Juliacentralicious

Pictures, slowly but surely

More pictures in the Random People file, as well as the trip with my parents to Thirlestane castle.

posted by Julia @ 5:25 AM 0 comments

Glasgow and the Highlands!

After a whole term of putting it off, Jasmine, Erika and I finally put our plans for a Highland tour into action.
Though first things first-- I had a fancy dinner on Friday, which was oh so tasty, then met Mairead on Saturday, after yet another trip to the Christmas fair, to make our boxwar costumes. We spent the evening constructing some pretty amazing boxes (hers was Pac-Man, and mine was Ms. Pac-man). Then we went down to the train station (wearing the boxes, I might add), and caught the next one to Glasgow.
They had held off the wars until we arrived, since Mairead knew the promoter, so we got there, did some final fixes, and then it was on-- music started, we danced like crazy, only slightly hampered by, well, all the boxes. Since our costumes had lots of newspaper, the floor ended up one giant soft newspaper pile, something like a leaf pile, loads of fun to jump in.
Then Mairead and her boyfriend had to leave around 1am, but I was meeting the girls in Glasgow in the morning, so we made arrangements for me to go to her friend's flat, and stay the night. I had a couple hours at the place to myself, which was interesting, having never gone to a concert (more of a techno rave thing, actually) alone before. Danced, met some people, the usual. Finally, after it was over and there was some confusion as to who was going where, a small group of us arrived at her flat. Sat on the couch for hours, chatting a bit, listening to music, resisting the urge to fall asleep. Eventually, about four or five of us on the couch all drifted off, and our lovely hostess threw some duvets on us. Then, an hour later, my alarm went off, and I was up and trekking through the early dark Glaswegian rain to the bus station.
Met up with the girls, we had breakfast, and got a bus to Inverness. We got there, checked into the hostel, walked around a bit. There were historical buildings, a very nice chippy (there always is), a Christmas bridge, a graveyard, then groceries (Cheerios, hot cocoa, malted milk)-- and with that, we had a nice dinner. Hung out watching Forrest Gump in the lounge, and finally hit the hay. Next morning up early and caught a bus to Loch Ness. Went to Urquhart Castle, right on the loch, and indulged in some tourism. Even the cheesy film (though I must say, the castle had possibly the best exhibit I've been to). Ran around the ruins, oohed at the loch, then caught a bus to Dornie. Arrived at Eilean Donan castle! (Where Highlander was filmed!) Ran around it, yelled "there can be only one!" about fifteen times. Tried to survive the rain and wind.
Unfortunately, our goal of Skye was out of reach, as, due to weather, there were no ferries to the island that day. So we found the only hotel in Dornie, and settled in for a night of dinner, and TV, hanging out. The next morning, we caught a bus back to Glasgow, and made it home in one piece.

Once home, we had out last Chocsoc meeting at the Crags, which was more sadness, of course.
Cindy came in on Wednesday-- we've been a whirlwind of Christmas shopping and productivity. Thursday night I had my last ceilidh class (more sadness!), and last night was the New Scotland Christmas party-- some crazy late night dancing, hanging out in the kitchen, getting emails and enjoying that I have connections I can use to get Christmas gifts. Stayed late, said my goodbyes.
And today-- more of the same, I suppose.
Home in four days!

posted by Julia @ 3:27 AM 0 comments

Finals, and trying to survive them.

Twelve days, and it's starting to get frantic(er).
I went to the opera on Saturday, which was rather nice-- the singing was average, but the music was good, and I liked the set. Costumes left something to be desired. And the acting was good.
Sunday I had my last gaming session, which spawned a Nerf fight over the cake/pie cheesecake debate, the usual silliness.
Tuesday, Mairead and I made cookies-- holiday butter ones, to be precise, complete with decorations and a flour fight. Also Irn Bru (soda of Scotland) and trying some bacon-flavoured crisps (them and their meat-flavoured crisps, it's oh so strange!). Then on Wednesday we delivered them to library denizens, feeling only slightly demoralized when people kept assuming that we were selling them or representing a group.
There was a final this morning, and two essays due tomorrow. So for all intents and purposes, except for turning them in-- consider me done. Thank god.

posted by Julia @ 8:45 AM 0 comments

A visit from the crazy Americans

A mere two days after I returned from London, Emily and Shauna came in to visit!
Unfortunately, instead of allowing themselves to become jet-lagged, they became nocturnal, which meant, of course, that I was nocturnal.
We did the usual exploration of the city-- the Royal Mile, Princes Street. The very best part was the German Christmas Fair-- little booths selling mulled wine, or crafts, or, more importantly, chocolate. We befriended Jesse, the chocolate man, and spent hours at the booth, as he gave us a continuous stream of free chocolate samples and banter. I don't know if I'll ever get into another Shakespearian quote war, replacing key words with chocolate-themed ones.
We also made it down to the Calton Cemetery on a nice evening, and up to Calton Hill-- the cemetery was suitably beautiful and creepy, and the monument on the hill gave some spectacular views of the city.
Sadly, they were only around for an extended weekend, and soon life returned to normal. I went to Boxwars with a friend from my poetry class-- a concert where, for the last band, people put on costumes made of cardboard boxes they'd made. It was quite amusing to watch-- people certainly went all out for it.
It's been tame here-- finals are looming (already have one essay finished, one more, plus an exam), and after that, it's home. The usual freak-out about going everywhere and doing everything has come and gone.
Sixteen days left until I get home-- can that even be right?

posted by Julia @ 7:10 AM 0 comments