Bimbling through Belfast

Hey everyone! I'm writing from my phone on the hostels wifi, so this'll be a quick and picture-less update. We flew into Belfast last night (it was a 25 minute flight!!) then woke up early and got to bimbling. We are doing daytrips into the surrounding areas tomorrow and Sunday, so today was our only real day for the city itself.

In order, we hit:

The botanic gardens (I think one of my favorite places I've ever been. EVERYTHING was in bloom!)

The ulster museum (brushed up on my Irish history and saw a life sized Irish wolfhound).

Coffee break. Of course. Camila is as into coffee as I am, so it's perfect.

Up to the observatory for a great view of the city.

The clock tower.

Saint annes cathedral (very pretty stained glass)

The titanic quarter along the harbor (very cool up-and-coming area, huge renovations going on).

Dinner at Maggie May's cafe (which is kind of a landmark, had a delicious milk shake).

Even though it's only 9 we're exhausted. Walking for like 8 hours straight will do that. Tomorrow, the paddy wagon! (it's a tour, not actually planning on being arrested...or a stereotype).

Much love,
Erin

Quick update

Hey guys! Just a quick check-in to make me feel less bad about how I'm slowly but surely getting lazy about the blog. Nothing really new to report, but I'm going to Belfast tomorrow night! Flying in with Camila and staying until Monday morning. Be back in time for class monday afternoon. I'll probably update with pictures from the trip and whatnot then.

For now, here's a picture of the sculpture I started tuesday. It's a life-sized head. When asked how the hell we were going to get these home, my art teacher responded "Well, if you pad enough clothing around them in your suitcases, I'm sure they won't break." Yeah, that's THE ONLY problem with fitting a 15 pound clay head into an already filled-to-bursting-50-pound-weight-restricted bag.

So that's that. A tiny bit scary at the moment...heads are hard!!

Pooh quote: "When you've been thinking you can come to some very important decisions."

Much love,
Erin

London!

Sorry for the delay in posting- nothing really new to report from last week but just got back from my visit this weekend to LONDON!!

Brief overview: Woke up at an ungodly hour in order to catch my 7am train, which got into London around noon. Was advised to take a subway to Trafalgar Square from the train station, but it seemed like a really short distance on the little map I was looking at, so I decided to walk it. Turns out it wasn't such a short distance, and it took me a little over an hour. But no worries, I enjoyed my little "bimble" (new word from this weekend! It means "to meander") and got lots of lovely photos. Then I went to the National Gallery and bimbled for a few hours (love that word!) before I went to meet Zoe around 6.

For those of you who don't know Zoe, she is the absolutely lovely au pair that I last saw when I was about four, and she took me in over the weekend and coddled me with fantastic food and a wonderfully comfortable bed and great sightseeing.

Anyway we took the train back to her town, got Italian food (mm!) and then went to her place. Next morning we went grocery shopping and then to the South Bank "in town." London apparently qualifies as a "town" colloquially, not a "city." Or, parts of it. We went to the Tate Modern (saw the GIANT exhibition of handpainted sunflower seeds) amongst other very famous art (Kandinsky, Pollock, Dali, and the like) and then went to the Globe Theatre. Shakespearean cultured-ness! Wish I remembered the plays a little better...or at all. Then we took the train back, had a very very delicious homecooked (and entirely gluten free) meal, and I woke up refreshed and very content. This morning we went to Hampton Court palace- home to the notorious escapades of Henry VIII and later of William and Mary (W&M shoutout, Matt!). The exhibition was really really great, very interactive. Afterwards we quickly toured the gardens, had a cup of coffee, and then I set out on my 7 hour sojourn back to Glasgow.

Now I'm reaching that semi-desperate level of exhaustion, so pictures then shower then bed!

I like the graffiti monkey.

Trafalgar Square.

Lion v. bus.

St. Paul's Cathedral.

The Tate Modern. The entire floor is covered with the porcelain hand-painted sunflower seeds.

Closeup of the seeds.

The Globe Theatre.

Zoe and I at the theatre.

And don't forget our third party member!

On the south bank.

The London eye, the Tower of London, and the Palace (?). I'm guessing on the last one, I admit it.

Zoe and David's "little old lady's bungalow" which I love.

The Thames.

A swan and the Thames. Apparently every swan is owned by the Queen, and it is illegal to harm them.

Hampton Court Palace.

The palace drunk. Tsk tsk.

Kip and the maid and I got along quite well, though.

The Great Hall.

The kitchen. All of those vegetables are real! And they smelled gooood.

Looking out to the garden.

The courtyard.

Zoe and I in our medieval garb. Yeah, we brought it. We were that cool.

Kidding. They supplied it. How awesome?

The gardens.

Look! Buds! Spring is coming!!!

Pooh quote: "While you wonder what to do, sit down and sing a song."

Much love,
Erin

First sculpture done!

We just finished our first sculpture in class today, so I thought I'd share. Not exactly PG rated, but we're all grown ups. I think. Megan, avert your eyes. Who am I kidding, Meg is totally not reading this.

Anyway!

I decided to be a little bit artsy and cut away parts of the surface she's lying on, which makes it look a little bit like she's a giant stranded on a tiny, perfectly shaped island. I told my teacher that, and she responded "well, now it has a narrative with it, then."

This is my desk. I may have gone a little overboard with the decorating at this point. It's kind of perfect for me, though.

Pooh quote: "To seem quite at ease hum tiddely-pom once or twice in a what-shall-we-do-now kind of way."

Much love,
Erin

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today was actually a lovely day, despite the fact that I'm so far away from the people I love. I got a really wonderful package this morning, and that made me really really happy. Then I walked to school in the rain, and that was less wonderful, but at the moment I got to campus, the sun came out in a truly magnificent way. Let me tell you, you don't have a real appreciation for direct sunlight until you've lived in Scotland for over a month. Ahhh sunnnn.

Then I frantically worked on an essay for a little while, and ran to a meeting with my seminar tutor. In the process, I abandoned my wallet in the library, and didn't realize for about an hour. I'm not the kind of person that does that frequently/ ever before, and it was NOT a fun experience. I don't think I've ever experienced quite that feeling of stomach-dropping-out-of-body-and-hitting-the-floor before. Credit cards, IDs, even my loyalty cards at all my cafes!!! It was a truly awful 15 minutes. Until I found the lost and found, and discovered that some kind-hearted stranger had turned it in, intact. And in that moment my stomach not only returned to its normal position, but I was awash in a basking glow of faith in humanity and joy in the human race. No, I'm not exaggerating. I was really that relieved.

Anyway, then I had another struggle, trying to scan a valentine's day card into the computer. The scanner wasn't working, and I had to go ask IT for help. An old man walked me through the whole process, and barely concealed his chuckles when he very clearly saw what it was that I was trying to scan. Apparently most people use the scanners to get copies of chapters in books, not to scan personal letters. Not a proud moment.

Then I ran to high tea, which I shared with six other girls. I got a gluten free cake, and had mint-julip tea. How classy am I? Actually I might have just misspelled "julip" so maybe not so much. Anyway, it was a kind of bizzarre cross-over between feeling really mature and feeling like children having tea with stuffed animals. I guess it was a little of both.

Then I had volleyball, which I just got back from. I'm a little concerned that I sprained my thumb, and it's making typing a bit of a challenge, but hopefully tomorrow it'll feel better.

A few girls are planning on watching a valentines day movie in a few minutes, so I'm off.

The day in pictures!

Look at that sun!

Blue skies!

Getting past the whole this-tray-would-kill-me thing, isn't it beautiful?

And check that guy out. Mmm.

Slightly artsy shot.

Me and Emma and Valerie. Mita and Karin and Liz and Molly were on the other side of the table.

Pooh quote: "Oh Bear!" said Christopher Robin. "How I do love you!"
"So do I," said Pooh.

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Extra much love,
Erin

Edinburgh- round three!

Okay, I admit it. Edinburgh is gorgeous. It is a wonderful, wonderful place. That doesn't mean that Glasgow isn't, but frankly, Edinburgh is downright classy. Especially when the weather decides to pull a 180 in the 45 minute bus-ride between the two cities. Cloudy spitting rain in Glasgow, sunny blue skies in Edinburgh. Go figure.

Today was my first solo venture, and it was a fantastic day. I've been sort of obsessing about the travelling-alone idea this whole week (in terms of spring break) and trying to figure out if it would be liberating or sad. I can now definitively say that, at least for today, it was a beautiful beautiful thing. I actually really needed that time to myself. I took the bus to Edinburgh and walked to the National Museum, (rated 3 out of 3 stars by Rick Steves!). There was a free guided tour starting at 1:30, so I decided to be intellectual and do it. As it turned out, I was the only one that showed up. So instead of a one hour "highlights" tour, my kilt-wearing-but-originally-German tour guide treated me to a three hour meander throughout the exhibits. Fantastic but grueling in terms of attention span- especially running without any caffeine. But I made it! And I'll give you three of the most interesting facts from my afternoon:

1) During the height of the Roman Empire, leaders tried to make nice with Scottish chieftains by giving them valuable coins. Scots had no need for coins, so they melted them down and made absurdly heavy chain necklaces, to wear as a symbol of status.
2) Robert the Bruce, Scottish hero and featured icon from Braveheart, became de facto leader of Scotland. He didn't have any male offspring, so he selected a worthy castle Stewart to carry on the rulership. So began the "Stewart"- which later became "Stuart"- dynasty. They intermarried with the Tudors under James IV.
3) During the industrial age, iron coffins became popular in Edinburgh to prevent grave-robbings. Apparently Edinburgh is where human dissection began, under obviously surrepticious settings. Though, apparently, stealing a body wasn't actually illegal.

Yeah, we covered a lot of ground. Peter used to be a physics/math teacher, so I learned some of that, too. That kind of went in one ear and out the other, though.

Afterwards I stopped and got coffee at a local place off of the Royal Mile, then caught a bus home. I was in such a good mood on the bus that neither the smelly man directly next to me nor the crying baby directly in front of me phased me at all- that is one freaking good mood to manage that.

Pictures!

This is actually from Thursday morning while I was walking to class. Ahhhh sunnnnn.

Look at that green! I smell spring!! No reality, please. I need that one.

That's St. Giles Cathedral in the background.

Sunnnn! And a phone booth.

Victoria Street.

I don't really have a reason. I thought it was pretty.

The dog on the right is "Greyfriar's Bobby," after which the very famous pub behind him is named. He's kind of an unofficial mascot for Edinburgh.

Peter, my physics/math teacher-tour guide. Because he's of german descent, his tartan kilt is actually the "european foreigner" pattern. You can tell because it's blue, red, black, and yellow.

Edinburgh castle, of course.

Victoria Street, again. The colors!

Check out the clouds on the horizon- it was surreal.

Pooh quote: "To show you haven't been frightened jump up and down once or twice in an exercising sort of way."

Much love,
Erin