vignettes of cositalinda

Catching Up, an Exercise for Myself

2006-04-15T10:37:00.000-07:00

It's been more then a year since I last wrote. I felt like I should just start over and get a completely new blog, but I'm too lazy to go through the hastle so I'll just pick up where I left off.

What am I saying?? Pick up where I left off? Last time I wrote I was in the highlands studying abroad without a care in the world, and now I'm in Wooster Ohio about to graduate after having written 146 pages on the foundations of human rights. I've been through a lot since I got hit in the face with that cow. I could have written about my time in france sleeping in a garrage for 4 nights, my encounter on the train, visiting Hugues and cultural embarrasment, or my adventures and the people I meet in the little villages surrounding Edinburgh, or culross, and the boy with the hat and bounce. Cook out on Arthur's seat. Or the night my wallet got stolen, and I had to work in a volunteer cafe for food. More hill walking adventures. I wound up extending my stay after exams --I changed my flight so that i stayed 3 weeks later then schedualed before I even knew where I was going to stay, how I could still eat, and what to do for christmas. Not planning through on these small details opened the door for me to grab any oportunity for survival turning into a wonderful tale of a mega bus ride, a small english village, lots of tea, pudding, and christmas cake, fireworks, a flat, a mud puddle, and a boy.

Absolute caios greeted me back in Wooster. Thrown into a situation where I was forced to mingle and find a new place in the social scene was challenging. A new room mate, a break up, tears, a new relationship, an identity as a philosopher, and good times with the locals at Seatles, working on an index for Bell's book for summer. Oh what a summer. Random summer. Romance, taught Argentine Tango, smoking cigars and drinking whiskey, took the boat out, made a trail, hunted for lobsters, swam in the lakes, a trip to boston, a trampaline, rhode island, salsa, prepared for I.S.

Senior year started off great. Wearing yellow t-shirts for a week, no means no!,running a talent shows, carrying around balloons that could lift me off the ground, washing wooster bricks and making posters, shaving cream fight. It quickly turned into nights in the library and stressing over Independent Study. But the best part was getting to know Kruezman. I would spend at least 3 hours every week talking with him. Bonding with the philosophy department was the best. Housing sitting for professors, taking care of a kitten. My darling Noah. DRAMA. Traveled to washington DC with hippies (hah), reggae, parents split, wrecked home, mediation, seeing Winter, the fight for relationship, back to Wooster. Indiana ride and conference, meditiation, Anshuman and Jazz clubs. Winter break, city adventures, Winter's crazy driving, ping pong, romance, flew back to Edinburgh, frolicking more tea, wine, bongos, tapir, zoo, blew bubbles, indian food, dancing, pubbing, sing star 80s. Second semester, sketches, taught tango for 6 weeks, timmy tango and alegria, Bohemien Dance Hall, bringing dancers to campus, house sat, birthday party at Bell's, adventures with seatles, bonded with John, late night chats, guitar, more friends then a person could have, dinners with profs, mom visits, super bowl, lots of wine. International film festival, IS mach, Is nap and IS drinks, orals, and now its pure sunshine. Got money for my society, of me and me. Dance concert, chant, flowers. engagments, weddings. Coffee with Ben at the hungarian cafe, Becca and crew and the wonderful hall, Jame-O! and....

I biked with Professor Havholm today. Gorgeous. around 15 miles to Overton.

Grabbing Life by the Horns

2004-10-21T16:26:00.000-07:00

Highland Cows. Let me describe them. They look like your stuffed animal that has gotten more raggedy and shaggy over the years of loving and cuddling with…the more shaggy it looks the more cozy and comforting it is to be with because it just shows that this companion and you have gone through a lot together as you spent your nights or days in embrace. Anyway, take this feeling and look of your stuffed special something and blow it about about 100,000 times and you get a highland cow... oh yeah, and add a couple of horns. Wonderful to look at. These creatures are massive, but with all that hair hanging over there eyes, covered in shaggy brown hair, pink noses, and beautiful curved horns (I must say those things are pieces of artwork) you kinda just want to put your arms around them (if you could that is, and if they didn’t have dangerous horns on them). I got acquainted with these creatures for the first time when I went hill walking in the Arrochar Alps. They just stand there, chomping away at the hills…looking at you nonchalantly with those big brown eyes, and they stand there like lumps all day. I took a break from strenuous hiking and went right up to them with no problems just to stare them straight in the face with a most puzzling look…cause I just couldn’t believe they were cows. Man, so much different than the black and white cows at home. Totally different look and feel. When I traveled to Inverness 2 weeks ago I went deeper into the highlands. On the bus looking out of the window, we passed a handful of cows alongside the road. I couldn’t stay away from the highlands for long. So last weekend I took a 3 day trip out to those beautiful hills again.

Traveling throughout the highlands I bump into a lot of those cows. Well not literally of course, until I meet Hamish. We were all traveling back from the Isle of Skye. The most amazing trip, wonderful company, and fairy land sights. I wound up traveling with a bunch of Australians. Those guys were great. Relaxing at the pub, punch party at the hostel, and many stories..in fact loads of stories and laughs the whole trip. But you probably don’t want me to go into that right now. All you are wondering is…who is Hamish? The third day we stopped at a ‘rest stop,’ to take a break off the bus. When we got off the bus there was the biggest highland cow I had ever seen…everyone was going up to this cow and feeding it stuff. I was never into feeding animals cause it destroys the natural wildlife feel of nature for me. I don’t like to look at highland cows as pets and be all touristy. Plus I don’t want to deal with slobber. I can’t even stand dogs slobbering on me let alone a freakin highland cow. So I just headed inside. When I came back out I decided to check out the cow anyway. This thing was massive…not because of his body per se, but because of this things horns. Huge, Beautiful..how could it stand up with those things? Everyone was touching his nose and patting it. So I decided I should put a little effort into trying to touch it..just so I could say I did so. But all I wanted to do was touch those horns. All my intuition said not to. But I figured it must be safe since this is such a touristy spot. I mean, they wouldn’t have a cow so close if it were dangerous. But I looked for signs anyway. Looking around quickly I spotted no warning signs. So out went my hand and I brushed it against the hard, smooth, curved horn..on his left side. Hamish returned the favor…by whacking me in the jawbone and hurling me to the ground. With just a turn of the shaggy head his horn greeted my cheek bone with emphasis. Brilliant, thanks Hamish. A highland cow horn to the face is not a pretty picture. Especially when Aussies are laughing at you. As soon as I get back to my feet I was greeted with a sign. “Do Not Touch Horns," as I was holding my face.

I came back to Edinburgh with 2 scratches on my face. Even though I had a mark along my cheek, it was a good story to tell at least. “What happened on your trip?” I could choose my response knowing it was going to raise some eyebrows. “I got head butted by a highland cow.” Or “Oh that’s nothing..I just got bashed in the face with some horns in the highlands.” or "You see, there was this cow..." And that was no joke. Not too many people can say literally and pun-ishly that they “grabbed life by the horns.” I think that is enough of the highlands. Enough of dodgy cows. Bloody hell.

xxx

lil' Moments

2004-10-18T15:32:00.000-07:00

Quote of the day: “i dont know how i would handle our difference in gastronomic preferences if i were dating you”-anonymous friend

Moment of the day: A friend and I got together for dinner. I had called him up wanting a change of scenery from the JMC (the cafeteria here) and in hopes of some good food. Turns out I get to his flat and he has a meal all prepared. Walked into the kitchen by a comforting cozy dinner. I could smell the curry right there…take out from a place called the Lunch Box. The Lunch Box is essentially a tiny kitchen in the back of a mosque where you can get a heap full of rice and curry selections for only 3 pounds, the close the kitchen during prayer time, this month is ramadan so I think it's closed for a while, oh well…then there is the Mecca Cola that you can buy which just makes me day. On the can it says “do not add alcohol to this beverage.” Harish asked the priest if I could attend services there, he responded that if there is hope for me (that I might convert) then yes. Well hey, there is always hope for me. Anyways, at the end of the meal Harish makes me go up to the sink to wash my hands and tells me I must do something Indian before I finished eating. I watch him as he mixes the curry in with the rice with his hands and eat from his fingers. Feeling your food through your own hands, lifting to your mouth, and swallowing brings a whole new demention to eating. More satisfaction. When the food goes down it’s very heart warming. The moment was special. It brought me back to the dirt and mud at the Abbey in CT. Cheers to a cozy dinner.

Moment 2 (at 1:30 am this morning): I lay in the dark on the floor parallel to a good friend of mine. As we lay sounds of strings fill the room, and a light glow from the lava lamp. We are both listening to Mahler's 4th symphony. The heart wrenching one, where the music swells in beautiful waves of strings that engulf your whole body. Both eyes closed, slow breathing, darkness, and mallher...can't get much better than that.

Went to Photo Soc today. Talked with some doctorate, and MA students, and a teacher about film and cameras and traveling. Everyone I meet here has traveled around the world! I’m so jealous. I crave to do that. I want to live somewhere cool like Africa, India, South America. Seeing all these beautiful pictures doesn’t help my yearning. I’ve decided I’m going to work in international schools. There that solves all my problems. I can travel and teach..teach whatever. Going to the dark room tomorrow to learn how to develop film, after that Swing Soc...then paper writting time.

Benedictus Domino, Deo Gratias, PAXizzle (hahahaha)

If A, then B.

2004-10-14T01:05:00.000-07:00

Wednesday's are nice. I don't have any lectures the whole day. But the start of each Wednesday is always a little harsh. I signed up for a very early tutorial that takes place each Wed. morning at 9:00 so I could get it over with quickly and have the rest of the day free. Now a 9:00 class for me isn't considered deathly early, until you consider the fact that it takes me 25 min to walk to 22 Buccleah Place from Pollock Halls of residence, and for the other fact that I need to make sure I eat breakfast before I go (they don't serve lunch here so if I skip breakfast I'm not going to be able to eat until dinner...which could prove deadly--especially stomach rumbles in the middle of dead quiet lectures). So that means rise at 7:30 am for a 9:00am tutorial. Bollocks to that! In good old Woo, I would have gotten up at 8:40 and made it on time.

Yesterday I missed breakfast, I also didn't get up very well. I ran/skipped all the way to Buccleah Place, only to be greeted by about 4 flights of stars which threw me completely out of breath once I reached the destination at the top. So I plopped down tired, hungry, soar, and without breath--perfect mode to be in when one is about to talk about causation, logical forms of if-then clauses, not to mention a bit of Hume. I was the first one in thete (8:56am at this point). Most people were slowly making the treacherous climb. They all trickled in with baggy eyes, frowns, and very heavy breathing. We were all seated waiting for the tutor around the table in the dark. Staring blankly at the table. Unable to talk or move. The tutor comes bumbling in with a "Bloody Hell! I feel like I should all congratulate you! Damn." As he loudly squeezes past people, rustles about in getting settled. Lights come on. Pain occurs in eyes. Ready to talk.

Now we are all dumbly sitting there trying to discover what is meant when we talk about causality in terms of epistomology and metaphysics when a bee zooms right up to my nose. I duck for cover, wave a around a bit. By this time all attention is solely on me as people tell me where the bee is and how I can avoid it. All of a sudden it disappears. POOF. Like that. Now people are checking me out to make sure it didn't land on me. Righto. Surrounded by guys…little awkward. Anyways, Back to discussion. In a moments time the bee is back again in full force. ZOOM! down it comes again from making its buzzing noises stuck in the light above right to my face...this time I get up and move to the door. It moves on to the next person..Let’s just say that the heavy fog of slumber in the room is lifting...maybe due to that part of the brain that is in control of the flight or fight response I suppose. A guy starts grabbing his notebook to hit it. Flurry. Bee is dead. One notebook with bee guts on it. Tutor :Bloody hell! Then back to causation. Now there was a second bee, that escaped this made dash of flying notebooks, which, unbenownced to us, decided he would be safe hidden on a guys scalp underneath his hair. All of a sudden the expression on this unfortunate chap took the awfulist form, like he had tasted something sour, raised his hands above his head, and shouted "oh my god!" FUCK!" He said fuck with the combination of a variety of words as we stared at him in disbelief. "It's in my Fucking hair!".... FUCK!" No one moved. Tutor: "are you sure?" Did it sting you?" It had stung him, and he was in pain. The next thing I knew the tutor was banging full force on this student’s head with a load of books and papers...hit him about 10 times I suppose. Then there was a pause as we all leaned in for the verdict. Was the bee dead?...resting in peace curled up in this boy's hair? With a combing effort, he finally managed to get the bee out. Plopped on his notebook in a sorry dead state. Right. It was this guy's first tutorial, and he gets stung on the head by a bee, and slapped around by a textbook, while I got some good entertainment. I laughed to myself the rest of the discussion...as he was sitting right across from me holding his head. At least he would have a good pub story for his mates that night, even though he walked out with a swollen scalp. Talk about cause and effect. Beautiful example.

keep PAXing it.

A note before a weekend trip

2004-10-08T17:02:00.000-07:00

Oh boy. I'm really tired. But before I go to bed, I just wanted to note what a great, relaxing evening I had after I have been a little stressed out over the past two days with Uni. Tonight I was invited to go out with a scottish lad whose dad was coming to town to film a big event tomorrow (he runs a TV program called Tartan TV...I found that they broad cast it in Akron, Ohio. I hope I see it one day.) The Scottish Parliament opens finally...after about 3 years over due, and 10 times the origional budget making the Scots here all grumble every time they walk by the new building still covered with scaffolding. There is a big parade where the queen will hand keys to some one (customs foriegn to me) and Sean Connery is going to be there...turns out that Robert's dad actually is going to interview him tomorrow! (gasp! Aww and Wonder!) Royal Mile is going to be a beautiful site and there will be festivals all day. Rob is helping his dad film tomorrow...haha..he has to get up early for it. So he invited me to go to a pub with his dad, and a woman named Annie (the producer.) Since everyone calls me Annie here, and his father is named Robert too, it was a nice pairing. Two Annies, two robs, 4 drinks...good times. This night was different then hanging out with partyers and people wanting to get drunk, or freshers looking out for crazy nights on edge hopping from pub to pub in random order. After his dad and annie scoped for all the nice spots where they wanted to film tomorrow morning on the Royal Mile, we stopped in at The World's End. A pub that was origionally at the end of the walls of edinburgh before the city expanded. So the origional walls of the city were still apart of the pub...really old..talking 100s and 100s of years going back to the middle ages. I had straight whisky. After that we wound up going to an Italian resturant and having a full out meal and wine. MMMM...finally good food! I've been living in Pollock Halls of Residence where Lowry is a feast compared to the cafeteria here. Although, they do have better vegitarean choices here. It was neat to talk to such scottish people. After haning out with mostly international students, it felt good to be among these aberdeen folk. Very down to earth, relaxed, and awesome accents. I picked up some more scottish-isms and free food and wine. Not a bad deal. Plus good company.

Tomorrow is a highland trip. And after that the stress of the Uni comes back in full force. More on that later...too tired to explain at the moment. It's hard to adjust to this system! I'm going to have to live at the library for awhile. Also, money has become a big issue. I shall continue later on. Anyway, off to the highlands I go!

pax

Latino America in Edinburgh

2004-10-04T11:55:00.000-07:00

The Motercycle Dairies...I highly recommend. Lets see, can I translate that into spanish?? Dairios de Motercicleta. MMM...I don't know if thats quite it. Wonderful movie. It's probably been out in the states for awhile so I have no idea if it's still in the theaters or not. Dad, see this movie! I love the latino culture, and I can't even escape it even in Edinburgh where I haven't even meet one latino american...or even any one from espania. Weirrddd. I could only understand some spanish phrases in the movie...most of what I could understand was spanish curse words..Thank you Winter. I went to see it with the "united nations" group. I hang out with a bunch of different groups and people here, so I have recently decided to name them. The united nations is a big group of people. The are mostly post graduates that I have meet, and they stick together for the reason that they want to avoid people from their own country. I guess that's why we have kept in contact. Some of the people in this diverse group of friends went on the hike with me yesterday. Today more Italians in the mix, and Michael from Greece joined in the fray. I invited two girls from the states to join in as well. So when we all meet at the theater, 11 of us stood in a circle introducing our selves and where we come from. It was quite a funny picture.

Yeah, I really need to go to South America. Somehow I'll get there. I continue learning spanish so that I can speak it one day. Supposedly my family is moving to Panama, it would be helpful hablar-ing espanol. We are going to panamania town (ha) over Spring break hopefully...I can't wait. My real destination some day is Buenos Aires. Tango is the ultimate high yo.

Last night after my risky adventures in the Arrochar Alps, I decided to go out for a nice relaxing drink with Harish (the economic guy from India). We meet up with a bunch of Italians who changed their minds 5 times on what pub to go to. Before I knew it my quiet night out was turned into a salsa party at a cuban club. I was not in a good mood to be going out and partying after such an exhausting day. But when I heard that music, it was like I had enough life in me to dance all night. I watched the dance floor as I drank some white wine trying to spot the good dancers. I was not about to waste my night on beginners. ..even though I have never danced salsa before..hahahaha. I spotted, and targeted my prey. ..with skill I advanced. So I grabbed the two top guys on the dance floor and had a blast. The moves were easy for me...maybe that's thanks to Winter who blasts his latino beats into my room over the summer...and probably doing that as I speak...

Tango nights for me our wednesday, Swing on Thursday, and I guess I'll do some Salsa now. How can I not? It's actually impossible for me to do all this, but one can try. I miss the Wine tasting society tonight. I was busy looking up where to go on my fall break.

As for now,

aDiosCaiopAx

Medium... (slash) Hard

2004-10-03T04:54:00.000-07:00

The hills in Arrochar Alps were absolutly IN SANE. The hill that my group went on was a Munro, basically a type mountain that is at least 3,000 ft. Munro's are the tallest catogory of hills there are in schotland. So when I say I cimbed a hill--please don't picture nice rolling, gassy hills and associate it with easy going walking. The hill was rolling alright, and grassy, but also rocky, step gradients, running streams of water pouring from the top, no paths, no foot steps, tall grass and ferns, everything was muddy. Now lets talk about the weather: Rain, to sunny, to Rain, to Windy and Rainy, to just cloudy, to sunny, to rainy, to windy....That's the weather I 'walked' in...typical scottish experience.

The Arrochar Alps were formed by the glaciers which covered Scotland during the Ice Age. You can see that by the big U shaped valleys and the rocky hill scraped tops. The Arrochar Alps are a picturesque and rugged range of mountains in the Southern Highlands, lying to the north and west of Arrochar (Argyll and Bute) and to the west of Loch Lomond. This range lies within the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park and includes four Munros (one of which I climbed), six Corbetts (smaller mountians 2500 to 3000ft ) and three other mountains. Here are routes to suit all abilities here, from half-day strolls among the hills to gruelling, multi-summit marathons, easy walks and stiff climbs to satisfy the search for adventure for those of us who aren't "rock athletes". --you can read about this on websites.

Well, when we divided into groups of easy hikes, medium hikes, and hard hikes I figured I would go on a medium level hike. I didn't wake up at 6 am in the morning to just do an easy stoll around the park right?? I failed to realize that what I had signed up for was a medium/hard walk. Slash hard?? Well I got more of the "slash hard" part then the Medium part.

It had stopped raining when we got out of the van. yay! I knew the weather would come around. In scotland if it starts raining in the morning, it could actually be a beautiful day in the afternoon. The weather is so fickle here. It could be sunny one moment, and then the next you are running for shelter from the harsh winds and rain. I was hopeing that yesterday wouldn't be like that, and the sky would just clear up after awhile. The beginning part was great. Very muddy and wet since it had been raining. But being covered head to toe in what supposedly was all waterproof clothing (more on that later) I was nice and cozy. Sloshing my way up the rolling bottom part of the hill, I spent all my energy trying to figure out where to put my feet, how to stay caught up with everyone else, and trying to aviod big mudholes and slippery rocks. But as soon as I was able to look up, flocks of sheep greated my eyes. These white fuzzy dots just covered the hills. While climbing up (trying not to slide backwards), and whenever we paused I could see a sheep poking its white tail or black head around a cliff, or jut of rocks. Then the cows. I was face to face with this big, brown, fuzzy...fuzzy?? cow with huge horns jutting out from either side of his head. I've never seen such lazy looking fuzzy animals in my whole life. They just stood there. eating away at the hills. But as we got higher, no more cows did I see. There were still sheep, but there was no way I could look up at them, because if I didn't pay attention to my feet and the ground I was a gonner. I had to learn how to wind up the hill in a zig zag patter, placing my feet solidly to make sure the mud wasn't going to give way, or that the grassy lumps weren't just covering up a big hole. The slops were so hard for me. And then there were those streams that we had to leap accross. It's the same feeling of walking on some kind of skinny bridge that is at some magnificent hight--the trick being don't look down, or you'll lose your balance from fright. That's how hill climbing was, except the trick was not to look up. If I looked up at the slope that I was climbing, it was all over. Just one step at a time, one step, then the next...then some how in a miracle you'll find your self at the top.

In every pause I got my enthusaim levels recharged as I looked at the land scape. No matter how difficlut it was...it was worth it. When the clouds moved so that the sun could come out, it would light one whole side of the mountain up..sending flashes of white flames every once and awhile from a sheeps back who were dotting the landscape. I got excellent view of Loch Lomond and the valleys below. But once we started moving again...I was beginning to think I wasn't going to make it. We had only gone an hour by this point. That meant five more hours to go. All of a sudden it started to rain again. No big deal, I was used to the sprinkle showers and put my coat back on. But this time it was pouring, then the wind picked up and was knocking us all around. We all huddled together to try to decide what to do. I was reminded of movies of people stranded in the desert, or stuck up in cold mountains. I kinda got that feeling..and let me tell you...it's not a good feeling. Our guide was trying to figure out how to get back pulling out that map. Some adventurous people wanted to continue up to the top, but the rest of us headed back, making our way through the valleys. The ascent down was tough and slow, but much more relaxed then trying to battle winds on our way up, and I felt better actually seeing a road in the distance. At least I knew we weren't going to get lost. We meandered down the grassy slops, bumped into more sheep, and eventually made it low enough to see some more fuzzy cows on our way down. The sheep and cows were not wild, but belonged to some farmer below the Hills. The sheep are only hearded though once a year in the spring time...a group of 4 people and some dogs round them up from all over the hills. The whole of winter and the rest of the year they roam freely all over, where ever they want. I slipped so many times going down the grassy, muddy steep edges. I was jealous of my friends, the Italian girl Emma, Norwiegan friend Christian, and German friend Neils. They were so sure of every step and always a head of me. While me and the other american girl took the back, along with a French girl.

All in all. A beautiful trip. The best part was face to face with those cows and eating lunch with great views of the hilly, rocky, mountain sides. But I don't think I will take a medium/hard trail again. OOPPS. Did I say trail? There was no trail. When I came down into the pub at the bottom of the hill at last, I was drenched. I got a warm Tottie (whisky, honey, lemon, sugar...that's all heated up), and chatted to the group of hickers until it was time to go--italians, germans, norwiegans, scottish, and americans--pretty good mix. The hike lasted for 4 and a half hours, instead of the grueling 6 hours. The group of us were glad that we came down "early" as we looked out the window to find that it was raining again. As we left I got some last glimpses of the alps. Looking up I couldn't believe I had actually climbed up to certain summits. They Alps waved goodbye to me with a 180 rainbow that stretched across the Hills.

Cheers to a good but challenging day

Ecomomic stage fright

2004-10-01T13:25:00.000-07:00

So, it's friday night. Which is not too special around here, since to me, every night is friday night. After lectures today i was getting really reallly nervous about all the reading I have to do. I have to read so many books per week and I haven't started on really any of them. They give so much reading that it is overwhelming and you just don't even want to start. It's easier not to peer into any of the books because if you do...you realize how much you are missing and how much smarter you could be if you actually did work here. You also realize that you could understand the lectures if you read the material they recommend, but like I said, it's so much reading, you just don't even want to attempt. You can't read everything of course. You just pick and choose the books that are most important. The lecturers give their talks like you know everything already. Its a little scary. Today the my prof from aberdeen covered berkeley and Hume in 50 minutes. Good thing I already kinda studied them before. And like yesterday, in metaphysics, the lecturer talked about Einstein's theory of Relativity in 20 minutes...and we were supposed to grasp that?? I had no idea what was going on. Anyway, so after the three lectures that I heard today, I decided to take the night and study a little.. So i headed toward the library. But as I headed towards the beginning of a potential productive night I got banged on the head, lightly of course, by I load of papers. I looked up to find a long, lost friend of mine that I had might meet during fresher's week. He is from India but has been living in the middle area of england for the past three years. Surprised to see him, we chated for while, laughing and carring on...glad to finally run into each other. Turns out he had been working his ass off for exams...yeah, I forgot he was a MA student and had 'real' work to be done...especially if you are going for you MA in economics like he is...poor guy. Statistics and Math were his exams today (only after two weeks of school!!!) Anyway, he invited me to coffee...so I decided to go. We talked for awhile in the Elephants Cafe (the coffee house where their is an excellent view of the castle). I learned a lot from him about different cultures and religions. We covered Hinduism, Muslim talk, and I learned all about the the UAE (which is a country-- united arab emirates). That's where he went to school. Wow. I had no idea that place existed. Interesting cultures like this are crazy and so foreign to a person like me....hidden things from Americans. Now I really want to check out some Indian music called Bhamyra.

Anyways, turns out he had to rush off to a Economics party (for students after the exams). Free wine and food. well, with my moocher instincts this sounded good to me. So I tagged along and met lots of people who were going to be rich some day. Yeah, economics people have it good. Lots of asians were there. These guys are math genious people. I meet a guy from mexico and one from Italy, and one from an island south of Sicily. I told them I was going for my PHD in micro economics. They were all really impressed. I told them I was teaching on the side. One girl asked me what I thought of the exams. I told her they were so so. Then I got a little risky, and said that the first one was easier then the second. HAHA. She looked at me like I was crazy. "Oh, I thought the second one was harder." I said that I had studied the other material more, so I was prepared for it, but not as prepared for the second exam. Turns out that the first exam was stats--and really advanced stats at that. I must have sounded like a smart bastard. Harish imbarrased me by saying that I was teaching him regression techniques and such and such...lingo I didn't understand. I got a little drunk...but not too bad. I had to relax being around economic MA's. I should just marry rich and hang around them more often. Anyway, I'm not going out any more tonight, the economic bash tired me out and I need to wake up early tomorrow...Arrochar awaits me.

Oh and guess who is going to the island of Skye!!!!!! MEEEEEEEE! I got a three day tour through the highlands and up to skye with two of my friends...its going to rock. Wish me luck on nights in hostils throughout scotland.

Mom, send more money. hahahahahaha.

And leslie...please...when can I see you miss ' i can't miss class!'

Sam, you missed a good night of economic nerds.

Write soon.

paxxxxxxxx

Ultimate M00cher Pro

2004-10-01T02:21:00.000-07:00

I am, by title,...the Ultimate Moocher Pro.

In less than two days, I have all the equipment I need to climb Arrochar-- A hill located to the North West of Loch Lomond, near Loch Long, north of Glasgow. An all day climb. What I needed was a hat, gloves, water proof trousers (pants), water proof jacket, and water proof boots. Which I got for ...how many pounds?--NADA pounds. the BIG 0. How did I achieve this incrediable feat you ask? Skill my friends. Lots of skill. Wandering down stairs last night I cornered an asian dude...with my tricks and wiles, skills, and methods (which I can not disclose at this moment), I obtained from him a hat and gloves. Next move, was made later that night at the bar in The Pleasance. Got the water proof boots from a friend I had meet in the paris airport when we got stranded for 9 hours..playing off the bonds of love my friends...means to an ends you think? Sorry Kant, but sometimes you just need to, in order to prove to be the best moocher possible. Meet a random girl who like to ski....here was my chance for the last and finally moves which have just been completed at this very moment....a water proof jacket, and trousers are now mine....all mine..mwah hahahahahahaha. I just saved myself about 200 pounds!!

My skills on getting men to buy me food and drink are a little below par this week (though one bought me a drink on wednesday night, but my thursday lunch guy fell through cause he was out of money...tisk tisk)...but the series of events listed above make up for all that. My developing talents all started back in the days of Middle school..6th grade to be exact. Thanks to the many lunch times begging for money in order to buy that baked potato with cheese, or that icecream bar I am now getting to the expert level. It was a long, hard road to the top by I am officially The Ultimate Moocher Pro..who is signing out for now.

Much PAX be on your heads

I hate Resnet

2004-10-01T01:46:00.000-07:00

Well, guess who finally got internet connection in her room? Only to find out that my AIM doesn't work through Resnet (the company that hooks my computer to the internet), and that I have to learn how to program to get it to work.

Sigh, does everything have to be this complicated for me all the time? I can't do anything in this university without some big fuss. For example, all I wanted to do was photocopy some chapters out of a book. So, after a couple trial and errors, and an hour later to just locate the damn book, I had to go on an adventure to actually find the copier machines. Right, a que and a half hour later I finally make it to one of the machines, only to find out you need a special card which you have to pay for in order to use the machines. Can't they just make it easy and accept coins?? noooooo. I have so many cards for so many different things already, now i have a new one added to the mix. Turns out that one card costs a pound and it only provides you with a mere 16 pages. WHoA. They really try to make it hard to get reading material around here. I look up the book--it's either checked out, missing, only on short term loan, etc. And forget about just buying your books at the Uni book store...because there is no Uni book store.

The cool thing is though, that I can get the books out of reserve in the library and I can have them for 3 hours at a time. So I can just go in there and read them. The other cool thing is that you can self check out and self return books--at least one process is made simple.

Another process--the laundry. First of all I have no time to do it, and when I can..it goes all wrong. The machines don't take money (ofcourse! why would they?? grrr). You have to buy tokens. The tokens are located accross the way in the reception center. A token cost one pound and it takes two tockens to do a load of laundry. When I went to get them they had been out of tokens for four days. Go Figure. I couldn't afford to wait to wash so I bought a drying wrack and did my close in the bath tub. That's right folks, before going out last night to party I was steaming it up, arms dipped in detergent...what a work out. No need for a gym when I walk about 10 miles and day and do my own laundry. I was trying to calculate how much I walk a day, but I failed at trying to allocate hours to walking. Instead I began to think how many times I sit a day. I couldn't think of any time that I sit other then lectures (lets say average 2 a day each for 50 min) and Breakfast and Dinner (since lunch is always on the go). That's not very much sitting. That means the whole rest of the day I'm standing or walking..gosh...(I get up at 8:30, and go to bed roughly about 1am). No need for a gym. Anyway back to laundry...I know have a christmas tree of underwear and socks in my room..very colorful indeed..the cleaning lady will be pleasantly surprised.

Well, I have vented long enough...there is much more to vent about, but I'll save it for another time. It's good to parse out vents over a period of time---actually it isn't, you should vent it all out and then get it over with I suppose. So Strike what I just said, and reverse it.

There are 3 student unions on campus. One is Teviot Hall. A massive, gorgeous, old castle. One of the oldest buildings in the city. Inside there is a debating hall, dinning room, meeting halls, and then a bar for each floor each with a different theme...stretching from the sports bar on the bottom floor to a chill bar on the very top floor where only 30 people are allowed in at a time to keep peace and relaxation and the alcohol running without chaos and fights. Bands play in there, societies gather (for instance I tango dance, debate philosophy while drinking, and meet up for wine socieites with really snobby rich kids and 'the duke'..more on that later), drunken scots, english, wales and irish people flood the stair cases without fail every night...and people that hail from philly are in that mix. Potter Row is a new complex and it opens up to a court yard (even has some palm trees in it) with a glass dome to cover it where you can eat, talk, and sober up after clubbing in the upstairs hall all night. I was in potter row last night. It was a roller skating/clubbing party and we danced to 80's music. Good times, good times. The pleasance is yet another student Union--another older building with a cute pub inside..I was there for quiz nights and internation pub talks.

So as you see the university has it's good and bad sides. The academic life --ehh..but the parties...A MAZ ING. Yay, for student unions...and Scots, and the rest of the 200 different countries that people are from here.

Cheers on that PAX

adventure all by meself

2004-09-27T08:57:00.000-07:00

No lectures today. So I took myself out on an adventure. I already new much of the Old Town of Edinburgh...the windy cobble stone trees, cracked houses--a maze of windy, and twisting streets, filled to the brim with pubs, resturants, coffe houses, little bridges, and really spooky corners. I live in the South Side in Pollock Halls right next to Holyrood Park. I have already climbed arthurs seat (part of this huge park, and the view from my window...rainbows over arthurs seat looking out my window the first day I arrived and I was like 'this is going to be good.'). I have yet to explore more of that park, but I didn't feel like doing that today. I had a taste of Morning Side when I went over to Luke and Hayley's flat for dinner last night. What an awesome flat, and really good conversations of life at Wooster (particularly the Xi Chi side of things since we are dorks and that's who we hung out with) versus life in Scotland..let's just say major difference. Can I just break in at this point and say that they are the most insanely cute married couple in the world?? It makes me sick.

I wanted to go beyond and into the New Town today. (everyone ooo and ahhh at this point.). So all on me lonesome (I guess other people had lectures to go to --suckers!) I took my FIRST double decker bus up to princes street. The walk I had was absolutly amazing. I got off the bus at 11:00 and didn't get back home until mmm...4:30. Quite a journey on foot. I walked through the most picturesque neiborhoods that you could ever imagine. The arcitexture is the most brilliant and captivating example of Gregorian style houses in the Victorian era. When I saw men with their pipes, or canes and little old scottish women walking around I felt like I had stepped back in time...I expected horse and carriages to be buzzing around at any moment instead of the little cars and crazy ass taxi's. I decided to visit my man's grave...HUME. Yeah, Hume and I go way back. Actually not really, but I we spent a lot of time together last semester before a Rationalisma and Empricism exam. So it was so exciting to stand in front of his grave, and finally say to his face? 'dude, what the hell are you thinking?? when you were alive that is,' yeah, i couldn't see him, but i knew he was there. Philosophy people will know why I was so enthusiastic. I climbed Colden Hill to see the city, the hills, castle and ocean all before my eyes (it was neat to see old city compared to the new city, then to see arthurs seat and the oceans, and beyond where all those freakin sheep must be.) SHEEP. are everywhere. Anyway, I walked and walked and walked. I found this great pub to sit down and read the newspaper and afternoon tea. A bunch of locals where there. It was a little cramped, dark den, off in one of those cool side streets..lots of friendlyness to go around. I read about parliment and Tony Blair. I found really, really rich neighborhoods (you can tell by the abondant flowers and little gardens in front of the houses, brillant colors and stones ..i wish I could take a picture of each little house I passed...I fall in love with the doors they have...cause I'm wierd.) I climbed down beneath a bridge (which had an excellent view of this little village), and walked along the water of Leith. I wound up in Stockbridge eventually. I managed to go back on another bus...ofcourse I climbed up to the top part, surrounded by the school kids who had just gotten out...kids..umph. Riding back to where I lived I past the Uni (Edinburgh University) and watch as they all were scampering around like a bunch of ants in and out of lectures and student unions (which is just a bunch of bars stacked up on one another).

I just wish someone was here to see all what I'm seeing.

Tomorrow I have 3 lectures. I suppose I should read something tonight. Philosophy of the Mind here I come.

Nikki YOU BUM! I miss you dearieee!!! Next post I'm talking about my life when I first got here during...FRESHER'S WEEK (in the language of Wooster that is first-year's orientation). (crazy crazy times).

Pax USAers. with a side of cheers. ;-)

Momento Mori

2004-08-28T22:07:00.000-07:00

QuOtE of tHe DaY: Ah! Look at all the stars...they are so..RED. -LEVI looking up at the sky in Roxbrough who is from the good old suburbs (yuck to suburbs!!!)... If you know where I live you would understand. You see, there are these big Radio Towers (about 10 of them) all lined with big red lights, so ofcourse you can see these gigantic, looming, metal structures from anywhere in the surrounding area all twinkling at you with their red beams...that's what I grew up to looking up at the sky. Some people have real stars, but, without big, red flashing things in your face at night..you are just not at home.

Moment of the Day--So there I was sitting on the beach in Atlantic city and Dr. Dykstra calls me on my cell phone. That's right folks...he now knows my cell phone. OH! It's all over for me. "So, what are you doing RIGHT now??" he asks. "ummm..sitting on a beach.." haaaaahahahhahahahaa. Oh Prof. Dyktra's humor always makes me day. I can't even repeat that conversation.

Well I didn't get plowed over and almost die today by any waves in Atlantic city. Isn't that good news?? Last time I went into the water it wasn't a pretty sight...well, I guess it was pretty funny to Nate to see me drenching wet, curled on the sand, my hair all in my mouth, and hacking...who kept laughing at me until he thought I was in serious trouble. Anyway, this Tuesday I hit the shore for the first time in a long time. The water felt incrediable! I ran in at full speed, diving under the waves and getting past the breaking point of the crests in the water. The current was insanely strong but I loved the waves..so ofcourse I'm trying to body surf and all that, but man, with that current, one mistake and it's all over. So yup, the stupidest thing you can do is just stand and not know whether to dive of to stand your ground, looking stupid and can't make up your mind like me... BAMB shhoosh bada boom....your dead honeyyy. It wasn 't that bad being sucked along the bottom of the ocean and being smashed into sand and feeling your feet touching above your head..I mean I knew I would come up eventually so what's the big deal? I would live. Well the big deal was that as soon as the undertow was done dragging me and doing it's thing, I got that breath of air that i needed badly at that point, only to look behind me and see another wave right ontop of the wave that had just pulled me under. Knowing I was in for it again, there was nothing I could do. Now this time, keep in mind with all the dragging and twisting and lack of air...I only had one breath to sustain me on. I was under for soo long I dont' know if I would have made it without passing out! Then damn Nate had to drag me out further...by this time I was hyperventalating and not only battleing the undertows but the current that was sucking me out to sea which I couldn't swim against. Nate kinda forgot that I'm just a bit smaller and lighter in the water then he is. Man, it's kinda wierd how your life can just end so quickly and so unexpectantly. We all laugh about it now, and everyone just thinks about how pathetic I am..which is ok because I truely am..but gosh, how many people underestimate certain forces and decisions they make. One little turn, one slight touch, one disicision--it's crazy how we could die at any moment. Not to be morbid or anything... I think it's interesting that when the Romans paraded around a great war hero or general they would honor him and decorate the day with fun filled activities and festivals... But as this Hero was paraded throughout the city there would be always seen a person right behind him, whispering in his ear..Momento Mori -"Remember to Die." I would have slapped that person silly, but that was the Roman custom.. I freakin wouldn't want to be told that on a big day in honor of myself...but that's how you battle being too stuck up on yourself, prideful,and thinking you are like God ...must remember that no mater what we accomplish..we are still human.

So yeah, not 21 yet. But I'm going to Scotland so who cares. Most of Atlantic city was off limits to underage "kids" like us but we did our best to have fun. Laughs, beach at night, drinks, good times.
Badda BOM-that's all for now....

PAX dudes.

3 by 5's

2004-08-24T21:51:00.000-07:00

OK, so I've been fighting the idea of an online journal for awhile. But it makes total sense to now have one. No one ever knows what I am up to..I mean, I can't even stay in one place longer then a month or so...having lots of adventures and explorations, can't be tied down at the moment. I thought about sending out mass emails once a month to tell all what I'm up to...but I'm too lazy for that at the moment. So here goes nothing. I'm going to put my thoughts and vignettes about the world of Annie for all to see..crazy no? I have lots of stories to share,and I what others to see parts of what I'm seeing in the world. As John Mayer says, i'm going to unlock the door and find the great outdoors, pulling up the shades...while i'm doing so I'll share pieces of what I see out there and hopefully someone will read it! I can't capture the world in a 3 by 5 photo and I am alone on my journeys...kinda bitter sweet feelings but hey, why not have a blogger to capture some images in little vignettes? Eh, why not try something new. As for now...

PAX dudes.