11 days to go...

So I leave for Edinburgh, Scotland in about 11 days (September 10th). I'm currently sitting downstairs at my kitchen table because packing looms upstairs. My parents are out of town for the week so my plan was to get all the packing done while I can have the house to myself (read: while I can make a mess and have time to clean it up before they get home). I was really motivated the first night and actually started physically packing things but then I started thinking that I might want to wear some of the clothes before I actually leave so I stopped.

I'm keeping a blog this semester mostly because I don't want to bombard everyone with emails and I think it'll be easier to share photos and such. Plus, all my friends are doing it. Also my mom told me I had to.

I've been reflecting a bit on what kinds of Scotch-related things I've encountered in my lifetime:

1. Scotcheroos (my mom makes these... Rice Krispie treats mixed with butterscotch and topped with chocolate plus some other ingredients. They're not Scottish but they are delicious. Butterscotch is not Scottish either)
2. Scotch tape (also not Scottish, but a quick Wikipedia search informed me that the name is actually meant to demean Scots)
3. One of the cooks at the gym where I worked this summer said she is 1/16th Scottish
4. Harry Potter (JK Rowling planned the books while living in Edinburgh. Wikipedia informs me that the depression she suffered during this time brought her the idea of dementors. I am choosing to overlook this for now)

Basically none of the faux-Scottish things I've experienced have prepared me at all for my semester abroad. Although I will be in the birthplace of Harry Potter when the first part of the last movie comes out, which is pretty cool!

I'm definitely expecting some cultural differences, but not too drastic--Edinburgh is a fairly tourist-y area and there are a ton of international (particularly American) students in my building. The area I'll be spending most of my time in is actually called "Midlothian" and is the area for which my hometown in Virginia is named, so I'm sure it'll be exactly the same. Ish.

Anyway, I'm getting really excited and everyone I know who's been over in Scotland has just raved about it. My goals for the semester are (in order of importance):

• buy my oldest brother a kilt (he said he'd wear it in our Christmas picture and I have corroborating witnesses)
• go to Loch Ness
• pass my classes*

Everyone rolls their eyes when I say that I am dying to go to Loch Ness and they tell me that it's overrated, but I'm not going to be dissuaded. I'm not above throwing something into the water and then taking an out-of-focus picture of it. Nessie used to be my first priority but that was before Billy said he was willing to be photographed in a kilt.

In the meantime, I have a lot to do. All summer it's felt like I wasn't leaving for forever, but this week's going to go by quickly and then I'm spending the weekend at Duke before coming back, working my last day at the gym, and then all of a sudden I'll have 3 days before I leave. I'm not quite sure where this last month has gone, but I have lots to do and not a whole lot of time to do it. I really, really need to pack. Eventually.

*this is here because my parents are reading this

**I don't know if this background is actually in Scotland, but it looked like it could be, so I went with it. This blog is still a work in progress and everything will likely change