School has started officially and I have been at it for a week now. Right now it's all review material and it's really hard to sit through not only because I have heard it before but also because the make you sit through three hours of lecture here. Everyday I feel like I'm about to pass out. I'm not used to focusing for that long. I've made friends with a very nice guy from New York and he's in one of my classes so that's nice. I'm used to sitting on my own in lecture in UCSB but going to and sitting in lecture here is a very social thing. It makes me a little lonely sometimes.
A group of us went to Glasgow for a night for some shopping. The train ticket was only £10 round trip. Unfortunately I broke my camera by dropping it and I don't know when I'm going to get it fixed. I got to see the coolest street performer, he was doing tricks with a soccer ball. I was in complete awe and watched him for nearly 15 minutes. He balanced the ball on his shin... HIS SHIN! It was so cool.
I didn't make the soccer team which I'm not too upset about. To stay social I've joined the Chocolate Society with one of the girls I've met here. Chocolate instead of working out is always a good trade off.
A few fun adventures are in the works right now. A group of us, mostly American, are going to the Scotland vs Australia rugby match in November, and in December we are going to travel up to the Orkney Islands to see prolonged darkness and experience very cold temperatures. Shall be fun.
They said that coming here and staying here would be an emotional roller coaster and I'm starting to come off that high that I had when I first got here. I'm not home sick as much as I am frustrated. I've been listening to an abnormal amount of Jack Johnson. I know one thing I'm going to get out of this experience is how lucky I am to live in California and go to UCSB where girls can play soccer whenever they please and with whomever they please and are damn good at it. haha.
Love you all
Peace and Love
-Liesbeth
Monday, September 28, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Culture Shock is REAL
I love it here but my personality seems not to really work into the culture here and it's starting to get pretty frustrating. The cultural difference are far greater than I expected and I find myself really limited, mostly when it comes to football. Women's football here is no where close to being as excepted as it is back home and they don't ever play co-ed. Not even in intramural games. It's so strange to me. I'm used to having to fight for respect on the field back home but I wasn't expecting to have to fight to play at an elevated level here. No offense but the women's tryout wasn't the best football I've seen. I have seen better co-ed B games back home while reffing and that's saying a lot.
Other than that I haven't quiet gotten used to looking right when crossing the street but it is getting a lot better and I have to say that I am doing better than my friends haha. I'm starting classes this week so the real test of differences in teaching will be found out. I have to buy a lab coat... which makes me a little sad because they are a bit dear (expensive) but I'm also really excited to have a lab coat haha. future halloween costume much?? I think so!
The EAP program treated us to the Edinburgh Castle and the Falkirk Wheel and lots of free food. The Falkirk Wheel is actually a giant boat elevator pretty cool.
I think the greatest part of my weeks right now is when I find something new. Like today I found a kebab place that makes a mean falafel that is only £2.80 with my student ID. That is amazing.
I may be going to Gla
sgow soon for a little shopping at a great discount store and to visit my friend Jeanine who came here to visit me. When she was in town we got Mexican food for fun and it ended up being pretty tasty. I enjoyed it very much! After we went to a fun pub and did some dancing and singing and looked hugely like a group of Americans... which honestly I really don't care anymore. All I care about is having fun!
Love you all and miss you all bunches and bunches.
Peace and Love
Liesbeth
Other than that I haven't quiet gotten used to looking right when crossing the street but it is getting a lot better and I have to say that I am doing better than my friends haha. I'm starting classes this week so the real test of differences in teaching will be found out. I have to buy a lab coat... which makes me a little sad because they are a bit dear (expensive) but I'm also really excited to have a lab coat haha. future halloween costume much?? I think so!
The EAP program treated us to the Edinburgh Castle and the Falkirk Wheel and lots of free food. The Falkirk Wheel is actually a giant boat elevator pretty cool.
I think the greatest part of my weeks right now is when I find something new. Like today I found a kebab place that makes a mean falafel that is only £2.80 with my student ID. That is amazing.
I may be going to Gla
sgow soon for a little shopping at a great discount store and to visit my friend Jeanine who came here to visit me. When she was in town we got Mexican food for fun and it ended up being pretty tasty. I enjoyed it very much! After we went to a fun pub and did some dancing and singing and looked hugely like a group of Americans... which honestly I really don't care anymore. All I care about is having fun!Love you all and miss you all bunches and bunches.
Peace and Love
Liesbeth
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Sunshine days
For being in Edinburgh and being told that the weather was going to be terrible this last week and a half has been excellent. Very sunny very pretty and around 60 degrees most of the day. So much has happened in the last week that I think it would take me a day to write all about it. I very much enjoyed my three day of the highlands and got to see so many amazing things and met a bunch Aussies. I'm so glad they were part of my experience here.
I put most those pictures up on Facebook but I know not all of you are on there so let me know if you want a link to the photo album.
My first nine days here I got the pleasure of staying with friends of friends. They have to be some of the nicest people I have ever met and made my first days in Edinburgh absolutely amazing. Most of the time I just wandered around the city on my own but they treated me to a wonderful zoo visit and some absolutely delicious food and a wonderfully warm bed.
Freshers week has been really exciting but I'm definitely spending more time with Americans than Scottish people. haha. They are everywhere. really everywhere. I've got two football games under my belt but only in the pubs. I've yet to watch a match live.
I had my tryout for the football team here and a major language difference came up. Apparently a ball shagger(one that fetches the ball) is the funniest thing that these two nice Scottish girls had ever heard. haha. I've saved the life of a few other people in my program by pulling them back on to th
e sidewalk. The drivers here are crazy and we all habitually look the wrong way... like a lot. Pedestrians don't have the right of way and I swear to you these taxi drivers are looking to kill tourists. hahah.Class starts Tuesday. I am taking a lot of chemistry classes and I'm a little nervous about how everything will go.
Love you all
Peace and Love-
Liesbeth
Friday, September 4, 2009
Touch down Edinburgh
Ok so there is a lot to talk about. Firstly I'm here and I'm safe and it's wonderful. I don't know where to start so I will start at the beginning and when I get to the end I will stop.
I left SeaTac, saying goodbye to Grandpa and Sophie, with little incident. The older couple I sat next to on the plane were really nice and gave me half a wrap. It was really tasty. I arrived at O'hare and went and bought some chap stick and realized I had planned to exchange some money here with my card. Unfortunately the little currency exchange dude only took cash and COMPLETELY ripped me off on the exchange rate. The actual rate was .69 USD and I ended up paying less than .50 for a total of $62 for only £30. That really pissed me off but I needed money for the taxi. Got on the plane and sat at the gate for about 40 minutes because they over booked the flight. They offered $800 vouchers and a hotel stay to rebook and I would have done it if I didn't have Rebecca and Bret(the couple I'm staying with) waiting for me and no way to contact them. Anyways they had to get the luggage of people who did take the vouchers off the plane which takes a while. The older couple I sat next to on the way to London were also very nice to me. There were a lot of cute boys on the flight and some people who just looked ridiculously British.
Now I have heard some terrible things about Heathrow, so going into it I expected a terrible experience. Didn't happen but it took a rough beginning. I took a wrong
turn because they didn't print me a boarding pass for my flight to Edinburgh so I was under the impression that I had to collect my bags and re-check in. First I went through immigration... apparently someone at the LA consulate made a typo and my student visa expires in 2020. Yeah so the lovely lady who was helping me went and talked to her supervisor and they made a note of it so if I try and use it again they wont let me in. No big deal. She was super nice and I was fairly light hearted about the whole thing. Then I get to luggage claim... no bags. I start freaking out a little then it occurs to me that my bags may have been transferred. Yeah they were freak out over. The wrong
turn was the little passage way that said flight transfers. woot go me. I get out of the terminal and find the transfer train platforms and spend about 10 minutes waiting for my transfer to terminal 5 when I turn and read that the terminal 5 train is on the other platform... WOOPS. Right so I get to terminal 5 and the stupid self-check in doodad wouldn't read my passport or my e-ticket number because I purchased the ticket through American Airlines and the flight was a British Airlines flight. I go and ask the passport check center what I should do and the dude literally told me to wait around, not helpful at all... so I go back to the self-check in doodad and I must have looked confused because this really nice woman asks me if I need help. She goes to the special employee machine and can't get in because she's been off for three weeks and forgot her password. The whole time making really cute and terribly British remarks about the situation. So she finds someone else. She's not a floor employee and hasn't a password but then goes and fetches someone else who eventually prints me a boarding pass. It only took three wonderfully British women to do it. I then go through security and set off the machine cause I kept my watch on. I was patted down a very nice woman who told me I get a free massage, I told her it was part of a the deluxe service. haha. If you fly through Heathrow try and fly through terminal 5. Excellent shopping! It was huge and all I bought was an overprice coffee.
The flight to Edinburgh was short and on a beat up little plane but they gave me tea and a biscuit so I was content. It was raining lightly when we landed. Once I got to the Edinburgh airport I kept thinking about how much I got ripped off with the exchange so I took the shuttle to the city center for £3.50. So glad I did! It was a double-decker bus and the driver had a sweet Scottish accent. I felt like I was on the Knight Bus with the type of buildings we were passi
ng. Once I got to the city center I took a taxi to the address I had for Bret and Rebecca for £5.10. When I got out I was really confused because there was some scaffolding on the building so I walked down the street with all four of my bags and popped into a coffee shop to use there phone to call. I had been at the right place. I went back and Bret met me on the street and helped me up the stairs. I could not be staying with a nicer family. They are both so nice and I have my own little room and their daughter Havalah is the cutest baby ever. After dinner which was quite tasty, Bret took me for a walk around Calton Hill in the rain. I immediately realized after walking one block that I desperately needed a rain jacket. We walked around the hill and Bret explained some of the history and showed me a few of the views. VERY COOL!
I had every intention of waking up early this morning and ended up rolling out of bed at noon. Even with the late start I was determined to get done what I had planned to do which was find a Barclays cash point and get some money and to get me a cell phone. So around 1:30 PM I rolled out thinking the simple directions I had written down would guide me. WRONG. I got so lost and ended up three blocks and four streets farther than I had intended but I had remembered there was a cash point in the shopping center I ended up at so that worked out. After walking through the mall I too
k a different route to get back and ended up walking through Waverly Station which was really cool be cause I got to hear the ticket takers whistle off the all clear for the train to leave and the signals going up and down the platform. I knew I wasn't going to find the phone place so I decided to explore a little so I walked about a mile or more down Leith Walk and got to hear some excellent accents. I got one of the best mochas I've ever had a little cafe and found a charity shop (thrift store) where I got a rain jacket and a Gordon Ramsey cookbook (in metric!!) for only £11. WOOT. Just to tell you rain jackets are REALLY expensive just go on the North Face web site if you don't believe me.
When I got back to the flat I put my stuff down and then Rebecca, Havalah and I headed out to pick up some food at this awesome organic market like the food co-op in Isla Vista and to get my phone. I was a very successful day and tomorrow we are going to go to the zoo which I'm very excited for. I haven't taken many pictures yet cause I feel really awkward taking pictures when I'm out by myself. I feel like it really targets me as an outoftowner. Not that looking the wrong way on the street and my UCSB sweatshirt don't already do that enough. Really the street thing really freaked me out in the taxi. I thought he was trying to kill us.
Love you all and hope is all well. this was long thanks for reading!
Peace and Love
Liesbeth
I left SeaTac, saying goodbye to Grandpa and Sophie, with little incident. The older couple I sat next to on the plane were really nice and gave me half a wrap. It was really tasty. I arrived at O'hare and went and bought some chap stick and realized I had planned to exchange some money here with my card. Unfortunately the little currency exchange dude only took cash and COMPLETELY ripped me off on the exchange rate. The actual rate was .69 USD and I ended up paying less than .50 for a total of $62 for only £30. That really pissed me off but I needed money for the taxi. Got on the plane and sat at the gate for about 40 minutes because they over booked the flight. They offered $800 vouchers and a hotel stay to rebook and I would have done it if I didn't have Rebecca and Bret(the couple I'm staying with) waiting for me and no way to contact them. Anyways they had to get the luggage of people who did take the vouchers off the plane which takes a while. The older couple I sat next to on the way to London were also very nice to me. There were a lot of cute boys on the flight and some people who just looked ridiculously British.
Now I have heard some terrible things about Heathrow, so going into it I expected a terrible experience. Didn't happen but it took a rough beginning. I took a wrong
turn because they didn't print me a boarding pass for my flight to Edinburgh so I was under the impression that I had to collect my bags and re-check in. First I went through immigration... apparently someone at the LA consulate made a typo and my student visa expires in 2020. Yeah so the lovely lady who was helping me went and talked to her supervisor and they made a note of it so if I try and use it again they wont let me in. No big deal. She was super nice and I was fairly light hearted about the whole thing. Then I get to luggage claim... no bags. I start freaking out a little then it occurs to me that my bags may have been transferred. Yeah they were freak out over. The wrong
turn was the little passage way that said flight transfers. woot go me. I get out of the terminal and find the transfer train platforms and spend about 10 minutes waiting for my transfer to terminal 5 when I turn and read that the terminal 5 train is on the other platform... WOOPS. Right so I get to terminal 5 and the stupid self-check in doodad wouldn't read my passport or my e-ticket number because I purchased the ticket through American Airlines and the flight was a British Airlines flight. I go and ask the passport check center what I should do and the dude literally told me to wait around, not helpful at all... so I go back to the self-check in doodad and I must have looked confused because this really nice woman asks me if I need help. She goes to the special employee machine and can't get in because she's been off for three weeks and forgot her password. The whole time making really cute and terribly British remarks about the situation. So she finds someone else. She's not a floor employee and hasn't a password but then goes and fetches someone else who eventually prints me a boarding pass. It only took three wonderfully British women to do it. I then go through security and set off the machine cause I kept my watch on. I was patted down a very nice woman who told me I get a free massage, I told her it was part of a the deluxe service. haha. If you fly through Heathrow try and fly through terminal 5. Excellent shopping! It was huge and all I bought was an overprice coffee.The flight to Edinburgh was short and on a beat up little plane but they gave me tea and a biscuit so I was content. It was raining lightly when we landed. Once I got to the Edinburgh airport I kept thinking about how much I got ripped off with the exchange so I took the shuttle to the city center for £3.50. So glad I did! It was a double-decker bus and the driver had a sweet Scottish accent. I felt like I was on the Knight Bus with the type of buildings we were passi
ng. Once I got to the city center I took a taxi to the address I had for Bret and Rebecca for £5.10. When I got out I was really confused because there was some scaffolding on the building so I walked down the street with all four of my bags and popped into a coffee shop to use there phone to call. I had been at the right place. I went back and Bret met me on the street and helped me up the stairs. I could not be staying with a nicer family. They are both so nice and I have my own little room and their daughter Havalah is the cutest baby ever. After dinner which was quite tasty, Bret took me for a walk around Calton Hill in the rain. I immediately realized after walking one block that I desperately needed a rain jacket. We walked around the hill and Bret explained some of the history and showed me a few of the views. VERY COOL!I had every intention of waking up early this morning and ended up rolling out of bed at noon. Even with the late start I was determined to get done what I had planned to do which was find a Barclays cash point and get some money and to get me a cell phone. So around 1:30 PM I rolled out thinking the simple directions I had written down would guide me. WRONG. I got so lost and ended up three blocks and four streets farther than I had intended but I had remembered there was a cash point in the shopping center I ended up at so that worked out. After walking through the mall I too
k a different route to get back and ended up walking through Waverly Station which was really cool be cause I got to hear the ticket takers whistle off the all clear for the train to leave and the signals going up and down the platform. I knew I wasn't going to find the phone place so I decided to explore a little so I walked about a mile or more down Leith Walk and got to hear some excellent accents. I got one of the best mochas I've ever had a little cafe and found a charity shop (thrift store) where I got a rain jacket and a Gordon Ramsey cookbook (in metric!!) for only £11. WOOT. Just to tell you rain jackets are REALLY expensive just go on the North Face web site if you don't believe me.When I got back to the flat I put my stuff down and then Rebecca, Havalah and I headed out to pick up some food at this awesome organic market like the food co-op in Isla Vista and to get my phone. I was a very successful day and tomorrow we are going to go to the zoo which I'm very excited for. I haven't taken many pictures yet cause I feel really awkward taking pictures when I'm out by myself. I feel like it really targets me as an outoftowner. Not that looking the wrong way on the street and my UCSB sweatshirt don't already do that enough. Really the street thing really freaked me out in the taxi. I thought he was trying to kill us.
Love you all and hope is all well. this was long thanks for reading!
Peace and Love
Liesbeth
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