Leggings and Ray Bans are Rampant

ALOT of girls here wear leggings by themselves, not just under other clothing.  They are walking around in spandex in my opinion and its not flattering.  Students here, whom I am assuming are undergrads, don't move out of the way when you say excuse me.

My dogs are barking... I did a lot of walking today. The coast is just barely 20 minutes from my housing.  I did however accidentally make it there by looking around today.  Oh look at that old building, oh and that cute guy, and BAM! the North Sea is in my face.  I walked about in the cathedral and castle ruins before my orientation with the other postgrads.  I will say that the North Sea smells a bit like dog shit erroding in salt water.  Hows that for imagery? I have an addiction to touching things in museums that you aren't supposed to, just becuase of how old the thing is. Castles are the best things to put in front of me.  You can touch the stone all you want.  I came across the St. Andrews Catherdal first.  The pic to the left is where the main pews would have sat facing towards that tower. Its just ruins now. The left wall is missing and you can see the headstones which the wall would have sat in front. The grave yard goes on forever to the right.  Directly behind the tower is the North Sea.  I hear seagulls from my room.  It is a reminder of home.  An annoying reminder haha.

St. Andrews castle is also just ruins now.  It is still fun to walk around and touch the same wall that people have been touching for 1000 years.  The photo to the right looks like it should be a defense window. But it is actually just a window haha.  

Whichever archbishop wasn't

currently murdered at the time lived in the castle.  The main area was also open to the townspeople to come in and hang out.  Who just lets strangers into their home? Oh the good ol days of the 1100's.

The photo on the left was just a walkway.  *These are all cell pictures, sorry about the quality* During my orientation, they took us on a tour of the psychology building, which was originally the library in the 1500's.  Its a literal maze.  The have a "secret hallway," which leads straight to my office. MY OFFICE! I have my OWN OFFICE!! Anyways, the Psychology buliding's secret hallway looks a bit like the picture above, except its tinier. I tried really hard not to be the annoyingly over excited girl, but I couldn't help it.  My office is even purple.  :)))

View of town from the castle ruins

I did alot of walking trying to accomplish my to do list. Nothing did get finished.

List includes:

Get a cell phone!!! Since I don't know anyone really well and my American cell doesn't work (its now just a clock and a camera) I havent been texting.  While I cant wait to text you guys from home, its been kinda nice.  I realized I used my cell phone as a crutch to look busy haha.  Thats just sad.
Open a bank account.  Woo hoo Bank of Scotland here I come.
Find the actual grocery store.  Tesco ain't cuttin it. 
The fourth thing I wanted to do was find a bike but I actually prefer walking.  The round abouts are killer.

I am now exhausted and shall have more things to share tomorrow! Enjoy this tiny street until then :

Away We Go!!

*Couldn't connect to the Internet on the plane but I wrote this during the flight

My departure began on a good note.  The lady at baggage check-in finagled me into only having to pay $60 for my extra bags instead of $200. Point 1 for me! I got full body scanned; Point 1 for everyone that got a free show of my sexy organs.  Then I got on the plane and the flight was nearly empty.  I got a whole row to myself (Point 2; I’m winning this one universe!).  British Airways also has nearly all new movies to watch. (Point 3 for me).  So all the books I jammed into my carry-on got no use.  One of the options on the plane for dinner was curry chicken: whose idea was it to pack that smell into an aircraft? (For those of you that are playing at home: that’s only Point 2 for the crazy universe. Ha still winning). 

Breaking news: Ahhhhh roller coaster turbulence!!!! Love it.

The swallowing back of tears is an ever present exercise. I swear Presley, cried today.  He slowly sauntered up when I called him over. We hugged it out though.  He gets that I have somewhere I need to be and we’ll be together again soon. Lol, crazy lady right here! Layla and I meowed about for a minute too.  Then I said goodbye to my mother hen of the past two weeks, Becca.  :( THEN my actual mom burst into tears, which was completely awful to see. I would have to say that I was worse off though at the security line.  Trey stood there and watched me walk away.  Wahhhhh so sweet. Side note: Am I the only person that gets utterly nervous in airport security even though I’ve done nothing wrong? *Ooooh maybe that’s why I got pulled for the full body, they could smell my fear.*

The next few days are going to be crazy.  My adviser/new boss is picking me up in Edinburgh.  It’s an hour and a half drive to St. Andrews.  I was kind of hoping to be able to hide the fact that I have no idea why they let me into one of the top three schools in the UK (Humble Brag) and that I’ve totally been faking it up until now. ;)  

I just happened to get up for the bathroom and looked out the window. New York, New York! I’ve never your pretty lights until now! I land in London in the afternoon with a few hour layover.  

Cheers!

**Update**
My advisor couldn't grab me from the airport so I took a taxi.  I had the best tour guide/cab driver too! Talk about country pride.  He knew everything about everything Scottish; he even took the time to try and teach me Scottish words.
Did you know that the west coast of Scotland grows Palm trees because the Gulf current pulls seeds all the way up here?

Got to my "dorm" around 5. No one was home and I had no way to plug in my computer, so I decided to walk to the town centre and grab a converter.  EVERYTHING CLOSES AT 5:30. Oh excuse me at 1730.  Haha um Scotland is there a military manifesto I am unaware of?

When I got back from wandering around some of the girls were home.  Its one and a half bathrooms for us 6 girls to share. Soooo much better than 1 bathroom period.  There are 4 PhD. students staying here.  So far I only met two of the girls, both from China.  I think they said one other girl was from Poland.  They are super sweet but I'm just so tired I cant converse.  Hope I don't come off as a rude American. 


Walking around town alone, made me feel well alone.  The town is cute (pictures to come of the town; I was too tired to figure out which bag my camera was in).  Even when the building itself looks a bit old and dreaery, the door is painted beatuifully.  Some in bright shades like turqoiuse or yellow  or PURPLE! But even the ones that were black were glossy and well taken care of.  Its nice to see the little shops in the center of town.  All "mom and pop."  They would have closed a long time ago in the US.  


Im exhausted its 8:37pm here and Ive been up since 9:30 am yesterday. PLus the 6 hours I lost flying this way.


For those of you that have said you were jealous, here are pictures of my living quarters until December.  SFA circa 2003???

Not so magical!

Visa is here tomorrow!!!!

FINALLY got an email that said my visa was being delivered tomorrow. I almost got used to the idea of getting a part time job and staying until January.  But noooooooottttt now!!!! I'm leaving on Monday!!!! Scotland or bust!

I have everything I own in three suitcases and four shipping boxes.  Semi-freeing to know I only really own clothes.  When I get there, I will most likely get rid of 1/3 of my clothes anyhow but whatever.

Becca and I are having a garage sale this weekend.  Too bad I gave alot of stuff away already because I didn't have time to have my second one. Nothing can get me down though! Im on my way to the UK!!!!!!

<3

Tick tock where's that visa????

I am STILL waiting to hear any news on my visa. My St. Andrews advisor is trying to push for some information, but nothing yet. I found those papers for the animals. So woo that's less stress.

I have decided I do not want to live in the burbs any time soon. I love the option of biking or walking whereever I need to go downtown. I wish wish wish I hadn't sold my car back in August. Grrrr.

I just found out one of my best friends Trey, is coming to Scotland for work in December or January for work!!! Probably for 6 months, awesome news!

What's everyone's skype name???

My uncle left my this song over my facebook. I love it and wanted to repost.

Land of the Homeless

We got home from Lake Conroe today.  It rained while we were out there. It was fun but it flipping rained! Having stayed the night in a hotel, I realize just how homeless I am.  I am ready to come home to my own bed. I'm grateful to stay at Becca's, but I am excited to stay in my own place. Since I am leaving later than expected I also realized I'm probably going to end up in the worst room in a house with five roommates.  Oh and one bathroom. 1!

I have lost an important piece of paper for moving the critters. Oh well just another piece of the puzzle needed to be put back together. 

Hoping to get the visa tomorrow

Soaking up the last little bit of Sunshine this weekend!

Becca and I are leaving for Lake Conroe tomorrow morning. Becca invited me to a party barge with some friends. I'm excited to get some sun for my see-through skin.  Yes, Yes I know, I'll fit right in in Scotland with my white skin and red hair.  That won't stop me from soaking in the last bit of warm sun that I can.  While buying beer at Spec's here in League City I got what is hopefully the last question in a long line of awkward questions. SCOTLAND?? Why are you moving there, you know it rains there alot right, its cold there, blah blah blah.  :) I'M AWARE!!

Still State Side

I am attempting to document my time in the UK. This is going to be my first attempt at keeping a blog. At this exact moment I am still state side.  There was OF COURSE an issue with my student visa. My two weeks to explore before school starts has been stolen, but I will explore every second I'm not sitting in my research lab.  I have gone from ridiculous excited to intensely nervous back to excited. Not being able to leave this past Monday allowed me to realize how excited I was to begin with. Pictures to come!! Lots and lots of pictures.