Classes finished up well, and I headed out of the flat on March 27 with my friend Georgie to see her area of Yorkshire.  I got to know her friends, see her town Pontefract, and spend some time in York and Leeds.  York was definitely the best, with a nice old cathedral (Yorkminster) and lots of windy medieval streets to navigate.  We spent some time looking in the shops, smelling candles, and of course looking at books.  It was a bit of a drizzly day, so after our touring we went into a bar/restaurant and had some very good thai food (that I actually liked — unusual for Thai) and spent a long time over lunch.  At that point it was time to head to Leeds where she needed to buy tickets to Leeds festival this summer.  Due to the cold and rainy nature of the day, I dropped her off in line and took her boyfriend to a book store where we bought books, then headed over to Starbucks to have some tea and avoid getting wet.  While Georgie greatly appreciated this, she then got us to go home once she’d gotten her ticket and we went to the bus station and back to Pontefract.

After a short trip home with some eventful trains, I headed south to Cambridge where I met another friend, Abi.  Her house is beautiful and partially thatched, and her family was very welcoming and fun to get to know.  Her dad is a chemistry professor at Cambridge, so we enjoyed discussing the chemicals in Japanese Hair Straightening.  (which I now forget, go figure)  We took some walks around her village, and went to Aldeburgh for a day.  It’s a small seaside town where we had fish and chips, or chips and pineapple fritters for me, sat on a rocky beach and stuck our feet in the water.  That part didn’t last very long, and my feet ached for quite a while after that. We wandered some around the town and then returned to her house for dinner.  The next day we went to Cambridge where we went punting, or the boat/pole thing in the river that they do in Venice.  We contracted her sister, a rower, to do the punting itself, and enjoyed sitting in the boat on a beautiful day to eat our sandwiches and take pictures of the colleges we passed.  Afterward, we went to Clare College to sit in the gardens and soak in some sun before I got on the train to Paris.

I met Kat at the Gare du Nord in Paris, where she took me back to her foyer to tuck in for the night.  The next day I headed out on a walk toward the center of the city, and spent most of the day walking, sitting in parks, reading, and avoiding strange parisians.  My friend Karen and her boyfriend were also in Paris for the weekend, so we met Kat that evening and got some crepes to eat and sat along the river on Ile de la Cite before going for a late night Louvre session.  As it turns out, all Parisian museums are free for anyone under 26 who lives in the EU.  This made my trip much cheaper.

The next day I did some more walking and sitting, but went up to Montmartre where I had a baguette and brownie, wandered about, and returned to the Salvador Dali museum that we went to several years ago.  It’s still incredibly interesting and I was happy to see it again.  Later I went down to Notre Dame and went inside, though it’s much less impressive than other cathedrals once you get inside.  I think it’s a bit big and empty compared to the more intricate and dark churches found elsewhere.  Still very nice, though.  I then walked over to the Eiffel Tower where I met Kat and Karen for a picnic under the tower before heading up for a nighttime look at the city.  It was incredibly cold and the lines were relatively long, but we all enjoyed the trip.

After a very sound night’s sleep, I got up and went to Musee Rodin, had lunch there, and then went to le Jardin du Luxembourg for a nice sit.  The Musee Rodin was wonderful, with a nice garden with many sculptures, and then many more inside a beautiful old house.  It was a perfect day to walk around and enjoy the art outdoors, and I highly recommend it.  After my travels of the day, I returned to Kat’s where we met with Karen again for a dinner in Le Quartier Latin which was surprisingly cheap and very good.  (set dinners are my friend)  We parted, and went to sleep before an early rise to get to Paris Beauvais airport to go to Dublin.

I got to Dublin around midday and met my roomate Meadhbh in the airport.  We stored my bag in a locker at the bus station, and then walked around the city to see some of the sights.  We stopped in Temple Bar to eat in the restaurant upstairs, where we had a very nice meal with a very incompetent waiter.  Funny how the two go together.  I really enjoyed Dublin, and it reminded me in parts of Philadelphia.  At the end of the day, we got on the bus and went to Belfast where she lives.  The next day we walked around Belfast, seeing the murals and the rest of the city.  I never felt comfortable taking pictures of the murals, so those are missing, but it was very interesting to see them.  We had an Argentinian lunch which was really good, and I had linguine with roasted vegetables and goat cheese, with ice cream and a brownie for dessert.  Perfection.  We took a bit of a walk through the botanic gardens, and then went home for the night.

The next day we went to Derry where we visited our friend Conor.  Again, we walked around, this time on the walls, saw the murals, had some noodles for lunch, and walked along the river for  a ways.  Finally we’d seen all of Derry about three times, so we caught the bus back to Belfast.  We took a quiet day after that to slow down a bit, and then we took a walk into Belfast through a different route than before so that we saw more.  We stopped at Clement’s, a coffee shop, for lunch where I had a panini and coffee, and then walked another ways to get dessert, a berry cheesecake for me.   Then we realized that there was a volcano spewing ash and travel might be difficult.  They cancelled my flight (Ryanair), let me reschedule, but for a flight that they claimed wasn’t going, so once her flight was also cancelled we booked a ferry just in the nick of time to get us back to Glasgow on Saturday.  It worked — no idea how  – with a lot of luck, and so we returned two days ago and have been settling back in and trying to get some work done.  All in all, a very good Easter Break.  Hope to do some more traveling before I leave, but we’ll have to see what this volcano thinks of next.

Yesterday was Pancake Tuesday, the UK version of Mardis Gras, when everyone tries to use up the sweets in the house before Lent begins.  We celebrated, of course, by making pancakes.  There were both UK-style and US-style pancakes, and we had maple syrup, bananas, nutella, lemon and sugar, and bacon.

Georgie’s mom is here for a few days so I spent a fair amount of time with them in town yesterday and had a very nice lunch.  It’s enjoyable having a parent around for a little while.  At the end of January we went to see Finlay’s band play at Celtic Connections, and had a great time.  Georgie was happy to find out that she enjoyed the music.  It would’ve been slightly less enjoyable if she hadn’t.

We only have a little over a month left of school this year, and then a long stretch of Easter break and then some more time before exams at the end of May.  It’s going fast!

Tonight I go to see another concert for which I got a free ticket through Arcadia. We’ll see how that one goes.

Last weekend Bobby McFerrin was very good as usual, and the crowd really enjoyed him. Now, however, I’m doing the Saturday laundry-and-book routine, trying to be ready for class on Monday. (It’s Jane Eyre.) The days are lengthening a bit which I welcome, but I’m rather ready for still more sunlight.

I’m headed out now to hear Bobby McFerrin, part of the Celtic Connections festival.

Last night the flat made a trip over to the University Chapel for the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols, at which Meadhbh was singing with the University choir.  We (and the choir, sometimes alternating and sometimes together) sang:

The Advent Prose

O Come, O Come Emmanuel

O Lorde, the Maker of al thing

See amid the winter snow

In dulci jubilo

Spring in Winter

O Little Town of Bethlehem

Magnificat

Good King Wenceslas

Bethlehem Down

Le Spi

Hark! the Herald angels sing

Lux Aurumque

What Cheer

O Come All Ye Faithful

Before and after the service there was a fair amount of organ music, including

In Dulci Jubilo (Bach)

Dieu Parmi Nous (Olivier Messiaen)

Praeludium in G Minor (Dieterich Buxtehude)

La Nativite (Jean Langlais)

Les Anges (Olivier Messiaen)

Vom Himmel Hoch (Garth Edmundson)

Nativite (Marcel Dupre)

Vom Himmel Hoch da komm’ich her (Bach)

Prelude on God Rest you merry gentlemen (Rutter)

Overall, lots and lots of music, and it really put us all in the Christmas spirit.  The chapel is a beautiful building, built in the twenties to remember the first world war, and a Christmas tree sat in the corner.  We came back to the flat and ordered Indian food which was a perfect close to the evening.

Today I’ve spent most of the day studying for my calculus exam tomorrow, which I hope will go well.  The studying seems to be working, and I’m remembering the equations that will be most helpful.  Fingers crossed.  After tomorrow’s exam I’ll be studying for my Astronomy exam on Friday, which should be significantly easier and more fun studying.  All will be finished at 6 pm on Friday, and I can’t wait to sit back and read a good book for a few days until the family arrives.

Now I find myself in finals week (or two), so studying mixes with procrastination in the kitchen, and everyone’s a bit more stressed than they’d like to be.  I’m looking forward to finishing on the 18th, and having a nice vacation with lots of pleasure reading.  We just finished a marathon singalong session (starting with sound of music and meandering through to rocky horror and a bit of flashdance) Overall, a lot of fun, but my vocal chords are rather tired now.

Last weekend, I went with Arcadia to the borders, namely, Rosslyn Chapel, Melrose Abbey, and Traquair House.  Rosslyn was wonderful to see, with incredibly complex carving throughout, and a piece of music in architectural code.  There’s also carvings of North American corn, which is most puzzling because there supposedly hadn’t been any contact with America at the time it was built.  They’re currently renovating the roof, ceiling, and upper windows, so there was scaffolding all around the outside (and inside) of the building.  It meant I couldn’t see a fair bit of the building, but they’ve set it up so that visitors can climb the scaffolding and get a close look at some of the carvings higher up on the building.  There’s also a great view from that height.

Next we went to Melrose Abbey, and the rain was pouring by that point.  We had some really nice audio guides for the visit, so I learned lots about the Cistercian monks.  I remembered it surprisingly well from the last time we visited Melrose, and I got to see the burial place of the heart of Robert the Bruce.

For the last part of the day, we traveled to Traquair House, which is the oldest continuously occupied house in Scotland.  It was built in the 1400s, and is actually the site of part of Waverley, which I read earlier in the semester.  Some of the modernisations in the house are servants bells, Georgian interior, and a chapel over the brewery.  It’s also in the area of James Hogg, so it was a literary time.  :-)

Part 2:  Piping

Last week I went to a piping performance at the national centre for piping (where I go for lessons) to hear the degree students give an informal performance to prepare for their graded performance.  It was lots of fun, and there was a variety of piobairechds and march/strathspey/reels.  Conor, Marie, and Paul came with me, so it was a good festive evening.

Part 3:  Trip to Manchester

On Thursday I headed down to Manchester for the Global Leaders conference that was put on by Arcadia, and spent an uneventful night in a hostel. The next morning we met at the University of Manchester and started the sessions on personal leadership style, intercultural communication, and entrepreneurship. I didn’t find the sessions particularly helpful, though the first was well done if not enlightening, and the second was said well.  For the last session, I was amazed that somebody could spend a lifetime wondering about entrepreneurship, but I think that my lack of interest in business is probably responsible for my inattention.

On Friday night, we stayed in the Britannia Hotel in Manchester, which was lovely and warm.  I walked around the Chirstmas markets for a little while but it was very cold and very crowded, so I didn’t linger too long.  The next morning we went on a walking tour of Manchester with a guide, and that was definitely the highlight of the trip.  I particularly liked the Northern Quarter which is filled with music and arts and generally feels fun.  We also stopped by the Manchester Cathedral, an Anglican church, which has intricate wood work throughout.  The stained glass is modern, as it was blown out when the building was hit in WWII, and it provided a nice contrast between 15th century architecture and late 20th century art.

When I returned to Glasgow yesterday afternoon, we got to work on a Thanksgiving for the entire flat.

Part 4:  Thanksgiving

Upon arriving at the flat, we worked hard to wash, peel, and chop potatoes, carrots, and parsnips.  I made Aunt Sister’s Angel Biscuits (thanks to mom for the recipe), which were a big hit, as well as rice, peas, brussel sprouts, and veggie gravy.  Marie cooked a beautiful turkey, made stuffing, and several pumpkin pies.  Georgie got in on the fun and made baked alaska.  After the first part of the meal, I read the thanksgiving story so that everyone would know what we were celebrating, and then we had dessert.  The evening continued into the wee hours and was generally enjoyed by all.  Abi’s sister was visiting from Durham and joined us for the festivities, while dealing with a painful and troublesome eye infection.  All in all, a good night.

In other news, piping continues to progress, though slowly, and I’ve been reading lots of good books (and got lots of good books for the birthday ) On Saturday I’ll head to the borders for a look around Melrose Abbey, Traquair House, and Rosslyn Chapel. I hope it won’t be too rainy, but I won’t hold my breath on that one.

I headed far south in London to stay with Enrique and Audrey of QM2 fame.  They have a very nice little flat which is still being painted, and we had a great chilli and cornbread for dinner.  Lots of wii was played, and I had a comfortable air mattress in the living room.

Early the next morning, I caught the tube up to Queensway and hopped on the Arcadia bus to Bath. It’s a fairly long ride, but I alternated between reading “The Things They Carried,” napping, and looking out the window. I enjoyed the company of two girls who are part of Arcadia in London, and I hope that we’ll keep in some contact in the future.  When we arrived in Bath, we went immediately to the Jane Austen Centre where we had a talk about Austen and Bath, and then went through the exhibition they’ve set up about Austen’s novels and times.  It was mostly dresses on mannequins and references to novels, but actually pretty enjoyable.

I then went and had a nice lunch at a pub with the girls I made friends with on the bus, and we had a great time chatting and getting to know each other.  We headed back to the centre in time for a walking tour of bath, also Jane Austen themed, and saw lots of architecture and made a stop by the Upper Assembly Rooms.  That’s where a lot of events took place such as balls, teas, theatre, and dinners, both in Austen’s novels and in Bath society in general. There were some serious chandeliers there.

After the tour, we had to get back on the bus and went for tea at an incredible tea room in Bradford-on-Avon, so conversation continued over a pot of tea, scones, meringues, and sandwiches.  We sat at a little table next to the fire, and it was a very cozy hour.  Back to London we went, and I got back on the tube to Enrique and Audrey’s, where we watched CSI, had some more chili and got a good night’s sleep.  Sunday brought another easy train journey and got back to the flat late afternoon.  Overall, a very successful weekend, though I wished that we had taken a stop by the baths in Bath.  I suppose it just means that I’ll have to go back some time!

Tonight, Bonfire Night, brought an evening of Yorkshire traditions to the flat, as Georgie cooked an amazing meal.  She made steak pie, mash, honey carrot and leek soup, and parkin (a wonderful yorkshire cake).  Then we sat out on the scaffolding (carefully) and watched fireworks from all across the city. They continued until about 2 am, but we went inside long before then.  Being on top of  a hill helped a great deal, and it was very festive.

Tomorrow I head to London on the train so as to have a day trip on Saturday to Bath.  I’ll be staying with Audrey and Enrique, a couple that Dad and I met on the boat who are very nice and have agreed to lend me some couch.  I’ll have an update when I get back from that!