“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.”

the above quote was passed along to me a few days ago by Mrs. Dill-Robinson (affectionately known as DR), who happens to  be my high school AP English teacher and one of my very favorite teachers. i'm not entirely sure who said the quote, but i love it and think it will be useful for me to try and begin every day with these words in mind. thank you, DR!

as i write this, claire and i are sitting huddled at my desk, both on our laptops. unfortunately, the wifi is still not up and running on our laptops so we are forced to use the old-fashioned ethernet cords. but no complaining! we're much happier viewing the internet on our large laptop screens than we were on our tiny iphones!

the weather today is what i'm assuming to be typical Scottish; rainy, cloudy, and all-around dreary. since we woke up fairly late and missed both of the meals served in our cafeteria today, we've decided to not venture out until it's time to find dinner. that time is almost here, so i will keep this post short and sweet.

yesterday, with the other JSA friends we made (sidenote: for the longest time, people kept referring to us as "JSA's" and we had no idea what the acronym stood for, but now we know it stands for Junior Study Abroad), we went to a traditional Scottish dance called a Celidh (pronounced "keely" or "kaylee," once again...not entirely sure). although we were assured from other students and faculty of the study abroad department that the dance would  be tons of fun, not even the promise of a Scottish band, intense sweating, and a packed dance floor was incentive enough for me to go. but then, with the help of my friends, i figured that i would never get the chance again and i might as well fully immerse myself in this last bit of orientation. it also helps that claire and i have allowed ourselves this one month to feel totally embarrassed without shame. 

we met our friends in the Union and talked over drinks before we eventually struck up the nerve to go into the dance hall. while my gin and tonic was indeed delicious, it did not give me enough courage to immediately fling myself into the center of the scarcely populated dance floor and kick my legs up per the instructions of the older Scottish gentlemen in the band. after observing the first dance, our little group eventually moved onto the floor and learned the steps for the next dance. with claire as my lady (i bravely took up the role of gentleman) we had a successful few dances, if a little rambunctious and off kilter! (dadum cha!) i will say that i am very glad to have gone, if even just for the memories of laughing with claire at the absurdity of everything, twirling her violently and bumping into other couples. before i forget, my absolute favorite part of the night was being approached by a Scottish fellow and being mumbled to. we think he was asking us if we wanted to dance, and i guess our blank stares weren't translating that we didn't know what he was saying. what we did hear was him scoffing "Americans" at us as he walked away and shook his head, apparently having given up trying to win us over. now, i'm not the most patriotic individual, but nothing calls up my love for the red, white, and blue quite like someone else insulting it. if you are reading, sir, i would just like you to know that i have a few names for you, none of which are nationalistic in the least. 

naturally, i was craving some sort of greasy snack after all of that exercise, so we made our way to Whey Pat Tavern. (that is, after stopping at The Keys Bar, which consisted of an older crowd, a dartboard, and no friendliness whatsoever. so we awkwardly left after 5 minutes of sitting and staring at each other). Whey Pat is famous for their nachos, so i ordered a plate of that and was very, very satisfied. it was sad to have them without the chili (i was informed that they stop making it a certain time at night) but i'll certainly go back for more! 

now, claire and i are getting ready to head out for dinner, aka our first meal of the day. we should probably try and do better to wake up on time and make it to our 30-minute block meals. the excitement for the day has happened just now. i was  midway writing this post when we heard a "pop" and noticed that the light in our room got significantly darker. claire's flat iron had been plugged in, and apparently blew a circuit! but it's strange because she's used it here before and everything's been fine. so after frantically trying to fan the stench out of our window to not much avail, we've now decided to let our warden know. hopefully everything's alright! update soon!

xo nicole