Homestay weekend in Cumbria

Hello all!

This weekend I went with a group of my fellow IFSA Butler students to the north of England for a homestay weekend. We stayed with a lovely couple, Alex and Douglas, on their farm. They run a social enterprise so they are very used to having groups come stay with them. Eight of us bunked in a room full of bunk beds and ate delicious home cooked comfort food for two days.

Saturday we got a tour of the nearby town of Appleby, followed by a picnic of sandwiches on a river bank, followed by spending an hour or two climbing all over castle ruins from the Norman period. The castle is known as Pendragon Castle and King Arthur's father lived there. We went to a chocolate factory in the afternoon, then we went back to the farm for tea and a long nap. After dinner we stayed up late talking from our bunk beds.

On our drive to Pendragon Castle, a sheep dog ran its herd of sheep in front of our van:

When I woke up from my nap on Saturday evening some people were reading in the kitchen and others were still sleeping. I went outside for some fresh air and ended up exploring the family's old barn with two friends, Ben and Kimberlee. We played with the family's dog and jumped on their trampoline. We were cold, but laughing. Although the visit was short, I so much appreciated the clean smelling fresh air, and the star gazing unpolluted by city lights.

The front of our homestay house-built in the 1700s

Old Alms House in downtown Appleby

Katie and I where our group had a picnic

Katie, Hannah, Jenna, and Carlyle in front of one of many gorgeous views

Sheep grazing in front of Pendragon Castle

The chicken wasn't as interested in inter-species mingling as I was

Kimberlee attempting to feed just two of the family's 70 sheep

The family has 27 chickens!

Successful sheep feeding excursion 

Sunday was filled with a tour of the farm and a yummy lunch before boarding the bus back to city life and classes.

First day of classes

Today started off beautifully. I woke up at 7am to blue skies. After a nice run through Duddingston village (settled in the 1100's) I had breakfast. At breakfast, which I was planning on eating alone, a nice fresher sat down across form me and introduced himself. I honestly didn't catch his name, but it's not like I would have remembered it anyway. That seems to be a common theme here. Anyway, this boy and I did the small talk thing: he is from Holland, etc. Then we talked about classes. He told me he had class at 9am. He also told me that he didn't know which building it was in. This was at approximately 8:49am. Campus is at least a 15 minute walk from our dorm complex, and that's only if you know right where you're going. Needless to say he didn't help my anxiety about the first day of classes.

After I finished my breakfast in peace I returned to my room to organize my things for the day. Included were: planner (that has where all of my classes are held), raincoat, umbrella, notebook, etc. My first class was Fluid Mechanics. I had a lovely bike ride to the King's Buildings (the engineering and science campus) and had a bit of time to kill my locking my bike and walking around.

Ashworth Laboratories: where I had Fluid Mechanics

Biking is very big here!

After Fluid Mechanics I had only 10 minutes to unlock my bike, cover over 2 miles, relock my bike, and find my classroom building for Linear Algebra. I arrived around three minutes late and very sweaty. The Linear Algebra class is enormous but the professor seemed really into peer-learning which I think I will like. He had us discuss with our neighbors and try to convince them of why 2 is less than 3.

After math I had an hour break in which I had a snack and leisurely biked back to the King's Buildings where my next class, Water and Wastewater Systems 3, was to be held at 2pm. Yes, I have to do this commute multiple times a day. Hopefully only on Mondays! Anyway, I think this class will be very interesting. It is all about water and which water needs to be purified. It seems like it will be a good balance of the science of the actual chemical processes and the social aspect of the availability of clean water.

When I left wastewater systems it was sprinkling outside. I knew I was going to have to tackle biking in the wet weather eventually, but I didn't think it would be on the first day. But such is the weather in Edinburgh. It wasn't raining too hard so I strapped my raincoat around my waist (because I am not bike-savvy enough yet to have put a plastic bag on the seat to keep it dry) and headed up to the main campus, yet again, for my History of Art class. I had sometime to kill so I thought I'd ditch my bike at my dorm and walk the rest of the way. By the time I had done that, it was pouring. Ugh! But it was a great excuse to break out my spiffy new rain boots!

Art History, at 5:10pm making it the latest class I've ever had, was another large lecture. I met a nice girl from Norway who was also having trouble finding the building. This class seems like it will be more critical reading than I've done in a long time, but also very interesting.

So it looks like Mondays will be my crazy busy days. Tomorrow is much easier. Now I have to go get ready for basketball practice!

Classes and Bicycles

So, my meeting with my Personal Tutor went really well on Tuesday! He was very nice and very helpful. He is Greek, but has a Scottish accent which makes his voice very interesting. I am taking the following classes this semester: Fluid Mechanics, Water and Wastewater Systems, Linear Algebra, and History of Art. I'm very excited! One tricky thing about my class schedule: I have back to back classes on separate campuses. In other words, three times per week I will have only 10 minutes to get to my next class over 2 miles away. A long uphill walk that will surely make me late for class so I will certainly be investing in a bicycle.

Yesterday I went to the activities fair and signed up for club basketball and the hill walking society. I have a basketball tryout on Friday afternoon. After that, because I am much in need of practice, my friend Nicky and I played basketball at a local gym. After that I hiked the ridge of Arthur's Seat again. Here is a video that I took from the ridge overlooking Holyrood Park:

Today I am continuing my mission of finding a bike. Yesterday I called one store, but their bikes were a bit pricey. Then, on my walk home from the societies (what they call clubs here) fair, I stopped in a little thrift shop that had bicycles outside. They were affordable, but not very safe looking. I will try again today.

It's the little things

Yesterday was pretty low key, and that is exactly what I needed after so many busy days. At noon I had a meeting for all of the visiting engineering students. The information was a bit redundant after IFSA-Butler's orientation, but I guess that's a good thing. During the meeting I met a few people, drank a bunch of tea, and asked a few questions of the presenters. This afternoon I have my meeting with my Personal Tutor (a.k.a. academic advisor) to finalize my class schedule. Exciting!

After the meeting I met some friends for lunch. During that time it started to really rain! Since I've been here it has maybe drizzled every day for 5 minutes here or there. But yesterday it actually rained. So my friend Ben suggested we take the public bus! Great idea. The system is easy and while not cheap, it's worth it in the rain. Because of the dreary day we headed back to the dorms to lounge and watch TV. What a luxury! Last night was laid back: playing cards, eating chocolate, and early bedtime. My idea of a good time.

This morning I woke up and when I opened my windows the sky was BLUE!!! NOT GRAY!!! It was a lovely sight to behold.

My room is really growing on me, I'm meeting a bunch of truly great people, and even though my new cell phone is not the most high-tech, it is always fun to have a new toy. Pictures of all these things below!

Once classes start I wonder how this blog will be...neglected? frantic and stressed? happy and carefree? Guess you'll just have to keep checking :)

From left to right: Matt, Ben, Hannah, Brooke, and Liz at the medieval beer garden attached to Teviot.

My room for the semester! The bed is wonderful.

My miniature cellphone and my frightening school ID.

Adjustment: First few days living at University of Edinburgh

Edinburgh Castle sits high above the city (view from Apex International Hotel where we stayed for program orientation)

Becky and I on Calton Hill. Arthur's Seat is in the background. The white building on the left is the new parliament building.

Sunrise (yes I got up before 6am) hike up Arthur's Seat ridge. The Firth of Forth is in the background. I love seeing the ocean!

Teviot is one of two student unions. It contains 5 bars and a nightclub.

Hello all! Since my last post there have been ups and downs (emotionally and lots of hills), culture, new friends, and weird weather! We moved into the university housing on Friday afternoon. Basically IFSA-Butler, the program I'm going through, dropped us off with a "Good luck! See ya!". So we had a lot to figure out. A group of about 20 of us got off the bus at Pollock Halls of Residence. Two boys headed for Lee House and the rest of us to Masson House. We since have figured out that those two boys are here for a year and the rest of us, part of the overflow of students wanting to live in the residences, are in a modified hotel. We walked into the lobby, saw the concierge and thought "huh...looks like a hotel". Well, turns out it is. They have turned it into a dorm for the semester. So I really like my room: double bed, tv, personal bathroom, but it is not the social scene I had hoped for. Everyone in this "dorm" is from the US. The first two days in the dorm we did not have internet access and I felt so helpless not being able to contact anyone!

But I only have to go over to the dining hall to see and meet the Brits! Plenty of other nationalities: my friend Ryder (one of the boys living in Lee house) is one of two Americans in the whole dorm, amongst 33 different nationalities. The dining hall is pretty good. Kind of like the dining hall I had freshman year at Hopkins except for the fact that they serve black pudding...yuck. Lots of interesting fashion and haircuts here!

Last night we went to an orientation event at Potterrow. Potterrow is the other student union, on the same square as Teviot shown above. The event was James Bond themed and people went all out with gowns and tuxes. Myself and some other Americans felt a tad underdressed. The line for the event was around the block so we went to the medieval beer garden (shown in the picture of Teviot to the left with the striped tent). Have I mentioned that drinking is incorporated into everything here? Yikes.

I went for a run yesterday. It was so beautiful. My dorm complex is right at the base of Arthur's seat and there is a lovely biking and running trail along its base. I ran around there, past Holyrood Palace (the Queen's official residence when she is in Scotland) and past the new parliament building. Then it opens up into fields...makes the run more interesting when I have that scenery!

I think I must have walked a thousand miles in the past few days. Between a tour of the engineering campus, walking around the main campus to get my bearings (they are in separate locations, about a 40 minute walk in between) and getting to my dorm, my feet have been a bit sore.

I'm sure I have forgotten some details but I will add to this blog as I can! Lots of love to you if you are reading this!

Traveling and First Night in Edinburgh

The view from the airplane as we descend into Edinburgh is shown above. A little further along was the city, followed by a beautiful view of the Firth of Forth bridge over the water.

So: traveling had its ups and downs. After mom and dad dropped me off in the security line at Logan by 1pm to catch my 3:20pm flight our plane ended up sitting on the tarmac for hours. At about 4pm the captain said we would go get in line on the runway. At about 6pm he, ever so nicely, taxied us back to the gate and made us all deplane. By this point I had met three other girls participating in IFSA Butler Scotland programs on the flight. One other girl for Edinburgh, the other two for St. Andrews. After about a half an hour (and me getting a yummy sandwich) we got back on the plane and took off by 7:15pm. The flight had about half the amount of people on it as the first time we boarded.

Thankfully there was a long layover ahead of us at JFK, our flight to London wasn't scheduled to leave until 11 ish.  We get off the plane at JFK and I immediately found a bathroom and then called my mom to let her know we had arrived. Here is where things got complicated. Notice: I AM AN ORGANIZED PERSON. I CONTEMPLATE MY ACTIONS. But apparently my mind was more focused on finding an outlet in which to charge my phone than it was on finding the correct gate. After calling my mom I read a departures board to see that my flight to London was on time, leaving from gate 7. So I walked through the terminal to gate 7. Here I said and read my book "The Good Good Pig" (thanks mom it's really funny) and charged my phone. I didn't see the other three girls so I assumed they must have gotten lost because, well, I obviously would never get lost. I had a lot of time and I was bored so I looked at the departures board again. The flight to London was going to be leaving from "TM7". Hmmm…what does T-M mean? Being the overly anxious person I am, I (thankfully) had the good sense to go to the counter and ask. The nice lady explained to me that I should to go terminal 7, as opposed to gate 7 in terminal 8 where I had been sitting for nearly an hour. Okay, I thought, I have plenty of time until my flight…I'll go to terminal 7! Walking to exit terminal 8 I bumped into Mrs. Coonley (the mother of a former boss, Jed Coonley)! Small world. She was on her way to Turkey. I exited the terminal into a baggage claim area. I asked someone how to get to terminal 7, they said take the air tram one stop over. Great, that's easy right? So I followed the signs to the air tram. When I reached the top of the escalator there were two trains. They were both stopped with doors open. Here is where I shocked myself by not thinking through what I was about to do. I hopped on the train to the left as the doors were closing. "Is this train going to terminal 7?" I asked someone. Nope, they said, this one leaves the airport and goes into New York. WHAT?!?! DOES IT COME BACK??!?! Yes, I could get off at the next stop and get myself back to JFK. It was 9:15pm by this point. My personality was split between focusing on deep breaths and telling myself that it would all be okay. At least I had a charged cell phone.

So yes, I got off at the next stop, switched trains (reading the silage more closely this time), and followed the route back to terminal 7 in JFK. I exited the train, had to cross a street outside, and entered the airport again. There was security right in front of me. So basically I had to go through security as it was nearing boarding time and rush to find the proper gate in terminal 7. I got there safely, with my backpack (thanks dad for suggesting I check both bags), and found the three girls I had met earlier who immediately asked where I had been. Phew! There were also like thirty other college-age students at the gate, so I met some new people. Then my name was called over the loud speaker to come to the service desk down the hall. I got bumped up a class because the plane was full! Great! I sat in the "world traveller" section right behind first class where they have beds, and right in front of coach. 

After a long flight and very little sleep and wondering if I had restless leg syndrome, we landed in London. A long layover, customs, security, more names than I could hope to remember, and a short flight to Edinburgh on which I sat next to a nice Canadian lady who was knitting socks (yes, that was the ice breaker) who eventually told me that her husband builds planes and needs more female engineers in the field. She gave me his contact info and said if I ever need a job just tell him I met his wife on a plane! Ha!

Baggage claim was next. My two checked bags came out on the conveyor belt very quickly and then it was out into the FRESH AIR. Not only that, but it was out into SCOTLAND! We all took a few buses to our hotel which is super nice. After a nice dinner I took a walk with Liz up to the Royal Mile (2 minute form our hotel as the castle sits literally right above where we are staying). I plan on taking lots of photos next time I take a walk! Then we went back to the hotel where an enormous group of people, myself included, headed out in search of a pub. The swarm of American students was laughable. Smaller groups split off and we found a nice pub where I had a beer that was legal and cold! Fun night hanging out and meeting other students.

The bed in the hotel is amazing. Now it is time for breakfast.