afternoon class.

I've had tons of work for all my classes lately. I've got three papers due in the beginning of November and have been doing an excessive amount of reading for them. I know more than I ever thought I would about trade rounds at the WTO and the way the UN (specifically the Security Council) work.

This weekend I took a big trip with the windsurfing club to the University's property at Loch Tay, near-ish Perth. The place has a bit of a summer camp feel - it's a log cabin with rooms with bunkbeds, communal meals where you clear the table, and big open showers. There were two sessions of activity a day. You could sail, windsurf, mountain bike, kayak, and canoe (all with instructors), or hike, road bike, row, and go orienteering (without instructors).

We were driven up in a minibus on Friday night (it's about two hours from Edinburgh). We had dinner that night and then spent time downstairs at the bar (it's volunteer-run). Saturday morning the weather was horrific, but we went windsurfing anyway. It was pouring with rain, incredibly windy, and the loch had huge waves. Not exactly great conditions for beginners. We bundled up in our wetsuits, wind jacket things, buoyancy aids, hats, socks, and shoes anyway. And it was a disaster.

The water was shockingly cold at first. It was only maybe 45 outside, so you get the idea. I think the majority of us spent our time just trying to stand up on the board and pull the sail up, before crashing into the water thanks to the waves. It was exhausing to pull ourselves and the sails up over and over again. The rescue boats kept having to tow us upwind (we couldn't even see the center anymore!). Needless to say, I did not go windsurfing that afternoon. Three of us went sailing instead. It was still cold and wet, but at least we didn't have to work at it.

Of course, the waves did die down quite a bit and the wind also, so the windsurfers got on better than they had earlier. The only problem was with the wind constantly changing direction. It's a bit hard to move when that happens.

That evening we starting drinking fairly early. According to one of the guys from the club who's actually a windsurfing instructor, "drinking is what windsurfers do when they're not on the water." I can now say that I know drinking games from the US, UK, Czech Republic, and Russia. I feel so worldly. We were up really late (even with Daylight Savings Time) an managed to get several of the other people there drunk as well, despite them all claiming to be too old for that kind of behavior (most of them were getting their doctorates). Thanks to all of this, our start at 8.30am on Sunday was not so great. The good news is that I've yet to meet a better hangover cure than Scottish loch water.

The morning session was windy again, but less wavy, which was helpful. I was doing fairly badly still until I was towed upwind where there were virtually no waves. There I actually started moving properly (for maybe the third time that weekend). I forgot how to turn around for a while, which was an issue, but the instructor re-taught me. He was getting on my board to show me from the rescue boat and the sail somehow smacked him. He fell in the loch. I felt so horrible since he wasn't wearing a wetsuit. I did learn how to turn around properly though.

I went back out that afternoon. Putting on a wet wetsuit is one of the most horrible feelings in the world. The wind had really died down (and the waves). I actually did pretty well. I spent a considerably less amount of time in the water and a considerably greater amount of time moving. Even in a proper sort of position. It's a start.

Hopefully I'll get to go windsurfing a couple more times this year. It was a really great weekend, despite the fact that I hurt all over right now. My muscles are killing me and I'm covered in bruises. At least my body temperature is back to a normal level. I really need to go grocery shopping, but I'm not sure that I can carry food back to my flat. I get the feeling that it's going to be take-away tonight.

I'll try to keep this more updated! I also apologize for the lack of pictures, but cameras and watersports don't mix very well.

32

I'm becoming rather bad at updating this. My bad. I guess it's just because I haven't been doing all that much. I'd say my two main activities at the moment are reading for my classes and trying to improve my cooking skills.

I seem to have made two of my roommates sick as well. Oops. There's a lot of coughing going on the flat right now.

Classes are fine for the most part. I actually felt somewhat on-target in tutorials last week. For a while anyway. It probably helped that my scary TA was absent. The replacement one was much easier to feel comfortable around. We've been learning about the UN in two of my classes. I find it fairly interesting. The other one class is focusing on every economic theory you could think of, which is terrifyingly overwhelming. Maybe I'll make it through.

Thursday night was a big windsurfing social which was a lot of fun. The bar they use is really expensive though, which is a shame. Still, I met a lot of new and friendly people. I'm actually supposed to be going surfing (not wind) tomorrow. I'm not sure if people ended up getting a trip together or not. Hopefully yes, as I'll have something to write about. At the end of the month I'm going to Loch Tay for a long weekend to windsurf though! I'm really excited about that.

31

Fridays are one of my favorite days. I have no classes! Last Friday I had lunch with my cousin in a little French restaurant just around the corner from me. The day was rainy and gray, so it was nice to have some really warm, filling food. It was also really nice to get to know her more. We haven't ever really spent much time together - strictly family gatherings - but we actually have quite a bit in common at the moment. It's nice.

Saturday I got up and took a trip to the Botanical Gardens. I walked from my apartment, which was exhausting. I followed Google Maps directions and ended up lost in a residential area. At some point I ended up crossing a stream and found myself on a wooded path area. There was a sign for Dean Village, which I would like to visit at some point. I followed that and ended up running into the Botanical Gardens. At the wrong gate (it was closed). Fifteen minutes later I finally reached the garden.

It's free to visit, which is really nice. The weather was also beautiful yesterday - blue skies and sunshine! The only issue was some serious wind that made is really cold out. I stayed mostly warm in my new trenchcoat (thanks to a fantastic godmother!).

The first bit of the garden you find is the rock garden.

It's got plants mixed in with rocks and grassy patches. There are rock paths everywhere. The gardens in general did a really fantastic job with little paths. There were several places where you wouldn't see anyone around you, thanks to them. The grass and plants were so green! My favorite was this waterfall that ran through the rock garden and into a pond in another part of the gardens.

There were peat gardens, woodland areas, and arboretum, ponds, and a Chinese garden. I made a bit of a detour for a warm drink though in the cafe. When I came out, there were children running about everywhere. I've never seen quite so many children in one place, having the time of their lives playing on grassy areas.

The only part of the gardens that isn't free is the glasshouses. I think they have tropical sort of plants in them, but didn't go in. There's really enough to do without them. Tucked away in one corner is a memorial garden to the Queen Mother. Each corner of it has plants from a different area of the Empire, apparently. Not that I know enough about plants to tell. There were some beautiful fragrant roses though!

I love British roses. They're always enormous and so fragrant. Our roses always seem lacking in comparison. Also, it's quite hard to make flowers stand still for close-ups.

The pond was one of my favorite areas, probably because I act like a two-year-old around ducks. A minute after I got there, one ran up screaming "DUCKS!" much to the disappointment of the parents, who were trying to leave.

Here's where you can see a distant trail of the waterfall leading into a pond.

I left the gardens after a bit and made the hike back to my flat, which was considerably harder than it was on the way there. Probably because I was exhausted, going the opposite way of the wind, and carrying a bag of flour and bag of sugar as well (for cooking later). I actually had to sit and take a breather before tackling an enormous flight of stairs.

I got back and cooked myself a fantastic dinner. Mom sent me her recipe for chicken pie. It actually turned out quite well, despite taking twice as long as it should have (I really hate my oven). After that I made apple crumble as well, to get rid of a bag of apples I had lying around (which I of course shared with the various people in my flat at the time).

30

A Recap: In Pictures (my upload cord arrived today!)

This is me, on the roof of the New Museum of Scotland. Behind the tree you can see the Castle.

However, here is a better picture of the castle.

Here is my doorknob. Usually these sorts of things come attached to doors (Dear Maintenance - It's been two weeks since I alerted you to this fact)

This is the most disgusting party I've ever been to. Look at them. Seriously, just look at them. If that is what Scotland is coming to, I don't want to be a part of it. Ugh.

And finally, here we have proof that I can actually feed myself and stay up-to-date with current events. It's almost like I'm an adult!

In other news, there's not much going on here right now. I had my first tutorials this week, and they're a bit scary. Actually, only one of them is. My Human Rights one was really good. We have a small class, so the professor teaches all of them. It's nice to have her there. She also was awesome the other day in class. A girl raised her hand and asked how much reading we should be doing from the required reading list because, oh hey, she's sooo busy with her dissertation. Seriously, stupid question. The professor just looked at her and said, "You're a university student, you've been a university student for the past three years, you should know be able to judge that yourself." Stupid.

The scary tutorial was for my International Political Economy class. I walked in and the TA looked a me before saying "Oh, you must be Katie. You didn't come to tutorial last week." Um, oops. I didn't even realize we had tutorial the week before. Turns out I had also done the wrong readings. Basically I could not have messed up any more than I did. Then everybody knew what they were talking about. Economics is not my strong point to begin with. I feel like that class is going to be a disaster. We'll see anyway.

What else? I made soup for the first time ever. Cabbage soup actually. I even managed to make it taste good with curry powder and cumin. One of my roommates who hates cabbage even said she liked it. On top of that culinary success, I made sausage rolls and they were also delicious. I think I'm actually getting the hang of this kind of stuff.