Everything!

Live from Edinburgh, it's Friday night!

Okay, too much, I know. But if you didn't say it with the same enthusiasm as the SNL announcer does, then turn away now.

Here are some of the top things I've done in my three weeks here (can you believe it?!) so far!

Fresher's Week:
Instead of "Freshmen", first year students in the UK are called "Freshers". As international students, we were sort of thrown into this group and encouraged to participate in the numerous activities that are meant to introduce the freshers to "uni" life. Most of the events included drinking, parties and pub crawls. As you can imagine, this is very different from First Year Orientation at HWS! At the end of fresher's week was the Freshers Fair where you can sign up for various clubs (like sports and religious clubs and such). Whew, finally something that resembles HWS, the club expo (where you can sign up for the above mentioned clubs)! Wrong. At this event you were bombarded with coupons and entry passes and wristbands for nightclubs and drinks. Some club tables sat quietly passing out candy and asking you to sign up for their club (many of which had a membership fee, yikes!) But many students gravitated toward the tables handing out wristbands and coupons for free club entry and cheap drinks. Such a difference in culture!

What a perfect night for a ghost tour! For six pounds we were taken to various locations around the Royal Mile by a tour guide skilled in conducting ghost tours. We were also taken underground into the vaults that are beneath many of the buildings where criminals, poor people, and people sick with the plague once lived long ago. With no electricity and absolute silence (with the occasional beat of the music playing in the above pubs) it was very eery down there. The picture above is a building where many executions took place a long time ago. While it is interesting to live in a city where there is so much history, it is definitely scary to hear these stories.

September is ENU's 50th anniversary! To celebrate, there have been numerous events and one of them was Scottish Dancing! I decided to go and I met Quynh from Germany and Maelys from France. After watching the demonstration, it reminded me a little of the Irish Dancing I've seen a long time ago. I wasn't very good at the actual dancing part but it was fun to meet people and get a feel for the culture! They served cupcakes after the dancing. It was literally one of the best cupcakes I've ever had. 

                                      

Class: Napier has three main campuses, Craiglockhart, Sighthill, and Merchiston. My classes are at Craiglockhart and Sighthill. It's so completely different from HWS where students eat, sleep, and attend class all on the same campus. I'm still getting used to having to take a bus everywhere!

Craiglockhart - This is where I have "Scottish Culture and Society". In fact, see that egg-like thing with the big window? My class is in there!

Sighthill - This is where I have "Applied Psychology for Health and Wellbeing" and "Improving the Health and Wellness of People with Disabilities".

Independence Campaigning around the city:

To the right of this photo was the "campaign hub" so to speak. There were supporters for the yes and no sides talking to people as they walked by. The Scotsman newspaper had a table set up and some news stations were conducting interviews.

The day before the vote and the day of there was a band playing on Princes Street in this open space outside the Scottish Gallery. They were called The Spinning Blowfish and featured a bagpiper! I've included two videos. The first one shows some campaigning taking place. The second was cool because they dedicated this song to anybody who was in Scotland for the first time! You'll probably recognize the classic bagpipe tune.

Referendum Results: As you have already heard, Scotland voted against independence. Interestingly enough, while there was a noticeably larger amount of campaigning for the "Yes" vote, Edinburgh as a whole had a greater majority voting "no" as the final outcome. Some Scottish students recommended staying off the streets when the decision was declared to avoid the possibility of riots and drunk and angry citizens. While it was slightly humorous that this was their advice, it made the situation feel more real and intense. But, in the end, Edinburgh didn't have too much to worry about considering the outcome. Glasgow did, as a majority of that city voted "yes". The news showed riots and police being called in. We walked around Old Town/City Centre to see if anything was going on that night as the polls were closing and votes were being counted.

We didn't come across anything too exciting but we saw this. It was hard to tell exactly what it was but as you can see, a portion of the design these candles made is Scotland's flag. After asking around, we found out this was an event for the "No" vote supporters.

Haggis:

Can't scare me! Kat, Jaime (from Washington), Teiel (from Oregon), and I all ventured to a pub called Albanach's in pursuit of the infamous haggis! It wasn't as bad as we were expecting! In fact, Kat enjoyed it so much she had it for lunch later that week! The haggis is in the front, the neeps (turnips) is the yellow behind the oatcake and the tatties (potatoes) is the white. 

Edinburgh Dungeon:

Quynh and Maelys (from Scottish dancing) and I went to check out the Edinburgh Dungeon which is a popular tourist attraction. Actors and actresses take you on a journey into the past during the time of the plague, executions, witchcraft, and various crimes. It was incredibly freaky but after seeing ads for it on the back of our bus tickets for days, we had to check it out.

Quynh is on the left and Maelys is on the right

Portobello Beach:

Portobello Beach is a beautiful shore to the North Sea just outside of Edinburgh. While we still had semi-warm weather and it was a rare sunny day, we decided to check it out! We weren't disappointed! The water was chilly but feeling the sand between my toes and looking for shells brought me back to spring break in Venice, so I wasn't complaining. There was also a professional volleyball game going on, so there was entertainment as well!

Jenna - This photo is for you! "It's so nautical!"

Arthur's Seat:

Arthur's seat is a giant "hill" formation in Edinburgh that looks over the city. It's a hike, but the views are spectacular. Since I'm such an avid hiker and all (ha.) I decided I was going to make it my mission  to get to the top. I wanted to watch the sunset from there on a clear night, so last Sunday, after Portobello Beach, I decided to brave the hike and check it out. Kat and I made it to the top of what we thought was Arthur's Seat, but we think the bigger "hill" (I mean, I'd call it a small mountain, but okay.) behind where we were was the actual landmark. It was hard to tell but we didn't want to sound like complete tourists and ask our fellow sunset watchers.

This was the hill that we climbed. Again, it was a little high up to call it a hill!

A little steep!

Whew! Made it back to the bottom!

Definitely looking forward to going back and doing the hike to the "real" top but seeing the sunset over the city was absolutely magical.

Rosh Hashanah:

I celebrated the Jewish New Year with Sukkat Shalom. Sukkat Shalom is a liberal (basically reform) Jewish community in Edinburgh. It was really cool to experience a Rosh Hashanah service in a different country and fun to see the similarities! I met Jenna who was born in the U.S. but has lived in Ireland since she was young. She's a nursing student at Napier and it was awesome to not only meet another student, but one who attends the same university!

Cooking Endeavors:

I'm sure you've all been wondering how I've been fending for myself in the kitchen. Let's just say toast, cereal, and leftovers have become my new best friends. But I've been trying my best at making healthy and appetizing (most of the time) dinners!

Jenna and I went to a nearby grocery store called Lidl (pronounced "Little") earlier today. I was in desperate need of fresh produce and milk! I usually do my shopping at the main supermarkets Asda and Sainsbury's so I was happy to check out someplace new. Lidl had a wide variety of incredibly inexpensive produce! I was very happy walking home with an abundance of fruits and vegetables, ready to take on dinner in the kitchen.

Penne with garlic roasted squash and a spinach salad! Yum!

If you're still with me at this point, good for you! I know I've owed you all a good update and I hope this sufficed! Happy weekend, everybody! In the U.K., "Cheers" is basically Shalom. It means everything from goodbye, thanks, you're welcome, good luck, and so on. People say it all the time. When they're leaving class, getting off the bus, or saying hello to someone.

So, cheers!

But I'm still used to saying it with a drink in my hand.

50/50 and So Am I

It's super late considering I have a class tomorrow morning, but I figured it was important to share my two cents (excuse me, "two pence") worth on the Scottish Independence Referendum. Obviously, I am not eligible to vote, but I felt that it was important to form my own opinion within my first week and a half here before tomorrow's decision is announced. I spent a lot of time talking to different people here, some students and many citizens who I've met on the streets at campaign events. The number one thing they have in common despite their different views? Their love for this country. It's so obvious that every person who is hardcore campaigning or simply sharing their views loves Scotland with all their heart.
Based on the recent newscasts, Scotland was split almost 50/50 before today's voting began. I believe the last numbers were 48 for Yes and 52 for No. I'm in the middle. I'm not a citizen and I haven't been here nearly long enough to understand everything that's at stake with either a yes or no vote. I don't fully understand this culture yet and it would be wrong to say that a week is sufficient time to form a solid opinion.
Main argument for the "No, thanks"/"Better Together" side: Scotland can't survive on their own as an independent country. The economy wouldn't be strong enough. People, students especially, want to have all the resources and opportunities that being a part of the UK comes with.
Main argument for the "Yes" side: Obviously, these supporters feel Scotland would be fine on their own. A man who I spoke to at a "Yes" campaign on Princes Street said he believes they have a strong food and drink export and renewable resources which will stay with them forever. He also believes they have the same access to oil and gas resources per head as the rest of the UK. He also said Scotland wants the opportunity to be able to change economic, employment and fiscal policy. I'm not going to lie, I didn't fully understand a lot of what he was talking about since understanding the economy is not my forte. But he was passionate and he was willing to talk to me with full awareness that I was unable to vote and speaking to me would not change any outcome, no matter how small. That was the best part about listening to him.
So, where do I stand? I don't! My opinion is that whatever happens, this is a turning point in history. I think people of both views have enough passion to better this country no matter the outcome. I think a "no" vote would be very safe and probably wouldn't have too many negative outcomes in the long run. I think a "yes" vote would be extremely exciting and it would be interesting to see how Scotland fares on its own. Both sides have extremely valid arguments. Half and half. That's my answer. I don't feel qualified to state a formal opinion but I can't wait for the outcome tomorrow! Sorry if this is just a ton of rambling! It's pretty late but I wanted to post this before the final outcome first thing in the morning! See you all on the flip side!

Hi from Edinburgh! This first week has flown by and I find it hard to believe that it'll be a week tomorrow that we were on our way to the airport! Edinburgh is an absolutely beautiful city. It's a delightful combination of new and old, with modern stores making homes in historic buildings with beautiful architecture. Instead of talking about it, I've included some photos from some of my many walks around Old Town, what they call the section of Edinburgh where Edinburgh Castle, Princes Street, Royal Mile and other streets are located. Princes Street is a popular street that is home to many pubs and shops and the Royal Mile is a street filled with shops and bagpipers that leads up to the stunning Edinburgh Castle. While the whole city is beautiful, this section of Edinburgh is particularly magical. 

I live in a very nice and almost brand new complex called Bainfield Place. Each of the seven buildings within the complex are named after a famous hill in Scotland. I live in Blackford Hill House, but I have yet to actually see or hear of this famous Blackford Hill :) The flats are very new and modern and I have my own room and bathroom! I will post pictures soon! 

There are very distinct reminders that I'm in a foreign country, thousands of miles from home, like the driving on the left side of the road, and the driver's seat and steering wheel being positioned on the right side of the car instead of the left. I think the funniest thing has been seeing all these people in what I would believe to be the driver's seat of the cars. It's especially funny when it's a six year old girl with a bag of chips ("crisps" as they're referred to here!) in her lap. It was my first day here when I saw that and I nearly had a heart attack. Even as I feel as though I'm starting to become acclimated to the differences, I still look twice at passing cars when I see someone out of place sitting on the "driver's side". 

I'm slowly becoming acquainted with the bus system, which is good news considering that besides walking, it is my main mode of transportation here. Old Town is just a five minute bus ride away which makes seeing the beautiful sights very easy to do every day! The bus is also how I'll be getting to the two campuses where I'll be taking my classes and how I get to the grocery store. 

I'll be updating again within the next few days with more details about what I did my first week here but this is it for now, as I have to wake up bright and early to meet one of my professors tomorrow morning! Enjoy the pictures below! Bye for now!

Edinburgh Castle can be seen from all angles from different parts of Old Town. This is one of my favorite views because of the gorgeous green grass and the cliff.

Friendly street reminders in the more touristy parts of Old Town!

First real bagpiper we saw!

The architecture is absolutely stunning.

Fáilte!

Fáilte is Scottish Gaelic for "Welcome!"

Welcome to Good Girl Gone Plaid, where I will chronicle my journey studying abroad for the next four months at Edinburgh Napier University (ENU) in Edinburgh, Scotland! While the primary language spoken in Edinburgh is English, I hope to learn some key phrases in Scottish Gaelic.

I am a junior at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in the small city of Geneva, NY. HWS is a liberal arts college where I am studying to become a Child Life Specialist, doing therapeutic work with families and children in hospitals. HWS is a beautiful but small campus. One of the reasons I am both incredibly excited and nervous to be studying abroad in Scotland's capital is that I will no longer have the luxury of rolling out of bed and having a five minute walk to class. I will need to become familiar with Edinburgh's bus transportation system very quickly as it will be my primary mode of transportation between my flat and the campuses where I will be taking my classes. I will be living in a flat with other ENU students and some of my fellow HWS abroad students. The flat is self-catering meaning, well, no Saga. I will either come out of this with newfound independence in the kitchen, or I will become even more skilled at making pb and j than I already am! Wish me luck! 

I don't have any overseas international travel experience, so every part of this trip will be new to me. The nerves are kicking in but the buzz of excitement is ever so present. They're definitely balancing each other out! Having a sense of caution is good, but I hope once I arrive and start to become acquainted with Scottish culture and life in Edinburgh, caution will turn into curiosity. I cannot wait to take it all in. 

With less than two days until departure, packing is becoming more and more stressful. There's a lot to do between now and Friday afternoon! Look out for my first post from Edinburgh sometime next week!