Long time no update... my bad. I have been getting less busy but more into a routine that apparently does not involve updating this thing. But I'm doing it now and I think that's what counts really. Like usual I will start from where I left off last time and when I get to the end... I'll stop.
I guess two weekends ago a few friends and I went looking for famous graves around Edinburgh more specifically David Hume and Adam Smith... two very famous Scotsman. It was cool because we got to explore the city even more. The craziest thing about this city is no matter where you are the view of the castle is absolutely awesome and always a little different. While we were out I got some delicious fudge too. In the cemetery where David Hume is buried there is a giant Abe Lincoln statue in honor of the Scottish American soldiers during the civil war. It was a little strange. There were also a lot of really cool headstones that we got to see. I felt weird wandering off the path to take some of the pictures and I kept verbally apologizing to the people buried there as I walked through the headstones. My friends just laughed at me. It was a good weekend just in Edinburgh.
Unfortunately right after having a good weekend I got really sick. I'm fine now but from Monday night and all of Tuesday I had a really bad fever that left me stuck in bed freezing even with the heater on. I got a little better on Wednesday but still felt pretty crummy so I went to the doctor on Thursday and they gave me some antibiotics and now I feel 100%. Still have a little residual in my sinuses but other than that I feel fantastic. The antibiotics started working right away so I decided that I was healthy enough to take up an offer a friend made. So last weekend I took the train to Perth and went white water river rafting!
I am so happy I went on this trip. Just getting there was a little adventure. Ben, the guy in the picture, is one of my friends from UCSB was the one who got the offer to go from Kaitlyn, who is on the left. She had met Simon, our Kiwi guide on the river, in a pub in Edinburgh and he invited her up if she brought some friends with her. So after she asked her flatmate Jolene, the short one, Ben and I got the nod. It was so fun and I definitely plan on going once I'm back in California. The rapids were mostly grades 1 and 2 with one part that was grade 3 but it was fun nonetheless. We all got in the water at one point and it was SOOOO COLD! We were ok once we got out though, those wet suites do there job well. We ended up heading to the pub with the guides afterward and it was just so neat meeting new people and sharing that experience with friends. On Sunday a group of us walked to the oldest pub in Scotland(14th century) which is only a 20 minute walk out of town which we effectively turned into a 45 minute walk because we took the long way. It was ok though because we built up our appetites for one of the best meals I have had here. I got steak and ale pie which was so tasty. The table shared a side of haggis, neeps (turnips) and tatties (mash potatoes) which was fricken delicious. I would definitely go back there and order that for my meal.
Other than that I'm just going to classes. I'm really enjoying my materials chemistry class because I'm learning more about structural importance in materials and how it effects their properties. I'm looking forward to next term when I get to take some non-chem classes. I'll be taking a Celtic civilizations class and another class that is basically a sociological look at Scotland. :D tres pumped for that one.
Love you all and hope everyone is doing well
Peace and Love
Liesbeth
