Snow, Snow!

I'm not about to complain about snow. I've lived with it my entire life. However, if this mind-bogging sight cancels 30 seconds to Mars concert or my friend can't come up from Newcastle. I might have a different mind set. Read the following link to see what is being put up with in the UK (in Aberdeen it's a lot less to deal with. Apparently this is surprising.)

Why couldn't I have classes canceled this week? I mean RGU, the other university in Aberdeen had snowdays so why didn't we? Or the other way around, why couldn't they go to class. I have mixed feelings on the fact that there is less snow here that there would be a snow day for Aberdeen Uni. 30 Seconds to Mars better be coming still. Better yet my B should be coming. Miss her bunches... plus she has my tickets :P She knows I appreciate her.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/5/20101201/tuk-slow-going-chaos-as-ice-brings-road-45dbed5.html

Random Mix

No Snow! old photo by Iveta

cemetary in Aberdeen (Iveta)

Scottish Unicorn outside King's College

You remember earlier how I said we are all be watched? Well now that I've gotten some of you freaked about that most of CCTV camera's mostly are a scare-tactic.

"Sign-on's or admittance in the morning to class is for those who are not EU. It's to keep tabs on these students, Immigration being Securitized." Andrea Teti. I thought that was a relevant.

St. Andrews Day! 29/10/2010

If this is a holiday that banks, stores, and just the city is closed why did we still have classes? Unfair. I did work though. I was waiting all day though to go to a St.Andrews day dinner that the Christian Union was putting on. It's free food, bagpipes, and dancing. I can't argue with that. I can put up with the little bit of the religion that always seems to sneak into these. I almost missed it because this is something I didn't want to go by myself again. My friends who got me all excited to go nearly flaked. Well Lisa changed her mind the last second and decided to come and I'm so glad she did. It was totally worth it. She never tried Haggis before. It took a little persuading to get her to but she likes it now. I love it! Don't think of what's in it. Oh and sorry about the poor quality of the videos and that they are sideways... Hope you can still enjoy them.

Glasgow

27/11/2010

It will begin with pictures since I have no time tonight to type. I'm going out in ten minutes.

30/11/2010
  I had time to do this Sunday but I didn't feel like it. I should really catch up now.

  This was another one of those trips with InterSoc. They only had one bus so it was a mad dash to get the  tickets the last Monday. It was well planned though. I think they got the hang of trips after the first few failures (here's your biscuit). The bus left at 7.45 in the morning. I knew that was going to cause some trouble for some students who got used to the 8.00 in the morning. Sure enough we had to wait an extra 10 minutes for two students who were late. That's not important though.


Museum



this is the fireplace I want



  This time I had a book that I borrowed from Lisa. It was A study of Scarlet. You had an expert from it in a prior post. I thought it was interesting. Unfortunately it wasn't long enough. There was two parts to it. I finished the first part on the way there and on the way back I finished the second part. I had plenty of time after finishing both parts that I was falling asleep. Dang it. Nearly made it.

  The first place we visited was the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow. I loved it. It was free to the public as well so it's totally worth going if you get the chance. There was all kinds of exhibits for everyone. There were statues, paintings, cultural, and stuffed animals (or the technical word that I can't remember).

  After two hours in the museum we drove over to the cathedral and the necropolis (city of the dead... really). We were a little worried that we wouldn't get to see anything in the cathedral since a wedding was going on. There were kilts and a bagpipe! I'm ashamed that I took a picture of this random wedding, but it is worth it. To make it better at least I wasn't taking a picture of the actual ceremony. It was outside the doors as they were all lining up for the wedding. Random thing I noticed, the bride goes first not last.

  I would have loved spending more time in the cemetery. I wanted to walk all the way to the top at least but I was with other people and feet were cold. What are you wearing tennis shoes for in winter? Why am I complaining even? cut Anyways, I got some really good pictures and i wish I could show you them all. Of course I have so many photos of cemeteries you might be thinking I have a problem soon (I think I said that earlier).

  We still had some time so we checked out the city of Glasgow after this. I wanted to get to the mall that has (supposedly) the largest glass roof in Europe. That's what it said on the flyer. We couldn't really find it but we found another mall. They wouldn't let us take a picture inside. Let me say one thing... It was packed! Way too many people. I never could live in Glasgow. The amount of people on the street and in the mall was incredible.

  We spent some fifteen minutes getting food and on our way back we found a mini carnival. It would have been fun if we had more time to go on one of the rides but we ran out of time.

That's all there was. There were a few complaining that it would have been cheaper for them to buy a megabus ticket to see Glasgow and then be able to spend the entire night there. I prefer just going with InterSoc, where I don't have to really think on getting there and back. yeah I wish I would have been more free but I had a great time seeing everything. cut

My face is funny but I'm next to a painting

random statue... Glasgow is littered with them



Cathedral



necropolis (love my boots!)





"It's elementary"

"I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with a lot of other things, so that he has a difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skillful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones."

-Sherlock Holmes in "A Study in Scarlet" by Arthur Conan Doyle

I read this entire book on my way to Glasgow and I thought this exert enlightening. I thought I would share it while I remembered. I borrowed the book from Lisa and I am glad I had it. I wish it were longer so as that I didn't finish it and then fall asleep on the bus.

Condensed week

   My week hasn't been as eventful as usual. Perhaps it was but I've already forgotten most of it. I did not write anything down in my journal so most of this is what I can remember. I'm trying to catch up since tomorrow I'm going to Glasgow (booyah baby!).  Most of my weekend was taken up with trying to get my work done. Except for a few hours at night time. It seems I've created monsters of my friends. I taught them how to play BS and now we play it almost every night. I suck at BS but it's great to try and screw with the two who are always constantly winning. Me? Spiteful? Never.

Tuesday dream




   Tuesday I was talking to a lot of my friends and family. Big mistake! I loved hearing from you all but I had the most awful dream that night. I still remember it because it really freaked me out. Basically I packed my clothes and went home without saying goodbye to any of my friends here. The dream was so real that I really felt like I was with my family. When in the dream it became the 18th I became panicked because that is when my ticket for Lithuania is, except for I'm flying out of Aberdeen with it. I was stuck in the states trying to get last minute plans to get back to Aberdeen. This is when in my dream I'm like... "no this is a dream, I wouldn't leave all my souvenirs, jewelry, and makeup in Aberdeen before I even travel to Lithuania" but in the dream I was convinced I wasn't dreaming but just acting crazy. About the time my beloved brother agreed to buy me a ticket to get back to Aberdeen I woke up for real. It took me a few moments to feel right. I really hate dreams like that. They are not pretty and my day is pretty messed up.

Wednesday

I couldn't let it get in my way. Wednesday was the big plan to see Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows with my friends Lisa and Amandine. I had missed the premier so there was no way I was missing it on Wednesday. For some reason though I felt sick all day (dream or food-poisoning) I don't know. I skipped my french Tutorial for the first time. When you are walking and you keep thinking to yourself that you don't want to puke here then it's time to lay down. So that is what I did. I laid down and slept for five hours till I got up for the movie. Yeah my priorities are great. I still felt like shit but I loved the movie and it was well worth the pain... At least I didn't throw up.

Thursday



   Most of our hall and a few friends went outside and made snowmen. We also had a small snowball fight. I avoided it till the end. It was fun. I will post the pics as soon as Lisa and Amanda post them. Some jerk smashed the snowmen in only an hour after we made it though.

  I also made a Thanksgiving Dinner.... sort of. I made green bean casserole, which I messed up because I bought cream of chicken and not cream of mushroom. I had mashed potatoes and gravy. Also I had sliced turkey from the store (no, I was not about to cook a turkey). I made enough for everyone but only one girl tried the casserole. The others didn't want to. I don't blame them. I wouldn't trust my cooking skills either. We had dinner together so that was all that mattered.

  Oh and Iveta finally told the Spanish people that they had to be more respectful for others in the kitchen. Whether they listen is another thing.



The Union Square sign



Friday



I skipped two classes of my Romans, Celts, Druids, Warriors, so it's only fair that the one time I do show up the Teacher then skips it. We all waited 20 minutes before leaving.

Iveta wanted to go shopping so down to the Union Center I went again. I am glad we did for we caught a International Market going on. It was wonderful! I didn't buy anything but the smells and different stalls were nice to smell and see. We then hit Primark, which is a really cheap store with nice clothes. I had to buy gloves since I lost one of mine. Definitely need a pair of those in this chilly weather.



Snow on the 'laying student'



Snow in King's Courtyard

Graduation day... I wonder about why some had light purple and others have light green?

International Market Fruit Stall

Dinner with a Scottish Family

I'm back. I should have come back to this nearly on Wednesday but I've been avoiding the trek to the computer lab. I am going to break this up though.



It's blurry and it's a random church I saw along my wandering



  Last Friday the 19th, I had dinner with a lovely family in Aberdeen. They were more on the outskirts so it took me a bit to get over to their place. it was only an hour or so on the bus. Since I didn't know how long I was supposed to ride on the second bus (that I've never been on before) I got off too early. I walked for a bit before I asked a shop clerk how much farther it was. Turned out I got off way too early so I got back on the same bus (good thing I had a day pass) and rode it for another ten minutes. I gave the lady of the house a ring to tell her I was outside a inn she told me to wait at and they came to pick me up. Mind you, I've never met this family before. We were hooked up through the Radiate program here in Aberdeen, which is a mass of religions under one name that is for the students of Aberdeen (Aberdeen Uni as well as RGU).

  We hit it off nicely. I was introduced and we started talking right away. They were a older couple and they had just returned from their second place in France (that is why it took so long for me to have dinner with them).

  May I say first off, they have two Siamese cats! or Burmese I don't know the difference. They were well-behaved beautiful cats and I was in absolute heaven.They also have a great Dane or some other big dog like that. I miss my animals more then anything and I miss my cat more then that. Yeah I know I'm slightly mental.

  We had a lot to talk about in which case I'm not going to regale you with everything. It's the usual conversations but it got deep when I told them about my topic for my IR essay (To have the euro or not to have the euro?). They were a family that was well-off. I was afraid that I was going to dump my red wine on their immaculate floor. They also had beautiful paintings done by a famous painter who has even done the queens portrait. The place setting for dinner had the etiquette cutlery you see for fancy dinners (thank goodness for my small experience with it). Yeah like I said they are well-off.

  So the food was amazing (barbecued chicken, tatties, Greek salad, peas, fried mushrooms), the conversation was wonderful, the animals were cuddly, the wine was delicious, and the couple were good-humored. It was the best three hours. I loved every minute.

I will suggest to any of the students coming over to Aberdeen that you join Radiate. You don't need to be religious but when you can get away from the student life and to experience a more adult culture.