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Since I'm now finally caught up on my sleep, I figured I should update again. The last week I was in Scotland was a little crazy with having to pack, meet my supervisor, attend various Christmas Concerts, and Christmas Parties. I ended up leaving Scotland on Saturday, with a full 24 hours of travelling to get from my little town to my parents house in Calgary. Needless to say, it was a long, tiring trip, with all my flights being delayed (for no apparent reason). No problems with customs or anything but had some interesting experiences in security. In Edinburgh, they hardly even looked at my passport and you don't need photo identification to get on a plane. They didn't seem concerned about my laptop or anything. Flying into Heathrow was also fine. Went through a quick passport check and then off to the large common waiting room for three hours waiting for that moment when your gate finally flashes up on the screen and you have about 20 minutes to run to your gate and get on the plane. Arrived in Montreal basically on time, had to clear customs (no I'm not bringing back firearms, or animals, or bees), drop my bag off, and head through security again. The one thing I learned this trip is that of all the airports, Montreal has the most rigorous security measures: No liquids at all (at Edinburgh and Heathrow certain amounts of liquid are allowed as long as they adhere to specific measures and are placed separately in a plastic bag); my laptop got tested for drugs, or bomb traces, or whatever they test for when they swab it; I had to take my boots off; and the security guy told me to take off my sweater, it has a zipper on the front but when I wear it I only wear a camisol under it so there is Medea, standing waiting to go through the metal detector in her socks, trousers, and a little white tank-top. A little embarrassing but hey, by this time I just really wanted to get on the plane and go home. So, what did we learn from this little experience... Apparently, Canada is not going to have any terrorists flying on domestic flights but international flights are still wide open. Way to go team!
I arrived in Calgary about midnight, so I basically went straight to bed and woke up at 10 the next day with no jetlag. Hooray for me. I've now spent the last couple days finishing up my Christmas shopping, meeting some friends that still live here, running errands with my mom, and trying to do some of the school work I foolishly brought home with the intention of completing. Maybe I should just forget about it and relax but honestly, I dragged my german textbook and dictionary all the way here, it would seem a shame to not open it.
Only two more days here, then off to Ottawa to visit my sister. 5 people in a two bedroom apartment should make for a cosy Christmas. I look forward to seeing her since visits are becoming more and more sporadic these days (I guess it doesn't help that I moved to another continent). And I get to get on another plane... at least I'm now a professional security clearer. My trip back to Scotland should be less crazy since I am taking an almost direct flight to Glasgow, then a train and a bus. Hopefully it won't be 24 hours of travelling but one never knows.
Hope you all are having a great Christmas wherever you are!