happy halloween!

hello all! sorry i haven't blogged in sooo long. it's a little unfortunate really, after the birthday fun life went a little downhill for me. things weren't so bad that next week, just nothing very eventful happening. went climbing (indoors still, finally gettin my own gear tomorrow woohoo), but the eumc trip that weekend wasn't very alluring, so stayed in edinburgh... got to see some friends who i hadn't hung out with for a bit, so that was good. went to the edinburgh mountain film festival saturday night which was very entertaining/inspirational - made me wish i was climbing that weekend! also some good snow sport videos - can't wait for snow over xmas in wi! but yeah, that was a pretty lowkey weekend... and then...

i got sick. blah. it was pretty bad, double whammy with stomache and throat cold thing (what is this?! no tonsils does not = no sore throats, just less severe i guess, bummer). also school is getting a bit more stressful (3 essays due on nov 13th...yikes) so that wasn't helping things. and to top it all off, we had a rather sudden death in the family... my great grandma on my mom's side passed away last thursday. i think that is the worst thing that can happen when you're away from your family. i mostly wish i could have been there with my mom and grandma, but these things happen and i am just grateful i had visited my g gram recently and had spent that time with her. combined with sickness, of body and home, it was just not a good week. luckily i have made some amazing friends here who were awesome and comforting and really helped cheer me up a bit.

but sorry for the depressing diatribe... really i'm feeling much better this week. getting on top of research for my essays and halloween festivities add a cheerful backdrop = ) had a pretty fun weekend, finally feelin better physically so went to a halloween party saturday night. i put my jack sparrow costume to good use again.

things to look forward to this week are actual halloween - not sure what the plans are yet, i'm sure candy will be involved though, yay. i'm also pretty excited, tomorrow is finally the discount night at the outdoor store where im gonna get my rock boots, harness, etc, that i need to go outdoor climbing! though now the weather is turning a bit rubbish... hopefully there will still be some nice days left! otherwise i'll at least have my own stuff for indoor climbing and won't have to rent equipment.

ok folks, must return to pouring over the research.....very exciting welsh poetry to be studied! miss everyone terribly, hope everyone has a fun halloween tomorrow!

~R

so this is 21

Hey everyone!

SO the birthday has come and gone, quite exciting - though now that the celebrations have past i just feel a little old... i'm a "twenty-something"! A little freaky... But thanks to all who sent birthday wishes, i really enjoyed the cards and fb messages!

The weekend was great! The big night was Saturday night obviously. We had pizza and wine for dinner (saving classiness for sunday night haha) and then Liz and Mary and my flatmate Halley had backed us tons of goodies, choc chip cookies, choc covered strawberries, choc pb oat bars, and lemon bars! After we had sufficiently stuffed ourselves, we were off to the whole pub crawl deal we had planned where we went to 5 of our favorite pubs around Edinburgh. Lots of my friends from Arcadia (study abroad program), EUMC, and my flatmates came along. It was quite the party. Only downer of the night was I lost my jacket somewhere between pubs 4 and 5... it wasn't found at either so must have gotten knicked or i dropped it on the walk in between - sad! But oh well, all in all it was a great night and it could have been worse if i lost something like my camera or wallet! maybe gap will make another cute green corderoy blazer soon... = (

Sunday i was feeling surprisingly upbeat (i guess that was a benefit of not being in the states, didnt get as crazy, and thus didnt get as hungover lol - i know it's not the stereotypical celebration, but ive already been informed by multiple friends back home that im having a makeup 21st upon return to the states haha). Sooo after unsuccessfully searching for my jacket, me and a friend took a trip to the Royal Botanical Gardens. It was a nice day, cloudy but what i like to call "bright cloudy" (there's different degrees here you know) - not gloomy or rain threatening at all. Quite nice, actually felt like fall, you could smell it in the air, the crisp scent of the leaves and smokey chimneys mmmm. Then it was back to the flat to get ready for a classy night out with the girls: dinner at the Dome restaurant - very yummy food and gorgeous setting - and then home for champagne and desert. It was a perfect way to end the day! So even for not being in the States, and not being with the 'rents on my bday for the first time, it was actually quite an amazing birthday = )

~R
(blogger is being testy uploading my photos, so just check out webshots, they're all there!)

webshots

hey everyone!

just a quick note to tell you all that i've updated my webshots site with all my Scotland photos thus far, so you can go there to see more of my pics:

http://community.webshots.com/user/rachemarie

~R

eumc take-over

so it's been about a week now since i've blogged, i promise to make this as quick as possible so this post doesn't get too ridiculous...

last week's highlights:
*Climbing at Aberdour(weds.) - took the train with to aberdour, half hour away, little village right on the firth with great sea cliff climbing. First outdoor climb! Went pretty well, a lot harder than indoors though! I did manage to make it up, yay, with only a couple bumps and bruises. Fun time, great views, didn't have the camera with but this is one my friend Yan took of me.

*EUMC theme party - "My Hero" I went as Jack Sparrow... quite a fun time going to all the charity shops (secondhand stores where all the money goes to specified charity, all over the place here) trying to find costume bits with my friend Heather. I eventually found some great boots (which later turned out to be not so great as they KILLED my feet) and a leather vest, rest of my costume i just put together out of stuff i had. The party was great fun, hilarious to see what everyone came was - there WAS another jack sparrow, but i think i pulled it off better, despite being a girl! The flatmates throwing the party all dressed as ninja turtles, reminded me of katie and the girls last halloween!

<-- campsite was in the field of a farm... had some sheep and chickens for company = )

Then this last weekend i ventured out to the Lake District of northern England. I had signed up for an intro climbing course which turned out to be AWESOME. (EUMC organized for a course to be available for beginners who wanted some professional instruction, so I made sure to get a spot!) Our instructor was great, i learned so much! Saturday we learned a lot of basics - how to set up ropes, tie basic climbing knots like the clove hitch, and got to do a bit of tricky climbing on Sticklebarn crag. Then Sunday we went to an easier crag to try out leading (bit of explanation: top roping is basically like what you'd see at a climbing wall, where the rope threaded through a secure at the top and you have a partner belaying at the bottom as you climb, leading is more advanced but more typical climbing where the climber sets up secures while they climb using nuts - little wire devices - threading the rope through as they go, then the person belaying at bottom follows while the person who lead belays them from the top... ok that probably made no sense you really have to have a visual to understand lol) ANYWAYS, leading was really great, we did a multi-pitch route with 5 climbs (5 times leading/belaying process) stopping at ledges between each new pitch. Our instructor solo climbed beside us so we could ask questions and he could point out good crevasses to put nuts in, so we weren't totally on our own! It was an easier crag too, so it was good for first time leading. I liked the multi-pitch a lot cause you really get some great views and such an amazing feeling of freedom when your up there. After the climbs we'd absail back down, which is what I'm doing in this last pic - i'm the little white spec at the top. Quite a rush! (the photos of me climbing were taken by my instructor Neil who took my camera while i was leading to take pics of me "looking like a pro," guy in red jacket is my friend Yan - the one of just him i took when we were chillin on a ledge awaiting our turn on the next pitch)

Overall, great weekend - weather was so-so, rained a bit but got really sunny and beautiful a lot of the time time too. Such funny weather over here! Waterproofs were definitely a good investment...

Now another monday roles around again, back to class and library fun. Starting to get the hang of the whole "choose whatever background reading you want/think you should do on your own" deal... key phrase "starting to"

OOOh and birthday coming up, excitement! That should keep me going through this week, looking forward to quite the celebration since it's also my friend Courtney's b-day. Haven't had time to actually make any plans, haha, i think we'll go out to dinner somewhere nice? And hit the pubs after of course ; )

Well, definitely keeping busy, perhaps a little too busy - but that's probably a good thing. Miss you all, warm wishes as fall rolls around! (p.s. dad/anyone who has them - can you please send some pics from the wedding?!)

~R

ceilidh, castle, and the queen

Ok, another post-quick before i get further behind...

It's been a busy weekend. Thursday night EUMC threw a ceilidh - which is a traditional scottish dance. It was really fun, though 4 hrs long and full of dizziness! Some of the dances were really complicated, but i got the hang of most of 'em. Lots of spinning and whatnot (people always say it reminds them of that part in titanic when they dance below decks... you all know what i'm talking about). Some of the guys wore kilts too. Good times. (sorry forgot the camera!)

Friday night was pretty low key, my friend Mary's flat had a little party so we went up there for a bit. Nothing too exciting.

Saturday Liz, Courtney, and I got up early and went to the castle - I hadn't been yet(much to everyone's astonishment im sure)! It was awesome. It was a beautiful day too, so perfect for strolling around the grounds of an ancient castle. Saw the crown jewels, Mary Queen of Scots bed chamber, and the war prisons where they had these old doors that prisoners had carved their names on - there was even a carving of the american flag (original 13 colony style) from a revolutionary war prisoner! The exhibits were very nice, i think theyve recently redone them.After the castle we grabbed some lunch and then headed to the movie theater to catch a matinee of "The Queen" - very enthralling movie focused on the time right before and mainly just after diana's death. As everyone most likely remembers, there was a lot of controversy dealing with the lack of response from the royals after the accident. People were very hard on the queen, and the movie goes to great lengths to portray what the queen was going through and why she acted the way she did. I enjoyed it very much, especially since it gave such an in depth look at the state of the monarchy and how it is viewed in the eyes of the british people.

Saturday night was a little hard, cause of the wedding. (those of you unaware, my cousin dan got married saturday night to the lovely ellen - first of the cousins to get married, everyone there but me!) It's all good, i know im so lucky to be here and i love edinburgh of course, but it still made me sad that i was missing the wedding = ( Sarah did call me during the vows... but all i could really here was similar to the teacher from charlie brown type voice. oh well, it was the priniciple of the thing, i used my imagination! Made my friends have a toast with me in honor of the newlyweds ; ) I had a really fun night out though and got to talk briefly to everyone at the reception after, so that was nice - thanks everyone and hope the rest of the night was great! Haven't talked to anyone today, looking forward to hearing more stories and seeing the pics!

congrats to dan and ellen boldt!

~R