A Very Lucky Girl

back when we were babies 5 months ago I can't even begin to comprehend how to say goodbye to home. Dundee was my savior. My sanity in the midst of confusion. And even though it's ending, I consider Dundee my beginning.  I thought a lot about what makes me feel so connected to Dundee. I feel for this place what I feel for Raleigh, North Carolina, my favorite place I lived growing up. What made these settings special? I think the common denominator is feet.  In Raleigh I was devoted to running cross-country and track. My feet pounded the pavement around the school, around my home, around my neighborhood, and even all of over the state when we traveled to compete in meets.  I've done minimal running in Dundee, but my feet have carried me all over this city and all over the country of Scotland! I've walked to the Union and back countless times, I've trudged to Tesco for groceries and donuts, and I've gone to great lengths to skip the Old Hawkhill hill. Ta...

What I learned outside of the classroom of Thursday: Optional, but "encouraged," Shakespeare screenings are so not worth waking up for.  Getting bus sick is a thing and it's not particularly enjoyable.  North Americans are rad (and this in no way diminishes the rad-ness of people from other continents that I've met). Even the best Fish&Chips in Scotland can't beat a good chicken strip.  Hail down, hoods up, that's the way we like to hike.  Hiking to castles makes the end structure that much sweeter.  You'd think castle ruins are uninhabitable, but then you'd see a rat scurry across a crumbling bedroom.  When you're locked inside a castle and it's quickly getting darker, answering questions from a faceless boy who may or may not be trying to flirt is the last thing you want to do.  I think we have a 5th sense. It's like ESPN or something. We can tell exactly when a bus is going to leave a station and arrive mere minutes befo...

I hope you sang the title in your best "no one on the corner has swagga like us" rendition. I love my class schedule! Oh, pardon me, my module schedule. Classes are modules here and a major is your course of study. Slowly learning the lingo. On Mondays, Daniel teaches Scottish Literature from 1-3 pm in Dalhousie. And I am telling you right now that I will not miss a single class. For one, there are only 11 weeks of module instruction! Therefore, I only have 9 more of those classes! Tragedy. I could listen to his accent for an entire day. Weeks. But I'll take the two hours I get every Monday. I find it infinitely easier to pay attention to what is being taught when it is pleasant to listen to. Also occurring on a weekly Monday morning basis is the fire alarm for Belmont Flats. Similar to how the tornado siren is tested every Saturday at noon in Oklahoma, someone tests the fire alarm at 11 am every Monday. I expect Nat to remind me every week so that I don't pee my f...

Fried chicken. Barbeque. Chips and queso. A burger from S&B with a side of fries topped with cheese and too much bacon. Speaking of bacon...Bacon. Turkey bacon. All the bacon.  Tacos. A perfectly cooked steak. Gumbo. Shrimp pasta. Spaghetti with ground turkey. These are a few of the things Kylie and I talked about at the kitchen counter on Monday over our lunch of grilled chicken cheese. We get creative in Dundee. Make a grilled cheese and toss a slice of chicken lunch meat into the center, seasoned with my carefully stowed stash of Tony Chacheres .  We waxed poetic on ChickfilA. On the wonders of waffle cut fries and preciously formed nuggets of chicken. We dreamed aloud about a Mexican feast. Quesidillas and tacos and crispy tortilla chips. We lamented the appalling price of bacon. We sagged against the counter in imaginery ecstasy, remembering favorite American foods.  Grocery shopping in Dundee is different, that's for sure. But I'm starting to discover my fa...

Based on the past few days, I've learned that an unfamiliar situation in which no individual has an upperhand in the ways of the culture is a surefire way to make friends. I cannot even count on one hand how many people I've met and names I've learned in the past two days BECAUSE THERE ARE SO MANY! I went to a welcome reception last evening where they served wine (hey, OU, take a hint) and I bonded with people I'd never met in my life.  Nat, Laura, Keira, Erin, etc. are women I'm going to know FOREVER. My friend circle has grown enormously in the past day, from Canada to Australia and everywhere in between.  I sat in a circle with Erin, Nat, Kylie, and Laura last night while we traded stories of mysterious flatmates and horrific jet lag. Our group grew when Keira from Canada and several girls from the Netherlands took the initiative and pulled their chairs up to ours.  I'm so glad they did! We came up with the idea for a facebook group for all of us studyin...

"She is whatever she wants to be...She's got the world at her fingertips."--Ben Rector I've never been more proud of anything in my life than I am that I'm hours away from sitting on an airplane bound for Europe.  I dreamed of studying abroad since high school, fleeting thoughts of "oh, how cool would that be!" I thought a little more seriously about the prospect when college came around, but I didn't intensely pursue it until a year and a half ago.  And a year and a half later...here I am. Ready or Not, Here I Come.  I worked and saved money, I filled out applications, I got advised twice for good measure, I scanned documents, I made copies of valuable papers, I went to the dentist, I sat at a kitchen table and counted pills to make sure my prescriptions would last for six months. I said my goodbyes, some hard, some flippantly easy.  I did this. I made my dream come true.  I know my time studying in Dundee, Scotland will pass far too q...