Travelmongers and Other Things

25 September to 27 September 2008

The past few days have been jam-packed with goodness.  Let me tell you about them.

Thursday, 25 September I had my first religion seminar.  The professor which leads seminar discussions is the same professors who will give the first few lectures of the course.  He is from somewhere in America, though where I can’t tell you.  He’s very tall, around six feet I’d say, with short-cropped gray and silver hair.  Clean shaven.  Wears thick-framed black glasses.  My friend Laura describes him as an attractive older man, the kind of guy who women in their mid to late thirties and early forties might fawn after.  Upon looking at him closer, I’d have to agree.  

Anyway, the seminar class is 20 students, most in their first year of Uni.  It’s weird being two, sometimes three, years older than my classmates.  I feel old yet at the same time still aware of the fact that I am around their age.

So, back to the seminar...We spent most of our time discussing how seminars would work during the semester.  Each time we meet different students lead the group in discussion.  The presentations last 10 to 15 minutes per person, then we talk about the issues generated in the presentations.  I think it will be a pretty neat class, overall, one I am definitely looking forward to.

After that I ate lunch in the cafeteria.  Nothing too exciting there.

After that, I had another class: a lecture for Environmental science.  I have to be honest, when I entered that classroom I was really looking forward to hearing the lecturer present on the history of humans.  By the time the class finished, my view had changed completely.  The topic might have been interesting, but the professor’s lecture itself was dry.  I spent most of my time trying to figure out what the hell I was supposed to write down.  We don’t have a seminar for the class, and half the reading suggestions aren’t even readings from texts we own.  It’s kind of ridiculous...

Anyway, after that I went with Becca to Laura’s flat in the city to help her make green bean casserole.  It didn’t take too long, and we were on the bus by 7:15.  The International Society meeting started at 8.  There wasn’t that much food there when we got there, but by the tie 8 o’clock rolled around, the tables set up were packed.  There was a ton of dessert food, some black sausage from Finland, omelets from Spain, cake dishes from my beloved favorite country Hungary...the list went on and on.  Laura and I decided to sample as many things as we could, splitting food between us so we could eat as much as possible in small quantities.

Lauren, Sarah, and Kyle joined us a little while later, though Lauren and Sarah left soon after they finished eating.

That was when Andrew from New York sat down.

He was talking to other people behind him before he acknowledged us, and when he did, he just said “You guys are American, aren’t you?”

“Yeah,” said Kyle.  “I’m from Michigan.”

“Wisconsin.”

“Kansas.”

Andrew seemed interested in Laura’s response.  “My brother goes to a med school in Kansas,” he said.  

“Is it KU-Med?” Laura asked.

“I don’t know.”  He shrugged.  “I’ve driven through Kansas but never stopped by him.  I have no fuckin’ clue.”

Then, somehow, they started talking about Kansas barbeque, which led to an argument about the way barbeque is prepared and whether or not Kansas had be best barbeque in the States.

It lasted for about 15 minutes - far, far longer than I ever thought an argument about anything, really, but especially barbeque, could take.

Andrew was a philosophy major and could really fire back the logic.  He won, eventually, on the statement that the conversation was completely irrelevant.

Thus, we deemed him The Jerk from New York.

We left soon after the argument ended and headed to the Studio, a pub on campus, for open mic night.

We’d been sitting there a good thirty minutes when a random person half-sat, half-leaned over the vacant chair beside me, pointing at a macaroni and cheese box Kyle had bought and brought with him before coming to the IS food night.  “Where’d you get that?”  The accent was thick, probably the thickest I’ve heard yet in Scotland.  

“Um...the campus store,” Kyle replied.

“That’s the best macaroni in the world,” said the guy beside me.

He sat down then and started questioning us: Where were we from?  The States?  Where in the States?  Did we know this person, or that person in the States?  No?  Well, what did we like to do?  What sports did we like?

This guy was a talker.  He deemed us Celtic (pronounced sell-tick) football fans, and, since none of us had ever been to a football game or even knew which teams existed in Scotland, we didn’t dispute him.  Celtic fans it was!

He offered to buy us a round of drinks, but we graciously declined.  Too full from the food.  Not interested in drinking anything at that moment (or, in my case, not at all).  

Still, he kept talking.  His name was Fraser.  I can’t deny it, the longer he kept talking, the more I liked him.  We all liked him.  And he liked us Americans, said we were cool.  

He and I started talking toward the end of the night.  He asked if I had any siblings.  I told him about Carly and Keeley, and asked if he had any.  Two brothers, both younger.  He lived in Spittal Hill as well and offered to walk me home after the pub closed.  We also got on the topic of being Catholic and he offered to drive me to Mass on Wednesday.  I thought that was very nice.  He certainly had my approval for being chivalrous.  Especially when he also offered to all of us rides to Glasgow if we ever had to go to the Prestwick Airport.  And most especially when he walked me home.

It was really nice.  He hadn’t drunk too much, maybe had a bit of a buzz, but he talked the whole way home and when we reached the chalets, he gave me a hug and told me to stop by the next day.  He’d take me to lunch.  I said I would definitely do that.

Needless to say, I went to sleep happy.

On Friday couldn’t wait to wake up and start the day.  I have to admit, I had developed overnight a little crush on our new Scottish friend.  

Rather than going over to his flat at 9 in the morning, I killed some time in the library, then wandered back to my chalet around 1.  I waited until 1:30 to go over to his chalet.  When I knocked, one of his roommates answered the door.  He wasn’t in, so I told the flatmate to tell him I had stopped by.

I then went back to the atrium area and read for some of my classes.  I had a religion lecture at 4.  I managed to keep occupied until 3:30, then went to my lecture.  It was a really good lecture about the religious/secular divide.  The lecture/my seminar instructor presented a really great lecture - he even posed questions to us students and let them answer them during class.  That’s partly what made it such a great lecture.  Overall, I think that class is going to be great.

I then went to the cafeteria to eat dinner.  Becca was there, so we sat together and talked a bit.  We decided to hang out that night.  Kyle tagged along after we had finished eating, and the three of us went to Tesco to buy some groceries/junk food.  We decided we would watch a movie.

We watched Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang a comedy/thriller.  It was a good movie, kind of suspenseful at some parts, but overall pretty funny.

They both walked me back to the chalets afterward.  My flatmates were sooo quiet when I got back!  I was amazed.  I went to bed - and actually slept.

I woke up this morning at 7:30.  Lauren, Sarah, Kyle, Becca, and I were meeting at the bus circle at 8:30.  Laura was meeting us at the train station at 8:45 so we could make the 9:06 train to Edinburgh.

When I got to the bus stop only Sarah was there.  Lauren, Kyle, and Becca showed up a few minutes after we did, and another girl Jackie from Chicago joined us.  Lauren had to run back and get something, so we left about half an hour after we wanted to.  But, no worries, we still made an early train.  We left on the 9:36 train and arrived in Edinburgh around 10:30.

I love trains.  I think they are so much fun.  Traveling in Europe and the UK is so easy.  Why can’t the US be more like them?  Everything is so spaced out...so far away, unless you live in a big city like Chicago or New York.  We really have to sort out the mass transit situation in the States.  My personal opinion, of course...

Anyway, we first went to the castle.  It was beautiful.  Great views.  Kyle, Jackie, and I even took a guided tour for the first half hour or so that we were there.

After the castle we reconvened, gaining two more people Andras and Jose - Andras was supposed to meet us before leaving Uni but didn’t make it.  Funny world, that we should all meet together at the castle of all places.

Well, after the castle, we went in search of a place to eat lunch.  We chose this small, decently-priced restaurant.  I had tomato soup and bread while everyone else either had haggis or steak pie.

We then went to the National Museum of Scotland.  We managed to walk around some exhibits in the hour we had before it closed.  I would have liked to have walked around more and seen more stuff, but there wasn’t enough time.  I made it to through the Beginnings - Early People exhibit and the Modern Scotland exhibit, though, so that is something.

Afterward we headed to Rose Street to find the pubs with somewhat punny names.  We ate at one, The Bad Ass, which was next to Dirty Dick’s.  We only had dessert, but it was still neat to eat there.  And, despite the name, the interior of the pub was very lush.

Then we headed to the train station.  Lauren and Sarah parted ways, heading in the direction of the hostel where there would stay the night.  The rest of us took the train back to Stirling and the bus from the city centre to Uni.

Overall, it’s been a really good few days.  Today I am going to Mass for the first time.  Jackie said she was going to find the church in town and go to Mass.  I asked if I could tag along.  And, there you go.  We shall see what today’s adventures bring...

Will write soon.