Who needs better blogging motivation than Insomnia?

It's 6.15am and I can't sleep, so I suppose a nice update-y blog is at least somewhat better than lying in bed and staring at the ceiling.

I'm absolutely loving being in Edinburgh, it's a fantastic city. Pretty much every day when I'm walking down the street I look around and just think, wow, I'm really here. The city is gorgeous, with the various styles of architecture and long windy streets. Sure, it's frustrating that the same road changes names with every bend, every three or four blocks, but to be honest it's just part of what makes Edinburgh funky and unique. (For example, the street I live on is South Clerk Street, then Clerk Street, then Nicholson Street, then South Bridge, and then North Bridge as you travel northwards from my flat, all in less than a twenty-minute walk.) And speaking of walking, that's about all I do here to get around. If it's raining hard (which doesn't happen nearly as often as I thought it would) or I'm going some distance away or I'm really really lazy I'll consider hopping on the bus, which is easy as pie as it's only £1 and the busses go everywhere. But other than that, I walk, especially since I have all my classes down at King's Buildings (called "KB" for short, they're all the university science and engineering buildings). They're a 25-30 minute walk south of my flat, so I spend a good hour or so on foot every day. Now that it's November, it's cold and windy a lot, but after a couple of minutes at brisk pace you warm up and, to be honest, it's really quite enjoyable. It gives me time to think and listen to new music and look at the sky and the cool buildings I walk past.

On to the weather. As previously mentioned, November = wind + chill + chilly rain. Though I have gained an appreciation for walking, I haven't yet extended the same warm feeling towards the weather. The bad news is that it's going to get colder. A lot. (And maybe even some snow.) The good news is that I bought an amazing red scarf that's about 6 feet long, 18 inches wide, and practically an inch thick. To top it off, it's fuzzy and soft and was cheap at H&M. Essentially, this is going to allow me to spend the winter looking like a yenta or a furry red mummy from the neck up. But there's more bad news: the days are short and getting shorter fast. It's dark if I get up too early in the morning, the sun starts setting around 3:30, and it's dark before 5pm. Gaaaah.

It's getting late into the semester and everyone is swamped with work. Essays, projects, presentations, and just plain old studying (or "revision" as they call it here) for exams are in the house. I myself am lucky enough to be similarly blessed, with an Ecology paper and Stats assignment both due Monday, on top of everything else. Wahey.

I'm keeping up decently with the news and zeitgeist at home via any news that's big enough to break on the international version of BBC, a few of my favorite columnists (Mark Morford, Dan Savage, and a few others), and online episodes of South Park. I do miss California (and its weather), UCLA, NorCal, wearing flip flops in the rain (I think my feet would fall off or shatter if I did that here), my friends, my parents, my pets, burritos, sushi, dim sum, and plenty of other stuff about home in general. But y'know? It's worth it just to be here.

That's my life. It's not in shambles. (Although I am in dire need of a pair of slippers... my feet are constantly cold...)