Scotland, ho!

After a one hour train ride from Edinburgh, we arrived in Leuchars (the nearest town to St. Andrews with a train station). Once there, we maneuvered our four huge suitcases and took a taxi to our new apartment. We drove past beautiful fields, vast farms, and quaint old houses. After about 10 minutes we pulled into the David Russell Apartment complex. We were so excited.
The David Russell complex is completely green! The development consists of a series of independent buildings clustered around a main building, and overlooking a man made lake, which forms part of the sustainable urban drainage scheme.

The main building's roof is topped with grass, which acts as a heat insulator during the winter and a natural cooler during the summer months. In 2006, David Russell Apartments was the first university residence in the country to be awarded the Green Tourism Business Scheme's Gold Award.
David checked into reception at the main building and got our apartment key (which is like a hotel swipe card) and we took our suitcases to the "Tulloch" building. Our apartment is on the top floor (no elevator). So David lugged our four huge suitcases up the stairs with his own personal cheerleader (me) helping him along.

Our new place is a studio flat with a great kitchen! There are twelve other people living on our floor. We are enjoying our new flat and spending more time so closely together :-)


Our first task was to go grocery shopping. We walked 20 minutes into the center of town to Tesco, the local supermarket. We were SHOCKED at how cheap groceries were compared to NYC. We loaded up our backpacks and walked back with all our goodies.

The first Saturday of each month is a great farmer's market about 10 minutes from where we live. The farmer's market has amazing local produce (including garlic cheese!!), fresh bread, and homemade soaps. The produce at Tesco's is also really good, but we enjoy having farm fresh vegetables and supporting the local economy.

Tea and toast, veggie sausages, roasties (potatoes tossed in olive oil, garlic, basil and rosemary), and sauteed tomatoes & mushrooms. A great way to start the day!

In the days that followed, we took walks in different directions from our flat, discovering a wooded path, walled gardens, the East Sands Beach, and other, more scenic routes into town.




We love our new home! You should come and visit!

Thank you, Bonnie for turning us on to this great site!
Also, here's something to lighten up your day:
Mad Cow Jailed

Hey, all!

Sorry we haven't posted in a while - it's been a mad week, gearing up for classes, and Debi's been really busy as well!

I had my first full day today, and enjoyed every second of it!

My Anthropology Prof. is amazing! Completely mental (Scottish term for "nuts"), but in a really good way. I know his class is going to be the highlight of my days.


My other classes are great as well - I'm taking Ethical Controversies (Philosophy) and Foundations of Language (Linguistics), in addition to Social Anthropology, plus Debi and I are both taking Gaelic Thursday evenings.

My first Archery class is Wednesday - I'm very excited. Fencing and Crew (rowing) are top contenders, but might have to wait until next Semester.

On Sundays after Chapel, all the students file out from the enormous, ancient wooden doors of St. Salvador's, across the Quad, and down to the Pier. It's quite a sight.






The red robes are standard for my school (the black robes are for Divinity Students). There are different ways of wearing the robes, depending on your year, and it's considered bad luck to fasten them. The practical reason for this is, I imagine, linked to the Pier Walk. The robes are quite heavy wool, and would become a concrete jacket if you were to fall in (which, with the wind, is a strong possibility)...

Well, that's all for now - we have a lot of photos and movies of some trips we've taken since we arrived here, that we just have to get sorted. I promise we'll post them.

Hope you're all enjoying Autumn!

Cheers!
-David & Debi

After a whirlwind tour of the States to see friends and family, Debi and I were ready to depart.

Our wonderful friends, Liliya and Allison came to take us to the airport - our suitcases were so big that they barely fit! Allison had to relinquish her seat so we could fit all four large suitcases. We're so blessed to have such amazing friends - thank you, both!

In a crazy side note, I'd been trying to sell my acoustic guitar on Craig's List, but had only received false leads (beware of people offering to pay with Cashier's Cheques or Money Orders, by the way). In the 11th hour, a young Columbia student contacted me and we arranged to meet at JFK, as she was flying in from Texas just about when Debi and I were going to be arriving at the airport.
All went well, and she seemed very happy. I'm glad - it's a great guitar, and I'd prefer someone to enjoy it.

Debi and I then went through the long process of checking-in. "Long," only because our suitcases were packed so full that they were overweight.
Ach, ja. What can y'do?
Seeing as we packed everything (pretty much) into two suitcases and a carry-on each, they were bound to be heavy. We got rid of a few more things and redistributed the weight, and the helpful and courteous crew at the Aer Lingus gate made what could've been a bad experience as pleasant as could be.

Debi was able to get a little rest on the plane, but I was too amped.
Besides, "Prince Caspian" was showing.



I'm a geek.
Yes, I know.

[Ahem]

We arrived at Dublin Airport and walked 500 miles from the gate to customs. Foof! The line was long but moved very quickly. All was handled expediently and pleasantly (take heed, "Homeland"), which was a welcome change.
We had a few hours' layover, so we enjoyed a very nice bit of tea and a suprisingly-good breakfast at a restaurant in the airport.

A quick flight later and we were on Scottish soil!

Click the links below to see full-sized images:


Prince's Park & North Bridge


The view from Prince's Park


Edinburgh Castle


Prince's Park, and Scott Monument

We spent the first night in Edinburgh at a B&B in our favorite part of town (outside the Castle, that is), in a Georgian town house, just a few blocks from Prince's Street.

LOVE this sign:

Debi slept-in the next morning, while I ran off to the Mac store to get an adaptor. I had a great walk up to Princes Street, then over both North Bridge and South Bridge; then back again, towards the Royal Mile, down through Prince's Park, past the Sir Walter Scott Monument, and back down Leith, just in time to get a cab to the Railway Station.




On the walk, I was able to take the raw footage for the movie included herewith (enjoy):

Before setting-off across the Atlantic, we did a bit of touring around the States, visiting friends and family.
Debi had a full month in Washington and Oregon with her family, while I did my best to get the remainder of our papers shredded and belongings sorted. It's amazing how much crap we collect. Really! Foof!

After my last night at Canyon Road, I flew out to meet Debi in Vancouver, Washington, and got to see her folks again, and be reunited with my sweetiepie at long last!
We had a great time - there was a huge family dinner one night, which was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed catching up with everyone. They were all very excited about our trip, and glad that Debi could spend a fair amount of time with them before making the big jump across the pond.

We took a drive out to the Oregon Coast - just lovely. I'd never been before, and have never seen anything like it.
We stayed at a great B&B - the owners built the entire house themselves! It was very comfortable, and our hosts were very warm and gracious. They even set out wine and cheese for us to take down to the Adirondack chairs, overlooking the Pacific.




On the way back, we passed through wine country, and went past a favorite vineyard, Rex Hill. We'll be taking a trip there sometime in the future...

Shortly after our return to NYC, we departed again to spend some time with Dave and Suzanne in Boston. We then drove up to see Dave's folks, just outside of Rochester, NY. We had a wonderful time there - very relaxing and fun. It was great to have a little "down-time" with Dave and Suzanne, and Dave's folks are really cool (they also built their own wonderful cabin).

Suzanne and I made peach pies, as a result of one of the peach tree branches snapping off because it was overladen with fruit! We had a great time, whilst Dave and Debi acted as assistants, running up and down the stairs to preheat the oven, warm our crusts, etc. We also got a chance to visit the beach, and Lake Ontario. We had a great time skipping stones and walking along the shoreline. I'll never forget going out amongst the cornfields at night to look at the stars. Magic.
Hats off to Dave for driving over 7 hours each way! Double foof!

We touched-down again in NYC, only to head out again a day later, this time for D.C., and a visit with Frank and Kristen. We also opted to make that a relaxing time, and in lieu of the usual activity-packed weekend, we slept-in, played with Little Boy Cat and Little Girl Cat, checked out their garden (and future plans for it!), and enjoyed some wine whilst playing a cool board game called "Settlers of Catan" which was a lot of fun.


Of course the food was amazing, as always at Chez Shipegan. Toques off to Frank!






We were also treated to a dinner with Kristen & Frank, Guy and Min, and Michelle & Chris! It was a splendid time, and great to see so many of our friends before we left!








We headed back on a Double-Decker Megabus (preparing us for the U.K.),
and got a good night's sleep. Then...off to the Renaissance Faire!
We got dressed-up this time, and had a wonderful time visiting our friend, Jenny. We enjoyed our day, visiting the Kissing Bridge several times,

enjoying the booths and the shows, and, of course, spending time with our dear friend.


I was also able to sell my LOTR swords, Anduril and the Elven Knife, which was a big relief (not easy to rid oneself of a 5-foot sword in NYC)! They went to Tolkien fans, so I'm...[sniffle]...very happy.



Back to NYC for the final night, and then...

Scotland Ho!

by David (at some ungodly hour)



I've just received word that I've been accepted into Social Anthropology / Linguistics programs at the University of Aberdeen and the University of St. Andrews (pictured above) in Scotland!

I'm blown-away. It's all I hoped for and more besides - I honestly didn't think I'd be offered a seat at St. Andrews.

Both schools are highly-ranked, and among the oldest in the world (St. Andrews is Scotland's oldest university, founded in 1413).

St. Andrews is a beautiful, small medieval town on the shores of the North Sea, just north of Edinburgh. When I visited the town three years ago, I saw the university and got all misty-eyed, and fantasized about studying there. It was just a dream, though. To be accepted as a student there is the highest honor I could've hoped for - I'm really overwhelmed at what I've just been blessed with.

Of course, it'll be a lot different - going from NYC to a small town by the sea will be an adjustment.

However, I think I'm up to the challengeA few of my friends in the New York Caledonian Club (a Scottish-American Society I'm a member of), have warned that St. Andrews can be rather stuffy. Regard the photo below. With a street name like that one, how stuffy can they be?


Here's a short tour of the town of St. Andrews: