Edinburgh and the Highlands

I write from a desk in Nottingham, England - the same desk I wrote my previous post at - but there have been many travels in between these desks. The largest part of those travels was spent in Edinburgh, Scotland. A while back, I posted about my two-day trip to Edinburgh with my friend, Ben. We were fortunate to stay for free at the apartment of a fellow Luther student and friend, Lisa, who kindly offered me a share of her dwellings again for this break.

A bit of background about the whole Edinburgh deal? And a history leading up to it? In the Nottingham program, we students are kicked out of the house for our two breaks. Not wanting to spend much money this spring and knowing the amount of work I would have to do over the break, I looked for options that involved staying in one place for relatively cheap. I spent the first 10 days traveling Ireland with my friend Aaron Rosell (more on that when I get the photos). The remaining two weeks were contested until Lisa, studying for the semester at the University of Edinburgh, (famous for its beautiful campus and its past, shady dealings with bodysnatchers) offered to let me sleep and eat in her flat. A lady with an unquestioning idea of hospitality, she and her friends tolerated me enough to let me live with them for the remainder of my break.

While I was there, these photos were taken:

I hiked Arthur's Seat again several times - it was a great place to go while I was staying in Edinburgh

The views are always great

The flat is right next to the Royal Mile...

...which leads to Edinburgh castle...

...which had some cool exhibits and monuments inside. Here is a sort of Scotland equivalent of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

I took a nine-hour day trip through the Scottish Highlands with a small, but really cool tour company called "The Hairy Coo." Pictured is Russell, our driver, in the first foggy hours of the trip.

The first big site was the William Wallace monument, who, through the info provided by our tour guide, I learned to admire and also be uneasy about (he had a big stomach for violence)

While the fog was thick for the first few hours, the scenery was beautiful

And when the mist cleared, even more so

The hard-to-mistake orange bus, some of our 20something crew, and the woods

One of the lochs we visited. Scattered fishermen completed the Minnesota feel.

These are Hairy Coos - Highland Cattle - coming up close to eat some bread provided by the driver

Some were more eager than others

Doune Castle - famous for being the site of three different scenes from the incredibly low budget "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." Inside is the courtyard where the film's happy wedding turned into a confused, bloody mess. You will recognize these walls in this video.

Coconuts were provided.

This was one of the last things we saw: the giant Forth Railway Bride.

That's all for now, uploading photos three times a piece. Hope you enjoyed! It's nice to be back in the 'Ham, relaxing, taking my daily change of clothes out of real-life drawers, writing my final paper and prepping for finals which will be in the 20s of this month. Next up I'll be posting pictures and stories from my time in Ireland.

Weekend in Edinburgh

The sun has been out in full force recently... by English standards. That means it must be spring.

What have I been doing as the winter's welcome wears away? In the longest gap between posts in recent memory? Very little. But you can rest assured I have been enjoying myself. I won't bore you with the slothful details, but will instead focus on the more exciting ones, for example, a very recent trip to Edinburgh with my pal Ben Gardner.

I was very fortunate to spend two nights at a flat care of the lovely Lisa Diviney, a fellow Luther student and hospitable host, as well as her five lovely flatmates. Our first day Ben and I had only a cursory look throughout the city. The second day was far more comprehensive.

Our day began with a visit to the local Grassmarket, right at the foot of Edinburgh castle:

I didn't buy anything at the market, except for one fantastic hog roast, but not before a minute-long back-and-forth with the local Scottish merchant:

"Yeah, I'll get one on dark bread."

"Youwantsoomstoofinonthaht?"

"What?"

Regardless, it was incredibly delicious.

It also proved to be invaluable to my energy for that day, as a hike was in the very near future. It's not that much of a climb, as climbs go, but Ben and I hiked up Arthur's Seat, to the highest point in sight and got to see some lovely views of the Scottish city. Here are some pics of the journey up:

Ben resting on a warning sign, with unintentional hilarity.

The Wikipedia page on Arthur's Seat said it is "quite easy" to climb. Thus the first time I edit a Wikipedia page.

Victorious.

Shot from a conveniently-placed monument

The rest of the day was spent visiting a local museum and looking around town. It was a nice, relaxing stroll. The night, however, was something else entirely. One of our hostesses was holding a birthday celebration party, and we, as temporary inhabitants, were a part. It was also Disney-themed.

L to R: Little John and Robin Hood (I couldn't find tights somehow)

There may be no live-action Disney Robin Hoods, but the costumes were a success. The girls of the flat dressed up as dwarves, and the birthday girl as their Snow White. It was a great time. Thanks go out to them.

Now I'm back in Nottingham, doing work and not spending money anymore. I've already been planning my Spring Break, which will involve a ten-day trip throughout Ireland and a few weeks scrambling to finish up three finals. 'til next time!

Nottingham, Part Two

The new semester here has begun! Irish Literature and American Literature are behind me now and my previous anxieties of passing the former have been extinguished. I enjoyed and learned a lot from both, including the knowledge that I never want to become a professional academic, at least not in the same way as these literary critics I have been reading.

Before moving onto new news, I will look back on the old for a bit more, because I never did post up some of the Alps pictures. These are of when my brother and my cousin Arnaud went to visit Les Contamines for some skiing and mountain-gawking. We stayed with my uncle Demian.

Stefan, Arnaud, and I about to do some cross country skiing

Skiing is a difficult thing when you don't know what you're doing and have a bad knee, but the woods were beautiful

Up on the mountain. I stayed back because of the aforementioned reasons, a position that Arnaud and Stefan were apt at symbolizing, shown here

Post-ski drink time

After all that and Paris, I came back and lived with my grandmother for about a week, while my mom was off traveling with her friend, Deb. Because of living in the States, learning French late, and visiting only so often, I never really knew my grandma, at least not more than my mom's mom who spoke a different language but was always very kind and provided delicious food. Now I know that all of those things remain true, but are only parts of a whole, a whole that I got to know more during my short stay. I'm glad to have had that experience.

And now I'm back in Nottingham, already learning about Norse mythology and religion in general. Ice and Fire: Myths and Heroes of the North is the absurdly exciting title of the former, and Introduction to the Study of Religion the latter. In one corner I will hear about how Thor smote giants with his mighty Mjollnir and in the other I will hear about how such a mythical character is really an archetype of the collective unconscious.

Apologies: my last lecture was all psychoanalysis

Semester two promises to be a fun one, and my goals include not severely injuring major joints and getting to know more people. I'm doing well with both so far.

I See London, I See France

Much has been happening in Europe this month. My brother Stefan and I have been all over, from London to Bretagne to Paris to the Alps. To cover it all, and in the spirit of international look-back-at-everything-and-rate-it day, I feel like a superfluous countdown list is in order.

Top Five Greatest Moments of England/France Vacation 2010:

FIVE (5)

Hanging out in London/The Celtic Hotel

'Laxin' in the lobby

When we first arrived in London, my knee was still a little wary of walking around too much, so there was much hanging out. The hotel we stayed at was very cozy, and I took full advantage of its lobby and wi-fi. At one point, we managed to Skype with my dad, and bring the camera out into the street to show him just outside of the hotel.

FOUR (4)

Walking Abbey Road

It's like on the Beatles cover. The Abbey Road one. But with only two people.

It's touristy, there was a group of people waiting to do the same thing, (and one person offering to snap one with a high quality camera for a couple pounds), and Stefan's feet got cold, but it was fun. What a bizarre thing The Beatles made popular.

THREE (3)
Houses of Parliament/Big Ben

The metro stop in fabled Vestminst

Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, and Big Ben were three of our stops on one day of our London visit. Parliament was by far my favorite. As an art exhibit alone, it was amazing, (including a great, scowling statue of Winston Churchill right next to a sign saying "Do Not Touch the Statues").

Big Ben

TWO (2)

Re-Visiting Dinard

About to eat some ray with my dear old grandmother

For those of you who don't know, Dinard is an important family place in my life. It is a city in Bretagne, the Northwest region of France. Every other summer, I would visit my French family in Dinard with my Minnesota family for a month. The tradition ended for my brother and I when we were each around 18, so I hadn't been there for a while. It was great to see the place again with a different perspective and a more tolerable level of French-speaking ability. Mémé, (my grandma), has been a very kind and loving host, and a great chef.

Dinard is on the coast of the English channel and is very much a summer town. So it was interesting to see the place cold and snowy. Snow is a rarity there, so Stefan and I seized the opportunity to make snowmen. But not just ordinary snowmen, conversing snowmen.

I think, therefore I snowman.

ONE (1)

Christmas in Paris

The Ménages, Schifskys, and the Otts

Christmas in Paris involved great food (in enormous quantities), the Louvre and the beautiful cityscape, and visiting with family that I rarely see. Good stuff.

I have been staying at my aunt Aline's house, with her sons. Here they are (minus Adrien, who is not holding the camera):

(Left to right: Alban, Arnaud, Stefan, Aline, and I)

And here is a picture of us five cousins, (including Adrien) looking devilishly handsome in the Parc du Sceaux.

Adrien is actually shorter than my brother, but screw it.

I guess I have one more picture of me in front of the Louvre, as well. What a freaking fantastic place. The pieces of art there kept my skin in a permanent goosebump state.

There's art all up in this.

So that's it for now. I'm getting tired. There was a portion of my travels that included visiting the beautiful French Alps, but those pictures aren't available yet. That's for a different post, probably. It's 5:50pm here, and the plans for tonight include playing some sick games of Jungle Speed, eating a lot, and walking the streets of Paris mildly intoxicated, (it's legal, hush).

Happy New Year from Europe, everybody! Special shout-out to the gamer bros, Armstrong friends, Luther buds, my great French family (in France and the Galapagos), and Schifskys everywhere!

Study Break

It is essay crunch time at the moment, and I am pulling myself away from the tedium of catering my writing and thoughts to carefully cited scholarly articles to bring y'all an update.

This has been me all day, every day, for the last week, except for the fact that I am a man.

I am still a cripple, but can move my knee around a lot more comfortably. In fact, my knee was recently used for dancing (and even sitting!) at my favorite bar in town: Coco Tang.

Here are some choice pictures:

The fabled Absinthe/rum tea-like concoction: Mad Hatter's Tea Party

My drink of choice: The Dirty Cinderella

Me telling everyone how it's 'bout to go down.

A serious, completely candid shot of Aaron, Ben, and I's everyday life.

That was great times.

I also recently saw a pantomime, a fairly unique British show that involves audience participation, cross-dressing, and an occasionally overwhelming amount of cultural references. You can read about it more, here.

I won't be updating the blog for a while, as I will be off soon for my winter break, (in sunny France!). I will likely be writing a post or two in France, but if not, Happy Holidays, everyone!

Life on Hard Mode

Hello, again, everyone. Do not let my lack of posts fool you: much has been happening here in Nottingham. Unfortunately, one of these happenings has left me less able and willing to do things.

Three weeks ago, I dislocated my kneecap at Ultimate Frisbee practice, when my awkwardly bent leg collided with someone else's. It was unsightly and painful, but there was no major damage. I have since then been living as a cripple, with the ups and downs that brings. Just today, I started physiotherapy and am doing exercises to regain muscle and control in my left leg. The physical therapist was optimistic, and I hope to be fine by next month.

But enough about that. Before the unfortunate practice, us students made a trip to Bath, Avebury, and Stonehenge. The Roman baths in Bath were wonderful, and I have a few pictures from that.

The Roman Baths (right)

Natural hot spring water surrounded by Roman and medieval architecture is pretty cool.

The site had a sort of cellphone that you would call to hear information about the different areas and items.

Unfortunately, my camera ran out of batteries, so I don't have too many photos. This means that I didn't get any of myself in front of one of the wonders of the ancient world: Stonehenge. A friend of mine took some of me, however, and I'll post them up later.

EDIT:

Here it is, or the best one.

Stonehenge was a surreal experience, but there's not much to say other than that it looks like it what it does in all the photos. It was inspiring to stand in their presence, though, and the surrounding countryside was beautiful.

But before I'm done for now, this:

From left to right: Dr. Hugh Higgins, Veronica Horne, Clark Kitson, Zelda Kitson, Philip Rosenblum, Iliyana Romanov, Cynthia Summerbrooke, Otis Dickinson-Hill, Roxy Malone, Samantha Cyprus, Sam Shepard

The night before Halloween, all the flat (minus 2 people) were involved in a murder mystery party. It was great times. In character, we met each other at the residence of Dr. Philip Rosenblum, who, tragically died soon after our long dinner. There was suspicion, intrigue, and an awful, early conclusion, (made by Ben and I to try and wrap things up) that brought everything to an anti-climactic halt. But, we all got to talk in British accents and be jerks, and we have this fantastic photo to show for it. I call it a win.

Serious Business

It's been a while, but I've finally got to posting another entry and sprucing up the blog a bit, which took more time than it needed to.

An outsider of a peculiarly judgmental nature might not think it, but Nottingham University student life is in full swing. Instead of at least one class per day, I have three lectures and two seminars a week. Students are expected to be reading in the gaps, which is what I have been doing at a refreshingly relaxed rate, (there be change on the horizon, though). The rest of my time is spent winning the board game Settlers of Catan and wearing pillows on my head with my roommates.

I am an adult man.

But it is not all fun and games. I have joined the Ultimate Team, where I go have fun at practice several times a week, and I have also joined the University television station: NUTS, where I play around with cameras and write for and shoot for a comedy sketch show.

In all seriousness, I'm pretty excited and fortunate to be able to get experience in a field that I have often looked at as a prospective career field. The show I will be writing for is called Insert Name Here. It will be a weekly show with themed episodes featuring several one-minute-or-so sketches. I am on a team with about seven other dudes, who all contribute to the writing process, as well as the eventual production, (camerawork, sound, lighting, editing). It is far from high art, and will not be much more than one can see over at CollegeHumor, but damn it, what a cool opportunity.

This upcoming weekend will be our flat's third trip, a short one to Bath. I'll have to let you all know how it goes.