Springtime for Scotland

It's been almost two weeks since I've written, so I figured I would take some time out of reading Toni Morrison's Beloved to write. My second class (or module) started last Thursday (technically it's my third class, but I'm hard pressed to acknowledge Research Methods as an actual academic endeavor). The class is Female Gothic and all of the texts we are reading are by women. It's a survey course, we started with Ann Radcliffe and Mary Wollstonecraft and are ending with Ann-Marie MacDonald's Fall On Your Knees, which was written in the early 90's. My other class, Contemporary Gothic, is absolutely brilliant, but it's completely out of my niche. I hardly know anything about contemporary fiction, let alone contemporary Gothic fiction. This week we are reading Beloved which I've read twice before and disliked every time I read it. I'm one hundred pages in and I'm starting to believe that the third time is NOT the charm.

I finally made it down to Glasgow this weekend. It's a pretty city; we didn't stray from the city centre and it seemed to me that it's mainly comprised of high-end stores and Starbucks. Great for shopping, but not much else. They do have a Gallery of Modern Art and there is also a TGI Friday's. It's good to know that it's there for when I long for a little taste of America. Only I'm actually wondering just how much of American restaurant it is. There's an American style restaurant in Stirling that offers bangers and mash (sausage and mashed potatoes) and fish and chips along side burgers and fries. I just hope they have fried green beans and ranch dressing.

Here's a fun fact about Scotland: In Scotland there's a rivalry between Edinburgh and Glasgow, similar to that of Oklahoma City and Tulsa, or Houston and Dallas. In other words, people from Edinburgh hate Glasgow and Glaswegians (people from Glasgow) aren't very fond of Edinburgh. And after careful consideration, I would say that I'm on Edinburgh's side of this debate. Edinburgh also has the National Library of Scotland, the Scottish Poetry Library, and JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone there. Edinburgh maybe be a bit more touristy, but you have to get your kilt towels somewhere.

On April 16 I'm going to see Rufus Wainwright in concert in Edinburgh. I'm incredibly excited. I absolutely love Rufus Wainwright and I haven't been to a concert in ages. It's also in my favorite city and, most importantly, it gives me something to which I can look forward.

I was so incredibly bored for the first month I was here that I just wanted to go back to Oklahoma. Now things are picking up and I'm sure that by this time next month I'll be struggling to keep my head above water. Not like that's a big deal, I thrive on stress. The next thing you know, it will be August and I will be a crying mess on a plane back to the States.

Spring has finally arrived in Scotland. Flowers are blooming in the beds that line the path I take walking to campus. Birds are singing and it's finally getting warmer. I no longer have to sit in my room huddled in a sweater and blanket while wearing my fingerless gloves so I can type/read with warm hands. In other words I no longer look like a character from La Boheme when I'm reading in my room. On Sunday the clocks will spring forward and there will be daylight for an extra hour. I'm so happy for spring.

Today in List Making

I like to make lists. I makes lists of the lists I need to make. I often make lists just so I can cross things off. I find crossing things off lists to be very satiating. So now I give you a list.

Things I would be doing if I was in America:

Watching marathons of Golden Girls on WE, the Hallmark Channel, and Oxygen.

Drinking a vanilla Dr. Pepper from Sonic (it's is America's Drive-in).

Playing with my dog.

Driving my car to a coffee shop or the grocery store.

Eating at Panera Bread, Chili's, Taco Bell, or Saturn Grill.

Getting a cupcake from Cuppie's and Joe.

Not wondering exactly why my feet are sticking to my kitchen floor.

Taking a shower barefoot.

Walking around my house barefoot.

Familizing (it's a word my father made up. The Bill May definition would be to spend time with one's family. I keep telling him to stop trying to make "familize" happen. It's not going to happen.)

Making a list of things I would be doing if I was in Scotland.

Internet-pocalypse Now

Yesterday afternoon I thought that the world as I knew it had come to an end.

My internet went out. As in, I turned on my computer, tried to connect to the campus internet server and it wouldn't connect. I like to think of myself as really a hippie who could easily live outside the confines of modern day technology. Well, it's all a lie. I went into crisis meltdown mode. I frantically called the technology desk and was told, quite rudely, that there was something wrong with my computer and that I would have to come in the next day to get my laptop looked at. Still the thought of not having an internet connection just for the night was enough get my panties in a twist. It turns out that there was brief internet outage in several of the campus residences and it was fixed within the hour. They couldn't tell me this over the phone--I had to pack up my laptop and walk the mile to campus to find this out. On the bright side I was forced to get out of the house (I didn't have class yesterday) and enjoy the sunshine (a rarity, but I'll post on that later).

My internet connection is my link to the world, especially the world outside Scotland. I hardly talk on the phone--I skype, email, and facebook message everyone from my friends in Scotland to my family back in Oklahoma. It's (mostly) free, it's fast, and I feel connected to "back home." In this "modern day world" I guess it's not really the ties that bind us, but the internet connection that bind us.

Or maybe I'm just a big ol' chicken and fear that day when I am unable check facebook and my email and various other websites every ten minutes.