I don't really know why I felt like appearing patriotic today...but, I thought it was kind of cool in a way that my colors can be meaning British or American patriotism! 

It has been almost a week since I have written, and I apologize.  BUT, I am almost screaming with excitement because I leave on my sleeper train tomorrow night!!!  And I wake up in the morning, if I can sleep on the train (something experience tells me doesn't happen...), and take another train to Gatwick to meet them at the arrivals gate.  YAY!!!  I am screaming now because I know I really won't write for the rest of the time, and will probably just do a recap of everything once I get back to Texas, which means this could be my LAST entry from Scotland!!!  Aw...that is quite sad really. 

This week has been spent shopping for gifts for Korey's 10th Birthday (which was Sunday)/her souvenir, my mom's Mother's Day/Birthday/Souvenir, and Kimberly's Birthday/Souvenir presents...I wanted to have them when they arrived in London.  I found some great items, but I can't say anything on here, because I know Kimberly reads this often and my mom some.  I don't really like they will read it before they leave from Houston tomorrow (Mom is staying with Kimberly in Brenham since they have the same flight)...but I don't want to take a chance of spoiling my fun.  I also picked out two amazing gifts for one of my best friends, Heather.  They are perfect for her.  And I found what I want to give my grandparents, and Sammie (my other grandma), and Jocelyn and Marcia...I am mostly sure but I didn't get them because I am going down to London and around Scotland, and want to make sure.  For Korey, I got her this adorable purple jeweled and pewter square jewelry box, a sterling silver dainty trinity symbol necklace, and a pink shirt that says Scotland on it with the flag.  Giving to people is one of my favorite things ever, and I can't wait until I actually have a lot of money to spend on my family and friends, and can buy all the amazing things I always see in shops that I wish I could get.  I know it doesn't matter, if it is given with love, but still...you know everyone would enjoy the higher-quality stuff better most of the time!  Time will tell...

Now, let's see if I can remember what I did last week..besides shopping during the day, I don't think I did anything during the week at night.  I did cook Wednesday dinner with Anna at her flat.  It was my last time to cook too!  I will go this week, but am leaving on the train at 11 so won't have much time except to eat Gisela's food and then say goodbye to everyone.  Last Wednesday almost everyone was busy with exams though, and so it ended up being just Anna, me, Ebenezer, and Will.  The four of us had a lot of fun, and Ebe walked me most of the way home as always during which we partook in a lovely debate about abortion...I even summoned random people off the street for their opinions...it was quite fun.  We parted friends though as always...never personal! 

Oh yeah!  I forgot, on Thursday I saw David and his flatmate Sean walking on The Mound when I was heading back from a walk, and they invited me to see The Day After Tomorrow.  Since I have a weakness for action/adventure/fantasy films, I readily agreed, and then spent my time talking Brittany into coming with me after we had scarfed down some pizza.  It turned out to be entertaining, if a little unrealistic and corny at dramatic moments, but hey, what action movie isn't?  Still, great fun.

On Friday, I went over to Brittany's and hung out for a few minutes before we left with Anna and Brittany's homemade chocolate chip cookies to watch Friends, Big Brother (a HUGE deal here...it was originally a british show and it is so much better over here!  really quite funny...it was the season premiere, so we got to meet all the people and had a lot of fun), and Chariots of Fire, which Brittany had never seen!  We had fizzy drinks, crisps (the greatest ones- Kettle Chips), caramel digestive biscuits, and Brit's cookies...and I got to hum in my head the theme songs of Vangelis to the film.  We didn't finish the film until about 1 something, and I hope we didn't keep his flatmate Daisy up, who is a nurse who turned in after Big Brother because she had to work early. 

On Saturday, I went with Christina, Claire, and Brittany to eat at Negociantes, cute little cafe with excellent nachos and bruschetta.  We saw Robbie there.  Then, Claire, Christina, and I went to see 50 First Dates, which I had seen, but since Claire has been busy for the last couple of weeks with her 8 exams, and I am about to be with fam and this may be my last week to see a lot of these people, I took every chance I got to hang out.  After the movie, we went to Po Na Na club until about 1am.  Then, we walked across the street to my flat and visited for about an hour before we called it quits as we were exhausted! 

Sunday, I brought some groceries, walked around some in North Edinburgh, where I never go much, and then went to church at night.  Sadly, I am compelled to go to church not because I want to worship God, but because I miss singing loudly with people, living all alone and out of batteries for my discman, and because after the service I go downstairs and play on the piano...ah, bliss. 

Yesterday, I tottered around town all day and then Kate, Christina, and I went to the opening night premiere of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban!  Take that Americans!  I don't think it is out there yet!  For once, I get to see something first!  It pays to live in the city where she wrote her first book, and in the country where she is from!  It was fabulous and John Williams' music was great once again.  We actually thought we weren't going to get to see it, because Christina had ordered the tickets online and then we had paid her, because we knew it would be sold out.  When we got to the front though, they said her card didn't have the internet reservation on it, and so Kate and I were freaking out since we had read the books and were more of fans than Christina who just thought the movies were cool.  They were really nice though, (I don't think this would have happened in America...if the computer had malfunctioned and they didn't have the reservations...), and they let us purchase tickets and use the extra fire-hazard seats that they had in the theatre.  They scooted people together, and gave us great seats right in the middle!  I think they were afraid what the American college kids would do really...but still, it was a great night. 

Today, I just went shopping, to the pharmacy to get lipgloss, hand lotion, and nail files, and now I am here in the computer lab.  I actually woke up really early for me, 9am!, but my stomach has been feeling ill for the past couple of days and I don't know why.  I in my mind feel hungry for meals 2 times a day, but my stomach never feels empty...it just feels nauseous and upset...don't know what is going on really.  Maybe it is just drainage from allergies and sinuses?  Who knows? 

I don't think I will stay much longer here because I have to go home and do about 5 loads of laundry before I leave tomorrow, and other preparatory stuff.  Anyway, so long to you all!  I will leave you from Scotland with a quote from one of my now favorite books which I read for the first time this semester, and a new one I encountered this semester from one of my favorite essayist/poets:

The world is a looking-glass, and gives back to every man the reflection of his own face. Frown at it, and it will in turn look sourly upon you; laugh at it and with it, and it is a jolly kind companion; and so let all young persons take their choice.

-William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair (this book is very long, which is why I could never start it, but I read it during Easter Break here, and it was worth it...Thakeray is amazing.)

Truth lies within ourselves: it takes no rise from outward things, whatever you may believe. There is an inmost center in us all, where truth abides in fullness and to Know rather consists in opening out a way whence the imprisoned splendor may escape than in effecting entry for light supposed to be without.

-Robert Browning, essay on religion, one of my favourite quotes ever

"The greatest griefs are those we cause ourselves."    -Sophocles

Aren't the Greeks the greatest civilization ever?  Everything came from them!  I thought I would begin with them because I wanted to write a list of everything that differed between the movie Troy, and The Iliad.  I have been thinking about it since I saw it last Thursday, opening night, with Handan, Anna, Ebenezer, and Brittany, and even though it was lovely (especially passionate, rebellious Achilles...Brad Pitt), there were some big differences, and I have been mulling them over in my head, trying to remember the movie correctly and the Iliad, which I admittedly haven't read in long time...bad for someone studying Greek and Latin, huh?  Anyway, here is what I can think of generally that is incorrect about the movie.

1) The actual Trojan War in the book lasts for ten years...not a few weeks as in the movie.

2) Briseis, the beautiful virgin maiden Achilles loves in the movie after she is taken captive, was not from Troy, but some other city near Troy that the Achaeans took back to their camp after battle...don't know that city's name, will have to look up later.  The whole story in the movie of Briseis is quite mixed up...I don't even know if she had devoted herself to the Temple of Apollo herself...I know the other maiden Chryseis's father did because he demands a large ransom for her, but I don't remember about her.  She was indeed as in the movie given to Agamemnon, but just because of Chryseis's father and a plague (happened here, not when they see the Trojan horse, as in the movie!) I believe?  My memory as I said is sketchy about this....it took this long to remember this much!  But, I don't think he gets Briseis back in the book; I believe it is this that makes him refuse to fight, to the Achaeans (Greeks) detriment.

3) Then, because Achilles is so mad about Briseis, he asks his mom (a sea nymph, named something with a t...Thes or Tesis or something) to evoke Zeus to help the TROJANS win the war, because he hates Agamemnon so much....he does, and the Trojans defeat the Greeks with the help of Zeus so much that they are basically cowering behind their ships.

4)Patrocles I think is only Achilles friend, not his cousin, but I think they made him his cousin in the book so that he would supposedly look like Achilles and would encite his revenge on his Hector more than just a friend..but I think in the Iliad it was just a friend.  He with Achilles' help puts on Achilles armour, and Patrocles even helps the battle a lot I think.  But then Hector kills him, and Achilles' rage over this portrayed well in the movie I think.

5) So, Achilles goes back into battle with a new suite of armour from some god, don't remember which one, and the Trojans run scared when they see him and hide in the city walls...and Hector faces him, but really he runs scared around the city walls 2 or 3 times, and finally is somehow tricked only into fighting Achilles, because unlike in the movie with all his courage and supposed greatness, he really was scared of losing to Achilles like he knew he would.  Achilles does as in the movie drag his body around the camp, and I think he actually does this for a few days before Priam with the help of some god (Hermes?) is guided to Achilles through the Greeks' camp, and gets Achilles sympathy to take Hector's body and they do get that truce as in the movie.

6) This is actually the end of the Iliad- the story of Achilles' getting shot in the heel by Paris is actually not in the Iliad, it was so well-known outside of it though.  The Iliad ends with the funeral feast for Hector.  In Greek stories, Achilles sees Polyxema, a daughter of Priam, at the funeral feast, and that is who he falls in love with and wants to put an end to the war for (I think they just combined Birseis and Polyxema in the movie...).  He goes to the temple of Apollo and that is when Paris shoots him in the heel with a poisonous arrow.  But I think some versions say he dies in battle, so maybe the movie version isn't so different.

7) What is different is that Helen didn't go with Aeneas (only Trojan warrior to escape through passage to then found Rome in the Aeneid).  She goes back with Menelaus (you really HATE Helen in the book because she causes the war and then her loyalties are so fickle throughout, that she starts wanting to be Greek again toward the end of the war) and has their daughter Hermione (Harry Potter!).  Paris doesn't get to live either, he dies in battle I believe.  Only Aeneas and some non important people from Troy leave.  Agamemnon takes Cassandra, Priam's other daughter completely left out of movie who was a visionary of the war's events, as a slave but they both die by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover.  The Trojan horse was mostly accurate in the movie, besides the whole huge time frame factor, except for it wasn't a plague, but they just went and head and left a servant to say that they had fleed from the wrath of Athena and had erected this for her and then hoped the Trojans might destroy it and then get her mad at them...so of couse then they kept it (against a prophecy not to),and the story goes from there!

Okay, that is all I will say, and all I remember at that!  I did love the movie though, but I love all historical dramas!  I just love time period novels and movies and everything, and can never get enough of them!

Other than seeing Troy on Thursday, I went and had Wednesday dinner last week and we had vegetable, cheesy pasta, lime and tarragon chicken, and zucchini and carrots cooked, compliments of Brittany.  It was delicious, and we also had an amazing fruit tart that she cooked!  I talked to friend named Ian about my spiritual struggle and he brought up probably the most insightful and valid points I have heard so far, mostly probably because it was in person, but it was still great and I won't tell you what hit me so hard about what he said, because I am still pondering it, but it was good nonetheless.  Thursday before Troy, Brittany and I went to eat at Chocolate Soup, this awesome bistro chain in Edinburgh.  We had sandwiches, (turkey and cranberry for me- yum!), and then chocolate mint soup!  A huge bowl of chocolate mint, warmed up and soupy, with whipped cream, chocolate sauce, and an after eights mint on top...now, isn't that a lovely idea? CHOCOLATE SOUP!!  Everyone must go to this place when they come to the UK!  We then went to the park and skipped around the flowers, me bare foot of course, and then soaked up some sun- it was a gorgeous day!  I kind of just hung out and cleaned and read friday night, and then saturday night went and hung out and brittany's for pasta and dvds.  Sunday, went to church at night, and stayed and played on the piano downstairs for about thirty minutes- once brittany actually thought I left, I decided to!  Today and yesterday have just read this great novel about mining in California and Nevada, did laundry, baked bread, did yogalates and other exercises, and wrote a letter to my grandparents.  Today, this afternoon I came in and worked on the computer for jobs back home, catching up on email, etc.  And now, at 8 pm, I am about to head back home. 

Tomorrow I am cooking at Annas my mom's chicken and rice casserole, and anna is making a salad to go with it, and I am sure we will figure out something for dessert.  Love to cook, so can't wait for tomorrow!  Really, I am just trying to bide my time until next Wednesday when I leave for London!  I am too excited to think of much else!  But I will try to soak up the sun by reading outdoors on pretty days and going to the museums some more.  That and buying gifts for my little sister's b-day on the 30th, and for my mom and Kimberly, is about all I will be doing!  Okay, here are some pics of family.  Love you all! Take care!

Wow...I really am getting good at this thing!  I am writing another entry just two days later! 

I am still quite in a daze from staying up all night until after 7 this morning, absorbed completely in The Da Vinci Code.  It was SO intriguing and interesting!  I think I need to be an art historian or a symbologist...SO interesting!  Why do I always feel like I should major and study and get a degree in everything because it is all so much fun and I like everything in different ways? (okay, besides medicine, physics, engineering...a few others)  This might be why I never feel right in choosing a career and so indecisive...

I went to church last night...amazing that I did, but I wasn't doing anything, and I knew it would be fun to hang out with brittany, so, voila!  Kayla went to church...at Charlotte Chapel.  It was a baptismal service, and I must say, the way that they did the service was so much better than in the States.  Instead of just having some baptisms at the end of a service, the beginning of the service after a few songs, the three baptists (in the since that they were getting baptised...don't know another noun for a person of that word...) gave their testimonies of their lives, and they were really quite moving.  And then, there was the rest of the service, very short message, and then personally chosen songs by each baptisee (is that better?)  with the baptisms of the people, and before the dunking of each, verses read by family or friends.  It was a great way to do it I thought...a lot more special and a lot more meaning put into it.  I still wasn't moved to return to Christianity, but I did like this way of service considerably better.  Then, I went with Brittany to a kebab shop, and I thought I wanted a kebab (because Turkish kebabs are the BEST here!), but I wanted fish and chips instead...it has been months since I had any.  We ate on benches outside, watching the skateboarders (or "neds", opposite of "posh") around us. 

On Saturday night, I went to Brittany's and Anna, Ebenezer, Brittany, and I had Papa John's Pizza, and then went upstairs to watch Fight Club, coming on BBC2, which none of them had ever seen.  I don't think any of them actually liked it much, but it is still one of my favorites...brilliant in my opinion.  I then had Ebenezer walking me home from that side of town, and he actualy asked if my hair was blonde..apparently, in some lights, it looks quite light on top where I am letting my natural color finally grow in because I have forgotten what it looks like...which I thought was quite funny, especially since he then said, Do you just dye your hair to not be a blonde, with the stereotype and all?  I tried to tell him my hair was actually medium hazel brown...he was skeptical...boys will be boys...

Guess that is it...I need to get back to studying for exam again, unfortunately.  Love you all!  Oh, talked to Kimberly on the phone tonight for almost two hours...that was nice.  I miss her and Ryan.  She actually killed a huge four-foot Chicken Snake with a friend and a gun the past weekend, when they saw it on her property while horseback riding...I was quite amused it took about 30 shots of the gun to hit the head by her friend.  Good story.  Don't you love Texas?  Sadly, despite trying not to, I do! 

Hey everybody...

Boy, it has been a long and stressful week.  On Friday, I had 8 archaeological reports ranging from 1-3 pages, and my essay over the relationship between the Romans and the natives of Scotland, which was only 7 pages, but still! Tedious, and important since they were 40 percent of my grade.  But, now I am done in there except for exam on the 11th of June. 

I have my British Studies book report and exam on Wednesday...trying to study for that.  It is just a huge load of memorization of british history, politics, relationships, current events.  The book report is nothing- only 20 percent of grade and only 1000 words, but the exam is 80 percent...so that is important!  Thanks for any thoughts and prayers my way on that day!  My first Scottish degree examination! 

I went to see Laws of Attraction with Brittany last night.  I heard from reviews it was going to be horrible, but it wasn't.  It was enjoyable and cute, if a lot corny at points.  I loved it though because it had some Irish scenes not far from where I was with my cousin.  And because Pierce Brosnan was in it, who I think is the ideal-looking man with the ideal accent I want...for that, it was lovely!

I also went to Elephant House last night with Brittany, the famous coffee shop where JK Rowling wrote her first Harry Potter book in Edinburgh.  It is so unique and cool and indie.  Pictures, statues, t-shirts, drawings from elementary kids, all of elephants.  AMAZING food from spinakopita to lasagne al forno to greek salad to the most abundant selection of desserts, imported coffees, teas, delectable chocolate drinks.  COOLEST place!  Better than Common Grounds by far! 

Other than that, my week has been boring.  Just reading archaeology and writing for it.  We had dinner on Wednesday's Rob's which Ebenezer and a french girl named Laude  cooked.  It was French chicken curry, (lots of fruit and nuts in it), with rice, and homemade apple/pear crumble (which Laude made, had chocolate chips on top- great idea!), with ice cream, and we had delicious ginger bread Christina made.  It was a lot of fun.

On Thursday, instead of working the whole night through, I took a break at about 6:30 and went to Brittany's and read and went and got Raspberry sorbet and Vanilla Chocolate fudge ice cream at Haagen Dazs....amazing!  Don't ever have ice cream here, so that increased the orgasmic quality considerably, since Raspberry sorbet is my favorite ice cream in the world...not technically ice cream actually...I also captured and flushed down this toilet this King size bumblebee in Brittany's room.  If you read her website, I am her hero, so that's a good thing! 

I by Wednesday had memorized every single capital in the world...they quizzed me some that night...it was fun!  I forgot a few momentarily, but I now have them cemented in my head.  I am quite proud, and this summer will work on history of politics internationally, along with thesis and University Scholar reading, and working at least 40 hours, and studying LSATs, and taking classes locally! HAHA...and people used to think summer was a break!  I will be studying LSATs because I am not taking it in London in June...too much stress at too short of notice, not to mention disruption of travel plans and expenses to there ahead of schedule.  But, I will take it in October, and hopefully that will be all I need, and if not, I found out there is a date in December, that will stil work for applications.  Hopefully, I won't need it, but at least I won't have to think October is my only chance if something happens, which is why I was going to take it in June...so lots of studying and preparation over the next few months. 

That's about it I guess.  Going to go over to watch movie with Brittany in about an hour.  Have a great rest of the weekend everyone, and wish me luck with my first exam and studying!