I'm In Mexico!

Get ready, 'cause this is gonna be a picture heavy post!

So, I flew from Minneapolis to Dallas to Mexico city yesterday, and it was a long time to be on planes, but not as long as Scotland. Here's a picture of Mexico from the plane!
<--------------- So I got off the plane in Mexico city, got through customs, and realized I'd missed the group bus to Cuernavaca because my plane was an hour and a half late. I called the number of one of the people from the school and she told me to withdraw some pesos and take the bus. This freaked me out a bit as I was suddenly thrown into a world where only one in ten people speaks English and I needed to communicate a lot to get money and get on the right bus. I went to an ATM and got out some money (I really had no idea how much as I didn't know the exchange rate. Yet another example of poor planning for this trip. I was so much more prepared for Scotland!), and then started walking towards the buses when I came upon a nice man named Charlie holding a U of M sign for the school! How lucky was I! So I found Charlie and then we went and found a few other latecomers and piled into a minivan type thing for our hour and a half ride to Cuernavaca. Along the way we saw fields and fields of oats which had been grown and harvested by hand and stood in old fashioned "shocks." Needless to say, besides the mountains, these were the thing I was most excited to see. Unfortunately we were driving so fast this is the best picture I could get. ---------->

So we finally got to the school, but it was dark so I couldn't see much, other than the fact that it's mostly made up of outdoor gardens. Say hello to outdoor class almost every day! We quickly got split into our host family groups and I was driven to the house of Maria Louisa Vences, who is my host mother. Or actually, she's more like a host grandmother. She's the matriarch of a HUGE clan of kids who have other kids and there are always nieces and nephews and cousin running around that I have to remember. Maria Louisa's grown up daughter, Magdalena, is basically in charge of us, and she's really nice. I arrived and met two of the three other girls who are staying here, Greta and Jackie (the third girl, Janessa, arrived this morning after a night in the airport), and had a big dinner which was really good. Maria Louisa and Magdalena even made me extra veggies as they know I don't eat meat. They're very nice about it and are always offering me fruit! So along with Maria Louisa, Magdelena, and the grandfather (who is very quiet, and who's name I forget), there is also a HUGE talking parrot and a wienerdog named Chisto (short for some word in Spanish that means "sausage"). <--------- So, that's my host family. I'll try to get a picture of them together later, but for now you'll just have to deal with some pictures of my room! First, here is my bed which has an AWESOME wool blanket. Next is our sort of living room which is sort of like a half-covered courtyard. The ceiling is open in places and last night you could see the moon while sitting inside! Way cool.
<----- Room






































So last night was gross and I was homesick, but this morning I got up and had pancakes with the other girls and the family and Magdalena took us to the school on the bus. First of all, check out the HUGE cross in this bus.












Secondly, I'm putting up a few pictures of the school, just so you can see how awesome it is. Yeah. See that table there in the trees? That's a classroom.







So after we did some orientation we came back for the big meal of the day at 2, and then Janessa, Greta, Jackie and I went out and explored the Zocalo, which is the town square, and I bought a really cool small handmade book make out of handmade paper for about a dollar. It's really pretty, and says "Cuernavaca" on it. I'll probably have a picture of it later.

But for now I'll stop uploading pics and go get some work done! I've got classes starting tomorrow, and I want to know what's going on!

Hasta luego, amigos!

All I Do Is Complain About Work

Just a quick update, as I have a lot to do, and we're getting ready to decorate the tree!

List of things I have due this week:
-Senior Project proposal
-Spanish Oral Exam
-Cultural Anth take home essay exam
-6 Page comparative transcript essay
-Two part Spanish written exam
-Geology final exam
-10-15 page Linguistics essay

So. I feel squished by stress, as usual.

BUT, the good news is that after this week of no sleep and constant stress and my face breaking out terribly, I'LL BE DONE WITH MY MOST STRESSFUL SEMESTER EVER!
If things work out right, I'll only have to take four classes next semester, so I just need to make it through this week.

Lorelai:

The crazy thing is I am ready to get married. I’m ready to start the next phase of my life. I want another kid and I don’t wanna wait anymore. I don’t want to be patient. I’ve been patient long enough. I’m not happy and I feel crappy all the time and I just think I’ve had it.

Linney:

So what’re you going to do? Only you can make you wait. Nobody else can. You need to decide what you want and what you’re willing to give up to get it, and then you’ve gotta be ok with that. Or you have to be ok with waiting.

I feel like Peter Pan. I'm never going to grow up.

LIES! IT WAS ALL LIES!

I have such exciting news that I would write this whole post IN CAPS if it wasn't so annoying to read. The long and short of it is that I'M GOING TO GRADUATE ON TIME, SPRING 2010!!!

So, here's how this blessed miracle came about.

I woke up on Sunday morning, or rather, afternoon at 12:30 which was really nice. I needed the sleep. But the downside of sleeping in is that I only had a few hours to write a five to seven page paper. So I tried and tried, and I didn't get anything done. Sarah showed up at 6pm and we headed out for dinner on our way to the Mason Jenning's concert at first avenue.

AND NOW A MINOR BREAK IN SCHEDULING TO BRING YOU ALISON'S EXCITEMENT ABOUT RECENT CONCERTS:


So I went to see Paramore a couple of weeks ago, and they were awesome. Hayley kicked ass and sang her heart out 'till my ears rang. It was and all around good time, and I bought their recent CD, Brand New Eyes, which I like quite a lot, though I don't know if I would have liked it as much had I not heard the songs in concert first. There's something about hearing songs sung to you (the audience) from the mouth of the person who wrote the lyrics that gives me shivers. Concerts are a religious experience for me.


Anyway, last night was the Mason Jennings concert, and I totally cried. I mean, I laughed and sang and yelled happily at Sarah, but I also cried, which I tend to do at really great concerts like this one and Snow Patrol's a few months ago. Mason sang a whole bunch of great songs, most of which were from his Blood of Man record which just came out, and which I just bought, and which is one of my new favorite CDs, although I don't like it as much as his Boneclouds record. I won't go on and on about his music (though he is WONDERFUL), but I will say that if you haven't heard his song Your New Man, you really should. It's not really like anything else that he does, but it's hilarious.

END OF CONCERT RANT

So after the concert I came back home and started working on my paper, not finishing until 5 this morning. I went to bed for two hours, then got up at 7, turned in my paper, met with my Spanish professor to clarify some tense structures, and then met with my general education adviser. This is where it gets good.

I walk into his office and we say hi, and then he asks what I wanted to see him about. I say I'm wondering if there's any way that he could rearrange my credits to get those pesky 11 credits of upper class work filled. Of course I'm asking this with next to no hope, but he looks down at my records and says, "yeah, of course!" So he somehow made my credits from Stirling cover it! I've got all my requirements covered as of registration! And even better, I'm petitioning that one of my transfer credits be counted toward my major requirements (which it probably will) which means I'll get to take one less class next semester! Overall, that meeting was EXTREMELY helpful.

So when I got out I went to Geo class, and then to the first half of my Spanish exam (second half is tomorrow), and then back home where I've been trying to sleep unsuccessfully. So if this post isn't quite understandable, I'm sorry.

Oh! And I got a bedframe, and the mouse is nowhere to be seen since we pepperminted the house.

And now I'm going to fall into bed. See you in the morning, when I'll be sure to make more sense.

I'm In A Good Mood 'Cause I Just Ate Lunch At Jimmy John's

So, just to clear things up from the last post, I now have my meds refilled, and things don't seem quite as horrible as they did last week.

But before things got better, they got worse. I have news which last week seemed like the end of the world: I'm not going to graduate in the spring.

And the reason WHY I'm not going to graduate is because of 11 credits of upper level classwork outside my major that the college sprung on me at the last minute. What jerks. This news really got me down, and I felt like I was a failure. Graduating on time has been a big deal to me. I saw it as a way to prove that even though I skipped around to a lot of different schools, and even though I hated college for the first two years, I could still finish with the "successful" kids and walk to the platform with my head held high. Now that I'm not going to finish at the same time as most of the kids I went to high school with, I feel let down. Like I'm the last kid to stagger over the finish line, huffing and puffing and about to faint.

I was feeling that way up until Monday when I got back to school and started thinking about it a bit more. What does this mean, that I have to go to school through summer 2010 to finish? Well, it means that I won't have a "summer" this summer, but I was expecting that anyway because I was trying to get a job in the works for the minute after I graduated. It means that I have to live up in the cities for the summer, which I was already planning to do because we have the house rented through August (look how nice that worked out!). And third, it means I have to take three or four upper level classes outside my major. Which means I can take anything I find any subjects that I find remotely interesting as long as I have the prerequisites (which I have a lot of, having taken about one of every class during my college jumping years)! And THAT means that I can spend the whole summer TAKING AGRICULTURE CLASSES and I don't need the grade to graduate, I just need the credit which means I CAN TAKE THE CLASSES PASS/FAIL SO I DON'T HAVE TO STRESS ABOUT GRADES!!

Turns out, this could be a really cool summer, provided that I can find some new friends to hang out with (and convince some old friends to come up to the cities more often). I don't want to spend the summer being lonely. BUT, I think I can turn this into a good thing.

So anyway, that's the news. I have to finish this semester, then I'm going to Mexico, then another semester, and then summer classes, and THEN I'm done.

And speaking of next semester, here are the classes that I picked during sign up, but they might change, as I was forced to pick a bunch of classes I'm not really interested in because the Anthro department has LAME classes next semester.

1) Religion and Culture, and
2) Philosophic Anthropology. Both of these are taught by a prof that I have this semester, and I have to say, I'm not impressed. He's dry and boring, but he's easy to get along with.
3) Sex, Evolution and Behavior. I'm SO excited for this class, and not just 'cause it has the word sex in it. I've genuinely heard good things, and I love learning about how evolution influences our behavior.
4) Archeologies of Colonialism. This sounds more like a class mom would like than one I would like, but my options were EXTREMELY limited. These five classes were the only ones I could make work with my schedule, weren't writing intensive (I'm going to be writing my senior thesis this semester, so I don't want too much other writing), or project based. Basically I need to save time and take classes that don't require tons of out of class work, as I'm going to be buried in my senior thesis for the rest of the year.

So there you go. Classes.

And in other new news, WE HAVE A MOUSE IN OUR HOUSE!

I went into my room last night, flicked on the light and was looking at a paper on my desk, when all of a sudden I see something move out of the corner of my eye. At first I think that I must just be seeing things because it looks like nothing is there, but then! Suddenly there's a little mouse, about 2/3rds the size of Moshi, just scurrying across my floor and out of the room under the door! I tried to follow him, and I think he might have gone into the broom closet, but I couldn't find him again. I'm hoping he's the only one of his kind in the house. Besides Moshi, of course.

And now everyone's laughing at me because I have a pet mouse in a cage, but I don't relish the idea of a house mouse running over my face while I sleep. Is that so unreasonable? Anyway, I spent an hour out trying to find a live trap, which I couldn't at 11:30pm on a week night. No surprise there. And I didn't want to buy one that kills the mouse because I honestly don't believe that it's right to kill an animal because it wants warmth, shelter and food. What would happen if you needed someplace to get out of the cold and someone poisoned YOU for it? They're just trying to live and be mice, and I'm just trying to live and be human. Neither one of us should get killed for that.

But I still don't want them running over me in my sleep.

So, since I couldn't find any live traps I went online to find out how to deter mice. First I cleaned the whole kitchen, floor to counter tops, did all the dishes, swept up any crumbs, and got rid of any garbage. If there's nothing to eat, they won't come around as much. Next, I found out that mice really don't like the smell of peppermint oil, so I soaked a few cotton balls in peppermint and placed them all over the house, so now our house is clean and smell good! Win win!

Today, though, I'm gonna go find a live trap. And a bed frame, I hope. Even though I like sleeping on my mattress of the floor, this experience has made me a bit iffy on it in the winter time.

Wish me luck on my search!

Help; I Need Somebody. Help; Pretty Much Anybody

So here's how it is, folks.

I'm in an awful state. I can't sleep at night, I sleep too long in the morning, I have constant stomach pain, knots in my shoulders, I'm developing a hump from sitting over my computer, and I'm getting fat from sitting in class and spending the rest of my day sitting on my ass doing homework. I dress in sweatshirts and hats every day so I can bolt out the door in ten minutes to catch the bus, and the minute I get out of class I have to come back home to sit alone in the living room working on homework until I make myself go to bed at 11. None of this is conducive to friend making or happiness.

I'm not going to go on and on about happiness or the meaning of life, but I've just been having a bad time of it lately and I need some sympathy, some love, and a few friends to remind me that I'm not alone.

I know this is temporary, and I know that things can't keep on being this bad forever, but I'm stressed, I'm out of medication thanks to my own forgetfulness and Target pharmacy, and things just aren't looking too good right now.

I'd like to be happy and healthy for a bit. Get up well rested in the morning, not spend the day worrying about the work I have to do, go read a book for a while, meet up with friends for coffee, play outside, have dinner with my family, spend the night listening to music with the person I love, and falling asleep warm with nothing to wake up for the next morning, but with fun things to look forward to. Ideal, I know, but where would we be without our ideals?

But for now I'll sit on this couch, work on my Spanish, eat a piece of pie, and worry myself into the grave.

Hurrah.

I'm Sorry That I'm Not Showered In These Pictures, But I Had To Show You My Doughnuts

Hey guess what?? I made doughnuts from scratch today!

Here's the set up:
I stayed up until 1am last night helping Maddie study for a test she had this morning, so I was really tired. Thankfully I woke up for my 8 o'clock class, but then came home and fell asleep and slept through my afternoon classes. Go figure.
So since I didn't have anything I needed to do right then, I thought I'd make doughnuts, 'cause I've been thinking about it since last weekend.
I've been re-reading Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder again (I read it every fall/winter) and I got to the part where Almanzo's mom makes doughnuts, and it talks about how fresh apples and homemade doughnuts were pretty much the backbone of the fall foods on the American frontier.
So I thought, DUDE, I SHOULD MAKE DOUGHNUTS 'CAUSE I HAVE FRESH APPLES THAT I PICKED FROM AN ORCHARD AND THEY'D GO PERFECTLY WITH DOUGHNUTS.

So I found the recipe from the Little House Cookbook and I got all the ingredients when Maddie and I went to the store yesterday, and this afternoon I turned out about three dozen cute little whole wheat doughnuts, and they're delicious.

Granted, this being my first attempt at doughnut creation, I messed up a few things. First, I learned that it's a LOT easier to do with two people so you can have one twisting the dough and one flipping them in the oil. Because it was just me I burned a few. And also, I learned that you have to have the oil at the EXACT right temperature, because if it's too cool it won't cook the doughnuts in the right way (they feel spongey), and if it's too fast the outside gets done before the inside and they have mushy innards.

But most of them turned out, and now we have apples and doughnuts, and it makes me super happy.

I'm gonna try again next week and see if I can do better!

BLOGSWAP this is madelyn

I'M A GUEST BLOGGER. I'm Alison's sister. We had planned to do this a long time ago but we're both lazy and busy and whatever else so it's been put off until JUST NOW. As I type, Alison is typing. We're on the same couch. It's weird.

So I'm here to give you an unbiased (not really) look at Alison. Unfortunately, I'm very used to writing about ME that I'm pretty sure I'll get sidetracked. I'll try my best to stay focused.

HERE WE GO


Alison is almost done with school. She wants to be a farmer. I think this is dope, but she still thinks she might need a different plan. Graduation is GOOD because she's nearly done with this less than glamorous college thing, but it also means that she has to be even more of a grown-up. That's seriously scary. There are many questions to be addressed, such as WHO will pay for the cell phone? and groceries? Will the parents still support the kid? Will they be resentful about it? When will poor Alison be given the financial BOOT?
Unfortunately it seems that every landmark we hit just means we gain responsibility and lose the excuse to screw around. Alison has never really been one to screw around, though. We just had a big talk that sprung from a question I had about her feelings toward college early on. For those who don't know, she's attended five universities in the past three/four years. So I was wondering if she had also invented hair-brained schemes about running away from school. Turns out, she had wanted to buy a farm and live with friends in rural Minnesota. I feel like it's a good thing she didn't do that.

So now she's nearing that finish line. But she doesn't really know what it means to finish college. Neither do I. Anyone? Ideas?

Alison has been having some trouble with her sister. While Alison has been STRESSING out about school and graduation and everything, her dopey sister (yes, me) has been playing music in a band and staying out late and just basically being a free spirit (though I assure you that the stress is just being hidden, and is building up to a breakdown). Free spirits and dedicated students tend to clash a little bit. Or a lot. Mostly, we both have predisposed ideas of the other's life. For example, Alison thinks I'm kind of a flake. I think that Alison's kind of bossy. But these feelings are old, old feelings. That's part of what it means to live with your sibling after high school I guess. We're dealing with a lot of the same issues we've been dealing with our entire lives. Except it's harder to get Mom or Dad to settle things for us (the potential phone calls are tempting).

Alison likes to make soup. She's made a couple of batches recently and I approve. But for some reason she's always like DON'T BE CRITICAL OF WHAT I MADE. But I'm not, Alison. Food is fantastic. You make all the food you want, so long as you share and you actually clean the dishes.

THIS IS ABOUT BOTH OF US: Alison doesn't always clean pans and cookware thoroughly. This is like the worst possible thing in the world for me. Like AIGHT, I was making a cake yesterday, and I went to get the measuring spoons and they were OILY, and dirty stuff was stuck to the oil. That's not alright. I'm just saying.

Alison is nice. We argue a lot. Tonight we decided that we've both been kind of crappy sisters. I can, however, blame it entirely on school. Alison has very high expectations of herself. That's just how it is. But here's a secret: We're both kind of sucking at school lately. Nobody's grades are in serious danger, but it's always nice to be reminded that nobody's perfect. Not even super-older-sisters. But this is the thing -->Alison has a note from a doctor that makes it IMPOSSIBLE for her professors to dock her points for missing class in the morning. I don't have that. But it's about time Alison got some kind of break, don't you agree?

Okay this is almost turning into a competition. She's writing WAY more than me, and I think she's sticking more to the point than I am. What do you want to know about Alison? For real, I don't know what to write. Brutal honestly?

IS IT TIME TO BE BRUTALLY HONEST?

Alison should have some Minneapolis friends. This is okay for me to point out because I also desparately need some Minneapolis friends. But it's really hard to make friends when you move around as much as we have lately. That being the case, and even though we live off-campus, and even though it's her senior year and she's freaking out about school, I still think Alison needs some Minneapolis friends.

OKAY ALISON JUST FINISHED SO I FEEL LIKE I SHOULD FINISH TOO

ummmmmm. Alison is going to be A-O-K. Life goes on. She might be a farmer, she might not. Either way I'll probably still think she's bossy. But no matter what WE ARE SISTERS and I will love her and support her til I die. That's part of the deal. So I guess that's all I have to say right now, because I'm a younger sibling, meaning I MUST follow my older sister's lead and end this post right now.

LOVE,
Madelyn

P.S. ALISON IS A GREAT PERSON (I need to make this clear)

False Alarm

Hurrah, I feel much better today! No flu for me.

I'm currently listening to "Somewhere A Clock Is Ticking" by Snow Patrol. I forgot how good this song is. It's on the Final Straw cd, and I only listen to about 3 songs on that album, and I need to branch out. It's a good cd. And it's one of the only ones I still have now that I've changed computers. I backed up all the music from my old computer to my external hard drive, but somehow it had deleted MOST of my music without telling me. So now I have about a quarter of my music on my new comp, and I've still got to get the rest (which is on my iPod) back on, so I'm downloading this handy program called Ephpod that Paige told me about. We'll see if it works!

Today I think my soapbox will be people who can't get along. Don't you hate it when two people you like dislike each other? It just ruins my whole day. Not that it's the fault of one or both parties, it's just the way the world works, I guess. I just wish everyone would get along! Live and let live. Or, as Sue Sylvester said on Glee last night (yes, it's my new addiction), "live and let learn." Possibly the only decent thing she's said this season.

But tomorrow is Friday, and that makes a lot of things better. I'm gonna get done with classes, jet on down to Nfield to see Maddie's concert at the Key, then drop the car off with above-mentioned Maddie and ride back to the Cities with Lyss to have a fun weekend watching movies, possibly going to an apple orchard, going to Jamba Juice and many bookstores, cooking delicious food, and so on.

And apropos of nothing, has anyone heard the new Decemberists tune "The Rake's Song?" It's got such a catchy beat, but it's so TERRIBLE! All about killing your kids. Not cool. But so catchy... Damn you, Decemberists. You are terribly interesting. I still can't get over how you rhymed "Miranda" with "veranda" in "We Both Go Down Together."

Also, I need recipes that use potatoes. We've got a lot of red potatoes currently, and we've gotta do something with them before they "grow legs and walk away" and Will says. Hit me with your suggestions!

I May Be Dead Of Pig Flu By Morning?

WOW I've been moody lately! Sorry about that, guys. I'm going to let that suffice as a complete explanation for my last post.

Basically, things in my life are fine now. There was some teenage relationship angst, but all is well, and the worst I have to worry about is waking up in time for classes (which has become much harder than it sounds). Oh, and I think I may be coming down with the something flu-like (hopefully not the dreaded Flu de Oink) because my stomach's been hurting for the past few days.

AND A DELICIOUS REPAST OF PAD THAI AT PAIGE'S LAST NIGHT DID NOT HELP. But it WAS freakin' delicious.

We carved pumpkins (mine is either really happy or in some kind of (erotic?) pain). After the carving we made dinner, AND pie, as we're working on perfecting a Swedish apple recipe that is getting tastier every time we make it. Again, not great for my unhappy stomach, but delicious.

Meanwhile, things like Jim and Pam's wedding, the new song by Snow Patrol and listening to the funny old guys on the bus in the morning (this morning they were discussing social security; yesterday it was lawyers. The consensus? All useless) remind me of the total awesomeness of life.

Also, a recent link by a friend of Maddie's and mine, ActionAthena, was pretty sweet! Maddie just posted a long bit about how great Athena's comics are (and I totally agree), and so Athena posted back about how great Maddie is, and somehow I got mentioned? Gotta love blood connections that get you press time. ;-)

Let's see...other news.
I'M GOING TO MEXICO! I know I've mentioned this a couple of times already, but now I have an ACCEPTANCE LETTER to prove it!!

And I think that's a good way to end. Mexico. Happy. Life is good.

Bullet Points/Stream of Thought

-I'm turning in my application for study abroad in Mexico tomorrow! I'm taking out loans to cover it, so we're gonna make it work.
-I feel swamped with work, as usual, but yet I don't feel crushed. I feel like I care less, or like there are more important things. I don't know.
-I'm emotionally confused.
-I don't feel like talking about it right now.
-I wish our new modem would come in the mail! They told me the new modem would be here, but it isn't. Gotta remember to call those guys.
-I realized a few days ago that the reason my sleep schedule is so wonky these days is because of my meds. Whenever I change the dose I end up needing a lot more sleep than usual. That's why I've been sleeping through classes more than usual! Back before I got on my meds I only needed around seven hours of sleep per night, and now I'm exhausted if I don't get between nine and ten. Go figure.
-I have a new computer, and I LOVE it! It's so light and small I can take it to classes with me without breaking my back! And it's so fast and responsive! Everything works like a charm.
-I wish I could have an extended weekend. I feel a bit burnt out.
-I got some new jeans last weekend with dad, and they fit really nice. It's good to have jeans that I really like again. I mean, ones that aren't totally ripped up. :-)
-I feel blank and crammed with thought at the same time.

I know that I started this journal to keep people updated on my life, but at this point I just feel like writing feelings more than anything else. It seems like I censor myself because I know other people will be reading this, and that makes me sound....off....somehow. I think from now on I'm going to try to put more of myself up here. I hope no one is too offended. I'm just a 21 year old kid, after all. :-)

LOOK I'M POSTING!!!!!!!!

Life has both sped up and slowed down since school started. I've gotten a lot busier with homework and classes and such, which translates to no social life and even less sleep, but at the same time it feels like things are paused. Coming back from that trip with Sarah I was so energized and invigorated about life! Living outside and communing with nature does that to me. Also, listening to Mason Jennings.

But now I'm back in the school groove and just working, working, working to get out. Only one more semester after this one and I'm done! I've been talking to a lot of people about what I want to do when I finish. Basically, I think the only worthy occupation in this world is to make it your business to help other people, and I want to do that at the base of the system, helping people get clean water, food, shelter and other necessities. I'm thinking Heifer International, PeaceCorps, or ELCA Global Missions at the moment. We'll have to see how things pan out.

But before I can graduate I need to fulfill all my requirements, and the ones I'm worried about right now are my Spanish credits. I'm taking Spanish 1003 right now, and I need to get through Spanish 1004 before I graduate, but because I'm trying to smash all of my last minute classes in next semester, and it would be SO much easier not to have to take Spanish 1004 then as well. SO, I looked for an alternative, and voila! There's a three week Spanish immersion program in Mexico this winter that would fulfill my 1004 credit! SWEET!

Downside: It costs 2,000 dollars.

Now, that sounds like a lot, but considering 5 credits (the same amount that I would get going to Mexico) costs 1,700 dollars here in Minneapolis, it's not much at all.

SO. If anyone feels like benefactor-ing this trip, or contributing to it in any way, DO SO! You will earn my eternal gratitude, and I will send you many emails from Mexico telling you what I'm up to.

Yes. Here ends my shameless begging for money.

In other news, I'm getting a new computer!!! The one I have is slowly dying, and is systematically deleting my music, so Dad was nice to me and bought me a new one which is on the way in the mail! I'm so excited to have a computer that works well again!

And now I must hasten to geology class! Later, skaters.

The Sun Comes Up And We Start Again

Update time!

So last Friday I got back from my awesome trip with Sarah! We went from Northfield through South Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho, and Oregon to Washington. Then back from Washington through Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, and home! We went through the Badlands, stayed in the Black Hills (most beautiful campground we saw!), then to Yellowstone, then to Hell's Canyon, and stayed with my friend Erica for a couple of days. Then we went out to Coeur D'Alene, then to Glacier National Park, then drove for 15 hours to Teddy Roosevelt National Park, and finally, home.

We took a bunch of pictures, but I'm FAR to busy (and also lazy) to post them all online just now, so you'll have to be content with just one. :-)


It's Sarah and me at a waterfall in Oregon! Yay!

But now I'm back, and I've become addicted to this fellow called Mason Jennings, who's from Minnesota, and his music is brilliant. Sarah introduced me en route, and I can't get enough. Same can be said of the Shins record, "Wincing the Night Away." And I plan to listen to these things while packing.

Packing for Maddie and my move in to our new place on Saturday! Exciting! It'll be nice to settle in in our new place and have a few days to get organized before classes start. And classes! Wow, I'm gonna be busy this semester! But I think I've said that before.

So, other big news. Let's see.

I got an external hard drive that I'm happy about because that means I can back up all my music before my computer dies, which is looking to be soon. I'm hoping it'll last through this year before it goes totally to pot. Apperently lap tops are only designed to work for about four years before giving up the ghost.

And that's about it, as far as I can remember. I'm still trying to decide what to be when I grow up, but that's an on going project.

A Rainy Day

Life is difficult!

I just got done with a meeting with Dad and Maddie to run the numbers for school this year. Ugh. I'm so thankful that this is my last year mooching off the banks, the school and my parents to complete my "higher" education. By that, of course, they mean higher costs. Like Maddie said tonight, the fact that we have to pay thousands of dollars per semester to get the education that's required in most jobs is ludicrous. But after this year I'll be free! Free to pay back everyone I've borrowed from. :-)

And after multiple disappointments on the housing front, we MAY have got a place. I don't want to say that we HAVE a place, even though we put the signed lease in the mail today, because we've been so close several times, and it's only ended in house heartbreak. Updates will follow.

Meanwhile, I've been spending my days painting Dad's house. It took me all of last week to scrape and sand the place, and since Monday I've been priming, and I STILL haven't gotten to the second coat. I need to finish the place before the 15th when Sarah and I start out on our Westward! roadtrip!

AND! I've got Vacation Bible School next week! A whole week of hanging out with kindergartners! We get to make crafts and play on the playground and listen to bible stories and sing songs! It's great every single year.

So anyway, painting, VBS, housing, school, money. Life.

And yet I feel like I'm waiting for things to begin.

P.S. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MADDIE!!!!

Some Bad News, Some Good.

So, we didn't get the nice house that we wanted, but things could be worse. It turns out now that Maddie and I will be living up in the cities this semester, sans Gabe, so we're looking for a two bedroom place. A few new leads have turned up, but nothing certain yet.

And on the bright side, I have a new car! It's a Chevy Malibu, and it's a bit plain compared to my bright little two door Grand Am, but we're sprucing it up and making it interesting! It's already got my Scotland sticker and my San Clemente sticker on it.

So, that's all the news for now. Except for my general idea to take a road trip to Seattle. It's still a thought.

Ugh.

I'm feeling a trip coming on. I need some kind of monk-ish, away-from-civilization, bring-only-what-you-need kind of time out.

Unfortunately, I know that I'll set out on an adventure and then the first night I'll be thinking "gee, I wish I had a friend with me." But none of my friends are really right for the trip. I don't know if Lyss would be up for really "roughing it," Dita's working, and going on a solo trip with Gabe would be a bit weird. I wish Erica was here!!

And without work I'm spending a lot of time sitting around thinking about the fact that my life doesn't have any direction after college.

Oy, I need...change.

!

Hey everybody! I'm back! Back in the States, back online and back from my first bout of work.

So here's the skinny on what I've been up to since...well...a while ago. I flew back from Scotland on May 30th and took a few days to get back on Minnesota time. On the upside of being jet lagged, in meant that I woke up super early and got a lot done before my sisters even got up! I cleaned up my car and got it ready to sell, unpacked and cleaned my room, move my chickens back outside for summer, fixed my class schedule for next year, set up the garden at Lyss' house and picked up my mouse (who was being babysat by an old roommate) in Rochester.

It was a really productive week or two, but after a while I just got frustrated with not being able to find a job. Of course, since I couldn't do much in the way of job searching while I was overseas, there were NO job openings by the time I got back at the beginning of June. Thankfully, my AWESOME boss Suzie needed me out at Lorence's Berry Farm during strawberry season! So, starting around June 20th until yesterday, I've been working 6 or 7 days a week from 5:30am to noon or so. VERY tiring.

But now I'm done! On the upside, I can rest up! On the downside, I'm now sadly unemployed. Again.

And speaking of sad news, I no longer have my two chickens Pip and Piper. I came downstairs to get ready for work last Tuesday, only to find my lawn covered in their pretty gold feathers. A dog or cat or maybe raccoon got to them sometime in the early morning, and I took the day off to clean up and bury them. I was torn about how to feel about their death. They were just chickens, and as farm animals they had a longer and happier life than many of their relatives in factory farms. But they were also my pets who I raised from baby chicks, and they taught me a lot. As it happened, I had bought three new baby chicks the day before Pip and Piper died, so I've been trying to channel my energy into raising them instead of being sad. I'll update with pictures of them soon!

And now for a list of the animals currently residing in my home!
1 dog (Cricket, who I'm babysitting), 3 cats, 1 cockatiel, 3 baby chickens, 1 mouse, and 2 baby moles who I found in the strawberry patch. It's a MENAGERIE!!

And that's the way I like it.

Nocturnal Yet Again

I've begun going to bed at 4 and waking up at 2 again! Yay! :-P

Ever since classes ended I've been goofing off watching movies, hanging out, throwing dinner parties, going on random trips and staying up WAY too late. It's been fun, but I'm ready for normal life to resume soon. I can't wait for Lyss to get here (in about TWO AND A HALF DAYS!!) and to travel around and have adventures with her. We're gonna stay around here until Friday afternoon because I have finals, but then we're going down to see Sarah, and then up to Loch Ness and the highlands! And then to Edinburgh, and then we go HOME!!! YAY!!!

I'm SO ready to get home. I love Scotland, and I've had a great semester here, but it's time to go home now!

Anyway, for a quick update on last weekend when I went to see Sarah in Oxford:
I took a train down on Saturday (and forgot my camera!! Can you believe it???) and we spent that night out on the lawn of her college (there are about a million colleges that make up the whole of Oxford University) playing music with a bunch of cool people! I haven't held a guitar since I left the States, and my fingers were just itching to jam. It was great times.
We spent the rest of the weekend going to fancy Oxford meals in ornate wood-carved halls, reading and discussing poetry, running errands and shopping (I bought a bunch of amazing books), and staying up late talking about life. It was so great to feel the academic life there and pal around with Sarah for a few days.

On Tuesday morning I left Oxford on a train bound for York and arrived there in the early afternoon for some lunch and a look at York Minster Cathedral, which was stunning. I love huge old churches, and this place was breathtaking. I also walked along the road where Guy Fawkes was born, and saw the church where he was baptized. Of all the cities I've seen while I've been on the British Isles, I think I'd most like to live in York or Galway, with Edinburgh a close runner up.

So then I took a train from York to the tiny town of Thirsk in Yorkshire, which is James Herriot's "Darowby." I had to walk about forty five minutes from the train station into the village, but it was worth it when I got to see the clock tower where James first came into town, and finally his house and veterinary practice, which is one of the best museums I've ever seen! It had the house just as James, Sigfried and Tristan used to keep it (with the phone in the hall that they used to have to run down the stairs to get to at night!), and all the medicinal and examining rooms (just so tiny and non-sterile! Crazy, by today's standards), not to mention the courtyard which had the old car that James used to drive, and it still works! From there you got to go into an exhibit of the sets for "All Creatures Great And Small" and it looked just like the show! The last set of rooms was an exhibit of all the veterinary tools and methods that used to be used, and how they vary from today's methods. The whole thing was just fascinating, and totally worth it for any Herriot fan out there.

And finally I got on a set of trains back to Stirling, and it was nice to be back in my Scottish home. Even the Dales in England are nothing to the hills and mountains here, and I missed the rugged outdoor-ness of the Scottish lands. Everything down in England is soft and man-made in a way, and while I like it for a short period, I'd much rather have the Scottish Highlands any day.

So now I've just got a few more days to hang out and study before Lyss gets here and we'll have awesome new adventures. In the meantime, I'd better try to get back on a daylight schedule. :-)

I'll see you all soon!

What's Up

I'm updating because I haven't in a while! Yay!

Let's see. What's new?
Well, I'm done with all of my projects for the semester, and Monday is my last day of classes. That means, starting Tuesday, I'm free to travel for the rest of the month, with the exceptions of the 13th, 20th and 22nd, when I have finals. And I've just gotten all my papers back but one, and so far I've been gravitating between A's and B's for everything! Yay for me, considering A's are really hard to get here!

So that's school. As for the rest of life, things are a bit angsty, but good. I've been spending a lot of time with Erica and Will, and been hanging out with Michelle and Sandy quite a bit, too. Will and I went to see "A Midsummer Night's Dream" last week, and it was pretty good! And last night we went to see "X-Men: Origins," and Wolverine was AWESOME.

Currently I'm listening to the service at St. John's and hearing all the stories about shepherds. Someday I'm going to be a shepherd, and this college degree won't matter at all. ;-)

But today it's sunny, and after about a week of rain I'm feeling good! I'm planning on going out and reading Watership Down (which I'm almost done with, and I love! Thanks, mom!). And also there are cookies in the kitchen, 'cause Will and I made them last night (and had a cookie dough fight), and that makes the day doubly good.

Right now I'm missing home quite a bit. Even though I have a lot of things I want to do before I leave Scotland, and I know I'll be sad to leave my friends here, I would really like the next two weeks to be over so I can come home.

But I'll try to update again in the between times.

Quote of the day:
"The only death we have to fear is behind us."

Ireland and Spring Fever

Guess what?? I went to Ireland last weekend, and it was awesome!!

And now I need a break to recover from my break, but school is insisting that I write a paper that's due Friday, which I haven't started yet. Hmmm.

Let's concentrate on the fun stuff!

So, last Friday I woke up with mom at 4am in order to make my 7am flight from Edinburgh to Dublin. The flight was fine, and I arrived in Dublin at 8am, having no idea where to go or what to see.



After wandering around Dublin for a couple of hours (and finding a beautiful market, buying some yummy scrubbed carrots and pretty apples and a loaf of bakery bread) I found the train station and jumped on a train to Cork!



Cork was pretty, but not nearly as amazing as Blarney (about 20 minutes away), where I found Blarney Castle, which has the most BEAUTIFUL grounds I've ever seen, and yes, the Blarney Stone.



...Which I just HAD to kiss. I now officially have the Gift of Gab.



Too bad you have to bend over backwards to reach it, or you'd be able to actually tell that this is me. It is! I swear!

So, from Blarney back to Cork, and then on to Killarney, which is the CUTEST town ever! It's a bit touristy, but still very nice.



In Killarney I saw Muckross House, which is a pretty mansion house with amazing grounds much like Blarney Castle, and has the ruins of an old Abbey! I stayed at a nice hostel in Killarney on Friday night, and had a good sleep in a room with about 8 other kids, most of them from China, and communication was a bit difficult, but fun! OH! I also met a Franciscan monk!! I've never met a monk before! Actually, he may have been a friar. I'm not really sure of the difference. Anyway, I met him outside the Friary next to my hostel, and he was wearing a brown robe and everything! It was so cool! We talked for a while and he told me about how he'd been to Minnesota once for a conference, which we both thought was pretty cool.

The next morning I got on a bus which went from Killarney to Galway by way of Limerick. I'd originally planned to stay and see a bit of Limerick itself, but there had been two murders there the day before (they have a lot of trouble with gang violence), so I decided it'd be a better idea to just push on to Galway.



Galway is a great city. It's got the best mix of real-ness and tourist-ness so that you could imagine living there quite happily. It's got a lot of waterways that run from the Atlantic, and it makes the city look very European.



I was planning a night out in Galway with Erica, who I was going to meet, as she was in town at a hostel, but little did I know that the B&B that I'd booked (as all the hostels were full. What is this, Christmas?? Doesn't anyone have a nice stable I could sleep in??) was thirty miles outside of town in a little village called Spiddal. So, I wearily made my way there, buying a small package of pasta at a gas station on my way (as I'd been subsisting totally on the carrots, apples and bread, which were running low). I finally made it to the B&B, which was cute and home-y, and the nice lady who ran it offered to cook my pasta and came down to my room half an hour later with a tray of pasta, tuna fish, butter, good bread, and a slice of rhubarb pie! Things just couldn't get any better! And on top of that, I had a nice bed and a clean bathroom all to myself!



The next morning (Easter morning!) I woke up and went upstairs to breakfast where I met two nice women from Massachusetts (Maine? Maryland? I forget...), and we ate and talked about how awesome Ireland was. Since I knew the next bus back into Galway wouldn't leave until 1:30pm, I asked if they would mind me hitchhiking back into town with them, and they said that would be fine! So, twenty minutes later I'm back in Galway at St. Nicolas' cathedral, where I attended Easter mass, which was AWESOME. Best sermon I've heard since Pastor Mark's Christmas Eve sermon. The church was beautiful, and everyone was so joyful!



(I took that before the church was full, since I didn't want to disturb anyone, of course, but the whole place was PACKED!)

So, after church I ran over to the bus station and got a bus to Kilbeggan, a little town between Galway and Dublin. I landed there a few hours later, and took a taxi down to the village of Clara, which is where I'd heard rumors about the O'Sionnach family castle.



Now, let me explain about this castle. As far as I understand it, my great-great-great-great grandfather was William O'Sionnach, who changed his name at Ellis Island to "Fox," which is the English translation. He had a son named William, who had a son named Isaiah, who had Grace Perry, who had Sandra Schonning, who had my mother, Tracy (and you can ask her about these details. I may have missed one generation in there somewhere).

So, as you can imagine, I was keen to find the ruins of this O'Sionnach castle, even though it wasn't owned by William O'Sionnach, it was probably in his family a bit farther back. Here's a picture that another Fox family member took of the ruins:
http://www.geocities.com/foxclanirish/images/foxslott2.jpg

So, I knew that the castle was near Clara, and I knew (vaguely) what it looked like. I arrived in Clara and began asking around to see if anyone had heard of it. The cab driver looked at me like I was crazy and said "No, there's no castle about Clara. You must be wantin' another place." This was a bit disheartening, but I felt better when I talked to a couple of girls in a gas station who said that there were ruins just about a mile away up on a hill that they used to play in when they were younger. I thought this deserved a look-see, so I asked for directions and set out, jumping over a few fences on the way. But fences couldn't stop me! I was on a MISSION.

AND I FOUND IT!!



I took LOTS and lots of pictures, and explored what was left of the thing from top to bottom. Once I'd satisfied my curiosity, I made my way back to the main road and back to Kilbeggan, seeing this sign only on the way out...



...Oops.

Anyway, back to Kilbeggan where I caught a bus back to Dublin. I met up with Erica and her friend who's studying there about an hour later, and we walked back to her place. I crashed on their couch for the night after having a good time watching Rent, and woke up two hours later at 3am to catch my 6:30 flight from Dublin back to Edinburgh.

It was once heck of a weekend, and I have SO many more stories! So many things could have gone wrong, since the only things I planned before I left were the hostel in Killarney and the B&B in Galway, but everything turned out just fine, and I've gotta thank the Big Man Upstairs for that. But I think this post has gone on long enough. If you want to know more and see more pictures, check out my flicker account at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36777493@N00/sets/72157616669652695/
as I finally figured out how to organize pictures so they're in chronological order!

And I'm sure you'll hear more stories from me when I get back home. 6 and a half weeks left!

Birthday Day!!

Hey everyone!

A less depressing post this time, I promise!

So, as some of you know, yesterday was my birthday, and I had a great time! Thanks to all those who sent me birthday wishes! It was great to hear from you :-).



Mom and I spent the day in Edinburgh seeing the sights and having the MOST amazing seafood lunch I've had in my whole life! We went to the Museum of Childhood first, which was just what I needed on the birthday when I become a full-fledged adult. No more provisional license for me!



This whole week has been great, I've gotta say. Mom and I have been seeing ALL the sights, from a day on the England boarder seeing Hadrian's Wall, to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Stirling, and tomorrow we're going to see the 14th century castle in Doune where "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" was shot. Awesome.

Anyway, I can't think of much more to say right now, except for I'm having a great time.

Oh! And that I'm leaving for my solo trip to Ireland on Friday! I plan to travel from Dublin to Cork to Killarney, where I'll spend my first night, and then up to Limerick and a night in Galway, and then a final stop in Clara, where the O'Sionnach Castle is (my family castle!!) before heading back to Dublin. It's gonna be a whirlwind, but I'll have TONS of pictures to show for it when I get back!!

Thanks again for the birthday notes, and I'll talk to you later! :-D

P.S. Check out my Flickr account for more pictures!

Outage.

Hey y'all.

I've been feeling kind of depressed lately. Not sure why. The last five days or so has just been me missing home like crazy. I miss Northfield so much! Why did I decide to go so far away?

Oh yeah, because I'm a brave explorer. Or at least I try to be. I'm always so torn between the comfortable old and the enticing new, and I suppose that's a good thing, but it sure makes for a life of green grass on the other side.

No, really, I do like it here a lot. I would like to live here someday, but only if I could somehow transport all of the people I love here as well. And Blue Monday. That'd be cool.

So, the deal is that I have a paper due on Monday, and I can't seem to break myself out of this funk enough to do work. Snow Patrol and Coldplay are trying to help, but they seem to make me feel better while also steeping me lower in the hot water of my own mind.

I'm lonely.

No doubt things will perk up soon, but that doesn't really change the way I feel now. Mom will be here in about a week, and I know Lyss and I will have amazing times when she comes at the end of May, and I have nine weeks before I fly out over the Atlantic again. It's too much time and not enough. I hope I'll have learned what I came to learn by that time.

Lyrics for the night...

"Those who are dead are not dead,
They're just living in my head.
And since I fell for that spell
I've been living there as well.
Time is so short and I'm sure
There must be something more."
-42, by Coldplay

"I will race you to the waterside,
And from the edge of Ireland shout out loud,
So they could hear it in America:
'It's all for you.'"
-The Planets Bend Between Us, by Snow Patrol

Church on Sundays

I JUST REALIZED I CAN LISTEN TO THE ST. JOHN'S SERVICE ON KYMN STREAMING ONLINE!!!!

THIS IS THE BEST THING THAT'S HAPPENED ALL WEEKEND!!

I miss home, but this makes things so much better. Getting to listen to the sermons and hear Pastor Mark doing readings and Pastor Crippen making the announcements, and hearing the congregation sing the hymns....

And I can tune in every Sunday and sing along! It's almost as good as being there.

This is so great. I love my church. :-)

Pastor Mark, I'm listening to you right now!! :-D

McBackpackers and the Isle of Skye

Isn't that a GREAT title?!

So, last Friday I woke up at 5:30am, took a shower, and by 6:30 Erica, Sandy, Michelle and I were on the train to Edinburgh. We got on the McBackpackers bus at 8, and we were on our way to the Isle of Skye, which is part of the Western Isles of Scotland, with our AMAZINGLY cool guide, Neil. He was born a few miles away from Ewan McGreggor, and they have the exact same accent. He knew EVERYTHING about the old Scottish stories!

Anyway, here's our itinerary!

Stop 1 included The Hermitage, which is a national forest near Pitlochry. Next we stopped at Ruthven Barracks, which is an old English military fort. Stop 3 was the battlefield at Culloden, and I have to say that being in a historically important place really impresses you in a way facts and figures in books never could. Culloden was also the first place in the Highlands that we'd been where all signs were in English AND Gaelic, which was really exciting!! From here we went past Dalwhinnie and to Tomatin where we stopped at a whiskey brewery for a taste.

Next was the totally awesome Loch Ness. No sign of the beast, but hearing all the stories definitely made me a believer!



After Nessie we saw a set of castles in the Great Glen from Inverness down and West to Kyle of Lochalsh, the last stop on the Mainland before crossing the bridge over to Skye and the town of Kyleakin. We spent the first night in the McBackpackers hostel in Kyleakin, which was so nice! It was great to go to sleep after adventuring all day.

The next morning we got on the bus at 8 and headed out for a round about Skye. First stop was Sligachan, which is the river that flows between the Black Cuillin and the Red Cuillin hills. I think this might have been the highlight of the trip for me because we got to hear the story of Sgiath (pronounced "she-ath") who trained the great Irish warrior Cuchullin. As you can probably see, the Cuillin hills are named after Cuchullin himself, and the river is named for Sgiath because they all intersect at the place where Sgiath and Cuchullin fought each other for the first time before Cuchullin admitted defeat and asked to be trained. It's a great story with a great ending, because at the end Sgiath declares that whoever dips their face in the river for seven seconds will keep eternal youth and will always be able to remember the old stories. Needless to say, I totally did it, and the water was cold, sweet and salty all at the same time!

Stop 2 was the capitol of Skye, Portree. It's a tiny town, about the third of the size of Northfield, and I liked it a lot. Most people who live on Skye are either farmers or fishermen, so it's basically just a glorified fishing village. It was great. :-)

A hike up to the Old Man of Storr was next on the list, which was cool even though I only went halfway up because my cold was trying to kill me (and no, Dad, I didn't catch the cold from ducking my head in the river. I had it before I left :-]). Next, a stop at Kilt Rock, Cuith-Raing (where a bunch of Stardust was shot!!), Duntulm Castle, a village of THATCHED ROOF COTTAGES!!, a faery glen near Uig, and all the way back around to Kyleakin, where we spent the night again.

Day three was a nice, slow paced trip back to Edinburgh (or rather, Stirling, where we got dropped off). We saw the Five Sisters of Kintail, past Ben Nevis (which we couldn't see; it was too foggy), through Glencoe, and lastly, we met Hamish the Highland Cow just a few miles from home.

Photos, of course, are more interesting than my general summary of what we did, so check those out here! Go to page 3 of my photostream and you can go backwards, but in chronological order. I hate how Flickr always puts my stuff in backwards :-(. But we'll make the best of it!

In short, it was an amazing trip, and I'm so glad we did it! I learned so much, and it was great fun. I can't wait to go exploring again soon. :-)

I Should Be Going To Sleep...

It's 1am, and I should go to bed so I'm not super tired for my Environmental practical tomorrow at 9, but, as Jack would say, "I just can't be bothered."

I'm rather awake. Tonight I hung out with Erica and Anna Gale and Will, and we sat around watching videos and looking hilarious things up in Will's book of slang terms. I miss people from home. I miss cuddling with my friends! There's no one here I feel close enough to cuddle with, and I miss touch. It's cool, though. I have a lot of cool people to hang out with!

Basically, life in Scotland is awesome. There are some times, though, when everything stops around you, and you close your eyes and remember that we each go through life alone at the end of the day. I don't mean devoid of whatever spiritual guidance that you happen to believe in, but in the sense of being apart from the rest of humanity while inside your own head. It's a strange and lonely place to be. But it can also be a pretty nice place to retreat to when you need to remember what's inside.

Anyway, I'm driveling. I'm a bit tired, but not tired enough to sleep. Just tired enough to ramble about consciousness.

And that I would love to work with animals someday. The more I'm around animals and see the way they live and interact, the more I want to be a part of it. I could be a vet, or I could foster baby animals, or I could work at a zoo, or a training clinic. There are a lot of options. The only thing that I don't like about the idea of spending the rest of my working life as a vet, or something like that, is that I wouldn't feel as if I was doing my part to affect the world in a positive way.

Right now I want to work for the adoption of sustainable agriculture in societies around the world. If you ask me what my major is, I'd say Anthropology with a focus in Agriculture, which is the closest I can get to explaining what I mean in the academic sense. I don't want to graduate from college and go farm; I want to change the world through a new way of relating to our food and the ground we get it from. I'm talking Discovery Channel and the Peace Corps.

But sometimes I think it'd be fun to give up on my grand ideas and just settle down as a veterinary assistant somewhere in Yorkshire, or maybe Scotland. :-)

I wonder where I'll be in ten years.

I wish I wasn't always looking so far ahead. I'm the kind of person who always wants to see what's over the next hill, and it tends to get me in trouble. I get so caught up in moving from one thing to the next, racing toward tomorrow, that I have a hard time settling down. I wonder if that's going to keep being a problem in the future. I hope not. I suppose I'd better try to do something about it. Dreams always feel like they're just out of reach.

Alright. End to the stream of thought.

Quote of the day:
"My heart was a pendulum between her and the road. I don't know with what strength I freed myself from her eyes."
-Che Guevara

Pretty Sunset Outside

Wow, talk about procrastination! I thought I'd have gotten in a whole afternoon of homework by this time, at least, but no.

Yesterday I went to the Scotland v. Italy rugby game, and it was AWESOME! I took a train to Edinburgh around noon, then followed the MASSIVE crowds of people to Murray Stadium. I didn't have to look at the map once! Just follow the crazy people in kilts toting bagpipes! Such national pride; I was pretty envious. I think part of it has to do with the fact that Europeans play sports against other countries, and they don't do the dumb teem name thing. Your team isn't "the Jazz" or "the Packers" or "the Bulls." You're just SCOTLAND!! and you play other countries (or in Scotland's case, nation-states)! It was great, sitting in the stadium which isn't even as big as the Metrodome, and hearing all the Italians singing their anthem, and then hearing the crazy mass of people sing Scotland's anthem as loud as they could! Crys of "I-TAL-IA!" and "SCOT-LAND, SCOT-LAND" were ringing from everywhere, and I was up the nosebleed seats! I can't imagine how loud it must have been down near the field.



Anyway, it was great fun, and I ate really greasy and overpriced fish and chips, just for the experience of the thing, throughout the first half.



There will be more pictures of the match on Flickr, for those of you that want to see, as well as some other pictures of previous events that I can now put up thanks to Dad's donation to my account! :-)

So, I got back last night, wrapped my cold self up in a blanket with a cup of tea, and finished watching "Long Way Round," which reminded me how lucky I am to be traveling, and to be able to visit all of these great places and meet such nice people, especially since there was a time when I wondered if I'd ever really be able to live away from home. Life is good.

Today I woke up, tramped over to the Logie Kirk on the outside of the campus towards the East, and (for lack of a better or faster route, since church was starting) climbed and dropped over a six foot stone wall, landing squarely in the mud. So, I was a bit muddy when I walked in, but they handed me a hymn book and a bulletin and a room full of smiles when I got there! Such nice people, and such a funny minister! But it made me miss St. John's a lot, and all the people there. Pastor Mark, if you happen to be reading this, since I know I gave you the address, be excited, because I'm saving all of the bulletins from all the churches I visit to give you when I get back!

So, back from church, washed my muddy self and my muddy laundry, cleaned the kitchen, cleaned my room, made some lunch, and I've been doing ALL SORTS of work! But, no homework yet. I did, however do something that Will suggested (he's been doing it to remember all of his important dates) which is to write down all of your deadlines for classes in order, and put them up on your wall. That way you see them all the time, and you can work on them as they're coming up, and you just keep crossing them off the list. This system is working a lot better than the planner system I use at school in the states, because here there may not be anything due in a class for weeks at a time, so you stop looking at your planner. The wall list is much better.

Here's my list!


As for this week, there's not much coming up. I'll be working on my history reports, and that's about it, I think. There IS a plan in the works to go to the Isle of Skye either this coming weekend or the next, but nothing's set in stone yet. I'll let y'all know when I do!

Long Way Round

Just a quick post to let you guys know about something really cool. I've recently gotten introduced to the tv series "Long Way Round" which is an about 12 episode show that Ewan McGregor and his mate Charlie Boorman made while riding motorbikes all the way around the world from London to New York in the space of three months. It's amazing. They see cultures and people and places that I've never even seen pictures of, and it's reminding me of the wonder of the world, and of all the people in it.

Check out the website, or more importantly, get the dvds from the library or for goodnessake check out the book!

http://main.longwayround.com/lwr.php

Day Off.

I like Wednesdays, and I like having them without classes!

Today I got up at 12:30, which was really nice after being up late last night with Will watching music videos. It made me miss Gabe! Anyway, I got up and had some breakfast, and then went searching for the top of the big hill behind campus called "the Domyutt." Not really sure about the spelling on that one. So, I went walking toward it and instead of getting up it I sort of went high along the ridge that leads to it, but after going through a valley and not being sure QUITE which way I should be going, I decided to scrap the idea of climbing the hill and just explore. I came across a cool broken down country church with a graveyard that was sectioned off because the ruins and stones were "unsafe." I thought about exploring, but it did look a bit like it was about to fall down, so I decided against it. I also saw a deer! They're much smaller than ours, but quite cute.

Once I got back from my hiking adventure I took a shower and had some lunch (at about 3pm, mind you, but it's still lunch). Then, some time at the library researching for one of my history projects, and now here I am!

Today's been a weird day, weather wise. It's been really windy, and one minute there's lots of sun, and then it's a downpour. Strange, but nice! The birds and rabbits don't seem to mind it much.

As of yesterday I remembered about a movie trailer that Maddie showed me quite a while ago for a new feature called "Were The World Mine." It's based on "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by Shakespeare, which I've just been reading, and I really like both Shakespeare's play AND the soundtrack for "Were The World Mine," which I've totally fallen in love with. Be warned, those of you who don't like musicals. But seriously, the lead in this movie, Tanner Cohen, has the most amazingly pure voice. I love it. So check out the trailer!

This weekend is the Scotland vs. Italy rugby game in Edinburgh, and I'm pretty excited about it! Hopefully I won't get punched again!

And...That's about all the news I have for now. Oh, except that I'm trying to plan a trip to the Isle of Sky with Michelle and Erica for a few weekends from now. It'd be really cool!!!

Oh, AND, I went to church at the kirk in Bridge of Allan last Sunday, and it was very nice. I've never been to a church with a female preacher before, and she was really good. I'd been thinking all week about Psalm 121 and the lines about lifting your eyes to the hills, and, what do you know, that's what the whole sermon was about! Pretty sweet.

And happy belated pancake day to everyone in the U.S.! That's one holiday tradition that I'm planning on bringing back. And is it ok to say "happy ash Wednesday?" I'm going to go for it. Happy ash Wednesday, everyone! I always think of it as the beginning of the Easter season, which I like a lot.

So, that's enough sentences beginning with "and," I think.

I'll leave you with some Shakespeare:
"My ear should catch your voice; my eye, your eye,
My tongue should catch your tongue's sweet melody,
My tongue your tongue, were the world mine.

And I will sing that they shall hear
That I am not, I am not afraid,
I am not afraid."

Blair Castle, Dewar's Whisky Distillery, And Getting Punched In The Face

Hello, all!

So. You're looking at the title of this post going "HwaaaaAAA?! Punched in the face? What can she possibly mean?!"

Well. I shall tell you.

But first I shall talk about what I did today, while I have your attention! :-D

I got up at 6:30 this morning, walked down to the bus stop with Erica, went to the train station in Stirling, took the 8 o'clock train to Edinburgh with the gang, and was on a bus up into the highlands from Stirling at 9:30!

We went up to Blair Castle first, which has been the home of the Dukes of Atholl since forever, pretty much. And yes. Say "Atholl" several times, 'cause it's funny!
Of course, though, they wouldn't let us take pictures in the castle (but I assure you it was really cool! Many Jacobite relics!)! So, instead, here's pictures of Erica, Amber and I OUTSIDE!!



So anyway, the castle was really cool, and next we headed about ten minutes away to Pitlichry, which is a great little town filled with OUTDOOR SHOPS GOING OUT OF BUSINESS! I bought a really cheep backpacking backpack for 19.99, and gaiters (which are things that cover the top of your boots up to your knees, and are ESSENTIAL in Scotland) for 9.99! It was great. I now have everything I need for backpacking in the highlands! I have all my own gear! This is really exciting for me. :-)

So, as I was saying, we got to see Pitlochery, and then we went to Dewar's Whisky Distillery, which was about ten minutes away, and we got to go see how whisky was made. I, being the brilliant kid I am, already knew about the barley malting process from my semester in Crops class, but the distilling process was pretty cool! If you want to see more pictures, you'll just have to WAIT, because I'm in the process of upgrading my Flickr account, thanks to my Dad, and I have to wait to get a password before I can put more pictures up!

And, lastly, I shall tell the tale of being punched in the face.

So. This is how it went, for all of you that don't already know.

I was walking with Erica, Amber and Sandy down town in Stirling on Thursday night, and we'd just come from one pub and were going to another to meet up with my flat mates for a pub quiz. We were heading for the bus stop right off the main street. All of a sudden, I see somewhere in my peripheral vision to the left, a girl get up from a group of a few others and start walking in the path between us and the bus stop. Suddenly she's saying something rather angrily (but we can't understand her, partially because of her heavy accent, and partially because of her apparently intense intake of alcohol during the early evening, this being only 8pm). Sandy and Amber quickly walk by, and Erica and I try to, but the girl waylays Erica and starts yelling at her. We still can't figure out what the problem is, and I don't want to leave Erica there by herself, obviously, so we ask the girl what the problem is. In answer to this, she shoves Erica quite hard two or three times, and I, thinking that this could be a bit of a problem, step in between them, still trying to ask the girl what's wrong, while also trying to grab Erica and get past. The girl then says "You shoudn'ta done that." and hauls off and hits me fairly hard in the jaw.

In reaction to this, I grab Erica with one hand, my face with the other, and we move down the street to where there's a bunch of people waiting at the bus stop (and as we leave we hear the girl yell "F*ckin' Yanks! Go back to your own d*amn country! We don't want you here!" so that was apparently what that was about). I was still so surprised that I wasn't quite sure what had happened, except that my eyes were suddenly watering and my lip was bleeding rather badly. Sandy asked if she should call the police, and I said no, since I wasn't sure what the procedure is for that sort of thing here. Erica and Amber flagged down the bus and we all got on, and I finally got a hold of myself before we stepped off at the other pub. My awesome room mate Will felt really bad about it, and told us that although this kind of thing is very rare, it does happen, and he was so sorry that it had happened to us.

Now, don't anybody get upset or anything! I'm fine, and everything is cool now! My lip is all healed, and the small bruise is gone, and it's just one of those interesting stories I get to tell about my time abroad. And, being an anthropologist at heart, and knowing that people are more likely to attribute poor behavior to personality instead of circumstances, I wonder if maybe something bad had happened to the girl to make her think that way about things. For all I know her dad could have been killed in Iraq two days ago, in which case I'm not sure I wouldn't have taken out my sadness in a similarly destructive way. The point is that it's a lesson to be learned, and now I'm more prepared in case anything like this should happen in the future.

I still think it's an interesting story, though. :-)

So, I'll update again as soon as anything interesting happens! This week is classes, obviously, and then this coming Saturday I'll be heading back to Edinburgh for the Six Nations Rugby Championship between Scotland and Italy! Hurrah!

Talk to you soon, folks. :-)

Firbush Weekend and Class Updates

Hey everyone! I'm back from my most recent highland adventure! Currently I'm sitting in my room listening to Snow Patrol's "Hundred Million Suns" album with my door open so I can hear my flatmates moving about. We just got a vacuum cleaner from the porter, so we're all cleaning! Jack just finished his room, Carly's working on hers, Will's doing homework, and Antonio is helping Dave From Boston in the kitchen. Dave showed up last night and asked if he could crash with us for a few days, and in return is making us dinner! He went to Uni here last semester, and he was supposed to go back, but decided that he likes it here so much that he got a visa and is working now. He's been bumming places to stay off of his friends for the last few weeks, so it's about our turn to host him, and a gourmet dinner MORE than makes up for it!

Oy. What to say about this last weekend. I've told so many people about it that I'm getting sick of reviewing! In short, it was a GREAT time. We got to Firbush on Friday night and had a great three course dinner, then on Saturday we spent from sunrise until sunset hiking up a VERY large hill/small mountain. That night we had a Ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee), which is a Scottish folk gathering where everyone dances and recites poems and sings! It was really amazing. Sunday I learned how to kayak and I went off orienteering in the deep woods to learn how to navigate around the area with a map and a compass. Good food and good times were abundant! The area is BEAUTIFUL, and I think I want to live there someday, if only for a little while. The only downside to the weekend was that sometime on Saturday I managed to pull something in my right hip, and it's been really painful ever since. Of course, orienteering the next day, and dragging a bunch of groceries back to the flat today didn't help.

Anyway, that's enough about the weekend! If you want to see pictures, go here!

Speaking of pictures, Mom, I've run out of uploading space on Flickr for the month! I had to cut down my pictures from this trip CONSIDERABLY, because I've apparently hit the limit! They won't let me upload anything else until March unless I upgrade my account! Help!

And speaking of getting groceries today, I LOVE grocery shopping. I needed to get some food for the next week and a half or so, and I went over to Tesco (the supermarket here) between classes this afternoon and got ALL KINDS OF GOOD STUFF! I'm getting a lot better at planning meals and getting things that go well together. My new favorite food consists of Tesco brand mini pizzas in the fridge section. They're just really good crust, tomato sauce and cheese, and all you do is pop them in the oven for 7 minutes and open up a can of pineapple, and voila! A tiny, yummy lunch that only costs 1 pound fifty!

And speaking of tomatoes (wow, this is getting out of hand), I've heard three different pronunciations of the word today. Carly says "Toe-mah-toe," with a long ah sound, Jack says "toe-maa-toe" with a short a as in apple, and I say "Tuh-mae-toe." Go figure.

Ok. On to the class update.

For those of you that don't know, I'm taking three classes this semester, but the Uni system here is strange, and what this means is that although I'm only taking three classes (or modules, as they say here), I've got two or three periods of time allocated per week for each class. So it's like having six classes, or something. And to add to this confusion, classes are in different rooms almost every time we meet. And classes aren't at the same time, like 12 to 1 on Tuesday and Thursday. Oh no, that would be too simple. So, here's my class schedule!

Monday:
12 to 1 - Environmental History Lecture
2 to 3 - Environmental History Seminar
4 to 5 - Scottish Society Lecture

Tuesday:
9 to 11 - Scottish Society Seminar
12 to 1 - History: Renaissance to Revolution Lecture

Wednesday:
Nothing

Thursday:
9 t0 10 - History: Ren to Rev Lecture
4 to 5 - Scottish Society Lecture
5 to 6 - Environmental History Lecture

Friday:
11 to 12 - History: Ren to Rev Lecture

So far all my classes are going well, and are quite interesting. Environmental History is fascinating, and I can't wait for our fieldtrips! It really is a combination of science and history in that you're doing a scientific investigation about the land, temperature, rainfall, etc., but then you put that into the framework of history and all that we know from documents and reports in order to find out how man has affected the whole environment. I'm really digging this class.

Scottish Society hasn't really given me a good idea about how I'll like the class yet. It's looking interesting, but it has a lot to do with "what is society," and I feel like I've covered that whole debate previously in other classes.

My History: Ren to Rev class is AWESOME. We spent the first day looking at documentaries of Mary, Queen of Scots, and then on the second day we covered the reign of James V. I'm SO glad I started reading my giant Scottish history book before I got here. I feel like I have a good framework to start from.

Overall, classes here are much different than ones in the US. You aren't babied and read to like you're still in high school, which is nice. And they don't believe in busy work, which cuts down the amount of time you have to sit about filling in worksheets, which I appreciate SO much.
On the other hand, though, it takes a lot more brainpower to stay up to snuff on everything that's going on, and you have to make sure you're getting everything done because NO ONE is going to remind you of anything. Grades are all based on huge projects, for example (and this is pretty much the same in all of my classes), in my Environmental History class my grade is based on,
One 1500 word essay worth 25% of my final grade,
A practical report of another 1500 words worth another 25%,
and a two hour written exam at the end of the course worth 50%.

That means that after spending however many hours in class and outside writing essays, 50% of my grade will be based on a two hour span of time. *Shiver*

Thankfully, top grades are almost extinct here. A passing grade in the US means getting above a 60 percent, or something like that, and an A is 100 percent. Here you're congratulated and applauded if you get a 65 or 70 percent, and 100's just don't exist. And it's easy to understand why when you think of what that grade is based on.

Anyway, Dave From Boston says dinner is ready, so I'll stop rambling! I'll talk to you all soon, I hope!