Nothing new really

I don't really have much stuff to update everyone on. But I figure I should type out a blog anyway. Trey left yesterday, and it felt like the whole apartment thing all over again. We had a fantastic weekend together with all the international people. Sadly, the ran us out of the watering hole, so we didn't get to watch the whole super bowl, not that I care anyway. I've never been a big fan of NFL.

I'm especially glad and thankful for the people that God has put in my life here. It's amazing at how completely different we are, but how much we click and how quickly we've become invested in each others lives. I truly don't know what I would be like without them. my family

We went to the watering hole last night to celebrate Suzanne's half birthday. It was fun, we played drinking games and just laughed a lot and got stared at. i didn't actually drink all of those :)

Today was a long day. I really miss home today. I miss the comforts of the classes back home. The clean air (this cigarette smoke everywhere, will probably kill me.) I miss sweet tea. I miss Chick-fil-a and I miss my friends and my parents. Today has really been just a crappy day. I feel the need to go shop and take a bath. But since I can't take a bath, I will probably go shop tomorrow after my tutorial.

Please just keep me in your prayers that I can start to focus on school work and not think about home so much.

Weekend with Trey

Friday, I had anatomy from 2-3 and then I met Liz and Katie and we walked to the train station so that I could surprise Trey. I definitely didn't know how the train station worked, but now I do because I walked around and I figured out train times and such. When Trey got there, I cried, just a little haha, it was super exciting! We met Katie, Liz and Grace in the mall that's connected and walked back to the bus and took it to Hillhead. Trey and I went to the bobbin for dinner and both got bulmers cider which was super good. I got fish and chips and he got smothered chicken. We went to tesco's after and bought groceries for this weekend. We went to the priory that night (katie, colleen, grace and trey and I). Let's just say creepy. There were SO MANY older guys dancing with younger girls. So we basically got in a corner upstairs and just chilled and drank and laughed at people. We got a free bus ride back to Hillhead because the guy was super nice. Saturday, we toured Aberdeen. We went to a cute Victorian tea house and had lunch. Trey and I had a tuna salad sandwich. It was pretty good. Afterwards, the group went to the Art Museum and toured. Trey and I found the pound saver and I bought bowls and cups and such. We came back to Hillhead and just hung out. We went to the watering hole, and just drank a little bit and came back. Today, we tried the Dunnattor Castle. We took a bus (4.80 round trip) 15 miles to Stonehaven. It was a 2.5 mile hike and it was realllllly pretty. We didn't get to go into the castle because it closed at 3 and we walked in at 3:10. I was pissed, but the view was amazing regardless. We walked around some more and then looked at the WW2 monument and went back into Stonehaven. We went to a pub and had a late lunch. Trey and I split a chicken platter and it was very good. We waited for the bus and headed back into Aberdeen. Trey and I walked back to Hillhead and just took our time. It was really pretty weather today and I enjoyed the time regardless of whether we got to go into the castle or not. Pictures are up on facebook, so look there.

We're going to try and watch the superbowl. Hopefully we'll be able too. Trey leaves tomorrow afternoon. We're gonna go to a bakery for breakfast and then he's leaving. I'll be heading to Dundee on Friday afternoon. Hopefully this week will go by super fast.

Almost the weekend

Classes have been going well. I'll write out my schedle so you'll know what it is

Mondays:
Anatomy, 2/15, 10-11
Anatomy, 3/1, 3-6
Anatomy, 3/15, 9-10
Anatomy, 3/22, 9-10
Anatomy, 4/26, 9-10, 3-6
Anatomy, 5/10, 10-11

Tuesdays:
Intro to the Gospels, 10-11
Music 12-1
Anatomy, 2-3
Sociology 2, 3-4


Wednesdays:


Thursdays:
Sociology tutorial, 9-10
Intro to the Gospels, 11-12
Anatomy 2-3
Sociology 3-4


Fridays:
Music tutorial 10-11
Anatomy 2-3

So I think I have a pretty good schedule. Trey and I are planning long weekend trips on the weeks that I have Mondays off. Last night me, Trey and the international girls booked our first trip to Edinburgh Feb 26-28. We booked our hostel and our megabus tickets and it was a total of 35 pounds for the weekend. We're also going to Dunnottar Castle on Saturday. It's in Stonehaven and only a 20 minute train ride (8 pounds round trip). We're also going to Loch Ness on the 20th of Feb, Shetland Islands March 11-15 and I'm going to Dundee for Valentine's weekend.

Last night, we went to the bobbin and had drinks and relaxed. I had a vodka cranberry, it was decent. I came home early because I was super tired. I almost fell asleep in a couple of classes today, which sucked. So tonight we're going to chill and I'm going to try and get ahead with homework so I don't have to do anything when Trey is here this weekend :) Cheers!

ceilidh

So a ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee) is a Scottish dance, where haggis and potatoes are served, whiskey of course and cookies and some sort of pudding. When we finally got there, after walking around creepy Seaton Park at night... we stood in line for a shot of whiskey, irn bru, and a shortbread cookie. The whiskey was more like a shot, it was SO strong, and definitely overwhelmind. It left an awful aftertaste. I really like the Irn Bru and I definitely liked the cookie. They started dancing in the room next door so we went over and danced. It was just like contradancing/ square dancing. It was so much fun! I met a kid named Oleg, don't know where he was from, a kid from Germany and I don't remember nor would I have been able to spell his name. Some of the guys were wearing Kilts, it was pretty sweet. After some dancing we went and had some haggis (sheep heart, liver, intestine, stomach... basically anything you dont want to think about eating from a sheep), and some sort of potato. The haggis was really spicey but it was pretty good with the potato. The dessert was some kind of alcohol rasberry pudding?! It burned my throat haha.

We danced some more, like some two step which I did with Rebecca, we were totally rocking it. At the end they played Auld Lang Syne and we did this awesome dance and a train and it was just really fun. Tonight was definitely enjoyable. Hopefully, I can go to one where there are bagpipes and a bigger area to dance in.
too bad he's not looking :(

Classes

So Monday I didn't have any classes. Once I get into the semester I'll start having some for anatomy. But I did go into town with Stacey. She took me to an Asda, which is very similar to a WalMart and I got everything I needed. We then went to the Mall of Aberdeen where I bought some flip flops for my showers and a purse. Stacey took me back to Hillhead and I unpacked everything. Me, Grace, Colleen, Liz and Suzanne went exploring down in the city centre and found a pub, Triple Kirks, but we walked around trying to find Prince William pub? Never found it, but we did find the priory and the Slain's Castle... which is a really creepy pub. So we went to triple kirks and sat around and ordered a long island ice tea to split and played some drinking games. It was a fun night to just sit and get to know each other.

Today, my classes started. I went to breakfast and then headed into to the uni and had my divinity class (intro to the gospels) with Suzanne. The professor was Swedish, but I could still understand him, thankfully. The class seems like it should be interesting. We met a few girls from the class who took us to coffee afterward. We sat around and talked to Abby and 2 Alex's who were really sweet. Abby invited me to church with her, which was really exciting!

I had a 2 hour break after class where I went to talk to Trey online and went to the Refresher's fayre. I saw a lot of cool societies but I didn't feel like having to pay to join them. But I did join the International Society. Hopefully I'll go on some cool trips with them. Went to Anatomy, same class size as in Clemson, we'll have 5 different professors and practicals where we do peer activities, I'll try to explain that better once I understand it myself. We'll also do problem solving... not sure what that is either. Went to Sociology 2, basic intro to the course. I have to buy a book, but it should be cheap, hopefully. Philosophy... I may not do too well in it... I have no idea what the professor said. He was french/italian definitely couldn't tell and had a lisp. He talked really fast... but his powerpoints are very helpful, I may end up dropping the class if I can find one that is on tuesday and thursday only. Thankfully, I got out of that class soon enough to were I could walk through Seaton Park to get back. Went to dinner and now getting ready to go to the ceilidh!

Is it seriously still snowing?!

They lied to me! They said it rarely snows and it's been snowing for 3 days straight!!

So last night...

The international girls went to The Watering Hole, which is the Hillhead Halls pub/club whatever you want to call it. When we got there, there were not many people down there. We went to the bar and hung around until we figured out what drinks we wanted. Trey had talked a lot about the WKD, similiar to Smirnoff. I didn't see anyone getting those so I waited a while. Colleen got a coke and whiskey, which surprisingly, I liked a lot. Maybe because the coke was flat? I don't know. A couple other girls, got some beer, but I'm still not a fan of that. Connie got a Strombow Cider, which I really liked. Then I finally got my WKD blue, and it tasted like a blue jollyrancher/ blue ICEE. We all tasted each others drinks (obviously) and just hung out and got to know each other. We eventually moved to a back corner and just talked some more. Caitlin (crazy crazy girl on my hall) and Meg and some more of her friends came in and talked and hung out. Caitlin had snuck some Strombow in, so me and Suzanne drank some more of that. Suzanne drank about the whole glass and I had half a glass. It was so much fun to just sit there and mingle with girls from the States and from Scotland and just laugh and talk about stuff. Caitlin told us about a girl who used to live on the hall who would have sex with her boyfriend every night. They called her... shagging girl? They used to sit outside and listen to them, awkward much. But it made for a great laugh. They eventually left after they begged us to go out with them to the clubs, but we weren't feeling up for that. When they left we went into the bar area again with Rebecca and met 2 guys. Paul was from Belfast and the other one was from Scotland. Paul was hilarious, the other one reminded me of a rat. He was just super nasty and drunk. He stood next to me the whole time and tried to talk to me... but seeing as he was drunk and Scottish, I couldn't understand a word he said... maybe something about a party with him... Just say no! They told us some interesting stories about hot tubs, showers with best friends girlfriends and God knows what else. We got out of there as soon as we can... which was about 30 minutes after talking with them. They weren't kidding when they said Scots drink! I didn't have my camera last night... so I'm waiting for the pics from Grace.

It took me FOREVER to go to bed last night... which I guess I'm still jet lagged and feeling more like going to bed when I should at home which is around 3 a.m here. Which sucks. But oh well, it should get better soon.

Today we went to Sunday Brunch. It is a typical Scottish breakfast... sausage, ham/bacon, eggs (more like boiled eggs mashed up), toast, and lots of other stuff that I have NO IDEA what it was... But I tried all of it. The best part was the toast.. haha! Anyway, over time I'll probably like it more? We all went on a tour of Aberdeen today. It was free for international students. I sat beside Liz and we talked and just listened to the tour guide.





Aberdeen is the 3rd largest city in Scotland. It is an industrial city, on the coast and it has 2 rivers (Dee and Don) running through it. Mostly oil, boats, etc that bring in the most people. The buildings are all made out of grey granite, and it sparkles in the sunlight (sound familiar lol). It is very pretty. Most houses have different color doors, bright blue, red, green, it's awesome. The Uni of Aberdeen was established in 1495, freakin old! So most of its buildings are also old. Which is cool to think about. Honestly, if you want to know about Aberdeen... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aberdeen that will tell you everything we learned today. It was really cool to learn more about the city that I will soon call home.

When we came back from the tour, we tried to get something to eat, but everything closes at 4:30 or earlier on Sundays. So we came back to Hillhead and thankfully the store was open. Me, Liz and Katie got Ritz crackers, cheese, chicken breast, yogurt, Irn Bru (orange colored, bubblegum flavored soda) and sat on the floor and ate dinner in my room. We got to know each other and told stories about what home is like. I was talking to Liz about being homesick, and shes been feeling homesick as well and she said one thing I've learned from studying abroad before is... it's not the place that makes it home, it's the people. And I definitely am beginning to understand that. The international girls and even some of the Scottish girls are beginning to make this place feel like home.

I spent most of the evening figuring out my class schedule/ syllabus/ time/ etc. I feel way more organized now. I'm still waiting for one more tutorial and lab to be filled. I also have 2 papers to write. Intro to Gospels 2000 words, Knowledge and Mind 1500 words. They aren't due till April, so hopefully I can get working on those soon! I hung up more stuff around my room to make it colorful and someone was throwing away a pillow/ pillowcase so I washed the pillowcase and took the pillow so now I have 3 pillows :)

Tomorrow... my plan is to go to bfast with Liz and head into campus with her. Then buy our ceilidh tickets and she has class at 10. Stacey is going to take me to go pick up some groceries/other items I need since she has a car. She is a LIFESAVER! So I'm really happy about that. Hopefully, I can get some more planning down and figure out the rest of my classes as well.

For more pictures, look on facebook.

got my bedding!

So, I finally got my bedding around 10 or 11 last night. But before that... We met several other international students. Liz from Washington state, Connie from Illinois, Susan from Illinois, Katie from Wisconsin and Colleen from Illinois. So we all hung out and tried to figure out what we wanted for dinner. We went to the shop and the hillhead centre but they didn't have much that I was interested in. So we decided to order a pizza. We tried Pizza Hut, but they didn't deliver. So we ordered online at Heavenly Pizza... We found a deal for 2 pizzas for 10 pounds. We then went to the tv lounge in Adam Smith house and waited for the pizza. While we were waiting, Rob, a first year, came in to talk to us. He was really nice and told us about classes and the party scene here. He then had 5 friends join him, so we all hung out and talked. It was pretty cool. Two hours later our pizza finally showed up. Apparently, the snow slowed them down. So the guy gave us 2 medium size pizzas for free! We ate our pizza and then gave the rest to the guys. By that time it was 9 so we decided to go shower and just hang out. There was a big party in the Watering Hole which is their pub/club at Hillhead. But I was tired and wanted to decorate my room. I came up to my room and talked to Caitlin, my neighbor who had a friend from Edinburgh up. So she gave me some more stuff to decorate my room with. She also invited us out for tonight. Around 11, my bedding arrived to my room and I made my bed and hung up pictures and added some life to this room. I skyped with my parents and Trey before I went to bed. I got into bed around 1... but it took me FOREVER to fall asleep... which sucked. I think I finally got to sleep around 3. I hope tonight is a better rest.

Today... we had orientation at 9:30 on campus. I was up at 8:30 for that. Molly Prather kinda explained what was going on today and all that jazz. We went to the Hub and had tea and coffee and talked with other students. We all got a bus ticket for the Aberdeen bus tour tomorrow. I finally met Clair and Sydney from Clemson, so I talked to them and got to know them some because we came back to our rooms before our registration time. I took about a 45 minute nap and skyped with mom and Trey. We then left for our registration. The way they register here was definitely confusing, I definitely like Clemson so much better. I am currently signed up for 4 classes. Anatomy 2, Knowledge and Mind, Intro to the Gospels, and Sociology 2. I'm not sure if the soc class will transfer to Clemson... so I gotta check on that. But I figured out my schedule and I will have a lab for Anatomy on Monday's for about 4 or 5 weeks out of the semester, all my classes on Tuesday/Thursday afternoons and then one on friday. I haven't signed up for my lab or my tutorials or anything. Hopefully I'll get that soon. I feel way better now that I have my classes figured out and now I know when Trey will get here and all that jazz! I'm going out tonight. Don't know what I'm doing yet.. so I'll get back to you on that!