Uni Life

So last night turned out a little stranger than I would have expected... but its all good in the neighborhood lol. I had a really good time though, which is all that counts. And thats all I'll say about that :)

Today was another gorgeous day. Walking through the park this morning was definitely a treat before about 5 hours of very very boring class. My lab report was graded quite harshly, but the one lab professor said that it was the best she'd seen all day... its kind of scary considering that I only got a second class (B) on it. But it was only because of stupid mistakes, so I will definitely try harder and get a first class next time. Then my inorganic chemistry lecture was kind of a blur, the lecturer definitely went a little too quick. But the real icing on the cake was my Vikings! lecture. I was really excited about the course, it sounds so interesting to me! But after this lecture I'm kind of having second thoughts. Normally the advancement of the different types of ships leading to the Viking long boat would slightly interest me, but I really wanted to just lay down. It really was the worst lecture I've ever sat in on... the lecturer really just read from notes out loud to us and showed a bunch of boring slides with seemingly meaningless information. The most exciting part was when she gave a (slightly) dramatic reading of a Beowulf excerpt. And anyone who has read Beowulf knows that there is nothing exciting in that book... exactly lol. 

But the day definitely brightened after class. Toni and I went to the grocery store together and we got some things to make a nice dinner, which turned out to be amazing. We had a lot of fun cooking and hanging out with Mina and Johanne. Toni and Mina tried to teach us some Bulgarian, so they wrote some catch phrases down and posted them on the board... that will be interesting in the following days lol. Mina, Toni, and Johanne are still astounded by my microwave cooking skills, so astounded that they bring it up all the time and have a good laugh lol. But Johanne is practically as American as I am, except Norwegian. We had a showing of multiple Lonely Island music videos and that was amazing... and the very tasty boxed wine definitely helped :) But overall it was a very fun night. I must say that I really like my flatmates :) 

Holy Internet

So for the past 24 hours my internet was not working, and it really might have been the most stressful 24 hours of my life. But thank god for the nice asian guy at the IT center who figured out everything for me. It was kind of hilarious how it took him about 5 minutes of clicking, typing, and muttering to figure out something that I couldn't even begin to understand.

Yesterday involved an enthralling day of vikings, physical chemistry, and pipetting in lab. Actually it was not very exciting, especially the pipetting in lab. I kind of wanted to harpoon someone with my pipette and then throw my malfunctioning bulb at their head. It was kind of aggravating lol but all turned out well in the end. I'm just hoping that my Vikings! class picks up a bit in the next couple of lectures. The course sounds really interesting to me, but there are over 100 students in it and it might just turn into a kind of blow off class. Learning about the etymology of the word viking was not exactly how I pictures the lecture to go. But it was only the first one, so it will probably get a little more interesting.

After my three hour long lab of useless pipetting, I was definitely excited about the prospect of a free Wednesday. I find it very exciting to have a day off from classes during the week. It's something completely new to me lol. However, my hopes came slightly crashing down when my internet completely failed. I really like to stay up to date with my blog and school emails, so it just wasn't a good feeling going through the evening completely cut off from everything. But my friends definitely made up for it with a showing of Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail. We finally got around to watching it, and it couldn't have come at a better time lol. The silly dialogue and witty actors took my mind off of a lot of stuff and I just enjoyed the evening.

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day, probably one of the prettiest that I've seen in a while. It was about 68 degrees, sunny, and fall feeling. During my walk through Seaton Park to campus nothing could get me down! Not even overly expensive school books, multiple lurking 3,000 word essays, or faulty internet lol it was just too beautiful of a day. I bought a physical and inorganic chemistry book which greatly helped me finish my lab, I made plans to hang out with Bri, Jo, Kelsie, Lindsay, and Tara... and of course my internet was fixed! Sometimes things really do work out in the end. I just need to remind myself to not get so stressed in the beginning. :)

School Days

So today was my first day of classes in over 4 months... Very strange, I know. This morning I was super freaking out about it but once I sat down in my physical chemistry course, I felt so much calmer and reassured. I know chemistry and feeling like I have a purpose in life again is great! But really I guess it's nice to have something constructive to do. I must like learning or something lol. The two lectures I had today were interesting, even though they were only overviews of the material. I'm really looking forward to my Arthur in Medieval Welsh and Gaelic Tradition course. I think it's going to be really interesting and the professor seems really nice. Also, it's taught in an old classroom that feels like a library because all these old books are on shelves around the room. It definitely adds some mystery and hush to the room.

The walk to campus was really nice, since it's been so sunny and pretty here. Everything is so green and the botanical gardens that I walk through have such pretty flowers and trees. I'm really enjoying the weather so far, which is really good considering that I haven't received my winter coat from home yet lol. But I'm sure one random day Aberdeen will decide to be full force late fall/winter and I will be shivering in my long underwear. But until then I'm definitely going to enjoy the weather as much as I can!

This evening I made pasta for my flatmates and that was a lot of fun. It reminded me of the dinners we used to make in Siena and I felt pretty homesick for that city. That trip was literally like a dream. But anyways, I had a really good time hanging out with my flatmates. I really like living with them and I know that I will definitely be very sad to leave when the time comes. For now that seems so far away and I'm going to take advantage of the opportunities I have here. After all, who knows when I might be living in another country again! :)

Hamsters and Elderberries

It's kind of surreal for me to think that I'm starting classes tomorrow. I've had the longest summer break in the world! These past four months have been really interesting, but I'm definitely not feeling in the school-type mood. Hopefully I will be able to get back into the swing of things easier than I think... I'm taking two chemistry courses (a p chem and inorganic chem), a course about Arthur in Medieval Gaelic and Welsh history, and a course called "Vikings!" lol I think it will be a fun semester. It's too bad that it's so short, though. I know that I'm going to be really sad to leave...

Today has been quite nice so far. So far Bri, Jo, Kelsie, Allie and I walked to the Hub for some lunch. We then attempted to get a bus to the tattoo artist, but thought that we missed it and started to speed walk to town. Once we were about 2 minutes from the bus stop we spotted our bus coming around the corner. I'm sure our unison looks of recognition followed by "oh crap" made the bus drivers day. We all turned on our heels and sprinted back to the bus stop. Lol it was pretty funny. Fortunately we made it in time for Jo's tattoo appointment, after getting slightly lost and randomly running into a group of guy friends. We definitely looked like the sharks and jets coming together, all that was missing was some finger snapping and off beat music. But anyways, I sat with Jo as she got her tattoo. It was pretty awesome, the tattoo artist did a great job with her thistle. But now I'm really itching for another one! I think the weekend after we get back from the Arcadia trip in the north I'll make an appointment. It's very exciting to think about!

Tonight we are hanging out in Bri's flat and watching some movies. We will probably end up going to the Union Bar for a little, what else would we do? Lol but I'm pretty sure that we will watch Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail. What a great movie. "Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!"

The End of Freshers... blah

These past couple of days have been kind of crazy. The mix of stress from figuring out my course timetables and the amount of available alcohol has resulted in an interesting week. Each night has an entertaining story, but none are quite as funny as last night. We have christened last night as our "hangover". Literally all that was missing was a tiger, a baby, and a chinese man. Lol it was somewhat horrific. I don't think we will have a crazy night like that again any time soon... I'm just happy that I have some good friends to hang out with and hold my hair back.

I have finally registered for all my courses, labs, and tutorials... the system is so different here but I'm happy I figured it out :) I'm really looking forward to classes starting. It should be really interesting to experience a new teaching style. More freedom in my studies will be nice, it feels like I'm finally growing up!

Today I walked around town with Bri, Jo, Kelsie, Tara, Zoe and Lindsay. It was a really pretty, sunny day so it was nice to walk around. Aberdeen looks beautiful when its sunny, but in the rain it is literally depressing as hell. The granite must emit some sort of enzyme... But for now it has been lovely and fall like. I'm sure all of a sudden it will become very cold though. In town Bri and Kelsie got tattoos, and I'm really envious. I would love to get another one! Perhaps I will get my Viking-esk one while I'm in Scotland. But maybe I will wait until I start my Viking class before I decide on any symbol lol.

Right now the seven of us are coordinating a pizza delivery competition. During the freshers week activities on campus everyone and their brother handed out all sorts of coupons for the different pizza places around town. So we decided to use them but I'm pretty sure we are going to end up with an obscene amount of pizza, bread sticks, and desserts. But who doesn't like leftover pizza??

Random Knowledge

So yesterday was quite interesting. It started off normally with Allie and I meeting up with Jordan to get some lunch and go to the Activities fayre (not fair). I signed up for a couple singing groups, like the Gilbert and Sullivan society. I'm really bummed that there isn't a performance this semester, they only perform in the spring so I'm not sure if I would actually audition even though I would love to be involved.  I could be a part of Iolanthe or Die Zauberflote, which would be amazing. I know I would absolutely love it. But Kelsie and I are both interested in a chorus so we will probably go to that together.

I discovered that Aberdeen has the oddest weather. It literally can't make up it's mind! While on campus it randomly started monsooning out of nowhere. It was like a normal hard rain, it was literally a downpour that ended 14 minutes later and the sun came out. There were rivers flowing down the streets and sidewalks. I of course got completely soaked through and was not happy about the entire fiasco. After running a few errands on campus and getting groceries, the rest of the day was pretty laid back. I'm still confused about signing up for my tutorials and labs, and getting my book lists, but I'm going to try and not stress out too much. It just goes against my instinct or something to not be completely prepared for classes a few days before they start. So I'm starting to feel a little peeved at the system they have going here, but that's just because I'm new and don't understand it very well. Everything will work out well in the end :)

Later I went over to Bri's flat to meet up with everyone and hang out a little before heading off to the union bar. We had a good time talking and drinking (I had started early, definitely a good idea). While we were walking back to Bri's flat to have a little flat party with some people we knew, I ran into my Bulgarian flatmates and met some of their friends lol. We talked for a bit, but the night didn't end there. In fact the night didn't end until about 5:00 (after the birds were awake) lol. After socializing in Bri's flat with our friends, I came back to mine around 3:00. I was completely exhausted and longing for bed, but when I walked into my flat I was surprised at the amount of Bulgarians chilling in my kitchen with Johanne lol. So I of course went into the kitchen and talked and listened to music with them all for a few hours. It was very interesting hearing them all talk about food and music and things like that. One of Toni and Mina's friends said he would make this really amazing soup for me. I said I had never heard of it before, but I kind of do know a some about some Eastern European cultures. I was just too embarrassed to say that I had heard of the soup from a book called the Historian which is about Dracula. It's a very good book that goes into extensive detail about the different countries connected with the legend. But anyways, I had a good time with them and hopefully we will hang out soon and I will bring my American friends along. Sounds like a party to me :)

Something, Something

So the course registration and adviser meeting went down and that was slightly confusing and stressing... Getting used to a different academic system isn't exactly fun. Especially since I've been having trouble with accessing my email and student portal for registering for the course tutorials and labs. But it will work out fine in the end.

What won't work out fine in the end is the amount of money I have been spending on alcohol... I'm definitely going to stop going out and buying drinks in the bars so much. It's sooo expensive. Since I'm getting a lot closer with my flatmates we are hopefully going to make a grocery pot and buy more stuff together. Saving some extra cash sounds absolutely great to me.

It really was another beautiful day and I quite enjoyed walking around Seaton Park and campus, despite my annoyance at a strange system. The weather has been so lovely the past couple days, I'm not sure how I will feel when it starts to get cold and rainy... I'll just have to tough it out lol. I'm registered for two chemistry courses, a vikings history course, and a celtic course about Arthur in literature. I'm super excited for the vikings course lol thinking about it makes me want to watch how to train your dragon. When I got back from my advising meeting I actually had some free time! So I finally finished decorating my room. It feels very homey now lol. While bounding around in my room, my flatmates came back and we decided to cook together and hang out. We had a really good time, despite the lack of actual food to make. We ended up cooking rice and putting bacon, onions, and mushrooms in it lol. It really wasn't that bad once you could get past the porridge-type texture. My roommates are from all over the place. There are two Bulgarians, one Norwegian, and one girl from France (somewhere around Nice I think). They are all really nice and funny. Joanna (from Norway) speaks really good english, sometimes I forget that she doesn't natively speak American english. She learned it when she was quite young so she doesn't struggle nearly as much. The two Bulgarians, Mina and Toni, have thick accents but speak english quite well, they are still learning a lot though. Marie has the most difficulty with the language, but I can tell that she's picking it up better. I'm the hardest for her to understand but I'm helping her out a lot lol. They tell me how lucky I am to grow up speaking english, and I guess that's true since the world has become so monopolized by the english language. I just think it's so interesting that they have such colorful cultural backgrounds. Living with them is going to be very interesting, so far it's already been a lot of fun. When Mina, Marie, and I were cleaning up after dinner I mentioned something about needing saran wrap to cover the left overs and they both looked at me like I had turned into a newt. They had absolutely no idea what I was talking about and just started laughing about that weird phrase. I of course had to explain it completely and I'm going to go out and buy some so they can see it lol.

After dinner I met up with my Americans and Kelsie and Tara from Bri's flat and we went out to the union bar for a little. The same group of guys found us again and we were just like ok... we want to make friends with other people now lol. We ended up hanging out with them for a little. Jordan and I walked around the Hillhead area, even though it was pretty chilly, and we were so excited when we saw bunnies hopping around! It was so strange to see like a little herd of them out in the middle of the night. I was ready to chase after them, but Jordan restrained me from acting like an idiot lol. But we still ended up having a good time. I'm just going to have to keep a lookout for the nocturnal bunnies :)