Sorry, My Life Has Been Pretty Uneventful Lately

Hello,

Sorry about the lack of posts, I have just been schooling away and there have been few exciting events to tell you about.
Anyway, here is a tally of my last 10 days

Number of jogs taken while the temperature was approaching zero degrees Celsius: 2
Number of times Nikki tried to talk me out of said runs: 2 (sorry Nikki, your reasoned arguments are no match for my stubbornness)
Funny looks gotten on said runs: at least 10
Rainy days: 4
Number of aforementioned jogs taken in the pouring rain: 1
Number of other runners seen on said run: 4
Number of said runners who were male: 1
Number of said runners who were better equipped for the rain than I was: 4
Number of twisted ankles: 1
Taxi rides taken: 1
Taxi rides considered: at least a dozen
Visits to the Botanic garden (for biology class): 2
Visits to the Botanic gardens when it was freezing: 1

Current age: 19
Birthday packages received: 3
Cupcakes contained within packages: 12
Kindles received: 1
Books read on my new kindle: 1

Newspapers read on new kindle: 2

Comments about the new kindle: (about) 7 

Chocolate mice received: 2
Birthday gifts from friends here: 3
How much my friends liked my birthday: directly proportional to the number of cupcakes I gave them
Dances watched: 1 (Alvin Ailey, it was amazing!)


Thanks for voting on the pictures below!  I am still deciding but I will let you all know which one I eventually submit.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes.
Love ya!

So I need your help...

Hey y'all,
There is a photography contest for international students here and I am planning to enter but I would love your help picking a photo.


The official rules are as follows, "send us a photograph of something which encapsulates their idea of :"I *heart* Edinburgh.  Edinburgh will be your home for the next few months or years. Send us an image that sums up what Edinburgh means to you - maybe it is your favourite place, or a view of the city/university which reminds you of your time here. It could be your friends, the place you live, a building - something serious, funny or quirky. If you love Edinburgh - show us why."


And now for the entrants (there may be more as I take them):


Photo 1:  (I had some fun playing with the editing on this one so there are a lot of versions)


edit A

 edit B

edit C

edit D

edit E

edit F (this one is just for fun)

Photo 2:

Photo 3:

Photo 4:

Photo 5:

Let me know what you think!
Love ya!

Just wanted to share something funny with you guys...

So I like to keep track of how people get to this site, you know do they come from Facebook or are they following me on Google Reader etc.  I think its fun to see how peopel get here (and it is something to do instead of writing this paper I have to finish).

Anyway, today I got a google hit that made me laugh, someone found my blog by googling "how to spell 'ooph'" (if you don't get that see this post).

Just thought that was funny,
I should get back to this paper,
Love ya!

PS Check out that liking action!  I knew that informatics class would be good for something!

I miss this guy (and the assorted family in these pictures)

I miss my pooch!

 He is cute

And likes to sit by the fire

 And tries to steal baby toys

And cuddles with his sister

And goes for walks with his mama

And he used to like to play with his yak...but then he destroyed it (oh and dad you are welcome for not posting the one where you are throwing the yak and you and Zeus are watching it with the same expression)

He (doesn't really) like to share his bed with little cousins (but he does, 'cause he is a good dog)

He likes to survey his domain

But mostly he likes to run (preferably with a stick)

And I miss him (and my family).

Love ya!

Are You Sure We Are Speaking the Same Language?

Someone much smarter than me once said, "America and England are two countries separated by a common language" (or something to that effect).  It is true, there are times when I am not even sure what language people here are speaking...

 

For example, you probably know that cookies are called biscuits here (what we call biscuits seem to have mutated into dinner rolls, that is if they exist at all, I have yet to see anything resembling a good biscuit here and people do not seem to know what I am talking about.  They seem, like grits and good pizza, not to exist here.)  One night at dinner I asked my English Friend whether the work cookie had any meaning here, she replied, "Well, those biscuits with chocolate in them, those are called cookies".  I then determined (based on this conversation and some grocery store snooping) that chocolate chip cookies have their own category here; they are the only biscuits that are granted the cookie designation.  Why I shall never know, perhaps they were imported from the States and the name stuck?  However this came to be, it is rather strange.

Another language difficulty that you will have heard of is the whole trousers/pants differential.  Here pants are undergarments (though they can also be called knickers) and trousers are anything we would call pants at home.  Simple (if sometimes hard to remember).  However, there is a third designation, trackie bums.  Trackie bums is a designation that seems to apply to all running attire and anything sweatpant like (in other lexicographic news, according to my spell check sweatpant is not a word but sweatpants is...curious).  

One more bit of word fun before I dash (gotta go to class!) here pudding is any kind of dessert and what we call pudding is called mousse.  On a related note it is very disconcerting to be asked, "What kind of pudding is there today?"  all I want to say is, "Pudding?  Isn't there only one kind of pudding...?"  (a word to the wise, don't say that, or you will find yourself suddenly surrounded by laughing British people, and no they are not laughing with you, because you have no idea what is going on.  They are laughing at you.)

Anyway, 

Love ya!!

Oooph...(how do you spell that sound is it ooph or oof or something else entirely?)

This has been a long week...it has also been one of those weeks that lead me to believe all the crazies who think that we only exist on someones dream.  If our live are dreams my life (at least this week) was dreamed up when the dreamer fell asleep in front of an I Love Lucy marathon (I'm Lucy but with consequences...and without the red hair).

This week has felt something like a montage of me being late to things..lectures, tutorials, dinner, you name it I have rushed in all sweaty just as things are about to get started (and a couple times after they have already started, but lets just pretend that didn't happen).

This week I have managed to; get olive oil all over my notes and the inside of my book bag (a word to the wise, don't put your groceries in with your books no matter how much of a pain it is to carry them), break a glass, loose my glasses (I found them eventually but there were a few tense moments), and break one of the spare batteries for my camera.  (Whenever you next see me DO NOT allow me near your valuables, Scotland has apparently turned me into a one woman wrecking machine.)

Above: a memorial to all the inanimate objects lost this week

(or you know, a gravestone in Holyrood Abbey, whichever floats your boat)

Despite what my apparent wonton disregard for my property might indicate I am doing well here, I am just really tired and in desperate need of a weekend (lucky me then, right?  You know seeing as one is coming up and all.  Sorry my jokes are so bad, I am really tired.)

Anyway, sorry for the lack of posts this week, I will make it up to you I promise!
Love ya!

This is the View Out My Window...

(Full Disclosure: this isn't the view right now, it is currently very dark and cloudy out there, but it is the view some days)

I went for a walk up there the other day and I took some pictures I thought I should share.

Its kind of hard to see but the castle is on the left sort of above the other buildings.

And here is a close up of the skyline (you can sort of see the fog over the castle, most of my pictures came out much worse, the fog here is awful it makes the photos all blurry).

There was also a strange patch of grass in the middle of the road

I also walked by this cool ruin

Anyway, hope you enjoyed those!

Love ya!