ok so I'm a slacker. Y'all already knew that. And you can wait another couple days to here about everything once I'm safely back on US soil.

I'm done packing and I'm just waiting for morning so I can head on home.

It's been real, it's been fun, sometimes it's been really fun. I'm going to miss a lot of things but I'm really excited to get back home.

Wish me luck!

<3

Rachael

Soo Friday I ran out of food, I mean completely out of food. But I went to ASDA on Saturday so it was ok.

Sunday, as usual I slept almost all day.

Monday, I went to class and had to sit through a lecture on sexual selection with my teacher constantly referring to the oddity of heterosexual relationships.

Tuesday = lab and tutorial. In tutorial we got to go through Scottish personal adds to learn about human mate selection. It was pretty hilarious. I didn't make it to CU :(

Wednesday was Eve's birthday. Which equals total hell for me. People were over here from 6 wednesday night to 6 thursday night. there were some moments where it was really difficult to keep from killing people.

Thursday was beautiful! But I was too tired to enjoy it. So I went to class AND stayed awake (it was much more difficult than it sounds). Got back here, watched some American Idol and attempted to take a nap..which I didn't wake up from until this morning. But at least my sleep schedule should be back on track.

Today - it is beautiful again. Thank the lord. :)

I am officially a horrible study abroad student. I didn't do anything interesting this past week. I signed up for classes back home and I wrote a paper. That's about the extent of it. I am going to be doing a project with a Chinese student so at least I'm learning something. haha You can yell at me if you want. I'll do better this week - I promise!

Oh the bright side, I got tons of cards and packages this week. :)

I love getting mail. <3

Okay here we go.

Thursday - class presentation. Someone actually said "they kill sharks whilst they're still alive"...and my group made people laugh so hard they cried. Thankfully it wasn't graded. Also, I busted up my foot - this will be important later.

Friday - slept in. Got a lot of laundry done. Didn't really go anywhere because of the foot. Did some cleaning. Caught up on my American Idol - I'm in love with Adam Lambert. Kiesha's mom came to visit for the day.

Saturday - made it to the store, but regretted it when I had to go back up four flights of stairs with a bad foot.

Sunday - made Sweet Tea! Everyone looked at me liked I'd last my mind. But it was wonderful and it made me happy. Didn't get to sleep until oh 8:30 in the morning because there were loud drunk people stumbling around my flat.

Monday - class. The teacher that hates me had laryngitis - karma. Also, I think she might be a lesbian. She spent most of the class going off on tangents about how monogamous heterosexual relationships are not normal anywhere in the animal kingdom...kinda creeped me out. Printed out my flight stuff and got ready to leave. I didn't sleep again. But because I was anxious.

Tuesday - left the flat at 5, got lost getting to the bus because the website lied. Finally caught the bus at 6. Got the airport, checked in, got on a plane. Got off the plane in Dublin and went through customs - I got a cool green stamp in my passport.
I caught the bus to the city center, I sat next to a nice old man from Northern Ireland. He helped me figure out where to go for the parade and everything. Got the parade street (O'Connell Street) and went to find somewhere to stand. I was right next to the grandstands and behind some people with a little tiny baby. I don't understand taking children to things they won't remember...oh well. This was at 10.
The parade started at 12. By the time it started the amount of people had quadrupled and we were squished so close that guy guy behind me put his hand in my back pocket instead of his front one because he couldn't tell the difference. Also, and this really made me mad, there was some people in wheelchairs and no one would let them get up front so that they could see. Rude irish people.
Either way, after standing for a good 5 hours - my foot felt like it was going to fall off - the parade was finally over and I hobbled my way over to the souvenir shops and bought some stuff. Then I went to go sit against a wall and some old irish man yelled at me and told me to stop wasting my life. I think he thought I was homeless. Then I tried to go into Mickey D's to go to the bathroom but there were cops guarding the bathrooms and you couldn't get in without a receipt.
So I went and caught the bus back to the airport and stayed there for a couple hours - I didn't have enough pain tolerance to keep walking around. Finally got on the flight back to Edinburgh. Thankfully it was pretty much empty.
Got back in Scotland and didn't have to go through customs. I even asked and they told me it wasn't necessary but thanked me for being a good citizen. I caught the bus back home - right to my building in fact.
I met a guy on the bus that lived right next to me and was in Dublin for the same reason I was. I didn't get his name though. Oh well. So I got back to my flat and pretty much passed out.

Wednesday - I went to my first class and then went to Starbucks to get one of those Strawberry Creme drinks. They make them differently here. They make a vanilla one and then add frozen strawberries and strawberry syrup to it and just stir it in a little. It was wonderful though. Then I went to catch the bus to my next class but they waited until I got 10 minutes in to inform everyone that it wasn't going to go to Craiglockhart today. So I got the bus back to Merchiston and by then even if I caught another bus to Craiglockhart I'd get there 20 minutes late. And I don't like being late to class so I just went home and took a nap. :)

Crazy week right? I also got all kinds of cards and a package this week. I LOVE MAIL! haha

Hi! Wednesday again. But Wednesday night this time.

Let's see..last week...well I went on a tour of the Castle on Wednesday. It was pretty sweet. I had a hard time convincing myself that stealing some of the royal jewels would be a bad decision. It was a close call.

Thursday I went to class and got permission to miss class on St.Patrick's Day - I'm flying into Dublin for the day to see the St.Patrick's Day parade. My teacher decided that this is probably the only time I'll have that opportunity and she's from Ireland so I got the green light. I am so excited. And a little nervous - my first plane trip all by myself (first in that I have to get to and from the airport all by myself. Yikes! At least they speak English! haha)

Hmm Friday I went to ASDA aka Walmart and bought all the pans I'll need for my American Dinner. I still haven't decided when I'm going to make said dinner. But I'll keep you updated.

Saturday and Sunday I had all kinds of plans to go and visit all the free museums here in Edinburgh but, of course, it rained. All day, both days. And I don't know about you, but walking long distances in the freezing cold pouring rain just doesn't sound like all the much fun to me.

So Monday - Class. And I'm fairly sure the teacher hates me, but everyone has to have one of those at some point in school and I guess my number was up. Thankfully there's more than one teacher for the class and I think I'm going to stick to just talking to the other teacher - who actually likes me.

Tuesday - Class, way too early. And Christian Union. Which is still a lot of fun. After CU we went back to the Student Union Bar and watched the soccer game. I think I may have offended some of the guys when I told them that I'd rather watch paint dry...but they'll get over it.

And back to today - Class again. And I got to talk to a lot of people from Church on Skype and I still can't stop smiling. All in all not a bad week. :)

This coming week should be exciting. Next time I update I'll have been to Dublin and back and will *hopefully* have some amazing pictures for you! Oh and I got cards from Gloria and my Mommom. Getting mail makes my day! <3

Ok so when I said Tuesdays I meant Wednesdays? lol

This week wasn't all that interesting. Again. haha. I didn't really have any classes except for my Scottish Culture class. We had a speaker come in to talk to us about sport in Scotland and apparently he hated the United States. He told us that baseball and American football were for girls. But as soon as he started talking about how great Scotland was at swimming there was a lot of "Michael Phelps" disguised as coughs. lol.

On Thursday I went shopping and I got the cutest little Swarovski hedgehog. I couldn't resist. And since it's not available in the USA, I had a valid excuse for buying it. :) I also picked up a lot of postcards which I will be sending as soon as I locate the postoffice. If you want one, let me know!

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday I planned to do useful things but never got around to it. I caught up on all my school work (boring) and looked for jobs at home for the summer (even more boring). I wanted to go to ASDA but it was raining and carrying groceries three blocks in the rain just didn't appeal to me.....


Monday I got up at a reasonable time (yay!) and went down to St. John's to take pictures of the castle (St. John's is at the foot of the hill that the castle sits upon). And I made it to class on time - which is always good.

Today, I had to get up at 7:30 to get to school so that I could catch a bus out to the Firth of Forth (firth = river, loch = lake). I had to collect sample of something but mostly I just played with the dogs that were running around. It made me so happy to have actual contact with dogs - you can't even imagine.


I also got myself signed up for a trip with some of my classmates to go up to Inverness and the Murray Firth to go see dolphins! Then I came back to my flat (wearing wellies that smelled like a swamp) and had lunch (you have no idea how long it took me to spell that word correctly) and intended to take a short nap which turned into a slightly longer than I intended nap...Thankfully I woke up in time to shower (swamp smell, ya know?) and go to Christain Union (CU)- which I still love - over at Merchiston (I also have classes there). There's a possibility of me doing a Scottish "Sleep-In-A-Box". Afterwards we once again trekked out to the Student Union (University owned bar - awesome right?) and now I'm back here relating my entire week back to you!

Merchiston:

The old looking building in the middle is actually what remains of John Napier's house - the guy that founded the University. Pretty awesome.

Interesting facts: words like whichamajigit and thingamabob and such have no meaning here so when I use them people look at me like I'm speaking an alien language. Fun stuff. Also, there's a slight chance I said the words "usetacould" and "been knowin'" which got me some interesting looks too. Oh and the boys should like this one - the cars here are itty bitty. My car would crush them. And when they hit the gas you can actually hear the hamester inside spinning the wheel to make the engine go. ;-) It makes me laugh everytime.

So I'm thinking Tuesdays might be my posting days...lol

Uhh not much happened in the past week. I went shopping the other day - got a cashmere scarf for super cheap - I love 'going out of business' sales. I got some postcards to send home, but don't expect them anytime soon as I still haven't located a post office. I learned that Brie is really inexpensive and gas is almost triple what we pay at home. This is probably why buses and walking are so popular. I'm getting to know some people in my classes. Next Tuesday I have to wear my wellies (rainboots) to class because we're going on a sampling trip up to the Firth of Forth (I probably spelled that wrong). Hmm...I went to the Christian Union meeting tonight and I'm very glad that I did. I met some nice people and I plan on returning next week. Also, Mardi Gras doesn't exist here? It's Pancake Tuesday instead. Everyone is serving pancakes - but not like our pancakes. They seem to resemble crepes more than anything. Oh I got a card from Gloria Kirby yesterday. And it made me happy.

In slightly scary news - I believe that our kitchen floor is very close to collaspsing into the flat below us. Our 'warshing' machine (haha) has been leaking water under the floor for quite some time now. The water is coming out of the overhead kitchen light in the flat below us. There is also a large bump surrounded by kind of squishy places on the floor. So we've all taken to not standing there. Which is a problem because that's where the sinks are so the dishes aren't getting washed. It's just not a good situation. lol
Oh Scottish student housing adventures.

In happier news - classes are going well. I'm almost to the point where I can't get lost, or at least not very lost. I've taken some more pictures, which I'll eventually post. And I've almost finished planning my American Dinner. I'm very excited for it.

Hope everyone at home is doing well! I miss you! ♥

OK so I'm a little behind with the posting...deal with it.

So this past week wasn't really all that interesting. I went to class - BORING. I almost went out on Friday night, but that didn't happen (some of you know what I'm talking about - for those that don't know, don't worry about it). I did go out Saturday though. Five girls came over here and we had Valentine's dinner together and then went to go see He's Just Not That Into You with one of the guys from across the hall - who, by the way, complained almost the whole time. I dare you to guess what I said to him. :) It was a good movie and the whole night was a good learning experience. There are a couple people in our group that aren't allowed to have alcohol before going out in public. lol

Sunday I went to ASDA - which is the Scottish wal-mart. Monday I went to class again. My lab for Tuesday mornings has been postponed for a couple weeks so all I had today was an hour of Animal Behavior. I think I might go shopping tomorrow and maybe head over to the "cloud" shop (let's see who remembers that one) with the girls in my flat - because there's no way I'm going alone. We'll see how that turns out. ;)

Oh and I got a package from my Grandma yesterday and a postcard from Erin last week. :) I love getting mail. *hint hint*

Sooo first day of class...

It wasn't too bad. Just you're basic biology stuff. It snowed again last night but thankfully it was pretty much gone by the time I had to leave for class. I walked to school - didn't get lost but I rode the bus back. I mean I have a bus pass, I might as well use it. So I got home and made some pasta and hard-boiled eggs. No, I didn't eat them at the same time. And now I'm in the middle of watching Bones. Which is extremely frustrating. I think I'm going to get the stuff to make Sweet Tea tomorrow and in the process introduce my flatmates to one of the most addictive substances on the planet. :) Otherwise everything is pretty chill. The flat is finally clean. I have something to do during the day now so I can't sleep - which is actually a good thing. I think I'm going to go the Christian Union meeting tomorrow night and check everything out. Friday night I think we're going on a dungeon tour and Saturday is a Girls' Night Out. All in all, a good start to the week. Monday wasn't so bad - it might have something to do with the fact that I don't have class till 3pm.

Sorry for being so unorganized with the writing today...lol

Oh and people here call me America like it's my name. Weird, right?

Happy Groundhog Day! Not that I would've known that unless I looked on Yahoo! this morning.

Warning: This might be a long one

Ok so Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were good. I slept...during the day and was up all night. On Sunday night Gemma and Kiesha and I went out to dinner at the Pizza Express (yes pizza is the international food of college students) and walked around a bit. We went next door for a few minutes - another boy - Robin - has moved in. Apparently he's just turned 18. I feel so old. Oh and I finally met Eve. She's really cool, I think cheese may also be her favorite food. Either way, Sunday night I had a little "I wanna go home moment" mostly, I think, because I couldn't sleep. I also got a strange and all-consuming urge for french toast. Don't ask me why, I don't control these things. And it started to snow, which I gotta admit, made me feel a little better. And this leads into Monday.

Monday is universally the worst day of the week and it certainly holds true here in Scotland. So you know how I liked the snow Sunday night? Well it seems that while I always remember how much I love to see the snow, I always forget how much I hate having to go and do productive things while it's snowing. Not helping matters is that I have to walk pretty much everywhere.

So I get to the bus stop so that I could go to campus for my induction - thankfully on the bus I ran into a few people I knew (you would think at this point that the day was off to a good start, you'd be wrong). So we all sat through the first induction - after waiting in the hall for a good 45 minutes. After that induction we had to go to another one. So we decided to walk. Bad decision. All the snow leads to slippery uphill cobblestone sidewalks. Which is pretty when you think about it, but awful when you have to walk on it. So we walked like a mile and as we were walking it was getting increasingly windy and foggy and snowy. We finally made it to the second induction after turning around like four times. We got in the building and then proceeded to walk up 7 flights of stairs in slippery shoes and soaking wet clothes. Then the classroom that the second induction was held in was freezing. The radiator was broken. And the windows didn't seal right so there was a strange whistling sound every time the wind blows - which was often. To top it all off, right in the middle of presentation, we got a white out. We couldn't see anything. And yet the presentation continued. And it only gets better from there.

The neverending presentation finally ended and we all went downstairs where there was a blizzard - literally a blizzard. So of course, we decide to walk back. But by the time we reached the first bus stop we had given up on the idea. So we had to wait for approx. 20 minutes for the bus which was so packed it looked like a double decker circus clown car. And while we were waiting my pants literally froze to the ground. So we were on the bus - a bus we haven't been on before. So I get off where I think I'm supposed to. Which was right I just happened to go in the opposite direction I should have when I got off the bus. Thankfully I figure it out and get back to my flat but not before I stopped at the Tesco express to get my French Toast ingredients.

So I got inside, warmed up, and made french toast and I don't even care that I burnt the holy bejesus out of my hand either. And now after regaining feeling in my extremities it doesn't seem like today was so bad. Mostly because I was able to make french toast - which is apparently a highly sought after skill because no one else in my flat can make it. But I am ever thankful that I don't have to go anywhere tomorrow. And to whoever said it doesn't snow in Scotland - Bite Me.

Interesting New Friends

Ok so last night I was practically forced out of my room by one of the guys next door. And of course I was in my ginormous Power Rangers T-Shirt and old sweatpants..so obviously looking my best. I went next door where I met two of his roommates. I can't pronounce the first guys' name so I'll just say he's from Sweden. Ryan is from Scotland (he is determined to make me eat haggis, chicken stuffed with haggis, a traditional English breakfast, and fish and chips) and then there's a guy from France (I can't spell his name either). They pretty much quizzed me about what American movies I had seen and what music I had listened to. Apparently Anchorman is a big deal. Also, certain herbs (not weed) but similar are not illegal here. So let's just say that everyone but me was very mellow. Either way, nice guys. So today I actually made it to the grocery store all by myself AND no one told me how to get there! Amazing right? I've at least got enough Diet Coke to last me a week and some cereal and such so I don't starve. I'll get real food later. Oh the only girls that are here in my flat right now are Gemma and Eve (I haven't met Eve yet. Apparently she's out a lot). The other two girls get here next week. Class doesn't start til the 9th. I finally have pictures up on facebook! oh yeah and my address is:

Rachael Goodloe
16/12 E West Tollcross
Edinburgh, United Kingdom EH3 9QN

:)

All Moved In!

So I know I said I was going on a walking tour yesterday but...that didn't happen. It was raining. I did, however, get my cell phone. All the kids had just got out of school when I went to get my phone and I have to say, I think little children speaking in Scottish accents is the funniest thing ever! So today, I checked out of the hostel (after getting two 50lb suitcases down the stairs) and went to Starbucks for breakfast. Then I had to figure out the bus system to get to Napier to get my key. After I got my key I had to go back to the hostel to get my luggage. They called a cab for me (my first cab ride all by myself) and I think the driver had a death wish but it was fairly cheap so I'm not complaining. What I will complain about is that fact that apparently the Scottish haven't figured out elevators yet. So I had to drag my suitcases (100 lbs total remember) up four flights of stairs to get into my flat. But since then everything has been great. I'm all settled in. Most of my stuff is actually put away. Obviously I have internet connection, which is perfect. So tomorrow my goal is to get to the grocery store and get some real food. Other than that, I don't really have much to do. I'll probably wander around and try to figure out how to get to school on Monday. :)

First Couple Of Days

Ok so getting to the hostel from the airport was relatively easy. We walked outside and got on a bus that dropped us off right at the front door. Getting in the front door was a different story all together. Of course I packed way too much so I had two 50 lb suitcases plus two carry-ons. It took me two trips to get everything in and then up two flights of stairs. The first day there were three other people in my room. A girl from Texas in for a wedding, a girl from Germany on vacation, and another girl names Morgan who is also studying at Napier. Sunday morning both the girl from Texas and the one from Germany left at which point a lady from Australia moved in. She moved out this morning and a girl from NC moved in - she's going to Napier too. I'm still getting used to the whole pounds instead of dollars thing. Last night (Sunday) was Burns Night so Morgan and David and I went to the pub down the street. I had my first Guiness...I'm not sure if I like it or not. But while we were there we ran into a group of bartenders up from Glasglow who were having a Pub Golf Tournament. Apparentley they loved Americans because they recruited us into their group and they kept buying us drinks. They were so fun! They dressed up (when we asked why - they said why not!) lol. I had to leave after the second pub because I was dead on my feet but they said they'd be back in a couple weeks and they were going to call us so we could all go out again. I think tomorrow I'm going to go on a walking tour and go and get my cell phone. If I understand correctly, it's going to end up only being 5p a minute to call home! Even cheaper than calling other people in the UK. Weird right? Either way, I'll have more to write about tomorrow! It's 5 past midnight here so I'm off to bed!

Flight Details

So the flight was good. I didn't sleep and I thought my ears were going to explode but they were nearly empty so I got to stretch out. Heathrow was huge but not bad at all. Everyone was really nice and helpful. David waited for me at Edinburgh so we both rode to the hostel together. All in all not a bad trip at all. I'll post more details soon!