Oh The Places We’ll Go

I left Bruges yesterday to head to Denmark but had a fantastic time while I was there.

Bruges is a medieval town so most of their big sights were built hundreds and hundreds of years ago.  Its not like there are a lot of THINGS to see, per-se, since I felt like most of the museums and things would be a throw away, but the atmosphere was wonderful.  Tons of little local shops lining the streets and as many chocolate shops as I have ever seen in my entire life!  Plus, tons of pubs and things for the delicious Belgian beers (another thing the Belgian people are known for).  All in all, a very pretty very cute little town.

After I got into Bruges I settled down and just hung out my first day.  It was incredibly rainy and overcast so I didnt feel much like going anywhere or doing anything.  Plus I figured with a cold walking around in the freezing ass rain would be unwise.  Wouldnt you agree?  Instead I chilled around the hostel and fell asleep.  The second day I ended up meeting a few nice Canadian girls who I got to chatting with and hung out with for a while.  I took a walk around town and had some food.  Eventually I got to chatting with an Aussie, Zoe, who was also staying in my room and the four of us ended up sitting around having a good chat about traveling, seeing sights, and Bruges in general.  We got together and decided to go out for a beer, come back and watch In Bruges, a very funny black comedy with Colin Farrell.  Once we got to walking around Bruges, as it turns out its not a very happening place.  Haha.  Note the sarcasm: of course Bruges is a dead city.  It was built a billion freakin years ago!  Anyways, we finally found the ONE hangout spot for young people in the city and hung out there for a while.  You can smoke in pubs in Bruges so of course everything STANK of cigarettes, including us after we left.  We headed to another pub full of Italian guys and travelers, which was fun and relaxing with good music.  Afterwards we all went back to the hostel and I ended up watching In Bruges alone since everyone else fell asleep.  Party poopers.  The movie was great- go out and rent it tonight.  Very funny and Colin Farrell is especially funny in it.  Plus theres a lot of comedy about Bruges and all the sights they were at IIII went to!

My last day in Bruges I went and did all of my touristy stuff.  There was actually only one touristy thing that I did the whole time I was there, but it was incredibly physically exhausting.  I climbed their fame clock tower- all 366 feet worth of stairs to the very freakin top to get the best view of the city.  JESUS that climb was exhausting.  Not only was it so many stairs, but they were incredibly steep AND windy with little room for passing people on the way down.  I was afraid of falling the entire time I was climbing up.  There are too many people coming up and going down at the same time it gets a little cramped.  Once you’re at the top, though, its all worth it.  The view is amazing and you can see EVERYTHING.  Thank god I waited for the good weather to climb to the top!  Going on the overcast day would have sucked.  The only other mission I had in Bruges was to have hot chocolate, and boy was it delicious.  Very chocolatey, but they give you a water shot for afterwards so it all works out fine.  At first I was like, why are they giving me water for this hot chocolate, but after you drink it you understand.  My night that night was spent doing laundry and falling asleep really early since I had to wake up the next morning at the ass crack of dawn.

Of course some ASSHOLE was yelling outside at 3 in the morning so my already early wakeup call was interrupted and made even freaking earlier by some dumb girl who forgot her key into the hostel.  Ugh, not happy about that.  I was already awake by 5am for my wakeup, got my pre-packed bag together and headed towards the train station for my full day of traveling.  I hopped on 3 different Intercity trains before I got into Koln in Germany.  From Koln I went into Hamburg to catch a train to Copenhagen.  Like I said, lots of trains.  The first leg of traveling went down without a problem.  The trains to Koln were on time and comfortable, relaxing, all of the above.  I managed not even to use my iPod for the entire 4 hours of train travel into Koln, which I think is pretty impressive.

The problems started from Koln into Hamburg after the train was late.  I only had 10 minutes in between the train into Hamburg and the train OUT to Copenhagen, so the train being late was VERY stressful.  The one out of Hamburg was the last one, so I could NOT miss it.  THEN, some creepy European guy got on the train and sat across the aisle from me on the train and after 3 hours of IGNORING him he proceeded to FLASH ME as I left the train.  Yes, you read that right, and I was traumatized.  I mean, I guess in retrospect its pretty funny, but if you knew where my head was at at that time, it was anything but funny when it happened.  Here I am, traveling alone about to miss my train in a country where I do not know anyone OR speak the language and some CREEP is off sexually assaulting me or whatever.  Not cool and made me even MORE freaked out about that stupid train to Denmark.  Thankfully they held the train in Hamburg for transfers SO I didnt miss the train into Denmark.  Phew!  The trip over was really easy and relaxed, plus included a ferry boat which they drive the train onto?  I still have no idea how they did it but they did, and it was pretty cool. 

The train into Copenhagen was an hour late, which sucked, and I couldn´t transfer my money into Danish Krones until today, but I found the hostel easily enough so that was good.  It’s more of a HOTEL than anything else since it has over a thousand beds, but I am the only one in my room.  Cool and not cool at the same time since I get this big room all to myself, but I havent met anyone the whole time I have been here.  I fell asleep as soon as I got into Denmark yesterday and all day today I have been just walking around checking out the sights.  I am going to the movies to see Monsters vs. Aliens in about a half an hour, my big trip for the day, but all by myself.  They assign seats at the movies here, btw.  How weird is that??  She asked me where I wanted to sit and was so confused I just looked at her like she was crazy.  Plus the money here is all funky.  The coins have holes through the middle of them, which I thought was very amusing.  I guess no one else does… I told a guy ‘these coins have holes’ and he goes ‘yeah- theyre supposed to be like that’.  Haha.  He mustve thought I was an idiot or something.  Oh well.

Most Danes speak English which is nice and easy… I get around pretty well here.  Loads of shopping and even 7-11s!!  I couldnt believe my eyes!  AND THEY HAVE SLURPEES!  My life is complete.  Plus, they use the network 3 here, which is my phone network, so my Skype works on my phone here.  I officially love Denmark, even if that is the only reason it is cool. 

Tomorrow is my sight seeing day, which basically includes the mermaid statue and something to do with H.C. Andersen, who is like the only famous Danish figure from history and everything is named after him, including the address of the hostel I am staying in.

If anyone has Skype they can call before the morning of the 22nd and I will be able to chat, so do it then!  Otherwise the Skype wont work again until I get into Austria, I believe, since 3 is also in Austria. 

Will update more tomorrow since I found this amazing little internet cafe here.  Plus, I probably will have nothing else to do with myself! 

-Catherine

I’m finally back in Europe after a missed flight to Belgium strayed my travel plans awry.  Originally I had planned on going to Amsterdam and Bruges before heading back to Cali to surprise Alicia for her 18th birthday, BUT all those plans got messed up thanks to Ryanair and their stupid flight checkin rules!  Bastards.  Never misread your flight departure time when it comes to flying Ryanair.  If you miss your flight, you are S.O.L.

Anyways, California was fun.  Baseball, eating foods that I’ve missed, seeing family and friends and everything.  Relaxing the first few days, then getting lazy, then scrambling at the VERY (and I mean VERY) last minute to get my last paper done.  It got done an hour before I left for the airport… so hectic but finished.  Of course, during the course of writing my paper I decided to go and get all ill and everything.  Lightheaded, woozy, unable to focus.  Not what you need with an entire day’s staying in airports and planes ahead of you.

I caught my flight from Sac to Seattle on Southwest and hopped on a flight from Seattle to Amsterdam on Northwest.  Northwest is a pretty decent airline.  The guy gave me the emergency exit row, so I had extra leg room, and there was no one sitting next to me so big bonus there.  Plus, thanks to my fantastic mother, I had the perfect bribing treat HOPING for someone nice to give me the bump up to first class but no such luck.  Instead I had to settle for Strawberry Shortcake.  Boo Hoo, right?  The flight was pretty long but at least I had the cool pop up TV thingy with movies and everything on it to keep me company.  I didn’t have to use my iPod once, which was great.  It was hard watching the movies for too long since my head kept getting fuzzy and the medicine I had with me wasn’t doing much good.  Lots of coughing, sneezing, wheezing, bathroom runs, fluids that I don’t want to talk about, etc.  All in all, flight could have been better minus the flu.

I got into Amsterdam bright and early on Monday morning and quickly departed my plane to exchange my currency over to Euros, get my bag, get to my hostel and SLEEP.  Amsterdam is a great place, I’ve decided, for people just starting out a backpacking trip.  It’s really English friendly, everyone speaks a good amount of English and no one has trouble understanding what you’re saying.  No culture shock, good times.  One snag hit my plans right away, however, when I got through customs and into baggage claim when I realized my bag wasn’t on the carousel.  What the heck?  I went up to the Northwest baggage counter, the lady told me to wait 15 minutes to see if it comes, and then come back.  When I got back to the counter she held out a ‘missing baggage’ form for me (AHHHH!!!!!  NOOOOO!!!!) and where to deliver my HUGE backpack to with ALL of my clothing.  Then, all of a sudden by some miracle of GOD, some saint from the luggage dungeon radio’d up and said he saw a bag matching my description, and sure enough…. it was MINE!  Woo hoo!

I got on my way from the airport into the city, which was an easy hop on the train.  3 euros, super cheap and easy.  Got into Amsterdam, hopped in a cab since I couldn’t be bothered carrying my HUGE bag without directions to the hostel, and arrived at the Heart of Amsterdam hostel for checkin.  Of course, I was too early and had to wait until the room was clean.  I managed to read my entire Steve Martin Stand-Up book while waiting for the room, walk around town a little bit, and get back with time to spare.  Finally when the room was done, I collapsed on my bed and fell into a deep deep sleep. The hostel was nice enough.  A few sketchy people here and there, but a perfectly good locker to keep my stuff safe so I wasn’t too worried about it.  Plus, TV with CNN and MTV (in English) AND Comedy Central!?  Why leave the hostel?

Of course I left the hostel.  Duh.  Not on Monday since I was so exhausted, but I got to walking around on Tuesday and did my museum tour.  I hit up the van Gogh museum and the Rjkmuseum (however you spell it).  JESUS these places are expensive.  I miss Greece- everything free with a student card.  Can’t I pass for 12 anymore?  Probably not.  These 2 museums were kind of a throwaway to speak the honest to god truth.  van Gogh’s was cool because it was… van Gogh but the Rjkmuseum whatever was a total rip off.  Both together were THIRTY euros.  Gimme a break.  After the museums I headed back to the hostel, got some food, and walked around Amsterdam a little bit more.

As it turns out, as much as Amsterdam is known for weed and prostitution (and believe me, there’s lots of it), who knew it was absolutely BEAUTIFUL?  Loads of canals running all throughout the city lit with the sparkly lights along the bridges.  People walking around everywhere, little boats tutting along the canals.  Very picturesque.  There are bikes EVERYWHERE so it reminded me a bit of UCSB.  You have to be on the lookout for crazy people on bikes, especially when you have your earbuds in.

The hostel I stayed at was in the Red Light District, which I thought was pretty funny.  Most people in Amsterdam are high or selling weed, so you come kind of immune to the smell after a while.  I was too sick to do anything of that nature (plus it’s just not my cup of tea in the first place so I came out of Amsterdam compeltely clean).  All of my roommates were completely stoned the entire time, laughing at this crazy Chilean guy in our room.  Quite an amusing sight.  As for the District itself, there’s lots of very graphic posters up everywhere.  Did you know you can go and see a Live Sex Show?  It IS exactly what it sounds like.  Plus walking around the district you see a good amount of very scantily clad women in these little windows up for ‘display’, if you catch my drift.  If you like what you see then well, you know.  During the daytime these window women are lagoon creatures, shall we say.  They belong in small closets, shoved away for no one to see ever again.  Nighttime girls are alright looking.  At least attractive, but you know they’ve gotta have some crazy diseases.

Lots of my time, I’m sorry to say, was spent sleeping, sneezing and coughing in Amsterdam so I didn’t get to go out and socialize much OR do anything crazy.  I just couldn’t be bothered and WAS bothered too much my the nose/head combination going on.  I got out a couple of nights just to walk around the city and it was absolutely perfect.  Great weather for a t-shirt and a pair of jeans, checking out the crazy people in the porno windows, avoiding pimps and people trying to sell you drugs.  All perfectly legal (scarily enough).  It’s not really scary though, funnily enough.  People don’t stalk you (like they do in other countries).  They ask once and leave alone.

Traveling this time around is a little bit funny.  You can immediately tell the difference because it’s so much quieter and feels so much more LONELY.  Still good but sometimes I wish I had someone to crack jokes with and make stupid observations with.  I’m a lot calmer and figure things out much quicker when I’m just doing them by myself though, so that’s good.  No Thomas to beg for the Rick Steves book.  It’s in my hands… all the time.  No questions asked.  I’m a little proud of myself though.  I’ve managed to find everything on my own AND, my biggest challenge, lift my bag into the overhead thingy on the trains!!  I couldn’t believe I did it, but I did!  Suck it, Thomas.  Who’s the heavy lifter now?

My only other sight seeing adventure in Amsterdam was the Anne Frank House, which was my mission for today.  Funnily enough I was thinking about not going and then decided I was being an idiot- of course I have to go.  The line was HUGE to get into the house but it was well worth it.  So creepy, the actual journal is in there, the bookcase you see in all the pictures, all the rooms they were living in, all these videos from people who knew the family and everything.  It’s crazy to see everything in person AND to see how many people the story has affected.  It’s translated into just about every language.  There’s this quote in the museum from Nelson Mandela saying that when he was in prison loads of people used to read the diary as a source of inspiration.  Nelson freakin Mandela.  There’s a letter in the museum from Elanor Roosevelt too, crazily enough.  Long line but definitely worth it.  One of the best museums I’ve been to in Europe.  But don’t go when there are CRAZY ANNOYING kids running around… they’ll ruin it for you.  Trust me.

After the Anne Frank museum this morning I hopped on a train to Antwerp and from Antwerp into Bruges.  The train ride through the Dutch countryside was BEAUTIFUL.  Just like you think it would be.  Tulips, little windmills, canals, these weird teeny houses lining the canals and the tug boats and everything.  I saw an entire FIELD of crazy coordinated lines of tulips in their designated colors.  Absolutely amazing.  Once you’re into Belgium though, the architecture changes a lot.  I can’t really describe just yet since I haven’t been in Belgium long, but when I figure it out I’ll let you know.  I literally JUST got in but from what I can tell it looks like a really cute place.  Not too much to do, which sounds perfect for me.  I’ve got to figure out how I’m going to get to Denmark next, my next planned adventure, so that’s my mission for tomorrow.  I may have to end up staying an extra day here depending on train schedules and everything.  I haven’t really figured it all out or anything.

I hope that’s a good enough starting off point for this leg of my blog.  One country/city down, many more to go!

-Catherine

I can’t believe I leave for my backpacking trek on March 30th.  That’s only a couple of weeks left with everyone, go off to travel around Europe until May, and then a week or two left with everyone before back to the states.  It’s really hard to wrap my mind around… the fact that everyone will be gone soon and I’ll be back in California.  I don’t think I’m quite ready for it.  In fact, I’m not ready for it at all.  I’m just getting used to the crazy accent, the crazy people, all of my friends here and the great variety of fried foods.  Now I’m almost on that plane back home, and I don’t want to leave.  It’s still months away, theoretically, but I know my days are numbered, and that’s a scary thought.

School is winding down and I’m right in the middle of crunch time.  I’ve got 4 papers to write before the end of the month and then I’m done with school until September.  Scary, eh?  My first paper is due on Monday and I… haven’t quite started yet.  I know, procrastination.  It’s a terrible terrible thing.  But to be expected, coming from me at least.  I’m the world’s worst student, and have no qualms admitting it.

I went to Arran last weekend with the Scottish Lit department.  I was a little nervous going since I didn’t know anyone and had NO CLUE what we were doing, but Max from last year told me that I should go.  I pretty much jumped into it without any ideas of what was going to happen, what to expect, anything.  I hopped on a bus after a night of no sleep at 7am on Friday morning full of people talking to each other, none of whom I knew.  We got going on the coach towards the port where you take the ferry to the Isle of Arran, a little isle off the coast of Scotland.  Population: 5,000.  We got on the ferry, I got to know a few of the girls on the trip and before I knew it we were on Arran and headed towards our hotel on the seas of Arran.  It’s absolutely beautiful on Arran.  Everyone (well, practically everyone) lives on the water in these little villages scattered all over.  Anyways, so we all show up and I am promptly informed that I’m giving a talk.  Yes.  Me.  Talking.  In front of PROFESSORS.  Needless to say, a little scary.  Luckily someone wanted my talking spot, so I was given an extra day to get my stuff together.  I went to sleep almost all day on Friday since I hadn’t slept for a good couple of days, so I missed out on a long walk in the rain.  Oh, how disappointed was I?  (Not at all, but you know, whaaatever).  Anyways, once I actually got AROUND to giving my presentation I- gasp- didn’t suck!  The girls told me to just wing it.  It’s not like I was being graded or anything… just do something funny or interesting at least somewhat relating to Scotland.  Let’s just say I was a hit.  I did a talk about American impressions of Scotland, what it’s like to be here complete with stories about Americans thinking Scots deep fry everything, that the most recognizable Scottish person to Americans is Groundskeeper Willie from the Simpsons, things like that.  I got some pretty good feedback I have to say, which was exciting since I didn’t want to make a COMPLETE dick of myself in front of everyone.  One thing I’m trying to avoid, you know.  I’m sure most of them think I’m retarded anyways, so keep the level of retardedness they think I’m at to a minimum.

The rest of the weekend was a breeze after I gave my talk.  The girls on the trip were all really nice and welcoming, which was a relief.  There was even a girl, a postgrad, who did her undergrad at UCSB?  Chime in the theme to ‘It’s a Small World’ right about now.  Crazy, huh?  Saturday night was a drunken blur.  Sleep at 5am and waking up at 8am, taking a bus tour around the island, and then a ferry back to the mainland.  Let me tell you, btw, the I Am America and So Can You audiobook?  Great for falling asleep on ferries.  I passed right out as soon as Stephen Colbert’s soothing voice rocked me right to sleep.  The ridicule from my tutorial professor came a bit later.  I still insist that he was just jealous of my fabulous nap.

This weekend is RUGBY all the way.  Six Nations is going on right now and Scotland and Ireland play each other in about an hour.  GOOO Scotland!  They’re going to get murdered, let me tell you… but it can’t hurt putting good vibes out into the universe, right?  Ireland has a really good rugby team and they’re probably going to win the whole tournament.

Alright, time to go off and grab some food before drinking at the Beer Bar with the girls and watching beautiful, fit men in tight jerseys tackle each other!

-Catherine

It has been a while.  Slap my wrist, it’s all my fault.  I’ve been busy.  Not with anything in particular, like I’m doing something exciting and keeping it all secret, but just with the boring same ol’ same ol’.  I’m not being a productive person lately, which is obviously no one’s fault but my own.  It’s reading and writing week and I have done nothing.  I should be reading, writing my essays, getting ready for the rest of the semester, but all I can do is sleep and stay up way later than I should be.  It’s 530am and I’m not asleep yet.

This is a pretty usual occurance though, so don’t be shocked.

The last few weeks have been pretty laid back.  No crazy parties or insane stories to tell.  I’ve been hermiting a lot since I’ve been a combination of sick, poor, and sleep crazed.  I’m never awake until mid-afternoon, and by that time I’m so wacked out I never get to hang out with anyone.

Russell Brand got sick and we never got to see him, btw.  Rescheduled date is in the middle of break.  Absolutely gutted.

Mom comes TOMORROW!  Can’t wait!

School is back in session and everyone is back in Glasgow once again.  From what I hear everyone’s Christmases went pretty well.  Lots of turkey, stuffing, ham, lighting real candles on Christmas trees instead of the electronic light ones that normal people use (that’s what they do in Germany I guess), family bonding and all that good stuff.  It all almost made me a little homesick.  Everyone’s parents buying their groceries for them when they came back to school, all the cool new stuff everyone got, stories about crazy New Year’s parties with all of their friends from home.  Nothing that I have from my Christmas was really tangible… in fact I didn’t buy a single souvenir when I was in Greece, but as corny as it sounds, I came away with good memories.

The first week of classes went really well except for the fact that my alarm clock never went off for the first day of my new classes!  I was so irritated… sometimes my phone tweaks out and forgets to change its inner clock until you touch it, so the alarm never goes off.  That morning, none of the THREE that I set decided to go off, so I missed class.  Woops.  I made it to the next day though, and from what I saw I didn’t miss much.  I’m taking two classes this semester and from what I’ve been sitting in on, they should be a LOT easier for me than the classes I took last semester.  The first class, GC 18, is Modern Literatures so we’re reading James Joyce, Orwell, T.S. Eliott, etc.  Sounds a lot better than Marlowe, Ben Jonson, things that were written 400 years ago that I don’t understand.  Then in my other class, Scottish Literature 3B, we’re reading Scottish Lit. all from post-WWII, including Trainspotting which if you haven’t seen it, see it.  Some of the stuff we’re reading is written in Scots, which when you’re reading it is almost like how Scottish people speak in written form.  Trainspotting is written that way, colloquially, so reading it is less of a challenge since I know the slang and the accent.  If I had tried reading it before, I don’t know if it would’ve made much sense, so at least I’m doing it all in the right order.

Other than class, life is going pretty good.  Still crunched as far as money goes, but that’s nothing new so I’m just having to be careful about going out, spending too much money, things like that.  I stayed in this weekend and jigsaw puzzled, so at least I’m not going out and wasting money.  I’ve been jigsawing a lot lately, since i’ve got quite the collection of puzzles going on.  Most of them are Disney ones, so that kind of makes me feel like a child… doing Disney puzzles, but I think they’re the best ones.  Familiar characters, lots of colors… it keeps it all interesting.  All of the ones that I have that aren’t Disney ones are always a lot less exciting.  What would you rather do- Winnie the Pooh or some house painting?  You’d pick Pooh too.  They’re always 1000 pieces- not too big, not too small.  Keep me occupied for a good number of hours, just listening to music and puzzling away.  Plus, they’re cheap, so I like that too.

Superbowl Sunday is this next Sunday and I can’t wait!  I’m going down to the Sports Cafe on Sauchiehall to watch, I think, since they’re open until 4 for the game.  Tickets are 5 pounds, so Liz, Liam, Gavin and I are all going to go drink and be merry watching the Cardinals and the Steelers battle it out.  I think they’re all more interested in the drinking than the game, but I can’t wait to see how it all plays out.  I still haven’t picked out who I’m going to cheer for, since the Cardinals and the 49ers are in the same division, but I don’t think I could feel good about myself cheering for the Steelers.  I’ll probably go for the Cardinals just because they’re in the NFC and I like Kurt Warner, but either way it goes I’ll be happy.  I just want a good game… last year’s will be hard to beat!

I keep thinking about all the food I’m going to eat when I get back to California, I have an entire plan of things that I need to eat when I get back.  I miss Mexican food, American breakfasts, movie theater popcorn with BUTTER on it and freshly popped, hamburgers with thousand island dressing on them, gallon jugs of milk, just the little things that make American food fantastic.  Baseball is also very very high on the list since I’ll be back right in the first half of the season and I need to get myself a good hot dog and garlic fries from ATT, SBC, Pac Bell whateverthehelltheycallitnow Park.  It’s not like I’m homesick or anything… I just miss the food.  Pathetic, yes, but if you had to eat sweet or salted popcorn with NO BUTTER on it anytime you went to see a movie, you’d miss food too.  That and real hashbrowns made fresh, not these blocky pre-packaged things they make here.

I’m pretty up to date with all of my shows and TV watching.  I watched the Inauguration from start to finish and felt the most patriotic I think I have ever felt in my entire life.  What the hell was that hat that Aretha was wearing?  And why did she sound absolutely terrible?  The “Queen of Soul” was definitely not doing as well as she should have.  The poem that woman read was terrible, and the way she read it didn’t make it much better.  Let’s e-nun-ci-ate ev-er-y-th-i-ng so that I sound like a th-re-e yea-r o-ld.  Terrible.  I can’t believe Roberts botched the oath, and even worse that the Right was freaking out about how he ‘wasn’t president’ because they messed it up.  The TV coverage was pretty funny on CNN online since people were chatting about everything on Facebook and all of the statuses were hilarious.  Really liked Sasha and Malia’s coats, plus the First Lady’s inauguration suit, but the evening gown was BAD.  Good color, but I didn’t like all the embellishments on it.  Plus it was too long, they should have shortened it.  Overall though, I loved watching the inauguration.  Made me feel very proud to be American, to see everyone being so patriotic and supportive of Obama’s going into office.  In the UK when they get a new Prime Minister he literally just shows up at the house and takes a few photos.  We’re very ceremonious about it all, and I like that.  All of the “I love America” songs, so many people showing up, all the monuments and everything.  Makes you feel proud of where you come from… and I haven’t felt that way in, well, just about 8 years now.  Haha.

If you haven’t seen it yet, go and see Slumdog Millionaire.  I saw it the other day after finding it online, like I always do, and it was absolutely AMAZING.  I was blown away by how good it was.  I hope it wins Best Picture at the Oscars.  Either that or Milk, which if you haven’t seen it, go see it.  Sean Penn is fantastic in Milk.

I hope everyone drops me a line and lets me know how things are going back in the States.  What you thought of the Inauguration, movies you’ve seen, etc.  I feel like I haven’t heard from anyone in AGES!

-Catherine

This is probably going to be the longest post in the history of the world because I have so much to catch everyone up on, it’s not even funny.  I’m sorry it has taken so long to get around to posting, but there literally hasn’t been any opportunities to post since I’ve been going here there and everywhere lately and I’m only just having the time to sit down at my computer, look at the screen, and just go.

We left Greece on the 28th to head back to Scotland.  Athens overall was an amazing experience.  I wish we could’ve gone to the islands, and we never ended up doing that apple pie, but the rest of our stay in Greece was amazing.  Erica and I caught the EARLY bus out to Delphi on the 27th to go and see some of the ruins there.  An American from Virginia, Gideon, went with us… he’s an architect student in London and was good chat.  From what I understand Delphi was an important place in Ancient Greece because the most important oracle in all of Greece was there.  She’s the one who told you the future, things like that.  The theme of Greece was “you need to use your imagination” because everywhere you go, there are all of these amazingly old things but none of them are really left like they used to be other than the Parthenon.  Delphi was FREEZING.  It was snowing, there was lots of rain, and the bus ride THERE was hell.  I think I was still a wee bit hungover from the day before so I was not a happy camper on an almost 4 hour bus ride.  After we wandered around Delphi for a bit we headed out to grab some food, ending up with the worst lunch in the history of lunches for some ridiculous price.  We were not happy.  After we waited around for a bit, we grabbed the last 3 tickets back to Athens on this bus (THANK GOD) and headed back into town.  After we got back into Athens I got to wander around the city with one of the Greeks just to pass the time.  Went to sleep and then the next morning, we headed to the airport.  Flight to London, train from Gatwick into the city.  Erica and I met up with a friend who lives in London and just hung out at her flat after going to the movies to kill time before taking the long bus back up to Glasgow.  I managed to fall asleep on the bus, amazingly enough!  We were seated at this 4-person table thing, I was faced backwards, and I literally just smashed my head into the table and passed out the whole ride back into Glasgow.

Recovery time was non existant after Greece.  The 29th and 30th I was catching up on sleep and vegging out to myself, and the 31st was New Year’s Eve.  Erin, Andy, and all of their pals came up from Kilmarnock to hit the town for New Year’s.  We headed out to Curlers and I was already in complete and utter PAIN because of the high shoes I was wearing.  Never again.  I couldn’t even manage to enjoy my new pants that actually fit because my feet hurt so badly.  After Curlers we caught a cab downtown to near Sauchiehall Street and we ended up in this pub called the Butterfly and the Pig and stayed there for the rest of the night.  They were doing ceildh dancing and there was a bagpiper and everything going on.  It was pretty amazing, even if I was in a foul mood.  I guess some places watch the chimes of Big Ben, but apparently not in Scotland.  Oh well, I would rather see a bagpiper play Auld Lyne Sang or whatever it’s called instead.  Who wants to hear some stupid clock chime when you can watch a bagpiper?  I still miss Times Square and the ball and everything, there’s nothing that compares to Dick Clark’s Rockin New Year’s.  I heard they’ve even got a new ball and everything?  And why in the world did they get the Clintons to light it or whatever?  Because when I think joyous New Year… I think the Clintons.  We wandered back to the flat with our fish and chips in hand and ended up passing out in the flat.  The next day was all about JIGSAW PUZZLING because I bought a 1000 piece one before I left for Greece.  Erin, Andy and I did the puzzle pretty much all day… we are puzzle obsessed.

Erin and I headed down to Newmilns to her house on the 2nd because we were leaving for Ireland on the 3rd.  Liz met up with us after she headed up from Leeds and we all had a mini-reunion party session in Kilmarnock that night.  We all are sticking to the story that we got “accidentally” drunk that night, since we had planned on coming back at midnight.  That didn’t happen, obviously.  We went to a couple different bars, some funky club that was playing Dirty Dancing music, and Liz managed to break my Corona bottle’s neck.  It was… hilarious, needless to say.  We were absolutely pissing ourselves laughing.  Got free food from Erin’s prom date in town.  I have no idea how I ended up with that food.

I was still drunk the next morning when we were getting ready to go to Ireland.  Liz, Erin and I flew out from Prestwick Airport on the SHORTEST FLIGHT EVER out to Derry Airport.  I swear, the flight itself took about 20 minutes take off to landing.  It was insanity.  We got into Derry, Nicola picked us up, and we went over to County Tyrone to see the lovely town called Omagh where Nicola lives.  She lives on this cow farm on the outskirts of the town near this Loch called Lochmacroy.  I think that’s how you spell it at least.  Our first night in Ireland we went down to the south on a bus they had rented out for Nicola’s birthday.  We went to this town called Monaghan?  I think?  Anyways, it was absolute insanity.  The Irish can drink more alcohol than I ever imagined would be humanly possible.  I was blown away.  4 am bus back to Omagh and people were still drinking on the bus.  Piss.  Heads.  Haha.  The rest of Ireland was a lot of napping, sleeping, hanging out in town, going to Sally’s and meeting all of Nicola’s friends, and my favorite part- HOME COOKED MEALS.  Her family is absolutely amazing, really friendly and welcoming.  It was nice meeting all of the people she’s always talking about and putting a face to their names.  Ireland itself is really beautiful- loads of rolling hills and green everywhere.  Lots of farms.  Sheep.  Cows.

After coming back from Ireland on the 7th I’ve been vegging out and being lazy since I have no more traveling to do.  I’m down at Erin’s house to have actual humans around since no one is back in Glasgow until the 11th.  I can’t wait to get back and see everyone, but I’m not looking forward to all of the reading, studying, or avoiding it really.  I have to avoid the hell I put myself through the last week of classes and things.  That week was brutal, and I don’t want another one to come anytime soon.

I’ll be putting pictures up when Erica gets around to uploading them up in California, and when Nicola adds hers to Bebo or Facebook.  I can’t wait for everyone to see our misadventures walking around Omagh and being piss heads in Kilmarnock!

Will be sure to do that as soon as possible… and until then-

-Catherine

It’s Boxing Day, otherwise known as the day after Christmas, and nothing is open. I guess usually on Boxing Day people go around to their friends houses and give their gifts, spreading holiday cheer, etc. You get the day off, drink the night away, and have a good time. I guess we just don’t do that in America. Maybe we’re just not cool enough. I think it’s more that we can’t afford to give up more holiday time to people so Boxing Day is a bit of a pointless day, but I get the idea. Christmas is for family, Boxing Day is for friends.

Since nothing is open, likely Boxing Day for Erica and I will be rotting and chilling. I’m trying to get some information on how to make an apple pie, since Erica and I need something to do and I’m craving an apple pie, so we’ll see if that all works out. We wandered around the flea market again and I was finally able to withdraw some money from an ATM! I’ve been waiting in vain for days for this financial aid disbursement and it finally came. Thank God.

To catch everyone up on what we’ve been doing here, Athens has been a pretty laid back vacation. There’s not a lot to do in comparison to cities like Paris and Rome, where you’re literally running around all day like a chicken with its head cut off. Athens is more of a stop and smell the roses kind of place, or at least for us it has been. We wandered around the flea market and some of the ancient ruins on our first day here. I think we saw the Temple of Zeus? Something related to Zeus, I’m not sure. Anyways, all of the ruins and sights here are my favorite “f” word- FREE! That’s all of the ruins, the parks, the Acropolis. Everything, free. Well, for students of the EU at least. Got to love that University of Glasgow student card, getting me discounts everywhere!

We made it to the Acropolis on our second day here. The hostel we’re staying at is right next to the Acropolis so finding it wasn’t hard at all. I guess it wouldn’t be very hard either way- it’s a humongous hill that you can see from anywhere in the city so I doubt it’d be much of a problem finding it. Acropolis hill is really cool. Quite the hike to the top, let me tell you. It’s not at all touristy like things in Rome are, just surrounded by men pretending to be ancient Romans. The Acropolis is very tourist free, just take it as it is, naturally. Refreshing, really. When you get to the top of the hill, you can literally see the entirety of Athens from the top, it’s up so high. The Parthenon is amazing, as you’d think it would be. Funny to think that all these years of being in school and everything, I’m finally looking at one of the most famous ancient buildings in the history of the world. Athens, as it turns out, is a sprawling city. I never thought it was as big as it is from stories and pictures and things. From the top of the hill it’s literally just spread out for miles and miles in every direction. It’s almost a little scary when you look at it from up high like at the Acropolis. But then again, I think something like a third of the population of Greece lives in Athens so it all makes sense.

Other than wandering around the Acropolis and the flea markets, we’ve made it to the ocean (well, bodies of water) twice. First, we went out to Pireus I think it’s called to see the port. Really just to see a body of water, I guess. We’ve been missing that from not being in Santa Barbara, so being at the port was nice. Especially because the weather was pretty sunny that day and not as cold as it had been before. There’s a bunch of scary people down at the port, though, going after the tourists. African men selling the fake bags and cat calling at you. Not fun. Our only little scary adventure in Athens wasn’t really in Athens at all. We randomly decided to take this orange regional bus out to the beach since we saw a brochure about how to do it, so we hopped on the bus and headed for what we assumed to be a close beach to Athens. Not so much. We were literally on this bus for like, an hour before we were like, alright… let’s get off this thing. Haha. The drive was pretty gorgeous, all along the windy road that lines the ocean and everything. Relaxing and everything, I guess, but not when you have no clue what you’re doing or where you’re going. We hopped off the bus, chilled at the beach for a little bit, and hopped on the bus again back into Athens. Oh, how exciting. Haha. We got back and were just relieved that we didn’t get lost/hijacked/kidnapped, etc seeing as how we had no clue what we were doing! A good story, though.

Christmas was good on the food end, but I’d trade being in California any day. It just didn’t feel like Christmas. No pine smells, sugar cookies, gifts under the tree, going Christmas light looking or anything. It doesn’t snow in Rocklin so I can’t really say anything about “White Christmases” and all, but for what I’m used to the holidays never really felt like they were here. The hostel set up this big Christmas dinner for everyone around, so all of us got together and had turkey, stuffing, veggies, all of the usual things you’d have for Christmas dinner. Again, all for my favorite “f” word- free. Erica’s first Christmas dinner too. Haha. Figures. She walked up to me on Christmas morning and just goes, “Look, I’m wearing a green sweater for Christmas, all for you!”

My last American leaves on the 30th and I don’t know what I’m going to do when I get back to Glasgow. The thought is really depressing, that’s for sure. I wonder what the new Americans are going to be like when they move in to the 2nd and 3rd floor. The Duke and Dartmouth kids were living there before, so there’s a bunch of empty spaces left for more study abroad kids to move into. Plans for New Year’s at the moment are a little up in the air, since the tickets for Glasgow Downtown are sold out. I think Erin’s working on getting it all figured out but we’ll see what happens. As long as everyone’s together and drunk and merry I don’t think it really matters where we are. What am I going to watch, though? I don’t think Brits watch the ball drop in Times Square… I didn’t even think of that until now.

Erica and I are off to find some pie supplies… find something to do with our laid back day. Merry Belated Christmas from Greece and I’ll be sure to post more about Delphi when we get back from there tomorrow.

-Catherine

Erica and I are on day 3 of our Greek excursion and we’re having a good time…

To pick up where I left off, we had a lot of time to kill in London and made our way around the city, re-seeing everything, falling, and catching a train to Gatwick to catch our plane.  We had to practically run the entire time we were in the airport since security was INSANE.  We showed up around an hour and a half early and that still wasn’t enough time.  We checked in our bags at Easyjet, made our way to security which took absolutely FOREVER and then almost ran the entire way to the gate, which was of course the furthest one away possible, before getting on the plane.  Luckily we were one of the few rows that didn’t have anyone sitting in between us.  Maybe we smelled from the lack of showering or teeth brushing all day?  Who knows.  I don’t think the Greeks looking for seats liked us very much.  Sleeping on the plane, just as with the bus, was impossible.  I had fun dozing off, people watching, and attempting to read my book.  3 hours later, we got into Greece.

Athens is a very modern city considering the fact that it’s one of the most historically ancient cities in the world.  You know, Athenians, Gods, Zeus and all.  Everything is written in Greek and in English so getting around is really easy.  Plus, everyone speaks a lick of English so asking questions hasn’t been impossible so far.  Very surprising, since all through my travels in Europe there are at least SOME people who don’t speak English and that’s not the case here.  The metro from the airport took about 45 minutes to get into the city center, but it was cheap so we didn’t mind.  Finding the hostel was really easy.  Lots of cool, young people staying here.  Lots of Americans, surprisingly enough since most of the time you tend to run into more of the Aussie Brit crowd in hostels, but that’s not the case here.  Our room has some intense snorers, let me tell you.  I think Erica got the worst end of it though, with an older man sleeping underneath her bunk.  I’m surprised she’s getting any sleep.

My hands are hurting so I’ll update more of Greece later.  Christmas in 2 days… can’t wait!

(Oh, and Happy Hanukkah for Erica)

-Catherine

Erica and I finally made it to Greece after TOO long of traveling, bussing, flying, running, and falling all over the UK.  Everyone left the flat by the time Saturday rolled around, finals were done and papers were turned in.  Anna and I were the last 2 in the flat.  I’d been working on my jigsaw puzzle that finally came in, all 1,000 pieces by myself.  Oh, what an exciting life I lead.  Grabbed a cab at around 10:30 and headed over to the bus station for the overnight bus down to London.  Thankfully I got sat next to a sane, normal person and was close to Erica, who was across the aisle from me.  The girl I sat next to was from Calgary, and I talked her ear off.  I tend to do that to most people I travel near.  Cabbies.  People I sit next to.  I almost feel bad.  Almost.

Anyways, the bus was… a bus.  Long and boring, weird combination of smells and impossible to sleep.  My neck was hurting after a while of trying to fall asleep so I mostly just sat up and daydreamed until the 8 hours passed by.  We got into Victoria station at around 8:30 in the morning with a few hours to kill so Erica and I walked around London for a while.  We actually did a good amount of walking by the end of it.  We went from Trafalgar Square all around to Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Houses of Parliament.  A lot of walking but a lot of re-sight seeing since we’d see it all before.  I took the HUGEST dive in front of one of the buildings near Buckingham Palace though.  Not only did I manage to trip and fall in the dirt, but like full on spread and roll onto the ground, afterwards dropping all of my change and saying, out loud, “My life sucks right now.”  It was insanely mortifying.

Will update more about Greece when I feel like paying the Euros to use the internet.  Very pretty here and no rioting yet!

-Catherine

It’s that time of the term again.  Time to buckle down, lock yourself in the library, and read until your eyes start to bleed and you’re spouting facts out about Samuel Johnson and Richard Savage that no human should ever know.  Welcome to what will be consuming me for the next few days.

I’ve been on the major procrastination bandwagon the last few days.  I should have started these papers (yes, there are multiple that I haven’t started) a couple days ago, and I didn’t.  I don’t know what has gotten into me, since usually I’m pretty good at shutting my computer, walking away, and getting down to work, but this term just hasn’t been my term.  I haven’t been on my game as far as academics go.  It’s not like it’s all that different of an atmosphere from home.  There are still things that you’re supposed to read every week, talk about and write down notes.  But when it comes down to it, I haven’t had a single productive day in the library aside from the day I spent writing the last paper I turned in, and even then the paper wasn’t anything of amazing quality.  My brain just isn’t cooperating this semester for whatever reason, and I’m about to be paying the consequences.

My sleep cycle is starting to take its toll on me.  Staying up until 630 this morning probably wasn’t the wisest idea, since I didn’t wake up until 1 and didn’t start accomplishing anything until much later.  I’m making myself sleep within the next half hour so I can avoid another afternoon wakeup time since I have a lot of work to do tomorrow… hopefully that way my sleep cycle isn’t all messed up like it has been for the last MONTH.  I’m tired of waking up at 3pm and hating myself for sleeping through my alarm clock… it’s gotta stop.

After I finish these next couple of papers my life is FREEDOM for a good number of weeks.  I’ve got a couple of books I want to sit back, relax and read, a few places I want to wander off to so I can relax, just looking forward to the break from the stress and everything.  Greece, obviously, is another highlight of the next couple of weeks but I can’t give myself the luxury of daydreaming about it for now since I have to focus, but I’m very excited about going.  I don’t know how I feel about missing out on Christmas back home since I’ve never done that before, but having Erica around and handy will keep my mind off of it.  I have no idea what we’re going to do for a Christmas dinner in Athens since I think a lot of the restaurants may be closed, but maybe we’ll make something.  Erica’s Jewish so maybe she’ll make me some latkas?  However you spell them.

I signed up for an unlimited calls to the world subscription through Skype yesterday.  Now I’ll be able to call anywhere in the states anytime for as long as I want instead of paying by minute.  I’ve also got an online phone number set up, which is a Sacramento-local area code phone number that anyone can call for the same cost as any normal phone call would, but it connects you to my Skype.  That way if anyone calls it and I’m near my computer, they can call and talk to me in Scotland for nearly nothing when it would cost a fortune calling my cell phone directly.  I’m always amazed by how technology works, to think that people can call Scotland for nearly nothing through a computer program.  Amazing.  Skype has been my lifesaver since I have been here, for sure.  I was really afraid I’d feel homesick all the time being away from California and all, but I can call my Dad’s cell anytime I want to talk sports with him and it’s no big deal, so it’s not like anything is drastically different.

I’m hoping this holiday lull will go away for me soon.  It’s messing up my normally cheery mood and making me into this black cloud hovering over the apartment like the plague.  Maybe it’s because the holidays are rolling around and I won’t be around family; I’m not quite sure what it is.  All I know is that for the last week or so I’ve been secluded, anti-social, and dreary.  Like I said earlier, I’m just looking forward to a break from everything and everyone to go into myself for a little bit, if you get what I mean.  Sometimes I think it’s just overwhelming being around the same people all the time, every day, all day long.  A someone who cherishes their privacy, sometimes I just want to escape from everything and do my own thing without having to tell anyone or go with anyone there.  Do it for myself.

After the papers are all done and I’ve had myself a good nap after all of the work, I’ll post more pictures and elaborate on the goings on around here… but I don’t have enough time to do an extended proper post until then.

Wish me luck…

-Catherine