Christmas!

Hello Ya'll =]

As you know, or as I HOPE you know, Thanksgiving is not a holiday over here. And I don't mean "not a holiday" as in "not a big deal" I mean "not a holiday" as in "it does not exist". Which means we get to skip right from Halloween to Christmas.

I like Thanksgiving and all. I mean, I love food, and I love family, and I like being happy. So of course I like Thanksgiving. However, it is not my favourite thing in the world and recently, I saw something online that sums up my general feelings about the whole ordeal:

So, while I like food and family and being happy, my more cynical self sometimes thinks the whole holiday is a little ridiculous and full of empty sentiment. Not to mention what we did to the Native Americans after they were so kind to share their food with us.

Anyway, this all leads up to the fact that I really do not mind skipping Thanksgiving right to Christmas. Which  I realise also has a lot to do with material goods at this point. But fo realz I just like making gingerbread houses, listening to Christmas music, and being happy. 

With all this in mind, Christmas activities here start very early. As in the first week of November. There are Christmas Markets already open! 

Last weekend I went to a parade and "Switch-On" (Or a tree lighting) with my friend.

Unfortunately the parade lasted all of two minutes. I think I have gotten too used to Macy's-style parades. Or parades in larger cities, at least. However, I DID get to see real reindeer. And that definitely made the trip into town worth it =]

THESE GIVE ME THE HEEBEE JEEBEES

So after the parade we wandered around the mall and looked at the Christmas decorations.

I think I can fit.

I was also, erm...Unfortunate enough to come across these creepy penguins! I mean, I LOVE penguins. LOVE LOVE LOVE them. But these were so flippin' creepy:

After this, we went and had lunch. And I'm not gonna lie to you, I had chunky chips and hot chocolate because I was craving them. Not a real lunch, but delicious nonetheless. The hot chocolate even came with two mini oreos!

Mmmm, so good

It gets dark QUITE early here (By 4:30 now!), so the Switch-On was at 5. It was so cold I couldn't feel my toes! Perhaps I should have dressed more appropriately? (Hint: The answer is yes)

When they turned on the lights after a countdown, all the lights on the street went on....Except the tree. Something blew out, and there was a slight delay. But once they were on it was so pretty! I haven't been to a tree lighting in so long! (There was one in Worcester I meant to go to last year, but I was kissing babies at the YW at the time and forgot about it).

All in all, it was really fun and I am excited for all the Christmas activities here. I will post later about our makeshift Thanksgiving, but at the moment I am waiting on pictures.

Adventures in Family Hunting

If ya'll don't know, way way way back in the day I had family in Scotland. In fact, they were fairly close to where I am right now! So, my mom emailed her aunt and gave me some addresses to go check out! Most of the places are in Paisley, which is just outside Glasgow. So yesterday, I set out on a trek to complete this loop:

This journey began at 7am. Which, after not being able to fall asleep until 1 was not pleasant! But I pushed through the sleep-without coffee, no less! 

Sunrise over campus

Before going into town to catch the train to Glasgow, I had to print out directions from Google, which was an adventure in itself. I could not get the document to send to the printer at first-even when trying from different computers! I decided instead to print several screen-caps of the directions.

After this, the bus took forever to come! AKA ten minutes, which was cutting it close! However, I made it, and had just a few minutes to spare in the station.

The train from Stirling goes to the Glasgow Queen Street Station. However the train to Paisley leaves from Central Station.

Now, I need to put something out there. I have trouble rotating things in my head. At first, I thought it was just faces (like when people are upside down-I know that logically their eyebrows are not in place of their mouth, but it does take a minute for me to rotate their face in my head so they look normal), but I am pretty sure it's maps as well. Probably just things in general.

So, despite it being a short walk between the train stations, I had to keep stopping and looking at maps posted around the city centre to make sure I was going in the right direction. Because unless I have the physical map and can move it around so I can have it facing the same way I am, it takes lots of double-checking!

Anyway, I got the train to Paisley-it's only a ten minute ride! But the ten minute ride was long enough for me to realise some things:

1. I knew nothing about Paisley. It could be nicknamed "Shanksley" or "Stabsley" or "Cannibalsley" for all I knew!

2. In event that it is nicknamed one of the above, I had not told anyone that I am here!

3. I had no phone, so if I got mugged or pickpocketed, I would not only have lost my return ticket to Stirling, but also money to buy a new one, and NO WAY TO TELL ANYONE.

I was a little bit worried. I was also very tired. No coffee, remember?

I got off at Gilmour Street Station , and looked around. And well, it was not the cute little Scottish town I had pictured. It reminded me extraordinarily of main south (Worcester). I mean, a lot. Which, after spending the last few months in Stirling and the posh Bridge of Allan, was....not aesthetically pleasing, let's say.

I pulled out my directions to start the walk. I had also taken pictures of the map on my iPod, so could use that for reference as well. 

Head west on Old Sneddon St/A726toward Moss St. Continue to follow A726

West. Right. Let's be real, even if I were good at telling north/south/the rest from looking at the sun, this is Scotland, the sun is a myth! Luckily there was a sign pointing toward Moss street, so I went in that direction. 

Here is where it got messy. According to my picture of a map, I should go one way. According to a sign for "A726" I should  go the opposite way.

I followed the sign. The next direction stated:

 Continue onto Underwood Rd/B7050

After a while of walking, I had not passed B750. Oops. Not to mention that I was possibly the most sketched-out I had been in a while. Now I know what it is like to go from the suburbs to Clark! I looped around back toward the station to find a real map and found myself in a very nice city centre! Still not the cute little town I thought it would be, but at least it was populated!

I found a map, and realized I should have listened to my little picture map instead of the sign, and set off again. At this point though, I had to walk on the other side of the street, because I had already passed the same group of people outside the courthouse a number of times and did not feel like making it clear how lost I was! I kept a look out for B750.

I never saw B750, but instead reached the roundabout the next direction talked about.

At the roundabout, take the 1st exit onto Well St

Seriously google? You couldn't just say take a left on Old Sneddon until the roundabout? Cool.

I kept walking. And walking. And walking. And saw some pretty things. And was offered a ride from a stranger (The third time since being here-I still can't tell if people are just really nice, or all kidnappers)

I like this house. A lot. 

Finally, I reached my first destination. The Inkerman Schoolhouse.

Now, this was not on my original list of places to check out, however it came up on a google search when I was looking up an address on Inkerman Street (which does not exist anymore, since the town was a mining settlement). Apparently this place has been here since the town was established, although now it is a private residence.

At this point, I had another good distance until my next destination. I walked down this long road that followed farms and the highway. Even though my feet were cold, my hands hurt, and there was no one to talk to, I was very content and just very...happy. Mostly it reminded me of when I went to Rochester once, and walked one sidewalk-less roads to everywhere because public transit was, well, lacking. And I was just overwhelmingly cold and happy.

At one point, I passed some horses. And they followed me as I walked parallel to their fence. I wish I had an apple for them! One of them even came right up to the fence to look at me! I think we're friends now. :)

As I neared the end of the road, the scenery went from farms to industrial...things. Finally, I reached Bridge Street!

At 6 Bridge street I had a Great-Great Grandmother. The part of the town I was in was undergoing a lot on construction. This specific address is no longer here, but according to google maps (and we know how great they have been) it would have been somewhere here:

My next stop was just around the corner. Unfortunately, the street sign was missing, so it took me a while to find it. There were also a couple of people out and about so I had to subtly take this "creep" picture of 28 Dunlop Street where my great-great grandmother and grandfather lived together. I think the door that is farther away is 28.

After this, I had another long journey with 6 roundabouts. And once again, I ended up in a mess. I left Linwood and walked back towards Paisley, carefully counting the roundabouts. Google maps led me to a very subtly labeled Broomlands Lane, when I was looking for Broomlands Street. It was a large, new-looking group of flats (Much like the Union Street flats for Stirling Uni housing). I had passed two people in a phone booth  (I think they were brothers) a couple of times at this point, and they kept giving me the evil-eye, so I snapped a picture of the outside, and got out of there!

At this point, Google had some directions that did not quite make sense to me, telling me to take lefts on rights on streets I was not near. However, I picked a direction and went with it until I realized I was on Broomlands Street. Although, I should not have been on there to begin with since I was supposed to turn on to it, yet had not made any turn. I located the approximate area of 25 Broomlands Street, where my great-great-great grandmother and grandfather lived. Only some of the storefronts had their number posted, however after some clever counting, I think it is this one (one of those above the bar, not sure which):

Now, the google directions made sense! And I followed them to 40 Storie Street (Where my great-great grandmother was born), on the Edge of University of Western Scotland-Paisley. Google said that the destination should be on my right.

Erm...whoops. On my right are odd-numbered buildings. And I am pretty sure that although I am in a different country, odd and even numbers are the same! However, on my left was a parking lot and the back/side of a church, then University buildings.

So, I wandered around. I assume that 40 Storie Street used to be where the Uni buildings are, or the buildings have been re-numbered. Or both. I did walk by a REALLY OLD looking nursery. Seriously. This place looks ancient:

Finally, I made my way back to Gilmour Street. I was super hungry at this point, and bought a mini christmas mince pie from Greggs.

It was delicious. I like mince pie! Though  I later learned that you have to specify a Christmas mince pie, because a mince or mincemeat pie have actual minced meat in them. Whew!

Later last night we watched Fight Club. It has been so long since I have seen that movie! I have also decided that Brad Pitt, for the most part, is really not that attractive. Except in this movie. Because, let's face it, he is no Tim Lincecum or Jack Nicholson.

I also had some shortbread and hot chocolate. So good, ohmygosh!

All in all, it was a lovely walk! Although I was very frozen and stiff! I also woke up this morning with a swollen ankle. But I think it's gotten better! I am hobbling less now, at least. And My joints are less stiff and I can move around again!

Election Night

Okay, so I realized this is a little, erm, delayed. But bare with me while I talk about election night here =]

First of all, I didn't realize what a big deal the U.S. elections were to people here. I mean, I realize that America is a big country, and has a certain amount of clout, and that we like to stick our noses everywhere and as a result we do affect other countries. However, I don't think I was prepared for people here not only to be interested in the election, but also really well-read on the topic. As least most of the people I talked to. 

The only problem with this was that some people came off as though it were more important to them (important as in it has more of an impact) than to me. I found myself in a couple of situations with various Scottish and other non-Americans when I was listening to how upset they would be if Romney won. Say what? I am the one who would be going to be going back to the country! Not them! One person told a girl on my floor that (in all seriousness) they should have the right to vote in American elections (He's from somewhere in the U.K.).

Anyway, the Politics Society here was hosting an Pajama Party in the campus pub to watch the BBC coverage of the elections all night. Thanks to the time difference, nothing really started happening until about midnight here-it was going to be a long night. 

The place was packed-not just by Americans! And I guess America is the only place where a pajama party means wearing your pajamas. You could pick out the Americans because they (we) were the only ones actually wearing pajamas. Umburrassin! Everyone else (read=almost everybody in the pub) was wearing normal clothes. Oops. It was like living the scene in Mean Girls when Cady dresses up as something scary for a Halloween party, only to find out that that is not what you do!

Around 2, after drinks stopped being served, it cleared out a bit and we found some seats near a TV. At this point there were quite a few states that had been called and it was pretty neck-and-neck. BBC showed the same few interview clips of various Americans on the candidates and intermittently talked about other world news. For the most part everyone in the pub was hoping for Obama to win, although there were a handful of Romney supporters as well. There was also a table that just cheered for everybody. Hey now, this is not Little League!

At about 3, we went on a chocolate run to the vending machine. I was so tired! Not to mention I knew I had to be up to do stats analysis at 9am. Yuck!

Around 4 results for Ohio and Florida were still coming in. I decided I would go back to Geddes after they were called. This turned out to be a bad idea. I do believe BBC put it quite well when calling Florida "politically nightmarish" in their nice posh accents.

At about 4:30, when I couldn't take it anymore, I headed back to the residence hall. Of course, right after this Ohio was called, and people were unofficially officially calling the election.

Overall, despite all the sleep deprivation it was a really great experience! It was a good excuse to get a toffee nut latte the next day.

On a more random note: The next day (or later the same day), I participated in my friend's experiment for her biology class to test foraging behaviour/ability.  You were given 7 1/2 minutes to walk around a field finding semi hidden golf balls numbered from 1-5 (leaving them in their place). After this, you were timed and had to run around and find enough gold balls to add up to a score of 40. I was the fastest of everyone-just 1 minute and 19 seconds! It was probably all the coffee I consumed.

Never Going Back to America!

Okay guys. I know in the last post I said that I would only come back to the States if I was assured that there were places with acceptable quality empire biscuits. But I have to take that back.

I.
Am.
Never.
Going.
Back.

Never
Ever.
Ever.

Why?

Because I just had the best healthcare experience of my (albeit short) life. Fo realz.

So yesterday I woke up and my right (my right, not your right) eye was a little pinky. Throughout the day it progressively got worse, but I just figured I got some makeup in it or something. I mean, it didn't hurt or anything, and my vision was its normal 20/20 (be jealous!). But I got a little worried that by the end of the day it was still so pink!

The next morning it wasn't better, so I walked to the medical centre the second it opened in order to try and get an appointment for the same day. And I did! I was so excited.

At this point, it was 8am and I was wide awake. So I made some of my *new instant coffee* and had some *new fancy cereal with bran flakes and fruit and nuts* and puttered about for a couple of hours, until I decided that on a normal day I would be up already and should do some school work.

Finally, At 3:10 in the afternoon I walked back to the medical centre, ready for a long wait and lots of paperwork that the doctor doesn't read anyway.

So I got there and gave the receptionist my name. She typed something on the computer, then told me to sit. However, she forgot to hand me the obligatory clipboard and questionnaire.

I then realized this is because THERE IS NO CLIPBOARD AND QUESTIONNAIRE!

That is correct.
There is no clipboard.
No questionnaire to fill out.

Which means that the doctor you finally see does not ask you the exact same questions as the questionnaire, making it clear that they did not read it and that it was pointless to fill out!

The waiting room was possibly the most enjoyable one I have ever been in. That includes the one at my dentist with all the Highlights magazines, and the pediatrics facilities at Kaiser with toys.

The benches were the polished wooden ones with green cushions you would see in a train station. There were little paintings of campus on the walls. Outside I could see bunnies frolicking about. There were so many posters with so much information everywhere. And, they were playing music. And not weird "on-hold" music that you get when on the phone with a bank or airline. An actual radio station.

I thought I would be sitting there forever. But then, after about five minutes (right at 3:20!) I was called in! The Doctor (not that "The Doctor") asked how I was doing and why I was there. I explained that my eye was a little bit cray and everything. Then he did the normal shining a light in it and telling me to look up and down and straight and all that, meanwhile we chatted about the upcoming election.

Then he printed out a prescription for antibiotics and said I was done!

Now, I was fairly certain that the doctor's visit would be free. I had heard as much. Then he told me that the prescription was free too!

I was a little ridiculously happy about that. I mean, obviously I would have bought it anyway since I couldn't go around like that, but I was so surprised that even the medication was free! He told me to take it down to the pharmacy on campus, and that they would take care of it for me.

Now. In the States, or at least in California with Kaiser, getting a prescription filled takes forever. Sometimes you can sit in a room and wait for it, but often you drop off your slip and come back later in the day. Or, if it isn't urgent, you get it mailed to you. So I rushed down to the pharmacy, hoping they would be able to fill the prescription by the end of the day.

I gave it to the woman, and she asked if I wanted to wait for it. I said I would, but expecting a long wait I started wandering around the store. Mostly looking at the hair dye. Then, less than five minutes later, she handed it to me!

I was back in my room before 4 o'clock.

This. Is. Crazy.

So, fo realz guys, I like the healthcare here too much. I can't wait to get sick again!

Three Days of Halloween

I think November has come way. Too. Fast.

Seriously. I have less than two months left here! That is not enough time! I don't want to go back yet! WAHHH!

Anyway, these past three days have been filled with Halloween events. I did not realize it was so big over here! 

Monday night some friends and I went on a ghostwalk in Stirling. Although I would not say that the walk itself was scary, it was definitely entertaining and lots of fun. The only problem was that it was FREEZING. Seriously. It didn't help that we were all dressed up as witches. Under my two layers of tights, my pair of socks, and gloves on, I still couldn't feel my toes or fingers.

We walked up around the Old Town Jail, the Tolbooth (which used to be a prison! bahm bahm bahm bahhhhmmm), and of course the Valley Cemetery. The walk leaders told us all sorts of stories about phantoms and the ghosts of politicians and criminals that walk Stirling's streets after dusk.

After the walk was over, we went to catch the bus back to campus. Unfortunately, the next one wasn't coming for a half hour or so. To stay warm we popped into a Subway. 

Confession time: This is the first Subway I have been in. Ever. In my life.

I know. I live under a rock. Anyway, in addition to their array of sandwiches, they had so many cookies! And they were 3 for 99p! Obviously we had to get a bunch of cookies. I tried a raspberry cheesecake one, which was delicious! I also went with classic chocolate chip, and double chocolate chip (saving this one for the next day).

Tuesday I got up early for my morning seminar class, I later had to have a coffee transfusion because I was so tired. In the afternoon I went to work on a psychology experiment for my cognition class. We mostly ended up asking a bunch of random people to participate in it.

That night there was an inter-hall Halloween party in the club on campus. Unfortunately, I made the responsible life decision to not go and instead work on my essay that is 100% of my grade for the course. Yes. 100%. Let's not talk about how crazy that is!

Wednesday, actual Halloween, started off slow. I spent about three hours with some of the girls in my psychology group getting people to do our study. I'm halfway done with the amount of participants I need, which means I will be grabbing lots of my friends over the next few days to do the study.

After this I visited my friend's flat in town and we made a lemon cake. We had bought the mix for it over the mid-semester break, but never got around to actually making it. It. Was. So. Delicious. The only problem was that we had two slices each and ended up very sugar hyper and with stomach aches. We decided that it would be a good idea to go on a walk around town to burn off energy, so we did.

So good.

By the time I got back to my room, it was only seven o'clock. I was ready for bed! I started work on my essay again, and got about a third of it done (sadly, the easy third), before I sugar-crashed around nine thirty, and had to call it quits.

I don't think I will ever look at lemon cake again. Ever. Seriously. I was so full. My head was buzzing from the sugar.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Today I went grocery shopping. Which does not sound exciting, but trust me. It was. This morning my food inventory was:
-A few scoops of oatmeal
-a potato
-a can of baked beans
-a can of kidney beans

So I was understandably glad to go to Aldi. I bought so many groceries! I even went crazy and got some cereal and milk! I'm so excited to have that for breakfast tomorrow.

I also need to gush about something. Empire Biscuits. They are basically the most delicious thing I have ever had ever. Including flourless chocolate cake, and burritos from El Torro, and Falafel from both Fantastic's and that place in Providence, and raspberries, and peanut butter. For those of you who are not acquainted with these treats, I will explain. An empire biscuit is two butter cookies, sandwiched together with a layer of jam (I have not figured out what type of jam yet-it tastes familiar but I can't place it), then with a layer of icing on top and garnished with either a gumdrop or half of a maraschino cherry. They are also the biscuits that the triplets in Brave eat under the table in the beginning of the movie. How can I not love them???

Basically they are delicious. Today I got one from the Starbucks on campus (only my second one-I have done so well!), and ate it with some tea and felt very pleased about the whole thing.

The point of this gushing is that I am not going to come home until I am assured that I can find empire biscuits of acceptable quality in the States. So ya'll better get on that!