Getting out and doing shit.

The last few days have been incredibly active, as far as me actually going out and doing stuff goes. You'd all be so proud. No riots or anything though, I leave that to you. I'll do a rundown of this by day, so we'll see what I can remember:
Thursday: I went to class etc etc. That night, I went to the first meeting of the Water of Life Society for this semester. That's the university whiskey (Scottish spelling: whisky) appreciation society, for those that I haven't mentioned it to yet. It was incredibly fun and extremely informative. I met a couple of other American students, so it didn't end up just being me, awkwardly sitting by myself. That was cool. We tried 5 different whiskeys, of varying types (though all Scotch) and got information about each of them. So I've tried 7 different whiskeys since getting here, though damned if I remember all of their names. Not too shabby. After the meeting, I tagged along to a bar and then a night club with the other Americans. They're with one of the big, multi-school study abroad programs, so it ended up being a fairly large group of people. Completely different than the USC abroad experience.
Friday: Went grocery shopping, as I was out of everything. That night was a Burns Night supper/ceilidh at the church I've started going to. Tremendous amount of fun. I tried haggis for the first time; it's actually quite good. All of the traditions and trappings that go along with Burns Night are also something incredible to behold. It's a meal where there's never a dull moment. I'm tempted to have my own version next year, but I don't know how successful I'd be at getting people to try haggis. I'll have to discuss this with Kate later. The dancing would also be a problem, as I don't know any Scottish dances. Though, I did do a few last night. No lie, I danced. With a lot more practice, I could be a pretty decent Scottish dancer I think. It wasn't at all hard once I got the hang of it. Though I guess it does help that the person that I was mostly dancing with was spectacularly good. After that, which ended at like 11:15, I went back to the Scottish economist's flat for Mah Jong and whiskey. And ended up staying there until 3am, just like last time. It's becoming a weekend habit. I'll be a Mah Jong master by the time I get home.
Today: I woke up at 10, which was disturbingly early for the time that I actually went to bed, and took a trip out to Rosslyn Chapel with the girl that I met from USC. It's about a 45 minute ride on a public bus from here, so no big hassle to get to at all. It was absolutely incredible. The chapel and the surrounding hills and valleys are just gorgeous. And it's made about 100x cooler by the fact that my dad's a Freemason (yeah, yeah secret society shut up), so I know a lot of the lore and symbolism involved in the carvings and the chapel itself. It's somewhere that I've wanted to go for a long, long time. After that, we had lunch in this adorable hotel right near the castle, and it was delicious and warm. The warm aspect of food is incredibly important with the normal weather here. Then, I came home, watched four or five more episodes of the new Doctor Who (totally addicted) and did laundry. Now, I think I might call home.
Also, if anyone's wondering why I don't really talk about feelings in this blog (not that you would be, but might as well address it), it's because it's so easy to find, really. Like, I have no problem talking about my general impressions of stuff, mostly how I'm feeling, etc., but mostly I'm focused on what I've actually, physically been doing. I don't want to talk about the crazy boring emotional stuff in a blog that's so out in the open, on my facebook profile and all. Also, I was going to give this address to my parents, so they could keep track of me. I haven't, for various reasons (like you guys making references to my reputation as a drunken slut etc) [kidding], but that kept me from actually treating this like my other blog as well. I have this thing where I only put on a brave face for them, regardless of how I'm actually feeling. It's dumb, as they're my family, and they, more than anybody else, should get to know when I'm terrified/lonely/homesick/falling apart or whatever, but that's not how I operate. I think crying in front of my dad when I realized that I wasn't going to be able to make the situation with my visa work was the most embarrassing thing that has happened to me in recent memory. And yes, I mean that, despite whatever else may have happened within the space of this last semester. I have serious problems, I know.
Now that I've broken the "no feelings" rule (aside: however the previous may make it sound, I am completely and totally content, I love this place and these people), let's move on to Heath Ledger. I am totally heart-broken about his death. I was going to marry him, somehow. Not even lying. I had a total delusion about that. It would have been one of my 3 wishes if I ever came across a genie. And his death was sort of like the death of my childhood, in one of those stupid, symbolic ways. But yeah, that's neither here nor there. But I do really appreciate the eulogy that Joel McHale of The Soup said for Heath, so I think I'll end this post with that. Something reasonable, one good guy talking about another:




True class.

- C