That title has nothing to do with anything except for the fact that these pants are so mom jeans. I think I will actually give them to my mother when I get back to the states. She's going to be so pissed that none of the clothes that we bought before I left actually, technically fit me. Everything is about a size and a half too big. I have no way of telling if this is because I've actually lost weight, or just because I'm a terrible shopper. I would bet on a combination of the two, really. I suck at clothing myself.
I've done a combined total of naught hours of anything of interest so far this week. The only reasons that I've left my flat were class and a short excursion to the overpriced computer store to buy a mic so I can Skype. Today, actually, I went to the Princes Street Mall, which is, coincidentally, a mall, to get money out of the ATM. They have the only Barclay's ATM anywhere near here, which is the type that I need to use to not get charged exorbitant fees by Bank of America. It's downtown, so like 15 minutes walking from my flat. It is currently sunny and crisp outside. It was a pleasant walk, and I stopped at the McDonalds there (okay, so that was half the reason for my leaving the flat) and got a Cadbury Creme Egg McFlurry. As my Facebook status says, yes. Oh my God, yes. I am going to be so sad when the Easter promotional period is over. Also, McDonalds menus are super interesting here. They have faux falafel and BBQ pork sandwiches and hamburgers on ciabatta bread. Not that I would suggest eating any of it, but still. Cultural differences rule.
Tonight, I may or may not be going to one of the church member's flat to watch Monty Python. It depends if Alice (who often writes on my wall) wants to go and can therefore give me a ride. Otherwise, I would have to walk downtown to catch a bus, at night, for which I will have no idea of the area in which I'm supposed to exit. I'm just not feeling that adventurous. If I don't go, I'll probably sit here and watch a movie on my own. Hahaha leave me alone, all you people who know people. I honestly don't feel like I'm missing out on anything by not going out and getting wasted or going to clubs every night. Free internet movies are good enough for me.
BESIDES, I will be going out on Sunday. To a football match. With Glenn. I got a Facebook message today that asked, very concisely, if I still wanted to go. To which I replied, ABSOLUTELY!!! Well, not so forcefully of course. Because that would be terrifying and completely out of character for me. But yeah, Sunday, Hibs match (Hibernian FC if you want to google the team). I will try to not get stabbed by ardent supporters of the other team (Aberdeen, I think). For those who don't know, Edinburgh is a two-team city, much like LA and basketball. Unlike LA fans, however, Hearts and Hibs fans make a habit of stabbing, maiming, and beating the shit out of each other. Trainspotting (which is set in Leith, the port of Edinburgh) makes reference to this, I believe. Yeah, football, woo! Go ahead, tell me I'm not being social enough. I will then tell you to suck it, and we can move on. I've been grinning since I saw the message, btw.
Part of the other reason that I'm not doing anything this weekend is that I think Ashley has taken a trip to the Highlands with her flatmates. So what I'm doing is saving money, or something. My mom gives me shit when she calls on weekend nights, and I'm home at 11pm or whatever. I mean really, what's the alternative? Getting felt up by some dude in a club and then getting impregnated? Yeah, thanks, Mom. Way to look out for my well-being.
I'm not sure that I really have anything of interest to drag this post out any longer. I should do a minuscule amount of reading or something, instead of being the creepy loner. But then that wouldn't be me. And there's always tomorrow.
I probably need therapy.
- C
Showing posts with label wandering. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wandering. Show all posts
Friday, February 15, 2008
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Absolutely fantastic.
I've watched every episode of Doctor Who and Torchwood in existence, so now I have to come back to this. Okay, wait, that's not true. I've watched all of the new episodes of Doctor Who. Because actually, that show started in the 60s (?), and there are approximately 30 series. I've seen the entirety of the new series, which are the last 3 seasons. Basically, when the Doctor was played by Christopher Eccleston and then (now) David Tennant (who you may also know as Barty Crouch, Jr., or, alternatively, my new future husband). Shut up, I'm moving on from Heath. And this is why I try not to keep a blog; the world at large becomes audience to my insanity. But really, David Tennant is brilliant, and so is the show. Torchwood is also good, though a bit more melodramatic and weirder (yes, weirder than a show about an alien who travels through time and space in a blue box). Also, the wearing of Chucks with full suits may be the most charming fashion statement ever. But as nobody else is watching either of these shows, I should move on so as not to bore you.
In case you were hoping to hear about my life of late, that's what the first paragraph was. Also, I've discovered that the BBC, like the major American TV stations, has an internet player for already broadcast shows. It's more efficient in that shows are available as soon as they've aired, but you can only watch the shows for a week after they've aired (unless you download them, in which case you have 30 days or a week from when you watch it). It's a very complicated DRM system, but whatever. I can watch the new season of Torchwood on Wednesday nights, and Doctor Who in the spring, and I don't need to buy a TV or a license. Which brings up another point: to own a TV here, you have to buy a TV license. It's about 140 GBP for a color TV and 50 GBP for black and white. So double that to get the price in dollars. You buy the license for a year, and it covers all of the TVs in your household. I have no idea why they do it that way, except that it may or may not help to pay for the BBC stations, which are all publicly funded.
Right, my life. Enough about TV shows. I also do exciting things like go to the library to do readings for class. And go to class, of course. When it isn't canceled. Which has happened, so far, twice, because the professors were sick, and then I didn't have Buddhist Art this week or last because the professor went on a delegation to China. Yeah, my schedule is much easier than yours, probably. But when I was in the library yesterday, I did see some amusing graffiti on the desk at which I was working. British students, and European students in general, are very political. So there were lots of things like:
FUCK THE ENGLISH, REMEMBER BANNOCKBURN
which earned the reply:
no I wasn't born.
And then there was stuff like:
GALICIA IS NOT SPAIN
which I found amusing because we learned all about that in my AP Spanish class in high school.
Of course, there were some nasty things about Americans, one of which involved being able to recognize the American students from a mile away because of their "stupid-ass UCLA caps" (seriously, fuck those guys). But the very best, for a variety of reasons was (Dan, pay attention):
If all economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion.
Even the graffiti is cleverer here.
Something that may be of marginal interest to people, I realize, is food. I haven't actually talked about what I can and can't get here much, and that's something that always interests me, and maybe other people as well. I mentioned the American chain restaurants here, but besides them, there's a variety of food types and ethnicities represented. Within a two-minute walk from my flat, I can get: Indian (which is the Chinese of the UK), Chinese, vegetarian (which I think is an off-shoot of Indian), Middle-Eastern, African/Mediterranean, Thai, Italian, pub food, sandwiches, and whatever I want from the 4 grocery stores on my block or the next. Also, there are a variety of uncategorizable cafes and coffee shops and little restaurants, and some place called Elephants and Bagels. I find that place intriguing. There are also tiny ethnic groceries in the same area, as you would expect. And, my personal favorite so far, Greggs. In the simplest terms, it's a bakery/sandwich shop. However, it's better than that, because 1) it's damn cheap and 2) they have savories, which are a variety of (as the name implies) savory things wrapped in pastries. Delicious pastries. For less than 2 GBP, I can get a really filling lunch, with dessert.
If I leave the immediate area around my flat, I can find anything else, I think. I've seen an American style place with burgers/pizzas/salads, though done in an expensive, take advantage of tourists way. I've seen multiple Mexican places, a tapas bar, lots of take-away places with things like falafel/kebabs/fish and chips, and even a Nepalese restaurant. I'm particularly intrigued by that one. Plenty of new things for me to try while I'm here.
As for grocery stores, I can basically buy the same stuff as you'd get in the US, except better quality. Like most places in Europe, Scotland (and the UK) is big on homegrown things whenever possible. So there's a large variety of local meats and cheeses, and fruits and vegetables also to some extent. What I really enjoy are all of the different flavors of things. Juices here are phenomenal. They mix things that we'd never even think of in the US, often involving apples. I love apple juice when it isn't too sweet, which tends to be the problem with the available types in the US. Here, they treat apples sort of like we treat cranberries, for lack of a better comparison, and basically I'm in juice heaven. Apple/elderflower is my favorite so far, but apple/raspberry and apple/mango are also delicious. I'm going to miss the variety when it's time to leave.
Also, ridiculous weather. Today, it was raining early in the morning. Then, it stopped raining and was overcast. Then, it started snowing, like full-on blizzard-style. When I left for class at 10:45, it was sunny. When I left class at 1, it was getting overcast again. When I left for my other class at 1:45, it was overcast. Leaving that class at 2:50, I walked out into a blizzard (and to understand that, imagine the huge, fluffy kind of snowflakes that turn you into a snowman because they stick and 30mph gusts of wind [they're rarely more than 5mph in LA]). It did that for about 2 hours, and then it stopped and got overcast again. The best thing about the weather is the wind. It's awesome to be in the library, or indoors anywhere, and hear it whipping around outside. The snow was also spectacular, as I haven't seen real snow in a few years now. I've missed it.
I think the theme of this post is: variety is the spice of life. I'm thinking that it's impossible to ever really get tired of a place where so much is available and so much is different from hour to hour. Not in the few months that I have here, anyway.
My life is thrilling, obviously. You guys should definitely aspire to be me. That's all.
- C
In case you were hoping to hear about my life of late, that's what the first paragraph was. Also, I've discovered that the BBC, like the major American TV stations, has an internet player for already broadcast shows. It's more efficient in that shows are available as soon as they've aired, but you can only watch the shows for a week after they've aired (unless you download them, in which case you have 30 days or a week from when you watch it). It's a very complicated DRM system, but whatever. I can watch the new season of Torchwood on Wednesday nights, and Doctor Who in the spring, and I don't need to buy a TV or a license. Which brings up another point: to own a TV here, you have to buy a TV license. It's about 140 GBP for a color TV and 50 GBP for black and white. So double that to get the price in dollars. You buy the license for a year, and it covers all of the TVs in your household. I have no idea why they do it that way, except that it may or may not help to pay for the BBC stations, which are all publicly funded.
Right, my life. Enough about TV shows. I also do exciting things like go to the library to do readings for class. And go to class, of course. When it isn't canceled. Which has happened, so far, twice, because the professors were sick, and then I didn't have Buddhist Art this week or last because the professor went on a delegation to China. Yeah, my schedule is much easier than yours, probably. But when I was in the library yesterday, I did see some amusing graffiti on the desk at which I was working. British students, and European students in general, are very political. So there were lots of things like:
FUCK THE ENGLISH, REMEMBER BANNOCKBURN
which earned the reply:
no I wasn't born.
And then there was stuff like:
GALICIA IS NOT SPAIN
which I found amusing because we learned all about that in my AP Spanish class in high school.
Of course, there were some nasty things about Americans, one of which involved being able to recognize the American students from a mile away because of their "stupid-ass UCLA caps" (seriously, fuck those guys). But the very best, for a variety of reasons was (Dan, pay attention):
If all economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion.
Even the graffiti is cleverer here.
Something that may be of marginal interest to people, I realize, is food. I haven't actually talked about what I can and can't get here much, and that's something that always interests me, and maybe other people as well. I mentioned the American chain restaurants here, but besides them, there's a variety of food types and ethnicities represented. Within a two-minute walk from my flat, I can get: Indian (which is the Chinese of the UK), Chinese, vegetarian (which I think is an off-shoot of Indian), Middle-Eastern, African/Mediterranean, Thai, Italian, pub food, sandwiches, and whatever I want from the 4 grocery stores on my block or the next. Also, there are a variety of uncategorizable cafes and coffee shops and little restaurants, and some place called Elephants and Bagels. I find that place intriguing. There are also tiny ethnic groceries in the same area, as you would expect. And, my personal favorite so far, Greggs. In the simplest terms, it's a bakery/sandwich shop. However, it's better than that, because 1) it's damn cheap and 2) they have savories, which are a variety of (as the name implies) savory things wrapped in pastries. Delicious pastries. For less than 2 GBP, I can get a really filling lunch, with dessert.
If I leave the immediate area around my flat, I can find anything else, I think. I've seen an American style place with burgers/pizzas/salads, though done in an expensive, take advantage of tourists way. I've seen multiple Mexican places, a tapas bar, lots of take-away places with things like falafel/kebabs/fish and chips, and even a Nepalese restaurant. I'm particularly intrigued by that one. Plenty of new things for me to try while I'm here.
As for grocery stores, I can basically buy the same stuff as you'd get in the US, except better quality. Like most places in Europe, Scotland (and the UK) is big on homegrown things whenever possible. So there's a large variety of local meats and cheeses, and fruits and vegetables also to some extent. What I really enjoy are all of the different flavors of things. Juices here are phenomenal. They mix things that we'd never even think of in the US, often involving apples. I love apple juice when it isn't too sweet, which tends to be the problem with the available types in the US. Here, they treat apples sort of like we treat cranberries, for lack of a better comparison, and basically I'm in juice heaven. Apple/elderflower is my favorite so far, but apple/raspberry and apple/mango are also delicious. I'm going to miss the variety when it's time to leave.
Also, ridiculous weather. Today, it was raining early in the morning. Then, it stopped raining and was overcast. Then, it started snowing, like full-on blizzard-style. When I left for class at 10:45, it was sunny. When I left class at 1, it was getting overcast again. When I left for my other class at 1:45, it was overcast. Leaving that class at 2:50, I walked out into a blizzard (and to understand that, imagine the huge, fluffy kind of snowflakes that turn you into a snowman because they stick and 30mph gusts of wind [they're rarely more than 5mph in LA]). It did that for about 2 hours, and then it stopped and got overcast again. The best thing about the weather is the wind. It's awesome to be in the library, or indoors anywhere, and hear it whipping around outside. The snow was also spectacular, as I haven't seen real snow in a few years now. I've missed it.
I think the theme of this post is: variety is the spice of life. I'm thinking that it's impossible to ever really get tired of a place where so much is available and so much is different from hour to hour. Not in the few months that I have here, anyway.
My life is thrilling, obviously. You guys should definitely aspire to be me. That's all.
- C
Saturday, January 19, 2008
How I've been spending my time.
Since I basically have nothing to do with myself for a lot of the time, I tend to wander around the city. It's pretty awesome, as it's basically impossible to get lost.
Yesterday, I went out to lunch with the girl that I met from SC. I also got a Young Persons Railcard, which basically gives you discounted train rides through the British rail system. SC is reimbursing us for the card, so mostly I did it because it was free, and it will probably come in handy later. Lunch was at a chain Italian restaurant, called Bella Italia, which was actually fairly delicious. I was impressed. And to get the railcard we had to go to Waverley Station, which is Edinburgh's main (and I think only) train station. It reminded me a lot of Paris' Gare du Nord. There are shops and food stands and whatnot down by the platforms. European train stations are basically the same as airports, just less of a hassle to get into and less crowded. So more pleasant, really. I wish the US had such a developed train system.
Last night, I was going to go on a pub crawl with the Water of Life Society (which is the university's whiskey appreciation society), but the pub that they were meeting at first was way too crowded for me to figure out who the members actually were etc. It was a tiny little place, and very loud. So basically I had a nice walk through the city at night, and then went to a different pub, closer to my flat and way less crowded. I sat by myself and had a pint of Stella and played the one game on my cell phone, which happens to be an impossible version of soccer. It's like electronic foosball, mostly. It was way less pathetic than it sounds.
Today, I walked over to the main shopping street, Princes Street. It's ridiculous on the weekend, but only on the side of the street where all of the shops are. The Royal Scottish Academy, which is that museum that I took pictures of from up by the castle, is also on that street. I went over there to buy a belt, because I desperately needed one, and got 2 for £2 at H&M- definitely my favorite store for accessories, here or at home.
Also today, I walked past the church that I think I'll be attending. I need something to do on Sundays, and church is as good an option as any. I can't spend all of my free time in my flat, and church is generally entertaining and basically free. It's also a possible place for meeting people. Besides, going to church once in a while couldn't hurt, in the event that I'm wrong about my whole well-reasoned atheism stance. But mostly, it gives me a reason to get up and out of the flat instead of just sitting here and eating shortbread (ahah so good). The one I'm looking at is called Old St. Paul's, and it's the oldest Episcopal church in Scotland. I really like all of the history behind it, my views on religion aside. It's sort of like a living museum, which is my favorite kind of church. It even has an impressive website, if you care. Added benefit: my grandmother will be absolutely thrilled.
Another thing that may be of interest to you is the type of American chain places that exist here. I've seen: Subway (albeit with different sandwiches to cater to British tastes, i.e. Sweet Chili Chicken), Domino's, Pizza Hut, KFC (which was the only place I saw a black family ahah terrible), Starbucks, Gap... I think that's it. KFC has ads for these weird chicken-on-a-stick things called Firecrackers or some such. It's like three balls of fried chicken stuck on a skewer. I guess so it's easier to eat and walk. And very exciting for me, I've so far seen 3 Mexican restaurants. One of them looks like Chipotle, with all the shiny metal and light wood, so I don't have high hopes for that place. But one of them is probably at least decent. Maybe. I'll try them all with an expectation of disappointment and see how that goes.
Something that I forgot to mention when I was talking about classes is that all of my instructors are women. And none of them are Scottish. One is Chinese, one is Canadian, and the other is American, though she did her undergrad work at St. Andrew's here in Scotland. It's odd, as I thought that the academic field was male-dominated everywhere. Granted, art history is becoming a very female-associated field, but classics definitely isn't. I think every semester at SC I've had a majority of my classes taught by men. So this is something else new and different.
I talked to my mom for a long time last night. She called, since she always does lots of shopping on the weekends and didn't want me to call today or tomorrow when she might be out. It's not like I'm that much further away from my family now than I am when I'm in CA, but I think, to them, it feels that way. My mom worries because at least when I'm in CA she knows that I can figure out how to get help if I need it, or she knows how to use the existing governmental/whatever structures to get to me, but here, she has no idea what to do in case of emergency. I understand her concern, and phone calls are as good a way as any to pass some time. Especially when I'm just sitting home on a Friday night. What I miss most, right now, is having people that I can just call up when I want to do something.
However, I do enjoy having the flat to myself on weekends. I can't decide if that evens out the weirdness of having Marina's boyfriend live here from Sunday night to Friday morning, but it definitely helps.
I think I might go read or something, as I'm tired of spilling my guts at this moment. Enjoy your day, kids.
- C
Yesterday, I went out to lunch with the girl that I met from SC. I also got a Young Persons Railcard, which basically gives you discounted train rides through the British rail system. SC is reimbursing us for the card, so mostly I did it because it was free, and it will probably come in handy later. Lunch was at a chain Italian restaurant, called Bella Italia, which was actually fairly delicious. I was impressed. And to get the railcard we had to go to Waverley Station, which is Edinburgh's main (and I think only) train station. It reminded me a lot of Paris' Gare du Nord. There are shops and food stands and whatnot down by the platforms. European train stations are basically the same as airports, just less of a hassle to get into and less crowded. So more pleasant, really. I wish the US had such a developed train system.
Last night, I was going to go on a pub crawl with the Water of Life Society (which is the university's whiskey appreciation society), but the pub that they were meeting at first was way too crowded for me to figure out who the members actually were etc. It was a tiny little place, and very loud. So basically I had a nice walk through the city at night, and then went to a different pub, closer to my flat and way less crowded. I sat by myself and had a pint of Stella and played the one game on my cell phone, which happens to be an impossible version of soccer. It's like electronic foosball, mostly. It was way less pathetic than it sounds.
Today, I walked over to the main shopping street, Princes Street. It's ridiculous on the weekend, but only on the side of the street where all of the shops are. The Royal Scottish Academy, which is that museum that I took pictures of from up by the castle, is also on that street. I went over there to buy a belt, because I desperately needed one, and got 2 for £2 at H&M- definitely my favorite store for accessories, here or at home.
Also today, I walked past the church that I think I'll be attending. I need something to do on Sundays, and church is as good an option as any. I can't spend all of my free time in my flat, and church is generally entertaining and basically free. It's also a possible place for meeting people. Besides, going to church once in a while couldn't hurt, in the event that I'm wrong about my whole well-reasoned atheism stance. But mostly, it gives me a reason to get up and out of the flat instead of just sitting here and eating shortbread (ahah so good). The one I'm looking at is called Old St. Paul's, and it's the oldest Episcopal church in Scotland. I really like all of the history behind it, my views on religion aside. It's sort of like a living museum, which is my favorite kind of church. It even has an impressive website, if you care. Added benefit: my grandmother will be absolutely thrilled.
Another thing that may be of interest to you is the type of American chain places that exist here. I've seen: Subway (albeit with different sandwiches to cater to British tastes, i.e. Sweet Chili Chicken), Domino's, Pizza Hut, KFC (which was the only place I saw a black family ahah terrible), Starbucks, Gap... I think that's it. KFC has ads for these weird chicken-on-a-stick things called Firecrackers or some such. It's like three balls of fried chicken stuck on a skewer. I guess so it's easier to eat and walk. And very exciting for me, I've so far seen 3 Mexican restaurants. One of them looks like Chipotle, with all the shiny metal and light wood, so I don't have high hopes for that place. But one of them is probably at least decent. Maybe. I'll try them all with an expectation of disappointment and see how that goes.
Something that I forgot to mention when I was talking about classes is that all of my instructors are women. And none of them are Scottish. One is Chinese, one is Canadian, and the other is American, though she did her undergrad work at St. Andrew's here in Scotland. It's odd, as I thought that the academic field was male-dominated everywhere. Granted, art history is becoming a very female-associated field, but classics definitely isn't. I think every semester at SC I've had a majority of my classes taught by men. So this is something else new and different.
I talked to my mom for a long time last night. She called, since she always does lots of shopping on the weekends and didn't want me to call today or tomorrow when she might be out. It's not like I'm that much further away from my family now than I am when I'm in CA, but I think, to them, it feels that way. My mom worries because at least when I'm in CA she knows that I can figure out how to get help if I need it, or she knows how to use the existing governmental/whatever structures to get to me, but here, she has no idea what to do in case of emergency. I understand her concern, and phone calls are as good a way as any to pass some time. Especially when I'm just sitting home on a Friday night. What I miss most, right now, is having people that I can just call up when I want to do something.
However, I do enjoy having the flat to myself on weekends. I can't decide if that evens out the weirdness of having Marina's boyfriend live here from Sunday night to Friday morning, but it definitely helps.
I think I might go read or something, as I'm tired of spilling my guts at this moment. Enjoy your day, kids.
- C
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
