scottishmoose

Ugh-- anyone else perturbed by the Valentines LJ banner?  Though cupid-goat was interesting...

Today was a lovely day.  For those of you who were experiencing the lovely weather in Ottawa:  it was about 8 degrees this afternoon.

After making a needed trip to the book shop for another book for a class-- which required a few minutes of self reassurance, because even though 20 pounds is a lot of money to pay for a book, I'm likely to keep a book of Pope's work for the rest of my life-- I wasn't yet ready to go back to my room, so I took the long way around the Loch to get home.  The walk was amazing!  I can't believe that I had never made it before.  My only regret was my lack of forethought to bring a camera and some bread for the ducks.  

I stopped at one point to read some of An Essay on Criticism, unfortunately it wasn't long before I began to feel chilly in the path of a lake breeze.  So, I decided to head back to my room to read in warmth with a cup of tea and digestives.

Now, I'm going to go stop being lazy and finish up loading pictures from Paris.  Yes, Paris is good, and pictures are better!

Right, so, inviting your drunken friends back to the flat, that you share with other people, at 2 o'clock in the morning is sooooo not cool.  As it will make your roommates grumpy when the talking loudly, squealing, thumping and banging on doors (ahem, MINE!) eventually wakes them up!  And said roommates will not be happy and will end up giving very poorly worded and mangled reprimands about proper drunken etiquette.

In other news, one of the flats above mine is having a party.  Joy.  Now I get to listen to those drunken idiots at 2 in the morning.

Okay, happy thoughts.

Yesterday was a gorgeous day!  I had to get out to Pathfoot and the atrium, so I took the scenic root from Pathfoot.  The stroll around the lake was, of course, beautiful, though no geese or ducks came to visit me.  Though I really should pull out some of that drying bread and go give them a snack.

I start up classes for the second semester on Friday, and part of me is glad, I'm ready to get back!  Though, I'm glad that I now have classes to get back to.  Last week I got an e-mail from the study abroad office wanting to know if the reason I wasn't signed up for spring courses was because I had dropped out.  Umm.  NO!  I had to go to the English department and get them to add the courses to my webCT account, because that was f-ed up too. (thus my trip to Pathfoot yesterday)

Oh well.  At least now everything should be ready and waiting for me.  Now I just have to survive the next 10 weeks of classes.

On Tuesday Linsey and I went to the Old Town Jail.  It was really creepy!  There were all these statues that were hiding, and they'd make Linsey and I jump every time we came across one.  Some of the prison cells had the statues, and we tended not to enter them very far past the door.  Eventually, we approached all new doorways and corners with small steps and furtive glances around the corners.  

Right, so as promised, pictures from my visit to the Eiffel Tower

Just a word of warning, there are several large photos!  It may take a moment to upload!

Sunday afternoon Els and I went to the Gallery in Deinze.  It was small, but had a couple of nice pieces.  We then walked to a Waffle house where I had more Belgian Waffles! Yummy!  Afterwards, we caught a bus that took us to the car park of the local football field.  There we got to see the Christmas tree burning and the fire works.

Yes I know I know!  The nature lover in my was protesting loudly about green house gases and the destruction and waste of recyclables; but the kid in me had soooo much fun!  Even if we did have to wait around for an hour after the fire works ended before the bus took us home.  On the upside, the bus was almost empty so the driver kindly took us all to our front doors! :D

And now, pictures:

Finally updating with pictures from my trip to Brussels and Paris.  I'm back dating the entries and separating them by the days.

After two great weeks of visiting, my family has gone home :(  I miss them lots and it feels surreal to be on my own again, but in some ways it felt more weird to have them in my flat here.  I may at some later date, put up some of the pictures that were taken, we'll see.

In other news, tomorrow morning, bright and early, I'm headed off to Brussels.  My insides feel like they're going to fall out I'm so nervous, but at least I'm going to see Els :D  Hopefully I'll be able to borrow her computer and post an update before I return to Scotland.  After my visit with Els I'm headed to Paris to see Harley, and then to Copenhagen to visit a fellow exchange student.  Now if only I can convince myself that I'll survive tomorrow's journey...

Another post?!  Why aren't you all just spoiled!

Just a quick post before I go to sleep, because I'm a very tired little moose.


It's bed time now.  Night all!

Sunday was Guy Fawkes day.  How I love the British-- rebels fail to blow up parliament and they make it into a national holiday.  Firework displays are pretty big, so Linsey, her friends, Krissy and Andy, and I all went out to see a show.  By the time we got there, the show had already started and we only caught the end of it, but we still had a good time.  The drive over was probably just as much fun as the show.

During the drive I was 'promoted' to personal slave status, learned what a 'hippo' is in terms of cars, and got to be the 'in car' entertainment.  After the show, Linsey and I headed back to her place and took the opportunity for pizza and NCIS.  Is there any better combination?

Tonight I went out with Sean for drinks around Stirling.  Sooo much fun.  We headed stopped at several different bars, to get a flavour of each.  My favourite stop was the "American" styled sports bar.  It was quite posh!  There are hug, flat screen TVs at the main bar, and in a back room there are booths and each has its own TV!  I've never been in a sports bar that was that nice.

Of course, since we were at a sports bar, Nachos and/or chicken wings are a must.  Sean had the wings, I had the Nachos.  Hmmm, so tasty.  It actually prompted the discussion of a Canadian food night.  We've decided that we'll get together for dinner some night and eat Canadian dishes, and then Sean can show me Marilyn Monroe movies (he was quite upset when I admitted to having never seen one of her movies, and with due cause I'm sure.  I mean, I can't believe that I've never actually seen any of them!)

Tonight, I got to pet a cat!   We stopped by at Sean's, and he has the sweetest black cat that I got to cuddle for a few minutes!!  Heaven!  The first cat that I've seen since I left home!  I wanted to steal this little guy!

No pictures tonight, but hopefully more soon!
Love to all!

So, I've decided to blame my lack of pictures of Scottish weather.  Really.  It's against me.  It'll be a nice enough day, cloudy skies maybe, but not raining.  However, as soon as I take my camera out, it starts to rain.  Like today, I was walking around campus and it was a little misty, but when I stopped off at my room and picked up my camera,  it started to rain.  So yeah, when I don't update in a while, it's because it's been raining again.

Photobucket made Legolas angry ...and I really have to make him smaller :\

So, last week I wasn't feeling that great, which means that I don't have much to talk about.  I've got a few pictures that I've yet to upload, so you'll just have to wait a few days for those.

On Tuesday I saw the Devil Wears Prada, and it looks like I might be going to see it again tomorrow.  A large group is going, and I enjoyed it enough and it's an oportunity to socialise.  I'll bring my camera along with me and hopefully will have pictures of new friends to put up.

I just spent the last few minutes standing outside in my pajamas-- someone set off the fire alarm.  My guess would be the drunk looking blond guy who was being chastised by a friend.  He kept saying "why did you do it? why did you do it? you ruined the party now!"  The party certainly looked ...interesting.  Half the people had blue face paint marking their faces and arms, while the rest were covered in blue make-up and dressed as smurfs.   ...I don't ask.

Now I'm going to go back to what I was doing before the alarm, that is going to sleep!  Stupid fire alarm.  That's the third time that it's been set off, and I think so far it wins for most annoying time (though in the middle of a rain storm and during dinner wasn't much better)

Night all!

Lesson learned:  When traveling to scotland always bring an umbrella with you.
Things I miss:  www.octranspo.com  I never knew what a god send that site was-- until now.

Yay another update and more pictures!

On Sunday the 17th I went out on a tour of the Stirling area, and had a great time.  Our tour guide, Will, dubbed our bus, The Fun Bus, and from what we've heard, it was the best one to be on.  Will was a riot, with constant departures from the script to point out such areas of interest as his flat, Duncan's flat, the local supermarket, and even the cottage his parents keep threatening to buy.  Though one of my favorite moments was probably when he said, "And if you look over to the right you can see a car crash.  ...Don't look, don't look!"

The trip was definitely worth it.  I got to meet other exchange students and got to learn more about the area in which I'm living.

Okay, so it took a while for me to finally get around to doing this, but I've been busy. Now that I've done this first post, I'm hoping that I'll start doing updates more regularly.