Homestay

So far this is my favorite experience in Scotland. The woman I stayed with is named Wendy Dover and she is quite possibly the nicest woman I have ever met. Her house is amazing. She lives in a Glen, surrounded by hills and her nearest neighbors are a 10 minute walk away. It's a perfect country home made of stone, with a garden outside.

She picked me up from the bus station and we proceeded into the middle of nowhere. We got into the house and what I found was basically the house my mom wish she had. It was decorated like an old farm house with fresh flowers about. She showed me which room I would be sleeping in and I think I am now inspired to change my room at home. I posted the pictures on picasa. Then, I went downstairs where she made me the most delicious cup of tea I have ever had, and we watched the news while we waited for dinner to be ready. She had made delicious stuffed peppers and a rhubarb crumble with ice cream for dessert. That commenced the weekend of being full, possibly the most stuffed I have ever been. The next night I was actually in pain, she made roast chicken and potatoes with stuffing and vegetables that weren't boiled to death. I was in heaven. But enough about the food even thought that was probably one of my favorite parts haha.

So the first full day, and the whole weekend, the weather was not on our side. But we made the best of it. After breakfast, which was lovely and served by her boyfriend Samuel, I told Wendy about the Flat Stanley project and how I had forgotten to bring the Flat Stephanie I have along. So, she helped me make a Flat Stanley so we could take him out and about with us. She spiced up my horrible drawing with a nice kilt and hat and he became Scottish Stanley, those pictures are also on picasa. We went to perth, walked around the shops and got lunch. Then we went to Falkland Palace and walked around the town and shops.

Finally, we went home for dinner and while she was preparing it I took the chance to do some assigned reading by the fire while I drank a glass of wine. I'm pretty sure this is my mother's idea of heaven. ;)

After dinner we all spent some time by the fire, but the weather had tired all of us out and Wendy went to bed while I took a bath before bed. Upon waking up I was greeted by Wendy's calls for breakfast: almost a full english breakfast with toast and eggs and bacon and tomato. I'll be having a heart attack anyday now...

I was scheduled to go back to campus for 7:40, which was way later than I wanted. And since buses don't run frequently I would have been in transit for 2 hours instead of less than one. Wendy, thank goodness, thought this as silly as me and designed the day so her and Samuel could drop me off at St Andrews. So, we started our journey along the coast of Fife and I got amazing views of the fishing villages and beach...even though it was brutally cold. We had a nice picnic in the car by the waterfront that Wendy packed, tea of course and cheese sandwiches and apples and clementines and lemon cake. What a woman. hahaha.

I loved every minute of my homestay, and I would love to go back in the Spring when it's nicer if she'll have me, and Maddie as well since that's where she had her homestay the weekend before me. Last summer she had her daughter's wedding at her house. They built the marquee and she made all the salads for 150 people from her garden and prepared potatoes from her garden as well for those 150 people. I looked at the pictures and it looked amazing. Some of the guests stayed in tents on the lawn. She even designed and sewed her daughters dress. She used to be a clothes designer, among many other things. She is definitely one of the most interesting people I have ever met, and I was so glad to be in a house with a dog again. A black lab named Chloe, and a cat also named Willow.

Well then, another 4 days and I will be off to Granada to see Ally =D I cannot wait! I don't know how I am going to get through this week I will have to keep myself busy!!!

Amsterdam

So I never wrote about my trip to Amsterdam...I'll keep it short because I also need to write about my homestay.

So Amsterdam was my first big traveling adventure alone, and I will say I was a bit nervous. It took me a little bit longer to find my way out of Amsterdam Schiphol airport than it should have, but I managed to find my way to the correct train and from the train to the correct exit. Luckily, the hostel was fairly easy to find, and I happened to run into Tom and company on the way over because their flight had been delayed. So, we walked over together to Hotel My Home. It had possibly the steepest stairs I have ever encountered, but it was nice as hostels go I suppose. There were 4 of us, and a random Chinaman in our room haha. He was quiet and nice. The hostel served breakfast each morning which was good to have included in our price and day.

The weekend is a bit of a blur, and I was absolutely exhausted when I got back. We spent the majority of our time walking in the gray an drizzly weather. It was still beautiful though, I would love to see it in the spring. We went to the Van Gogh museum almost first thing, and that is one of the higlights of my whole trip abroad so far. It was incredible. Starry night was there, as well as the paintings leading up to it. The museum was multiple floors and exhibits, and like I said before I would love to go back to the city in the spring to see a lot of the things in the lighting and weather Van Gogh painted them in.

Our small group of four then attempted to meet up with the rest of the GW Madrid group, who were spread out in different hostels and hotels. The problem was, only Tom's phone worked and he had no balance so he could only receive calls...quite the comical yet frustrating situation. We eventually managed, with luck on our sides to find each other and we proceeded to wonder about the city more. Of course the boys were anxious to see the red light district, so we went. It is as scary and outrageous as you can imagine. We went back in the daylight and it wasn't so hustling and bustling, but it is by far one of the strangest things I have encountered in my life.

We all went to the Heineken experience together, that was a lot of fun...a lot more interesting than the Anheuser Busch brewery! Anddd delicious half pints were included with our ticket. After the experience, some people went to the Anne Frank House museum, while others of us who were quickly running out of money decided to go see a cathedral and take more pictures around the city. There were really cool people as standing statues...one as a gorilla one as darth vader. They would get mad if you took a picture without putting money in their bin. So we tried not to anger them.

My last day there was cut short by the fact that my flight was at 1pm. Tom was nice enough to come with me even though his flight wasn't until 3 hours later, and unlucky for him his flight was delayed another hour. :( And unlucky for us both, we were at separate gates so he wasn't allowed through to the same one as me to hang out :(

It was a long journey back between being at the airport an hour early, waiting, being on the plane for an hour, then having to take a bus to the train station in edinburgh and from edinburgh back to leuchars train station and from leuchars train station a bus to st andrews. Despite the fact that I had the hour time difference on my side: I left Amsterdam at 1:10 and got to edinburgh at 1:40, it was no consolation for my level of exhaustion.

But, I made it through, got some sleep, and set out the next weekend for my homestay!

my travels

So I haven't traveled much just yet, but by the end of this month what will become a very busy semester of traveling will commence.

This weekend Maddie and I are taking a day trip to the highlands with the school's travel office. That should be fun, hopefully we will have good weather if such a thing exists. I'll be sure to take a lot of pictures.

Next, the last weekend in February I will be going to Amsterdam with Tom and his Madrid group. That should also be interesting. I leave on Friday morning, so I decided to spend Thursday afternoon and night in Edinburgh so I can get to the airport on time. I'll be staying with my friend Darci from GW who's doing a semester at Edinburgh.

The first weekend in March is up in the air. I applied to do a homestay that weekend but I haven't heard back yet about it so I'm not sure that's looking so good. This may turn out to be a good thing since I have an essay due on the Monday after....

Then, the second weekend in March Maddie and I are heading to Granada to visit with Ally :) I'm looking forward to this trip, I'm quite jealous of the beautiful Spanish scenery and weather Ally has been having. And according to her it will be warm enough to wear skirts and sundresses. Thank the Lord.

After that, I've got a weekend break to catch up with schoolwork before Spring break which starts officially March 28 and ends April 12. Maddie and I are planning on going to Paris, where we will stay with Marina(Danene's exchange student from high school) That should be a lot of fun and definitely better than showing ourselves around the city(and paying for a hostel). Not sure what day we plan on leaving yet since I'm done on Tuesdays for the week and Maddie is done on Wednesdays. Then, after spending a week in Paris we're going to head over to Rome where Maddie has a friend studying abroad. We won't be able to stay with her, but she has info on hostels for us. This should be a very fun trip because it's Easter time; the city should be so busy. I've got to book tickets and a hostel soon before prices become outrageous. We also plan to travel within France and Italy if we have the chance and money. I'm doing alright monetarily so far, but Spring break could be a determining factor in my subsequent travels....

After Spring break there really isn't that much left to the semester. I'll be coming home hopefully on May 30th.

I still would like to plan a weekend trip to Ireland, and of course I need to see the Lochness Monster...so we shall see where the rest of the semester takes me!

classes...sort of

So this week I ended up only having one class. Which was on Monday, which means I have been bored since then haha. The way it happened, well you see, this school loves to watch the students run around like chickens with their heads cut off. It's funny really, you are told to be independent and have to run all over the place to change classes and figure out where your class is, yet to change any part of your schedule you have to go through an advisor. So, my Monday class was good, it's an international relations class called Religion, Politics, and Democracy and will be transfering back for me as Sociology of Religion. The other class I was going to take was Scottish Social Problems 1800-1990 or thereabouts. Which was supposed to meet on Tuesdays. Which would mean I would only have class on Monday and Tuesday and have the rest of the week to get my homework done and jet off somewhere. When I went to the History department on Monday afternoon to find out what room my class would be in, I was quite dismayed to learn that the class had been switched to Thursdays. This was entirely unacceptable to me. So, the next morning I switched out of it and into an English class, which will not transfer back as a Sociology credit for me but that's ok I suppose. I still have room senior year. The class is called Culture and Society in Modern Scotland, so maybe after I take it and bring back the work and syllabus I will be able to get it to transfer anyway.

So, I had a one class week. Hopefully on Monday I find the English class to my liking so I don't have to change again, it is such a hassle.

Forgot to mention my morning in Heathrow

So this is not chronologically new, but I forgot that when I was half delirious at Heathrow airport around 4:30am I wrote some notes to myself about seemingly hysterical things. And I want to share that list:

1. There was a man in cult pajamas. Matching pants and top, the top was very long, sleeping shirt long. And they were teal with planets all over them. There was another man with him. He was wearing the same style, but they were plain beige.

2. Monochromatic Asians. I have a theory on this one, that the color you where is determined by your age or status of some kind...there were girls in solid green and men in solid blue. My favorite was the man in a bright blue puffy shiny jacket.

3. There was a man in a "Massachusetts: The Bay State" t shirt, who I am almost positive was not even American by a long shot going around the airport taking all kinds of pictures.

4. I choked on my coffee and found it hysterical. I cannot perform normal functions at 4:30am.

5. I came to immigration and was just on autopilot so I handed my boarding pass, passport and landing card over and that was that. He asked me how long I was staying and what for so I told him to study abroad for the semester and he stamped me. Why was this made out to be such a problematic process needing a proof of return ticket, acceptance letter to university, blah blah blah. Apparently at 4:30am no one cares.

6. The British Pound is monopoly money. Why are there so many coins? American knows where its at with the bills.

7. While I was on the computer at the airport, I stopped at a kiosk where you paid 1 pound for 20 minutes, I took about 4 of those minutes to find the @ symbol.

The monochromatic Asians were my favorite.

the first week

So, I've been here almost a week. Moved in to St Andrews on Monday and now it's Sunday night, well Sunday afternoon for most of you back in the states reading this. I still find that strange...

First things first, let me just say that this was a huuuuge culture shock for me. I did not adequately mentally prepare myself for this. I moved in to a double, but had it to myself until earlier tonight when my roommate moved back in. So, I had to deal with a lot of alone time. Also, my particular group from Arcadia was rather small and I didn't really click with anyone. So, I called a couple of the girls to get together and pass the time but was definitely not enjoying my first couple of days here. It didn't help that my dorm was pretty dead because everyone was on holiday.

I experienced dining hall life for the first time as well. It's strange here because there isn't a main dining hall on campus, there's a dining hall in each dorm. The food is horrendous, but I guess it's cheaper than eating out all the time. Unfortunately, breakfast is not something I will ever be awake for since it's from 8-8:45. It's a pity really because I hear it's the best meal of the day...Everything pretty much tastes like nothing yet manages to leave a terrible after-taste. I will love American food when I get home. I keep eating it because I'm hungry enough for now, but I think fairly soon I'll be so dissatisfied that I'll not just shovel food in. Luckily, I can get cheap snacks at the local grocery store(Tesco) which is open til midnight while every other store closes by 5:30.

On Wednesday afternoon Maddie moved in *phew* and I almost immediately felt better. I like to think of myself as an independent, highly adaptable person, but I definitely overestimated myself. Having Maddie here is a huge plus for me. We even had a sleepover in her room that Wednesday night. Plus, a big bonus is that her group is far larger than mine and we got to hang out with them for the first couple days. While hanging out with them one night we were somehow spotted by a very odd student by the name of Malcom. Malcom wore Harry Potter glasses, large headphones around his neck, and those gloves with the finger tips cut out. He was nice, but definitely at the top of the weirdest people I've ever met list. Turns out he recognized us as "JSAs" which are junior semester abroad students, and decided he should take us under his wing and show us around town a bit. He took us to a couple local bars and showed us around, but we didn't stay with him long. He is an American here for all four years who has apparently lived in DC Texas Ohio...who knows.

After Maddie got here things started to look up and more people came back to my dorm. A few boys played a very good joke on me, but had they known my mental state they may not have pushed me so far. So, I haven't had a random roommate since freshman year, and it was not really something I ever wanted again. But since I have a double, it's something I was facing here. These boys thought it would be great fun to convince me that my roommate was an absolute monster who forced her other roommate out because she was so gothic and weird. If I hadn't just met them I probably would have broken down and cried because they kept it going for so long with straight faces. And the joke was only ended when a girl who wasn't in on it came over and told me otherwise. I've just met my roommate, her name is Charlie, and so far she seems very nice, so we can hope that continues.

It's very strange but most people in this dorm are first years, so even though I'm young for my grade I feel old, which is highly unusual for me to feel that way. The kids are fun though, the boys who played such a mean joke on me are actually very nice. We ended up hanging out with them Friday and Saturday night.

Unfortunately, Maddie lives about 20 minutes walk away from me, I live right in town, near all the important things and Maddie lives off on the outskirts of campus near nothing. Literally. So, she ended up spending a lot of time with me in my dorm...she even eats here. The kitchen staff thinks she lives here, which is good because unless you live in the building you're not supposed to eat here without paying. How long she'll suffer through the food with me is unknown, but it is free for her. Although the dorm was fairly empty until tonight there were a few people and more and more kept filtering in as the week went on. So, I imagine that tomorrow at meal times will be much more crowded.

I have class tomorrow starting at 12, not sure how that is going to go but I'm not really worried about it. Everyone has pretty much said that American students usually find classes a lot easier, as long as they're good students in the states. And I'm pretty sure I fall into that category, so I should be fine.

I have another class on Tuesday. Yup, that's right. I'm going from taking 5 classes per semester to taking 2 because of the way the credit system works here. I will have what's called a tutorial for one of my classes, I'm not sure when yet because it hasn't been scheduled. All I can hope is that it will be on Monday or Tuesday so I keep my long weekend. Tutorials are like recitations in the states, and attendance is mandatory, but you can skip as many lectures as you want.

So the gist is, with only two classes, stores closing by 5:30pm, and not much to do this is pretty much the opposite of my life in DC. Even though I'm obviously from small town NH, I think it's safe to say I've become somewhat of a city girl after 2 1/2 years in DC. Maddie and I are bored out of our mind. We have no clue what to do with ourselves. Today we passed the time by waking up at 11 or 12 and taking a tour of the castle and cathedral ruins, but if we do all the tourist things now we'll run out of things to do. There are only 3 main streets in town. North St, Market St, and South St. Original I know. I think this is really the hardest part for me to adapt to. I'm so used to a very busy schedule: 5 classes a week, plus yoga twice a week, plus running everyday, plus homework, plus about 15 hours of work a week tends to keep a person rather busy...I'm hoping though that Maddie and I will be able to take a lot of weekend trips and explore Scotland, the UK, and Europe with our extra time. We've already begun planning our Spring break...

Well, I think that's it for now. This has been quite a long entry. If i remember anything else I'll suplement it, but if not I will report back to you next weekend to let you know how the first "week" of classes went!

Welcome!

So, welcome to my blog. I plan on updating it about once a week, but you can always look to see if I have new pictures posted on my picasa page http://picasaweb.google.com/hollygolightly88. For now, I'll leave you with that. I'll most likely tell you about my first week at St Andrews by Sunday night.

Bye until then!