Home

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!

Birthday

It was my birthday yesterday, and some friends from the department decided to decorate the little area in the department library I like to call my second home. It was great. I walked into the library yesterday morning at 9 to find a big banner, chocolates and an assortment of my favourite classics books. Most of my friends had lots of work to do, so I spent most of the day reading fun books (I just finished Thomas Harris' Red Dragon and have started on Mary Roach's Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers). I went out for coffee twice and headed to my favourite pub for a pint.

At around 7, I went over to S's house for a party that some friends had planned. It was great. This is probably the first birthday party in about 5 years that I didn't have to plan myself. Back during my undergrad years, 2 of my close friends and I all had our birthdays within 5 days of each other, so we always had a big wine and cheese party but because I had the best house for parties, I always seemed to be the host. This year, I didn't have to do anything. I didn't even want to know what we were doing, I just showed up when they told me to. It was quite an assortment of people since there was the normal group of people I hang out with, plus friends from the department, and then also some people I live with. All in all good times had by all (at least I think so).

I'm heading back to Canada for Christmas and I think it's going to be weird. I've been here for three months and I'm now just going back to visit for a couple weeks before heading back here again. Strange. It will also be weird being back in a big city again. I've gotten so use to walking everywhere, it's going to be hard to have to drive everywhere. I'm looking forward to the break though, and it will be good to visit with people that I haven't seen in a while and just sit curled up in a comfy chair with some tea and read (and of course work on German, no vacation for the PhD student).

Christmas is coming!

It's been a little crazy here over the last couple of weeks as the term winds down and people get ready for Christmas. There have been numerous formal events, theater shows, musical performances, plus having to finish all the school work before Christmas.

Three of my friends are here on Rotary Scholarships and there was a formal Rotary ball last night. I ended up going with my friend F. It started with a drink reception, then moved into a dinner and was finished by a traditional scottish dance (ceilidh, pronounced K-A-L-EE). It was great fun. I got to talk with lots of very nice Scottish men who reminded me of my Grandpa, learn some interesting information about my town, and learn some crazy scottish dances (kind of like square dancing but not). It was an extremely formal affair with men in tuxes (although most were in kilts) and women in evening wear. I had a lot of fun. It was like being at a wedding except everyone stayed till the very end (about 1:00am). The Scots sure know how to throw a party.

I go back to Canada in a week for Christmas holidays and am trying to get a bunch of stuff done. My latest big project is sorting out funding for next year. Not a very fun time. I hate looking for money and trying to convince people to give it to me but I guess I'll have to get use to it since that is the life of academia. I've been a little sick all week and yesterday I lost my voice. It hasn't yet come back and it's been really hard for me. I hate not being able to join in discussions. I'm heading off to bed now and hopefully I'll get before the carol service tomorrow.