Happy Thanksgiving!

Well, I hope everyone is having a great Turkey Day! I just got in from my Thanksgiving dinner and am so full! There were two huge turkeys, lots of stuffing, and way too much food for 20 people. I met up with Kristen at 5.30 down at Princes Street Gardens for the lighting ceremony of all the Christmas lights but the lights were already partially turned on. Apparently they weren't doing a big ceremony this year like last year. There is a huge German market there with fresh German meats and drinks. We are going back next week so should be a lot of fun. There is an outdoor ice skating arena and a lot of rides for kids. Just as we were leaving, they had the lighting of the Christmas tree where they light the tree and have a fireworks display. Was pretty awesome! Well, off I go to study Virology. I have until Tuesday to cram everything. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Still Alive! Studying For Exams Now...

Well, it has been a long time since I last posted. I have been really busy preparing for next week's exams. We have an entire week of revision where I will basically be sitting in my room studying from morning 'til night. Ah yes, the grand life of a vet student, studying AM to PM... For some reason, I am finding that I do not stress over examinations like I used to in undergrad. I think because I was trying so hard to achieve the proper grades to get into veterinary school, and now that I am, there is less stress because I am finally here. It has been very cold and rainy over the past few weeks. I did not leave the house once today. Was very rainy and I needed to study. I still have so much to go over. I have finished Immunology, Inflammation and almost done with Parasitology. After that, all I need to do is study Bacteriology, Virology and some practical pictures for the spot exam. Then, once I finish all of that, I start all over again and go over Immunology.....you get the idea. Kristen will be taking me to a play on Saturday, the Peter Pan play to be exact. Should be fun. I'm going to need a break after all of this studying. I also have a Thanksgiving dinner planned for Thursday with a bunch of other Americans. I can't wait to eat some turkey!!! Actually, let me rephrase: I can't wait to eat some turkey skin!!! I am supposed to make candied sweet potatoes, but I may just bring a bottle of wine and be simple. Not sure if I can put together enough sweet potatoes for 20 people. A couple bottles of wine may work better. Not long before I come back home! I am getting very excited to see everyone and will be back for 3 weeks. I plan on eating a lot of sushi when I am back!! I have been deprived for almost 6 months now :(

Well, need to wake up slightly earlier tomorrow and get an early start on studying. Hopefully tomorrow won't be such rubbish weather! I do feel a sore throat coming on...hopefully it's nothing. I hope everyone is doing well and I can't wait to see everyone again!

By the way, thank you to everyone at AHS for the birthday card, I don't think I ever said thank you. I was definitely not expecting a card to be sent. Thank you for the Thanksgiving card Tanya! I will be sure to eat a lot of turkey on Thursday for sure!

Waverly Station Freeze

So, I spoke with a few people that did the freeze at Waverly station (I was too tired and went home, did not feel like walking 45 minutes to the station in the cold right after class). Apparently there were ~400 people frozen in place!!! It's already on YouTube. For those of you who can't view it on YouTube, just type in "Waverly Station Freeze" or "Big Freeze Edinburgh Waverly Station". There is a video that films the entire 5 minutes of the freeze. Pretty good! Some people were obviously not very good because their eyes kept wandering around when the camera came by, but there were a lot of them that were completely still!

Remember Remember, the Fifth of November...

So tonight is Guy Fawkes Night. If you don't know what that is then read below:

Guy Fawkes Night is an annual celebration on the evening of 5 November. It marks the downfall of the Gunpowder Plot of 5 November 1605, in which a number of Catholic conspirators, including Guy Fawkes, attempted to destroy the Houses of Parliament, in London, United Kingdom.

In the United Kingdom, celebrations take place in towns and villages across the country in the form of both private and civic events. They involve fireworks displays and the building of bonfires on which traditionally "guys" are burnt, although this practice is not always observed in modern times.[citation needed] These "guys" are traditionally effigies of Guy Fawkes, the most famous of the Gunpowder Plot conspirators. Although the night is celebrated in York (Fawkes' hometown) some there do not burn his effigy, most notably those from his old school. In the past, before the fifth, children traditionally used the "guys" to request a "penny for the guy" in order to raise funds with which to buy fireworks. However, this practice has diminished greatly, perhaps because it has been seen as begging, and also because children are not allowed to buy fireworks. In addition there are concerns that children might misuse the money.

So right now, there are some fireworks going off and all of the grocery stores were selling them. Next year I am going to buy some fireworks and shoot them off because I haven't had my own fireworks in a long time. However, the last time I did light my own fireworks, a large mortar shell exploded about 3 feet from where I was standing. I turned around and started running at the last minute. The mortar was supposed to shoot out, but instead, it slithered its way out of the pipe that was over my shoulder and landed right in front of me. So there you have it, Guy Fawkes Night. The movie V For Vendetta was about this event but with a comic book twist. Apparently there are going to be 170+ students going to the train station tomorrow and are going to do a 5 minute freeze where everyone basically stops moving at whatever position they are in and holds that for 5 minutes starting at 6.30pm. I'm tempted to go (not participate) and just take a video of it. I think it would be hilarious to see that many people freeze. A large group of people in Grand Central station did this a while back. Here is the YouTube video of it:

Halloween (the great Edinburgh pumpkin search)...

So, Thursday was the veterinary school Halloween party. Myself and three other guys in class decided to go as Men In Black since it was the cheapest thing to buy a costume for. We all had suits already and just needed black glasses. So we set out after class in search of black sunglasses and found a shop that had loads of costumes. There was a top gun costume that was just great (Maverick all the way!) but then I saw the price of the costume and was about $90, which is crazy! I found the sunglasses, however, when I made my way towards the register to pay for them I stumbled across a chinese straw hat. The first thing that came to my mind was a Chinese rice paddy worker. I thought to myself that it would be quite the unique costume and that I would probably be the only one in the UK dressed as a rice paddy worker. I thought it would be fun. So I put the glasses back, picked up the chinese hat along with a chinaman mustache. This was going to be a legendary costume! After I made my purchase at the costume store, I then needed to head to a chinese market where I could buy a chinese rice bowl and some chopsticks. Barb (asian girl from class) volunteered to take me to this chinese supermarket. I found the perfect bowl and chopsticks for my costume. Once I had everything for the Chinese rice paddy worker costume, I made my way home and got ready for the party. I quickly cooked some sticky rice to put in my bowl. I wore an old torn T shirt and tan shorts along with my leather sandals. I walked to Eddie's flat in the rain in sandals (was not very comfortable). Apparently my costume was quite the hit at the party as I caused many heads to turn when I walked in. The first thing that happened when I walked through the doors was get a picture with two asian couples from the program. They walked up to me and wanted a photo with me so bad because I was a Chinaman. I was laughing, was very funny. I then preceded to mingle and have a good time looking at everyone else's costumes. Here are a few photos from the party (granted, there are more, but I need to get them from everyone).

So, the weekend approached and Kristen and I had planned a pumpkin-carving night over a glass of wine with her flat mates. So, when I got to Kristen's, we set out in search of our pumpkins. We were planning on going across the street where there had been many pumpkins on display near the street. Apparently everyone goes last-minute pumpkin shopping because there was ONE pumpkin left (but was damaged and was being sold for 1 pound). We left it there and said we would get it on the way back if we could not find any. So, we then checked 6 or 7 more places...yep, you guessed it, completely sold out of pumpkins. So, we decided to go back and get our 1 pound pumpkin and guess what? Someone had taken it!! Can you believe that? The nerve! We went to Pizza Hut and ordered a pizza and watched some movies back at the flat. We then dressed up in our costumes so that we could all see what we were going to wear to the party that we were going to go to but decided not to. So here are some pictures of me as the Chinese rice paddy worker. Hope everyone is doing well and can't wait to see you all VERY soon!

A Great Birthday and Great Weekend!

So all of last week the lectures consisted of Parasitology and inflammation. The lectures were interesting the Parasitology lectures made me very itchy reading about ticks/louse/fleas... I have yet to work on my essay that is due in a few weeks, but will probably finish it tomorrow just so that I can have it completed. I have been working on organizing the material to study for Exam 2 in December and it is approaching closer and closer. This exam may be a little more difficult than the last. We shall see though... This past weekend was GREAT! Had an awesome birthday with friends from class. On Thursday (day of my birthday) Emily from class had about 20 people over for a dinner party, which consisted of homemade Italian food. It was very yummy! Stuffed peppers with Mozzarella cheese and some other ingredients. VERY good indeed! Did not make any random trips this weekend but will next weekend. Went out for a couple of hours yesterday with friends to celebrate my birthday as well as Chad's. I tried a Vodka Martini for the first time (thought I would be like James Bond while I am here) and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Don't think I would make it something I get whenever I go out though. I think once is enough for that. I will stick with my Scottish Ales. Today was a day of wanderlust through Edinburgh. Kristen and I decided to go out and wander around the city. Went to St. James shopping center and found a new clothing store that is AWESOME! I will be going back tomorrow because there are MANY shirts that are going on clearance this weekend and I am determined to be there to grab the good shirts. I picked out two new shirts (with the help of Kristen) and they are now in my top 5 favorite shirt list. After that, we looked at some Christmas things and had lunch and coffee. We then walked around the city and found this really pretty lake that was full of swans, ducks and seagulls. There were probably around 20 swans and dozens of ducks and seagulls. There was one swan that was not in the water but was very friendly (or just hungry) and kept walking at me trying to get into my clothes bag thinking that there was food in it. I thought it was quite amusing. There was a bridge that went across the water that was very slippery too. My shoes kept slipping on the wet wood of the bridge as I was walking across it. On the way back home we found some really neat shops that sell gourmet Italian food and one that sold organic stuff. The organic shop even had giant bags of oatmeal on the floor with big scoops in them. It was really neat. I picked out some sliced parma ham (my favorite new meat) and some fresh butter from France. Weather today wasn't bad, a bit rubbish but in spurts. Rainy this morning then cleared up this afternoon, but then began to sprinkle a bit on the way home. All in all, a great weekend so far. Oh, and there was also the brightest rainbow I have ever seen, watch the video below. Oh, and also, the tree outside my room window has changed into the classic Autumn colors. It smells so good out right now. Smells of wet leaves, you know, that distinct smell of Autumn! I love it! Hope everyone is doing well and can't wait to see you all at Christmas time!

Has It Really Been 1 Week Since My Last Post?

Wow, I hadn't realized that it was 1 week ago since my last post. Tanya reminded me to update the post via a Skype message. So, since my last post, here is what has happened:

On Saturday, I took Kristen for a random trip to Stirling. We got to the train station and decided it would be fun to pick a random place to travel to. We are going to try and do this every weekend (when I am not busy of course). It definitely was fun. We went to Stirling Castle, which was closed because it was already 3.30pm when we got there. Most castles close at 3 or 4pm. We then went to an Italian restaurant and then took the train back home. Immunology lectures were this entire week and we just now started the lecture series on Parasitology. Right now, the professor has been talking about all the different types of ticks and giving us the genus and family name of each tick. Luckily, we don't have to learn all of the genus/family tick names. That would be an absolute nightmare! Ever since the last exam, I have found it difficult to sit down and study. My brain was so tired since the last exam that it just needed a break for a bit. I am now back in the study mode and am working on putting practice questions together for the next exam already. I have done all the research for my essay paper that is due in a few weeks. Hopefully I will finish that this weekend. Today was quite laid back. I decided not to go to the first lecture (I find it pointless anyway). The first lecture was on pigs and the biosecurity measures taken at the pig farms, all of which are in our notes and the presentation is available online. The lady lectures off of exactly what is on the powerpoint presentation. I went to the next two lectures and the last lecture was cancelled because the professor was going to the hospital I think. I just finished watching an episode of Dexter, a tv show that has me absolutely addicted to it.

I have also decided to leave Brownie back in AZ rather than transporting him to the UK. I think that it is a wise decision. On top of costing nearly $1400 to get him here, it would be very hard on him health-wise. He is already 12yrs and in four years, he would be 16yrs making the flight back to AZ difficult (more difficult than at the age of 12yrs). So, as much as I would like to have him here, I would feel less stressed if he just stayed back home. At least I know he is being taken care of back home and I don't have to worry about rushing home to feed him, etc.

Tomorrow is Friday, woohoo! I am meeting with a bunch of people from class to discuss the ski trip to Austria. There are a bunch of people that want to go, so should be a great time. Saturday, Kristen and I are heading to Cramond and are having a picnic on the beach, so should be fun. Apparently there is a causeway that you can walk along to an island but need to leave the island before 2pm. If you don't you'll be stuck on the island for about 8 hours when the tide comes in. Will take pictures and post them this weekend. Hope everyone is doing well!