Céilidh and some other new Scottish experiences...

Hiya!  Last Friday my flatemates, friends, and I went to a Céilidh.  It was awesome!  Its a traditional Scottish dance, music, and food.  I was all prepared to try haggis, and then found out (even the vegetarian haggis) has oats in it.  So much for this 'Taste of Scotland' party.  However, I do have two friends who are determined to find me Gluten Free Haggis.  Well, when in Rome...  Maybe that applies to Scotland.  When in Scotland, do as the Scotts do?!  We shall see.  I love Céilidh dancing.  It reminded me of the folkdancing I did in high school and some of the dances were very similar.  It was a blast.  Céilidh dancing is alot of spinning, running, and kicking.  Its awesome.  I highly recommend it if you have a chance to learn new dances.  At the end of the night as we were leaving, a Scotsman let me try on his bagpipes.  :)  As I was trying to put it on he told me, "Imagine you are making love to an octopus" 







 



 


 That was awesome. 

Every Sunday night, my flatmates and I...and the flat from across the hall...(Usually just one of thier flat mates..who is kind of an honorary flatmember of ours) have a movie night.  It's fun.  We had pizza last week, dominos needs to learn to cut their gluten free pizza, but maybe it was to not cross contaminate...so if that is the case, I appreciate it.  It was good.  I still want someone to try the hotdog stuffed pizza crust.  Somehow I can see my niece loving that pizza! 

Classes are going well.  I am still loving  the dissection aspect of the class and wish there was more.  There is a sense of peace and happiness that I cannot explain that comes over me when I dissect.

I love it here, but its the little things that I really miss.  Like a washering machine.  At my years in undergrad, the money for the machine was included in tuition and fees...not here.  Its too expensive to wash clothes.  Now, before you think I do not wash clothes, remember, it was my brother who went a week at camp with a single pair of underwear!  I wash my clothes by hand and then machine wash my clothes 2x a month.  All I know is that I would not make a very good 18th century house wife, because dang!  Washing clothes by hand, sucks!  It is super hard.  Makes me want to wear scrubs for a whole week just so they will be easier to hand wash.  I miss television.  I didnt think I would, but I do.  I have gotten use to watching some shows online, but its annoying when they have to buffer every 2 minutes.  Other then that...I miss real coffee and coffee creamer.  Food wise, I dont miss anything.  I am good (so far) without ac and heat.  I am now use to my super tiny shower.  I do love the concrete here, the rain (which doesn't happen much), the cold weather, walking everywhere... and my classes.

Last night my flatmates and friends went to an Indian restraunt.  Evidently, curry is the number 1 dish in the UK (I think I heard that right).  Well, I had Garlic Chili Chicken Tikka.  I looked it up, and it contained no gluten so I figured I was safe.  Sweet!  I have had an Indian Organic frozen food dish in the states...not a problem, I got this.  WRONG.  I am from Texas, I can basically drink Tobasco sauce.  This was like straight ghost pepper hot.  Ok, not really, but it had straight chilli powder, green chilis and red chilis.  I think I died.  My friend switched dishes with me (after much conviencing...Im stubborn and tried to do it), and after almost a pitcher and a half of water, my mouth burned.  We went for ice cream after and I had nutella gelato, which was amazing and my mouth and I lived.  My flatmates keep offering to make me Indian dishes... and I am ok with never trying it again.  Spicy or not.  I miss my chicken fingers and mustard/ketchup sauce.  (Miss you Brett)  

I cannot wait to see what the month of October has instore for me in terms of adventures.  Maybe more Céilidh, maybe haggis, maybe rain?!  Who knows.  I will keep you all updated.  I love and miss you all.

Here is a picture from the Taste of Scotland.  The Scotsman is presenting the Haggis.  (Sorry it's blurry)



 






Cheers!

(If anyone wants my address, please let me know)

First week of graduate school

A week has passed and I am loving my professors (I have 2) and I am loving my classes (I have 2, well 4, but one I have yet to know anything about yet).  I am in Embryology, which is not a class I would normally sign up for because, well to be honest, those who know me, know I do not care how a baby is made or formed.  However, it has been interesting to see pictures of the hands and feet in the embryo go from paddles to actual hands and feet.  That is cool.  Got to love apoptosis.  :)  Then there is Gross Anatomy lecture, its interesting as we go into much more depth on some things then I have ever learned, so that is nice.  Then, my favorite class comes after that lecture.  Gross Anatomy Dissection.  I have waited for a long time to do a human dissection.  I have dissected frogs, pigs, mice, etc.  But it has been my goal to do this.  Sure, I have seen pictures, and I saw an arm when I took tours of chiropractic schools.  (Those where already dissected)  What can I say.  This was better then I ever imagined.  I was able to cross off 'making the first cut' on my bucket list.  I loved every minute.  My group member told me I should truly think about medical school.  What can I say, I love dissecting...I loved it in Patho!  He was shocked I knew how to put on a scalpel blade and remove it and which blades went with what knife handle (One good thing the surgical tech program taught me), but I did it properly and I can say I was quite proud of myself for doing it.

So, school is going good, busy, a little overwhelming, but good.  It amazes me how different academic life is here compared to America, at least right now.  Students in my class do not talk, don't ask questions, not many are texting or on facebook (I think I have seen 2 students that have been), but it is like they want to be there and learn.  I love it.  I know the education system is different over here, so maybe that has something to do with it, but it is shocking. 

I am loving the weather...very cold, and will only get colder.  A little sick right now, so I have made a little medicine store in my flat.  It appears that half the campus (at least in my classes) is sick.   A few more days of rain, which has been nice to add to the full effect of Scotland. 

My ankle is healing nicely.  Every now and then it tends to hurt, but nothing compared to last week.  Stupid blog won't let me input pictures today....sorry.
  But imagine a treadmill incline of say about 3 and rain on it...walking downhill...yeah.

Well, that is my first week of school.  Its been great and tomorrow is the second day of dissection.  :)

I miss you all so much.  (And I also miss my t.v. shows.  I never thought I would miss TV, but Bones started last night and Big Bang Theory is about to start...and well, I don't know how I will live...lol) 

Well miss you all and hope everyone is doing well and for those of you back home, I hope the heat is not killing you all.  I will try to send some of this cold weather!  :)

Cheers! 

'Allo from the sunny UK!

Hi ya!  Tonight is the first night alone in my flat in the UK.  It is finally becoming real.  My mum left today to see friends and then head back to the states.  It is about 9pm and I just finished my second cuppa tea.  (Yes, my goal is to use as many Scottish words as I have learned in this post).  It has been a whirlwind of adventure.  Glasgow, Saint Andrews, Edinburg, and Dundee.  I am unable to upload pictures of Glasgow, St. Andrews, or Dundee at this time due to the camera cord missing.  However, Edinburg was breathtaking and I can upload some of those.

The plane ride: I ordered Gluten free dinner and they forgot the GF dinners, so for a 16 hour plane ride I had a side salad and cheese squares.  I wasn't too happy.   And i didn't get breakfast either.    Then we landed in London.  That airport is flipping nuts!  (customs and flight attendants telling us wrong info.)   Catching a bus in the airport...crazy.  But I had breakfast and lunch at a pub in the airport....so good and the cheese was awesome!!!   Then we flew to Glasgow and well Glasgow is not the prettiest of cities, but the family we are staying with is super nice.  The dad is like a spitting image of Bill Cosby.  They took my mom and I to a sports mall where there was a ice skiing school in there.  It was awesome.  Then I tried Irn Bru (a Scottish soft drink...I am addicted now). 



 The next day I went to Dundee...and well I am still in shock.  It is nothing like I imagined.  But then again Scotland in the movies (like Brave) are all country.  Dundee is interesting...smokers everywhere, different colored hair, and nice people.  Primark has become one of my favorite stores!  For those of you in the states reading this, imagine Kohls, but 2 stories and half the price!   I bought some really cheap things for my flat there.  Pictures will have to come soon, since I am having to air dry some clothes.  And that was basically that day...finished by a night in a hotel.  Then Thursday, we finished some shopping, walked around the town and got more things for the flat and did laundry.  I think I will be doing laundry by hand because it was super expensive to wash clothes (18 pounds (Close to 36 dollars) for 5 loads (washing and drying))  Then on Friday mom and I went to St. Andrews.  She wanted to see the Golf Course and the college.  It is pretty.  My feet were killing me because I had the genius Idea of breaking in new shoes.  But it is a pretty city.  Then we went back to Glasgow and went to Ikea (Which is like 3x the size of ours in Texas) and we went to another store that starts with an A.  (I forgot the name)  Then we ate at Nandos...It was good.  (I am still allergic to gluten...even though some can still tolerate it in other countries) And I loved the Piri piri chicken!  It was spicy... but found out I am allergic to it.  Go figure.

 Saturday we went to Edinburg.  Which I loved.  I want to move there and go to the festivals, live above the shops, and take the Ghost Bus Tour!   I loved that city.  Today we went to church with the family we stayed with.
Fresher's Week started and its been kind of a waste and completely for freshman.  However, I remember standing in front of Hubbard Hall during Pioneer week thinking that week was a complete waste.  However, I loved that school and have a feeling I will love this school.  I think I just love school too much!  And now I am here.  Trying to get everything organized.  Its crazy...and I am ready for school to start, but beyond nervous.

I wrote this blog in two parts, so a few days have past.  Tomorrow school starts.  I am beyond ready for classes and for a routine.  I am taking 3 classes a semester and next week starts human dissection!  No worries though, those of you who are reading...I will not be posting pictures.  Friday night I went out and heard Irish music, and it was awesome.  Saturday I made a trip to Poundland which I love.  Yes, Pound Land is like Dollar tree, Dollar General, etc...but it has name brands in the store.  I tried a British food called Marmite...can't decide if I like it.




I finally experience Scotland Rain... It sprinkles, rains, pours, rains, and pours all in like 30 minutes.  I fell down the stupid hill by my flat, skinned my knee and bruised my ankle pretty badly.     Picture of the hill will come later.

As for today, I took it really easy.  I hand washed half of my clothes, cleaned, made lunch for tomorrow, and read some of my book "I am Messenger."  Now, I am anxiously waiting for 9 am tomorrow (3 am for those of you in my home state)

Here are some of my favorite Edinburg pictures!








And my favorite Muffin and coffee place by campus!  (All Natural and Organic and a different gluten free muffin each day!)