Windswept indeed!

My first week at “uni” has come to end, and I have realized that a lot has happened. What this means for my blog is that instead of the original plan to make big, sweeping posts every week, I will try to make smaller ones at a faster rate and hope for the best (shout out of thanks to experienced blogger and fellow American in Edinburgh Cindy for this suggestion – I was getting carried away!).

A word about the weather - Scotland is Halloween. Remember the ‘it was a dark and stormy night” line that opened up some story that used to scare you when you were a kid? Well that dark and stormy night happens a lot in Scotland (at least it did last week), complete with a big castle, driving rain, and literally howling wind. Living where I do way out in Warrender (the ex-elementary school, now dorm, where I live), it takes me a while to walk home from visiting people, and I have gotten quite a taste of the dramatic weather. It is easy to see why people like to hang out in the warm and friendly pub all night, especially in winter. I also battled it out with elements this weekend, when Cindy, Rachel and I decided to take a trip to visit the Firth of Forth Bridge (yes a bridge – but a really cool and weird looking bridge – check it out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forth_Bridge_(railway)).

My directions were no good, so we missed the bridge (I will get there eventually!) and found ourselves at a small coastal village named Cramond, which ended up being really cool. The island that you see below is only accessible at low tide when the long causeway leading out to it is exposed, and it is home to lots of rocks, birds, and some old WWII fortifications.

Apparently you have to careful going out there, because the tide can change in 15 minutes and leave you stranded in the freezing Firth of Forth! The freezing Firth of Forth! (its sounds cool enough to say twice). Anyways it was a beautiful spot and a good adventure – just as we got out to the island, it started raining, and by the time we left, the wind was driving rain into our faces and we were completely soaked. We eventually found our way to (where else!) the local pub, where some mushroom and leek soup made everything better. Later that evening, my flatmates had a post-christmas party, which was most enjoyable. My flatmate Courtney had recently returned from Finland, and so she brought back lots of tasty treats, including an excellent Finnish mulled cider called glugge (spelling?), which we mixed with questionable vodka which came from this unappealingly medicinal bottle:

My flatmate's friend Michael came to the party in his kilt, and I saw a number of kids here wearing kilts last Saturday night (in case you were wondering, as I was, if they really ever bust them out). Meanwhile, my classes are going well (Orchestration, Music History, Composition, and Seminar on Wagner) and I joined the Edinburgh University Chamber Choir, which is doing some excellent repertoire (Barber “Agnus Dei,” Messiaen “O Sacrum Convivium,” Kodaly “Missa Brevis” and a piece by Edinburgh graduate and kick ass composer James Macmillan, among other pieces) which I am very happy to be a part of. For you singers out there – they take the choral tradition very seriously over here in the UK, which I really like. There are lots of singers and lots of composers writing choral music. Well perhaps that’s all for now – perhaps I should close by saying that I was told by a British student here that it is “terribly American” when Americans fake a British accent to sound smart, and that they really don’t understand this phenomenon, or why British people are always the smart ones (or evil villains plotting iniquitous work!) on American TV.

PS - How does one make those snazzy links where some word is highlited and it leads to a link?