I'm so sorry it's been ages since I've written. Life has been crazy this summer, with hours upon hours of researching, writing, and editing. I'm in my last week of writing my dissertation, and 20,000 words later, I CANNOT wait for it to be over. However, it's quite a bittersweet time, because in the next 10 days, everyone that I have known as part of my life this year will disperse into their separate corners of the world...something I try not to think about often because it makes me very sad.
I am writing to you right now from a secret garden I've discovered here in St Andrews this summer. A very nice elderly couple has opened up their beautiful garden for visitors to enjoy the amazing views, while at the same time making a donation to charity. You walk down a winding sidewalk engrossed on both sides with rose buses, beautiful hydrangias, and tons of other colorful flowers. When you reach the end of the walkway, you are standing against a wrought-ironed fence right on the edge of the North Sea. You can see West Sands and the Old Course off in the distance. Absolutely breathtaking. It's a lovely place to bring a cup of tea or coffee and have a peaceful morning. So tranquil and amazing to look at the beauty of creation. It's sunny this morning, yet quite crisp, about 64 degrees. I've found it such a rewarding place to do work, so I'm sitting here this morning just writing away. Look for pictures soon of the garden! (I'll post them when I finish with this dissertation - this is actually breaking the rules writing on the blog right now, as I should be avoiding all forms of distraction!)
The dissertation is due one week from today, yet I have full intentions of turning it in sometime this week. It must be printed and bound like a book as well. Stay tuned in the next week for an update about what's happened this summer!!!! Sorry to keep you all waiting!! Sending Much Love across the Atlantic!!
Monday, August 24, 2009
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
The Long Lost Post - travels to America, Italy, Turkey, and London all included!
May 26, 2009
Hi to all. I sincerely apologize for leaving you hanging about what’s going on in my life these days. It’s been a tough few weeks. After returning from a wonderful holiday in Eastern Europe mid-April, I came back to the real world of tons of papers, projects, and impending final examinations. I was busy preparing myself for all of these, when some unfortunate and sudden circumstances arose. On April 28th, my grandfather, Don Glisson, passed away. I got the phone call at midnight that he had passed, which wasn’t expected for a few more weeks, and started making arrangements to come home to be with family. I left St Andrews 6 hours later to catch the first flight out Wednesday morning, leaving my seat in a final exam empty the next day. I wasn’t home long, but I am so thankful I had the opportunity to get home. I really needed to be with family at such a difficult time. I wasn’t home long, just 3 full days, before I turned around to come straight back to St Andrews.
I arrived back in St Andrews, not sure where or how to pick things back up. I had to quickly gather myself and get caught up on some work, as I was due to head to Milan, Italy with my cousin Amy for a quick business meeting. I spent the next 5 days I was home working non-stop. Amy arrived in St Andrews that Saturday for a quick visit and then we headed off to Milan on Monday. I spent most of the time in Milan in the hotel room writing papers and studying for final exams. However, I didn’t realize how close Milan was to Florence, where one of my friends is studying. Finding out it was only 2 hours away by train, I was coerced to go to Florence for one night to visit my friend Bekah and see a glimpse of Florence. The trip to Italy was really nice, as I got to spend some time with Amy and even got to visit Bekah, which was totally unexpected!
Upon arriving back in St Andrews, the study mode continued for the next two weeks. An uncountable number of words were written and studied while I finished off my last finals exams ever! What a relief! No more exams for me any time soon!
My cousin Jenny and her friend came up from London to visit that last weekend in May, which was really nice to see some more family! (May was just filled with family, it seems!) We did all the touristy things there are to do around St Andrews, and I really enjoyed showing them around. May was one hectic and extremely stressful month, to say the least!
On May 26th, I headed down to London on the train with my friend Meg. We would meet our friends Lee and Joe who traveled down a day earlier to take in some sights that evening for dinner before heading to London Gatwick for the night. The next morning at 6:00am we would board a plane and head to Istanbul, Turkey. Let me give you all some advice: 1) never book a 6:00am flight out of London Gatwick; 2) never book a 6:00am flight out of London Gatwick because it requires you to be there at 4:00am, which also requires most to spend the night in the airport; 3) spending the night on metal benches is highly uncomfortable and not worth it.
However, Istanbul was worth it! What a unique and beautiful city!!! I really, really enjoyed my trip over there, where we would spend 9 days in Istanbul and other parts of Turkey. We were originally supposed to only spend 3 days in Istanbul, but we enjoyed it so much, we rearranged our itinerary to spend a fourth day there. Istanbul consisted of so many great sights: the Aya Sofia, the Blue Mosque, the Old Town which is known as Sultanhamet, a cruise around the Bosphorus, Topkapi Palace, hammams (Turkish baths), and delicious food!! The weather was gorgeous and HOT….and so welcomed!! It’s been 9 months since I’ve witnessed 80 or 90 degree weather! And the Turkish bath – worth every penny. If you are ever in Turkey, you MUST get a Turkish bath. I’ve never felt so clean in my life!
The Turkish bath was probably one of my favorite experiences. From what we had seen in the brochures, you wore a towel the whole time and someone just cleaned you. However, we were in for a surprise when we got there. The boys split up from us girls, going into a different building even. When we entered, there was this short, fat Turkish woman there who could barely speak English giving us orders: “Take off all your clothes and put this towel on!” Once we had changed, she led us into this room which was covered in marble walls, floors, with basins scattered throughout. She filled two basins (one for me and one for Meg) with warm water, and then, took our towels and snatched them off of us….SURPRISE!!! There we were, thankfully the only two people in this hammam, stark naked!! The little lady commanded that we SIT and rinse our body from our personal basin. She scattered off and came back a little while later in just a tiny pair of knickers (which were way too small for her) and a big ol’ purple bra. There was a large marble table in the middle of the room, where she instructed me to go and lay on my stomach. She then took something that was like an exfoliating glove and scrubbed me down, to the point when she was finished I had dead skin flakes all over. I then went back to rinse off and it was Meg’s turn. The next step was a “body cleansing and massage,” which was very nice. After she finished, she then scurried off again and came back a little later with a small stool, which she sat on and instructed us to come over one at a time so she could wash our hair. Let me tell you, it wasn’t as nice a wash as you get at the salon – I thought I may not have any hair left by the time she finished! At this point, we then went to sit in a sauna for about 20 minutes before finishing our Turkish bath. I have never felt so clean! Would definitely recommend to you, but you must go prepared for quite the experience!
When we adjusted our itinerary, I somehow got talked into taking an overnight bus down south to Selcuk, which is near Izmir. So after Day 4, we boarded a bus at 9:30pm that would take 11 hours. Not the most pleasant experience, but definitely a more efficient way of seeing the most you can in a little amount of time. When we arrived, we went to our hotel, took a bit of a nap before heading out for brunch and off to the beach. It was a beautiful day and we practically had the beach to ourselves! A very nice, relaxing day after spending 4 days going hard in Istanbul. The next day, we had booked an all-day tour of the sight of the ancient city of Ephesus, which is the place that the Apostle Paul wrote the letter to the Ephesians. This was probably the hottest day in Turkey, but the tour was great and allowed us to see quite a bit. In the afternoon, the tour took us to this sight that is believed to be the last home of the Virgin Mary. They believe that Mary came with the Apostle John to Ephesus to avoid persecution in Jerusalem. The home is now a small chapel that sits up on a hill. We also saw a small factory where Turkish carpets are made, which were beautiful!. However, they were way over our price range!
That evening, after our tour, we boarded another bus to travel about three hours east to a town called Pammukale. Pammukale in Turkish means Cotton Castle. It was a tiny village at the base of a mountain. The place was really surreal. It was a mountain of rock formations that had been calcified over the years, with hot springs as you walk up the mountain. At the very top of the calcified rocks, there was a large pool that claims to heal ailments. It was an absolutely stunning natural pool. In the pool there were random Roman ruins, including pieces of columns. It was completely clear and very warm water. We even spent some time swimming among the ruins! We spent the day wandering around the ruins that are above the ailments pool, including the Roman theatre and enjoying the warm weather.
After the day in the sun, we boarded a 9:00pm bus, and it was at this point that Meg and I split up from the boys. The boys continued east to Cappadocia and Meg and I boarded yet another overnight bus to Istanbul. We arrived at the airport the following morning and headed back to London. Our overall Turkey trip was wonderful, and so refreshing to be in HOT weather!!! I would recommend anyone to visit, as you get a much different experience from what you see in Europe.
Both Meg and I had family in London, so we spent the weekend with them. My Aunt Ann and cousin Jenny were there, and I joined them on Thursday night. It was such a great weekend just wandering around the city. We saw the show Jersey Boys one night, which was outstanding! I would recommend the show to anyone! We took a day trip to the White Cliffs of Dover and back through Canterbury to visit the Cathedral, and spent one afternoon in Borough Market, where many local merchants bring their fresh fruits, vegetables, and meats on the weekends. Of course, you can’t go to London without going shopping, and so we spent the last day on Oxford Street, fitting in some time for afternoon tea as well. Afternoon tea consists of tea, cakes, scones and clotted cream, and finger sandwiches. It was a lovely time with family before heading back up to Scotland for work on my dissertation.
I met back up with Meg on Monday morning and the two of us met up with the boys who had flown into London the previous evening. We headed back up to Scotland to buckle down and do lots and lots of work! These past two weeks have been extremely busy but so much fun!
Honestly, it does not get dark these days in St Andrews all night…it is still really light until after 11:30pm and it never gets completely dark. A couple of weekends ago, I went with some friends from the Management School to one of my friend’s cottages in the Highlands. We had a great day of visiting Loch Turret, the Glenturret distillery (which is one of the whiskies that goes into The Famous Grouse blend). After a full day of walking around the loch and visiting the distillery, we headed up to the cottage for a night of wandering around the farm land around it and enjoying each other’s company. The next morning we got up and packed everything up and cleaned up, and then even took some time to go shooting, which was the first time I’d ever shot a gun! It was a great little get-away from St Andrews!
Gary and Ruth boarded a plane on Sunday to fly east across the Atlantic and landed in Dublin, Ireland yesterday morning. They are currently doing a little tour around Ireland before meeting me in London Gatwick on Thursday morning, where we will then board another flight to go to Portugal. We will travel around the southern coast of Portugal before heading to Tarifa, Spain for the night and taking a ferry the next morning into Morocco. We’ll spend a couple of days around Fes, Morocco, and then head back up north across the Strait of Gibraltar to the Gibraltar airport, where we will come back to St Andrews. We’ll spend a night in St Andrews before heading up to the Isle of Skye on the west coast of Scotland for a few nights before heading back to St Andrews. It should be a nice trip, but I’m afraid mom and dad will be absolutely exhausted by the time we land back in St Andrews! I’m really looking forward to introducing both of them to my life over here, my friends, and sharing a bit of St Andrews and the Scottish culture with them!
Stay tuned in a few weeks for an update of our trip! Hope you all are doing well and would love to hear from all of you soon!! Sending lots of Scottish love and hugs...Cheers!
Hi to all. I sincerely apologize for leaving you hanging about what’s going on in my life these days. It’s been a tough few weeks. After returning from a wonderful holiday in Eastern Europe mid-April, I came back to the real world of tons of papers, projects, and impending final examinations. I was busy preparing myself for all of these, when some unfortunate and sudden circumstances arose. On April 28th, my grandfather, Don Glisson, passed away. I got the phone call at midnight that he had passed, which wasn’t expected for a few more weeks, and started making arrangements to come home to be with family. I left St Andrews 6 hours later to catch the first flight out Wednesday morning, leaving my seat in a final exam empty the next day. I wasn’t home long, but I am so thankful I had the opportunity to get home. I really needed to be with family at such a difficult time. I wasn’t home long, just 3 full days, before I turned around to come straight back to St Andrews.
I arrived back in St Andrews, not sure where or how to pick things back up. I had to quickly gather myself and get caught up on some work, as I was due to head to Milan, Italy with my cousin Amy for a quick business meeting. I spent the next 5 days I was home working non-stop. Amy arrived in St Andrews that Saturday for a quick visit and then we headed off to Milan on Monday. I spent most of the time in Milan in the hotel room writing papers and studying for final exams. However, I didn’t realize how close Milan was to Florence, where one of my friends is studying. Finding out it was only 2 hours away by train, I was coerced to go to Florence for one night to visit my friend Bekah and see a glimpse of Florence. The trip to Italy was really nice, as I got to spend some time with Amy and even got to visit Bekah, which was totally unexpected!
Upon arriving back in St Andrews, the study mode continued for the next two weeks. An uncountable number of words were written and studied while I finished off my last finals exams ever! What a relief! No more exams for me any time soon!
My cousin Jenny and her friend came up from London to visit that last weekend in May, which was really nice to see some more family! (May was just filled with family, it seems!) We did all the touristy things there are to do around St Andrews, and I really enjoyed showing them around. May was one hectic and extremely stressful month, to say the least!
On May 26th, I headed down to London on the train with my friend Meg. We would meet our friends Lee and Joe who traveled down a day earlier to take in some sights that evening for dinner before heading to London Gatwick for the night. The next morning at 6:00am we would board a plane and head to Istanbul, Turkey. Let me give you all some advice: 1) never book a 6:00am flight out of London Gatwick; 2) never book a 6:00am flight out of London Gatwick because it requires you to be there at 4:00am, which also requires most to spend the night in the airport; 3) spending the night on metal benches is highly uncomfortable and not worth it.
However, Istanbul was worth it! What a unique and beautiful city!!! I really, really enjoyed my trip over there, where we would spend 9 days in Istanbul and other parts of Turkey. We were originally supposed to only spend 3 days in Istanbul, but we enjoyed it so much, we rearranged our itinerary to spend a fourth day there. Istanbul consisted of so many great sights: the Aya Sofia, the Blue Mosque, the Old Town which is known as Sultanhamet, a cruise around the Bosphorus, Topkapi Palace, hammams (Turkish baths), and delicious food!! The weather was gorgeous and HOT….and so welcomed!! It’s been 9 months since I’ve witnessed 80 or 90 degree weather! And the Turkish bath – worth every penny. If you are ever in Turkey, you MUST get a Turkish bath. I’ve never felt so clean in my life!
The Turkish bath was probably one of my favorite experiences. From what we had seen in the brochures, you wore a towel the whole time and someone just cleaned you. However, we were in for a surprise when we got there. The boys split up from us girls, going into a different building even. When we entered, there was this short, fat Turkish woman there who could barely speak English giving us orders: “Take off all your clothes and put this towel on!” Once we had changed, she led us into this room which was covered in marble walls, floors, with basins scattered throughout. She filled two basins (one for me and one for Meg) with warm water, and then, took our towels and snatched them off of us….SURPRISE!!! There we were, thankfully the only two people in this hammam, stark naked!! The little lady commanded that we SIT and rinse our body from our personal basin. She scattered off and came back a little while later in just a tiny pair of knickers (which were way too small for her) and a big ol’ purple bra. There was a large marble table in the middle of the room, where she instructed me to go and lay on my stomach. She then took something that was like an exfoliating glove and scrubbed me down, to the point when she was finished I had dead skin flakes all over. I then went back to rinse off and it was Meg’s turn. The next step was a “body cleansing and massage,” which was very nice. After she finished, she then scurried off again and came back a little later with a small stool, which she sat on and instructed us to come over one at a time so she could wash our hair. Let me tell you, it wasn’t as nice a wash as you get at the salon – I thought I may not have any hair left by the time she finished! At this point, we then went to sit in a sauna for about 20 minutes before finishing our Turkish bath. I have never felt so clean! Would definitely recommend to you, but you must go prepared for quite the experience!
When we adjusted our itinerary, I somehow got talked into taking an overnight bus down south to Selcuk, which is near Izmir. So after Day 4, we boarded a bus at 9:30pm that would take 11 hours. Not the most pleasant experience, but definitely a more efficient way of seeing the most you can in a little amount of time. When we arrived, we went to our hotel, took a bit of a nap before heading out for brunch and off to the beach. It was a beautiful day and we practically had the beach to ourselves! A very nice, relaxing day after spending 4 days going hard in Istanbul. The next day, we had booked an all-day tour of the sight of the ancient city of Ephesus, which is the place that the Apostle Paul wrote the letter to the Ephesians. This was probably the hottest day in Turkey, but the tour was great and allowed us to see quite a bit. In the afternoon, the tour took us to this sight that is believed to be the last home of the Virgin Mary. They believe that Mary came with the Apostle John to Ephesus to avoid persecution in Jerusalem. The home is now a small chapel that sits up on a hill. We also saw a small factory where Turkish carpets are made, which were beautiful!. However, they were way over our price range!
That evening, after our tour, we boarded another bus to travel about three hours east to a town called Pammukale. Pammukale in Turkish means Cotton Castle. It was a tiny village at the base of a mountain. The place was really surreal. It was a mountain of rock formations that had been calcified over the years, with hot springs as you walk up the mountain. At the very top of the calcified rocks, there was a large pool that claims to heal ailments. It was an absolutely stunning natural pool. In the pool there were random Roman ruins, including pieces of columns. It was completely clear and very warm water. We even spent some time swimming among the ruins! We spent the day wandering around the ruins that are above the ailments pool, including the Roman theatre and enjoying the warm weather.
After the day in the sun, we boarded a 9:00pm bus, and it was at this point that Meg and I split up from the boys. The boys continued east to Cappadocia and Meg and I boarded yet another overnight bus to Istanbul. We arrived at the airport the following morning and headed back to London. Our overall Turkey trip was wonderful, and so refreshing to be in HOT weather!!! I would recommend anyone to visit, as you get a much different experience from what you see in Europe.
Both Meg and I had family in London, so we spent the weekend with them. My Aunt Ann and cousin Jenny were there, and I joined them on Thursday night. It was such a great weekend just wandering around the city. We saw the show Jersey Boys one night, which was outstanding! I would recommend the show to anyone! We took a day trip to the White Cliffs of Dover and back through Canterbury to visit the Cathedral, and spent one afternoon in Borough Market, where many local merchants bring their fresh fruits, vegetables, and meats on the weekends. Of course, you can’t go to London without going shopping, and so we spent the last day on Oxford Street, fitting in some time for afternoon tea as well. Afternoon tea consists of tea, cakes, scones and clotted cream, and finger sandwiches. It was a lovely time with family before heading back up to Scotland for work on my dissertation.
I met back up with Meg on Monday morning and the two of us met up with the boys who had flown into London the previous evening. We headed back up to Scotland to buckle down and do lots and lots of work! These past two weeks have been extremely busy but so much fun!
Honestly, it does not get dark these days in St Andrews all night…it is still really light until after 11:30pm and it never gets completely dark. A couple of weekends ago, I went with some friends from the Management School to one of my friend’s cottages in the Highlands. We had a great day of visiting Loch Turret, the Glenturret distillery (which is one of the whiskies that goes into The Famous Grouse blend). After a full day of walking around the loch and visiting the distillery, we headed up to the cottage for a night of wandering around the farm land around it and enjoying each other’s company. The next morning we got up and packed everything up and cleaned up, and then even took some time to go shooting, which was the first time I’d ever shot a gun! It was a great little get-away from St Andrews!
Gary and Ruth boarded a plane on Sunday to fly east across the Atlantic and landed in Dublin, Ireland yesterday morning. They are currently doing a little tour around Ireland before meeting me in London Gatwick on Thursday morning, where we will then board another flight to go to Portugal. We will travel around the southern coast of Portugal before heading to Tarifa, Spain for the night and taking a ferry the next morning into Morocco. We’ll spend a couple of days around Fes, Morocco, and then head back up north across the Strait of Gibraltar to the Gibraltar airport, where we will come back to St Andrews. We’ll spend a night in St Andrews before heading up to the Isle of Skye on the west coast of Scotland for a few nights before heading back to St Andrews. It should be a nice trip, but I’m afraid mom and dad will be absolutely exhausted by the time we land back in St Andrews! I’m really looking forward to introducing both of them to my life over here, my friends, and sharing a bit of St Andrews and the Scottish culture with them!
Stay tuned in a few weeks for an update of our trip! Hope you all are doing well and would love to hear from all of you soon!! Sending lots of Scottish love and hugs...Cheers!
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Adventures in the Balkans
Here is your update on our Spring Break Trip to the Balkans! Sorry it has taken a week, but I came back to St Andrews slammed with work. Seems like I’ll be head under in work for the next month, that’s for sure! On to more exciting things…THE BALKANS!
The six of us started off our trip in Zadar, Croatia. We were so excited for warm weather, sunshine, and the Adriatic Sea! But the next morning we woke up to the pouring rain, and not-so-warm temperatures…a bit disappointing!
We went for coffee that morning, walked around in the rain with no clear skies in sight, visiting at the tourist attractions in Zadar. We could only handle the rain for so much, though, so we decided to go for an early lunch at a restaurant that had been recommended to us. One thing Croatia is known for is seafood. We decided to order an appetizer of calamari and one or two other types of fish to share between the six of us, and we each ordered a main course. We had a bit of trouble communicating successfully what we wanted with the waiter, but thought by the time we had finished he understood us. We got a little confused, though, when our main courses came before the starter. It wasn’t until our “starter” arrived that we understood why he looked at us like we were crazy when we ordered the appetizer. The appetizer was a humongous plate of all sorts of cooked fish – heads, eyes, and tails still attached!!!!! And note, we got this AFTER we had eaten most of our main courses. We were stuffed, and thinking we were just getting a wee plate of food to share, when indeed, it was enough for all of us to eat for a main course! And then we got the bill – that plate of fish certainly wasn’t what we had ordered – it was 30 British Pounds!! First faux-pas of the trip!! But something to laugh about as well!
After lunch, we walked to the bus station in the rain to board a 3-hour bus ride to Split, which is south of Zadar on the Dalmatian Coast. As soon as we got on the bus, the sun came out bright and clear! The drive was absolutely gorgeous, with the bus driving right next to the coast the entire way. As we arrived as the harbor-side bus station in Split, we found the little apartment we rented for two nights. Although hostels are nice and fun to meet new people, it was really nice to have a flat to ourselves, where we could cook ourselves and have a common area to hang out in. The next day in Split, it was another rainy day. We went through Diocletian’s Palace (which takes up a huge part of the city center in Split), and then some of the group went back to the flat just to relax and read in order to avoid the rain. Others of us continued to walk around and later stopped for a coffee in an outdoor café (sitting under an umbrella, of course). It cleared up late afternoon, and we had a nice home-cooked meal that evening, sitting outside on the patio enjoying each other’s company and chatting.
The following day, the majority of our day was spent on a five-hour bus ride headed south to the very southern tip of the Dalmatian Coast to the city of Dubrovnik. In Dubrovnik, we had found online and booked a lovely apartment on the top story of a housing building with a huge terrace overlooking the Adriatic Sea. Let me tell you, the weather was perfect – sunny and about 70 degrees, the company was great, and the view was out of this world - Dubrovnik was absolutely paradise! I couldn’t wait to wake up the next morning and have a cup of tea on the terrace. The next morning, we enjoyed a slow morning of sipping tea, the warm weather, and a nice cooked breakfast on the terrace before we headed into the Old Town. It was a beautiful day filled with sunshine, history, and a boat ride around the islands surrounding Dubrovnik. Such a great day!
We were in Dubrovnik for three days before heading over to Bosnia-Herzegovina. Our first stop was Mostar, which is in the North. Mostar was a beautiful city and very interesting. The city is split into two by the Neretva River, as well as split by two different religions. One side of the river is the Muslim side, while the other side is inhabited by Orthodox Christians. It is one of the most interesting cities I’ve ever been. We spent the day wandering the city, having a very nice lunch at an outdoor riverside restaurant, where one of my friends tried “breaded brains,” just as they appeared on the menu. Bosnians eat a TON of meat….everything ordered came with just meat on the plate – no sides!
We caught a train at 6:30 that evening down to Sarajevo, where we would meet Una, the girl who lives beside me in Deans Court. Una is from Sarajevo, and met us at the train station when we arrived. For the next 36 hours, we needed to do nothing – Una was a great tour guide and took very good care of us! The following day, we sat down for a coffee that morning – Bosnian coffee that is – and then Una guided us around Sarajevo. Her Bosnian grandmother cooked us a lovely traditional Bosnian meal, which included meat pies, spinach pies, and sarma (minced meat wrapped in cabbage and in a sauce), and then a very nice cake for dessert. We had this for a late lunch, and we were all struggling to move once we finished! So much meat!!!
The next day, we boarded a train at 6:30 in the morning for a twelve hour adventure up to Budapest, Hungary. At each country’s border, we would have to stop twice – once for the current country’s border patrol to come and look at our passports, then twenty minutes down the track, we’d stop again for the next country’s border patrol to come in and do the same thing. This happened three times! The trip wasn’t as bad as I expected – luckily we were able to claim a little room with just six seats in it, which was nice for it to be just our group for the twelve hours, rather than having to share a cabin with many different people. This made it possible for us to have conversations (because the trains were loud, not airconditioned, and old.
Budapest was absolutely wonderful and such a beautiful city! I think it may be one of my favorite European capitals that I’ve seen this year! We had a great small hostel that was really clean and spacious! The first full day we were there, we had a nice breakfast and coffee at another outdoor café in the 75 degree weather – I loved it! We then took a 3-hour tour around the city. Budapest is split into two parts by the Danube River. Buda is on one side of the river, where the old town is, and Pest is the new part of town. We had great food while we were in Budapest, and it was fairly inexpensive! The last night we were there, we found a Jazz festival and enjoyed just listening to the jazz while sitting in the grass, sipping wine, and watching the sunset. A perfect way to end our trip to Eastern Europe!
This trip was so different from any other trip I’ve taken so far this year. Each place we went was very different, almost to the point that it seemed like every country we went to was a like a completely different holiday. The company was great, and we are still talking about how we’d rather go back to the lovely weather in Croatia rather than the murky weather in St Andrews!
Although the weather’s been cold and wet this week, it’s so nice with long light days now! It doesn’t get dark these days until after 9 p.m. In the mornings, the haar has started to come in. A little Scottish lesson for you, the “haar” is the coastal fog that comes into land off the North Sea in the mornings. It’s a very dense fog, and you can hardly see fifteen feet in front of you…and there’s definitely a mist that falls on you all morning before the haar lifts. It can look like at 9 a.m. that it will be a very cloudy, wet day, when in all actuality, it can be gorgeous and sunny by 1 p.m. Guess it’s something to look forward to all summer! Sorry to bore you with such a long blog, but I hope you are still enjoying the updates!
The six of us started off our trip in Zadar, Croatia. We were so excited for warm weather, sunshine, and the Adriatic Sea! But the next morning we woke up to the pouring rain, and not-so-warm temperatures…a bit disappointing!
We went for coffee that morning, walked around in the rain with no clear skies in sight, visiting at the tourist attractions in Zadar. We could only handle the rain for so much, though, so we decided to go for an early lunch at a restaurant that had been recommended to us. One thing Croatia is known for is seafood. We decided to order an appetizer of calamari and one or two other types of fish to share between the six of us, and we each ordered a main course. We had a bit of trouble communicating successfully what we wanted with the waiter, but thought by the time we had finished he understood us. We got a little confused, though, when our main courses came before the starter. It wasn’t until our “starter” arrived that we understood why he looked at us like we were crazy when we ordered the appetizer. The appetizer was a humongous plate of all sorts of cooked fish – heads, eyes, and tails still attached!!!!! And note, we got this AFTER we had eaten most of our main courses. We were stuffed, and thinking we were just getting a wee plate of food to share, when indeed, it was enough for all of us to eat for a main course! And then we got the bill – that plate of fish certainly wasn’t what we had ordered – it was 30 British Pounds!! First faux-pas of the trip!! But something to laugh about as well!
After lunch, we walked to the bus station in the rain to board a 3-hour bus ride to Split, which is south of Zadar on the Dalmatian Coast. As soon as we got on the bus, the sun came out bright and clear! The drive was absolutely gorgeous, with the bus driving right next to the coast the entire way. As we arrived as the harbor-side bus station in Split, we found the little apartment we rented for two nights. Although hostels are nice and fun to meet new people, it was really nice to have a flat to ourselves, where we could cook ourselves and have a common area to hang out in. The next day in Split, it was another rainy day. We went through Diocletian’s Palace (which takes up a huge part of the city center in Split), and then some of the group went back to the flat just to relax and read in order to avoid the rain. Others of us continued to walk around and later stopped for a coffee in an outdoor café (sitting under an umbrella, of course). It cleared up late afternoon, and we had a nice home-cooked meal that evening, sitting outside on the patio enjoying each other’s company and chatting.
The following day, the majority of our day was spent on a five-hour bus ride headed south to the very southern tip of the Dalmatian Coast to the city of Dubrovnik. In Dubrovnik, we had found online and booked a lovely apartment on the top story of a housing building with a huge terrace overlooking the Adriatic Sea. Let me tell you, the weather was perfect – sunny and about 70 degrees, the company was great, and the view was out of this world - Dubrovnik was absolutely paradise! I couldn’t wait to wake up the next morning and have a cup of tea on the terrace. The next morning, we enjoyed a slow morning of sipping tea, the warm weather, and a nice cooked breakfast on the terrace before we headed into the Old Town. It was a beautiful day filled with sunshine, history, and a boat ride around the islands surrounding Dubrovnik. Such a great day!
We were in Dubrovnik for three days before heading over to Bosnia-Herzegovina. Our first stop was Mostar, which is in the North. Mostar was a beautiful city and very interesting. The city is split into two by the Neretva River, as well as split by two different religions. One side of the river is the Muslim side, while the other side is inhabited by Orthodox Christians. It is one of the most interesting cities I’ve ever been. We spent the day wandering the city, having a very nice lunch at an outdoor riverside restaurant, where one of my friends tried “breaded brains,” just as they appeared on the menu. Bosnians eat a TON of meat….everything ordered came with just meat on the plate – no sides!
We caught a train at 6:30 that evening down to Sarajevo, where we would meet Una, the girl who lives beside me in Deans Court. Una is from Sarajevo, and met us at the train station when we arrived. For the next 36 hours, we needed to do nothing – Una was a great tour guide and took very good care of us! The following day, we sat down for a coffee that morning – Bosnian coffee that is – and then Una guided us around Sarajevo. Her Bosnian grandmother cooked us a lovely traditional Bosnian meal, which included meat pies, spinach pies, and sarma (minced meat wrapped in cabbage and in a sauce), and then a very nice cake for dessert. We had this for a late lunch, and we were all struggling to move once we finished! So much meat!!!
The next day, we boarded a train at 6:30 in the morning for a twelve hour adventure up to Budapest, Hungary. At each country’s border, we would have to stop twice – once for the current country’s border patrol to come and look at our passports, then twenty minutes down the track, we’d stop again for the next country’s border patrol to come in and do the same thing. This happened three times! The trip wasn’t as bad as I expected – luckily we were able to claim a little room with just six seats in it, which was nice for it to be just our group for the twelve hours, rather than having to share a cabin with many different people. This made it possible for us to have conversations (because the trains were loud, not airconditioned, and old.
Budapest was absolutely wonderful and such a beautiful city! I think it may be one of my favorite European capitals that I’ve seen this year! We had a great small hostel that was really clean and spacious! The first full day we were there, we had a nice breakfast and coffee at another outdoor café in the 75 degree weather – I loved it! We then took a 3-hour tour around the city. Budapest is split into two parts by the Danube River. Buda is on one side of the river, where the old town is, and Pest is the new part of town. We had great food while we were in Budapest, and it was fairly inexpensive! The last night we were there, we found a Jazz festival and enjoyed just listening to the jazz while sitting in the grass, sipping wine, and watching the sunset. A perfect way to end our trip to Eastern Europe!
This trip was so different from any other trip I’ve taken so far this year. Each place we went was very different, almost to the point that it seemed like every country we went to was a like a completely different holiday. The company was great, and we are still talking about how we’d rather go back to the lovely weather in Croatia rather than the murky weather in St Andrews!
Although the weather’s been cold and wet this week, it’s so nice with long light days now! It doesn’t get dark these days until after 9 p.m. In the mornings, the haar has started to come in. A little Scottish lesson for you, the “haar” is the coastal fog that comes into land off the North Sea in the mornings. It’s a very dense fog, and you can hardly see fifteen feet in front of you…and there’s definitely a mist that falls on you all morning before the haar lifts. It can look like at 9 a.m. that it will be a very cloudy, wet day, when in all actuality, it can be gorgeous and sunny by 1 p.m. Guess it’s something to look forward to all summer! Sorry to bore you with such a long blog, but I hope you are still enjoying the updates!
Saturday, April 4, 2009
After 2 months of waiting....
Greetings again…FINALLY!
I must apologize for my blog absence for the past 2 months….it’s been a very busy semester since I got back from Austria, and tons of exciting things have happened!
First of all, in the middle of February, I decided to surprise Ruth and fly home for a visit (admittance: couldn’t resist the cheap flights!). It was a great visit with family and friends that was very needed! Of course, though, it was all too short. I missed a week of school (which at the beginning of the semester I didn’t think would have a huge effect on the amount of work missed), but I was wrong! I came back to St. Andrews in the third week of the semester to find myself overwhelmed with the amount of work I had due in the next week! Somehow I had overlooked the syllabus in EVERY class, and had to get down to business. One problem though: I had planned in January to go away to the highlands of Scotland with 5 girls for a little girlie weekend. That weekend was two days after I had returned from America! We rented a small cottage up north in the Highlands and had an absolutely wonderful weekend. It was so nice to be in a cozy little cottage with five of my best friends here just relaxing by the fire. Another luxury of the cottage: a dishwasher! Those are few and far between in this town of St. Andrews, and it was heavenly to just be able to put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher and let it do its job! The fire and couches to lounge on was another treat. With the cold and wet winter air outside, the comfort by the fire as we lounged on the couch was so nice! Overall, it was a great weekend!
I came back to St. Andrews after such a nice weekend knowing that there was no more relaxation for a good three weeks. I had a huge assignment due that week, two papers due the next, and one humongous paper due March 23rd. This seems reasonable except for the fact that I had a big week in March planned – the week of St. Patrick’s Day. Three friends were coming to visit from the States and I knew that I would have no time to do school work, nor would I want to miss out on the fun with them! So that meant I had two weeks to get all of those assignments completed, or nearly completed.
Salem, Ilene, and Lia arrived in St. Andrews on Saturday, March 14th, and it was such a treat to have people from home come and visit! It was nice to be able to show people from home what my life was REALLY like here, as it’s difficult to explain it over the blog or even the phone. We had a blast all week, playing golf, visiting Edinburgh for the day, making time for tea and cake on some afternoons, and I even took the girls to one of the balls in St. Andrews! The highlight of our week, though, was traveling to Ireland for St. Patrick’s Day. We left at 5am on the 17th, arrived in Dublin in time for the parade, and celebrated St. Patty’s Day all afternoon! Since St. Patrick’s Day is a national holiday in Ireland, we couldn’t really do much of the touristy stuff until the next day. The weather both days was gorgeous – probably the best weather I’ve experienced since I came over here in September! The following day we visited had morning coffee and breakfast at the famous Bewley’s on Grafton Street, wandered through St. Stephen’s Green, visited Trinity College, Christ’s Church, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and, of course, the Guiness museum. I then left on Thursday morning at 3:30am to catch a flight and get back to St. Andrews to make it to classes, and the girls came back that evening. On Saturday, the four of us went to a nearby local fishing village named Anstruther for a true fish and chips experience.
The week after they left, it was back to the real world of school and work for me. However, there was only one more week before we had two weeks off for spring break! Spring break will be spent in Eastern Europe with five of my friends. We will travel down the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia, over through Bosnia where a friend who lives in Deans Court with us lives and will meet us to show us around for a few days, and then on up to Budapest to end our trip on Easter Sunday. Stay tuned for tales about our travels!!!
I must apologize for my blog absence for the past 2 months….it’s been a very busy semester since I got back from Austria, and tons of exciting things have happened!
First of all, in the middle of February, I decided to surprise Ruth and fly home for a visit (admittance: couldn’t resist the cheap flights!). It was a great visit with family and friends that was very needed! Of course, though, it was all too short. I missed a week of school (which at the beginning of the semester I didn’t think would have a huge effect on the amount of work missed), but I was wrong! I came back to St. Andrews in the third week of the semester to find myself overwhelmed with the amount of work I had due in the next week! Somehow I had overlooked the syllabus in EVERY class, and had to get down to business. One problem though: I had planned in January to go away to the highlands of Scotland with 5 girls for a little girlie weekend. That weekend was two days after I had returned from America! We rented a small cottage up north in the Highlands and had an absolutely wonderful weekend. It was so nice to be in a cozy little cottage with five of my best friends here just relaxing by the fire. Another luxury of the cottage: a dishwasher! Those are few and far between in this town of St. Andrews, and it was heavenly to just be able to put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher and let it do its job! The fire and couches to lounge on was another treat. With the cold and wet winter air outside, the comfort by the fire as we lounged on the couch was so nice! Overall, it was a great weekend!
I came back to St. Andrews after such a nice weekend knowing that there was no more relaxation for a good three weeks. I had a huge assignment due that week, two papers due the next, and one humongous paper due March 23rd. This seems reasonable except for the fact that I had a big week in March planned – the week of St. Patrick’s Day. Three friends were coming to visit from the States and I knew that I would have no time to do school work, nor would I want to miss out on the fun with them! So that meant I had two weeks to get all of those assignments completed, or nearly completed.
Salem, Ilene, and Lia arrived in St. Andrews on Saturday, March 14th, and it was such a treat to have people from home come and visit! It was nice to be able to show people from home what my life was REALLY like here, as it’s difficult to explain it over the blog or even the phone. We had a blast all week, playing golf, visiting Edinburgh for the day, making time for tea and cake on some afternoons, and I even took the girls to one of the balls in St. Andrews! The highlight of our week, though, was traveling to Ireland for St. Patrick’s Day. We left at 5am on the 17th, arrived in Dublin in time for the parade, and celebrated St. Patty’s Day all afternoon! Since St. Patrick’s Day is a national holiday in Ireland, we couldn’t really do much of the touristy stuff until the next day. The weather both days was gorgeous – probably the best weather I’ve experienced since I came over here in September! The following day we visited had morning coffee and breakfast at the famous Bewley’s on Grafton Street, wandered through St. Stephen’s Green, visited Trinity College, Christ’s Church, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and, of course, the Guiness museum. I then left on Thursday morning at 3:30am to catch a flight and get back to St. Andrews to make it to classes, and the girls came back that evening. On Saturday, the four of us went to a nearby local fishing village named Anstruther for a true fish and chips experience.
The week after they left, it was back to the real world of school and work for me. However, there was only one more week before we had two weeks off for spring break! Spring break will be spent in Eastern Europe with five of my friends. We will travel down the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia, over through Bosnia where a friend who lives in Deans Court with us lives and will meet us to show us around for a few days, and then on up to Budapest to end our trip on Easter Sunday. Stay tuned for tales about our travels!!!
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Bliss in the Austrian Alps
Hello All!
I know you all have been anxiously awaiting another post, and it's even within less than 10 days of the last (better than once a month!)! I have had one last great week of break before the semester starts tomorrow. It's going to be hard to get back into the swing of studying after 3 weeks off!
The week began on Sunday, when myself and 4 friends decided to walk what is known as the Fife Coastal Path, beginning in St. Andrews down to a famous little town called Anstruther. Anstruther is known for their fish and chips (that's fried fish and french fries, for us Americans). I had yet to go try these famous fish and chips which have gotten numerous awards for many years in a row. We decided that we'd start about 10:00am and get there aroudn 3 or 4. After looking on the map, we determined it was about 12 miles to Anstruther, and we figured we had plenty of time to get there. We started off that morning to trek across the seaside landscape through multiple Scottish towns. It was a gloomy day, no sunshine, and a bit of wind, with a forecast of snow possibly, but we decided that we could make it before the weather turned bad.
We started off from St. Andrews, which is by far some of the hardest terrain to conquer. Dressed warmly in coats and scarves, and most importantly, wellies (similar to rain boots) to walk through mud and sea water. We packed a backpack with snacks, water, and extra clothing just in case. It was windy, but the trip started off alright. The rock climbing up and down the coast proved to be tougher than we imagined, but we did it nevertheless. It was only about 30 minutes into our journey that our friend Andy fell in a huge mud puddle. We continued, encountering herds of cows and bulls (that proceeded to charge after us, bucking and all). We decided that the bull was a teenage bull in distress. Running away from the charging bull, we nearly feel off the coastal cliff 20 feet, but managed to get away in one piece. About an hour into the trip, the wind started to pick up. We walked beside an angry North Sea, that seemed to get more agitated as the day went on. In good spirits, we trekked on
I know you all have been anxiously awaiting another post, and it's even within less than 10 days of the last (better than once a month!)! I have had one last great week of break before the semester starts tomorrow. It's going to be hard to get back into the swing of studying after 3 weeks off!
The week began on Sunday, when myself and 4 friends decided to walk what is known as the Fife Coastal Path, beginning in St. Andrews down to a famous little town called Anstruther. Anstruther is known for their fish and chips (that's fried fish and french fries, for us Americans). I had yet to go try these famous fish and chips which have gotten numerous awards for many years in a row. We decided that we'd start about 10:00am and get there aroudn 3 or 4. After looking on the map, we determined it was about 12 miles to Anstruther, and we figured we had plenty of time to get there. We started off that morning to trek across the seaside landscape through multiple Scottish towns. It was a gloomy day, no sunshine, and a bit of wind, with a forecast of snow possibly, but we decided that we could make it before the weather turned bad.
We started off from St. Andrews, which is by far some of the hardest terrain to conquer. Dressed warmly in coats and scarves, and most importantly, wellies (similar to rain boots) to walk through mud and sea water. We packed a backpack with snacks, water, and extra clothing just in case. It was windy, but the trip started off alright. The rock climbing up and down the coast proved to be tougher than we imagined, but we did it nevertheless. It was only about 30 minutes into our journey that our friend Andy fell in a huge mud puddle. We continued, encountering herds of cows and bulls (that proceeded to charge after us, bucking and all). We decided that the bull was a teenage bull in distress. Running away from the charging bull, we nearly feel off the coastal cliff 20 feet, but managed to get away in one piece. About an hour into the trip, the wind started to pick up. We walked beside an angry North Sea, that seemed to get more agitated as the day went on. In good spirits, we trekked on
towards Anstruther. Hours went by, and we kept following the small coastal path signs, with no markings for how far we'd come, just arrows pointing us in the right direction. We kept saying, it's just beyond this bed in the coast, yet would come up to the bend and there would be no sign of life - just brussel sprout fields, livestock, and more water and beaches. With the sun never rising that day, it was a gloomy day to say the least. The weather kept getting a little more strong as we continued our hike, at times with the wind throwing hail into our faces, snow at others, and very cold air. 7 and a half hours later, we reached the town of Crail, where at this point felt we had been battered so badly we didn't know if we could walk what we thought was 2 more miles to Anstruther. Although some of us didn't want to give up, with darkness upon us, we decided to stop at Crail, find a pub to sit by the fire with a drink and warm up, and then taxi it to Anstruther. Little did we know, we were more like 4 miles away from Anstruther, which would have taken us about 2.5 more hours to get there. We were all glad we stopped in Crail! However, the fish and chips were worth it! The fish was fresh and seemed to melt in your mouth. And we were famished to say the least! However, we have all vowed to make the 17 mile walk again, when we have more hours of daylight nearer to summer and have come more prepared with more snacks, etc. It was a great day of adventure, nonetheless!
However, I'm not so sure it was so smart to do that 13 mile journey the day before I left for my big ski trip in the Alps. I left for the train station at 5:45am, with tons of snow falling. By the time I got to the airport in Edinburgh, it was like a blizzard outside, and flights were being cancelled and delayed left and right. London was in a mess, and my friend Matt was supposed to fly out of London to meet us in Austria. His flight was cancelled and he almost didn't make it out to Austria at all. I finally got to Munich, and my friend Irene (from Germany) picked me up and we made the 2.5 hour drive down to St. Anton am Arlberg in Austria. We arrived, checked into our hotel, and got up early the next day for a great day of skiing, while we awaited Matt's hopeful arrival from London. The weather couldn't have been more perfect! Warm temperatures, beautiful bright sunshine, great snow, it was awesome! Irene and I had a great first day of skiing. Matt arrived that evening, and we all went to dinner. The next day was a great day of skiing as well, with similar weather. I've never had an apres ski experience like I did in St. Anton. The place was called the Mooserwirt, and it was halfway down the mountain. We stopped in and met up with some people Matt knew were in town. It was a full 4 hours of dancing (in ski boots, remember) and singing. I want to go back just to experience the apres ski experience that St. Anton offers. On Thursday, we drove over to the next mountain to a resort called Lech, and skiied there for the day. It was a great day of skiing as well. I think that maybe the snow was even better there! Of course, as soon as you get your "ski legs" in order, it's time to go home, so we drove back to Munich Thursday evening after skiing, and Irene dropped Matt and I off in Munich. She had to go home for a dental appointment, so Friday Matt and I wandered around Munich. It was a nice, calmer day, as we were both exhausted from skiing. Yesterday, we visited the BMW museum in the morning, which was a really cool place! We then headed for the airport, just to find out that our flight had been delayed. Not like most delays as in 1 or 2 hours....6 hours!!!!! So we hung out in the Munich airport ALLLLL day yesterday, and then finally got home about midnight last night. It was a great trip overall, though! And my life-long dream of skiing in the Alps has been fulfilled!!! If I could only afford to ski the Alps every weekend....haha! Hope you all have a great week! It's back to the real world for me tomorrow!
Friday, January 30, 2009
I'm Back to the Land of the Living....
The long-awaited post I'm sure you all have been longing for is finally here! Finals took all energy from me for about 2 weeks. Literally, for 2 weeks, I would wake up, shower, go to the library, open my books, and study for 8-10 hours per day. Only 3 finals, yet they to be so much more fate-determining than the finals I took in undergrad. I wasn't alone at least - my two best friends here, Emily and Meg, joined me in my misery as they too studied for their finals. We had a good bonding experience of studying over multiple cups of hot tea (you know, it's a British thing), breaks of chat sessions (supposed to be 5 minutes but would sometimes turn into 45 minutes), and cups of coffee when we decided we needed to treat ourselves to the 1 pound sterling coffee that a nearby coffee shop offers for 2 hours in the afternoon!
After getting back from our trip at Christmas, my friend Meg and I knew that we wanted to travel to Spain during the break between finals and the second semester (which is 3 weeks long). However, we were so busy studying for finals, we really couldn't plan much of our trip. The day after I finished finals (two days before we wanted to leave for Spain), Meg and I sat down and planned out the trip. We just decided to tour southern Spain, the Andalucia region, which turned out to be perfect. Spain was absolutely gorgeous, and I already want to go back again! The sunshine and warmer weather was a nice change from the cold, wet, dark days of St. Andrews. We flew into Malaga and took a bus to Granada where we immediately fell in love with the city. The first night we went on a tapas tour that our hostel hosted, and we met a lot of really nice people staying in our hostel as well as had amazing tapas! The next day, we visited the Alhambra, which is a palace and fortress complex of the Moorish rulers of Granada . We enjoyed Granada so much we decided to rearrange our original itinerary and stay another night there. The next day, we took a bus to Cordoba, where we continued tasting many different tapas dishes, as well as visited some sights there. La Mesquita was the biggest attraction in Cordoba that we saw. Originally built as a church, after the Muslim conquest the building was confiscated for use as a mosque and greatly expanded until it became the second-largest mosque in the world. It is regarded as perhaps the most accomplished monument of the Umayyad dynasty of Cordoba. After the Spanish Reconquista, it was returned to its original use as a church. It was an amazing historical sight that both Meg and I really enjoyed. After one night in Cordoba, we continued to trek west across Andalucia to Seville, where we stayed for two nights. In Seville, the weather was the best we had had since arriving in Spain, and we both really enjoyed just walking around taking in the sights, sitting outside at outdoor cafes, and enjoying the weather! We saw the Cathedral in Seville, the still-royal family's living quarters the Alcazar, and many others. To finish up our last night in Seville, Meg and I went to see a flamenco production. Flamenco is a Spanish dance genre characterized by its audible footwork. It was a great show, and an amazing dance! We then headed back to Malaga in the late afternoon to catch an early flight the next morning. We found a great tapas restaurant the last evening and really enjoyed one more night of Spanish tapas. We had a lovely trip, and weren't ready to come back to St. Andrews!
We arrived back in St. Andrews to what seemed like a ghost town. No one is here, and of 50 people that normally live in Deans Court, only 10 are here right now. It's totally dead, and the few people that were here when I got back are bored to tears! I'm off again on Monday morning to fulfill one of my life-long dreams - skiing in the Alps. I'm flying to Munich where my German friend will pick me up, and we will drive down to Austria to the St. Anton am Arlberg ski area. Another American friend who lives in Deans Court will also meet us in St. Anton, where we will ski for 3 days, and then head back to Munich. Irene will go home to her family for a few more days while my American friend and I will tour Munich for 2 days before heading back to St. Andrews to start the 2nd semester. I can't wait for next week! Hope everyone is well back in the States. Know you are missed!! Sending my LOVE...
After getting back from our trip at Christmas, my friend Meg and I knew that we wanted to travel to Spain during the break between finals and the second semester (which is 3 weeks long). However, we were so busy studying for finals, we really couldn't plan much of our trip. The day after I finished finals (two days before we wanted to leave for Spain), Meg and I sat down and planned out the trip. We just decided to tour southern Spain, the Andalucia region, which turned out to be perfect. Spain was absolutely gorgeous, and I already want to go back again! The sunshine and warmer weather was a nice change from the cold, wet, dark days of St. Andrews. We flew into Malaga and took a bus to Granada where we immediately fell in love with the city. The first night we went on a tapas tour that our hostel hosted, and we met a lot of really nice people staying in our hostel as well as had amazing tapas! The next day, we visited the Alhambra, which is a palace and fortress complex of the Moorish rulers of Granada . We enjoyed Granada so much we decided to rearrange our original itinerary and stay another night there. The next day, we took a bus to Cordoba, where we continued tasting many different tapas dishes, as well as visited some sights there. La Mesquita was the biggest attraction in Cordoba that we saw. Originally built as a church, after the Muslim conquest the building was confiscated for use as a mosque and greatly expanded until it became the second-largest mosque in the world. It is regarded as perhaps the most accomplished monument of the Umayyad dynasty of Cordoba. After the Spanish Reconquista, it was returned to its original use as a church. It was an amazing historical sight that both Meg and I really enjoyed. After one night in Cordoba, we continued to trek west across Andalucia to Seville, where we stayed for two nights. In Seville, the weather was the best we had had since arriving in Spain, and we both really enjoyed just walking around taking in the sights, sitting outside at outdoor cafes, and enjoying the weather! We saw the Cathedral in Seville, the still-royal family's living quarters the Alcazar, and many others. To finish up our last night in Seville, Meg and I went to see a flamenco production. Flamenco is a Spanish dance genre characterized by its audible footwork. It was a great show, and an amazing dance! We then headed back to Malaga in the late afternoon to catch an early flight the next morning. We found a great tapas restaurant the last evening and really enjoyed one more night of Spanish tapas. We had a lovely trip, and weren't ready to come back to St. Andrews!
We arrived back in St. Andrews to what seemed like a ghost town. No one is here, and of 50 people that normally live in Deans Court, only 10 are here right now. It's totally dead, and the few people that were here when I got back are bored to tears! I'm off again on Monday morning to fulfill one of my life-long dreams - skiing in the Alps. I'm flying to Munich where my German friend will pick me up, and we will drive down to Austria to the St. Anton am Arlberg ski area. Another American friend who lives in Deans Court will also meet us in St. Anton, where we will ski for 3 days, and then head back to Munich. Irene will go home to her family for a few more days while my American friend and I will tour Munich for 2 days before heading back to St. Andrews to start the 2nd semester. I can't wait for next week! Hope everyone is well back in the States. Know you are missed!! Sending my LOVE...
Friday, January 9, 2009
Back to the REAL World....of Studying, unfortunately
It's a beautiful day here in St. Andrews - sun is shining, the North Sea a gorgeous shade of blue, birds are chirping, only 40 degrees outside rather than below freezing! I never knew how much sunshine makes a difference in your mood until I moved here and have experienced multiple days in a row, weeks even, without sun rays touching me! It's just too bad that I am inside studying rather than enjoying the fresh air and sunshine! YOU are my excuse to procrastinate, because we all know that it's more important to keep you informed of my life than to study for finals that begin in less than 4 days!
I returned to "the bubble" (as the local students call it) of St. Andrews on Tuesday night after 6 days in Brussels, Belgium and Amsterdam, Holland. It was a great end to the holiday travelling. In Brussels we saw the famous Maneken Pis statue (one of the most notable attractions in Brussels), visited the Belgian chocolate museum, Belgian beer museum, the City Museum (where all of the Maneken Pis' many outfits made by locals and tourists over the years are displayed - and probably one of my favorite rooms in the museum), and some art museums. We also enjoyed many of the Belgian delicacies - chocolate, beer, and Belgian waffles (which, I must add are outstanding and like nothing I've ever tasted....they melted in your mouth)!
Brussels was cold, but bearable with gloves, many layers, and coats. Then there was Amsterdam....and that was extremely cold! We visited the Van Gogh museum, which was probably my favorite art museum that we visited over the last three weeks (and you all know how tolerable I am of museums....I am trying to develop a patience for them!!). We also visited the Anne Frank House, which was outstanding and very interesting. World War II history is one of my more favorite periods in history, and so I really enjoyed this. We enjoyed just walking around the city enjoying the beautiful architecture, houses, canals, bicycles (it is definitely a biking city...with bike paths everywhere you go!), and Heineken Museum the last day. However, it was pretty exhausting, as it was -8 degrees and we were out in that weather for 8 hours a day...and the biggest problem was that we were running out of money, so you can only stop for coffee breaks so often when you are running low on cash!!
The biggest event from Amsterdam surprised us on Tuesday morning. Picture this: there were 5 of us in Amsterdam, and we had a private hostel room with bunk beds for 5 people. My friend Emily was sleeping above me on a bunk, and we she was awoken by the sound of what sounded like someone had their hand in a bag of chips. Well, she thought it was me, and apparently started telling me to stop eating. Then she took her cell phone and lit it up and shined it on me, only to realize I was fast asleep. She then woke me up and asked if I heard the sound that she had been listening to for about 20 minutes. I definitely did....and at that point we realized it was something under our bed. If you go to Belgium, you can't leave without buying some delicious chocolate. When we first got to the hostel, they had said that no food was allowed in the rooms, but we figured if the chocolate was in a sealed and wrapped package, it should be okay, because we weren't going to eat it there. We both had bought chocolates as gifts for friends. Well, once we realized that we probably had a rodent in our room, we turned on the lights and woke everyone else up. We opened the door to the hallway, Emily pulled her bag outside and dumped it out, but there was no rodent in sight. When she started putting the stuff back in the bag, she realized that there had been a rodent....and it had chewed through to her chocolate...and the teeth marks were pretty sizable!
At that, we went downstairs to the reception and they agreed to move us to another room. They also carried our bags for us (I certainly didn't want to carry my bag and the rodent jump out at me!). My concern was that my bag was opened on the floor next to Emily's, so there was a possibility of it being in there! When we got to our new room, we went back to sleep for a few hours and then got up to start getting ready. It was at this time that I realized that my bag had not been spared of the rodent...it had climbed through my bag, dug through clothes to find the chocolate, and it had eaten a chunk of the chocolate. It was quite the adventure, and at that point I decided I was ready to come home. I just felt dirty knowing the rat or mouse had crawled through my bag!
It was nice to get back to St. Andrews to my own bed and a familiar shower with good water pressure, but I can't honestly say I wasn't dreading coming back. Coming home to St. Andrews meant the studying had to start hard core, and let me tell you, it's been a challenge. I have had a hard time finding the motivate to studying and finding any kind of productivity. My exam schedule is a bit harsh, with exams back to back one evening and the next morning for two of the three of them. I've also found that it's very difficult to study in the dark, so that leave basically the hours of 9am - 3 pm for studying in the daylight. After that, the productivity dwindles to pretty much nothing. Finals will be over a week from tomorrow, so I probably will not be doing much communicating in the next week.
After finals there is a large hope that I will be going to ski in the Alps. However, the trip details are still in progress and not set in stone. We have three weeks off before the next semester starts on February 9th, so my ideal break would be to go skiing for a few days and then join a friend on a trip through Spain, Portugal, and Morocco. I'll have to update you on these aspirations at a closer date. Hope everyone's 2009 has started out well! I look forward to hearing from you! Please feel free to email at kglisson@alumni.unc.edu or call at 919 809 6760 anytime I cross your mind! :) Miss you all!
I returned to "the bubble" (as the local students call it) of St. Andrews on Tuesday night after 6 days in Brussels, Belgium and Amsterdam, Holland. It was a great end to the holiday travelling. In Brussels we saw the famous Maneken Pis statue (one of the most notable attractions in Brussels), visited the Belgian chocolate museum, Belgian beer museum, the City Museum (where all of the Maneken Pis' many outfits made by locals and tourists over the years are displayed - and probably one of my favorite rooms in the museum), and some art museums. We also enjoyed many of the Belgian delicacies - chocolate, beer, and Belgian waffles (which, I must add are outstanding and like nothing I've ever tasted....they melted in your mouth)!
Brussels was cold, but bearable with gloves, many layers, and coats. Then there was Amsterdam....and that was extremely cold! We visited the Van Gogh museum, which was probably my favorite art museum that we visited over the last three weeks (and you all know how tolerable I am of museums....I am trying to develop a patience for them!!). We also visited the Anne Frank House, which was outstanding and very interesting. World War II history is one of my more favorite periods in history, and so I really enjoyed this. We enjoyed just walking around the city enjoying the beautiful architecture, houses, canals, bicycles (it is definitely a biking city...with bike paths everywhere you go!), and Heineken Museum the last day. However, it was pretty exhausting, as it was -8 degrees and we were out in that weather for 8 hours a day...and the biggest problem was that we were running out of money, so you can only stop for coffee breaks so often when you are running low on cash!!
The biggest event from Amsterdam surprised us on Tuesday morning. Picture this: there were 5 of us in Amsterdam, and we had a private hostel room with bunk beds for 5 people. My friend Emily was sleeping above me on a bunk, and we she was awoken by the sound of what sounded like someone had their hand in a bag of chips. Well, she thought it was me, and apparently started telling me to stop eating. Then she took her cell phone and lit it up and shined it on me, only to realize I was fast asleep. She then woke me up and asked if I heard the sound that she had been listening to for about 20 minutes. I definitely did....and at that point we realized it was something under our bed. If you go to Belgium, you can't leave without buying some delicious chocolate. When we first got to the hostel, they had said that no food was allowed in the rooms, but we figured if the chocolate was in a sealed and wrapped package, it should be okay, because we weren't going to eat it there. We both had bought chocolates as gifts for friends. Well, once we realized that we probably had a rodent in our room, we turned on the lights and woke everyone else up. We opened the door to the hallway, Emily pulled her bag outside and dumped it out, but there was no rodent in sight. When she started putting the stuff back in the bag, she realized that there had been a rodent....and it had chewed through to her chocolate...and the teeth marks were pretty sizable!
At that, we went downstairs to the reception and they agreed to move us to another room. They also carried our bags for us (I certainly didn't want to carry my bag and the rodent jump out at me!). My concern was that my bag was opened on the floor next to Emily's, so there was a possibility of it being in there! When we got to our new room, we went back to sleep for a few hours and then got up to start getting ready. It was at this time that I realized that my bag had not been spared of the rodent...it had climbed through my bag, dug through clothes to find the chocolate, and it had eaten a chunk of the chocolate. It was quite the adventure, and at that point I decided I was ready to come home. I just felt dirty knowing the rat or mouse had crawled through my bag!
It was nice to get back to St. Andrews to my own bed and a familiar shower with good water pressure, but I can't honestly say I wasn't dreading coming back. Coming home to St. Andrews meant the studying had to start hard core, and let me tell you, it's been a challenge. I have had a hard time finding the motivate to studying and finding any kind of productivity. My exam schedule is a bit harsh, with exams back to back one evening and the next morning for two of the three of them. I've also found that it's very difficult to study in the dark, so that leave basically the hours of 9am - 3 pm for studying in the daylight. After that, the productivity dwindles to pretty much nothing. Finals will be over a week from tomorrow, so I probably will not be doing much communicating in the next week.
After finals there is a large hope that I will be going to ski in the Alps. However, the trip details are still in progress and not set in stone. We have three weeks off before the next semester starts on February 9th, so my ideal break would be to go skiing for a few days and then join a friend on a trip through Spain, Portugal, and Morocco. I'll have to update you on these aspirations at a closer date. Hope everyone's 2009 has started out well! I look forward to hearing from you! Please feel free to email at kglisson@alumni.unc.edu or call at 919 809 6760 anytime I cross your mind! :) Miss you all!
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