Ang's Journal

1. Do you enjoy the cold weather and snow for the holidays?

I love snow. I love cold weather. But honestly, I have neither at the moment. Apparently, it rarely snows in Edinburgh - winter features more slush & sleet & cold, cold rain. Boo.

2. What is your ideal holiday celebration? How, where, with whom would you celebrate to make things perfect?

Ideal Christmas celebration ... well, Stacy tells me she's never missed a Christmas at home, so I guess we'd spend Christmas with her family. But an ideal holiday celebration would involve seeing my family, too. Trying to mentally work out the logistics of making that happen makes my head hurt. Of course, any ideal celebration would wrap up with a trip up to Ithaca for Hive New Year. So this year is going to be pretty darn far from ideal, but it will be fun nonetheless.

3. Do you do have any holiday traditions?

No unusual ones. Church on Christmas Eve, then come home & open one present. Christmas morning, get up, eat breakfast while opening presents. Sing lots of Christmas carols (with my sister-in-law playing the piano & my brother playing the guitar). Eat a big meal. Watch lots of football on TV.

4. Do you do anything to help the needy?

Not particularly at Christmas, but throughout the year I'm involved in charity work (MANNA) & I donate money.

5. What one gift would you like for yourself?

This year? Clothes. Bought for me by someone with style.

funkyplaid's beautiful photos inspired me to finally post a few of my own Edinburgh snapshots, which were taken about two months ago.

The first photo is taken from the window of the kitchen on my floor. That's right, if my room was on the other side of the hall, this is the view I would have. Instead, I look into the dumpy courtyard behind Farm Foods & a wall covered with pigeon crap. Alas. I took this photo at about 4:00 AM one morning whilst struggling with insomnia. Sometimes being up early is ... worth it. The only feature I dislike in this photo is the antenna that mars the silhouette of the mountain on the left. But I think the colours of the sky more than compensate for the small technological intrusion.

The photo on the left, below, was taken from along the Royal Mile. The building pictured used to be a church, but it is now called the Hub, & is one of the central organising points for Edinburgh's many summer festivals. Church recycling is quite common here; offhand, I can think of former churches that now serve as a hostel, pub, movie theatre, & an automotive garage. When I'm walking from home to the Institute of Geography, I see three steeples along the Royal Mile. In order, they belong to buildings that are now: a tourist information centre (the Tron), a cathedral/tourist destination (High Kirk of St. Giles), and the Hub.

Edinburgh is really an amazing city - almost everything I could want in a place to live is located within walking distance of my residence. There's stunning history, fine shopping, a plethora of pubs, quality academic institutions (not just the University but the National Library & numerous museums), & accessible natural areas just outside the door. There's so much variety packed tightly into the city centre - very few American cities can compare. And no American city can even come close to matching the architectural diversity! But there's diversity in more than just the buildings. The THINGS that go on here! I haven't even done one-tenth of the things I want to do - I haven't hiked in the Pentlands, I haven't gone to a Gaelic church service, I haven't been to the Royal Observatory, or gone to a football match, or toured a distillery, or been to ANY live music ... I better stop this train of thought before I convince myself to play hooky tomorrow ...

The final photo combines the first two, showing the Hub's steeple in the foreground & Arthur's Seat behind. You can also see the line of the Salisbury Crags running in front of Arthur's Seat. I took this from the Half Moon Battery in Edinburgh Castle on the finest, clearest day imaginable.

Well, actually, here's a lot about the buildings we occupy.

OK, last round of pre-arrival paperwork went in the mail to the University of Edinburgh today. I now have my dorm room secured, my classes chosen, my tuition payment plan selected (eeeep!), receptions registered for, new swim team contacted, church found, etc. Once I get there, I still have to open a bank account, get my student ID card, & scope out local features such as groceries, laundromats, & pubs.

I'm leaving for the U.K. on Monday, September 22nd, flying from Philadelphia to London. Here's hoping bomb-wielding terrorists decide to take that day off, hmmm? I'm staying in London for a few days to visit my best friend Brian & his wife Ingrid, as well visiting with my relatives who live near London. Then on Saturday, Sept. 27th, I'm taking the train from King's Cross Station in London to Edinburgh. Orientation classes start Monday Sept. 29th & the term actually begins on Monday October 6th.

I'm extremely excited about finally, finally, finally getting this adventure underway. I've been bending so much of my energy towards making this happen for nearly a year now (it was almost exactly a year ago that I began my application). And now it's almost HERE!!!

I just realized I haven't made a LJ entry with my summer plans/future plans/etc. So here's a quick summary of what I've got planned over the next few months.

On June 9th I'm moving out of my apartment here in Jenkintown & heading down to my parents' brand-new retirement home in South Carolina. There, I will be taking care of my mom, who is having hip replacement surgery on June 9th. Once she's medically cleared to drive (estimate: 6-8 weeks), I'll be returning to the Philadelphia area for a few weeks (living with Stacy in Delaware). Then, in mid-September, I'm leaving for Scotland to do a one-year master's program in Geographical Information Sciences at the University of Edinburgh.