Inverness and the Loch Ness Monster

This weekend has been some of the best two days since I have been here in Scotland. This was partly due to the weather which is in the 50s and sunny with some of the bluest skies I have ever seen and partly due to being able to travel for the first time. It's not that I have been in a bad mood since I have arrived in the gray city of Aberdeen, but when the sun is shining and its nice out I am so happy and in such a good mood. Nothing can ruin my day!

On Friday, I had a half day at work and then went on another bus adventure with Ryan. The day consisted of...

while eating it on a...

We then went to Brig O' Don.

Brig O' Don crosses over a river that leads into the North Sea. There was the Sea Trail and the Fun Beach.

On Saturday, we took a day trip to Inverness and Loch Ness. We all met up at 7am (way too early) for our 7:50 am Megabus to Inverness. After four hours on the bus we finally arrived. If you asked the others, they will probably say the bus was horrible because it was too long and they couldn't seep. I, on the other hand, loved the bus. I stayed up looking at all the new scenery. I saw highland cows, sheep, waterfalls, small villages, the greenest grass, and the highlands of Scotland. I was so excited to see something new (kinda like a kid in a candy store). Scotland really does have some really beautiful country side.  Once we arrived, Kristen and I walked around the town. We ate at a little cute dinner that only had eight tables in it and two people working. Our waitor was extremely nice and had the best accent I have ever heard. I am not sure if it was Scottish or Irish but I am sure it was amazing.

The reason we went to Inverness was because of Loch Ness. We took a tour of the lake on a boat that then dropped us off at Urquhart Castle. This was the first "castle" we have been to. It was more or less the castle's ruins but still a castle none the less. I would rather show you our trip rather than talk about it. Videos are a way better representation of Loch Ness while I wouldn't do it justice.

CHEERS!

  

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Change

So tonight I asked Tony and Eric why they decided to study abroad and it got me thinking on the real reason I decided to study abroad. In high school, I thought studying abroad was stupid and I would have never thought that second semester of junior year I would be in Aberdeen, Scotland. But I think that is what is so great about college and figuring out more about yourself. I have only been in Scotland for a little less than a month and I have learned so much about myself. I know this is totally cliche but it is actually the truth. Before I arrived in Scotland, I thought I hated change. But now if I actually look at things, I don't. Rather I really enjoy doing new things and being more adventurous. I always cry when leaving a place but end up loving it when I leave. The crying is more because I am going to miss the people I love and not because I don't want to go. I enjoy exploring places that I have never been before. I love going on the bus in Scotland and just randomly picking a line and not knowing where it will take me. So basically I am enjoying the unknown?? If you know me than you would know that this is extremely unlike me. My whole life I felt like I had to know what was going on and always be on top of things. I had to be in control of the situation. Hmmm.. so maybe I still like being in control but I think it's in a different way. I can't really explain it right now but hopefull one day I will be able to let you all in.

On more of a work topic, I enjoy my internship because it shows me that there is a lot more to do in the oil and gas industry than just being a landman. I want to be a landman right after school but that doesn't mean that is what I want to do the rest of my life. I am relieved to know that the opportunities are endless. It is such a great industry and I love being in it, but I wouldn't enjoy being confined to studying one  geographical area for years and years. Again with the change, I really enjoy it.

Without change, things get boring. Imagine a life where everything is the same every day. How exciting would that be? What would you look forward to? Change is inevitable and neccessary and so many people shouldn't be afraid of it. It's a great thing if you actually take the time to look at it. There is so much in this world that needs to be experienced and you might miss out on something incredible if you are to afraid of something different and let it pass you by.

On a totally different note... A day in the life of Hannah led to a bloody nose on Saturday night. Kristen and I were dancing at a club and Kristen accidently head butted me in the nose. I started gushing blood and ran to the bathroom. It finally stopped and I left the bathroom stall and had blood all over my face. Luckily I washed it off before going back out. I woke up the next morning to an extremely soar nose. Today, I think it was swollen and had a tiny bruise on it. So yes, I stubbed my toe, hit my head, and got a bloody nose all within a few days of each other. Scotland watch out.

Americans should use more public transportation.

Cheers

Only in Scotland would you find American dresses

Me and my flatmates: Greig, Kyle, and Sean

A day in the Life of Hannah

Alright here it is... I had probably one of the most unlucky days yesterday. I will tell you as much as I can, but I can't tell you all. I don't want my whole entire life and all of its details posted on the Internet. So I felt sick all morning and couldn't really concentrate at work. I then had to go to school for a mandatory referencing session where I learned everything I already knew about the Harvard referencing style. The whole business school uses it except the law school. I of course am taking two classes in the law school where they use footnotes and I have no idea how to do that. So that was just a waste of time. I was in the library before the meeting talking to Ewan and almost got kicked out of the library because we were talking to each other. If you really know me you would know I love the library and would never want to get kicked out of one ha. Well I went back to work and had some very unexpected news leading to some awkward moments. (I will leave it there sorry for the nonexistent details). This and another thing probably made my day but those are the two things that you will never know. I finally got home from work and was getting ready to go out for the night. Kristen was suppose to come by my flat before we went out so I was waiting for her to ring my doorbell. When the doorbell rang, I ran to the door and swung it open and while doing that the door stubbed my toe and ripped my big toe nail off. It started bleeding and it hurt soo bad. I finally got to the door and it wasn't Kristen. I got all excited for no reason. That was when I decided to just give up and wear sweatpants and flipflops even though I was already dressed for the night. Finally Kristen arrived and we walked over to Tony's flat to watch Adventure Time. When I got inside I bent down for some reason and when I came back up I hit my head on the stair railing. Needless to say I fell down on the floor and started laughing soo hard because I figured what else could possibly go wrong today. I laughed soo hard that I started crying ha. We left Tony's flat and headed off to the Union and Liquid. I went out for the night in sweatpants, flipflops and a t-shirt. I don't know how I got in to the club because all clubs have a dress code. I guess my American charm did it. I looked extremely out of place compared to the girls in short dresses and heels. OO well that is totally me. This morning I overslept and got ready in five minutes for work.

I also was moping around yesterday about the dang weather again. I know I should have expected bad weather and what not, but I didn't think about how it would ruin all my plans.  On Valentine's Day the sun kind of exploded leaving the atmospheric conditions for yesterday and today perfect for the Northern Lights. I was so excited yesterday that I had the chance to see the Northern Lights that I signed up for AuroraWatch. It is a website that will send you email alerts when there is a good chance of seeing the lights. I researched online for where, when, and what time would be the best and even looked up how to take pictures of the lights. Then I realized it was cloudy and you wouldn't be able to see them even if they were there. Maybe tonight! I will remain optimisticish...

I wish I could have told you the whole story about my life yesterday but I can't. I am sure you would have loved it even more.

Cheers

Figured you wouldn't believe me.

RainRain Go Away

The rain ruined my plans for today. I really wanted to go to Stonehaven/ do anything besides sit in my flat today but mother nature was not on my side. I need to start traveling or I might go crazy. I want to see everything while I am here and not just stay in Aberdeen the whole time. I think next weekend I will plan something and if it decides to rain (which it most likely will) I will say screw you rain and just do it anyways. I will be real upset if the whole semester goes by and I haven't done everything I wanted to do. Planning trips is not my thing but I need to learn to make it my thing.

I just washed my clothes for the first time since I have been here (yes it was a huge load) but I put it on bright colors cycle which is suppose to be a cool cycle. When I went to go get my clothes out of the washing machine they were warm/hot. Meaning it did not wash my clothes on a cold cycle and I hope that it didnt shrink any of my clothes or else I will be one livid girl. I decided to not dry them and instead they are now all hanging clothes rack which i borrowed from my flatmate.

I tried to order books off of Amazon and then saw that it could take 40 or so days for them to be delivered to Aberdeen so I didnt buy them. Then I went to work and told them about it and they told me I need to type amazon.co.uk instead of amazon.com. It is things like that where you don't consider that your living in another country and things here are different than they are at home. Even the learning culture is different over here. In America's academic system, you don't learn much about other countries. However, over here the professors will teach you about America and other countries around the world. I like that a lot better. No wonder people think Americans are ignorant (we are only taught about America and nothing else).

Cheers

America should.. teach more about the entire world and focus less on itself.

Woolmanhill

I guess it is time to let you all in on my living situation over here. I live in a flat with 7 other people. There are four girls and four boys. However, one of the girls is currently not living here because she is a nursing major and is working at some hospital that is not located in Aberdeen. There other girl is name Monica and after living here for almost two weeks, I have only seen her once. She was making dinner in the kitchen the other night but other than that I haven't seen her. The only thing I know about her is that she is from Bulgaria. All of the rest of them are from somewhere in Scotland. So basically I have one other girl roommate and four guys. At night the guys usually multiple by two and my whole living room is full of my flatmates and their friends playing video games. Steph is the girl who is around the most. She is really nice but hangs out with her friends in other flats a lot of the time. The guys are Sean, Kyle, Greg, and Ian. They are typical first year boys that play video games, drink a lot, and are loud often. I enjoy hanging out with them though because they are really welcoming and are always around. My flat is definitely never boring. There are always people here and there is always something going on. Usually the only quiet time is in the morning when everyone is still sleeping. That however is kind of a problem at night when I am trying to sleep. I like sleep and need a lot of it. Most of the time I will turn my iPod on to fall asleep and drown out the noise. My room is right next to the living room where everyone is still up and having a good ol time. I often get woken up around 3 am by boys screaming. Since I have been here, I have been woken up more than four or five times. Once by people breaking dishes on the floor, once by people knocking on my door screaming "Hannah are you up", and just last night by more screaming because someone was sitting in the shower (idk why) and other people turned the shower on him and he got wet. I haven't gotten mad yet until last time. It is just getting pretty old pretty fast. I am trying to be patient but I am sure that I will freak out on them shortly. When the time comes I will let y'all know. I am sure it will be epic.

Last night all the Americans and some of our Scottish friends went out to dinner for Kristen's 21st birthday! We went to a bar called Revolutions. My favorite part of the night was when I asked the waiter if they did anything special for people's birthdays and he said he would see what he could do. He soon came out with ten free "birthday cake" shots. The only reason why we went to Revolutions was because they had "birthday cake" shots. Kristen and I have been talking about these shots since we learned about them the first weekend we were here. Lucky enough we got 10 of them for free. I didn't try any though because they were all for Kristen. I think Revolutions jipped us and hardly put any alcohol in them. I guess that is what happens when they are free. OO well, it's the thought that counts right.

I think I need to learn how to cook or I might starve over here.

Cheers

P.S. I forgot the last couple of times but...

America needs... to have cleaner air. (the air here is so crisp) I love it.

The First Actual Day of the Semester

Today began the semester. I had work, two classes, and a tutorial along with it snowing for the first time since I have been here. Work is only about a 7 minute walk from my flat. Maybe not even that long if it isn't snowing and I am not wearing heels. I am working for Infield Systems which is a market research company. I am not 100% sure what I will be doing this semester but sounds like I will be writing a novel. I have to compile research and other data and make a global perspective book which is about 180 pages long. That is my ultimate goal for the semester but we will see how it goes. Hopefully, I will be a published writer at the end of it! How cool! My office consists of one room where Ryan, another new full time worker, and me all sit at a big table and Kader, my boss, sits at his own desk. That is it. Infield has only about 30 workers and just the four of us in Aberdeen. It is kind of exciting helping this new company expand its business. But today just consisted of an introduction to the company, getting my laptop uploaded, and trying to get my work schedule situated. No worries though, my schedule for the semester is still not figured out.

School was school. Jurisprudence had only 6 people in it including Kristen and me. That class was at noon and UK Oil and Gas Law was from 2-5. I think I will really enjoy my UK Oil and Gas class. I will learn alot about the UK Continental Shelf and offshore drilling. I learned a little about offshore at Newfield but it was only a brief overview. The professor's name is John and he seems extremely helpful and kind. He will also be our academic advisor while we are here. John is way more open to asking questions in class and having other discussions.

I lost my voice today. I met my boss and I think he thought I sounded like a man and then a chipmunk. Maybe even a male chipmunk ha. I am getting sick.

Last night, I watched the super bowl at the student Union. It was definitely an interesting experience. The super bowl is not the same without American commentators, American commercials, or American super bowl snack food. I didn't even think that there wasn't going to be American commericals. Boo that. The British commentators would come on the screen and just ask ex-pro football players what was going on. It  was weird watching the game with boys who didnt know what was going on. If a man from America didnt know what was going on he would be shunned for life. Different culture, different sports.

I always plan on writing short blogs to keep people's attention but they always end up long. I don't proof read them so don't judge me. Tomorrow is Kristen's 21st birthday. I am planning on surprising her with a cake (hopefully she doesn't read this before then and if you do Kristen act surprised). There is also a pub that has a birthday cake flavored shot I am going to buy her. Yumm cakee!

Cheers

This is a German Sausage Bar and a Coffee Shop

The Bus Adventures Begin

One of my goals while here in Aberdeen is to travel all fifteen or so bus services. Today, Ryan and I picked Turquoise Line 19 because it was traveling towards Tillydrone. It had a pretty fun name so we hopped on the bus and road until we came across something we wanted to get off at. Tillydrone was kind of disappointing so we continued on the bus and got off in Milltimber. We started to get out of the city and into the Scotland's rolling countryside. Once we got off we saw a sign towards a park and decided to follow the road downhill. Ryan and I came across a dog in the park and decided to name it Benny. Benny looked like he knew where he was going so we followed him until we came across a river and a golf course. Benny and us parted our ways and Ryan and I followed the river for a while. We finally saw what you think of when you think of Scotland.. green grass, golf courses, hills, quaint homes, etc. It was the first time I have been out of the city centre and been able to explore somewhere besides downtown.

Downtown is grey. Aberdeen is known as the "Grey City" for a reason. The builidings are made with grey granite and the sky is often a grey overcast. There is however some color with painted doors and storefronts. The city centre is always alive with people though. I love walking around on Union Street and seeing a bunch of different kind of people. Today. I saw two girls running and giggling down the sidewalk wearing wedding dresses.  I often see girls walking in high heels and guys looking metro with straightened hair. There is a dress code when you go to the clubs. You are not allowed to wear tennis shoes and most people get extremely dressed up. Girls wear short short skirts and little tops (Idk how since its cold) and guys a lot of the times will wear jeans and a collared shirt. However, I have seen guys wearing kilts out to the bars and I am not sure why. They city never sleeps. The clubs and pubs close around 2 or 3 am each evening. Sometimes there are just about the same amount of people on Union Street at 2am than there are at 2pm. The Scots love to go to McDonalds after going out for the night. Here you can get a sandwhich and chips (french fries) for only 1.99 pounds. That's pretty cheap! And everything you buy here already has the tax included in it so if an item says its one pound then when you buy it its only one pound. Also, you don't tip the waitresses. The service isn't as good but its free! (kinda).

Tonight I plan on watching the Super Bowl at 11:30 pm. My flatmates are betting on who will win to make the game more exciting. They don't really like American football because its too slow pace and too much stopping. They said they will watch it but they don't really understand what is going on. I start work tomorrow at 9 am!

Cheers

Pictures from my bus adventure

Benny, the wild Scottish pug



River



Sunset

The countryside

Week One.. Almost done

So I decided to write a blog to keep a journal of all of my experiences here in Scotland. Whether it be learning different things, meeting new people, or experiencing something new, I hope that this blog will give you an idea of what I am doing thousand miles away. I am not a very poetic writer therefore this blog will not read like Shakespeare but it will get the job done. If I can figure out how to work this website I hope one day I will be able to put up videos and pictures. Alright so enough about the blog..

Plane ride into Scotland

I arrived in Scotland at 10 am on Saturday after a long day of travel. Aberdeen is 6 hours ahead of home so when it was 10 am here it was 4 am at home. That being said, I was jet lagged but extremely excited to have arrived. Karla, who was an RGU exchange student at TU first semester, and here dad picked all five of us up at the airport and dropped us off at our accomodations. After she left and I was alone in my room, I had a miny freak out episode. Because I came to Scotland with 4 other people, I did not expect to be alone the first day. I did however go to the mall by myself and bought my cell phone by myself! I was proud of myself ha. (Funny story about my phone.. The lady at the store was trying to explain the pay as you go plan to me and at the end of the conversation I left thinking that for a one minute phone conversation it would cost me 25 pounds which is about $30. Lucky for me she was saying 25 pents (or cents) for every minute call and I just couldn't understand her.) Later in the day, I was finally able to meet up with Kristen and the rest of the group. Karla and Vinnie took us out to the RGU Union which is RGU's student center in the middle of the city centre. We then went to the club Priory. This place is well uhh.. interesting. It used to be a church but is now converted into a club. It still has the stained glass windows and the balacony for the organ. I am still not to sure what to think of that. Since Saturday, I have set up a bank account, gotten a bus pass, and have been running other errands to get everything I need for the semester (bed sheets, pillows, etc.) I think I am getting pretty use to the city centre and I don't think it will be difficult anymore to navigate.

I guess I should talk a little bit about school since that is the reason I am here. I had an orientation on Monday with all the exchange students in the Aberdeen Business School. There were students from Germany, France, Polland, Finland, Turkey, and I am sure there were more that I can't think of. Since we had our orientation on Monday, classes didn't start until Tuesday. On Tuesday, I had my first finance class. The teacher seemed pretty timid and almost like she was a substitute and not the real teacher. It also seemed like she was giving the class a memorized presentation and every once in a while she would forget what she was saying. Tony asked a question in the middle of lecture and the whole class bursted out in talk right after he asked it. I guess no one asks questions here. That was my only class for the week. My weekend started on Wednesday! I missed my UK oil and gas law class on Monday and had to pick another class besides my food and beverage management class. When I got my time table on Monday, I saw that the class times for food and beverage management changed every week. For example the first week the class was held on Monday and Tuesday and then the next week on Wednesday and Thursday. I decided that  a varying schedule would not work out well with having my internship, therefore I am taking jurisprudence.






First Day of School



Yesterday, Kristen and I went to the beach! We took the bus to the North Sea and walked around there for the day. There was a boardwalk with an arcade, bowling, and indoor miniture golf. I am sure that we will go back there again. The North Sea had a lot of industrial boats in it. I am not sure if they were fishing boats or what. The beach here isn't very long before it ends and a cliff into the sea forms. After we left the beach, we road the 15 bus to tour the city. We got off the bus when we saw a man playing the bag pipes in a kilt. He was playing Amazing Grace. The funny thing was that the bag piper was from the state of Georgia and moved to Scotland because he met his wife here. Therefore, our first Scottish bag piper was an American.. And then last night, all of the exchange students met back up at the Union for free dinner!

American Bag Piper

I plan on ending all of my posts with things America should learn from Scotland/ what we should have back at home that Scotland has here.

America should... have more heated towl racks.


Cheers!

North Sea Beach

City Centre