Not the golfers, you fool! The gophers!"

It's amazing how fast time flies by.  This Saturday I will have been in Edinburgh for 2 months which means that I am almost halfway through my time here.  I can't believe how quickly it all has gone by, and I'm sure the next two months will be even faster.

This week was mostly spent working and studying.  I had a paper due Friday which made my weekday evenings pretty stressful, but now that it's done I've officially finished class for my entire Junior year.  Crazy huh?? I still have my research project left to do, but considering that's not due until May 13th I think its pretty easy to understand my excitement about my new freedom.
Since I had the paper I spent Tuesday and Wednesday night in the library trying to knock it out of the way as soon as possible.  Thursday I got to work early because my MSP, as chair of the cross-party committee on visual impairment, was hosting a bunch of visually impaired people for a luncheon and discussion.  It was my job to get all of these guests through security, reception and to the committee room in time for the meeting.  This may not sound that difficult but throw in a couple seeing eye-dogs, some frustrated reception workers and a lot of canes and the whole thing is much more challenging.  I felt pretty legit though because they were all looking to me for instruction and direction and I knew what I was doing so I was really able to help them.  Plus there was free food at the luncheon ;)

Celebrating Marchant's 21st!

Thursday night was my friend Marchant's 21st birthday and since I was able to finish my paper early I went over to Marchant's for the evening's festivities.  It was really fun to just hang out with my friends and forget about work and school and everything. Plus there was cake.  We all went to a local club later that night where I received my first ever compliment on my singing voice.  I'm not entirely sure of the judgment of the person complimenting me, but hey I'll take it.

Friday I spent most of my day sitting around my room being lazy, but that night a friend and me went to a popular bar in New Town.  I havent spent much time in New Town so it was really fun to see a different part of the city.  Everything in New Town is just much hipper and newer than Old Town (shocking right?) and the whole scene had a great young vibe.  I'll definitely have to get back there sometime soon.  I also got a lovely walking tour of New Town where I saw the homes of Robert Louis Stevenson, Alex Salmond (the First Minister of Scotland) and Alexander Graham Bell.  Overall a very fun night :)

The 18th hole of the Old Course

Saturday I woke up early to go to St. Andrew's with Rachel and Lindsey, and after a slight struggle we managed to find our way onto the correct bus.  For those of you who dont know St. Andrews is home to the world's first golf course and the University of St. Andrews which is one of the most prestigious universities in the UK.  It is also where Prince William went to school and met Kate Middleton, so that was a huge plus for me :)  I wasn't sure if I would like the city, but I ended up LOVING it.  It was a beautiful, quaint little town right on the water perfect for a day of sightseeing. 

 Our first stop was the golf course. It's called the Old Course (original I know) and is right on the water and very beautiful.  There is also this old men's club right on the course that is Scotland's only remaining "all men's clubhouse."  Stupid and misogynistic if you ask me, but whatever, Lindsey, Rachel, and I accidentally walked in so I guess we made our statement.  The rest of the day we explored the town and the city which was really great.  The town has a very collegiate vibe and reminded me of Cambridge or another east coast college town.  We looked at a lot of ruins and school buildings which were all very beautiful, but the highlight was definitely when we stumbled upon this tiny used book store which had all these amazing Scottish novels from so far back.  I ended up buying a Scottish nursery tale book from 1889 as a souvenir.  Unfortunately after the book store we had to pretty much run back to the bus station to catch our bus back to Edinburgh so we didnt get to see anything else, but all in all a very good day.  The only negative I can say about St. Andrew's was that we were able to see pretty much the whole town in a day so I can definitely see it getting a little boring if I was going to school there.

Me on the beach in St. Andrew's and various buildings in town.

Today I woke up very late thanks to my miraculous blackout curtains (since the sun doesnt set until midnight in the summer every dorm room has these really intense dark curtains that block out all sunlight), but managed to drag myself out of bed to go shopping. I was just looking for a couple gifts and some necessities, but I ended up on a massive search for the perfect Scottish flask.  It was challenging, but I think I've finally found the one I want.  With any luck I'll be able to buy it tomorrow and finally have gotten the one thing I wanted from Scotland.

This week's going to be mostly about preparing for Copenhagen on Friday.  I could not be more excited!!! I can't wait to see all my friends from home and catch up with everyone.  I may not be able to update again before I leave but if I dont expect some great stories when I get back from Copenhagen!!!