My Semester In Scotland » Trip Log

So Long Scotland!

gness — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 03:13:33 +0000

Im sure you know, I have been home for a few days and I am just now settling in. My suitcases are sitting on my floor completely chock full of my stuff. I started my new job at Liberty Mutual today which was amazing. I am so excited to be working there this summer.¬†

The taxi ride out of the city was sad and it was a great time to start thinking about all I had done and how far I had come in life since the time I had gotten there. The plane rides were pretty easy. There were no delays and all my bags came through so I was pleased. It has been so nice to be home seeing old friends and catching up with family, sharing the stories I had gathered over the semester.¬†

I have decided to keep the blog live for a while for people to look back and read about my experiences. My hope is for it to be useful for a potential abroad student looking to study in Scotland. I am also in the process of taking some of my best pictures along with all my blog entries and create a small book for me to look back on. I figure the blog will eventually one day cease to exist, but a book you can keep forever and look back on it whenever you want. My goal is to have them printed by the end of the summer so I can have it in hand for when I go back to school in the fall.¬†

If you have enjoyed my blog this semester, I will be continuing a small blog on my regular website geoffness.com. I have enjoyed posting so much and it has been a great place to practice some writing skills as well as share the great¬†experiences¬†I have had with all of my friends and family. The new blog probably wont be posted to as often but should be fun non-the-less. I will be launching it by the end of June hopefully.

It has been a pleasure writing to this all semester and I hope you enjoyed it along the way. I look forward to seeing everyone and being able to expand on all I covered in here. Until then… Cheers!!!!

Last Day In The Place I’ve Come To Call Home

gness — Sat, 31 May 2008 15:05:01 +0000

With tomorrow’s departure date drawing dangerously close, I have decided to pull out all the stops in the last few days and live up my time left in Edinburgh. Friday night was my last fish and chips as well as a trip to some of my favorite pubs around town. First stop was The Links pub. Well it was kareoke night and after a pint or two I was game for a few songs. It was a blast. My buddy and I sang¬†Bohemian¬†Rhapsody. As soon as the song started we had the entire bar singing with us. We really got into it and even were able to impress a few chicas. All in all it was a good laugh so when closing time came around it could only mean one thing… off to find a pub thats still open. The best choice is a pub downtown called Dropkick Murphy’s. There was a live band so we danced and sang along till our hearts content… which turned out to be about 3AM. I figured I should call it a night so I headed back with a few friends and called it a night.

This morning was somewhat a sad one for my apartment. My roommate Josh flew out this morning and we started to say our goodbyes. One of my favorite people here was a local guy by the name of Simon who also headed back to Aberdeen today. It was hard to say goodbye to them but Im hoping to keep in touch and get to see them someday soon.¬†

When I woke up this morning, it was absolutely the most¬†gorgeous¬†day we have had all semester. A beautiful 70 degrees with perfectly clear blue skies and the a gentle warm breeze. I was finally able to wear shorts and a t-shirt today!! My friend Heather and I walked around town for the last time and took some great pics or the wonderful views. It was hard to think I wasn’t going to see the castle outside my flat every day. The park across the street is full of people and there is a fair down the other end of the meadows that I might check out. Packing has come to a halt while I enjoy this great weather during my last day in a place I have come to call home. I look forward to tomorrow when I can go to my real home and see my family and be back in beautiful NH.¬†

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Last night out at the pubs. Simon, Me and Alan.

And The Packing Commences

gness — Fri, 30 May 2008 11:11:13 +0000

I woke up this morning and it hit me hard that in 48 hours I will be sitting in the Edinburgh Airport. Well since I have procrastinated this long I figured I should start going through my stuff and decide what to take home and what to abandon here. As always the big question comes down to…¬†souvenir¬†now… junk in my way in five years? Somehow I feel like it shouldn’t be too hard to fit everything in two suitcases though I know when it comes time to finally start putting stuff in, I will be looking for any free room to fit my life. One thing I will not miss is this dreary weather we have had the past few days. Yesterday was beautiful, warm and sunny all day but the few days before that and today are socked in with rain and mist.¬†

The kitchen has been cleaned out, the¬†vacuum¬†has been running non stop the last hour and a half and even still there seems to be another layer of dirt beneath it all. Who could have thought that a place could get this dirty in only four months! Again, I realize four guys, some of which were not to concerned about hazmat coming in and¬†condemning¬†their rooms, can make quite the black hole in an apartment.¬†

My roommate from Vermont flies out tomorrow morning along with a few of my other friends from upstairs. Tonight is really the last big hurrah as most of us leave Sunday or Monday. Our plan is to spend one last night out on the town hitting our favorite pubs and late tonight saying our goodbyes.¬†

Last Dinner Roast

gness — Wed, 28 May 2008 09:57:02 +0000

Last night we invited the boys from flat one over to partake in our final roast of the semester. We bought a $45 roast ( i.e. one huuuge piece o’ beef), roasted it with potatoes, and carrots, caramelized some more carrots, steamed broccoli and had¬†Yorkshire¬†pudding. It was a great success and a wonderful final blowout for all the guys. As we were all cleaning up it was weird to think that it was our last one. All of them had been so much fun throughout the semester regardless of the gigantic mess that was left to clean up afterwards. They were filled with lots of laughter and joking as well as good male bonding time. My roommate Alan was a good¬†domesticator. He taught us some great cooking tricks that I will have to try when I get home. It has all been fun. Yet another chapter in my stay here in Edinburgh coming to a close.

Finals? Done.

gness — Wed, 28 May 2008 09:50:16 +0000

As of 10:45 BST (5:45 EST) I have officially finished my semester at Napier University. My only final seemed to be quite a success and next on the docket is back to the flat to pack. Four days and counting. It seemed like just yesterday that I was getting off¬†the airplane at the Edinburgh Airport when in reality, I have 96 hours left before I get on a plane headed home. It has been nice over the last week or two, being able to hang with my closest friends here. As I have posted so many times, the good old scottish weather came through. In the past three weeks it has really only rained once. The one day I have to walk across town it poured like hell. The next few days should be on and off rain allowing me to get a few last glimpses of the view out my window. Well, Im off to undertake the daunting task of going through my stuff and sifting through what I actually need to take home with me.¬†

One Week From Today

gness — Sun, 25 May 2008 14:52:48 +0000

In a mere seven days, my four months spent in Edinburgh Scotland and around europe will officially come to an end. A few of my friends have asked me what I want to do with my last week here and the simple reply was, to¬†reminisce about all the good times and to make¬†permanent¬†the memories I have had here. In the next seven days, I will hit my last few pubs, take one last stroll around the different campuses, walk through downtown one last time and say goodbye to everyone from the owner of my favorite bakery, to the barmaids at the golf tavern, my flat-mates and to all of the great people I have made friends with. Right about this time in a week, I will already be sitting in a plane somewhere over the atlantic, thinking about the wonderful moments I had laughing with friends, going for quiet walks around town at sunset, climbing Arthur’s Seat, playing golf in the meadows park, playing pick up soccer games, the pub crawls, sunday night roasts, traveling with friends, ¬†visiting the jazz clubs and never missing a moment. This trip was a growing up time for me. So many people said before I left, that going abroad changes you and you don’t always realize it. Well, in all my trials and errors, I can tell that it has helped me move on to that next step into maturing. Learning to deal with things as they come and working through problems you could never have foreseen, working through language¬†barriers, living with people from all over the world, moving on from failed friendships, understanding that others are going through their own growing up experiences and helping them through it and so many situations I can’t even put into words. At the end of all of this, I know I have definitely changed for the better and gotten to know myself in both weaknesses and strengths. The great test will be when I am able to put these changes into action when Im back in familiar surroundings. Already Im starting to clean out my room and pack a few things here and there in preparation for my departure. For weeks I told myself that leaving here would be easy. I think I was trying to convince myself of that to make it easier. Im looking forward to home but I sure will miss the great memories I have made here in Scotland.

Bye Bye BBQ

gness — Sat, 24 May 2008 17:52:38 +0000

This afternoon a few of the girls from the flat upstairs threw a “bye bye bbq” as a last bash before everyone starts departing. This is really our last weekend since most people start leaving the beginning of this week. Finals are winding down and people are saying their goodbyes as we are all trying to live up our last week here in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is very bitter sweet for a lot of us. Many are starting their last few weeks of travel around europe while some of us get on a plane headed for the states. The entire trip has been great but it has really been in these last few weeks that I have had the most fun with friends. We have had the chance to do stuff while the weather is nice and with classes over, we, for the most part, get to live our week out carefree. My ¬†time here has been very surreal. When else in your life do you save your money up for years and then in four months spend it traveling and living the easy life in a foreign country? Its as if reality has been suspended since Jan 25 and now that it is coming to an end, the reality of going to work every day and trying to replenish those empty bank accounts kicks back in. The bbq was a success and around thirty people showed up. It was a BYOM&B (bring your own meat and beer) party. You bring it, we cook it. We had music playing, coals smoking and people chatting it up. What a great way to celebrate a fun and successful semester during one of the best times of my life.¬†

3:45 AM – Sunrise Hike

gness — Sat, 24 May 2008 13:33:05 +0000

This morning a bunch of my friends and I decided to hike the local mountain, Arthur’s Seat, and watch the sunrise over the city. 3:15 my alarm went off. Talk about a short night. We all met outside our flat at 3:45 and headed off. Surprisingly it wasn’t too cold this morning so the walk there and the hike up were very pleasant and warm. We got to the top just in time to see the sun pass between the ocean and the clouds just for about fifteen minutes we got a great glow of orange across the city, reflecting off every surface. Soon the sun went up into the clouds and¬†disappeared. We hung up at the top and popped open a bottle of champagne and celebrated with mimosas. Soon after the group headed back down the opposite side we headed over to a ruin nearby. We stopped and took a few pics there and then went downtown. It was a satisfying feeling to see all the people just getting up for work and to think we had already climbed a mountain that day! Needless to say, the minute I got back into my flat, I crashed until about 1:00 PM but hey… it was an amazing morning!¬†

New Picture Album – Sunrise Hike¬†¬†(May 24)

Group shot at 5:00 AM on the top of Arthur’s Seat.

A Man’s Barbeque

gness — Wed, 21 May 2008 13:20:28 +0000

For my buddy’s birthday we decided to throw a little barbeque. The local grocery store had one time use disposable grills, three for ¬£5 ($10). About six of us stocked up on hamburgers, sausage, steak tips and bacon. Basically anything you could grill we did it. Just so we could tell our mothers we did so, we even grilled some veggies. It was great. We brought a few pints out with us and huddled around the grill because it was a mere 45 degrees out. We got those coals nice and hot and just piled as much meat as we could on these three little grills. It was great to just hang out laughing our heads off about nothing and best of all doing something we hadn’t done before. It was such a success we have decided to go buy six more grills and throw a big party in the park across the street from our flat. It was so nice to have grilled food again it made me quite excited to get home and grill most every night!¬†

Pub Golf ?? What’s That?

gness — Mon, 19 May 2008 14:55:36 +0000

Who but the Scots would melt golf and drinking into one event! Pub golf is, in its simplest form, a pub crawl. Two of my friends organized it and set up the 9 holes across town. Each hole is a different pub/club ranging from pubs including The Links and The Ye Old Golf Tavern (Im not making these names up) and a few clubs thrown in there as well. The most important aspect of this was of course showing up in golf attire. Picture twenty kids running around town dressed in polos,¬†scaly¬†caps, and even some of us losers wore golf gloves. Check out the picture below. It gives a good showing of what we looked like. My friends at home were not kidding when they told me that Edinburgh had a crazy night life. Our¬†tee-time¬†was 7:30 starting at The Links pub. We spent 30 minutes at each place. Needless to say it got crazier as the night went on. I unfortunately had to bow early for a class the next morning. This whole event took place a bout a week ago but pictures started to circulate around the flat and it reminded me to share the story. We actually even got kicked out of one place because they told us that “we dont allow pub golfers in our pub”… yes they have a rule that if you are dressed in golf attire and in a big group they wont let you in! I guess some of these “golf rounds” getting pretty crazy!¬†

Jen and I in front of the Ye Old Golf Tavern.¬†