:) Hot Chocolate Brownie Fudge Sundaes! (July 31)

Okay, okay, so today involved exploring Glasgow’s….food. :) It all started at this cute little place on Ashton Lane called Ketchup. They make their own ketchup called “K sauce” and their burgers are just delicious! After research, Fiona and I headed over there and fillllllled up. As we were looking at the dessert menu, we realized how much we wanted chocolate, and how little chocolate was on the menu. So, off we went! We walked down the street to grab some dessert and decided on a place called Café Nardini. Fiona had been and said it was good, and all I wanted was a big fat sundae. So needless to say, when I saw the menu I was in heaven! Four panels of alllll sundaes. I chose the Hot Chocolate Brownie Fudge Sundae. Mouth watering yet? Scroll down juuuust a bit and you just might be tempted to hop on a plane to Scotland! :) And I thiiink I know where I got this little problem of mine - when I was skyping my mom about it, she asked me to stop and describe each part of the sundae in lots of detail. Seeee what I mean? ;)

 So much Ketchup at Ketchup!

 K-sauce

THEY WERE AS GOOD AS THEY LOOK!!!

Tchai-Ovna (July 30)

Today, I got to do FES & EMG stuff! Basically, I stuck electrodes on my arm to stimulate the muscle, and my thumb would contract. Then I had other electrodes on my thumb detecting the movement (EMG). Then came the icky part where I had to filter and analyze the signal. 

After research, I met up with one of my new French friends, Coralie! We went to a teahouse recommended to us called Tchai-Ovna. It’s quite the place! It’s very…hippy-ish…I guess you’d say. And I can’t tell if someone actually lives there or not! It was literally just a house at the end of a lane, and you just walked into the kitchen to tell them the kind of tea you want. So at first, I was a bit wary. Then I got my tea, tasted it, and I didn’t care how weird the little place was – it was delicious! It was a decent price and you got quite a bit. Conclusion: delish! 

My hand :)

University of Glasgow - looking up to the sky from the flagpole

 View forward from the flagpole - Kelvingrove Art Museum

 Flowers around campus

 Yummy afternoon tea :)

Tchai-Ovna Teahouse! 

Kelvingrove Park 

Kelvingrove Park

St. Andrews (July 29)

Since we spent most of Saturday inside, Fiona’s mom and sisters took me to St. Andrews today!! We woke up and had bacon & rolls..or in rolls…or, well, I forget what they called it but it was good! We ate in the super cute garden backyard as the weather went through all of its stages. Then we packed up and headed to St. Andrews! It was a gorgeous drive there, and I got to see green green fields filled with sheep and cows, all along the coast…Scottish countryside is incredible! Oh, and I saw cows run. RUN. Have you ever seen cows run? It was bizarre.

St. Andrews was incredible!!! We went to the beach and had a fun long walk. I got to see…windbuggies? Sandbuggies? I forget the name, but it was so cool. Why don’t we have this?! Check out the pictures. Then we walked through the old city, saw the castle, and went to the University. HOLY MOLY, the more Scottish universities I see, the more I realize how ugly and new ours is!!! Uh, I want to go to an awesome old castle-looking university! It’s so cool! Just look at how pretty it is. Throughout the day, we may have gotten ice cream and plenty of coffee. ;) And it HAILED! That happens mayyybe once a year for us in San Diego. And it was during their summer! Anyway, check out these pictures. :)

GORGEOUS St. Andrews beach

University of St. Andrews

University of St. Andrews

University of St. Andrews

How fun does this look??

 Fiona with her sisters & mom - such great hostesses! :) 

^^^ Guilty.....                                                 Starbucks serves coffee in real mugs here!

Just a random pretty street!

Intense Clouds!

 Big jellies all over! (Aren't they pretty though?)

Green, green, green!

 University of St. Andrews

 Scottish Countryside!

Wedding Planning! (July 28)

No, not for me! :)

Today we headed up to Fiona’s mom’s house in Fife - or Leven, to be specific. We spent the day doing wedding stuff for her, which was fun. :) She is absolutely the most laidback bride I have ever encountered! We ate biscuits and drank tons of coffee and tea the whole day and before we knew it, it was nighttime! We got “take away” (take out) and ate as we watched the men’s swimming races. Sorry UK, I’m still Team USA!

Catch-Up...& Ketchup! (July 26 & 27)

I'm still here! I suppose it's a good thing I haven't posted anything in a week because it means I've been out and about. :)

Here's a little synopsis:

Thursday: On this day, I FINALLY stopped my nonsense and got my lazy bum up off the couch. I'd started a routine of getting home from the Uni, plopping on the couch, and not getting up until I went to bed other than to get food....BAD! A girl I almost lived with here posted a pub & music event on Ashton Lane (Ashton Lane is a really cute little lane...almost an alley...filled with cafes and pubs, right by the Uni). This was 7 pm, and I was already in my PJs. Yes, THAT bad! My flatmate Fiona was working night shift at the hospital, but I decided to man up, figure out how to take the subway to the pub, and meet some people. And it was a success! I figured out the subway, got there and found the place, and had a nice evening/night meeting people and listening to the live music! It was definitely one of those things completely out of my comfort zone - finding my way around a foreign city alone (let alone on public transportation) & showing up to a place where I didn't know anyone. Did it pay off? Yes! :) And once I got home from that, I still got to cozy up in my PJs...win-win!

Friday: After research on Friday, Fiona & I went out to the City Centre for dinner. Her fiance dropped us off and we had dinner at a delicious little Italian place called Sarti's. I ate a whole pizza......yeah, that good. The Olympic Opening Ceremonies began while we were eating, so we got to see that. It was fun to watch there because the restaurant had so many different flags hanging everywhere! From there we went to a good ol' Scottish pub and got drinks while continuing to watch the Opening Ceremonies. It was such a fun environment!! THEN we headed to a Ferry where there was live Scottish music and traditional Scottish Ceilidh dancing! Did I do it? YES I DID! All I have to say is........holy moly there is a lot of spinning! Fiona and I did Strip the Willow...lots of fun! Also, I got to meet up with Tray again - we met on the coming TO Scotland! Fun day. :)

 Olympic Opening Ceremony

Quite the festive place to watch the Olympic Opening Ceremonies!

Blurry picture of the TV...but GO USA!!

Met up with Tray!

  Ceilidh dancing!

Alright, I know I was going to try to catch you all up now but I have to get into bed. I haven't been sleeping much and I just sneezed about....I'd say about 7 times (and that's not an understatement!). Either I'm really allergic to something or I'm coming down with a cold (eek!). I'll continue later, and add pictures! :)

(You'll understand the Ketchup part soon...)

I Feel Like An Infant Because...(July 25)

...I just slept through the night for the first time here!!!! A whopping 7 hours. Asleep the whole time. !!!!!

It's probably worth mentioning now that the first night here, I was able to sleep for an hour and a half. The second night, 3 hours. It was terrible - insomnia because of jet-lag, then when I had to get out of bed to go to the university around 8, my body FINALLY felt tired because it thought it was midnight. NOW you understand why this is such a big deal! Yay! And boo jet-lag.

Had another day of research today and did mostly reading to get familiarized again. My walk to and from the university was HOT because it was such a gorgeous day. At times, I forgot I was in Scotland because the weather was so nice!! I just got a little taste of San Diego. :) And speaking of San Diego, I made tacos for dinner! The taco seasoning I bought was too spicy so I made my own...still too spicy. Maybe one day I'll learn......

A couple more Scottish things:

• Aye means yes.
• "Tah" means thank you.
• The bathroom is the loo.
• The bathroom is also the toilet (more common). 

Possibly more intriguing, here are a couple more pictures I snapped today (on my phone!).

Yep, still there! Just had to make sure I wasn't imagining it! 

 Kelvingrove Park on the way home

Crossed over the Partick Bridge! 

Clyde Waterfront

More of Kelvingrove Park 

Kelvin Hall

First Day at Hogwarts!! Erm, I mean...Glasgow Uni... (July 24)

Wouldn't you be confused too?!

Today was my first day in the lab! We have QUITE the eclectic group of people. Let's see, my professor is from Serbia, then there's me from the US, then we have France, Italy, Denmark, Africa, Pakistan, and Greece. And those are just the ones I met! They're all really nice, and when we went outside to eat lunch it was SUNNY! :)

I've always heard about electrical stimulation of muscles but never done it to myself - well, there's a first for everything! To get introduced to the project, I read up on a bunch of stuff about nerves, muscles, Brain-Computer Interface (BCI), FES, tetraplegia, etc, and got to mess around with an FES and some electrodes - on my arm! I spent way too long stimulating different muscles and watching different parts of my arm and hand contract at different frequencies, currents, and pulse widths. So cool! Once, I tried to physically resist as the electrical stimulation caused my hand to clench. Ouch, I don't advise it haha. Anyway, today was a bit boring other than that just because I had so much reading to do, and since I'm still jet-lagged and got 3 hours of sleep, I was fighting to keep from falling asleep face-first on my reading. I'm excited to start testing on patients and watch tetraplegics be able to move again! I'll be working with EEGs too, which is cool because these are all things I've been learning a lot about in the last year! Alright, so today's post is mostly just about the pictures, because for once I was out and about on my walk to and from school. Have a look! (Am I starting to sound a wee bit Scottish?) ;)

A few more things to add that I learned (or that I forgot to include in the last post)

• It's not little, it's wee. Everything is wee. Extremely common word!
• Allergies still exist in Scotland. Trust me, I know from experience. -_-

Now for the gorgeous pictures, snapped with my phone!!

Oh, and I didn't mention the sunset (at 10 pm!). I glanced outside and saw a pink reflection on a building...then I decided I would go walk down and see if it was a good sunset and BAM it was SO BEAUTIFUL!!! Don't you agree?!?!

Who Wants To Learn Some Scottish?? (July 23)

Sorry folks, but the combination of jetlag & a very rainy day makes for quite the cozy day (or boring day, for you pessimists out there) and not much to post about! Unless, of course, you want to call my trip to the supermarket exciting...

It's been quite some time since I've been in the rain, so I loved being able to cozy up and drink tea!! No complaints here. :)

So, I've decided to share with you some random Scottish things I've learned! Check 'em out:

• It's not an elevator, it's a lift.
• It's not an apartment, it's a flat.
• It's not a garage, it's a car park.
• They're not intersections, they're junctions and roundabouts. (...As they drive on the left side of the road - still not used to that!!)
• It's not a shopping cart, it's a buggy. (And on that note, you have to put money down to use a buggy and you get it back when you return it so you can't steal it - why don't we do that?!)
• It's not a grocery store, it's a supermarket. (Okay, so that one's not that different...)
• Oh, and they don't have Dove chocolate. So, today I learned that I am going to SAVOR the Dove chocolate my momma sent with me and make it last 2 months. Unless someone wants to send me some...? ;) Or better yet, visit me and bring me some!!! Or if you visit, I'll be so ecstatic that you can just forget the chocolate thing altogether.
• I paid more for a tiny, tiny, tiny thing of Skippy smooth peanut butter today than I would pay for a HUGE supersize thing of Skippy smooth peanut butter in the US. That was my one splurge item. I need my Skippy smooth peanut butter.
• Apple needs to get on its game because Siri apparently can't understand Scottish accents. Now that's not fair! 
• It's COLD here, and even COLDER in the supermarket. Okay, note to self: MORE LAYERS. 
• It rains....a lot. Good thing I love rain!
• Museums here are free. Why aren't museums in the US free? :(
• "Red sky at night, shepherd's delight; Red sky in morning, shepherd's warning." -- Tomorrow should be a nice day...at least, the red sky says so!!

P.S. I'm obsessed with their accents. That is all. :)

The Queen Has Arrived! (July 22)

.....I wish! Maybe I'd feel like a queen if I partook in the luxuries of first class - but oh, no, I was just one row BEHIND first class, with the dreaded "curtain" separating the first-classers from us lowly folk. ;) Anyone seen Bridesmaids?? I thought about pulling a "Mrs. Iglesias" and seeing what the flight attendants thought.....

All jokes aside, I'm here! And I cannot complain about anything at all - everything about getting here went very smoothly. My loving pops drove me to LAX before the sun made its appearance - he's brave waking up at 4 am! I got all checked in and through security in no time, then just waited around for my first flight and slept the WHOLE way to Philly. After a slight delay, we took off and hopped across the pond...it was a 7 hour hop. ;) I hopped across the Atlantic one way while my brother hopped back from France - I thought that was cool!

Although I didn't get extremely lucky with my seat - stuck in a little cubby with a wall in front and behind me - I lucked out with the people I was sitting next to. I met a GREAT couple, Tray & Mack, and we chatted for the first 3 or 4 hours of the flight! Our flight attendant Star made the flight even better by checking on us constantly and giving us some "complimentary" wine - I guess good company and a little wine make a long trip pretty enjoyable! After a quick snooze and a peak out the window, we began descending through layers of clouds (it is the UK after all) and landed over the BEAUTIFUL greenery!! Take a look.

After landing and going through the shock that I was actually, finally in Scotland, I got picked up from the airport by a close family friend's cousin - or something like that! I had my first "UK moment" and almost got into the wrong side of the car...I forget they drive on the left side of the road here, so the driver & passenger seats are switched! I got a lovely tour of the city and even got to see exactly where I'll be doing my research. The city of Glasgow and the University of Glasgow are GORGEOUS! I can't get enough!! Eventually we made it to my flat right on the River Clyde and I met my flatmate Fiona - I lucked out with her, too! She is so nice. We had tea and croissants, and then I dismissed myself for a short nap - we're talking 9 am - noonish. Now fast forward to 5 pm when I woke up cuddling with my phone! Thanks to my extended slumber, we had to cancel our big supermarket trip and plan it for tomorrow. Fiona's fiance James did drive us there really quickly to pick up dinner and breakfast, and I now have one item on my shelf - I am the proud owner of some tasty Cheerios. :)

Have I settled in? In a sense. If you call changing into the coziest sweats and fuzzy socks and plopping on the couch while watching Friends and gorging myself with chocolate settling in...then yes, I have settled in. Unpacking? Showering? Eh...I'll get to that. ;)

For all of you wondering, I am 8 hours ahead of the west coast. Right now it's 10 pm and still not completely dark! I think I like this. :) Anywhoooo, that's enough for now. And remember, I have email, Skype, and Facebook so don't be a stranger!! 

OH - one more thing. Check out this picture...

See that? The sun? I was told there wasn't supposed to be any sun in the UK! The sun was shining right through when we landed...maybe I brought some of my San Diego sun after all! :)

Onto the Next Adventure!

Told you I had the travel bug! This summer, I'm headed to Scotland for 2 months and I couldn't be more excited. While last summer's Semester at Sea was the adventure of a lifetime and I'm not sure anything will be able to top it, this summer's trip will still be tons of fun! This time, I'll actually stay in the same place for a majority of the trip- I will be a research student at the University of Glasgow, living in the city & diving head-first into the culture.

As I'm attempting to fit 2 months worth of my life into one 50-pound suitcase (unless, of course, someone's willing to pitch $100 for a second bag!), I'm starting to realize how much I'm going to miss! In case you aren't aware, in Glasgow there is virtually no sun. Oh, and it rains almost every day. Ohhhh, and it's COLD! During the summer! And me, Miss California Girl, is going for 2 months. No sunny beach, no California burritos & late night taco shops, no SeaWorld or Disneyland or 6 Flags. No puppy dog. None of my family & friends from home.

Okay, it sounds like I'm complaining now. I'm totally not. I'm just getting it all out because the truth is that I am SOOO excited (and a weeee bit nervous) to throw myself into a new country and culture where I know nobody. No one. Zilch. Nada. Zippo. I guess you could say I'm JUMPING of my comfort zone again. But if I grow even a portion of how much I did last time I did that, two thumbs up! Plus, I'm going to be learning so much in the lab and hopefully helping improve the quality of life for paraplegics. That's even more awesome!

Oh, and anyone wondering what my school looks like? Harry Potter, to me! Take a look. :)
This is the screenshot I just took on Google Maps & if you Google it yourself, you'll see many more awesome photos I'm sure.  Hopefully, I'll have some of my own soon!