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smcdancer
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Name: Susan
Gender: Female
Interests: Dance, mainly ballet and tap, but I do enjoy our once a year jazz and modern classes; reading, I love to read mostly historical fiction/sappy romance/adventure and then occasional bit of fantasy; shopping, I mean, what better way to spend an afternoon? and of course talking and hanging out w/ my friends
Occupation: Student
Message: message me
AIM:  smcballerina
Member Since:
9/16/2004
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| So, tonight I went to my first rugby game. A group of us walked to Murray field to see Edinburgh University and Munster (not sure on the spelling) play. Unfortunately, Edinburgh lost 7-11. However, I would have to say that rugby is definitely a new favorite sport. Each team had 15 players on the field and they needed that many b/c half of them were always piling up in these group tackles. I took some pictures, so we'll see if I can weed through them and post some.
I keep trying to post pictures or email pictures, but unfortunately the connection here in the flats is so bad I can't. I still haven't tried at school, so we'll see if that works out.
Other than that, there's not much new going on right now. I am settling in quite nicely here I think. I'm still loving my flat and roomies, and the people I've been hanging out w/ are all pretty cool people. The world has seemed a lot smaller since coming here b/c everyone from the US suddenly seems a lot closer to home, even though I'm rooming w/ a girl from Seattle, Washington; and the people from Scotland or other countries are all very friendly. Everyone is very nice and helpful, which is good for me since I have had to ask for directions several time or for someone to point me in the right direction.
I have stayed w/ the same church that I visited the second Sunday I was here, Buccleuch and Greyfriar's Free Church of Scotland. It's a small church, but the people are very welcoming and the sermons are solid. The interesting thing about Buccleuch is they only sing Psalms, and they only sing them a capella. I've gone to their Discipleship Explored class a couple of times that meets on Thursday evenings. They've also invited me to a Bible study, but it's on Wednesday night and Wednesdays my last class doesn't get out until 6.
I have enjoyed my classes, but trying to figure out tutorials has not been fun. As soon as I think I've got them figured out, I find out that they're not meeting for the week, or the one I'm at is full and I need to pick another time. I had been so excited b/c I had my class schedule set up so that I didn't have anything before 12, which was wonderful. Then I found out that my Thursday class, which is at 12, only has tutorials at 9, 10, or 11, and the 11 was full. The professor said he might open up a Tuesday tutorial at 12, but he hasn't yet, so I'm stuck in the 10. Oh well, I do know a girl in that class that I roomed w/ at the hostel the first few days we were here, so that's nice.
My classes this semester are Marketing 1, Scottish Culture and Heritage, Human Resource Management Practice, and Operations Management. The marketing class is huge, 330 people, but the tutorial's nice and small so we can have discussions. With the Scottish Culture class we're going to go on three field trips: one to the Edinburgh castle, one to the St. Andrew's palace, and one to a whiskey distillery.
So, that's all I've got for now, as I'm pretty tired from today.
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| So, I am now officially moved in to my new flat. Yesterday we had our residency induction meeting where we get our keys and sign the leases. I am sharing a flat on the second floor of Wright's Houses that overlooks the meadows. There are four other girls who are my roommates, but I've still only met three. The roommates I know are Heather, Jennifer, and Mary, who I also roomed w/ in the hostel. I think the other girl is Sarah, but I'm not sure. Tonight I think we're going to do a pub crawl, so we'll see what's around.
Last night Heather, Alie, Kaylee and I decided to run to IKEA to get some stuff for our flats. However, due to a housing issue, Alie and Kaylee couldn't stay at their's; so we packed some of their stuff and they spent the night w/ us last night. That was fine except it put us late trying to get out to shop, so we caught a cab from their place to IKEA. After we were done at IKEA, we decided that we wanted to take the bus back since we all had day passes. Unfortunately, none of us knew where the bus stop was or which bus we needed to take. We ended up hauling all of our stuff that we'd bought, plus all of the stuff that Kaylee and Alie brought for the night across the parking lot to a Sainsbury's (Target equivalent) and asking for directions. Then we had to haul all of that stuff to the bus stop on the main road and wait for the bus. We didn't make it back until 11 last night and then we didn't get to bed til around 1.
Anyways, today went better, though the weather has been going back and forth all day. When I woke up this morning the sun was shining and the weather looked beautiful. By the time we left for matriculation an hour later, it was sleeting and the wind was blowing ridiculously hard. After matriculation and the Fresher's Fayre, we walked back to our flat and the sun was shining again. Heather and I went grocery shopping and by the time we came back, it was doing the snow/sleet thing w/ crazy wind again.
Despite all that, I really like where I am. The group I met at the hostel that I've been hanging out with is really nice. Most of us are here in Wright's Houses, but a few are spread out. I'm going to try to attend Buccleuch and Greyfriars Free Church of Scotland on Sunday, so we'll see how it goes.
That's all I've got for now. Hopefully I'll get some pictures up on Facebook by the weekend.
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| So I am now officially here in Edinburgh, Scotland. The weather was
actually very nice when I landed in London this morning and it stayed
nice all the way up until we had to actually go outside and take our
luggage to the bus.
Right now I'm staying in a hostel with the other international students
who are also studying abroad at Napier. It looks like the group is
primarily American, but there were a few people from Sweden, France,
and Canada. Several of us went out for dinner tonight at a
restaurant/pub called the Filling Station. Sadly, it was pretty
"American" and we didn't get to really experience any "traditional"
Scottish food.
So far nothing terribly exciting has happened. The first flight hit
some turbulence at the end of our trip, so I was very ready to get off
when we landed. We got in to London Gatwick Airport earlier than
expected, so I ended up w/ about 4 hours to kill. Some of that time
ended up being used to pack and repack my carry on so that I could go
through security. One of the workers was confused and kept telling me
that my bag looked to big (it fit the British Airways restrictions w/
room to spare for the pockets and wheels) and that I was going to have
to check it. Since I couldn't do that b/c I already had 2 bags
checked, I had to carry my laptop, extra clothes and books in my arms
to get through the scanner, and then it turned out there wasn't really
a problem anyways and I got to repack everything back the way it had
been to start with again.
I haven't taken too many pictures yet. When we went to dinner tonight
it was already pretty dark out and so I decided to wait to take
pictures of all the buildings and whatnot.
I'll see how well I'm able to keep up w/ this blog. My goal is at
least once a week, hopefully more, but I may or may not be that
consistent.
For anyone who is interested, I now have Skype. My username is smcdancer, and I'm listed as being in the UK. | | |
| So I am now officially here in Edinburgh, Scotland. The weather was actually very nice when I landed in London this morning and it stayed nice all the way up until we had to actually go outside and take our luggage to the bus.
Right now I'm staying in a hostel with the other international students who are also studying abroad at Napier. It looks like the group is primarily American, but there were a few people from Sweden, France, and Canada. Several of us went out for dinner tonight at a restaurant/pub called the Filling Station. Sadly, it was pretty "American" and we didn't get to really experience any "traditional" Scottish food.
So far nothing terribly exciting has happened. The first flight hit some turbulence at the end of our trip, so I was very ready to get off when we landed. We got in to London Gatwick Airport earlier than expected, so I ended up w/ about 4 hours to kill. Some of that time ended up being used to pack and repack my carry on so that I could go through security. One of the workers was confused and kept telling me that my bag looked to big (it fit the British Airways restrictions w/ room to spare for the pockets and wheels) and that I was going to have to check it. Since I couldn't do that b/c I already had 2 bags checked, I had to carry my laptop, extra clothes and books in my arms to get through the scanner, and then it turned out there wasn't really a problem anyways and I got to repack everything back the way it had been to start with again.
I haven't taken too many pictures yet. When we went to dinner tonight it was already pretty dark out and so I decided to wait to take pictures of all the buildings and whatnot.
I'll see how well I'm able to keep up w/ this blog. My goal is at least once a week, hopefully more, but I may or may not be that consistent.
For anyone who is interested, I now have Skype. My username is smcdancer, and I'm listed as being in the UK.
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| One final down, four to go. I just finished my Macroeconomics final that took me an hour and a half to take. Now I just have Finite Math on Monday, Astronomy and Accounting on Tuesday, and New Testament Lit on Wednesday. Tuesday is going to kill me b/c those are my two hardest exams. Other than that I'll be staying up here through Saturday for graduation.
Chris and I have our last practice tomorrow so I'm kind of sad that that's over. Hopefully I'll be able to dance this summer and next year, but I still have to find a new partner.
Sadly, I am completely unmotivated to continue studying for my other finals right now; but I think I'm going to work on cleaning some more since tomorrow is Cleaning Day and Katie and I have to check out by 2:30. Tonight I was planning on going to see Praise in Motion's spring concert, but I couldn't make it b/c I couldn't find a ride. So instead I will be going w/ everyone to Cracker Barrel for Trey's birthday, which should be lots of fun. Wednesday night we had a suprise birthday party for Heather Waugh, and we played the pictionary game where everything became very morbid.
Love to everyone, SueEllen | | |
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