Things Scottish People Like (and travel stuff)

1. Blackcurrants and blackcurrant things

2. Fire doors

3. Gravy

4. Sausages

5. Pulling fire alarms at least twice a week (this is clearly cross-cultural)

6. Warm milk (milk is advertised as "delicious served cold!" as if it's a novelty)

7. Fire drills (weekly fire drill times are posted in nearly every building)

Given how seriously Scotland seems to take fire safety, it begs the question of why there are no smoke detectors in the kitchen. Although, given how frequently the fire alarms go off here, maybe that's a good thing...

In other news, I've booked a few trips for the semester. In October, I'm heading over to Dublin with at least one (maybe two) of my flatmates. Then the next weekend, my friend Cat is coming down from St. Andrews and we are taking a 3-day trip to the Highlands and Skye (click here). And yes, stops at Loch Ness are included. That's stopS. Plural. We are excited.

Tomorrow my flatmates and I are going to Lindisfarne and Berwick-upon-Tweed. Lindisfarne is a small island that is only accessible at certain times of the day because of the tide. There are only about 160 inhabitants and a castle (surprise, surprise... there is a sort of castle theme in Scotland). Berwick-upon-Tweed is the northernmost town in England and has some good history behind it. Next weekend I'm taking a day trip to some of the places in the Highlands/central Scotland that my 3-day tour doesn't hit.

Things are going well here aside from the fact that my flat has been crippled by a mystery cold-like illness. One flatmate was told by the doctor that because she is American, she's not immune to some of the bugs here and there was nothing she could do for her. That's an interesting theory considering that my Scottish flatmate is also sick with the same symptoms.

I myself decided to kill off any remaining bacteria by going to a whisky tasting last night. I went with a couple friends and met up with some more there. We tried 6 different whisky samples over the course of 2 and a half hours or so. I was pretty surprised by the variation in flavor--some were really smoky and peaty, others a bit sweeter. One was described to us as "a breakfast whisky!" I found two that I really like (for future reference, of course!). Now my mom can stop telling me "you won't like whisky!"

I'll try to keep the updates a bit more regular so that they aren't so long. This week was a little crazy because we started classes and everything (so I have been exhausted these past 3 days from my whirlwind of classes on Monday and Tuesday!). And even though I only have class 2, sometimes 3 days a week, I am taking my studies very, very seriously (Mom and Dad).