Black and Blue

I had a wonderful weekend of hanging out with new friends. I hope all of you have been enjoying yourselves too!

We went to a bar called Oddfellows on Friday to just hang out. Super cool place. They were showing the England vs. Tonga rugby match. Pretty funny to hear all the Scots cheering for Tonga. haha. Oh well. I have some photos from that evening, but another girl has more. Will post some on here ASAP so you can put a face with the names I mention. And you can see what I look like...not really that different.

Saturday went to a birthday party for Tracey who is on my program. She turned 24! The interesting part of the evening was we went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. First of all it tastes nothing like in America. Secondly, it was EXPENSIVE. Why couldn't it be 3 enchiladas and a drink for $5??? No it was one enchilada for £10 ($20). haha What the hell? The enchilada was just a tortilla stuffed with some beef chili. It did tastes nice however.

I was late to the dinner due to my roomies wanting to have dinner together. Our roommate dinner was supposedly going to be at 5:30, so I told Tracey I could be at the birthday party at 7. But when I left my flat at 7 the food wasn't even ready. On my way to Mariachi (Mexican restaurant) I literally face planted into the cobblestone street. There is not much grout between the cobblestones, so huge holes are in the streets. I wasn't even wearing heels (I was carrying them in order to wear to the club later haha). People here don't have the manners I am accustomed to in the South. People literally laughed at me, and NO ONE offered to scrape me off the ground. I ran into Mariachi to find my friends. Of course I immediately had tears in my eyes due to the hard fall. The man at the restaurant had a look of horror on his face when I told him I fell in the street. Instead of making me go downstairs to the toilet (through a maze of doors), he let me go in the staff bathroom on the 1st floor. So now I have 2 black knees, a bruised right palm, and 2 scraped feet. But my shoes, handbag, and jeans are all fine. :)

The club later on was fun. It is a bar called Revolution which specializes in vodka. Good music and funny people to watch. One funny person to watch was our friend Rob. haha. His dance moves are hilarious, but at least he tries. Most guys just hold up the wall. Although I had plummeted only an hour earlier, I somehow managed to dance for 2 hours. It closed at 1, which is very strange here. Most places close at either midnight or 3 AM. So when the lights came on at 1 we were slightly confused and sad. We were really getting into the grove at that point.

The good thing though was I started to get a sour stomach from the aforementioned "Mexican". Oh my god! I was having serious gas pains (sorry if that is too much info for you.) The 1.5 miles home was brutal, but Zantac cleared it all up once I got home. haha. My knees were also killing me after dancing in high heels. But I looked really cute. I wore my skinny jeans which I now love, and a cute top. I have pictures of that outfit too that I will post. I am writing this from the library, so I don't have my photos.

Yes Mom, I am doing work also! So you don't have to ask. :)

Ciao Bella

So I went to Italy yesterday! Yeah right, but really I went to an awesome Italian restaurant that reminded me of my trip to Venice with Katie. It is called Ciao Roma. It's across from the Edinburgh Festival Theatre and near the Royal Mile (where all of you who get your butts over here will soon go). I went with my friend Megan. We had a bread starter that was amazing. Pasta dishes that were amazing. And amazing dessert. Oh and amazing wine.

The waiters were Italian which added to the atmosphere of feeling as if you are in an Italian ristorante. The walls were painted Michelangelo style. The ceiling was plastered with kind of an impressionistic take on a sky. There were broken columns. And so you get the picture. The funny thing is when you walk in there is a gelato counter. Just like one of the little places Katie and I went. It was weird that as we sat there longer and longer it really did seem far away from Scotland. That is until the rough sounding Scottish accents took over the air.

Unfortunately for those around us we aren't sure how loudly we were talking. A bottle of wine gets to your volume after a while. Oh well! After we left, we called some friends to meet us at a pub. We weren't ready to go home. I have spent sooooo much time in the library and reading, that getting out for a night was much deserved. Because of the aforementioned wine, I decided doing the moonwalk down the sidewalk would be a novel idea. hahaha. A guy walked past and in a thick Scottish accent said, "that is quite impressive." He then said I should put a hat down for people to give me money. I asked if he was willing to donate, but he said next time. Worth a shot huh?

Callum came to visit today. It was good to see him. We went to Deacon Brodies which is a tavern on the Royal Mile. I try to avoid that part of town due to the enormous amount of tourists who don't speak English, don't know when to cross the street, don't walk on the right side of the sidewalk, and on and on with what they don't do properly. Then we met Megan again. Clearly she is my favorite friend here so far. Super fun and sweet. You will all love her when you come here (I will continue to mention the need for each of you to book a flight until someone does so.)

MISS YOU ALL! It is freezing here (almost 2 degrees, but that is in Celsius...so like 30 degrees Fahrenheit) and I have only 1 coat that isn't really that warm.

Tangela, if you read this EMAIL ME! I am still waiting and waiting and waiting. :)

They Own Me

So I got my matter sorted with the lovely course administrator. She realized I was right and that her infamous timetable was however incorrect. Now my poor director of studies is having to work with that ignorant department because most of the people on my program will have to miss a few classes due to other class obligations. Cows!

Anywho, if I haven't mentioned it yet the Main Library is currently my home. And I do mean that literally. Besides sleeping, eating, and showering I LIVE there. I prefer to camp out in the Mac lab as those people seem to be nerdy like me. The weird part about the lab is they are using those new Mac Minis (you get a tiny CPU but have to supply your own monitor, keyboard, and mouse), but have Phillips monitors. Weird! They bought the keyboards and mice, so what was the deal with the Mac monitor??? That is just my rant on how cheap this school is.
Mom, hint hint on the type of computer I want. :) love you!!!

On Sunday there was absolutely no one in the library. And in the mornings it is empty. Once 1 pm hits, all the slackers wake up and haul their asses to the library. Then they decide they are going to copy entire books and hold up the 10 copiers. Jerks! There is no copy concession for students. You have to PAY! Alot! So I think my next task will be to buy a cheap printer for those late night printings I might have.

So that is my rant for the day.

We have a guy on our program named Rob. Won't lie, he's good looking! Every time he walks into class girls start randomly giggling. He's Scottish, so we don't understand most of what he's saying. That doesn't stop the giggling. It's SICK! So today he missed class. Liz (on my program) said "Where's Rob?" and immediately started giggling. How messed up is that? A guy that none of us knew before 2 weeks ago has us all giggling about him when he's not even there!!!

I went to The Elephant House yesterday. They claim to be the birthplace of Harry Potter, but in reality JK Rowling dreamed up the idea on a train from London to Edinburgh. She did however go there all the time to get the first book written. They serve good drinks and food. The decor is literally elephant-everything. It has a wonderful view of the south side of the Castle. For those of you coming to visit me (and I mean some of you need to get on it), I will take you there...my treat. :)

Typical Tourist Attraction

Just thought this might bring a smile to your face!

Bureaucracy 101

After 4 years at Rhodes, I am completely spoiled on how colleges and universities operate. Everything ran smoothly, and I always knew who to contact with my questions. Here absolutely NOTHING is easy to get accomplished.

Each course has a course organiser (main professor) with tutors running the tutorial sessions. Then there is a course administrator who handles all the random questions and concerns. Each course gives the students a timetable listing the dates and times of the class meetings. All of my classes are at one distinct time EXCEPT one. This class typically meets on Tuesdays, but has a few Thursday meetings listed on the timetable. One such Thursday course conflicts with another class, so I may have to miss one or the other. I would prefer not to have to do this, but may have no choice. The other course is one specific to my degree, so I'm not missing it.

I contacted the course administrator to determine what I should do. She told me to consult my timetable as the dates and times are correct and to email my professor if I need to miss. He then told me to ask her cause she made the schedule. She again says the times are correct, but she is rude and writes things in her emails such as "Tiffany, Again consult your timetable." She clearly isn't reading my emails as I have outlined my issue.

My problem is there is a class listed for Week 4, on Tuesday October 4. First of all, October 4 is a Thursday and is during week 3 of classes. So it could be Tuesday October 9 which is during Week 4. But again she refers me to the infamous timetable, so I copied and pasted her timetable into my last email to show her the issue - she hasn't replied yet.

I want to take the damn timetable and a calendar and throw them on her desk. And ask her to explain to me how October 4 is a Tuesday and during week 4. Maybe she knows something I don't. But either way I don't know if my course is supposed to meet on Oct 4 or Oct 9. I have resorted to emailing my advisor to see if he can get through to this crazy woman. I am pretty much going to her office tomorrow.

PS She is the reason I picked the Public Health Policy program over the Public Health Research program here. This class is in the PHR's dept...we unfortunately have to take it. So if you are considering doing Public Health Research at the University of Edinburgh, don't do it. You will only have to deal with a ton of idiots.

Tall, Dark and Handsome

Yesterday I had the privilege of meeting Meredith Allison for lunch and shopping. For those of you from Rhodes, you know her. For those of you in my family, she went to Rhodes and was a Tri Delta. We ate at a wonderful little cafe on the Royal Mile called Always Sunday. She had soup and salad (why she is a toothpick), and I had the special. It was a croissant filled with parma ham (not exactly sure what that is), mozzarella, and some sort of vegetable mixture. Very good! It was a beautiful day and not too cold. I actually was able to walk about with just a sweater.

Last night about 10 of us went to a club called Lulu which has a light up dance floor. It is in the basement of the Tigerlily hotel which is a super swanky boutique hotel on George Street. This is the street where you go if you want to spend $2000 for a handbag. So we had seen on their website that if you get there before 11 there is no cover. We pretty much walked as fast as we could in order to make that time frame. I carried my heels and wore flats (they were stored with my jacket at coat check). I was NOT about to go in a posh club wearing flat shoes. I even wore Skinny Jeans! Anyway, we stood in the queue for probably like 15 minutes. After we got in it was extremely crowded with middle aged people, and we couldn't find the light up dance floor we were anxiously anticipating. I finally asked one of the bouncers where the dance floor was, he quickly informed me we had stood in the wrong queue. I mean really?? By now it is after 11 so we the cover was 7 pound...sad. We made it to the correct queue only to have to stand in that one for 15 more minutes.



While standing in the queue we met a bunch of Kiwis here for the Scotland vs. New Zealand rugby match today. They live in London, but they still have thick New Zealand accents which are even harder to understand while in a club. And note to those of you who are single, move to New Zealand. They grow them tall, dark and handsome. Holy cow, every guy in that group was at least cute. Some were gorgeous, and some were hot. Two of the guys had on the exact same shirt. I am not shitting you. I literally almost peed on myself laughing. Unfortunately they kept standing next to each other, so it was even more obvious.

While in Lulu we also had the pleasure, and I use that term loosely, of being surrounded by some guys on the Scotland rugby team. Can you say douche bags? I mean really is it necessary to walk your no-necked self and your anorexic hooker onto the dance floor whilst forcefully pushing others out of the way? And yes, the dress code does apply to them too even though they tried hard to wear their sneakers inside. They look like they take steroids morning, noon and night. Gross is all I have to say! And too bad they are going to get their arses handed to them tonight by New Zealand.

But I do plan on visiting New Zealand in the near future for the sake of nice eye candy. It is only a 26 hour flight from here. haha

Mind The Buses

So class is interesting. I understand pretty much nothing this first week. I have absolutely no prior knowledge about the topics being discussed, so I'm a little lost. But I am confident that after I do my 1.1 million pages of reading this week I will be in a much better position for class.

After class on Thursday, 2 girls from my program (Megan and Selam) and I walked around Old Town and Princes Street. I finally took some pictures of stuff around here. (To be posted soon.)

While walking down Princes Street we heard sirens and saw 2 policemen blocking traffic. I got SUPER excited and immediately said "There must be royalty nearby." To which Megan responds, "No that dude got hit by a bus." Big bummer!! But the good news is the person was moving and an ambulance came straight away. Just glad I didn't see the actual contact. You must "mind the buses" as they say here, or you will get hit. They really don't seem to care about pedestrians...even though there are 500,000 of us.

We went to a little market off Princes St. They had loads of food items...marinated olives, nuts, candy, patries, and bratwurst. They also had HUGE frying pans with paella, noodle dishes, and mushrooms. Here is a pic of the huge pans they were using! And check out the price...4 pound which is $8.

There is an Andy Warhol exhibit at the National Gallery, so the columns to the building are covered in giant Campbell's Soup cans. If you don't know how this relates to Warhol, LOOK IT UP! Because Campbell's Soup is VERY American, I had to take my picture in front. (Wind is not good for hair styles.)

Will write more soon! Just got the internet after 2 days without, so have lots of email and work to catch up on.

Hairstyle = Not Too Bad

I have had a week to adjust to and get acquainted with my new hairstyle. It isn't super drastic, but the back is "stacked" which I don't particularly enjoy. The style is fine for now, but I probably will get it cut slightly different in a few weeks when I get it cut again.

Caitlin did an excellent job. Her trainer cut some of it to correct some errors. I will definitely go to Hair by JFK in order to get my hair done. I am pretty sure I'll have to use a different stylist, but I watched them cut some other people's hair well.

For now, here are some pictures:

Scarves are the wardrobe staple here. If you have one, it instantly warms you up. Honestly it is amazing how much warmer you are when wearing a scarf to warm the neck.

Almost Forgot...

Last night I went with a group of people on my program (2 boys and 6 girls) to the Scotland vs Romania rugby match at Murrayfield stadium. The match was part of the Rugby World Cup. Pretty amazing really. We had 2nd row seats...which were supposedly "limited view" seats. They couldn't have been better! We could see everything, and we were so close we could see the players' HUGE thigh muscles. I guess being higher would give you a better overall view, but I seriously appreciated our proximity to the hotties warming up. haha.

Our friend Rob (on my program) is from Scotland and plays rugby but not for the Scotland team. Anywho, he used to play with some of these guys while in his younger years, so he knew their heights and weights. One dude was 6'4" and 280 lbs. Can you say massive?

After the game we went to a pub where I got a vodka and fresh orange as they say here. This bar was so nice they squeeze their own oranges - no Tropicana for them! While at the bar one of the barmaids accidentally sprayed me with water, so I got a FREE drink. yay. I had to walk part of the way home at 12:30 by myself. Won't lie, I got a little freaked out by the emptiness of the streets and a person walking really close behind. I don't think the person was following me, but I still ran the last quarter of a mile to my house. Once inside I felt much better. There can be some creepers out late at night....due to the excessive drinking they have just undertaken.

School Is In Session!

So I am back to the daily routine of a few hours class and then hours of reading. I must admit I quite prefer this lifestyle to living on a schedule of 9-5 with 60 year old hags looking over your shoulder. (clearly referring to Carol).

Anywho, school is going well so far. My classes are all so different yet very related to one another. I have a MASSIVE amount of reading for each course. The courses are geared so as the lecturers speak for 50 minutes once a week, but these only give you about .009% of the material. It is our responsibility to teach ourselves. This shouldn't be a problem as this is somewhat similar to the style of teaching at Rhodes.

On the roommate front I DO NOT enjoy living with a person who speaks very little English (and understands very little). She is completely unaware of the idea of evenly distributing the responsibilities of sharing an apartment

After living on my own for a year, I completely dislike this sharing of a kitchen thing. I hate having to put up dishes cause the others are too lazy or cleaning the floor cause they have let crumbs stay there for 3 days. I am NOT a maid nor do I expect them to clean up after me. These people are 25, 30, & 34 by the way, so their sloppiness is COMPLETELY ridiculous. Oh well.

It seems like most of the people on my program are having the same issues. Many are moving out of their flats and into private accommodation, but I don't really feel like moving and getting resettled. There is also the aspect of finding a new place at a reasonable rate and paying utilities. So for now I will continue to stay in my actual bedroom 99.9% of the time I am at home. I quite enjoy my cozy little space. And don't misunderstand that I am having a poor time cause I most certainly am not. I just do not foresee myself being friends with my Chinese roommate.

Daily Ramble

So food here isn't really that great. There are no "convenient" places...it is either a sit down meal or food from a take-away. These places sale gross pizzas, random rice dishes, fried everything, etc. I usually eat at home, so that means I eat ALOT of salad and sandwiches. I have gotten creative with my sandwiches...random meats and different cheeses. I pretty much shop in the produce and meat sections which is great for my budget. I can eat on 20 pound a week (about $40). That's not too bad!

Because of this change in diet and the huge addition of about 5 miles a day to my daily routine, I have lost weight. I don't know how much because i don't have a scale, but my collar bones are protruding and my pants are loose. Oh well! I sleep much better here due to the amount of exercise and the healthier diet. I did however eat at McDonald's twice this weekend....those fries are absolutely amazing! I also went to a BBQ where I probably ate more than everyone else there! I literally sat AT the buffet table. haha

School starts tomorrow, so it will be an interesting day.

New Hair

As I walked home today from correcting an error the University made with my finances, I was stopped by a girl with crazy hair. She asked me if I would be willing to let her wash and blow dry my hair as she worked at a nearby salon. Here in the UK they don't necessarily go to school to do hair because they can be an apprentice in a salon. So although she had multi-colored bangs and essentially a mullet, I said yes. It was 1:30 but I didn't have anywhere to be until 3:00. So why not?

Her name is Caitlin and she has been training for 5 months. For some reason I agreed to let her cut my hair tomorrow. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE pray for me. It took me a long time to get someone to cut my hair properly, so this could be very upsetting. But this is a year of new frontiers, so I figure this is something I would never agree to normally. I am going to ask her to just trim it, so if it is not how I like it I can have someone else fix it. Yikes!

Our conversation was very interesting as she had a hard time understanding me! This was a first. I said the word 'dry' and she had me repeat it because I drug the word out in true Southern fashion. I will definitely take a picture of my new hairdo no matter how good or bad. If it is bad, I am getting a haircut on Friday as well! :)

Updated Room

My room is still a work in progress. I've used some of the stuff I purchased at IKEA, but there are a few more posters and decorations for the wall holding my bookshelf and desk. The bookshelf is in a state of limbo. It currently holds some of my clothes, but I would like to put them in the closet somehow.

Here are some before and after images. The common spaces haven't changed. I don't want to spend any money on them. I never go in them.

The Sun DOES Shine in Scotland

Today was the most beautiful day in Scotland thus far. It was extraordinarily sunny. Unfortunately I was on my own most of the day and didn't take any pictures. I get kind of nervous pulling out my camera on a street corner due to the very large number of people in the city right now. I'm slightly afraid someone will yank my purse off my shoulder while doing this.

The streets are so busy that stopping for photos causes serious traffic jams. I am guilty of getting very angry at those stopping, so I am finding it hard to stop. I promise to do so very soon.

I am officially a student here at the university. I matriculated (registered, enrolled, and PAID). So that is a weight off my shoulders.

I went to top-up my cell phone (add more money to it cause it is pay as you go), and unfortunately they wouldn't take my debit card. Here in the UK all debit and credit cards have a chip in them. So people just put them into little machines and enter a PIN number. I don't have a card like that, but most big stores accept my cards. Anywho, I then had to go to an ATM to get some cash. I went to the Clydesdale Bank and put in my card. The machine turned all its lights off and said "Sorry, this machine is not currently working." I IMMEDIATELY PANICKED!!! Luckily a very nice looking girl walked up at that exact moment and was kind enough to go inside and get some assistance. I refused to leave the machine as ATM scams are quite prevalent in Europe. A bank employee fetched the card for me and told me it was probably due to the lack of the infamous chip. Fortunately it worked in the ATM within the branch, so I now have some funds in my phone.

On my way home I wanted to take a different route. I went from Princes street across Waverley Bridge straight UP Roxburgh's Close. Closes are little alleyways. They are all over the Old Town. It is as if people of that time didn't realize there was land on the other side of the castle so they just built streets on top of streets. It is an absolute maze in that part of town, but completely fascinating. Roxburgh's Close was at least 200 steps straight up. (I will get a picture very soon.) I am not exaggerating. I was completely out of breath at the top, but was determined to not turn around. I felt amazing at the top...like I had just climbed a huge mountain. I wanted to dance like Rocky when he ran to the top of the steps in one of those Rocky movies....don't remember the number.

I think that is all for today!

IKEA...does a girl's room wonders

So IKEA is absolutely amazing. I spent 2 hours there and I won't tell you how much I spent. That's not the point. I bought some posters, a vanity mirror, a shelf, plants, a lamp, a mattress foam pad, desk organizers, and I think that is all.

I built the shelf in order to have a place to do my hair in the morning and for more storage. It looks pretty good I must say. My bed is now conducive to sleeping. Before it was little more than a thin mattress with a plastic coating and springs that were pointy. Now it is cozy and slightly comfortable. At least I slept more than 2 hours last night!!! yay.

The lamp and the 1 poster I have hung so far already make the place cozier. My plants were 3 for 69p. They are cute!! Unfortunately I don't have a green thumb, so they may die but I sure hope not.

I met my course director and staff yesterday. This is the first year for my program. The research centre where I'm studying was developed about 2 years ago from a group of researchers working in London at the big health schools there. Because we are the first group of students they are all soooooooo excited to have us. They have planned dinners, walks to Arthur's Seat (with a visit to the oldest pub in Scotland), and many other social events.

The one down side to my courses is the 1/2 semester courses only have 1 assessment. Either 1 exam or 1 essay. That is alot of pressure to do well. Absolutely no room for error, so the next year I will ONLY be in the library. haha. Not really, but I will only be going out on weekends. Back to being an old lady. Luckily the courses lasting a whole semester have TWO assessments...a test and an exam! That's huge for me! Because they have a different style of writing here than American universities expect, they are allowing us to write a short essay. They aren't grading for content, only the style and referencing. We are using Harvard's referencing system. I am unfamiliar with this style, so this should all be interesting for me!

My New Room

I am now all adjusted in my room.

I still need to get a plastic drawer set for my hair products. I can hang a mirror on the side of my little closet and use that as my dressing area. There is a plug on that side of the room, so it should work nicely.
My bed is made, but it still needs the actual duvet. I currently only have the duvet cover on the bed as I forget the duvet at Callum's house.
I had a lovely dinner which I made myself. I found the grocery store in my neighbourhood. Before I left Callum's village his mom took my to the grocery to get my "messages" (that's what they call groceries). But I still needed a few more things once I got here. My dinner consisted of a turkey sandwich, crisps (or what we call chips), and a Cadbury's trifle. The trifle was made of chocolate mousse, chocolate chips, and whip creme. YUMMY! Better than any chocolate pudding in America. The sandwich was divine as I found some French's mustard at the grocery. I didn't care how much it cost I was buying it. I'm sick of eating my sandwiches dry because I don't like English mustard.

I have only met 2 roomies so far...one is from Iceland and one is from China. The Icelander's name is Thorhiltur...not sure how to say it now, but she said I can call her Tota. The Chinese girl's name is Apple. I am not kidding! I asked her if she knew of Gwyneth Paltrow, the actress. She said, "I do not know what you mean by actress." haha. Should be interesting! She also asked me to help her with something on her computer, but alot of it was in Chinese. I simply said "well I'm not quite sure what that says."

Here are the beginning pictures. Will update once get the place all decorated!

Moving on Up

I was finally able to get my bank account open. I went for my appointment on Thursday only to be told to come back once I had a "letter of introduction" from my bank. Luckily I used to work for my bank so I am friends with the vice president. Teresa (VP of bank) was very kind and emailed me the letter right away. I went back yesterday and got the account open. Because I am not a UK citizen, my account is BASIC. Just an ATM card...no cheques, no debit card, no nothing. This is good enough. I mainly need it to pay my rent by direct debit.

I just moved into my flat at about 2 PM my time. It is simple but nice enough. Definitely not a palace. I'm still unpacking, but just thought I would update everybody on my status. I will post some pictures in just a bit once i get everything unpacked and somewhat decorated. I left my duvet and pillow at Callum's house. So I have the cover and the sheet, but no quilt. haha. There isn't quite enough storage in this room, so I will need to go buy some plastic bins or something tomorrow for tshirts and underwear.

I miss you all dearly and hope to hear from you soon!

September 4

I have an appointment on Thursday to meet with a bank officer about opening an account. I must open one in order to pay my rent. Who knew you can't just walk in and meet with a bank officer? Whatever.

Today was a lazy day as I am STILL recuperating from my miserable flight. Oh well! Saw the movie "Knocked Up". Very funny! I have eaten alot of Cadbury's chocolate already, so hopefully I won't be gaining any weight.

Tomorrow I am going to get my bedding from Primark. Primark is a quality store that is CHEAP. You can buy packs of underwear for $5, coats for $40, sweaters for $12 and they are of good quality. They don't have a website or sale name brands, but I am definitely in love with this store. Unfortunately there isn't one in Edinburgh...the nearest is in Dunfermline. I have already researched the bus routes between these two. Can't wait!!!

Before I Left

I was lucky enough to have a farewell lunch with my family. We went to good old Cracker Barrel...where I downed about 6 glasses of sweet tea! Sweet. There is no such thing as ice in Scotland, much less "iced tea." I also partook in several more glasses of the cherished drink in the Atlanta airport.

At the lunch I requested the staff sing happy birthday to my mom. haha. She will kill me for saying this, but she turns 50 on the 11th of October. Unfortunately I won't be there to celebrate with her, so I wanted to celebrate it before I left. You should have seen her face when they came out singing. I wish I had videoed it. She started off with that look like "i wonder whose birthday it is." Then she noticed I had a cheesy grin on my face. She said, "what?"

After lunch my mom and cousins took me to the airport. We all tried to joke around for a little while before I went through security. Saying "see you later" was really hard to do. Of course we all cried (even Colton no matter what he tries to tell everyone). As I went through security they stood at the entrance and just watched me. I waved several times to say I was ok and they could leave. But i don't think they wanted to do so. After I got through I wished I had stayed and chatted longer, but staying was only making leaving harder.

So here I am in the land of sheep, kilts, and whiskey. Come visit me soon!

Here are some photos of the lunch and my mom's "birthday."

I'M HERE!!!!!!!!!!

Hello Loves

I am now in Scotland. Loving every minute so far. I now have a mobile number, so if you want it email me! I am staying at Callum's house, so I have email. Which means you should all send me one! :)

The flight was rough. I was "lucky" enough to have an aisle seat. Normally an aisle seat is the golden ticket of air travel, but unfortunately it was my own personal hell on this particular flight. Stinky McStinkerson was in the seat next to me. Mrs Alcoholic-Pill Popper was in front. And a little brat was behind me. Wow, such fun! So after no sleep I made my way through immigration and baggage claim with no stumbles.

My ride (Callum's brother) was late. Of course my cell phone wouldn't work properly and I did not have his mobile number. About 20 minutes later he strolled in looking like he had just arrived from a beach vacation. Enrique Suave himself finally there to pick me up!! And let me just say I looked damn fine after 7 hours of riding in a coke can.

Took a quick nap (30 minutes after 24 hours awake) and then was escorted to Callum's golf tournament. Luckily we only caught his last 9 holes (the weather was SUPER windy and cold)....and he won the tournament in a playoff. I was later dragged to the golf club for celebratory drinks of diet cola and vodka (gross!) and a shot at the bandit. Slot machines are very different here - more like video games and called "bandits". Anywho, I won $50 (25 pounds)!

Almost had a panic attack on the way to St. Andrews today. I had about 3 bottles of water in about 30 minutes due to being slightly dehydrated. Well have no fear, I am no longer dehydrated. There are very few public toilets and not many "gas stations" along the roads like in the states. So we just had to keep going until we got to the Scottish Golf Union.

Today I bought a new hairdryer and straightener, and thanks to the 25 pounds I won the night before I didn't pay a penny for them. Also bought a nice robe, new underwear, and paper for class, and I am only out about $40. Feeling pretty good about that!

Tomorrow I plan to either take a bus to Edinburgh or Stirling. Still need to open a bank account and buy bedding. I am also contemplating calling the university about a possible preview of my new flat! I got a free duvet from Callum's Gran, so all I need now are a sheet, pillows, pillow cases and a duvet cover. I can get everything but the pillows for 7 pound ($14)!!! What a steal.

As it is midnight here, I will write more later. Also have some pictures to put up!