Brussels Sprouts Grow on Trees!

We all know money doesn't grow on trees...so what's the next best thing? Brussels sprouts on trees, obviously!! I was pleasantly surprised when Jacqueline and SA Rebecca bought me one of these fine trees back in November in Edinburgh. I was so shocked by the fact that brussels sprouts grew on trees (not that I had really thought about it...I suppose I thought maybe they grew underground??) that of course I told my mom about it (and NOT surprisingly, she already knew they grew on trees-the woman knows everything). When I arrived home from my aunt and uncle's house in MD last week, my mom had a big beautiful brussels sprout tree waiting for me in the fridge :) All smiles on this end!!

13th December 2009: Trekking back to Delaware and Rumination of the First Quarter of my Scottish Adventure

What an adventure indeed these past three months have been!! I woke up about a week ago and truly realized how privileged I am to be in the position I am—I wake up every day and experience something new, whether it’s a completely new place (like Glasgow or St. Andrew’s) or something as simple as finding a new coffee shoppe. I am trying to soak this all in and really grasp every moment. It’s funny how you can take something for granted simply because you are experience it on a regular basis—but my life the past 3 months has been far from ordinary and I am so lucky to be living in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, pursuing my Master’s at one of the world’s top universities, and meeting some of the most amazing people.

Edinburgh is gorgeous. It’s a city quite unlike any other I have ever visited—and the more time I spend in and around it, the more I fall in love with it. I love picking a new coffee shoppe to study in or going out to a new place to eat. Yet, I often find myself not taking advantage of this as much as I should…this sounds awful, but there are days (esp with Final Assessments in the past 2 weeks) where I hardly leave my room!! Next semester I am making a resolution to get out more!!! To study out more! To eat out more! And to travel more! As mentioned in previous entries, I find I don’t actually go somewhere unless I plan it out and mark it on the calendar indefinitely—so my plan is to put on the calendar where I want to go next semester and buy the tickets in advance—then I’ve strategically roped myself in!! ☺

As much as perhaps the programme I am enrolled in is not what I was anticipating, I am enjoying being back in school again. I am enjoying the opportunity to broaden my perspectives (which I am dramatically doing), while simultaneously strengthening and further shaping what I believe and why. Next semester I am taking three courses (and also continuing the French classes at the Applied Language School)
-Corporate Social Responsibility and the Law
-Economic Issues in Public Policy
-Global Politics of Public Health

I have made some of the greatest friends here. The first, which I have mentioned several times, is Laura Scott. Basically, we’re two peas in a pod, Shirley and Vern, peanut butter and jelly (you get the point!) She’s 23, from Texas, and enrolled in the Global Health and Public Policy programme. She is going to go to medical school after this year and then progress on to be a doctor! We both love working out, chai tea, hot chocolate, and candy more than any other humans I have ever met. I seriously don’t know what I would have done without her this semester! Laura knows what I’m thinking without me having to say it. She is a great advice-giver and possesses a gift of saying the right words of encouragement when I need it.

Another friend I have become really close with is Rebecca Manias (my St. Andrew’s buddy!) She lives next door to me and keeps me sane in Richmond! I cannot verbally describe how funny she is—my late-night YouTube buddy (check out Greg the Bunny on YouTube when you get a chance…just sayin’!), mid-afternoon study break entertainment, and garlic baguette-loving partner in crime.

I’m sad to leave Edinburgh at the moment, but thrilled at the thought of Christmas with my family! And catching up with my friends from home/New Jersey. It’s been too long without seeing them and I am ready for Gordon-Maggie morning workouts, baking with quality appliances, and Wal-Mart (yes, I miss Wal-Mart!! You all have NO IDEA how much you take this place for granted…in Europe, there doesn’t seem to be any stores where you can get groceries, craft supplies, and electronics ALL in the same place…) An hour left on the flight and I am back to enjoying Forrest Gump and perhaps another nap (I’ve already slept for 4 out of the 7 hours…which is good considering I went to bed at 4am and got up at 545am)

Dunbar Rotary Club

Tonight I spoke at my 'host' Rotary club in Dunbar. What a fantastic group of people! Tonight was the monthly 'spouse' night, where members are allowed to bring their significant others, so there was quite a large group. In addition, Lindsey Fyfe accompanied me (the other Ambassadorial Scholar hosted by the Dunbar club). Lindsey is from Los Angeles and studying at the Edinburgh College of Art. She is indeed quite a talented young lady (but then again, I suppose most Rotary scholars are...or rather 'talented young persons', since all of us aren't ladies--sorry William!) She was just commissioned to design a Christmas postcard by the City of Edinburgh--for which she selected the 'Heart of Midlothian' as her subject. Lindsey gave a brief talk to the club before I went on about the project and why chose chose the subject she did. So impressive!



My talk went well (but then again, it's hard not to do well when you have a group of 30 people who are there to see you succeed and cheer you on no matter how awful of a speech you give!) Unfortunately, the projector was not compatible with a Mac, so I was not able to show my slide show. Thus, I improvised!! I discussed where I'm from, some of the projects my host Rotary district is involved in, how I became interested in the scholarship, and what I plan to do with it while in Edinburgh and after. The Rotarians couldn't have been more supportive of my ideas and thanked Lindsey and I both for our presentations.

What can I say, my host club is fabulous!!

Ceilidh!

I went to my first Ceilidh! It was right down the street from Richmond Place (where I live)--which was convenient considering it was freezing outside and I had on a halter dress! The Ceilidh is a traditional Scottish dancing event, which can be an informal event or competitive. Some of the most popular Ceilidh dances are 'Strip the Willow' and 'The Gay Gordons'. Some of them are really complicated and some quite simple. Thankfully, at most informal Ceilidhs, there is someone up front (called a 'caller') with a mic explaining the dance steps to the crowd before the dance actually begins.

Monday, November 30th, 2009: Fat sheep, fatter seagulls, and a day of Little Mupp and Judd

November 30th was St Andrew’s day, so Rebecca and I decided to take a train trip up to St. Andrew’s for a little ‘get-away’—it was honestly one of the best days I’ve had in weeks!

The majority of the reason for the trip was to visit a friend of a friend—one of my sorority sisters, Colleen Castle, sent me an email in the beginning of the year letting me know she had a good friend studying at St. Andrew’s University, Judd Kennedy, and gave me his contact information to get in touch with him. It took me about a month to contact him—and then another month to actually plan a trip to visit him. It was another one of those ‘pull out my calendar, pick a day, and officially pencil it in’ type trips—because otherwise I knew I wouldn’t do it!!

Rebecca Manias came with me—and I couldn’t have had a better traveling buddy!! We took the train from Edinburgh at 1130am and arrived roughly an hour later at St. Andrew’s. It wasn’t exactly what we were expecting…essentially, it’s a town with three streets!! Much MUCH smaller than Edinburgh (and this is still quite the understatement). We met Judd at the bus station (St. Andrew’s is so small they don’t have their own train station—we had to take the train into Leuchar’s—or as Rebecca calls it ‘Ludacris’—and then bus it in to the city centre). Then we embarked on our afternoon!

The weather was spectacular (minus the fact that it had to have been below freezing with a biting wind). We visited the ruins of the old cathedral and the castle. We went down in one of the mines under the castle ruins, which involved a 3 foot high tunnel, filled with creepy orange slugs and a dripping slimy liquid. Now, this is hard to navigate without touching the walls, especially if you’re almost 6 feet tall in 3-inch heeled knee boots. You will all be relieved to know I managed along well—but take a good look at the pictures and you’ll see I wasn’t exaggerating!

One thing I noticed that was a bit odd was the excessive amount of wells throughout the city…note the picture of me ‘falling into one’ ☺ All of them were covered, so I suppose one couldn’t literally fall in…but I wondered what it would have been like 300 years ago and if perhaps people fell in then every once and a while…or maybe thrown in for punishment?!

We had dinner at a little Indian restaurant in the heart of town and mini Becks and I caught the 830pm train back (by the grace of God might I add!!) We were running late—aka, we took a cab at 8:23pm from the city centre to catch the 830pm train—not a brilliant move on our part. When we go there, we were sure we had missed the train, until we were informed that train was running 14 minutes late!!! Conclusion: we caught the train right in the nick of time, picked up some M&S mousse upon arrival back at Waverly station, and called it a fantastic day!!

Middle of Mo'vember Reflections

Time has passed quickly and I have found myself living in Edinburgh for 2 months now. In some ways it feels like I have been here forever and in others, it feels like I just arrived. I began new classes three weeks ago-ended Public Health and Health Inequalities and Economics of Health Policy and began Globalization and Public Health. I have turned in my first two assignments and am working on my Final Assessments due in December. I don't know where the time has gone! So many people told me that this year would fly and to be honest, I was skeptical upon first arrival. Yet, judging the way the past two months have flown, I can easily begin to see that the rest of this year will fly by as well, adding to my archive of memories.

I am making the adjustment to "academic life" better as time goes by, but there I still go through sporadic periods of "why the heck am I here?!" I have been frustrated by what I sometimes perceive as a rather close-minded outlook in my programme and courses. It seems that in many ways, the course curriculum is very geared towards one side of an issue and teaching is based from that particular standpoint, versus showing both sides of an argument equally and letting students formulate their own views and perspectives. On that note though, I have been challenged to be able to better defend my views and re-evaluate why I believe what I do.

Two months have gone by and I feel like I have fallen short of so many of the goals I had for the semester. Still on the to-do list is:
-Make it to a Toastmaster's Meeting
-Make a trip out of the country
-Get involved with volunteering: am working on getting involved with the British Red Cross
-Go to a Ceilidh: but I will be going to two on Nov 30th and Dec 5th!
-Find a church that I really like: have been to several, but none that fit quite like King of Kings (my home church in New Jersey)
-Buy a new flute and start playing again!

I may have found a new hobby. One of my bestfriends, Rebecca (my Canadian neighbor), is an avid rock-climber and she took me to the climbing wall at the gym two weeks ago. I LOVED it. I've never been before, but had a great time and thought I actually did well for a first-timer. Will have to get some pictures to post.

PS-This month is "Movmeber"-which is a charity event where men grow mustaches or beards to raise money for men's health. So show your support and grow a 'stache!

Glasgow with ARK and Nichole of NC

Today I finally made it to Glasgow. Have been meaning to get there for some time now and figured if I didn't just put it on the calendar, I would never go! [This seems to be my tendency with many things: thus, please note that if you want to make plans with me, it is IMPERATIVE I actually write down the date in my day runner-or it may not happen. Unfortunately, some of you may know this side of me all too well...but this year I am resolving to work on this!!]

Andy and his friend from NC, Nichole, came with me. We caught the train from Edinburgh Waverly Station and got into Glasgow around 1130am. The day was filled with shopping, good food, and a visit to the Glasgow Cathedral. After we saw the cathedral, we explored the enormous necropolis behind it. The necropolis was set upon a large hill overlooking the city. We got up there right around 330pm, which was perfect for that eerie-almost-sun-down atmosphere.

PS- my camera battery was dead, so pictures are limited from this trip