Back in the 'Burgh!

Hey everyone!

Just a little Edinburgh update… I’m back from a wonderful break and actually already done with my 2nd week of classes! Crazy how fast time flies! The city is just as amazing upon return, and now I have 4 new flatmates and one of my best friends from Northwestern, Gabby, here with me! I’ve already been having tons of fun with the newcomers, we’ve had a birthday celebration toga part in our flat and Gabby and I have been busy hittin the city – went to the castle again and made a trip to the Museum of Scotland (very impressive!) Have yet to take Gabs up Arthur’s Seat, for alas, winter has hit the 'Burgh! It was actually snowing quite a bit today, lately it’s been doing the rain/snow mix… lovely… but today there were huge brilliant flakes! It cleared up by evening though and was clear blue sky when I walked to my 4pm class! Though I sometimes spite it, the weather here is quite amusing – better to have miserable that changes quickly to beautiful than straight miserable for a week!

Anywho, the last couple weeks have been fun, but really just getting back into the swing of things. Still dealing with the never-ending struggle of attempting to do some work while living each moment to the fullest and really enjoying my time in Scotland. My schedule is pretty great this semester – despite having 3 days with 9 am lectures, I have no class on Fridays! AND I’m only taking one honors level English course (Celtic Revivals – Joyce, Yeats, Thomas, etc), the other two are 1st year intro courses (Archaeology of Scotland, Classical Lit – Drama) so should be a bit of a lesser load than last semester!

Outside of class I’ve been having lots of fun introducing Gabby to all my climbing friends! Took her a long to our weekly pub night and had lots of fun. Tonight there’s the second EUMC fancy dress party (remember last semester’s “My Hero” themed when I dressed as Jack Sparrow), should be another crazy night – this time the theme’s “G.B.H”… explanation: the club flat is called GBH standing for Gordon Brown House (I think) after a old member who donated a bunch of money to the university and now the flat is passed down each year to other EUMC members, the parties take place at GBH, thus the theme, anything relating or standing for the letters G B or H. One or all, all is obviously more challenging! I think I’ve managed to get them all for my costume – I’m going as “Great Britain-Happy” (get it? Like trigger-happy, so, obsessed with Great Britain haha) I think it fits since I’m the “tourist” of the club, being the only American! I found a great dress at a charity shop, I’ll be sure to post pics after!

That’s all for now, we were going to try to go to London this weekend but were too last minute with tickets so now it’s too expensive! Think instead I’ll get some work done (cross your fingers) and try to plan out when/where I for sure want to travel this semester. I don’t think I’ll go on many EUMC trips during these cold months (no ice climbing for Rachel!), but want to for sure visit London, Dublin, and possibly Amsterdam sometime soon!

Please stay in touch and send messages to tell me what you’re up to, or just say hi! I love getting messages = )

Also, I’ve put up recent pics (even Italy finally) on Webshots so check 'em out! http://community.webshots.com/user/rachemarie

~R