A Better Day

15 September 2008

Lyrics of the day:
“I’m sitting here,
wanting memories to teach me,
to see the beauty in the world
through my own eyes.” - Wanting Memories

Although, by the end of the semester I may be an insomniac by the way things are going with my chaletmates, I have to say I really enjoy my days here in Stirling. I love the spontaneity of it all, waking up not knowing what the day will bring. It is invigorating and rejuvenating, and I find myself extremely grateful for the opportunity to live every day from moment to moment.
Today I woke up at 9, restless for the day to begin so I could leave my chalet and forget about the lack of sleep I received last night. I walked to the Atrium and tried to hook up the CampusNet wireless connection, but was unsuccessful. So then I went to the library, signed on to Facebook, and posted the past two days’ worth of blog writings.

There was a poster sale and a club fair going on outside the library. I decided to have a look around the booths and see if there were any posters worth purchasing. While flipping through some smaller posters I looked up to see Kyle. He’d found me amidst the craziness. We decided to look for Laura and Becca who said they would be around the Atrium at noon. It was a few minutes past.

Our search proved futile, so in the end we chose to walk around the loch. We talked about a lot of stuff - which movies we like, which books we thought were worth a read, get-to-know-you-type stuff. We took the paths around the loch to the castle on campus. It’s actually quite small in terms of castles (it’s not Stirling castle. That’s elsewhere in the city, I guess), but at least it’s still beautiful. From there we walked around a side of the golf course and through some gardens and back.

As we made our way past the castle again I heard water running nearby. Turning in the direction of the sound, my eyes met a small waterfall and moss-covered stairs leading, unfortunately, to a “No Trespassing” sign. I asked Kyle to take my picture by the stairs, as I thought they were cute, not to mention they sported Scotland’s famous green earth.
We walked the rest of the way back and then went back to the Atrium to go to our first meeting of the day. We got there before the doors opened so we just sat around and talked. Eventually, we went to the three-hour period of meetings. They seemed informative and helpful, though it was kind of hard to stay awake since the lighting was so dim.

From there Kyle and I went to the library to check email, then to the café in the Atrium to eat. Becca, Laura, and Sara went to town to buy stuff at the local Tesco. I was so hungry I couldn't think to do anything other than eat. I did end up getting their specialty, fish and chips, and their bubblegum-flavored orange soda, Irn Bru.

After dinner Kyle and I walked around, killing time before I had to go to the first choir practice of the semester. New members were to come around 7 to get a free drink. (though I didn't have anything). The other choir members trickled in around 7:15, and we had started singing parts from Handel's Messiah by 7:30.

Our director is a man named David from England. He reminds me of a combination between a younger Dan the Old Man from St. Bruno and Weston Noble. We worked on three sections in Messiah and finished the practice around 9pm. New members had the opportunity to go to the MacRobert restaurant for a drink. I tagged along, thinking it would be best to get to know some people. The choir student president, Kim, two of her friends, a girl from England named Helen, and I were the only new members who showed.

Surprisingly, Kim didn`t drink at all, and the only one to order an alcoholic beverage was one of Kim`s friends. The rest of us just drank sodas. We talked for a good hour, then went our separate ways for the evening. Afraid of walking home by myself, I asked the group before leaving if someone would walk me back to the chalets. Kim volunteered.

It was pouring when we got outside. I had brought a hand and so my hair didn`t really get wet. Kim, on the other hand, was soaking by the time we got to my cottage. She had I had managed to have good conversation on our 10-minute walk from the MacRobert to Spittal Hill. She apparently had a similar chaletmate experience her first year at Uni. She gave me her number and said if I wanted to get together for dinner or if things got bad again tonight to call her and she would come pick me up (she lives in Stirling, away from campus). I was so grateful for that offer. I think I am going to see if we can get together some time.

When I got back to the chalet, my flatmates were getting ready to go out. They asked if I wanted to go with. I told them no thanks, asked if they could keep the noise level down tonight since they were loud the night before, and then retreated to my room.

I got ready for bed, had a few conversations with my mom, then got into bed. I prepared myself for another noisy night, and so piled my two suitcases on top of each other, put my laptop on top of them, then set my iTunes to classical/instrumental music. I fell asleep listening to that, although I woke up when my flatmates returned.

To my surprise, they were quiet. I could sleep! And I did. I slept really well.

~~~~~

16 September 2008

Yesterday was a very spontaneous day. I woke up at 8am since I had to meet my friend Becca at 10 to go around to classes and I wanted plenty of time to shower beforehand. I scarfed down a Nutella sandwich for breakfast then went to meet Becca. She and I walked around the maze of a building where two of my three classes will have their lectures, getting completely turned around in doing so, then walked to the library to check our email.

Our friend Kyle was there checking his email. He came around and talked to us for a little bit. Then, when Becca and I had finished with our business on the computers, we decided to go to lunch on campus. She and I both have meal plans in the cafeterias on campus, so at least we know we won’t starve.

Lunch was interesting. There was a potato bar, a pasta bar, a main meal course, and dessert. Of course I had dessert. I couldn’t resist that temptation! I also had a baked potato smothered with vegetable curry, something I hadn’t tried before. They didn’t have the usual American dressing of sour cream. It was kind of disappointing, but the curry was good. It reminded me of the potato bar they used to have when I lived in Arkansas. They put chilli and cheese on it – the taste of vegetable curry was similar.

After lunch, we had nothing to do until 4 so I suggested we take a walk to the William Wallace monument just beyond the chalets. She said that would be a good idea, but first we wanted to walk to her room to get her computer. While walking there we met up with another girl, Sara. She was about to run an errand to one of the other academic buildings.

Our plan boiled down to this: make a trip to Becca’s room to get her computer, then go with Sara to run her errand, then walk to the chalets, drop of our books, and head to the William Wallace monument.

We did all this and finally found ourselves at the monument. We managed to take a free shuttle to the monument itself, then walked around, touring the gift shop and the outside of the building. We then decided to walk down the rest of the way. We made it about five minutes down the hill, then found a walking path. We took that path, which eventually led into forests with a sheep farm at the very bottom. We thought it would lead us back to the car park. Oh no. We were mistaken.

It was a good adventure, though. It rained the whole way through our excursion. Luckily, I had decided to wear my rain boots for the day, so my pants didn’t get muddied.

Oh, it was fun.

When we reached the farm, we decided to go back up the hill. We got lost a few times and had to figure out the safest way to get back to the monument. Eventually we made it and were able to take the free shuttle back down to the gift shop. We then headed back to the chalets, got our stuff, and went to our 4pm meeting.

The rest of the night was kind of dull. I had an appointment with computer services to figure out how to connect my Mac to the campus wireless network. That took until 7:10. There was a meet and greet for international students going on in one of the dining centres on campus at 7. I walked there, talked to a few people and scarfed down some cookies before walking back to the chalet.

My flatmates were talking in the kitchen when I arrived. I decided to join them in conversation. They weren’t drinking. They said they were “sobering up.” Too much partying. We talked about books, events in the media, interests, differences between the Uni here and my home university. I enjoyed getting to know them a bit better and only decided to leave when two of the flatmates started smoking.

I went to my room, got ready for bed, then talked to Carly, my dad, and my mom. Then it was to bed. My flatmates, again (thankfully), were quiet even though they talked with a male friend in the kitchen for several hours after I was in bed.