...or whether it is unseasonably warm (like it is here). It has been strange to hear about the crazy snow y'all have been getting lately seeing as it has been in the 40s and 50s here. The springy weather has been quite nice but it is messing with my internal calendar, I can't figure out what time of year it is anymore!
Sorry I haven't been posting much. I have been pretty busy lately with work and figuring out what I am going to do this summer and working out where I am going to live next year.
Anyway, here is an interesting video dissecting the British Empire and explaining all the distinctions between the different regions and the terms that describe it. It is interesting and should be helpful for all you Yanks who would like to understand which bits are countries and so on.
Anyway,
Love ya!
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
Annoyance
So the batteries in my building's fire alarm have died (or gone flat as they say here) and it has been chirping every 30 seconds (I clocked it) for at least the last 3 hours...I am going to go insane!
Exams...both foreign and domestic
So as my exam results come trickling in (VERY slowly) I am again struck by the differences between this system and the American one.
The first shock is that anything between 100% and 70% is an A (I still can't quite wrap my mind around that). Another strange difference is that 40% is a passing grade. This might seem strange for anyone who is used to the American system but they do grade much harder here (makes sense doesn't it when a 50 is a B). This leads to strange phenomena like finding that the highest grade anyone got on your exam was a 74% (and it was multiple choice).
By far the most confusing thing is seeing that it is possible to get a 13% on an exam, I am not even sure how that works, that is a worse percentage than chance could account for so that poor person actually would have done better if they had done the answer sheet blindly, without reading the questions and just guessed. I really want to know how something like that comes to pass, was it on purpose? Or did they take the wrong exam? Did they have a terrible case of brain freeze? What?
Off to ponder that one for a while
Love ya!
The first shock is that anything between 100% and 70% is an A (I still can't quite wrap my mind around that). Another strange difference is that 40% is a passing grade. This might seem strange for anyone who is used to the American system but they do grade much harder here (makes sense doesn't it when a 50 is a B). This leads to strange phenomena like finding that the highest grade anyone got on your exam was a 74% (and it was multiple choice).
By far the most confusing thing is seeing that it is possible to get a 13% on an exam, I am not even sure how that works, that is a worse percentage than chance could account for so that poor person actually would have done better if they had done the answer sheet blindly, without reading the questions and just guessed. I really want to know how something like that comes to pass, was it on purpose? Or did they take the wrong exam? Did they have a terrible case of brain freeze? What?
Off to ponder that one for a while
Love ya!
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Hello again...
...sorry I've been away but with the holidays and air travel woes and having caught a nasty cold and getting back into the swing of things here in Edinburgh I haven't had much time to write. Anyway, here are a short series of updates on my life since I went radio silent.
Before I left Edinburgh we had a Christmas dinner at the dining hall complete with Christmas crackers and free whiskey (everyone was very jolly). I learned about yet another word that has a different meaning here than it does at home (technically its several words, but you know what I mean) pigs in a blanket, which at home are mini hot dogs wrapped in puff pastry, here means sausages wrapped in bacon (the UK may be the only country that can compete with the US in terms of love of bacon).
I then had the pleasure of waking up at 5 am to make my flight (it was reeeeeeally early, I don't like 5 am very much) and then remaining awake for the next 22 hours (I was lots of fun to be around for a while there). Thankfully, I got to spend most of those hours in the company of the lovely and sympathetic Hannah in fabulous New York City so that was lots of fun.
Then I headed home for the holidays, it was absolutely fabulous to see everyone and get to hang out with my lovely family, even if we had to drive for ages through a Noreasterner to get there (there were moments where I was quite jealous of my friends who went to Dubai for their holidays).
Anyway, sorry its been forever since we talked, I missed you!
Love ya!
Before I left Edinburgh we had a Christmas dinner at the dining hall complete with Christmas crackers and free whiskey (everyone was very jolly). I learned about yet another word that has a different meaning here than it does at home (technically its several words, but you know what I mean) pigs in a blanket, which at home are mini hot dogs wrapped in puff pastry, here means sausages wrapped in bacon (the UK may be the only country that can compete with the US in terms of love of bacon).
I then had the pleasure of waking up at 5 am to make my flight (it was reeeeeeally early, I don't like 5 am very much) and then remaining awake for the next 22 hours (I was lots of fun to be around for a while there). Thankfully, I got to spend most of those hours in the company of the lovely and sympathetic Hannah in fabulous New York City so that was lots of fun.
Then I headed home for the holidays, it was absolutely fabulous to see everyone and get to hang out with my lovely family, even if we had to drive for ages through a Noreasterner to get there (there were moments where I was quite jealous of my friends who went to Dubai for their holidays).
Anyway, sorry its been forever since we talked, I missed you!
Love ya!
Friday, December 10, 2010
Please, someone, shovel some sidewalks!
It has been a week since it stopped snowing and the sidewalks are still covered in show but now it has turned into ice so it is SUPER slippery (as my skinned elbow and bruised buttock can attest)
Anyway, since you don't want to hear about how I would reform the Scottish snow removal services here are some pictures that I took earlier this week when the snow was pretty and I wasn't feeling resentful about it.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed those, I gotta go study for my exam tomorrow (an exam on Saturday o the injustice!)
But it isn't your fault!
Love ya!
Anyway, since you don't want to hear about how I would reform the Scottish snow removal services here are some pictures that I took earlier this week when the snow was pretty and I wasn't feeling resentful about it.
But it isn't your fault!
Love ya!
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Well I had my first Scottish final exam today...
...and it went fine, though I am really tired now (might have something to do with my OH SO lovely neighbor and the fact that he just broke up with his girlfriend and seems to be trying to make up for lost time BUT I digress)
Anyway, I just had a final and I spent a fairly significant amount of time trying to figure out whether I was spelling things right (drat those extra u's that they keep sticking in words over here!) but other than that it went rather well and I am starting to get excited about coming home soon.
Now that my final is done and I have a few days before I have another I need to do all the things I was putting off, like cleaning my room and doing my laundry (I would show you pictures but I am afraid you would never speak to me again). The laundry situation is particularity dire because, you see, I have to go outside to do my laundry and walk through about 100 yards of this and its dark and cold outside:
It just seems like a lot of work for laundry, you know? (please understand, and please still be my friends after this rather embarrassing episode...)
Anyway, I'm off to do my laundry, wish me luck (I'll need it, how sad is that that I need luck to do my laundry)!
Your rather messy friend,
Eliza
Love ya!
Anyway, I just had a final and I spent a fairly significant amount of time trying to figure out whether I was spelling things right (drat those extra u's that they keep sticking in words over here!) but other than that it went rather well and I am starting to get excited about coming home soon.
Now that my final is done and I have a few days before I have another I need to do all the things I was putting off, like cleaning my room and doing my laundry (I would show you pictures but I am afraid you would never speak to me again). The laundry situation is particularity dire because, you see, I have to go outside to do my laundry and walk through about 100 yards of this and its dark and cold outside:
(excuse the funny lighting, I don't really know what happened except that it is dark at 4 here)
Anyway, I'm off to do my laundry, wish me luck (I'll need it, how sad is that that I need luck to do my laundry)!
Your rather messy friend,
Eliza
Love ya!
Sunday, December 5, 2010
So much snow...
...Sorry I have been MIA, things got a little crazy around here what with exams around the corner and the fact that we have been absolutely inundated with snow (and at one point my computer crashed but you don't need to hear about that story, it was too traumatizing to share)
Anyway, this is what the view out my window has looked like for about a week
Anyway, this is what the view out my window has looked like for about a week
All snowy and foggy
And pretty
(Did I mention the fog?)
(Just for reference the top picture here is what that view used to look like.)
Weather like this is especially crazy here because it isn't as common as it is at home and they are not as good at figuring out what to do with it. At home the snow is gone from sidewalks the day after it snows, here I have been waiting a week and it is still there making my walk to classes more difficult.
Anyway, I gotta get back to studying, exams start in two days! (wish me luck)
Love ya!
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