Happy Slapsgiving

Since my parents were coming to visit me over actual Thanksgiving, I had an early Thanksgiving party with my flat the Thursday before Thanksgiving (This sentence has to many "Thanksgivings" in it). I never noticed how much effort it took to shop for dinner. I mean, I knew what an effort it was to make Thanksgiving dinner but I mean shopping. Really? Anyway I travelled from store to store but found green beans, mashed potatoes, stuffing, squash, things to make pecan pie with, and turkey. The turkey was 16 pounds (so expensive) but it was worth it.

Thursday evening, around four, I  started cooking the meal. Ivan helped make the stuffing, Julie baked the pecan pie, Bryony brought a vegetable dish, I monitored the turkey, and Cal helped with the decorations. I tried to show him how to draw a hand turkey but I don't know if it makes the same impression it makes on a 5 year old. Cal is so crafty though and the decorations were great. We made a paper chain and wrote down everything we were thankful for. Everyone asked me why we were doing this and I told them, "It's Thanksgiving, that's why!"

 

So Ivan, Bryony, Julie, Julie's friends, Cal, Calum, Alicia, Reece, John, Bram, Gordon, Stewart, Sorcha, and I had Thanksgiving dinner. It was so fun. We went around the table and said what we were thankful for again. My friends from outside the United Kingdom were so happy to experience Thanksgiving. Since I was the only American, they were only able to experience my kind of Thanksgiving. I never realized how many different Thanksgiving traditions different families have. Mine usually entails me watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade or going on the Turkey Trot, helping my mom with food, getting ready, going to my grandparent's house or having them come over to ours, eating dinner, playing football or playing a board game, or walking Marley, and then watching some Christmas episodes. But other people have different things they do on Thanksgiving. Oh, and I have to have pecan pie, especially Mamaw's pecan pie.

So after dinner, the people that didn't cook cleaned up while we all played touch football. Bram, John, Reece, and Gordon were on one team, and Alicia, Cal, Calum, and I were on another team. Surprisingly, Gordon knew a lot about American football and there team were the Packers. My team weren't the most confident sports team so we were named the "Cuddly Cowboys" (after the Dallas Cowboys). Although we had the most spirit, my team did not score a single touchdown. Even after we switched around the teams a little bit because the Cuddly Cowboys were so horrible, my new team didn't score a touchdown! It was ironic that the only American playing football was so horrible! At the end I was able to score and "honorary" touchdown. But everyone was done with football because they wanted to watch Love Actually.

Just had to include my favorite scene, and for that matter one of the best scenes of any movie

We watched Love Actually, because every American knows that Thanksgiving signals Christmas :D. We transformed our kitchen into a movie theater. We brought in our big sofa chairs and sat in rows around the computer. Most of everyone had seen the movie and were dying to watch it. It was one of my most memorable moments of the semester. Although the Thanksgiving party ended early, I had to rush to bed in order to catch my train to London to meet up with my family!

It was a really memorable Thanksgiving. It was hard to be away from home because of my love of traditions. Although I was in a train during actual Thanksgiving, my make-shift Thanksgiving was one of my best Thanksgivings ever. I missed my family so much but while I have been here, my flat has become my home away from home, my new family.

"Take her to sea Mr. Murdoch"

Lauren and I left on the last flight from the Prestwick Airport to Dublin! We left for the airport around 4ish. We took the subway to the train station to catch the train to Prestwick. We hurried on the train but we made it. It was an easy train ride that only took about 45 minutes. We were actually really early for our plane (because Lauren thought it left at 8) but we took our time and had a nice dinner (I actually had the Chile Con Carne :D).

The flight was ok but there was a lot of turbulence (I think because we were flying over the sea). We landed early and went smoothly through customs. We thought about taking the bus to our hotel but it would take about an hour and half as opposed to about twenty minutes so we took a cab. Our cab driver was very nice and told us all about Dublin. He told us to go visit the old prison and told us about all the writers that were from the area. When we told him that we were going to Belfast for a day he said "Ew, why would you want to go there?" I had to remember that Dublin and Southern Ireland is a separate country from Northern Ireland and is not part of the United Kingdom.

Lauren and I splurged a little bit, because it was only the two of us traveling, and we stayed at a hotel. It was not too expensive because we split the price. It was a cute little inn. It had a bar, a dinning room, cable tv, and wifi! It was a nice change from University accomodation.

Our first day in Dublin, Lauren and I took the train to Belfast so we could go to the Titanic museum. The train was a little long but the sights were beautiful. It looked a lot like Great Britain. As soon as we got off the train, we went to find food. We happened upon St. Georges market.  It was a cute indoor market with everything you could imagine. We had really good Greek food.

Cool Lampost 

Awesome View

We made our way along the Titanic walkway to the Titanic Museum. We bought our tickets for 3:00 so we had time to spare. We decided to take a cab to Belfast Castle. I thought the castle would be magnificent but it was a tiny little castle. There was a little exhibit on Belfast but it was not castle worthy. After the castle, we hiked a little ways up a trail and got a great view of Belfast. There were apparently some ancient ruins at the top, but unfortunately we didn't have time. We were headed to sea!

The architecture at the Titanic Museum is a work of art. It looked as if it was made of steel and had a creative shape. Lauren and I arrived ahead of our time slot, so we explored the giftshop and got a snack. It might just be me, but it was amazing to me that there was a gift shop. It seemed to me as they were glorifying the sinking of the Titanic. It just was ironic that they were selling white star line merchandise (the cruiser line of the Titanic) when millions of people died on that cruiser.

The museum was fun though. The first exhibit was about life in Belfast in the early 1900s. I learned that Belfast was a merchant/ shipping city. Therefore, it was appropriate that the Titanic was built in Belfast Harbor. The next was on the making of the Titanic. Lauren and I always happen upon rides, so of course their was a slow ride on how make a massive ship. The shipbuilders worked in dark and deep spaces, and the chance of dying while working was high. Riveting was a horrible process of inserting the bolts into the ship. From World War II's propoganda, I had a glorified view of Rosie the Riverter and believed that they had it easy and were doing their tiny part to help in the war. Now I know that riviting is probably the hardest job ever and I don't know if I could have done it. They also highlighted the first sail of the Titanic from Belfast to South Hampton (Were the interior was created and were it would take on passengers). During this event in history,  a man died from a log falling on him when they let it out of the harbor. It was very sad and ominous.

The next exhibit was my favorite. It showed you what the Titanic was like for passengers. First, you got a first hand look at what first class accomodation would have been like. The recreated room looked just like Rose's room in the Titanic. Next was second class accomodation. My family would have probably stayed there. It was similar to first class, but I don't think the room had its own toilet and sink. Lastly there was third class. These were cheap rooms had bunkbeds and very little else. It reminded me of the hostels and accomodation I have stayed in. However, boys and girls had their own quarters and could not mix.

Nearer my God to Thee

Next, they showed us the sinking of the Titanic. It was a very dark gallery. Afterword, they showed us all the propaganda and the news reports from the sinking. Like today, many newspapers started printing things before they were given the proper facts. What I found most interesting though, was that some characters in the movie existed in real life. Coming from Denver I already knew that "The Unsinkable" Molly Brown was a real woman. However, so was Captain Smith, Thomas Andrews, Bruce Ismay, John JacobAstor, Benjamin Guugenheim, the Straus', and the conductor, and the officer that shot himself. I think James Cameron scripted these characters very well. He definitely did his research.

Kate, Leo, and I...Well kindof :D

The last two exhibits explored  the sea exploration that found the Titanic's remains and showed the Titanic in popular media. Of course they had a big display of the 1997 movie, fully equipped with the actor's costumes! Although the museum could have gone into greater depth, it was still amazing. I am so glad we went.

The actual Temple Bar

After the museum, we headed back Dublin. However, we got to see the arena where Belfast's hockey team plays. I almost cried. I know my beloved Stars aren't playing this year, but I still miss my sport. It was so cool to see the ice again! Anyway, when we got back to Dublin, we went to Temple Bar, which was basically a row of pubs and bars. We grabbed dinner at one pub, got cocktails (I had a sex on the beach :D), and then went to an Irish pub. Because we went straight from the train station, I had on comfy clothes, my rain jacket, and my backpack. This dodgey married guy came up to Lauren and I and started flirting with us. He told us to relax and to dance. It was funny now that I look back on it, but he was so weird! We had one drink and headed back to the hotel.

The next morning we checked out of the hotel and went to go find breakfast. Never go out on Sunday to find breakfast in Dublin. Nothing's open! After walking for about thirty minutes, we found a breakfast place and had a good brunch. Then we did some sight seeing.

I spy Oscar Wilde

St. Patrick Cathedral

My Perfect Pint!

So erie

First we went to the Jameson Whiskey distillery. We were shown a short film of the old distillery and then taken on a tour. At the end we tried some Jameson (mine was mixed with gingerale). It was good but I am not really a whiskey person. However, whiskey and gingerale I can do. Next we got on a hop on hop off tour and saw the sights of Dublin. First, we stopped at St. Patrick's Episcopal Cathedral. It was really big and pretty. Next we drove past the Oscar Wilde monument, saw James Joyce's house, saw a famous hotel where Grace Kelly stayed, and saw where the author of Dracula got married. So much literature! Of course we made our way to the Guiness factory. Unlike the Jameson distillery, there were no guided tours. However, we were able to try it and we learned how to pour our own pint. Let's just say, I started to feel all the alcohol and got a little tipsy. It was fun though. We attempted to see Kilmainham Jail (the old jail) but did not have time. We did get to see the big jail room and it reminded me of Mr. Bates on Downton Abbey and the insane asylum in American Horror Story. It was really amazing.

Lauren and I caught the bus back to the airport. For a Sunday night, the Dublin Airport was so busy. We made it through security but had to go to the gate because of stupid Ryan Air's policies. We were able to get dinner though. When we arrived back at Prestwick, we ran into Lauren's friends and took the train back with them. Unfortunately, the train line was having work done to it, so we had to get off the train, take a bus to another train station, wait at the train station until they realized that that the train was coming late, and take a bus to Glasgow Central. It was ridiculous but we managed. It was a funny ending to a great trip.

"Double, Double, Toil and Trouble"

The next week was Halloween. My sorority sisters Aspen (studying abroad in Rome) and Kaye (studying abroad in Brussels) came to visit along with other DU people. Aspen and her friends, Julie and Cheyenne, came in the morning. A couple DU friends and I had lunch with them at our favorite crepe place, but then I had to go back to school. Later that evening, we went to Katy's flat for taco night and to carve pumpkins. It was fun but I cannot carve a pumpkin to save my life. I tried to be creative so I carved ghosts with "Happy Halloween" on my pumpkin. I thought I was being crafty but no one could guess what image I had carved.

My wimpy pumpkin cannot compare to Lauren's Scotland one

Aspen and Julie stayed with me. The first night we played monopoly with my flatmates. Cal, who is super crafty, had made a monopoly board. It was really cool. All the chance cards and spaces on the board have to do with our flat and the University of Glasgow. It took him 5 hours! Although I do not have a good strategy for monopoly, it was still fun.

The next day was Halloween! Last Halloween I was sick, so I was ready to "live it up", even though I had a presentation due the next day. Lauren R., Lauren H., Katy, Kate, Cheyenne, Aspen, Julie, Kaye, and I got ready in Lauren H.'s flat. Aspen did my make up and Lauren R. did my hair. Everyone had great costumes. Lauren R. was a cat, Lauren H. was the Statue of Liberty, Katy was a giraffe, Kate was a day of the dead skeleton, Cheyenne was a zombie hipster, Aspen was a witch, Julie was a french person, Kaye was Sherlock Holmes, and I, of course, was Leslie Knope. Katy did most of the makeup and it looked amazing!

Sorority Squat!

All the Laurens!

Best Group of DU friends abroad (and Kate)  a girl could ask for

In character

After taking lots of pictures, we headed to the QMU. It was so crowded! The decorations were fun though (I've never been to a Halloween party so I guess I am not a good judge). The DJ was ok. He played Halloween music, like "Ghostbusters", but he also played 90's stuff, like Blink-182 (which is ok if everyone knows the song). Aspen, Julie and I got separated from our group (again it was so crowded!) but we found my flat and danced with them the whole night. We headed back pretty early but it was a good night.

What the Halloween Party Reminded me of

Aspen, Cheyenne, and Julie left early the next morning. The flat was so quiet without them :(! But Kaye stayed until Friday so it was ok. On Thursday Kaye, Lauren, and I watched Criminal minds. I had seen the show but I wasn't a big fan. My friends (Angela and Shar :D) were obsessed freshman year). The show is actually pretty good. It's kind of reminds me of Law & Order. It was a fun night but I had to cut it short because the next day, I was off to Ireland :D!

"Carry on my Wayward Son": An Ode to Supernatural

This post is dedicated to Leah Rosenthal. You are the Dean to my Sam

The next day, I was finally able to skype Clair. I was so excited to skype my best friend (minus Jackson)! Even though we don’t go to the same school anymore, we text each other almost daily. Sadly, I am in the UK and the international cell phone rates aren’t exactly cheap. So it was so good to talk to her. But why am I narrating this part of my life with you? Well Clair’s boyfriend, Brennen, studied in Edinburgh this summer for about a month. Ever since I’ve known Brennen, we have this running joke that we disagree on everything. So the fact that we both pledge allegiance to different Scottish cities is nothing new. But he told me that Glasgow was to industrial and not very pretty while Edinburgh was more touristy and had a better landscape. So in true Barney Stinson fashion, I took that as a challenge to find the idyllic parts of my city. I did not have to go too far.

I took these pictures on my walk back from my education lecture. Unlike usual, the sky was not overcast and leaves were falling. It was picture perfect!

On Saturday, my friend Lauren and I headed out to Edinburgh on the Megabus. Although it was early in the morning and I had stayed up pretty late the night before, Lauren and I talked all the way there! As soon as we got to Edinburgh we stopped at this cute pub right by St. Giles Cathedral. One of the waitresses looked familiar and later I figured out why. Remember when my mom and I went to Arthur’s seat? Well we ran into a mother and daughter from South Africa who told us all of the cool things to do in Edinburgh. The daughter told us that, if we were eating dinner in Edinburgh we should grab dinner at her pub… near a touristy church. We didn’t eat there that night because we went to St. Andrews but its so weird that I would end up eating there eventually. When I first met her, I was this helpless tourist that had no idea what Scotland had to offer me and by the time I saw her again, I was aquainted with and living in Scotland. It was so weird!

St. Giles Cathedral

After lunch, we were supposed to meet our friends that stayed with a friend who lives in the Borders. However, they told us that they hadn’t even left yet. So Lauren and I decided to walk around and see what we could find. And we happened on “The Scottish Whisky Experience”. It was insane. They had a huge gift shop filled with different types of whiskey. If you bought a 10 pound student ticket, you could go on the whiskey experience tour. It reminded me so much of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. First, you got on this ride that took you through the whiskey process. The seat was in a shape of a barrel and they had projections of an Einstein looking guy describing how whiskey was made. I was just waiting for Gene Wilder to pop out of a barrel and start singing about the factory. After the ride was done, we were brought into a room and given an educational whiskey talk. Now I know that Scottish whiskey tastes different wherever it is harvested. We were also given a sample of whichever kind of whiskey we’d like to try. I tried the lowland whiskey, because it supposedly has a flowery taste. I found out that I don’t like whiskey, but the experience is something that I will never forget.

 

I couldn't help myself. This is how I feel about whiskey :D

 Next we went exploring through the city. We got a picture with “William Wallace”, went to the Tartan museum (it wasn’t really a museum, it was just the place where they made tartan), and then went to get a snack a cute coffee shop. By the time we were done with our snacks, it was time to meet the rest of our friends at the hostel.

            The hostel was fine but I had never stayed in one before. It’s kind of a weird concept of sleeping in a room filled with people you don’t know. But we were a party of six, which made things better. My friends were all hungry when they got there, so we ate dinner at a Chinese restaurant by the Haymarket train station. The food tasted good, but it was pricey and they did not have good service. But food for me didn’t matter. I was too excited to go on our ghost tour!

            Our ghost tour met at St. Giles Cathedral, near where we ate lunch earlier that day. The weather was cold and rainy, perfect for a ghost tour. First we went to the underground part of Scotland, where the lesser off would sometimes hide and even live. It was humid and cramped in the caves, but I didn’t feel any supernatural beings. I did get pretty frightened though. Then we went to a graveyard where a suspected poltergeist is. I didn’t feel anything there either. However, the tour company did have someone jump out at us while we were in a tomb and I almost wet myself. I crouched down into a little ball and tried to shield myself from whatever entity jumped out at us. Thank God no one was mad at me for my crazy reaction. The tour ended by telling us the story about Greyfriars Bobby. The story goes when his master died, the dog was so loyal that he stayed by his grave until he died. It was the sweetest story and a comforting way to end our horrifying tour.

After the tour we headed back to our hostel and went to bed. I’ve decided that I probably wouldn’t have minded the hostel if my university rented it out but I don’t think hostels our for me. I don’t want to sound to “posh”. It’s just that every time someone moved, all the bunk beds would move and squeak too. The restrooms were also coed and it wasn’t very pleasant. But it was fine for our group and the time we spent there.

The next morning we got up and went to breakfast (because breakfast was not included in our hostel!) We spent the rest of our time in Edinburgh souvenir shopping and going to Edinburgh Castle. It was a pretty relaxed morning. Then Lauren and I had to leave early to catch our bus. We made it back to Glasgow safe and sound. 

"It does not do well to dwell on dreams and forget to live" Albus Dumbledore

So it is ridiculous that I haven't written on my blog since mid October but I have been so busy. Although the semester is almost up, the past couple of weeks I have had a paper due each week. It's been ridiculous.

So I guess the best place to start off would be my trip to Edinburgh with Ivan and Abbie. I had originally planned to go to Edinburgh with my friends from DU the next weekend, but I figured two trips to Edinburgh would be fun.

On the first trip, Ivan, Abbie, and I all headed took the Megabus to Edinburgh (Megabus is a cheap bus system for the UK. It only cost 10 pounds round-trip to go to Edinburgh from Glasgow). The bus ride was as nice as any bus ride can be but it was perfect because it only took us an hour and half to get there though. I slept most of the way ( I didn't get much sleep on the night before because my flatmates through a party. (At the party, I met someone from Sweden who knows a guy who knows Loui Eriksson. Therefore, I wanted to become his best friend. Of course, I haven't seen him since that party :D).

For those of you who don't know, this is Loui :D

We decided to go to Edinburgh to see the Catherine the Great exhibit at the Scottish Museum in Edinburgh. The exhibit was pretty cool. I kind of remember learning about Catherine the Great in AP European history but the exhibit really brought her to life. Her story is very similar to other great ruling women of the time. She was not born Catherine but changed her name when she married the Grande Duke of Russia. From what I can remember, she basically over through him and became ruled Russia as Empress then on. She was a very strong woman.

After the exhibit, Abbie, Ivan, and I walked around the other exhibits. We walked through the animal/insect exhibit and then found an amazing exhibit on clocks. It sounds crazy but they were so decorative. One was a clock that had a monster eating time, which was very philosophical and a good metaphor of time. There was another very tall call with different images of time. My favorite was the skeleton, which I guess represents death, in other words, the end of time (or it could just be the beginning, depending on your philosophy). Then we saw the Early Scots exhibit, which is cool because I am taking Scottish History at the University of Glasgow. There were items commemorating Robert Bruce and, of course, William Wallace. Then we got to see the most exciting thing at the museum, Dolly, the cloned sheep!

Time Eater!

Ominous Death

"For we fight not for glory, nor riches, nor honours, but for Freedom alone, which no good man gives up except with his life"

Dolly

After the museum we walked to the Elephant House, one of the places J.k Rowling allegedly wrote Harry Potter, to have lunch (I had a baked potato, a cookie, and a cappacino). It was a cute little cafe. The service was slow and I kind of got the feeling that they didn't like the influx of tourist coming to the cafe just for Harry Potter. One of the coolest things about the cafe was the bathroom. It had an outpouring of quotes and notes for JK Rowling and the Harry Potter series. Although I only read up to book 5, through my sister, best friend, and cousin, I know the series touched many hearts and it was really cool to read what people had to say about it.

"Of course it's happening inside your head Harry, but why on earth does that make it any less real"

I tried to go to the Ministry of Magic. It didn't work...

After the Elephant House, we all walked up to Edinburgh Castle. It took us awhile to walk up to the Royal Mile (the street the castle is on) because it was all up hill. We didn't actually pay to get inside but we got a wonderful view of Edinburgh. After the Castle we went to a souvenir shop and I got the Princess Diana memorial tartan! Then we walked to the city center and hung out there a little bit. Abbie had never been to Primark (basically a really cheap department store) so we window shopped there and then hopped on the bus back to Glasgow.

Edinburgh Castle 

Edinburgh

William Wallace 

Picture Perfect 

I cannot get enough of this view

Sweet Caption

The bus ride was a little more crazy this time. You never know if you will get a peaceful bus ride or have that one crazy person on the bus. Well the bus back had about three crazy people on the bus. They were either all middle-aged and trying to act young or all young and trying to act cool. They were drunk in the mid afternoon and were being so loud and obnoxious on the bus. They even started smoking at one point! Apart from the bus ride the trip to Edinburgh was great.

Still to come on "Living under British rule Finally"
Edinburgh take 2-- Dungeon of Terror
"In Scotland do as the Scottish do"/ Halloween
Ireland
ELECTION