From here to the far lands

~Angels and Airwaves

*This post was also taken from my travel journal...*

Edinburgh: Day 2

I did not sleep well. I swear it may have been warmer outside! But anyway- after getting dressed - sans shower, I proceeded into town.

First stop: Edinburgh Castle. I opted for the audio tour and was very glad I had. Beautiful place! Commanding too! It was neat to see things way older than America. I saw the crown jewels - nothing like what I saw in London at the tower. Still beautiful though. Probably the coolest thing for me was seeing where a prisoner from the American Revolutionary War had carved the 'stars and stripes' into the door of the prison. Kind of gives a sense of pride that someone believed so much while so far away.

After spending a few hours at the castle I proceeded to walk the Royal Mile. This was basically Old Town for me. Lots of gift shops but still pretty neat.

I decided to take a second stop back in time and go on the tour of Mary King's Close. This is an underground area that used to be street level - before they built the city chambers on top. It's also supposed to be haunted. No ghost sitings, but it was a neat experience.

I continued along the Royal Mile until I reached the Palace of Holyrood. Not quite as commanding as Buckingham, but still breathtaking. What struck me the most was the Scottish Parliament building across the street. so modern - it has no problem sticking out amongst all the old.



Finally I took a hike - with literally breathtaking views - through Holyrood Park. I went up to Arthur's Seat. Since it was beginning to get dark by the point, I headed back down the volcano - did I forget to mention I'd climbed a volcano? - and back up the Royal Mile.

I headed back to Haymarket for dinner. Then to the cold of the hostel - thoroughly exhausted.

If I had my own world, I'd build you an empire

~Angels and Airwaves

*The following post is taken from my travel journal...*

Edinburgh: Day 1

Who knew that 2 years ago when I started planning my Scotland trip that this was the road I'd take to get here?! I mean, I live 5 hours away right now. Weird.

Anyway, the journey here started off rather stressful. I got all the way to the train station only to realize I didn't have my railcard. After begging and pleading with the lady at the station I realized I'd have to go back to my place to find it - and hope I'd catch my train. Thank you taxi driver - who incidentally is named Ishmael (funny cause I was reading that book). Found the railcard and made it back to the station with time to spare.

When I was waiting to board the train, the twins were leaving the train. We all said hi then I jumped on board. It was fun seeing them right before leaving. Train after train after train (5 total) I eventually made it to Edinburgh.

I found my hostel pretty quickly. It's an old church building. I find this quite fascinating. Basically there are at least 12 rooms located in what used to be the sanctuary. No ceilings to the rooms so when you look up you see the rafters, stone archways, and stained glass. In all honesty this is much cooler sounding than reality. It's cold! While there are heaters in each room, it's freezing! I mean, the heat just keeps going up, to the rafters, never warming the room. Plus the showers stink! I'm trying to figure out how I could go without showering or washing my hair for 2 more days but I think I'll have to just give in. At least tonight.

After getting settled I headed to a pub called Haymarket for dinner. Yummy!!

'Cause you know where you've been

~Carbon Leaf

*Stolen from Carrie, who stole it from someone else....

In my 2008...What did you do in 2008 that you'd never done before?
Moved to England!

Did you keep your new year's resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don't remember my resolutions, but I did make a few this year. So far so good. It's a start right?

Did anyone close to you give birth?
Teresa, though we're not as close as we once were.

Did anyone close to you die?
Thankfully no.

What countries did you spend time in this year?
The US and England, man that second still feels strange to say.

What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
Sleep.

What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
September 16, the day I moved to England. February 14, the first time I went to England.

What was your biggest achievement(s) of the year?
Getting into grad school, selling my house in a tough market.

What was your biggest failure?
Friendship.

Did you suffer any serious injury or illness?
Thankfully, no.

What was the best thing you bought?
A plane ticket to London in February...then a plane ticket home for Christmas.

Whose behaviour merited celebration?
Tough one, not sure how to answer this one. Is that sad?

Whose behaviour made you appalled and/or depressed?
I ended several friendships, well, several friendships were ended but at least I learned who my true friends were.

Where did most of your money go?
Grad school.

Compared to this time last year, are you,
a) happier or sadder? Much happier.
b) thinner or fatter? Thinner, down 15lbs.
c) richer or poorer? Money-wise, poorer. But totally worth it!

What did you get really, really excited about?
Selling my house, moving to England, learning about water treatment, seeing Wicked, traveling, spending time with my family at Christmas.

What do you wish you'd done more of?
Spent time with my family and friends that have always been there for me.

Did you fall in love in 2008?
Nope.

How many one-night stands?
NONE!

Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year?
I don't usually use hate to describe feelings towards people, but I strongly dislike a few now.

What was the best book you read?
My Ishmael, by Daniel Quinn

What did you want and not get?
Scholarships for school.

What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
28- celebrated with my classmates with cake, went out with my European friends (and cake), cake with the co-worker, Thanksgiving dinner, and more celebration out with my classmates. Man, how did I lose 15lbs??

What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Not going through all the crap with people I thought were my friends. Being pain free in my knee.

What political issue stirred you the most?
The Environment...and if we're looking at world politics, the deaths going on in Zimbabwe.

Who did you miss?
I still miss my uncle. I wish I could share this experience with him. Not having my family here is tough too...but at least I can see them when I go home.

Who was the best new person you met?
That's tough. I've met so many great people here in England. And a few new ones back in the US. I can't pick just one.

Tell us a valuable life lesson(s) you learned in 2008.
Following your dreams is not always pretty and perfect, it comes with a struggle.

What sums up this year? (a word, a quote... ?)
Again from Carbon Leaf..."Live a life less ordinary, live a life extraordinary." Yeah, that about sums it up for me!

You fear the year will blow like a breeze through a rainbow

~Carbon Leaf

I can't believe it's 2009. It seems like just a short time ago I was writing essays and anxiously awaiting the news on whether or not I'd be a finalist for a Fulbright scholarship. It seemed like being in England was so far away. Yet, here I am, 3 months down, 9 to go. How does time slip by so fast?

I've been back 2 days (3??) since I was home for the holidays. It was a great 2 weeks at home, much too short. But I got to spend time with the people that matter most to me and that's what's important. I already miss getting licked by my dog, and having my parent's dog standing in my lap. I miss getting kisses from my niece, and playing with legos with my nephew. I miss annoying my brother, and picking on my sister-in-law about not knowing what day of the week it is. I miss watching my dad laugh at the silliest things, but then hiding that grin when he realizes someone is watching. I miss seeing my grandmother and how much improvement she's made since I first left in September. And I miss getting hugs from my mom. Moms always give the best hugs. But good news...I'll be back again in 3 months and then my mom gets to come back with me! I'm really looking forward to that time. To getting to show her what my life looks like over here. I can't wait!

It seems everyone else out there in blogland is posting their resolutions. Generally I don't mess with them. I don't stick to them anyway. So, I'm not posting any. I'm not going to put something out there, because I have it written down, in a place I will see everyday, and if that's not enough accountability, then I don't know what is.

So, Happy New Year! The first 20 hours have been great. I can't wait to see what the rest of the hours bring!

I get knocked down, but I get up again

~Chumbawamba

Sunday was AMAZING! I mean, it was alright.

Sunday I went hiking in the Peak District with a couple friends. Let me start off by saying the peaks here make the mountains back home look huge! But it's still nature, and nature is beautiful, so it was still a breathtaking sight.

We set off from my place at 8AM and arrived in Castleton around 10, I think. It was cold, below freezing, but once we got going we quickly warmed up. We started our walk by walking through town to a small farm. While passing the sheep that were grazing, Andy reminded us that the book stated these sheep are hostile in the winter. So, of course, we started trying to talk to the sheep, whom decided to stop grazing and stare at us.

After walking through a few fields, past a farm, over a small footbridge, over a creek, and up through another field we started to ascend Lose Hill. While looking at the hill I couldn't help but wonder if there was another way up, but regardless, I pressed on and before I knew it I was enjoying this view.

After throwing a rock on top of the beacon, we began walking across the top of the ridge towards Back tor. The path was really slippery, with snow, ice, mud, and the occasional deep puddle that Andy so nicely entertained us with by stepping it in. We got a good laugh out of that, but as we all know, karma sucks!!

So, we continued along the ridge and eventually made it to Back tor. Here we enjoyed another wonderful view. The book said that we were supposed to follow a steep path down from here. As we were beginning out descent from the top of Back tor I fell in the mud. It was a bit funny. Not too messy. Once we made it down Back tor we all turned around to see the path we had just taken. Quite steep!!

After Back tor we continued along the ridge towards Mam tor, apparently the highest peak. Along we way we past some mountain bikers, brave mountain bikers, biking up an icy stone path. It was a very difficult climb to get to top of Back tor, and really really windy and cold at the top. But the views were once again beautiful. I LOVE NATURE!!

Coming down Mam tor I provided more entertainment for the crew by falling again in the mud. This time I thoroughly covered by butt with mud. It was funny, and painful all at once. We headed through some more fields, past some huge sheep, and down into a steep ravine. It was all so amazing! I can't wait until I go hiking with them again!!

All in all, I had a great time and really hope that in the new year I'll be able to spend a little more time exploring this country I'm living in.

For Carrie

This post has nothing to do with England...nothing at all. But after the night I've had, I needed to post something to make people laugh.

Regardless of your political views, this is funny...admit it! It's Nicole Parker (from MadTV) singing the song "Defying Gravity" from the musical Wicked in the style of Sarah Palin.




And in case you don't know the real song, here it is with Idina Menzel.



Oh! AND! I get to see Wicked on the West End in less than 2 weeks!!!!! (See, I just made it about England!)

I've got a gift and it blew me away

~Angels and Airwaves

I'm a little late posting this, but it's been another one of those weeks here in the UK. Being a full time grad student is a lot different than I expected. I mean, for 3 years I was a full time employee and a part time grad student. I had very little free time to deal with so I just knew what I had to do to get things done. Being a full time grad student leaves me with free time, but not too much. It's tough because I have deadlines for assignments, I have classes to attend, and I have studying to do, but I always seem to push things to the last minute without really doing anything else. I just wonder where all the time goes. But that's not the point of this post...

Saturday was Thanksgiving, well, when we celebrated it. I hosted dinner with several of my friends from class. It consisted of the 3 Americans, the Swedish twins, and 1 Brit. We had a blast! The guys came over early to start with the turkey, since I put them in charge of that. They got really into the whole thing, after a short explanation of what Thanksgiving is really about. Granted I always focus on the fact that you spend it with family, but in a way, these people have become my family here, which made it even more amazing. Anyway, our dinner consisted of turkey, mashed potatoes, Stovetop stuffing (thanks mom!), roasted veggies, succotash, cornbread, gravy, pie, and pumpkin cupcakes. It was all absolutely mouthwatering. The guys even decided to make frills for the turkey.

In an effort to make the experience truly authentic of a present day Thanksgiving, we did what anybody else would do, and watched football (American style) during dinner. I managed to find a way to watch NC State beat Miami on Saturday on my laptop. It was great! I spent most of the time trying to explain things to everyone else, like "what are those lines on the field for?" But it was fun watching the game. At the same time, we had the "All Blacks" rugby match on the TV playing. You can really tell the differences between the sports when you watch them side-by-side.

After dinner we all headed out on the town to celebrate the 3 birthdays from my class from the week, mine included. All in all, it was a great day/evening but if I had to do it again, I'd still rather spend Thanksgiving with my family. Although, this one sure was special.