Music for a rainy day in Edinburgh.

Although I know I should really get used to this kind of weather, today is really only the second or third day since I got here where it has really rained. As in, more than a drizzle or a light rain. It's one of those days when the fog comes in around Arthur's Seat and the wind starts endangering everyone's umbrellas, and where I just want to curl up in an easy chair with some hot chocolate and watch movies all day.

Alas - I have to do laundry at some point today, and should probably try and get some of the online reading done for my lectures. I should also probably go to the Travel Fair they're having at the IFSA-Butler Scotland office today, but I honestly don't feel like walking the couple of miles to and from in the rain.

However - in addition to my laundry and coursework, I feel like an afternoon of staying in, watching episodes of Robin Hood (the most recent BBC TV series), and eating leftover pizza from the IFSA dinner last night is a GREAT idea. And since I really only seem able to communicate through other people's music, I will share with you all the music that I've been listening to recently that I think really encapsulates the experience of a rainy day in Edinburgh.

A RAINY DAY IN EDINBURGH

1. Postcards from Far Away - Coldplay
2.  Dead and Lovely - Tom Waits
3. The Tree - Blitzen Trapper, with Alela Diane
4. Race You Back Home - Elizabeth & the Catapult
5. Not in Nottingham (from Disney's Robin Hood) - Mumford & Sons
6. Wide-Eyed, Legless - Laura Veirs
7. June Hymn - The Decemberists
8. Sail On, Sailor - The Beach Boys
9. Interstate Love Song [Acoustic] - Stone Temple Pilots
10. In Our Talons - Bowerbirds
11. Rambling Man - Laura Marling

A word on Scottish pragmatism.

I'm trying to keep up with the blog. Really truly. Promise. I'll be posting an entry on classes and such things as that once I get into the swing of things, and have a chance to feel out exactly how each one is turning out. For the moment, I will suffice with--as the title suggests--a word on Scottish pragmatism. Of the most delicious kind.

Imagine, if you will, a hamburger. We've all had one. A normal, regular hamburger. We've also all had French fries, or chips, as they call them across the pond. Quite delicious, I'd say. Here is a visual aid, just for reference:

 So, imagine my surprise, when I ordered a "hamburger roll with chips" for lunch the other day, the very nice Scottish woman pulled out a MASSIVE bread roll (about the size of my face) and proceeded to stuff said roll with a FRIED hamburger patty (seriously), a huge handful of potato wedge fries, ketchup and salt. On one roll. Size of face. I practically had to wheel the thing out of the shop. Like so:

Because really, who needs a separate side of fries when you can just stuff it all into one big fried conglomeration of greasy delicious food?

God bless Scottish pragmatism.

First day of classes!

And so it begins.

Today, after nigh on two weeks in Scotland (holy crumbcake, Batman, has it really been only two weeks? It seems like I've been here forever...), I finally started classes! I'd almost forgotten that I was here to actually, you know...STUDY...and I'm glad that the courses have finally gotten under way. I usually hate the first week of classes because everyone has to talk shop and go over the mechanics and the structure and policies of all their subjects, but I was getting a bit restless with nothing really structured to do with my days.

I only have two classes on Monday, one at 11:10 and one at 2:00 (or 14:00, as some clocks say here...confusing as hell.) The first one is a third-year honors level history seminar that meets once a week from 11:10 to 12:50, called Ghana: Colonialism to Socialism, 1880-1985. From a look through the course syllabus and what the professor (whose name is Paul Nugent, by the way---totally cool) was talking about today, this class sounds like it's going to be really interesting. I took an introductory African history class last year, which of course focused on the whole continent; I'm looking forward to focusing on such a specific region and time period. Downside? I have to lead discussion at one of the seminars, which is quite possibly one of my least favorite things to do in academics ever. Oh well. It happens.

My other class, Celtic Civilization 1A, is structurally very different: it's a first-year class, with lectures three days a week and a tutorial (smaller, discussion based class) once a week. From what I can tell, this class starts out with an introductory history of the ancient and medieval Celtic peoples and then moves into the current sociological implications of the term "Celtic" and "Celt." Apparently there's all sorts of components to the class, including history, culture, language, art, and anthropology. I'm excited. I'm picturing something like this:

 I expect to be disillusioned of this rather quickly. :-)

Anyhoos...here's my schedule as of now:


MONDAY

• 11:10AM - 12:50PM - Ghana: Colonialism to Socialism, 1880-1985
• 2:00PM - 2:50PM - Celtic Civilisation 1A (The 's' is going to trip me up so bad...)

TUESDAY

• 10:00AM - 10:50AM - Introduction to Medieval Europe
• 12:00PM - 12:50PM - Tutorial for Celtic Civ 1A
• 2:00PM - 2:50PM - Celtic Civ 1A
• 4:10PM - 5:00PM - Tutorial for Intro to Medieval Europe

WEDNESDAY

• NO CLASSES! - This day is saved for exploration. And schoolwork, most likely. Oy.

THURSDAY

• 10:00AM - 10:50AM - Introduction to Medieval Europe
• 2:00PM - 2:50PM - Celtic Civ 1A

FRIDAY

• NO CLASSES! 3 DAY WEEKEND! WAHOO!

Coronation Chicken Recipe!

Okay, two posts in one day. Unheard of. Luckily this is just a real quick one!

I have discovered a dish over here in the UK, one that is particularly delicious on a sandwich with brie cheese and lettuce, but can also be eaten on its own or in baked potatoes or wraps. This dish is called coronation chicken, and it's similar to chicken salad, I suppose. It's essentially baked chicken pieces in a mayo-based curry sauce, with various and sundry herbs and spices added in as you please. It supposedly was created some sixty years ago by the royal cooks for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Hence the name.

It don't look like much...but it is actually DELICIOUS.

ANYHOOS. Here is the recipe, if you wanted to make it for yourself. This is where I'm going to get the recipe for when I try to make it back in the States.

INGREDIENTS

• Shredded Chicken from a medium sized pre-roasted chicken
• 3 tbsp Mayo
• Mild curry powder to taste
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
• Ground Black Pepper
• 1 tbsp Mango chutney (optional)
• sultanas - as many as you fancy (optional)

PREPARATION

1. Mix the mayo, curry powder, cinnamon, black pepper, chutney and sultanas together. Altering quantities to your preferred taste
2. Mix the combined ingredients with the shredded chicken
3. Serve with baked potatoes, wraps, sandwiches etc
   
   Enjoy!

Cathedrals, Daleks, and Popes, Oh My!

First off, let me just say that I am not a religious person. Religion has never been a part of my life; I was not raised going to church, and I have always found many things about organized religion (any religion, just for the record) troubling and unintuitive. It's just not something that I really think about, although some people I know would throw a fit if they heard me saying that. However, I do have great respect for religious people (although, thanks to a few angry, angsty teenage years, this has not always been so), and I find that religion continues to play a large role in my chosen path of academics. History and religion are oftentimes inseparably linked, especially in the time following the fall of the Roman Empire and the conversion of much of modern-day Europe to Christianity. Monarchs and political rulers could make or break kingdoms depending whether they were Catholic or Protestant supporters; people could raise rebellions over proposed changes to the Church's prayerbook. History and religion go together like the Queen and her Welsh corgies. Get me?
Ergo.

Despite being a strictly non-religious person, I loves me some cathedrals. The history in the sweeping Gothic architecture and beautiful stained glass is practically palpable. There are always dozens and dozens of stories and traditions practically carved into the building itself, so many that you almost have to go on a guided tour, because most of these things you'd never notice or figure out on your own.

I went on one such guided tour of St. Giles' Cathedral, or the High Kirk of Edinburgh, the other day, and it was really really beautiful. St. Giles was a very popular medieval saint associated with the poor, lepers and cripples, and animals - he saved a deer from being killed by a king by stopping the arrow with his hand, and he is most often depicted holding some kind of deer or faun with an arrow sticking out of his hand. In fact, because of St. Giles' association with animals, on any Thursday of the year you can bring your pet into the cathedral, and they will give them water, something I thought was really neat. Say what you want about the Scots, but they do love their dogs - there's even a dog cemetery in Edinburgh Castle!

The interior of St. Giles' Cathedral.

Looking back towards the front stained glass window.

Anyways, our tour guide, John, was a hilarious little Scotsman who had a penchant for using us to reenact the historical and Biblical scenarios associated with the cathedral. For example: the initiation into the Order of the Thistle, the baptism of Royal Navy babies, and the events leading up to the executions of two rival Restoration noblemen (who are now buried across the cathedral from each other).

Two girls from our tour, with John and an adorable little Polish girl who was used to reenact several historical occurrences and ceremonies. Currently they are being administered the oath that every initiate into the Order of the Thistle must take. (The little girl also got to sit in the Queen's seat on the other side of the Chapel of the Thistle.)

John also had a habit of dropping gems of wisdom into his otherwise humorous and informative tours. He made it very clear from the outset that he meant no disrespect to anyone else's religion; he was just informing us of this particular church's principles and the beliefs that went into its building. He also encouraged us to never lose sight of what it is like to see the world through a child's eyes, and the inherent imagination that we inevitably forget as we get older. He says that children on his tours have noticed things about the cathedral that he himself had never seen before, even after working there for nearly twenty years. For example:

E.T.'s head?

A Dalek?

But the thing John said that I will really remember was this:

"Now, I want to say something. If you hear or see something in here that might make you laugh....please do. Don't try to quiet yourself...because He is not going to disapprove of laughter in a church."

I dunno. I'm not religious, like I said. But I feel like there's something to take away from that. Maybe that's just me.

Anyways, the next day, I saw the Pope, who was in Edinburgh as part of the first papal visit to the UK since 1982. It's true. He drove within about 30 feet of me. I have pictures as proof.

Pope Benedict XVI. In his Pope-Mobile. I also love his little tartan scarf/sash thing. I think it's cute.

Bit of catch up...

Blogging is hard, guys. Really. BUT. I am determined to keep this going this semester, so here goes: Blog Post Take 2!

Since the last post I made, I’ve finished the IFSA-Butler orientation, moved into my room in Pollock Residence Halls, met a WHOLE lot of people from a WHOLE lot of places (including various places around the United Kingdom and Ireland, Spain, Slovakia, Poland, and Australia), had my first plate of fish and chips and pint of Guinness, took a tour of beautiful Edinburgh Castle, began the infamous Freshers’ Week, did some traditional Scottish dancing, got my finalized class schedule and walked the equivalent of probably 10+ miles all around Edinburgh. And more. This is in the span of about four days? Yeah. Talk about overwhelming. Here are some visual aids, to inspire the imagination:

The top of Calton Hill, looking toward Arthur's Seat.

First pint of Guinness!

The entrance to Edinburgh Castle, guarded by Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland (left), and Sir William Wallace (right).

An absolutely packed Scottish ceilidh (pronounced KAY-lee). It's like swing dancing...on speed.

Orientation finished fine—it was essentially a bunch of power points about expectations and procedures of the University of Edinburgh and living in Scotland, and the like. We did have two really cool people come and speak to us: an Edinburgh policeman who talked to us rather hilariously about personal health and safety, and Margo MacDonald, a Member of Scottish Parliament (MSP), who talked to us a bit about Scottish politics historically and currently, and also took questions both intelligent (something about David Cameron’s coalition government?) and…not so intelligent (Northern lights? Really?) She was quite humorous, and had a thicker, almost Glaswegian accent than some of the program directors, which was actually really lovely to listen to. She also offered us some tidbits on places to eat and things to see while in Scotland, often with some humorous anecdotes and tangents. My favorites being:

[To a girl in the front row]: “Oh, you could meet my grandson! He’s a student there—you could get married!!!”

[On traditional Scottish foods]: “You’ll notice that they all have oatmeal in them…good, hearty stuff. And the story goes, is that the English would feed the oatmeal to their horses, and the Scots would feed it to their men. And so they’ve got the best horses….and we’ve got the best men.”

She was pretty cool.

Anyways, on Saturday, we all checked out of the hotel and moved into our university accommodation, either the university flats or the residence halls. I am in Baird House, which is one of the Pollock Residence Halls, on the fourth floor in a single room. The girls (and one guy) in my hall are all pretty cool. We all seem to be getting along pretty well, and they’re all really cool people. There’s three girls from various parts of England (including London and Scarborough), and the guy is from Scotland; one of the girls plays harp (legitimately—she has a huge harp at home, and a smaller one here at school with her. It’s brilliant.)

Also, about the room: 1) The room is bigger than Mary and my room last year. 2) There is a sink, full-length mirror, shelves and a cupboard in my room. 3) The view is awesome. Observe:

View of some other residence halls, and the city beyond.

Mmkay. That’s enough writing for the moment. I’ll update in a bit about Freshers’ Week and my excursions and adventures around and about Edinburgh—they are bound to be interesting.

LOVE.

I hear bagpipes, guys. We must be in Scotland.

Guys. I’m actually here.

Like, really truly honest-to-goodness here.

It only took a 7-hour train ride to DC (which could honestly have been the subject of its own blog post), a four-and-a-half hour car ride to Newark (aka Aunt Cindy is the coolest, and I NEVER want to get semi-lost in Jersey EVER again), and a 7-hour international overnight flight (during which I found out just how small a space I could force myself into)…..but I’m officially here in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The plane ride over was surprisingly painless, despite the fact that I really didn’t move for 7 hours. Since we were flying over at night, we were rewarded with some really killer views of the city lights of Newark and New York; we could even see a game going on in Yankee Stadium—so cool! However, the nice aerial views were soon over due to the majority of the flight being spent over the Atlantic Ocean. Luckily, all of the seatbacks had touchscreens TVs, essentially, so we had all sorts of movies and TV shows and games to choose from to keep ourselves occupied. I ended up watching all of Prince of Persia (shut up – it was great in that hokey, summer popcorn-munching kinda way), trying to fall asleep to my iPod for the next three hours, and then watching the first half of Casablanca before we finally landed in the Edinburgh airport.

It was about 7:15 AM Scotland time when we arrived (we’d left Newark at about 8:00 PM Eastern Time), and it was surprisingly chilly at about 57 degrees Fahrenheit. Considering that a few days ago I was sweltering in shorts and a t-shirt, this is a nice change of climate, especially because now it really feels like autumn is coming. Anyhoos, some IFSA-Butler people met us at the airport and bussed us over through downtown Edinburgh to the (4-star!) hotel that we’re staying at for orientation. And let me tell you…

The city is absolutely GORGEOUS.

All of the buildings look like they’ve been stacked up on top of each other, and it’s really beautiful to see where the old architecture mingles with the new—for example a green-painted door to an inn pub founded hundreds of years ago, right next to a neon-signed Chinese restaurant, or the National Gallery of Scotland just down the road from a sleek glass H&M. It’s absolutely FASCINATING, and I can’t wait to do more exploring around the city—visual aids are coming. I forgot my camera in my bookbag, so I couldn’t really take pictures today, but they are coming!

Anyways, not much else really happened today, since most of the day was spent either eating at the hotel or waiting to get into our rooms (of course, I was one of the last ones to get their keys…it was awful). Or sleeping. Sleeping is wonderful. The jet lag isn’t as terrible as I’d thought it would be, but it was still rough there for a while. However, a few of us decided to go get our cell phone situation sorted out, and we meandered down across the Royal Mile to Princes Street, which is apparently a main thoroughfare of Edinburgh, to a phone store. Most of us ended up getting a super-cheap pay-as-you-go phone—ie 20 pounds for a phone and a first-month plan that’s pretty respectable, and then you can just add minutes and texts as you go. Also, for those of you who know what my American cell phone looks like – this phone is so much nicer. I kinda want to keep it after I come back.

Also, on the way back to the hotel, there was totally a bagpiper busking near the Princes Shopping Center. WE ARE SO IN SCOTLAND.

I guess that's it for now...so apologies for the novel that I have written for my inaugural blog post—I’ve never really kept a regular blog, so this is going to be a new, exciting (and difficult) experience for me. I also apologize in advance - I’ve noticed that I tend to type as idiosyncratically as I speak. Bear with me.

LOVE.