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To finish my update:

Last Thursday windsurfing had a ceilidh (KAY-lee) with the wakeboarding/waterskiing club (or something like that -- a watersports type club that started with a "w" anyway). It was surprisingly fun. Ceilidhs are formal traditional Scottish dances. With the traditional Scottish folk dances, naturally. Basically everyone dressed up more nicely than usual. There was a band (fiddle, pipe, things like that) playing the music. And they attempted to teach us the dances a couple minutes before each.

Some of the Scots had learned these dances pratically in the womb. Most others, had not. And most people in general had imbibed a certain amount of alcohol. It all adds up to a hilarious and entertaining time. especially given the spinning and picking up nature of the dances. I don't remember which ones we did specifically except Strip the Willow (only because someone saw my serious confusion --- WHICH WAY DO I SPIN?? --- and mentioned it to me), but there was lots of group spinning, pseudo-running, do-si-do-ing (um, not really a word), and twirling. So. Much. Fun.

I ended up going by myself but a lot people I knew were there, which was really nice. Including a guy who went to the Muse concert I wanted to see last Monday --- and had a spare ticket (so pissed off). Some of us went to a club for a bit afterwards. One thing that's really nice about Edinburgh bars and clubs is the amount of live music around - it's everywhere! I'll take that any day to some terrible rap music and people dry humping each other. Cheers!

Friday evening I left for Glasgow on the bus to see Iain and Lisa. Not a bad ride either. We took the train back to Stewarton, where they live, enjoyed some spaghetti, and watched Casino Royale (great movie, really).

Saturday we drove into Glasgow and had lunch at a really cute restaurant -- The Butterfly and the Pig, I think. But not before a bus splashed water over all of us --- totally on purpose. The menu was worded interestingly (8 timorous beasties as a price for one of the options) and the food was delicious. After that we spent some time at Kelvingrove, one of the big museums in a beautiful area near the University. It's a really bizarre museum housing everything you can think of: art (traditional, modern, random - including a creepy Jesus Dali), Scottish history (with Viking swords and old canoe), dinosaur fossils, stuffed animals (and not the cute ones - the weird taxidermy ones of all species), Glasgow history, things about cars and women's dresses, --- you get the picture.

It was really busy (and free! hooray UK!) with some Brownie/Rainbow/others in tartan event. The highlight being when the singing and dancing started. Some was okay, most was not. The country dancing was impressive mostly because of my Thursday experience. Seeing 9 year olds dance much better than you is a bit of a blow to the self-esteem. Weirdly I recognized one of the songs sung from my Girl Scout days WAY back when (together we change the world - or something like that). Damn. Now it's stuck in my head again. There was also a couple taking wedding pictures for a while. Adorable flower girls, not so adorable bridesmaid dresses (like bad prom dresses). Actually, the wedding dress wasn't so hot either. But hey, who am I to judge on someone's day of happiness?

On second thought, someone really should have judged. They are so many ways for purple to be more flattering than that.

Moving on.

We did a bit of shopping in the shopping area (not that I really know where that is). Glasgow has good shopping. Much more than Edinburgh. That's definitely a bonus. It's also much more nicely designed (grid system). I'll chalk that up to it now having a giant castle on a volcanic seat in the middle of it. All the Christmas stuff had just come out though (decorations), which was so nice. I love Christmas. It's the only thing that makes winter even remotely acceptable.

We had a really nice curry that night. I tried vegetable pakora for the first time (delicious). So much food though. Curry over here is just infinitely better than anything I can get at home. I am totally going to miss it, even if it does make me smell. Went back to the house afterwards (REALLY cold outisde). I saw X Factor for the first time (butchering Queen --- seriously, using "Ice Ice Baby" in an "Under Pressure" mix is unacceptable --- someone just rolled over in his grave), as well as How I Met Your Mother (funny -- don't know why I had never heard of it).

Sunday we drove...south and a bit east? Stopped at the most amazing farm shop - so many good foods and condiments and so forth. We went to Ayr, where Robert (Rabbie?) Burns lived for not-that-long-really. Passed his house. Had nice lunch in a beautiful little hotel next to a river. Very popular for weddings. Impeccably manicured gardens.


Hotel, River, Gardens

Also, right next to the Burns Monument. A bit strange and derelict. Especially in the ominous looking photo (There is a hint of blue in there, I swear!)

Below: sundials would be more useful if there was any SUN. Note - you cannot tell the time in the photo.



Looking out into the surround countryside was really pretty though. Very green. Often full of sheep, cows, and horses.

We drove to the see afterwards, but I forgot where. You could see Arran from the beach anyway. Tacky little tourist summer spot. Full of dog-walkers at this time of year, which was nice.

After that we went back to Glasgow so I could catch my bus back to Edinburgh.

Not much has happened here. I bought some new boots (and wore them today without proper socks --- ow blisters). I got to evaluate my TA (and state that I find him scary and unproductive to the learning experience). I also found out he's a particularly harsh grader, which is just cruel and does not bode well for my future. Seriously, why could I not have gotten the other TA? He's nice and friendly and makes me feel like I'm not a stupid little worm or something like that.

I also won a prize today in a different one of my tutorials! We did group presentations on important bits of the EU. I did the Common Foreign and Security Policy with another girl. Our presentation was voted best at the end, so we won chocolate oranges! I didn't even realize there was a prize, but somehow my work seems validated now, haha.

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I really am terrible about updating this.

Anyway, Mom and Dad came to visit me for my birthday. They arrived on Halloween and we had lunch, before they went to sleep off the jet lag. That evening I went out with some of my roommates and friends. There was a parade down a bit of the Royal Mile, so we went to that. It was a pagan parade celebrating Samhain, which was interesting.

There was a stage set up at the end of the route (see photo) where the organization put on a show about the battle between light and dark. There was a lot of drumming and a lot of fire, as well as some really interesting costumes. Definitely unusual.

After that we went to a pub in Grassmarket for a drink or two. I was dressed as Wednesday Addams - this is the only photo I have:

That is a doll's head. Creepy I know, but creepy is more fun that slutty. It wasn't the most exciting of evenings, but it wasn't bad. I did the more traditional Halloween on the Thursday before instead. I took one of my roommates to a big club that night. That was really fun. It was mobbed with people, but we found the dancefloor with good music.

Anyway, moving on. The Sunday after Halloween I got to spend at the spa! Mom and Dad bought me a treatment as a birthday present. It was fantastic - salt scrub, massage, and wrap. So nice. We also had a nice dinner that night down in Leith at this pub/restaurant. Delicious food (mussels, fish, venison, treacle tart!) in a really cozy room, with live music. I like that kind of place.

Monday we went to the Botanical Gardens. They were still beautiful, despite it being quite a bit colder than it had been for my first visit. The new building was also open. It's incredible inside! Totally worth another visit later. We had dinner that night together as well, at one of Dad's favorite restaurants in the city, which was also delicious. They left the next morning.

I was left with a huge amount of schoolwork: three papers! On Thursday one about the Doha Round of trade negotiations at the WTO was due. Friday was about the importance of the UN and collective security to liberal theorists. Monday was about the role of the Security Council in authorizing military humanitarian interventions. So. Much. Writing.

Luckily I finished them the first two Thursday morning/afternoon so I could enjoy my birthday properly! I came back to my flat to find this delivered:


Mom's beautiful cake this year! I had some with my roommates before a few of us headed out to Arthur's Seat.

Edinburgh is a bit weird as a city. It's got giant crags fairly in the city, formed by a volcanic hotspot or something. If you're interested, I'm sure Wikipedia has something to say. It's a bit of a tradition for students to climb them on Bonfire Night, to watch the fireworks and generally mess about.

Just to give you the right idea: Those mountain things are the crags. The really tall one is Arthur's Seat. We climbed that (Not the really tall one) -- in the dark, after some rain. It felt like a deathwish, stumbling up and down various muddy paths (some very steep) with no light except that of a cellphone.

Eventually though we made it to a suitable place to sit, as witnessed by the above photo (my eyes look really creepy and I'm not sure why). As you can see, we are literally on the edge of one of the crags. Maybe four feet from a HUGE drop. The city is all lit up behind us.

We had some snacks and shared some birthday champagne while watching the fireworks. There was a big display at Murryfield, but apart from that there were random explosions all over the city. You could even see across the water into Fife and also South of the city. The two sounds of the night were booms from the explosions and sirens of firetrucks, going to put out whatever fires. People just set off the fireworks everywhere, regardless of buildings and/or people in the way. They were all over the crags too. For a while there was a guy maybe a hundred feet in front of us setting them off -- yelling "Alright Lads!" before running from the firework that exploded above our heads.

Dangerous? Yes. Reckless? Yes. A really fun night? Also yes. It was also freezing up on the crags though. We managed to stay for several hours, but the cold became too much after a time. I wish I had better photos to capture how interesting the night was, but darkness doesn't really work like that.

This is looking towards the city. The black band in the middle of the lights is the Firth of Forth.

The picture below is people playing with sparklers on the end of one of the crags. There was a huge amount of people around - really surprising giving the hike (not exactly easy in the darkness) and the cold. But everyone seemed to be having a good time (some more inebriated than others). Some guys near us started singing "Stand By Your Man" at some point, which is really hilarious in a posh accent.
That weekend I ended up having the flat to myself -- all the roommates were away at various places. It was relaxing to splay out in the kitchen watching silly movies, but at the same time exhausting writing my last paper, which I turned in Monday morning.

Tuesday I took a well-earned shopping day for my various efforts with schoolwork. I bought some beautiful earrings with birthday money from Granny, as well as some clothes from Topshop (too hard to get to at home!). I just got back from Glasgow tonight, but I'll do a separate post about that a bit later.