That's right, you heard it, I'm a free woman! Now that exams are over, I don't have to think about them or worry about how I got a song stuck in my head halfway through my last exam: "The input of sunlight into aquatic ecosystems is... a tiny pony. NO, no no no, why did I write that?" The song in question is a spoof piece, called "Tiny Pony" (which you can download by clicking here), done by Tim from Narnia, one of people from Fresh Air. It's quite good, except when it comes to explaining how and why aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems differ and generally helping me on my Ecology exam.
Oh well. It's off to Barcelona for me for the weekend, if I can possibly get Ryanair to quit being so unhelpful. Long, boring, bothersome story not inserted here.
Saturday, December 16
Sunday, December 10
A Day in the Life of Scotland in December
Listen, I'm not kidding when I say the days getting really short. So here's a photo-blog to let you know exactly how short said instances of sun are. Tuesday, December 5th was a nice, sunny day, by Scottish winter standards. I've put on the "Date/Time" marker on the pictures so you can see exactly what it's like, as viewed from the window in my room.
6:04am.
7:18am. Still dark. (All you can see is the reflection of my curtains in the window.)
8:03am. Sunrise is scheduled for 8:24am.
9:10am. Still no sign of the sun.... Ahh, 9:43, here we go.
10:11am.
One hour later: 11:11am.
12:18pm. Finally, it's the afternoon.
1:02pm... Hey, sun....where ya going?
2:44pm. Ahem.
3:16pm. Sunset is at 3:40pm
4:16pm. Wait, seriously?
5:08pm. Pitch black again. Sigh.
I've discovered that here in Scotland the sun doesn't rise and fall; it goes side to side a few inches above the horizon. I just felt I needed to dramatize this point for you. Enjoy the sun, wherever you are on this earth thats less than 55 degrees North!
p.s. sorry for the strange formatting...
6:04am.
7:18am. Still dark. (All you can see is the reflection of my curtains in the window.)
8:03am. Sunrise is scheduled for 8:24am.
9:10am. Still no sign of the sun.... Ahh, 9:43, here we go.
10:11am.
One hour later: 11:11am.
12:18pm. Finally, it's the afternoon.
1:02pm... Hey, sun....where ya going?
2:44pm. Ahem.
3:16pm. Sunset is at 3:40pm
4:16pm. Wait, seriously?
5:08pm. Pitch black again. Sigh.
I've discovered that here in Scotland the sun doesn't rise and fall; it goes side to side a few inches above the horizon. I just felt I needed to dramatize this point for you. Enjoy the sun, wherever you are on this earth thats less than 55 degrees North!
p.s. sorry for the strange formatting...
Tuesday, December 5
Labo(u)r of Love?
Or just two more nights' worth of insomnia? At any rate, I've put some pictures up of my time in Edinburgh so far. These two measly albums are far from complete as I've stupidly forgotten to bring my camera to a number of events, but beggars can't be choosers, can they? Also unfortunately, I've not included any pictures from my trip to The Highlands, as I'm still whittling the list of photos down (made it from 363 to 150... still got a long way to go).
September through Halloween:
http://ucla.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2110205&l=56cba&id=2507142
Halloween through December:
http://ucla.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2110286&l=62128&id=2507142
Enjoy!
September through Halloween:
http://ucla.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2110205&l=56cba&id=2507142
Halloween through December:
http://ucla.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2110286&l=62128&id=2507142
Enjoy!
Sunday, December 3
Weekends
Ok, so this one isn't over yet, but I don't anticipate it getting very exciting.
These are some notes I wrote to myself last weekend about what to write in my blog for y'all:
saturday thanksgiving ceilidh (strip the willow!)
sunday's trouncing rugby victory
sunday night sky, beautiful blue colors
saw the sun again today!
I've got a general sense of what they mean, here's what I make out in translation: Last Saturday I went to a Thanksgiving lunch/Ceilidh (pronounced "kay-lee") that was hosted by the UC Study Centre here. Basically, I got to catch up with all the other California students on EAP (who I met at orientation in September) and then got to do some Scottish dancing. The Ceilidh band was made up of a fiddler, accordionist, and drummer (with just a snare), and were very nice and called the steps for us (think like in square dancing). Anyway, my favorite dance that I learned is called Strip the Willow (Shetland Style) and basically is linking arms and spinning around with each person down a long line. You're so dizzy by the end you just almost have to fall over; it's the greatest.
Last Sunday we (finally) won one of our rugby matches against a club team, Melrose, and it was by a sizeable margin. I forget what that margin was, but they didn't score (although they scratched and stomped like they expected to). As I was walking home from the pitch, I was struck by the beauty of the colors in the sky: the sun was down in the west, but there was a line of clouds sitting above the houses, making half the sky turquoise and the other half a dark navy blue. Ok, so it was only about 4:15pm, but I swear it was gorgeous. Oh, and the sun came out earlier that day, before it started raining in the rugby match.
So that sums up last weekend, but these past few days have been filled by food, mostly. Thursday night was our rugby Christmas dinner, officially, and celebration for winning SUSA, unofficially. We had a fantastic time, with dinner, drink, presents, and general debauchery. Friday, I again had an epic meal, as it was late-Thanksgiving at my friend Katie's flat. A whole bunch of people turned up, including a whole mess of Americans, (doing what we do best), bearing food. Two turkeys, two heaps of mashed potatoes, two vats of stuffing, and two pumpkin pies were there when I arrived, to which I added two pans of cornbread and a whole mess of candied sweet potatoes. And I got there early. Suffice to say a Scotland-held-American-Thanksgiving still knows no meaning of the word "moderation," which makes me happy. I did have to walk across town to find a Mexican deli to buy the cornmeal to make the cornbread, but it was SO worth it. Good food, good friends, cheap wine (hey, give us a break, we're students) all made for an enjoyable evening, with most people buggering off by about 9 to go home and sleep it off.
Today, however, I've chosen to convalesce at home as my chest cold decided to make a particularly nasty resurgence. I think I've been only been awake a total of four or five hours today, and that was just to make some tea. Hopefully I will feel well enough to get out and/or study tomorrow; exams wait for no illness.
That's all, over and out.
These are some notes I wrote to myself last weekend about what to write in my blog for y'all:
saturday thanksgiving ceilidh (strip the willow!)
sunday's trouncing rugby victory
sunday night sky, beautiful blue colors
saw the sun again today!
I've got a general sense of what they mean, here's what I make out in translation: Last Saturday I went to a Thanksgiving lunch/Ceilidh (pronounced "kay-lee") that was hosted by the UC Study Centre here. Basically, I got to catch up with all the other California students on EAP (who I met at orientation in September) and then got to do some Scottish dancing. The Ceilidh band was made up of a fiddler, accordionist, and drummer (with just a snare), and were very nice and called the steps for us (think like in square dancing). Anyway, my favorite dance that I learned is called Strip the Willow (Shetland Style) and basically is linking arms and spinning around with each person down a long line. You're so dizzy by the end you just almost have to fall over; it's the greatest.
Last Sunday we (finally) won one of our rugby matches against a club team, Melrose, and it was by a sizeable margin. I forget what that margin was, but they didn't score (although they scratched and stomped like they expected to). As I was walking home from the pitch, I was struck by the beauty of the colors in the sky: the sun was down in the west, but there was a line of clouds sitting above the houses, making half the sky turquoise and the other half a dark navy blue. Ok, so it was only about 4:15pm, but I swear it was gorgeous. Oh, and the sun came out earlier that day, before it started raining in the rugby match.
So that sums up last weekend, but these past few days have been filled by food, mostly. Thursday night was our rugby Christmas dinner, officially, and celebration for winning SUSA, unofficially. We had a fantastic time, with dinner, drink, presents, and general debauchery. Friday, I again had an epic meal, as it was late-Thanksgiving at my friend Katie's flat. A whole bunch of people turned up, including a whole mess of Americans, (doing what we do best), bearing food. Two turkeys, two heaps of mashed potatoes, two vats of stuffing, and two pumpkin pies were there when I arrived, to which I added two pans of cornbread and a whole mess of candied sweet potatoes. And I got there early. Suffice to say a Scotland-held-American-Thanksgiving still knows no meaning of the word "moderation," which makes me happy. I did have to walk across town to find a Mexican deli to buy the cornmeal to make the cornbread, but it was SO worth it. Good food, good friends, cheap wine (hey, give us a break, we're students) all made for an enjoyable evening, with most people buggering off by about 9 to go home and sleep it off.
Today, however, I've chosen to convalesce at home as my chest cold decided to make a particularly nasty resurgence. I think I've been only been awake a total of four or five hours today, and that was just to make some tea. Hopefully I will feel well enough to get out and/or study tomorrow; exams wait for no illness.
That's all, over and out.
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