hello my loves. i know it has been a while.

first off i think i might become a vegetarian. cooking turkey is gross. you have to remove the neck from the body and clean out all the guts and such and there is so much blood. i made my flat mate clean out the turkey and stuff it. i can barely eat shrimp i should have known i would have had issues with cleaning a turkey. but it came out very good. i invited my flatmates, a few coworkers and a few american friends. we had tons of sides and desserts and it was wonderful. of course that was followed by dancing.

im loving my flat and my flatmates. we have wine and cheese parties and watch lots of girly tv and its a very chill enviornment. so far so good. enjoying being here a lot more. hanging out with friends. have a gym buddy. its good. taking a mental health day and catching up on life and the like. hmmm. i will update with adventures soon. promise!

loving and missing you always.

hello my loves!

greetings from across the pond.

so since my last update i have moved into my flat. have the nicest flat mates. we are all organizing a potluck thanksgiving. went to a concert last night with them and then we went out for some fun ont the town afterwards. its nice to live with locals and go where the locals go... before it was a bit touristy.

i have friends at work now. some people from my old office transfereed over which is awesome.

i should go moneys about to run out will continue the update soon

love you all.

nicole, my love, patience is a virtue.

but yes i did move into my flat and i am very flattered that you stalk my blog.

ok since i have been back from france i have been pretty busy. when i got back i was terribly homesick. but a wise and good friend pointed out that home will always be there and how often will i be in scotland...

and so since i have been back this is the short and tall of it.

the royal bank of scotland has ordered me a fourth banking card because the first one is doing a tour of england, the second was ordered wrong, and the third was not delivered because i have ordered 3 cards and that is "suspicious" alas i am waiting on my fourth bank card. fingers crossed it works out. i should be getting it this week.

the ireland plan is up in the air. i am not sure as of december 20th where in the world i will be until feb. come feb i will be either in ireland or heading home. in between i think i might do a tour of italy? we shall see...

christmas is slowly coming together. and i am excited and when you have all of europe to choose from .... well thats just crazy. new years is being spent in edinburgh. crazy. but i am excited. it should be really good. concerts and ceildhs. yay.

i moved into my flat on saturday. i have great flatmates and a really cute rooom. i am by tons of shops, a few bakeries, movie theaters, and a few parks. i feel like i am living in the village in new york. it is a duplex and im kinda in love with it. i also live with 6 other women.... but i think they are great girls.

hmmm. im not sure what else to say? moved into a hostel the day after i got back. that got smoothed out. im at the same job. my friend emma started working there so we explore the neighborhood during lunch and gossip about all the people we use to work with. its been good.

all in all i believe more and more that what i plan doesn't happen and so im not stressing but just open to the possibilities now. we will see where life takes me. im looking for some adventures...

ok so email me for my address cause im not gonna put that on here to send me packages and mail and send me your addresses for the same reasons!

missing and loving you all.

oh adventures...

alright, its been a while since i have updated. there is lots to update about.  before about a week ago i was ready to hop on a plane and head home 

spent the past week in france. started out taking the train into glasgow with val. my mom booked me a night at a hotel and it was so lovely to have a room to myself and watch lots of tv and just veg out.  my mom was so excited because the hotel was near the airport... turns out ryanair has there own airport.... 40 min outside of glasgow. at 12 after i checked out i went running for a cab to the train station to go on a 40 minute ride out to preswick. 

got to preswick and boarded the plane. boarded outside all quaint like. sat next to the world champion porridge maker. arrived in boveais (spelling?) and waited for parky.  neither of us realized how far away from paris we were going to be.  

the week led to some awesome times....

lots of french food, bought the cutest shoes, took a late night walk through paris and saw the rivers and cathedrals, spent time catching up with parky, saw amboise and where davinci lived and died, made a yummy home cooked meal, met some awesome assistants, had an awesome night dancing, and just in general some good times.

woke up really early today.  took the train to the train. got on the metro was so proud of being able to change trains and find my way around. then in french the conductor comes and says something about getting off the train. i go over and say "i dont speak french..." and i was told to go up and get the bus. so i was able to find the bus took some pictures of the arch. got on the bus, took the coach to the airport, found out my plane was delayed, finally boarded the plane, got to prestwick, took the train into glasgow and was told the train to edinburgh was on strike, got the bud to edinburgh and finally made it back to the hostel. to find out that the hostel screwed up my reservation so i called ali and val and came on over to crash here and watch the bridge to taribithia. saddest movie ever. 

and that is where i am at. move into the flat on saturday and you know taking each day as it comes.  

hey all,

i know its been a while since i updated in this. its still been a bit of a crazy time. work is kinda lame and my living situation leaves much to be desired. but i have about a week to go and then i am done. woohoo. and i am on the waiting list to change rooms as well as viewing 2 flats tonight. so i am making moves to change things. my fingers are crossed and hopefully it will go well.

the plus side of things...

* went to the ceilidh with jacqui friday. had an amazing time. was flung, swung, and twirled about. still have the bruises from it.

* climbed the crags with some people from the hostel to watch the sunset. an amazing view. i want to go back sometime soon. there is a great sense of belonging from up there. looking down on the city. being close to nature and something real. it was an awesome time.

* had an awesome time making a couple of videos. they are somewhere on youtube and facebook. i make a scary psychic but at the same time it was great fun.

* i am going to visit parky for a week of madness in france. im super excited. it is a much needed and long overdue visit.

* and i think im going to roadtrip to loch ness this weekend. got to get away and have some adventures.

thats all for now.

missing and loving you all.

for the love of nicole... an update.

hello all,

its been a little while since i have writen in here. life has been interensting so far. its been a very mainc week. lots of good moments and a few crazy ones as well.

im living in the hostel and i have some awesome friends there and a great roommate but there are a few characters that i swear could be classified as criminally insane. we all know i dont have luck when it comes to living with people and the current situation involves a guy that my roommate and i found sitting perched on a chair in the dark room with an eerie grin on his face. he then bounced out of the chair and started bouncing around the room focusing his attention on me. asking me if i was going to go for the pull. thinking he meant am i going to the pool (my roommate and i were just talking about how i joined a gym and was excited that there was a pool) i informed him no im not going to the pool at 9 at night. he meant pull. informing me that it means "score." Am i going to score tonight? i told him i was just concentrating on writing in my journal and that it was still to early to even go out. he proceeded to tell me that it was ok if i wanted to. he wouldnt look and that i do have needs. when he travels he likes to experience as much as he can. when he is in italy he likes to sleep with an italian, germany a german, etc. im still not sure if he was hitting on me in a most awkward fashion or if he wanted to bring someone back and was like "hey its ok for you. it should be ok for me..." all i know is that i am officially sketched out. so i am looking for a flat cause i am tired of living out of my suitcase and with crazy people... its not going so well.

i work for the counsel again. i think i am going to quit in a few weeks. time for something new. i do accounts and data entry. not too exciting. but ok.

in exciting news the weekend was fun. went out with some friends to the pubs and danced. climbed the crags by arthurs seat. and went to the museum this morning. had a large chinese buffet lunch that nicole and nili would be proud of. and booked my ticket to visit park. I AM SO EXCITED. i think i did a little dance today when i was telling my friends about it. gonna spend a few days in tour and then maybe a little trip to budapest or amsterdam. we will see its an adventure.a place where you go for a weekend or so. we will see its an adventure. like my mom said "france is calling...."


but i love and miss you all.

alright lets see...

it has been a good weekend. decided to take advantage of the gym and swam and played around on the equipment a bit. enjoyed the relaxing dont think about anything but swimming thing. i think im part mermaid. sunday was really awesome. decided while the weather was nice and before it got to cold to go to the botanical gardens. a friend from the hostel, jacquie came along. got a bit of an education in australia which is where she is from and have decided that it is on my list of places to go.

ok sorry about the tangent. so the botanical gardens are beautiful and so peaceful. we watched some squirrels playing around. smelled the roses. saw a little of the leaves change. they had a beautiful chinese garden. it felt like we were out of the city and out in some more rural place. im kinda missing the fall weather though. i think by the time thanksgiving comes around im gonna be craving multicolored leaves and pumplin pie. well we shall see...

we also met up with some friends at a pub to hear some traditional scottish folk music. it was like something you would see on tv. there were tons of men in kilts(representing scotland in the rugby game that day) drinking beer and singing traditional scottish folk songs. banging the tables and trying to teach us the words. singing at the top of their lungs. they also sang some american folk songs from the 60's and a bit of country. it had me cracking up to hear these thick scottish accents singing "take me home. to west virginia. the place where i belong" but the high light was when the folk singer started playing havah nagelia havah and everyone was singing that throwing in an OY! i love the scots.

nils im gonna claim that as my little bit of yum kippor celebration.

today was my 2nd day of work. so far so good. tomorrow looks to be busier and a bit more intense but im ready. walked home today and found so many cute cafes and pubs. as well as a polish market and an asian one. now i can get my fill of perogi as well as ginger veggies. YUM!

hmmm that might be all for now. missing and loving all of you.

3rd times the charm

i dont know if i mentioned this in my last post but i have decided to treat this trip as a seperate entity than the one in july. yes, i am still on the same visa but this is my third time in scotland and this time things are going swimmingly. not to jinx myself.

i moved into the long term hostel yesterday. i was put in a room with 6 people but decided that wasnt for me and moved to a room for 4. this room is at the on the top floor which is really nice since that is quieter. it is clean. i have a bottom bunk. the room is homey with shelves, chairs, tabels, etc. and it is fairly large.

i have a job with the city counsel. a different branch this time. it is located in the city center and im looking forward to that. i have taken the walking tour of edinburgh which was amazing. it was led by an american by he had pretty eyes and was very charasmatic so you could excuse him from not having a scottish accent. taking lots of pictures which i will put up as soon as i can.

spent last night catching up with some old friends from the hostel as well as getting to know some new ones. went dancing. went to the oz bar. went to an irish pub that is more honkey tonk than irish. spent the whole night up with some friends and then when the sun was rising decided the only thing to do was get breakfast. clearly. came back to the hostel and crashed for a few hours. realized i had a free pass to a health club and spent the past few hours in the pool and hot tub. i feel gloriously good right now.

i truly think everything happens for a reason. in the mean time i hope you all are having fabulous adventures.

and im back. i flew out of newark airport at around 10:30 sunday night. had a lovely seat next to the window in the front of the plane cause as luck would have it there was only a handful of people flying to edinburgh. even had the middle seat empty. flying in was a breeze. my ears were killing me on the flight home and thanks to a little pill called benedryl i was fine.

i have spent the past 2 nights at a different hostel than last time. i am moving into that hostel tomorrow and so far its good to be back. i had an interview today and a potential job offer. im just waiting to hear the details. i have been to the international market and im planning on going on a walking tour of the city in a few days. other than that not much is new.

cheers!

so i am lying in bed watching tv. just got back from the doctor and have been put on strict orders to stay in bed and veg out. not quite how i thought things would turn out but im rolling with it. its nice to be back in the states. im looking forward to some dinner dates and a little shopping before i go back and when i go back... well the adventures will follow.

i had one little adventure the weekendbefore i got sick. my roommate from the hostel and i decided to take the tattoo tour. despite the fact that i was starting to feel sick it was amazing. we met at about 8 in the morning and 18 of us boarded a haggis bus. haggis is a tour company not an actual type of bus. we had an amazing tour guide. and we started out heading north into sterling and learned the real legend of william wallace and on to doune castle. doune castle is a 13th century castle used in the movie monty python and the holy grail. it really was an amazing sight. it was once used as a hunting lodge for the stewarts i believe. after that we continued on to callander (i have to update about the highland games at some point) to meet hamish. hamish is a highland cow. he was the cutest thing. all fuzzy and very tame. when we were in callander for the highland games we had gone for a walk and passed some highland cows and they are very nasty animals. hamish was very sweet and you could buy hamish snacks. we then went to the village killan and the falls of dochart. the falls arent anything like niagra but they are really beautiful an we bought lunch and ate it on the rocks of the falls. we then went to loch tay which is one of the largest lochs and sat out by the water. watched some ducklings and their mother swim around. we then went to scotlands oldest wiskey distillery for a wee dram. glenturrett has been making wiskey since the 1700's and is one of the 50 wiskeys that is contributed to the famous grousse. which i tasted and burns like fire. im not a fan but i do now how it is made. we then took a drive through the highlands and saw the feilds covered in heather and back to edinburgh aka auld rekkie.

we then had a few hours before the show and i took a little rest before we went. the show was amazing. they started with a fan fare and tons of men in kilts came out playing drums and bagpipes. they had drums and fifes from the states. drumers from trinidad. motorcycle riders some as young as 6. a girls band from thailand and highland dancers to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the queen to the prince. at the end there was fire works and we all sang auld lang sine and helf hands. it really was a great show. and that is where the night ends. a great day even if it followed with my first trip to the hospital. but its all an adventure...

a lil tired. a lil sick. a lil doped up. i hope this makes sense...

so from where i last left off. i was in edinburgh sick. been to the hospital and on antibiotics. still sick and no one knew what i had. on wednesday my poor mom was feeling so helpless and worried she booked me a ticket home. getting home was a bit of an adventure. the plane was an hour and a half late. once the plane landed and we boarded i passed out when i woke up again as we were flying over albany and the pilot was announcing there was heavy traffic at newark airport and we were gonna flyover albany for a while. so we circled albany for about an hour and the pilot announced we were going to land in newburgh, new york to refuil. while we were only 15 min and 45 miles from the city we landed for saftey reasons. we werent allowed to leave the plane and took off about another hour later. landing in jersey and i waited an hour for my luggage to arrive. they emptied half our luggage andfor some reason the other half quite some time later. i hopped in a cab and came home. my poor mother though after going through the whole thing with my brother was worried about me when i hadnt shown up and the airport had said we landed 4 hours earlier... they left out the part about it being in newburgh new york. and so i have been home since friday. on my third antibitic and to the doctor here. i am really glad to be home because this is the best place to be when i am sick. its good to be around my family. its been good to talk to my friends on line or on the phone or to listen to them talk since i havent had much of a voice to talk . or the sign of a good relationship when you can both be there and neither one needs to say anything.

so i have spent the past 3 days in bed sleeping watching cheesy reruns and eating ice pops. much better than what i had in edinburgh. although i loved it there things were not what i would have wanted. but its late so i think im gonna crash. i will update later though about work, my living situation there, and a few weekend adventures. its an adventure...

heya.

libs is right its been a really long time since i wrote. spent the last week and half sick. went to the hospital twice. as well as a doctor. still dont know what i have. have been on antibitics but they screwed up my body so i am on another pill for that. slightly miserable and while i have great friends here really contemplating hopping on a plane and heading home. i just need to be around my family and a medical system that is hygenic and knows whats wrong with me.

been thinking about how good it would be to sleep in my own bed and eat my moms meals and have my parents near by while im sick. and how much i miss meeting up with my friends or spending hours on the phone while we just watch tv. or climbing into their beds and watching hours of degrassi or films and eating pizza and icecream. i didnt worry about growing apart from anyone special to me while i was here but i realize now how much i really need them by me.

cupa tea and a bun

i am in the process of learning all the european ways of saying my friends. last night i learned the german way which was well i cant type it cause it would be wrong but i know the french, german, and spanish ways now.

alright a lot has happened since i have last updated.

tuesday a group of friends and i were sitting around having dinner and it finally occured to us rather than finding other people to live with we should just live together. by friday we had found our place. it is beautiful georgian town house with a court yard and bay windows. possibly the largest kitchen i have ever seen and a fireplace in the living room. it is spectacular. i am moving in on tuesday with 3 other girls. agnes from berlin, caralyn from berlin, cara-lin from minnesota and then there is me. i seem to enjoy living with people who share the same name?

ok so that is the major thing going on. about a week from now i am going on a tour of dune castle where montypython was filmed and the tattoo. YAY. i am so excited. its also festival season so i am sitting in a pub with some friends waiting for the parade to start. hmmm. that might be all for now.

much love kiddos.

hiya!

its been a while since i have posted and so much has happened. ok where to begin...


i did end up getting my harry potter book and spent that whole weekend reading it. not on the mountain but in a cafe due to the rain. the cedildh was sold out so we will just have to catch the next one. we ended up joining in on the harry potter craziness instead. so many people were dressed up and there were old fashined type bands playing it was awesome.

this past weekend were the games in callander. we stayed at a lovely hostel that had dogs! climbed a mountain, did our own version of brave heart which can be seen on facebook much to embarressment. it was a lot of fun in callander watching men in kilts throw cabers and listening to the pipe bands. this place has really come to feel like home. a bunch of friends and i are looking for a flat. hopefully that will go well. we shall see. hmmm im sure there is more but i should go.

oh i have picked up the words brilliant. lovely. and im well on my way to adding the word aye and of course hiya.

peace out kiddos!

hello all!

its been a while since i have wrote in this. its been a while since i have wrote in my actual journal as well. ok lets see...

i started my job working for the edinburgh counsel. i work with some really sweet people. my general interactions with the scots have been that they are a very warm people. even when i got off the train from london a man came and helped me with my bags and directions cause i was there standing looking at my directions like a fool. i do general admin work so far. i have had some trainings so that i can work the data system and such. oh i get teai breaks! 2 of them. its very british and i love it. we sit and drink tea and have marmalade on toast. its great. its about half an hour from where i live so very doable.

i have had some problems understanding the thick accents though. today someone called because they wanted to know about a place called caroline terrace and i thought they were asking me about airline terrorists. we all had a good laugh about it but i felt slightly silly.

ok some details that i have been asked about that i have yet to write about. yes i have seen the new harry potter movie and if you dont compare it to the book its actually really good. im going to night with some friends to pick up my copy of the final book. we reserved them a few weeks ago. i think a few of us are going to climb arthurs seat tomorrow to continue our reading on the craigs with a picnic. get away from all the people who will ruin the books ending for us.

i am still living in the hostel. i am looking for a flat but being festival season it is very expensive. i am very excited for the festival though. i have a friend from work in the states coming for it and we are all going to meet up and maybe see a show. i live with some awesome people. a few americans also in the bunac program. they are from chicago, michigan, and various parts of california. there are a bunch of canadians and australians (ozzy) as well. im also become friends with a few spaniards and germans. its kinda like living in a dorm all over. we are all in our 20 somethings and go on pub crawls, cook dinner together, and watch movies together. being in a hostel makes people very close very fast.

the hostel is pretty cool. i have 2 kitchens in my building and 2 common rooms. i am in the longterm building there is also a short term building. the main complaint is the bathrooms. the toilets practically touch the wall in some stalls so you have to sit sideways and often climb over them to get to the shower but it is all part of the experience.

tonight i am going with some bunacers to a proper ceilidh to learn about scotish dancing and do a a bit myself. 6 of us are also going to the highland games next weekend as well. i will update about both of these things later. all in all its been good.

there was a moment earlier this week when things got pretty bad. my brother got meningitis and my mom was heading to japan to be with him and things seemed crazy but phones are an amazing thing and i was able to talk to some loves from home as well as getting through the night with a movie, some food, and a friend... the midnight roadtrip with amy to tesco extra was just what the doctor ordered. thanks ames :)

ok but that is all for now. more later.

cheers!

Hello All,

Quick update....

first off i have a job! i start on monday working for the counsel. i will update more on that when i know more.

its been a pretty busy week. i have done the whole job search thing. found a job. been to the Royal and Scottish museum. the royal museum was ok. nothing that really stood out in my mind but the scottish part was amazing. they had weaving machines making tartans, working steam engines, a hostory of scotland from back when all land was one continent and scotland was in the southpole. religious artifacts. it was really spectacular.

today i went to see the royal galleries which were amazing as well. dega, cezanne, botticelli, raphael. it really has been one of my favorite places since i have been here.

the other is the farmers market. every weekend a different country is there selling their goods. so far it has been italy, germany, and this weekend france. i have tasted wines, cheeses, olives, breads, and sweets from all over europe. it is one of the best parts so far...

more to come soon.

love.

It has been a while since i have updated and there are so many adventures to share...

one of the main ones would be this weekend. having spent the past week going on interviews, working on getting a job and settling into the hostel life i decided to take the weekend and do touristy adventure things. in edinburgh is an extinct volcano called arthurs seat which sits 251 meters above the city and has amazing views. I decided that it would be fun to climb to the top and spend the day in that area of the city. i walked from my hostel down to the base of the mountain and started the climb up. There is a path that leads up and as you get higher there are stone steps. The mountain is beautiful with thistle and wildflowers. It is an incredible view. The stone steps are very steep and you have to be very careful on the climb. As you get to the top you are literally climbing up the mountain and there are no more steps. there were times when i was slightly convinced if i looked down behind me i would fall. After about an hour or so i reached the top of the mountain. It was breathtaking. I could see down to the water, the castle, the queens palace, the mountains that surround the city, as well as clouds blowing in. It had been raining numberous times a day since i had been here and i knew that rain was coming. Everyone else up on the peak was thinking the same thing and hoping that it would be possible to make it down a bit to the field before it rained but just as that though entered our heads the wind started to blow really strong. A few people made it down to the field but me and a couple other people just sat ourselves down not wanting to risk going down the mountain in the rain. It literally started to hail on us for about 15 minutes. Looking around us we could see dark tunnels of where the rain and hail were falling it was a spectacular sight but reminded me of the movie twister.

the rain stopped and the three other people i was up there with led the way down the mountain. they were really nice people (everyone is really friendly here.) Since the mountain was a bit steep and slippery i sat on my butt and slid down the summit. once we got to the steps we took our time and walked down them just in time for it to start raining on us again. We parted ways after a little bit and i came back here to change into dry clothes. all in all a really great day.

update of sorts

hello all!

thought i would update. i am currently in my friends room using her wireless. i live in a hostel in edinburgh. it is at the base of the castle off of royal mile. it has rained here every day since i have been here... many times a day actually. i have shopped along royal mile, had tea in a proper english shop, seen lots of men in kilts, made friends with lots europeans and australians. i am currently looking for a job and figuring out life. im not really sure what to write in here. i will update soon...

love from across the pond.