Great Scot!

dec 18, 2011. roughly 8 am in the morning. my last full,...

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 08:56:21 -0500

dec 18, 2011. roughly 8 am in the morning.

my last full, actual, day in aberdeen. the first actual snow in aberdeen, too.

my flight leaves tomorrow (monday) at 11 am.

i know i intended to update this blog every day, and i know i didn’t. oh well, really.

it’s been an experience.

A very candid entry.

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 14:27:00 -0500

There are things you do in life that surprise you, because they are things that you never thought you could do. For example, I graduated college in 2008. I spent a year working a job that paid me below minimum wage, and I never found a better job, because the recession had hit America at the time. Needless to say, I probably could have tried better, but would it have helped? Who knows. Anyway, after a year, I knew I had two options.

1] Keep looking for a job while working that job that didn’t even pay me minimum wage.
2] Go back to school.

I decided to pick option #2, hoping that the economy would be better by the time I got out of school.

The next step was to decide what my new major should be. My first one was in English, though I had been aiming for Theatre. I could go back for theatre, but no. That was just as pointless as english at the time. What did I want to do with my life? I knew I wanted to go overseas, so I asked myself, “What major can get me overseas?” Two main choices came up: politics and business - both were options that I loathed. “I did English for a reason! I’m not smart enough! I can’t do this stuff! It doesn’t even interest me!” Still, I applied to the school I had graduated from and picked business. “I’m giving myself one semester to see if I like it.”

I went back to school, and I spent my first semester taking these business classes, and let me tell you. I sucked. I had been out of school for a year, and the thought process between English and Business is so different. I can tell you that I didn’t want to do it anymore. So I started to ask my former professors if they would write me recommendations to Grad School. Do you want to know something? Not a single one of them would. All of them told me that I wasn’t good enough, that I hadn’t performed well enough. These were from teachers from classes I had made passing grades in. Decent B-grades. While I wasn’t an A-student, I didn’t fail. I didn’t get piss poor grades. Still, they wouldn’t recommend me, so Grad School was no longer an option. So I was faced with two more options: drop out of school or keep going with the business degree.

I decided to keep going with my business degree, and I quite literally busted my ass the next semester. I took Managerial Accounting, and I went to Supplementary Instruction each week (which is like tutoring), and I studied my ass off 24/7. I had already been in college once, and I was already in debt, and if I was going to stay in school and put myself in even more debt, I was going to be serious about it and reach for those good grades. I was going to bust my ass and not screw around, because I couldn’t afford it.

I will never forget the moment I saw that I had made an A in Managerial Accounting. It was the one class I had dreaded the most. I hate math. I’m not good at math (or so I thought). I previous semester had sucked, and I didn’t think I could do it. But I had gotten an A in one class that most people don’t get an A in. I screamed in shock. I cried. I shook, and I stared at my grade in disbelief. How is it that the girl who didn’t think she could do anything business related get an A in such a tough class? The other grades I made that semester were A, B, B, B. It was a very good semester. I worked hard, and I proved to myself that I could do it.

The next semester, which was the most recent semester, last semester, I continued to work hard, and you know what? I made an A in every single damn class that I took. Well, I made a B in my PoliSci class, but honestly, I know exactly why, and I know that if I had done just a grade better on my first essay, which I very well could have done, I would have made an A in that class as well. But the point is… I became a straight A student. In business. In something, a year prior, I didn’t think I could do. That I had almost dropped out of.

I proved myself wrong.

I proved to myself that I can do it. That I am smarter than I thought I was, and that I do have the ability to excel.

It really is one of the most worthwhile and fulfilling feelings in the world, and every single time I think about it, I tear up.

Being in Scotland makes me feel like I’m going through another period of learning. And now I suppose I get back to the point of this blog, which is about me being in Scotland.

As I said before, my one goal was to get out of the United States with my new major. With International Management, I figured it was as good of a chance as any, and the reason I did study abroad was so that people would look at my resume and see that I had the motivation to go abroad. The one thing I rarely tell people is that one of the conversation I had with my study abroad coordinator is that I wanted to move to the UK. Then she told me something I already knew - it’s good to live in a place you want to live as a student so you can experience that, but also know that you’re going home if you don’t think you can handle it.

Before I left, I had a feeling that I would never want to go back to the States. When I’m back home, I watch British TV, I watch Brit films, I listen to music from here, and I eat food from here. I thought of myself as more culturally British than American, and it was always a pain in the ass, because people back home just don’t care about the things I care about, and it was a rather lonely existence. I couldn’t wait to get here and be around like-minded people. How in the world would I ever want to go back to the States when I was going to be in a place that would be more like home to me than my actual home was.

I also found myself teetering on the edge of being anti-American while being American myself. People over here were always so surprised when I didn’t have this uber-patriotic spirit, and that I could point out the flaws within America. I wasn’t the typical America, and I did get a lot of respect for it.

I have one month left of being here, and I can tell you with sincere honesty (as of right now) that I cannot wait to get home. I’ve been homesick for a few weeks now, and if I had a choice between being here right now and being back in America, I would pick America without any real hesitation.

I keep wondering why I want to go home so bad. I think I can pinpoint the reasons, and I know if I were here for a job, these reasons wouldn’t even matter.

1] I really hate where I’m living. I’m a 25 year old girl who has already been in the real world and experienced things living in a freshman village full up 17-19 year olds. These are children who are experiencing being away from home for the first time. They are drunkards, immature, ridiculous, and the list goes on. The guy below me is completely noisy and disrespectful. It’s stressful. I think it’s come to the point where he actually enjoys being reported for noise problems.

2] Everything here is so expensive, even when it’s not that expensive at all. The exchange rate sucks so much that you have to basically look at something that is £1 and say it’s $2 in your head, because it’s basically really close to that.

3] Some people here have me so fed up. There are some people here who like to complain, but they don’t like to do anything about it. If you have a problem, then do something about it. If the noise bothers you, then report the person. If the noisy person is your flatmate, and you hate it, talk to the person. Stop cowering behind other people, expecting them to be the one to complain. I don’t want to be your mother. I don’t want to be the bad guy all the time. It’s not my job. Take initiative. Also, sometimes you have to step outside of your comfort zone. God knows I’ve had to do that. I hate sharing dishes, but I’ve had to deal with that here. You might like to use one certain pot, but when that pot is dirty, and there’s five other pots to chose from, just choose the other pot. They all do the same thing. One frying pan will do that same thing as another frying pan. Don’t get pissed off and throw a fit because your favorite pot or pan is dirty. Use another one. I promise you it’s really not that hard.

I want to go home and get away from this, and every single time I think this, I am shocked. I really thought I’d never want to go home, but now I’m so certain that I want to go.

Being here has made me realize something that I didn’t know about myself - I like America. Yes, there’s still bad aspects about the place, but I can’t wait to get back. But would I want to go back if I had a job? If I wasn’t around these people, and I didn’t have to worry about money, would things be different? Probably. So should I write this place off completely? Probably not, but still. I’m growing, and I’m learning, and I’m coming to realize that I am an American, whatever that means for me, because if I wasn’t American, I wouldn’t miss the country, wouldn’t I?

I have to keep up hope and believe that if the circumstances were different, I wouldn’t want to go back, because the entire point of this second major was for this - to be abroad, to get out of America, and learning that maybe that might be something I don’t want to do after all?

I don’t know what do about that.

Bonfire Night

Fri, 04 Nov 2011 08:19:18 -0400

I haven’t been keeping up with this Tumblr, and I can’t bring myself to care.

One of the wishes I’ve had for the past few years was to be in the UK for Guy Fawkes/Bonfire Night. I never really thought it would happen.

Tomorrow is Guy Fawkes/Bonfire Night.

I am in Scotland.

SO FREAKING EXCITED. TIME TO BLOW STUFF UP.

Dream: Accomplished

Homesick.

Sat, 15 Oct 2011 20:35:50 -0400

I don’t want to write about anything, because everything is negative.

I want to go home.

There have been two things I’ve missed since being in...

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 13:05:36 -0400

There have been two things I’ve missed since being in Aberdeen:
1 - Froot Loops
2- Vanilla Coke

I found out last night that there was a store here in Aberdeen that supplied Lucky Charms. I was curious, so I googled and found the name of the store. When I walked in, the last thing I expected to see were Froot Loops. I’m pretty sure I screamed.

Back home, you can get Froot Loops for around $3. Not that expensive at all. Here, the box cost £7.95, which is $12.248 ($12.25).

There is an entire thought process you go through when you realize you’re paying more 50% more of what you’d pay back home.

1. Have you missed the product? (Yes)
2. Will you eat the product? (Yes)
3. Can you find the product anywhere else? (No)
4. Does it expire soon? (No)

As I was paying for the Froot Loops and questioning my sanity, I said that it was good the store didn’t have Vanilla Coke.

“Oh, we have vanilla coke.”

“Crap.”

£1.50 a can, and I didn’t even think. It was the only other item that I’ve been constantly saying I miss, so I had to have two cans.

Total: £10.95 — $16.87.

BUT I HAVE MY FROOT LOOPS AND VANILLA COKE SO LIFE IS GOOD.

I’ve been bad at updating. I meant to update with a...

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 12:58:35 -0400

I’ve been bad at updating. I meant to update with a picture of every day. It was really my intended goal, but I haven’t.

This one is a bouquet of flowers I was given last night (or more like 1:30 am this morning). There’s a story behind this, but that is for another time. Until then, all I’ll say is that he is from Northern Ireland, and his accent is amazing.

Aberdeen Student Radio

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 09:57:39 -0400

Last night was the interest meeting for (University of) Aberdeen Student Radio. Seeing as how I did student radio back home, I made sure my butt was there so I could get in on the action.

Observations:
“We’re going to have a blanket ban on swearing this year.” - Made me giggle inside my head, since you’ve never been able to curse on air back home. We even have silence buttons in case we do curse.

“We’re hoping to get more involved with each other this year.” - Back home, the radio station is like your second family. I had been wondering if it was like that here. I’m still not sure, but I guess we’ll find out.

—

More observations:
While at the free show they put on, I saw someone from behind who I swore was a guy from the radio station back home. Minutes later, I saw someone else who looked like another radio station guy back home. Of course both of them turned around, and I saw it wasn’t the people back home. It was still trippy, though.

Not only that, the marketing director at ASR sort of reminds me of the promo director back home.

As I said on Facebook - “It just goes to show… radio station people are cut from the same mould no matter what country you’re in.”

—

Finally, I signed up to be a DJ and on the events team. When asked what sort of show I’d do, I said “Scandinavian music.” Cue disbelief and impressiveness.

I’m going to make an hour long playlist before I email the Head DJ with my show idea. Lets hope it’s good (maybe I’ll post it here!).

Yesterday was an adventure. Two of my roomies (the one from the...

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 13:16:00 -0400

Yesterday was an adventure. Two of my roomies (the one from the Netherlands and the one from Lithuania), another Lithuanian, and a native Scot and I went to the River Don and walked down to the North Sea.

Some pictures from the adventure taken by the Dutch one. There is also an unfortunate story about these photos, but I still like them.

Sidenote: nothing is going on between the guy and I. I realize what it looks like.

My first class was today. I was supposed to have two, but the...

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 13:10:03 -0400

My first class was today. I was supposed to have two, but the business school decided there would be no classes today (oh that’s too bad).

Anyway, I walk into the classroom and it’s like a mini-library of old books turned into a classroom. It smells like old books.

The class is Arthur in Medieval Welsh and Celtic Literature. It’s the class I don’t need. Here’s the story about that: I have enough credit hours for my home university, but not for Aberdeen, so they had me sign up for some filler course, and since my previous degree was English Lit, and I like Arthur, I put down this course.

AT LEAST HALF (OR MORE) OF THE CLASS IS FROM AMERICA. WHY?!

Anyway, this picture was taken in that classroom. I had gotten a notebook with the UoA name on it in the prominent color of my home Uni in the States. Yes, I’m ridiculous.

NSFW. Right, so… for some reason, this is the song a...

Mon, 26 Sep 2011 13:06:00 -0400

NSFW.

Right, so… for some reason, this is the song a bunch of people I know here would go around and sing. Because of that, I’ve had it stuck in my head for over a week. I think I’m going crazy, but this is my official song of doing study abroad in Aberdeen so far.

Esslemont… I shake my head at you.

Teenagers!

Sat, 24 Sep 2011 20:40:53 -0400

The downside of being a study abroad student living in Hillhead Halls? EVERYONE IS A FREAKING TEENAGER.

I am dying for someone my age. Tumblr, please help me. If you live in Aberdeen, and you’re around 25 years old, or older… please let me know. Lets meet up. I have a bus pass.

PS - Slains Castle Pub is pretty much the most awesome pub I’ve been to in my life.

Haha, oops.

Fri, 23 Sep 2011 15:17:41 -0400

I should have figured that my plans to update every day, especially with a picture, wouldn’t go according to plan.

So, um. What have I done?

Let me just say one thing. When your study abroad advisers warn you that the world thinks americans are sluts, they aren’t kidding. Foreigners think that Americans are sluts. You would not believe how many people have tried to make a move on me because I’m American. I’m pretty sure it has nothing to do with other than the fact I’m America. I’ve been here a week, and (while I can deal with the jokes and stereotypes), it’s getting really old.

Most of the time the people here are joking about these American thing, but constantly hearing them for a week is getting a little tiring. There’s a point where it just stops being funny to me - a point where I want to shake someone and tell them to shut up and get over it, because I’ve proven over and over that I don’t fit the American stereotype. LOL HAHA SO FUNNY, ok you can stop now.

So… um. I love my flatmates. Really, I do, which is astounding for me to say. In this flat you have six girls - one american (me), one dutch, one slovakian, one danish, one lithuanian, and one polish. We hang out. We talk. We laugh. It’s amazing. I’m pretty sure the reason I get along with them so well is because they aren’t American. I love foreigners. It’s why I’m doing what I’m doing - international management.

I’ve been hanging out with a lot of people lately. People keep saying I’m amazing for setting up a Facebook group for Esslemont months ago, because we all knew each other before coming here. We’re already friends, and it’s getting better actually being in person.

I miss vanilla coke.

Um. I saw The Inbetweeners movie last night for free. I swear UK cinema screens are bigger than US screens, which spurred a comment from a friend here - “I can’t believe we make something bigger than the US.” A lot of people Facebook-liked it.

I’ve really not cooked anything except today when I made Hamburger Helper (haha AMERICAN). Most of the time people have caught me while I was outside or on Facebook and asked me if I wanted to eat with them, so I’ve been fed, and it’s been good. I’m liking this.

Lion King 3D, for free, is tonight. I’m going to that with a bunch of people.

I’ve not been to the coast yet, and it’s like… right there. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. After four months of not being around people back home, I think I’m simply just content to going to someone’s flat and hanging out with them. I don’t feel the need to go out. Just being around people is enough.

I really love Scotland.

The past two days.

Sun, 18 Sep 2011 04:34:32 -0400

Sept 16 -
Woke up after not sleeping much. Walked from the hotel (on Chapel St) all the way down Union Street to the area where Asda/Poundsomething/Aldi/Cardona are. That’s a long walk, ok. My feet had been killing me already, and it got worse then. Surfed online. Stayed in hotel. Was tired. Then it rained a lot. Ate chips and curry for the first time.

————————————

Sept 17 -
MOVE IN DAY AT HILLHEAD. Oh, hey. Was given a ride here by someone very lovely I met on Facebook. While getting room key, heard my name and turned around it’s in my flatmate. Hours of bonding time. Thanks to Facebook, I already knew a lot of people living in this set of buildings, so I was going around finally seeing these people for the first time face to face. Then a lot of us would gang up (really at least 10 of us) and go find someone else from Facebook and meet them. We got plenty of remarks about “how do you guys already know each other so well?!” from people. “Oh, Facebook.”

The bed pretty much sucks. It’s the worst bed I’ve ever slept on, and I’m convinced the radiator in my room doesn’t work. I plugged in my alarm clock, and less than a minute later, it sizzles and dies. Scotland plugs can go screw themselves right now. I need to find hangers, so I’m not living out of my suitcase, especially since there really isn’t room for suitcases in this flat.

I really don’t know what to say. I like the people. The end? More later, I’m exhausted.

————————————

Foods I’ve eaten:
- chips and curry
- scotch pie
- chicken curry pie

8.20 am - 16.09.2011 First morning in Aberdeen. Cold, overcast...

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 04:03:21 -0400

8.20 am - 16.09.2011

First morning in Aberdeen. Cold, overcast and supposed to rain. Welcome to Scotland, bahaha.

Finally in Aberdeen. Arrived yesterday, but was too jetlagged to...

Fri, 16 Sep 2011 04:01:58 -0400

Finally in Aberdeen. Arrived yesterday, but was too jetlagged to care about updating Tumblr. I was awake for over 24 hours, and I was on a plane/in an airport for most of it.

Listened to Owen Pallett (from Canada) while flying over Canada and Sigur Ros (from Iceland) while flying under Iceland.

Arrived in Amsterdam in time for the sunrise, and saw beer glasses and shot glasses with weed leaves printed on them, but no actually weed in sight to buy. Everything was so expensive in that airport, I sucked it up and had McDonalds, but it was still almost $20 for something that would have cost $5 back home.

So my first picture of today is actually from yesterday, and it’s from the Amsterdam airport McDonalds cup. I took a picture of one of the weed glasses, but it’s on my American phone, and I don’t know if I can get that on my laptop until I get back home in December.

Today!

Wed, 14 Sep 2011 08:33:55 -0400

TODAY IS THE DAY I LEAVE FOR SCOTLAND. Total journey time: just under 18 hours. 11 on planes, and the rest in airports. SEE YOU IN SCOTLAND.

visa

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 17:58:34 -0400

i keep forgetting to mention that a received my tier 4 student visa the other week.

study abroad

Sat, 16 Jul 2011 13:22:01 -0400

i am studying abroad. the next person who asks me what course i am taking gets hurt. i am taking study abroad. for 3.5 months. september to december. the end.

haychelsea: It’s $352. it was $432 for me, if memory serves....

Sat, 09 Jul 2011 18:09:11 -0400

haychelsea:

It’s $352.

it was $432 for me, if memory serves. and that doesn’t include the 3 hour trip to get biometrics nor the postage cost of actually sending everything in.

visa application

Sat, 09 Jul 2011 18:08:11 -0400

i sent off my visa application + materials today. lets hope i get accepted. scared to death. nonstop stress.

i will never recommend study abroad for anyone due to the visa process alone.