Done with undergrad!

Assuming I passed all my classes (shouldn't be a problem), I am now officially done with all my undergrad work.

Ceilidh

Tonight I went to a ceilidh (pronounced 'kay-lee'), which is basically the equivalent of a Scottish square-dance. There's a ceilidh band (with traditional Scottish folk instruments), and some one who calls out the moves. Ceilidhs are really common here, like school dances are mostly ceilidhs, and wedding receptions have them and stuff.

Basically everyone gets in groups (usually of 8 people), each person with a partner, and the caller teaches everyone the steps, then they play a song and you dance that dance. It was really fun! It's pretty silly because some people know the steps really well, and some people (like our group) are just learning. This particular ceilidh was put on by the Chocolate Society, so there were chocolate fountains during breaks! Breaks were key because those dances wear you out fast...

Here are a couple pictures and a quick video. I took the video right when we arrived so there weren't many people there yet, but there were a lot more when we were dancing.

One of the chocolate fountains:

Taking a break on the rooftop terrace:

Ceilidh!

1st Exam

I just had my first exam, in Scottish History Since 1914. It went alright, definitely better than 16%. The best part about it though was the location. It was in McEwan hall, which is where they have graduations and other big, important events. The room is soooooooo awesome. Here are some pictures I found online:

It's a huge, round, ornately decorated room with levels and levels of balconies and stuff. So cool. I kept wanting to look around because it was so impressive, but I was afraid of being accused of cheating so I restrained myself. It was awesome though, and the grandness of it probably helped me do better on my exam.

When I got back from my exam, I found a homemade scone and a note from Lauren waiting on my desk. That pretty much made my day.

Ok one down, one to go. The school's website seems to have been sorted out so I should be able to get some studying done for my last exam on Wednesday.

Ah exam time....

The school's website, which has all the lecture notes that I need to study for my exams, hasn't been working the last two days (yes, the whole campus is freaking out), but I did do some studying today. Mostly on Wikipedia.

Much more enjoyable though, were the hours I spent on such wonderful websites as stuffwhitepeoplelike.com, todaysbigthing.com, and awkwardfamilyphotos.com

Yesterday the website with all the class notes for studying wasn't working either so I spent a good chunk of time reading over old blog posts. It was so great reading about everything from Day 1, everything that's happened, but it's finally starting to hit me that I'm leaving in 12 days. Leaving. Edinburgh. In 12 days. That is not ok.

But the good news is that I still have a lot of stuff to do and places to visit before I leave so the week and a half after finals will be jam-packed with more tales of Scotland, as well as tales of packing tragedies (What? You mean I won't be able to fit the 7 novels I bought this semester into my suitcase? Uh oh...).

Where's the 'study' part of 'study abroad'?

As the title suggests, I really haven't been doing that much studying. I calculated what I need on my finals to pass my classes (which is all I have to do, my grades in those classes don't matter), and I just have to get a 16% on both finals.... so yeah I think I can manage that.

So instead of studying I've mostly just been hanging out with people, which I feel is really what I should be doing in my last weeks here. Yesterday a bunch of people from small group met up at Starbucks. It's pretty sad to think that I will most likely never see these people again after I leave in two weeks.

Today Lauren and I went to lunch at The Mosque Kitchen, which is a famous restaurant, if you can really call it that. There's a small indoor kitchen where you buy your food, basically like a school cafeteria kind of look. It's all falafel and curry and stuff, and you pick what you want. They give the food to you on paper plates then you take it outside to the eating area. There are just a bunch of long tables and it's covered, but definitely a nicer weather kind of place. The food was delicious, and very cheap.

Lauren at Mosque Kitchen:

Then we went to the Museum of Edinburgh. We walked around and saw all the exhibits (including Greyfriar's Bobby's collar and bowl).

Greyfriar's Bobby exhibit:

Our favourite part, though, was the kid's activity area. We sat next to a few kids (ages 2-4) and made our own collages out of the copious amounts of art supplies there. Below are the finished products.

On our way back to the Cowgate we went into the Museum of Childhood. We didn't go through the whole thing, but we saw a lot of old toys and stuff which was pretty interesting (including a semi-gruesome Sweeney Todd theatre thing).

After that I went back to my room to do some studying (don't worry parents- I'm planning on doing better than 16%...). My first final, Scottish History Since 1914, is on Monday, and my last final, Scotland: Society and Politics, is on Wednesday. Then I can just hang out until May 28 when I go back to Maryland.

Linlithgow Palace

Today a few friends and I went to Linlithgow Palace. We took the train to Linlithgow, which was only about 20 minutes away. There's a little town there, then the palace and a loch.

The weather was really sunny which was great, so we started out by walking down by the loch. A couple people walked all the way around instead of going into the castle, but I went with the group that did go to see the castle.

Loch Linlithgow

Linlithgow Palace

The castle was really cool. It's huge, and has tons of staircases and rooms and walkways and stuff, so it's easy to get lost and not know where you've been before. It had great views and was really fun to walk around.

Main courtyard:

A view towards the loch:

We spent a while there, then went to the church and graveyard next door before meeting up with the other group.

We went to a cafe for some food before getting back on the train, then got back to Edinburgh around 5. There are more pictures on Facebook if you're interested.

Other than that my life has been pretty average recently. It basically consists of me being determined to study, then ultimately not studying at all. But after I finish this post I will study. Really.

Scottish Parliament and People's Story

Sorry for the long hiatus from blog writing. I really haven't done anything worth blogging about since I got back from spring break, just a lot of relaxing, and now studying (sort of) the last couple days.

But today I did do something worth blogging about. A few friends and I went to the Scottish Parliament building to take a free tour. It was very informative, and we learned a lot about the symbolism behind the building which made us appreciate it a lot more. If you've seen the building from the outside, you know that it looks pretty strange, but every tiny detail is symbolic of something, and it's actually really creative.

Inside is beautiful. There's still symbolism on every square inch of the place, but it's all light wood and marble and windows. Lots and lots of windows (that pretty much all have stunning views of Arthur's Seat). The Scottish Parliament is very open to anyone who wants to see it. Anybody is allowed to sit in on debates and committee meetings, and everything is filmed and broadcast online so anyone can watch. It's built on the principles of openness and transparency, and the building definitely reflects that. The galleries to watch debates and meetings aren't separated by walls, everyone can see everything. It's very cool, and very different than Westminster. There's also a lot of really cool, symbolic artwork.

There were only a few places we were allowed to take pictures, but one of them was from the galleries in the debate hall. The tour took us down on the floor, but for some reason you're not allowed to take pictures from there.

Debate hall:

View of the crags from debate hall:

Model of Parliament so you can see how it's supposed to look like a branch growing out of Arthur's Seat:

After parliament, Alix and I went to an old church, Canongate Kirk. We couldn't get in, but we walked around the graveyard (saw where Adam Smith is buried) and enjoyed the fact that spring has finally come! All the trees are out and it's beautiful. I'm sure I'll have more pictures of spring scenes in the days to come.

Canongate Kirk (and spring trees!):

Since we were in the area, we decided to stop by The People's Story after that. It's a free museum in the old Canongate Tolbooth that's about the people of Edinburgh. It was pretty interesting, and had many of the mannequins that are so popular here that we've grown to know and love.

So I can cross 3 more things off my list of things to do in Edinburgh! Only a couple more left; I'll definitely be able to finish everything before I leave (3 weeks from today).

By the way, the sun is really throwing me off. It doesn't set til about 10, so it's still broad daylight late into the day. This makes me think that I have all the time in the world to study, when in reality it is after 5 pm now and I haven't done any studying today.