A Semester in Scotland

New blog!

2008-08-25T18:12:00.001-05:00

http://cyclicbryan.blogspot.com/

oops...

2008-08-25T18:00:00.002-05:00

for those of you who will read this...i will say sorry to you for not writing more about what happened after revision week. i took my exams and they were extremely hard. oh well..i am done there! i am actually all ready back at ripon and registration for classes is tomorrow! i am on the cycling team and have been spending a lot of time with that...i am starting a new blog about my new adventures....keep up! i will post the link soon...(like in the next 15 minutes or so i hope...)

I envision many visions of revision

2008-05-13T13:06:00.002-05:00

Hey! Welcome to Revision week at St Andrews. I'm not going to say much in this post, partially because I haven't done a whole lot. I've been studying like mad and will continue to do so until next Tuesday. I feel like I'm starting to understand my modules a little bit better so I hope this all pays off. So far, in the last two days, I've studied 18 hours. That's pretty good, I'd say :D And I'm off to the library for 4 more glorious hours. I do most of my revision studying in the library, but today was odd. I had porridge with Pat and Katie this morning and got to the library at 11. There was nowhere to sit and study! Everywhere was taken...we had to go somewhere else where we opted for Beanscene. We stayed there until 3ish and then went to the library and studied there until 6. So busy... :) Hope you are well!

Done with class!

2008-05-11T15:39:00.003-05:00

I am done! With classes that is...all that is left is studying and 3 finals! I studied a little bit today, but tomorrow is going to be balls to the wall studying. I plan on being at the library the entire day and I am ok with that. I need to make sure I do well on these exams. :) On a lighter note, I go home in exactly 2 weeks. BAMF. Exciting stuff.

Last night, my friends and I had a bonfire on the castle sands. It was a good time, with some hardships. First off, we didn't have any wood. We had this compressed liquid fuel stuff and a wee bit of charcoal. Calen had gotten some coal from the local Shell station, but it was chimney coal...not really for cooking, but it was all St Andrews had to offer. We ended up finding cardboard and some abandoned wood and got stuff going. We roasted hot dogs and had some beers and had a good time. Afterwards, we went to New Hall and played some cards. I walked home alone to Albany Park around 2...I hate walking back. Especially alone because it makes the time go by so much slower. I had a discussion with Katie tonight about our living arrangements. It is really awesome that we live on the North Sea, there is no denying that. However, we feel like we are missing out on a substantial portion of social happenings and bonding that the New Hallians have together. It also would have been convenient for me to live in New Hall as it is literally next to the chem building. Oh well!

I've starting packing a little of my stuff and am unsure if it will all fit for the plane home. I am hoping so...

Here's a list of the things I hope to accomplish at St Andrews before the next fortnight.
1. Golf on the Links...(hopefully on the 23rd at the Strathtyrum course and possibly another...36 holes perhaps? BAMF)
2. Visit the botanic garden once more
3. Take more photos of my friends in social scenes, and black and white photos of town
4. Try at least 4 more (hopefully more! :D) distinct brands of whisky
5. Get the rare 1 pound note (as opposed to the coin version)
6. Swim in the North Sea...since I missed the May Dip

That's only a few things I can think of right now...

Back to studying...peace.

Second to Last Day of Classes

2008-05-08T18:30:00.002-05:00

Today...sucked. As I mentioned in an earlier post, my project group has its presentation and group paper due tomorrow...and for most college students (we are no exception), that means we are working very hard the day before. I was in lab from 9-12, then working on our paper from 12-7:30, with a wee break and I had an hour break (I had lecture for Greek...). We got a lot done (gosh, I hope so for working that long...) but aren't completely finished yet. It was definitely rough. The day was made worse by a lingering headache that I had begun to get earlier in the day. It cumulated at 7:30 when I just couldn't stand it anymore and decided I had to go home. It was one of those headaches where it made me want to throw up. Not good...So, I had actually left our group a wee bit early...I'm not sure how long they stayed for. I came back to my room and immediately hit the pillow for a 2-hour nap. I managed to wake up at 11 pm tonight. Uff da. Thus, I am writing this post at 12:36 am. I should try to get to bed soon, as tomorrow is going to be a busy day. I have the group paper at 9, presentation at 3, and a Greek exam at 4. I am SO ready to be done!! But once tomorrow is over, I only have 3 exams left. I am so excited. I am sad though, I haven't seen my friends in a couple days and am beginning to realize I probably won't see them after we part ways in a couple weeks. I still feel like I need to study more this week than anything else. Such is life.

Nothing like good tartan...

2008-05-06T15:22:00.004-05:00

Hello everyone! Last weekend was one of fun and hard work. I'll start with hard work, which carries on into this week, because that it's what is on my mind right now. I have been working on an individual paper for my chemistry project (which I handed in today). It was a lot of work and a lot of uncertainty. First off, I had no idea what to expect when writing this paper. I was unsure of how the layout of the paper should be, how to cite properly, ect... I had to do a lot of research on instruments I didn't know a whole lot about and the books I got didn't do much good. Also, the chemistry library, which houses a load of books that I needed, does not have a librarian. Thus, the books in that library are all reference and can not be removed from said library. That's fine...if you live close to the chemistry building, which I don't. It was just more of an inconvenience than anything. So I worked on that last week and most of this weekend. But I did take time out for fun...On Friday night, I went over to New Hall and played cards with my buds and had a good time with that. Probably the most fun was Sunday...however, a little background story to get you going.

On Saturday morning, I went to St. Rules tower to get some tokens for my friend Calen and his girlfriend Brittany who was visiting from Edinburgh. I have a membership so I get free admission, why not help out some fellow students! Anyway, once I got the token, I got a text from Calen and I called him. He was in town and he had just purchased a kilt! Kilts are expensive! He spent a good chunk of change for it, but he got his clan name tartan. The Henderson clan! Good stuff. I met him in town and he had also hired a kilt for the Castle Ceilidh (pronounced kay-lay) on Sunday. Calen had been trying to convince me to go since he started taking ceilidh dancing lessons. I hadn't budged yet, mostly because of the cost (7 pounds) to get in. However, somehow he convinced me to hire a kilt as well and go with! I was a little apprehensive at first, but getting a kilt was one of my goals in Scotland...so at least wearing one is close enough. I hired it and was excited the rest of the day...I went home and tried it on before working some more on my paper.

The next day was the day of the ceilidh...I put my kilt on and headed to church (the ceilidh was at 7 and church as at 4...we were meeting at 6 so I didn't have time to go back to Albany Park. Plus, it was pretty BAMF to wear my kilt to church.) Finally, we meet in New Hall at 6 (after I beat my friend Katie in foosball 10-0, thus making her crawl under the table) and we made our way to the Union. We were bummed because the ceilidh was supposed to be held at the castle, but due to inclement weather, was held at the Union (definitely not as cool...). We had a great time and I did Scottish dancing! Scottish dances are pretty much lining up in circles around the room and switching partners almost constantly. It was almost like line dancing but neater. After the ceilidh, there was a torch procession to the end of the pier in St Andrews and back. It was a good day and a lot of fun. Thanks Calen for persuading me to hire the kilt!

Monday was spent writing my paper and proofreading it...all day. It was lame...even more lame because it was May Day (observed bank holiday) and we didn't have classes...it was rubbish to do work on a beautiful day like that day was...

Today...I think I am catching a cold and it is definitely lame. I don't want to get sick on the last fricken week of class. I got up and went to lab where I waited to hand in my paper. As I stood there, I thought over my paper and realized certain mistakes I had made...I was able to change them quickly on the computer, but it was a rough start to the day. Lab went well; we are making a display for our nanoparticles (which I will take a picture of when finished!) and we worked on our group report and presentation. I went to BeanScene and had a large latte and did studied Greek. I can't wait til I can make my own coffee again, but BeanScene is so good...I've been working on chemistry powerpoint stuff and I am getting sick of doing it. This project is so close to being over and I can hardly wait. I need to start revising for my exams coming up in about a week and a half. I am NOT excited. Also, I did some calculating today and found out that the paper I just turned in was worth about 2.5 credits in the US. One paper is determining 2.5 credits. Oh boy...Only 19 days til I come home!

So...Yeah...

2008-05-02T14:05:00.003-05:00

So I opted out of the May Dip. I just couldn't come to terms with not getting enough sleep. I am glad for it, but not. I think it really would have been a good time, but I managed to get a lot done on Thursday. Hopefully, that work will help ease the workload for the weekend and I will be able to enjoy the fantastic weather that we've been having. It's a long weekend, since Monday is when May Day is observed, and thus we don't have class. That would make next week my last week of class here at St Andrews. I am both excited and not...I've made good friends here and will be sad to leave them (especially since they all go to school out on the East Coast!) but I am ready to be done. I am not having a whole lot of fun with my lab course...it was interesting for awhile, but now it's getting kind of lame. Our supervisor has been gone for Wed, Thurs, and Fri of the past two weeks, and our individual papers are due Tuesday. I don't know if he planned his trips too well... It is also difficult having classes from other disiplines while taking 3rd year chemistry modules. The reason why is because all the 3rd years only have this lab course right now, and thus can study for their exams for the other modules they have. I, on the other hand, have to continuely study for Greek and thus can't put too much time into the other modules yet. That, however, is going to be reserved for revision week. Also planned for revision week, I will be going golfing at St Andrews! I am so excited...I was beginning to get scared that I was going to leave the home of golf without actually golfing there. Alas, that will NOT happen and I will be hitting the Links soon. We get a badass discount on green fees for being students, but not for clubs. They, of course, use very high quality clubs and thus, charge a LOT to use them. Oh well..it will be fun! I'm going to be golfing with my friends Calen, Adam, and Pat. It is going to be a blast!

This weekend did not come soon enough...I was definitely ready and can feel myself (oddly) becoming more prepared for studying. Finally, at the end of the semester when it counts most, I will hopefully be more organized and prepared for exams. I'm not positive, but I'm praying for it.

I recently got a care package in the mail from my fantastic girlfriend! Thank you so much Justine!! I enjoy every part of it! The M&M's are almost gone! :D

I've been writing my paper for a good chunk of time now and I think I'm going to go chill with my friends. It will be good to just relax for awhile...

May Day!

2008-04-30T10:41:00.002-05:00

No, it is not May yet...but tonight it is. That means tonight/tomorrow morning is the May Dip. That means we all go to the Castle sands and take a dip in the North Sea. It is going to be so cold...I am not at all prepared. Now I am sure you realize...this starts at 4-5 am. I have to be at lab at 9. I am not sure if is a good idea for me to be doing this. We'll see...

On a different note, this week is going fine. More lab work, more studying, more homework...I am definitely ready to be done. I am, recently, having trouble finding the motivation to study. I just don't feel into it. I think it has something to do with not actually having the classes now that I am studying for....oh well. I am feeling a nap coming on. Naptime!

Busy week...

2008-04-27T15:41:00.002-05:00

Ah...having a nice cup of tea while procrastinating and writing in my blog. Excellent. I'll definitely take a toast to this week. Lots of mini-adventures and good things to talk about!

First off, there are some things I didn't mention about Monday. I woke up Monday morning to an email with the subject line 'Scotland!' from my good friend Molly. Now, I knew Molly was going to be visiting me at some point however, I did not know when. I found out then :) She was coming today (Monday)! Oh gosh. It all worked out well and I was able to spend some time with Molly around St Andrews. I brought her to my house and I made a stir-fry for dinner and caught up. It was good. The next day, I had classes and my Greek exam so I did a fair amount of studying. We did go out to Aikman's with my friends and that was a good time. I left early to go to bed, but I think she stayed and got some deep-fried goodness at KFB's. The next day, I had lab again and for dinner, Molly came over with a friend she made from Germany, and they cooked food in my kitchen. Later that night, I met up with Molly and Calen and we had a whisky tasting event. It was fun. Calen and I split a bottle of Talisker single malt Scotch whisky. Amazing. It is so good...I said farewell to Molly as she was leaving early the next morning. It was a good visit, I think...a wee bit impromptu, but good nonetheless! Thanks Molly!

So the rest of the week was uneventful, except for one amazing thing. Calen and I went shopping on Thursday and we purchased St Andrews flasks! They are so neat. I wanted something to commemorate my trip here, and what else better than a flask for some quality whisky?! The rest of that day was lax and what I was waiting for then was Friday, when Jon was coming to visit! I was quite excited...it is always a good time when we are together. So Friday came finally and so did Jon! I met him after my classes at BeanScene and it was good to see him! I didn't get any coffee, as I had already been there earlier in the day! I took him to my house and we chatted until 7:30, when we would be dining with Pat, Katie, Calen and Adam at my house. I was cooking and do you know what I was cooking? HAGGIS! Woot! I decided it would be a shame if I left Scotland without trying their national dish. I bought a small haggis from the local butcher, some tatties (potatoes), and neeps (turnips)! Katie brought over a veggitarian haggis too. It was a good time and the haggis wasn't bad! I even had seconds... After dinner and some internet surfing, we went to Aikman's for a pint. We weren't there long, and we came back after one and went to bed. Busy day...

Saturday we started our day by stopping at St Rule's tower to get a token for later (so I could get two for free :D ) and then we headed the Botanic Garden. Different things were in bloom so it was very pretty to go to! I plan on going at least one more time before I leave St Andrews. After that, we walked back to town and were quite hungry...it also started to rain so we jumped into the Whey Pat pub and got a sandwich and Jon was dying for a Dublin-brewed Guinness. They have good sandwiches and we watched the last couple minutes of the Dundee United football match on their tv. It was odd, because when we came back outside, the weather had pulled a 180 and was quite sunny and very nice! We walked to the Old Course and back along the Scores. I showed him the PH and he got a kick out of Butts Wynd :D We went back to my house for a little bit before heading over to New Hall for sushi and foosball. It was a fun night! My SA friends were quite hospitable to Jon and I am very glad for it! I think he left St. Andrews with a couple more friends than when he came in :) We left relatively early from New Hall because we had to get up at 5:50 this morning. So yeah, we got up and made our way to the bus station, where I had looked and mistakenly saw that there was a bus at 7:10 to Leuchars. Gosh...I had forgotten to look on Sunday's schedule...and there was no bus. He had to take a taxi to Leuchars and take the train from there to Edinburgh to catch his flight. I haven't heard from him yet...but I sure hope he made it! I know he at least made it on the train... So I said farewell to him at the bus station...thank you for a great weekend Jon! :D I am so stoked for our apartment next semester! I went back to my house and slept until noon. Excellent. I got up, wrote two pages of my paper for next tuesday (only needs to be 5...) and went to church. After church, I got subway with Calen and we talked for an hour or so. It was a good chat and we had very enjoyable weather. Afterwards, I came home and took a short nap and now am trying to find the motivation for homework...it is unlikely that it will happen, but I am still holding out hope. I hope you all had a good weekend! Comments please! :D:D:D

Awesomeness...

2008-04-22T11:38:00.004-05:00

I really am failing at finding titles for these entries. I really don't care what the title says...I just want to tell you what is going on in my life! Thus, the awesomeness. This past weekend, my program planned a weekend at the Isle of Skye. It was amazing. We had perfect weather all week (which, according to our tour guides, NEVER happens...) and had an amazing time. Here's how it went.

We left Friday morning at 8, so I missed my tutorial and lecture for Greek, and lab time for my chem. project. We made our way to Skye via the scenic route, stopping multiple times at different locations. We stopped at places such as the Queen's View, the battlefield of Culloden, and a little town for lunch. We finally made it to Skye at 17:30. We were staying in a town called Kyleakin. I didn't have very high expectations about the trip, as I heard rather depressing comments about the previous trip that I did not attend since Justine was here. However, the first thing I find out is that we were staying in a relatively nice hotel, and I had a single room! Nice! It was an awesome room and it even had a heated towel rack. We had dinner at a restaurant in town (decent food) and then just played cards in the lounge area of the hotel. I got some of the locally distilled whisky, Talisker, which was simply amazing. It was very smokey and had quite a strong and distinct flavour. Good stuff. I took a bath in my room's bathtub (no shower though...) and went to bed.

The next day, we were scheduled to have continental breakfast. I came down, saw the cereal, fruit and porridge, got some and sat down. I was perfectly content with this, however, I was then offered coffee and tea, which I gladly accepted, and then asked if I wanted any hot breakfast, which was included! I had some scrambled eggs and sausage. Mmm...good way to start the day! We hopped on the bus and made our way to Portree, the capital of Skye. There we got lunch supplies and then made way for our hike. We were hiking up to the Old Man of Storr. It was a long hike! We made it to the hill where you can climb to the base of the Old Man (you can't climb the Old Man unless you have climbing equipment and such, but you can to the base.) I didn't make it all the way because it was quite steep and I freaked myself out about how high I was. It was very feasible that if I slipped or fell, I would have tumbled down onto a bunch of rocks. I found out later there was an easier way up...but we ran out of time. After the hike, we went to Dunvegan Castle (the home of the McLeods) which was kind of boring. We then went back to Kyleakin, had dinner, played some cards, and then there was karaoke that night. I didn't hang around for much of that, but some of my friends sang and stuff...and didn't feel well in the morning. I, on the other hand, went to bed at 11 and felt great in the morning. Ahh...so nice.

Sunday I had fabulous breakfast again, and we set out for St Andrews via Eilean Donan castle, Loch Ness, and Glencoe. Those were pretty neat as well! I was a little disappointed in Loch Ness...we weren't on the side of it that is always photographed. Bollocks. Plus I couldn't find Nessie because it was windy and wavy. We finally made it back to St Andrews and I went back to my room and played on facebook for awhile, adding pictures and such.

School has been going well. We have been working hard in the lab trying to synthesize our UV-active Cadmium Selenide (CdSe) nanoparticles. Today, I synthesized my own and they turned out fantastically! See photo... I had a Greek exam today as well with which I felt much better after than the first one. Hopefully I did well! We'll see...I studied hard for it so hopefully that paid off. I also had a 'special' tutorial today for my main group chem. module. It is special because I missed all 3 of the regular scheduled ones because the times and locations of said tutorials were not made known in lecture, but in the inorganic lab, which I was not a part of...It was a good tutorial, and it definitely made me realize I have a shit-ton of work to do for that class. We went around the circle of students there answering questions and the only one (out of about 3 that came to me) that I was able to answer was a question whose answer was 'Oxygen'. Awesome. I hope that turns out better than I foresee. I hope you are all well! Only about a month til I am done! 12 days of class remaining!

All my photos are on Facebook...let me know if you are unable to see them and I will post the links!

Catch up!

2008-04-17T11:53:00.002-05:00

Well...it's been a couple days and I am still not even done with my trip. I am going to be gone this weekend at the Isle of Skye and won't have time to write about my trip then (plus, I will have other stuff to write about!), so I'm going to try and cram it all in this post, even if I have to omit some things. Today was a good day though! My group for the chemistry project successfully synthesized UV-active nanoparticles! Neat! After lab, I need/wanted to study Greek so I headed over to BeanScene (after getting a delicious panini at Le Rendezvous) and studied for 2 hours there while drinking a 4 shot latte. Mmm. Caffeine spike. Greek is good; it is still moving very fast but by the book's standards, I should know over 75% of the words in the New Testament. That's about all I've done today...I don't really plan on doing much tonight either. It's been a good week though...only 15 days of class left! Woot! This weekend I'm going to Skye, and next weekend my buddy Jon is coming to visit...so the days will hopefully go quickly! Anyway here's, as Mr. Paul Harvey would say, the rest of the story...

(If I can remember where I left off...)

3/4

I definitely slept better last night being in a couchette and not just a seat. A funny story...there as a couple sleeping in the same car as me and didn't speak English...they were watching videos or pictures on some sort of electronic device as I was going to sleep. All of a sudden, the wife hands the device over to the husband and sexual sounds started. It happened a couple more times and the wife was laughing quite a bit. The husband, however, did not laugh and looked rather embarrassed...he looked to see if I was asleep a couple times and all I could do was look away and try not to laugh. It was good. As it turns out, nobody in my car spoke English, but they could speak French, so I used my French skillz to the best of my ability to communicate when I had to.

I made it to Roma about 2h later than I anticipated, which is fine because I am alone for this portion of my trip. As I mentioned before, I had to use my language skills to communicate, which proved a lot harder than I thought. Props to you who are studying in a country with a foreign language. Granted, I studied French a little and I don't even pretend to know much about the language, you guys still are quite brave. I eventually made it to Rome and to the station (Termini). I was hungry and had to pee, but did neither as I figured I could just wait until the hostel. The metro was easy enough and I found my hostel fine. It really was right next to the Vatican. The lady working was so friendly and was nice enough to let me check-in during lockout (when they clean). I got my stuff together and headed out for the Vatican, as I planned to stay there for the whole day. I went straight to St. Peter's Basilica where I had to go through security and stand in queues and whatnot. The Basilica is quite beautiful! After the Basilica, I visited the tombs of the Popes, where all the Popes are buried, including John Paul II. I then walked to the top of the Basilica some 530 stairs. It was insane. Great views and a lot of exercise for 5 euro. I went to the gift shop there and called home collect :) I got some souvenirs and headed over to the Vatican museum and Sistine Chapel. I finally used my ISIC card and got half the price off to get in the museum. The museum makes you walk through everything before you get to the Chapel, and you can't take photos! Pish. I took some anyway, sneakily. Oh! Before the museum I bought gelato! It was amazing! So much better than ice cream anywhere else. After the chapel, I got a slice of pizza at the museum. It was pretty good. I walked to a balcony with an overview of a garden and the basilica in the background. I then got more gelato and walked back to my hostel. Checked my email and found a pleasant surprise. Dan, a friend who is studying in Florence, will be able to pick me up from the train station. AND I get to have dinner with his host family! Woot! After I checked my email, I walked to the Castel St Angelo. I didn't go in because it cost money. It got windy and cooler so I just headed back to the hostel afterwards. Hopefully I will get lots of sleep and be ready for tomorrow!

4/4 (I am still writing more than I planned...)

My last day in Roma...There is a lot to see, maybe I should have stayed here longer? I got up and took the metro to the first stop and looked around the piazza de Popplo; not too exciting... Got back on the metro and got off at the next stop which was Spagna and found the Spanish Steps. I was really hungry and I found McDonalds, except different. I ate at McCafe which had pastries and coffee, which were surprisingly good. I did this after I got weird looks for standing at the regular McDonalds counter for a minute. I realized later that it didn't open til 10 and I was there before that, but I didn't know. I exchanged some money and realized I got TOTALLY ripped off exchanging money at Termini. Ugh...Metro again, got off at Repubblica and looked at a church there. Metro again and switched to Line B at Termini and got off at the Colesseo. I decided to fork over the cash to get in the Collussium and walked around for an hour or so inside. Afterwards, I went to the Palacio, a huge park and archaeological site. I walked around a lot and finally just had to find my way out. After my trek, I ate a sandwich and made my way back to Termini to make my way to Firenze. I was met in Firenze Santa Maria Novella station by my friend Dan and another Ripon student, Robert. They took me to my hostel (with which I was pleasantly surprised) and then had an adventurous bus ride to their host family's house. They spoke almost no English so it was quite the adventure! (I speak no Italian...) We had a delectable dinner. First course was pasta, followed by ribs and potatoes for the second course. Finally, we had a cream puff pie which was amazing! After dinner, Dan and I headed back to town and when we were almost there, the bus driver pulls over to talk on his phone or something like that. It was lame, so we got off the bus and walked the rest of the way to meet Gena, Dan's girlfriend. We walked around for awhile and Gena bought me some gelato! It was very kind of her! We walked more until they both needed to head home and catch buses. It somehow worked out that I was left there, with no idea where I was. Luckily, I had a map and found my way back to my hostel and went on the internet and talked to Justine for a couple hours online. I can't stress enough how much happiness I feel when I talk to her! After talking, I went up to my room and slept.

5/4

Spending the day alone in Firenze. I decided to take it easy today since I still have all day tomorrow as well. I got up around 9-9:30 and headed out after having some awful espresso. I first went to the basilica of Santa Maria Novella. It was very nice. I then set on my quest to find David, in the Academia gallery. I found it, and only had to queue for about 20-30 minutes before I could get in. I could have went straight to David, but I didn't want to ruin the experience. I instead looked at a musical instrument exhibit first, and then headed to the famous Michelangelo statue. It was truly amazing. I am not one for art, but David is fantastic. Really more than I thought it was going to be! I took some photos, even though you aren't supposed to, but other people were. There were a lot of people there drawing David. The rest of the art there was very pleasant; most was about Jesus and other Biblical scenes. After David, I walked to the Duomo, the big Church of Florence. It's name is something like Santa Maria del Fleurs or something. I had some amazing gelato before that for only 2.50. I went back to my hostel to relax until coming back to the Duomo for Mass that evening.
I took a short nap and then went to the Duomo for Mass in English. Got gelato again after church and walked back to the hostel where I had dinner. I had ravioli, which was decent. Went on the computer for awhile and got off because people were getting antsy to use the 'net. I did come back later to talk to Justine. She seems a little crabby, but any time to talk to her is wonderful. I talked to her, my friend Amelia, and my parents until about 1:30. I went to bed and was almost asleep when the Spanish girls staying in the room as well came back. They couldn't figure out the stupid lights and kept turning the entire room's lights on as well as were very loud. I managed to fall asleep anyway...

6/4

Awoke to the Spanish girls talking and leaving...Gosh they are so loud! Once they left, I got up and got breakfast. I showered and packed my stuff. I got some coffee before I left and charged my Ipod. I am hopefully meeting Dan and Gena at 11 at the bus depot. Note: coffee at hostel NOT good! I met Dan and Gena, and also two more Ripon pals, Lee and Sarah. Dan, Gena, Sarah, and I walked around Firenze and went up on a hill that had a fantastic view of the city. Went into another church and then back down to get cheap gelato. Walked through a park to find a toilet and found a fair going on. We watched some kids play stupid games out on the grass. It was quite entertaining. Walked around for awhile so Dan could show Gena where his house was. Dan departed us and the rest of us headed back to town. Gena got back on a bus to go home and Sarah got on the bus with me so she'd be able to show me where the train station (Campo di Marte) was. This station is SHADY! I saw a dude with hair such that I could not tell where his face was. I called Justine for a 5 minutes and then boarded my train. I found Adam, my friend who I was hoping to meet from St. Andrews, in the same berth as me! Should be a better train!

(Take a breather...I got lots to go...)

7/4

Didn't sleep a whole lot on the train. Awoke to conductor handing two Asian girls their passports and breakfasts and hoping he would come back with mine...He eventually did, just a couple hours later. Got to Zurich, took rail to Luzern and then to Interlaken via the scenic route. Very beautiful! In Interlaken, boarded the train to Grindelwald, where we would be staying, thinking our Eurail pass would cover it. It didn't, and luckily we had gotten some cash at Zurich. Switzerland went downhill from there :) Adam and I got to Grindelwald and didn't know where the hostel was. All we could remember were the directions to follow the brown signs, which there weren't any. I asked at the train station where the hostel was and they gave us directions. We had to walk down the mountain to a town called Grund. Walked down treacherously steep hill with our heavy packs and when we got to the bottom, couldn't find the hostel. Went to the train station there and asked and what do you know?...The hostel is actually in Grindelwald...back up the hill. 100m higher than we were at the moment. We had to walk all the way back up to GW, a brutal walk, to find our beloved hostel. We got there, and nobody was at reception. Waited for an hour until we finally got ahold of someone. However, reception didn't open for another 3 hours. We were hungry so we hauled our packs to the CoOp and I bought some pretzels. We planned to come back later with Pat and Katie to get supplies for cooking dinner. Went to the train station and waited for P and K for an hour and when their supposed train showed, we didn't see them get off. It was time to check-in at our hostel so we just went back there. When we got there, Pat and Katie were there already...somehow they got off the train without us seeing them. Odd. We all took showers and met up to go to CoOp and when we got there, they were closed. We found a restaurant with semi-cheap prices and were forced to eat there. It cost 13.50 for chicken nuggets off the children's menu. We got tap water but I did enquire about a Jack and Coke. It would have cost 14.50 for one! That was more than my dinner! I opted out. After dinner, we went back to the hostel and got our swimsuits because we had free access to the sports centre and ice skating. We decided to skate and it was a lot of fun! For the last 20 min, Pat and I were able to play some hockey. It felt so good to be on skates (horrible skates...) and playing hockey. The rest of the night was pretty lax.

(My fingers are getting sore...I bet your eyes are too.)

8/4

Got up at 7:50 and met A K and P. We walked to the train station because the Eurail pass book said the train left at 8:50; it didn't, it left at 9:20. We got on our way! The trains went well, Grindelwald-Interlaken-Montreaux-Geneva. Once in Geneve, found Adam's hostel and checked him in. After we went to find ours and failed the first time, asked at Adam's hostel and we found it. We were, our our defense, quite close the first time. The hostel couldn't find our booking (it was somehow under the 12th of April) but it all got worked out. Went out into the city and found a large chess board with large pieces. Katie and Adam vs. Pat and I. We won! :D Went to get supplies for dinner again and what? CoOp was closed...again... Shit. Went to the train station because they had a 24/7 shop but it was sooo expensive. Could get a restaurant dinner for their prices. We found a pizzeria and got 4 pizzas and unfortunately, 4 bottled waters (we didn't specify 'tap water'). It cost us CHF 81 (Swiss Francs, eq. to 1 dollar) Ouch...went back to the hostel and called Justine and talked for awhile. Hostel somehow got much shadier...I don't like.

(Almost there!)
9/4

Didn't get much sleep...again...Got up and got free (included, so I guess not really free...) breakfast. Met up with Adam and caught the train to Lyon, then switched trains in Marseilles. In Lyon, had 1 hour so we found a Shell station and bought some beers for the train. On the Lyon to Marseilles train, we played cards and had a beer and likewise on the Marseilles to Nice train. It was the best train I've had so far. Once in Nice, we found our hostel/hotel and saw various sex shops around. We checked in and walked around Nice to find food (no kitchen this time...). We eventually decided, after LOTS of looking, to eat at a fancier place called Treinte 7. We shared a bottle of wine and sat there for 3 hours eating and having a good time. We figured we could eat cheap tomorrow and it would average out to not that expensive :) I had a ravioli dish as a starter (which was enough by itself!), beef stew with pasta as my main course, and a cream dessert. It was so amazing...After dinner, we came home and went to bed.

10/4

Got up at 13:00 (I know...quite late) and left hostel around 14:00. We walked around Nice and to a market where I bought a 1 kg bag of animal crackers for under 2 euro. Nice! We headed to find some actual food and we found a place near the beach. It was ok...not too bad. We headed back to the beach and it was not what I expected. I expected nice white sandy beaches (it is the south of France on the Mediterranean!) but what we found were rocks. Lots and lots of rocks. No sand. The rocks were really smooth though from the ocean and I kept a few of them. After walking along the beach, the sun finally peaked out and it got quite warm in the sun (It had been quite cold beforehand and rainy) We got some bottles of water from a very friendly tabac woman and sat in a park for awhile. We then headed back to the hostel to drop off stuff and then searched for a market again. At the market, I gathered a kiwi, 2 potatoes, 4 carrots, and a small bottle of Scotch. :) Another funny story...when we left the hostel, we came up on this little girl who was squatting near the ground. We got closer and I realized her pants were down and she was taking a piss right over a manhole cover. It was so odd! That night, we played Oh Hell! and Hearts with a couple beers. It was a delightful and non-stressful time. Later on, I went across the street to an internet place and called my parents to tell them I was ok, and then Justine to let her know I was ok as well! Even small opportunities to talk to Justine are like the little Swiss chocolates (which I realize I failed to mention...We got some Swiss chocolate in Geneva. I will post a picture of it on here. It was so amazing...it was expensive, but oh my gosh, it was so good.) small, but sweet, and oh so good! We went to McDonalds for a snack at night and I got a happy meal. It was a great happy meal! It came with chicken nuggets, fries, orange juice, and apple sauce. My toy was Pictionary Junior, en Francais! Awesome. We played some more hearts and went to bed.

Oh yes...we decided, as a group, to venture into one of the sex shops. Never again. Never.

11/4

Got up at 8:20 and got ready to leave. Made way to rail station and waited. Said goodbye to P and K and boarded train with Adam to Milano. I am with 5 middle-aged women and my Ipod won't work. Awesome. Adam is in the compartment next to mine. The train ended up taking 7 hours, when it was supposed to take almost 5 due to various delays. We made it to Milano and Adam took a shuttle to the airport and flew to Frankfurt while I opted to take the overnight train and shuttle in the morning. I got on my train and promptly went to sleep, as I have to wake up at 5:30 in the morning...ouch.

12/4

I am so close to making it back to Scotland. I am exhausted and I am ready to be done. I was ready awhile ago I think. I didn't make it to Frankfurt in time to get the 6:00 shuttle to Hahn Airport, but I did make the 7:00 (once I found the damn shuttle...gosh.) I made it to the airport with plenty of time, but needed to check my bag this time. It cost me 18 euro instead of 9 doing it online. I hate Ryanair. I found Adam at the gate and we were first in line for the 'non-priority' boarding passengers. We are finally back in Edinburgh, and bus is back to St Andrews. I am done. Thank the Lord for safe travels and keeping watch over me and my friends while travelling.

Well...that's about it in a nutshell...what do you think??

Still truckin'

2008-04-14T15:52:00.003-05:00

It's going to be hard to keep you up to date with my life currently and my spring break still...but I will try very hard! I'll start with today. I got up early (much earlier than I am used to...8) and headed off to my first Mini Chemistry Project class. We got sorted into groups and my group is working on cadmium selenide nanoparticles (the size of the particle in question ranges from 1-20 nanometers long or so) and we are going to synthesize different sizes. The reason behind this is because at different sizes, the particles will luminesce when UV light is shined upon them. It sounds interesting and my group seems like a good group of people. We don't start in the lab til Wednesday, but we had to research literature and come up with some synthesis proposals today. We were there for a long time...after that, I went to Greek and got my test back from when Justine left. I got about an 85% in terms of points, but the UK system uses a 20 point scale and your score is very much up to the instuctor who can weigh different portions of the test to their liking or the department's liking. That being said, I got a 12/20. Yeah... I wasn't too happy but it definitely gave me motivation to do well on the next exam (next Tuesday). I still have to keep up studying with my other two chemistry courses as well. I feel like the next 4 weeks will be quite stressful, but hopefully will turn out well in the end. Anyway...I've been doing homework all night and putzing around my room...I don't have class til 10:30 tomorrow so I'm gonna try and get a haircut in the morning. We'll see how that goes...:S On to spring break...

2/4

I woke up today around 8 or 9 and ate an included breakfast. It included 2 bowls of cereal, a glass of OJ, a glass of water, coffee, a croissant, and I took a baguette for later. I gotta eat as much as I can while it's included! I hopped on the metro (with all of my stuff, again...) and headed for Notre Dame. Notre Dame is very beautiful! I was able to take pictures inside so I have a bunch! After walking around inside for awhile, I was told by Molly to find a world famous ice cream shop behind Notre Dame...I went and found a shop, but it was closed. I walked down to the Louvre but I opted out of going inside. Art isn't really my thing and I've heard disappointing things about the Mona Lisa. Instead, I walked through the gardens outside the Louvre and then headed to the metro to meet Molly for lunch. We went to her favorite cafe! I had a ham and cheese omelette which was amazing, and a petit creme, which is expresso and milk. So good! Molly also mentioned to me that the ice cream shop I went to was incorrect. Oh well. She gave me a tip to find some English books at FNAC so I said farewell to Molly and headed there. I didn't manage to find the books so I tried to find a new SIM card and also failed at that endevour. I walked to the Luxembourg Gardens when it started to sprinkle a little. I decided it would be best to find the train station. (I also had a crepe today...it was amazing!) I tried to find the metro and managed to walk the wrong way down the street, however I did manage to find a familiar stop and found my way to Gare de Bercy. I bought a phone card from a vending machine and was able to call Justine and talk to her for awhile! She had to leave before I did! It made me so happy to get to talk to my love! After talking to her, I called my parents. It was really good to talk to them as well! It was a good idea to get to the train station early so I could talk to them. So...storytime. I watched this guy put 2 euro in a vending machine where I was...and I watched him for 10 minutes trying to figure out how to work it. He ended up getting frustated and left. I waited for a little while, then went up to the machine, pushed a button, and got two free twix bars. Score! I am not sure what he was doing wrong...but it worked fine for me. I did feel a little bad...

The train is 45 minutes late. I really hope and pray that this train is better than the last.

Hakuna Matata...

2008-04-13T07:01:00.004-05:00

I've been on the computer for a long time now...but I figured I would write one more entry, then take a study break :) I'm off to Paris...

1/4

I got off the train in Paris at Gare du Nord. This place is very ghetto and not what I am used to (quite different from Berlin Hbf)...I found the tourist information place and got a free map of the city. I trucked along and made my way to Sacre Coeur in Montmarte, a more hilly part of Paris. I started walking up the hill to the Cathedral and I see a guy in the middle of the path. From where I am, he looks kind of formal and I thought maybe a ticket collector (there was a booth at the bottom that COULD have been for tickets...) or a security guard. I walk up to him and he puts a string on my finger and starts weaving a bracelet on my finger. At first I was like, oh...well this is kind of neat. He is talking to me in broken English and saying he is from South Africa and telling me hakuna matata..."you know, like the Lion King!" When he is done, he ties it on my wrist and tells me "10 euro" and at first, I asked him if he was going to give me 10 euro and he tells me..."no, you give me 10 euro, usually 20 euro but for you, you get discount...only 10 euro", I go on to tell him I don't have 10 euro a couple times and finally just pay him so I can leave. Gosh...a lame start to Paris. If I would have known he was just selling stuff, I would have passed him up quick. Anyway...I made my way to Sacre Coeur. I took some pictures outside but they were not allowed inside at all. After leaving Sacre Coeur, I walked around Montmarte and somehow just kind of stumbled upon my hostel. I went inside and asked if I could check in, which I could not, but I was able to leave my bag there until I could check in, a mere 4 hours later. I looked at my map and by the looks of it, l'arc de triomphe was probably the closest thing to me. I have no experience with the metro, and it doesn't look that far away...I can walk there! So I did...except it ended up being 3 miles to get there. I finally made it there and could not find how to get across the road to get to the actual arc. I walked around the arc to the right and eventually found the underground passage to the arc, inspiringly, right next to where I started and if I had walked left instead of right, I would have found it instantly. Oh well, I found it anyway! After the arc, I started walking down Champ d'Elysses, which I know from the Tour de France. I made it about halfway down before I got tired and decided to walk back to my hostel via Rue Franklin D Roosevelt. I stopped at Starbucks on the way because I desperately needed to sit down and have a break and not sleeping much at all the night before (thank you young Berliners) needed caffeine. I walked the 3 miles to my hostel and checked in and took a shower. When I was about to take a nap, an Asian man walked in my room and introduced himself. His name was, oddly, Frank, from Taiwan. I then laid down and took a nice nap. After my nap, I checked my email and waited for Molly to come and meet me at the hostel. She did and it was nice to see a familiar face from Ripon and home! She took me on the metro and we got some food at WokBar, where I got penne carbonera. Mmm...food. It was getting dark by now and we hopped back on the metro and Molly took me to the Eiffel Tower at night! The tower sparkles on the hour for ten minutes and is really beautiful. We talked for awhile and then had to head home. I had to venture on the metro alone...but it really wasn't hard at all! I made it, and slept for the night.

Happy Birthday Bryan, Happy Birthday...

2008-04-13T03:07:00.003-05:00

I am starting to realize this is probably a good idea to break these days up...this would have been one massive entry! I continue to the anniversary of the day of my birth. I warn you, it is probably not what you expect for an American's 21st birthday...

31/03

Happy 21st birthday!
I got up at 7:30 and left the hostel with Pat and Katie. We walked the way we came the day before, but made some stops along the way (phew...). We stopped at a bakery and got some breakfast. I had an eclair with OJ. Good stuff. We made it to the Hbf and Pat needed some cash from the ATM. We got to the ATM and Pat did his thing, but the ATM was taking forever! It eventually got to the point to where I said goodbye to them at the ATM and they had to run to make their train and I waited for the money. A couple seconds after they left, the money spit out and I made a mad dash to their train to try and catch them before they left. I made it, and got them the money. Lots of excitement for early in the morning! Once they left, I was alone again in a foreign city, not knowing the language. Neat-o. I stopped at an O2 store and bought more credit for my phone...I hope it lasts longer! I ventured off into the city and I walked down to the Brandenburg Gate where I spied a tour bus similar to the one I had taken in Dublin. I figured I had a load of time and could part with the money to take a tour, since I really liked the one in Dublin. I got on sat up on top. It was a gorgeous day and I took full advantage of the pleasant weather. Our tour guide was Lazlo and he conducted the tour in German and English. For the first half of the tour, what he conducted in English was solely for my sake, as I was the only one on the bus who spoke English. Awesome stuff. He did well to not speak directly to me when he spoke in English, as that would have been awkward. I saw a good portion of sights, including the Brandenburg Gate, the Reichstag, the Berliner Dom, Alexanderplatz, Checkpoint Charlie, and other things as well! Once done with the tour, I asked my tour guide where I should go in the city, seeing as I didn't have a lot of time. He pretty much told me I was travelling around wrong and that I should have just stayed in two places for two weeks and If I didn't do that, I would be better off staying in the US. Well, awesome. It definitely made me think...Am I doing the right thing by travelling this much?? It set the tone for the afternoon. I walked around Unter der Linden (the main road by the Gate) and walked to Museum Island, where there are a lot of museums (not free)...I didn't stay long because I was quite hungry and had to pee. I stopped at Einstein Kaffeehaus because I remembered Jon saying we might stop there in Bonn so I was going to check that out. Right before I stopped at the coffeehouse, I wanted to see if I could find the US embassy right next to it. I was quite confused because there were German police all over that location and I was unsure if I could go around it. I tried asking one of the officers but he only spoke German and he didn't understand me. I opted to just going to Einstein and I had a turkey sandwich (which came with mayo, gross!! Justine, you would be proud...I suffered through it.) and a latte, which was very good! I plan on going to a souvenier shop to get a flag before heading back to the Hbf. I really don't want to miss my train! I was able to call Justine and my family for a little bit on the way back to the Hbf. I realized that it must be so expensive to call the US with this SIM card. I just used all my minutes and I didn't even talk for that long...no more using this card for me.
I stayed at the Hbf for way too long and I wasted a lot of my time in Berlin...It was hard trying to do things without any company and trying to do it for free. I was also carrying around my backpack the whole time. I could have explored Berlin a lot more, but I didn't know what to do with myself. I walked around the station a lot and ate at McDonalds (it is cheaper) and pretty much didn't do a whole lot. I did some crosswords. I shouldn't make this mistake again... and I hopefully won't do this in Paris. I will have Molly to show me around and stuff. Train comes, and I see this group of kids walk past me and I think to myself 'Gosh, I am going to be stuck with them...' Well, I find out I don't have a couchette like I thought, I only have a regular seat the whole night. I am also with those damn kids. They are young (15 and younger) kids from Berlin. The first thing they ask me is if I speak any German; I say no, and they reply...So you can't understand anything we say?? and I say...yes... and they laugh. Great...and to top it off, they brought their own alcohol to get drunk with. Fantastic! Shoot me now. Happy 21st birthday to me.

Ahh! More Deutchland!

2008-04-13T02:39:00.002-05:00

The saga continues in the wee hours of the morning here in St Andrews. The weather is fair here...looks like it might rain just like any other day. I, for some reason, woke up today at 8 and couldn't get back to sleep so I figured I would get a head start on this stuff. I am continuing to post photos on facebook and when I am finished, I will post the links.

30/03

This morning we got up at 10:30ish. Jon made eggs again and we had yogurt, except with some fantastic excitement. Whilst trying to pour some granola into his yogurt (from a hefty bag...) tragedy struck and a large portion of granola spilled out onto the floor. It almost seemed like it happened in slow motion! Alas, there was a bunch of granola on the floor at Jon's feet and it made to a comical start to the day. We boarded the S-bahn and made way to the Hbf to hop on my train to Berlin. At the train station, I bought 20 euro in minutes for my new SIM card with hopes of calling Justine later in the day. I said goodbye to Jon and got on my train. Thanks for a great time in Bonn Jon! I had a blast! My train stopped at Koln and I was unsure of whether or not I was supposed to switch trains or stay on that one...I opted to try getting off and switching and it turns out that is what I was supposed to do (I think...). I got on another train to Berlin and found myself an unreserved window seat and made my way to Berlin. I don't think it's typical, but for some reason the route we took was just plain boring. There really wasn't a whole lot to see from Koln to Berlin. Oh well...I made it to the Berlin Hbf and I am supposed to meet Pat and Katie. Luckily, Katie's phone worked over in mainland Europe so I called her and found her by the entrance. A little while later, Pat came back from trying to find me on the other side of the station and we departed. We decided to walk to our hostel and I thought that'd be ok since it wasn't too far...yeah right! It took a long time to get there and I was carrying my huge pack which weighed a ton! My shoulders were so tired afterwards and I acquired a headache from the stress on my shoulders. It was a good walk though, because I saw a lot of sights along the way. Our hostel was the Wombat City Hostel and it was quite nice. I tried to call Justine but for some reason I had no minutes on my phone, even though I had just bought some. Strange... anyway we went to a nice German restaurant and I had rumpsteak and a beer tasting plate. The place we went was a micro-brewery so I got 4 different kinds of beer from there. They were all pretty good, and it came with a cup of barley. A very nice evening meal. We decided to walk down the road where the nightclubs and bars are supposed to be. We ended up walking all the way down the road and not stopping anywhere. One observation that we had was there were a lot of prostitutes. We didn't know for sure if they were, but they all looked the same and they were all standing on the street corners. I mean, they lived up to what we think of a prostitute... It was weird! Pat and I told Katie she should get her picture with two of them...she didn't but it would have been neat...We ended up stopping at an Indian place for a wee drink and I had Bailey's and coffee. It was very good, and I don't think I needed another beer yet. After sitting for a little bit, we headed back to the hostel and, for my birthday, Pat and Katie bought me a litre of beer from the hostel bar. It was massive, partially due to the large mug it came in. It took me a little while, but I managed to finish it. After all that excitement, I went to bed to await the coming day.

We're not sitting here...or Get to Da Choppa!

2008-04-12T18:00:00.003-05:00

Let me continue my story while I enjoy some Highland Park 12 yr whisky...

29/03

Started off late today (which is fantastic...) at around 12:00. Jon made some awesome eggs and gave me some yogurt (or yoghurt, if you prefer). I got the walking tour of Bonn and saw a lot of sights, including tigers! There was a circus going on, hence the tigers. Jon showed me this bridge that Bonn paid for but the city it connects to on the other side of the River Rhine didn't help pay for at all, thus there are cannons on Bonn's side pointed at the other city. Nice :D We went to a 'bier garten' (really just a place to drink beer outside, and not really a beer garden...) and had a nice beer and chatted for awhile. We waited for awhile for the check, and eventually had to ask the waiter for it...I guess it is quite common for the wait staff to not give you the check unless you ask for it. It was good beer and a wonderful day. I am not sure if you who read this know, but I bring good weather. It, to my knowledge, had been pretty crappy in Bonn until I got there :D What can I say...I do what I can. ;) We stopped at a bakery in town and got these fabulous strawberry pastries which were so delicious, I can't even say. After devouring them, we went inside a Catholic Church in the city centre and looked around. I wanted to get a SIM card to call Justine and my family so we stopped at O2 and Jon translated for me. He did quite well! When we got outside we sat at a table and were putting the card in my phone when a waiter came up and said something in German and Jon replied...when the waiter left, Jon was like...I just told him we're not sitting here. Nice! :D Can't win 'em all...I am glad I am in a country studying where they speak (for the most part) English. We took the S-bahn and buses around Bonn during the day and I did so illegally...BAMF. Later for dinner, we met some of Jon's friends to eat dinner. The first place we were going to go to, Bonnch, was too busy so we went to another place and Jon bought my dinner as a birthday gift. Jon also ordered my food and drink for me, as I had no idea what was going on. I had schnitzel and it was very good. After dinner (and much indecisiveness and interupting stories) we went back to Jon's residence and to his friend Ian's room to watch Predator and have a beer. It was great stuff. Especially watching a bird get punted. After a late night, we hit the hay and rested up for a new day tomorrow.

On your mark...

2008-04-12T17:17:00.002-05:00

This is the moment you've all been waiting for I know...I am finally going to post about spring break! I am going to write what I wrote in my journal, along with some additional comments if I so desire. I am also breaking them up into days so you don't have to read too much at one time if you so choose. Here we go!

27/03

Today I left St Andrews for Glasgow. I am not feeling that well (cold). I haven't been sick yet in St Andrews but I manage to when I really don't need it. Oh well... It was a long bus ride to Glasgow. I am with Pat and Katie until I get to London and then I am on my own to make it to my roommate in Bonn. Glasgow is big and quite intimidating. I don't like it nearly as much as Edinburgh, but everything seems that way when it is dark. Pat, Katie, and I dropped our stuff off at our hostel, a EuroHostel, to which Pat and I found a sleeping roommate at 9 pm. Who does that? We entered as quietly as possible and left the same. The handle for the door was a wee bit higher than I expected and when I went into the room, I missed the handle and it slammed, making quite the ruckus. Oops... My crew and I walked and found a pub where we were expecting pints to be more expensive, since we were in the city...not the case at all! We got pints for only 1.80...much cheaper than St Andrews! When we got in the pub, we sat down and Pat and Katie went to order and I held down the fort when Katie comes up to me and says I need to go to the bar and show them my ID. I wasn't even ordering yet...it was kind of odd, but worked out ok. Afterwards, we went back to the hostel and got ready for bed...I did make an observation that there are a lot of McDonalds and KFC's around. I mean a LOT.

28/03

I did not sleep well last night. Also, when we returned last night, I did not want to disturb anyone sleeping so I just crashed with my contacts in. Bad idea...I woke up to only having my right contact still intact and in my eye. Fantastic. I, luckily, have one spare for each eye and thus had to use my spare at the very beginning of my trip. I must be careful. We got on our train to the airport in which we got half off the price of the ticket for having our printed out itinerary from RyanAir. Almost all the airports that Ryanair uses seem to be not anywhere near the city they say. The flight from Glasgow Prestwick went well and we had a wee layover in London Standsted. Things are expensive in airports so I ate two croissants and had a coffee for dinner. It was finally time for me to board my plane to Dusseldorf Weese so I bid farewell to my companions until Berlin and hopped on that plane. The plane went fine and I got my third passport stamp at Dusseldorf. I think I should mention that I managed to get my huge backpack through security and on the airplane as my carry-on baggage. It was amazing. (Later, that is not the case...) So...here it gets interesting. I am in Dusseldorf and it is definitely a bit overwhelming. There is a lot of German flying around, which, of course, is what I expected. What I did not expect was that the bus to Dusseldorf Hauptbahnhof (a 12.50 euro bus...) didn't leave until 20:30 pm. Not good. I had told Jon to meet me at Bonn Hbf at 21:00 and the bus takes 1h 20 min or so. I found an internet station and facebooked Jon that I was going to be late. I hope he gets it! I am banking on using my Eurail pass when I get to Dusseldorf; I hope it works. I do have to say this is quite the LAME start to my trip. It is dark and raining profusely outside. Bus comes and I get on...not too shabby. Still pouring. The bus doesn't drop me off right at the station...so I have no idea where to go. I start going left, but the people behind me go right, so I (as I find works very well most of the time) follow the masses and eventually find the station. I get my pass validated and get on the next train to Koln Hbf. When I get to Koln, I assume I will do the same as I did in Dusseldorf and just ask when the next train to Bonn comes. However, the information desk is closed and I am left to figure it out myself. I manage it, and catch the last train to Bonn for the night. While on the train, the conductor asks me where I am going and I say Bonn and he gives me a weird look. Some guy sits behind me on the train and is breathing very heavily. It kind of freaked me out because I am pretty much the only person on the car and there is this odd guy behind me. I had weird thoughts of him killing me. Luckily, that didn't happen and I got to Bonn! At 23:20! Only a few hours late... Now, to find Jon...I hope he is still here. I spot him across the tracks and I meet him. It is good to see him! He didn't get my facebook message so he was there for awhile waiting for me. We stop at McDonalds (this is quite late people...) since I had had nothing since those two crossants I mentioned. We walk back to his house, get situated and have a beer. It is good to enjoy a nice beer with a great friend. An awesome ending to a subpar beginning.

Whaaatt!? I am a world traveller! Or at least Europe...

2008-04-05T16:54:00.002-05:00

Hey Everyone! I just wanted to let you all know, whoever reads this, that I am doing well and I am currently in Florence, Italy. I have been keeping a journal and plan on transfering what I wrote in it to here to let you know how everything was! You have to promise to comment though...I always like reading what you think! So...please do. Or if you have any questions or anything...just let me know! Au revoir!

au revoir mes amis!

2008-03-27T10:15:00.003-05:00

Last night, I went to dinner with 3 of my flatmates and Satoru bought me a drink for my birthday! It was so nice of him! It was a wee bit expensive for my liking (the food) but it was good anyway. After that, I went to Aikmans to discuss spring break with Pat, Katie, Adam, and Calen. Once we decided what to do, we went to the library to search for some last minute hostels and such. We didn't have a hostel in Geneva because for some reason, Geneva has like one hostel and it was full. By the grace of God, I found a youth hostel in Geneva and booked Pat, Katie and I a room...Phew. I'm not quite sure what we would have done if we didn't find a hostel.

It is a beautiful day here today in Scotland today and it is soooo nice! There are a few clouds in the sky, pretty much no wind, and warm (relatively...) temperatures. I cleaned my room today and packed my stuff for my trip to Europe, which will commence in a few hours. I am excited to go! I am bringing my homework with me with hopes of studying...I sure hope it works out! I went and played some foosball today with Calen and we played some pretty tight matches. I am getting better...Julia and Justine you'd better watch out! I made my way back to town, bought some kleenex (I unfortunately still have that cold...) and some coffee and a muffin from Costa Coffee. It was such a pleasant walk back to my room. I talked to Justine for a little while and soon I'll be off to class. I have about an hour after class until we need to get to the bus station, so I'm going to purchase some candy for my trip...emergency rations...just in case! I am excited to see Jon tomorrow! It's been awhile. Wish me luck!

By the way, I am living in the senior apartments next year with Jon, Willie Flores, and Dave Casper. It's going to rock! We even got one of the tower rooms! Score!!

Back in Black

2008-03-25T13:35:00.002-05:00

Hey everyone! I'm sure you've all been wondering why I haven't written in awhile...(yeah...i bet you have) but I am going to catch up now...so this may be a long post...I'm not sure.

Well, my family was here to visit since last Wednesday and we had a lot of great adventures! The first being my going to get them from Edinburgh. I got up really early in the morning and caught the first bus to Edinburgh from St Andrews. It was a nice long boring bus ride and I finally arrived at the Edinburgh Bus Station. I got off and expected to find my family waiting for me there (I had given them directions to the BS) because their plane was to arrive earlier than when my bus was to arrive. However, that was not the case and I ended up waiting for 45 minutes for them to arrive at the station. It was good to see them! I helped them stow their luggage in the lockers there and we headed off to see some of Edinburgh. We didn't have all that much time because we needed to get to St Andrews that night, so we started off quickly. The first place we went was Edinburgh Castle. We went through the park and eventually, found our way to the castle and explored it. I was basically a tour guide for them because I had been there before already. (I am just realizing I think I already posted something about this...I will skip ahead to our journey to Ireland)

So...yeah. Friday was our scheduled trip to Ireland. I had class in the morning, but right after class I went to my parents house and we headed to the bus station together. After another long boring bus ride, we made our way to Waverly Station and took the Airlink 100 bus to the airport. We checked in with RyanAir and headed to our gate. My mom was quite nervous...I think it may have been because we told her that budget airlines use propellers still and she didn't like that (RyanAir doesn't use propellers). Anyway, we boarded and the flight went well except for my mom...she didn't like it much at all. We went through passport security and got our passports stamped (green ink of course for Ireland!) and we were in Dublin! We arrived when it was quite late and we didn't exactly know where we were going or what we were doing...but I had a general idea. I had the directions to our hostel and I found the bus we needed to get on. We went to the ticket machine and the one ticket we wanted was out of order and they didn't sell them on the bus...so of course, certain people got nervous...but we found some from a shop in the airport. We got on our bus and headed to the city centre. We got off on one of the main streets in Dublin but neglected to get food because we wanted to find our hostel. It was a longer walk than I had anticipated and we asked a nice Irish fellow for directions. It was a tense walk to the hostel as I think my navigations skills may have come into question (for the record, I had a spotless record for getting us where we needed to get to this entire trip!) We (finally) made it to the hostel and the first thing I saw was a sign that said 'Youth Hostel'. Some youth hostels have an age limit and, sorry to say, my parents did not fit that age range. Fortunately, this one did not have a limit and we got our room. We had a fantastic time making our beds...it was a real treat and so were the matresses. We hadn't had any food, and the only place open was a take-away shop (Ireland pretty much closes on Good Friday), in which we got some food for 20 euro! It was quite expensive. We ate our lovely dinner and hit the hay for the night.

Our next day started with complimentary breakfast. We headed to the dining hall and got a basic breakfast. I got my food and headed to the table and the next thing I know, my mom puts her tray down with her lone glass of orange juice and says, 'I don't know what's going on.' I was shocked; I didn't know breakfast was hard to get! ha ha...anyway, I got her some toast and that made everyone happy. We walked to the street we had got dropped off on the night before and caught a tour bus that lets you get on and off as many times as you want for the day! It was great! We toured around and the first stop we got off at was Dublin Castle, which was a little bit lame. Part of it looks like an old castle, but the other part of it doesn't. We hopped back on the bus and got off next at St. Patrick's Cathedral, the national cathedral of Ireland. It was a beautiful cathedral! We again hopped back on the bus and the next stop we were really looking forward to! The Guinness Storehouse! However, we opted out of getting off the bus when the line for the Storehouse was over two blocks long...:( how disappointing...however, little did we know that our next stop would definitely make up for it! We got off at (with a wee bit of Bryan's awesome navigation skills) the Old Jameson Distillery! I will take a tour anyday where you learn about the fine art of making whisky and getting a complimentary dram at the end. We got our tickets for the tour and waited for a little bit...finally we got on our tour and watched a wee movie about John Jameson. After the movie, the tour lady announced that everyone would get to taste the whisky at the end, but six people wouldn't...because they'd get to try 5! I was so pumped! First, she picked 3 women...and then the moment of truth. She asked for 3 men to raise their hands and mine shot up like a rocket! She picked me first!!! WOOO!! I was so excited!!! I went through the whole tour waiting for this special moment. At the end, there was a table set up for us six people with 5 different whiskys set up...one Scotch (Johnny Red), one American (Jack Daniels), and three Irish. Each little cup probably had a half a shot in it...possibly a little less. My parents and Zac each got a free drink as well! I got to try each one! After I was done, they gave me a certificate saying I was a certified whisky taster and I got another free drink! It was fantastic! Then Zac didn't finish his, so I drank the rest of his. I was feeling good when I left Jameson. Real good. We got back on the bus and got off next at Trinity College and headed to the Hard Rock Cafe in the Temple Bar area of Dublin (the tourist area). After a fine meal, we took one more aim at the Guinness Storehouse. We made it there and the line outside the door wasn't long at all! It was great! However, when we got inside, there was another huge line...oh well! The seven story tour was good, and cumulated with a nice pint of Guinness at the end. Everyone in the family had one! I do say though, after Hard Rock, it's hard to finish a Guinness on a full stomach! So we left Guinness and had to find alternate means of getting home, since our tour bus was over for the day. We found a bus that took us back to the city centre and we made our way home. It was a good day overall! :D I was very pleased.

The next day we went to Easter Mass as a Catholic Church close to our hostel. The church was beautiful! After church, we went found our way back to the airport, after not knowing what to do since where we were going to wait was closed off and we had no idea which way the buses were going to go...and flew back to Edinburgh and waited in Waverly Station for our train to come that would take use to Leuchars. The bus doesn't run on Sundays from Edinburgh to St Andrews so we had to take the train! Another exciting experience for my family....

Monday we took it easy and just stayed in St Andrews. My dad made us lunch and for dinner, we went out for steaks and celebrated my birthday early. I might elaborate on this day more later, but I'll stick to the exciting parts since this is getting long!

Today, we got up really early again and headed to Stirling. We got there at 9 am and caught the bus that took us to the castle. We toured the castle and were having a lot of fun when we realized it was already 11...and we needed to leave by 1 and wanted to see the Wallace Monument. After a long time of trying to decide what to do...I decided that would walk to town and catch a taxi to take us to the monument. It ended up working well and I got to experience hailing a taxi. It didn't even cost all that much. My mom and Zac got to see the Wallace Sword like they wanted to. Zac and I climbed to the top of it! It was a long climb...I'd done it before as well with Justine, but the crown was closed then due to high winds! It was open today luckily. We caught the bus back to St Andrews after that and I said goodbye to my family. They are staying in Edinburgh tonight because they fly back to the States tomorrow morning early! I am so glad I got to see them; It was a good experience for them to be here and I was happy I got to spend some time with them here! I hope they get home safely (to Florida...for more vacation)!

I am sick now and really sore and tired. I think I will rest for awhile.

BAMF

2008-03-19T18:22:00.002-05:00

So tired...

2008-03-19T17:51:00.002-05:00

Today I picked up my parents from Edinburgh! I got up at 5:30 am this morning after going to bed at 2 and not sleeping well or getting to sleep right away. I tried to sleep on the bus ride there but it turned out being very difficult. So anyway I get to the bus station in Edinburgh and my parents should have been there waiting for me...but they weren't. It turned out their plane was delayed an hour so I had to wait a little longer for them. We finally met up and gave hugs and stuff and then ventured out to the castle. It was a rough day for my dad; he had a lot of trouble getting up to the castle (it was a long steep climb). But no worries, we got there and toured the castle! After we left, we were walking down the royal mile and an insane orange Lambourgini was parked on the side of the road (I'll post a pic soon!) It was beautiful! So after taking a few pictures...we headed to an exhibit called 'The Real Mary King's Close'. So here's the story behind it...Edinburgh used to be kind of a craphole where most of the people lived and they lived in tall apartment-like structures with narrow alleys in between called closes. The merchants of the time decided they wanted somewhere they could do all their merchant dealings in one single place so the government demolished the buildings except for the maybe the first or first two floors, which were then used as structural support for the new building and storage. Once the new merchantile building was completed...the merchants decided they didn't want it anymore and it was given to the local government. The exhibit was a tour of essentially underneath the Royal Mile where these houses and alleys still exist! They were just built on top of. This particular close was named after Mary King, who lived in the house at the end of the close (the rich part...not in the 'slums'). It was called the 'real' MKC because the tour guide gave us stories about real people and real happenings of what went down in these living areas and ultimately underneath the present day Edinburgh. It was really neat...only Zachary and I went because it was kind of expensive and my parents didn't really want to go. I was sad because I couldn't take any photos...

After that awesomeness, we went to a store called Jenners for my mom and ended up eating in a cafeteria in the store. Roast pork :) After eating, we made our way back to the bus station and caught the bus back to St. Andrews.

When we got back, I showed my family where they were staying and trouble struck...the little combination lock holder wouldn't open and thus, we couldn't get in the house. I tried calling the tenants number but it wouldn't work on my phone. Finally, I got ahold of the woman and my dad talked to her and she came to open the house. It was a pretty nice house, smelled kind of weird but whatev...after getting organized, we went to eat at Bella Italia and had fun there. We stopped at Tesco on the way home to get some essentials and went back to their place and had some tea. I was so out of it...I decided to come home and here I am! Tomorrow we are heading around St Andrews! Hopefully it doesn't rain...

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2008-03-17T19:46:00.002-05:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you all! I hope that you spent it well and had a good time since this is, of course, the one day where we are all a wee bit Irish! My day didn't start off so exciting. I woke up and for some reason, started thinking about how much money I am not going to have after I get home and what I am going to do during the summer...It made me quite depressed. My spring break trip is costing me so much...but it's something I should do (and have to now since I booked all the stuff...). It will be fine...I just don't want to think about it. One of the big things that makes me think about it is how I need to purchase a mountain bike when I get home. That will be a big check, and I really want to get a new computer. I don't think that will work out for awhile...anyway! back to my day!

I left my house at 2 to head to the travel centre to pay for the rest of my reservations and travel insurance. Afterwards, I headed to the library to study some chemistry and Greek. I stayed there for a little while and went to class...The class is moving so quickly because it is an 'accelerated' course or something like that. So when our lecturer missed most of last week while he was sick...we have to make up for that and we are making up for it by going faster. Great. It's tough to learn a language this way...but we'll see how it goes :) After class, I walked home briskly and made my dinner. I had orange chicken and steamed veggies. I had to hurry because I had football tonight. At football, we got destroyed. it was probably like 15-2 or something like that. It wasn't as bad as last week when I didn't go...they told me it was 20-0...not good. I did manage to score one of the goals...woot! After football, I headed over to New Hall and hung out with Calen for a wee bit and played foosball. I brought him some of the irish cream that I had made...courtesy of Mrs. Sherry Koehler, who gave me the recipe! It turned out quite well! Better than I had thought and it tastes amazing! After winning foosball (me and Calen, we beat two of our other friends) we went to a pub called the Pilsner. They have pub trivia night on Mondays. We got there and I got a Guinness, to celebrate the holiday at hand and we waited for trivia to start. It was a lot of fun and we ended up getting second to last! A lot of it was British trivia...quite hard! After trivia, the pub does bingo and every team gets a bingo card. The first team to get a line wins a bottle of wine and the first team to get all of their numbers called wins the entry fees for the night! (1 pound a person). The girls who with us won the bottle of wine and our manly team won the entry fees! We won 33 pounds, but for some reason which I can't explain, we shared with the girls. I ended up getting 4 pounds...which is better than nothing! It was so much fun to win! After triumphing at bingo, us guys and pat and katie walked to Empire and they got some food. I opted out in lieu of saving money. Katie and I walked back to Albany Park and I am here now! For some reason, my neck is so sore! I think it might be from football...it really hurts to move it. Hopefully sleep will make it feel better :D I'd best go try that remedy out...bye!

Lazy Lazy Lazy...

2008-03-16T07:34:00.002-05:00

Yesterday, I was so lazy. I got up late and spent most of the day on the computer. Granted, I needed to be on the computer because I was finalizing plans for spring break and booking hostels, but being on the computer that long gives me a headache. I am about 90% finished with my final itinerary with only deciding either to spend two nights in Geneva and one in Nice or two nights in Nice and one in Geneva. I booked my hostels for Berlin, Paris, Rome, Florence, and Grindelwald in Switzerland. After I booked all those rooms, I was invited over to Katie's house (House 31...right next to mine) for dinner with her and Pat. She made quinoa and steamed vegetables. It was good and probably one of the larger meals I've had since Justine left. It was very delicious! After that, I headed home and had a little bit of a headache...I talked to Justine for a little bit and, being the smart kid I am, closed my eyes for a little bit and fell asleep for almost two hours and woke up around 11...bad choice. I talked to Justine a little more and went back to bed, but couldn't fall asleep right away of course! Anyway, I eventually fell asleep and woke up around 10 and decided to do my laundry. I searched through my spare change and found the amount I needed and went to the laundry room. I put my clothes and detergent in and put my money in until I found out the machines don't take 5p coins. I only needed 30p more! And I was out of 10p coins. Uh oh...I ran back to my room and searched through my coins to find, luckily, two 20p coins. Phew. Otherwise I would have been out of luck with my clothes covered in detergent and not enough money to do the wash. I came back and ate an egg sandwich for breakfast. I got my laundry when it was done and hung it to dry in the common room. I like to hang dry stuff because it's cheaper and it's more environmentally friendly. Now I'm heading to town to get some coffee and meet my friend Calen at 2. We are going kilt shopping!! :D

The Sun Will Come Out...sometime??

2008-03-15T08:47:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was a beautiful day here in bonny Scotland, the first nice day in awhile. The temps got up to the low 50's and it was sunny! I actually went out and sat on the grass and looked at some of my spring break plans for awhile; it was quite lovely. I only had one tutorial yesterday so I didn't have a whole lot of class going on. The tutorial gave me new hope for the module. I also found out both my chemistry courses are only 2.5 credits each. Nice :D After class I went to the travel centre and booked my reserved trains and took a large sum of money from the ATM to pay for it :( It always hurts to give that much money to someone at one time. But I am glad I have the method of how I am getting around settled.

My friends were making sushi tonight so I met them at Tesco and bought some stuff for myself...a pomegranate, some croissants, and some muffins! Breakfast and/or lunch for awhile... after Tesco we went back to New Hall and they started making the sushi and I ate my pomegranate. I didn't pay for any of the sushi supplies so I didn't want to really partake in eating it, though I did take a piece or two. After sushi, Pat, Katie, Calen, Adam and I went looking for a pub to chill at, but beforehand, played some intense fooseball. It was so much fun and I played really well for some reason! Pat and I ended up playing Calen and Adam and we lost, so eventually we'll have to buy them a pint. Oh well...it was fun! So we headed off after that and I had to stop at the ATM beforehand to get a little money to get a pint but the ATM wouldn't give me any money...it said I had taken out as much money as I could for the day...oh well...it was probably for the best! I wouldn't spend the money then. Trying to find a pub was quite difficult...everywhere was absolutely packed! We tried the Whey Pat, one I forgot the name of, the West Port, the Keys (a definite locals' place), the Central, the Criterion, the Byre Theatre, and finally Aikmans...We stayed at Aikmans even though it was really busy. We had to stand up for awhile and eventually got a place to sit. I didn't have any funds due to the ATM so I just sat and talked with them for awhile. They were going to have another pint and Pat and Katie bought me one even though I said it was ok! They are so nice...I have really nice friends!

After Aikmans, Adam really wanted to play Dance Dance Revolution at the Union...so we headed there and watched him get his groove on. He's pretty dang good at that game...lots of people were complimenting his skillz. After that display of footwork, we went to KFB's to get some food. I figured I'd be able to pay with my debit card there but when I ordered, the girl there said it had to be over 5 pounds...gosh! so I ended up getting chicken nuggets (yum yum!!) and some mozzarella sticks for home. While we were eating outside KFB, some intensely drunk Scottish people came up and talked to us. First it was a girl named Amanda...and Calen gave her a piece of his pizza and she wanted to know our names...then test herself to see if she remembered (I span of maybe 10 seconds...). She failed, miserable, at least 5 times. Then another girl and her older brother (both still drunk...) came up and talked to us. The guy, Sean, was in the British Army and was talking about Americans and the forces. He had a deep respect for the individuals fighting in the US Armed Forces and said it if weren't for us, everyone else would be destroyed out on the battlefield. It can be argued that we got them there anyway, but he didn't bring that up. It was really neat to talk to them about that stuff. He had started talking to me when he first got there about chemistry and he asked if I blew stuff up. Well I had no idea what he had said to me so I kind of did that whole pretend I know what you are saying...Adam told me later what he actually had said. Another weird moment was when a large truck pulled up to get food from KFB and Amanda opened the passenger door, as if she knew who the bloke was in the truck. I'm pretty sure she didn't know him...and I don't think he knew her either...awkward.

So that was my exciting night...it was good to hang out with my friends!