AND NOW--because I don’t want the last post on this blog before I leave for a long weekend to be political--I will tell you a little about what my friends and I are going to be doing for the next few days.
Some background: UCEAP refers to the University of California’s Education Abroad Program. There are several different “study centers” that fall under the UCEAP jurisdiction, presumably per country/region of study. The study center is the first contact a student has while abroad concerning emergencies, general questions, and culturally-important information. I assume that in most programs the study centres are the ones who run the on-site orientations. Mine, as you know, occurred in London at the London study centre, and we met the two directors--Monika and Niki.
Over the summer, Monika sent out invitations to a UCEAP-hosted Thanksgiving Dinner and ceilidh--which is pronounced “kay-lee”--in Edinburgh, Scotland, in November. I immediately contacted my friends who would also be abroad in England and made sure they’d sign up for it, too. I then proceeded to be excited about it every time I thought about it. I still am excited every time I think of it.
The difference between then and now, is that now, I’m leaving tomorrow morning! I’ll catch a 06.15 bus to make it to the train station with plenty of time to catch the 07.57 train to Peterborough, and transfer there to the 09.45 train to Edinburgh Waverley station, where, upon arriving at 13.25, I will wait for about an hour for my friend Kelsey to arrive. We will then make our way to Ivy Guest House, a really, REALLY adorable, Victorian-style hotel. Later that evening, we’ll make our way back to the rail station to collect our friend Angela, who’s staying with us there.
Megan’ll be staying with her friend who’s at school in Edinburgh, but I’ve asked her to make sure to meet up with us at least once a day before Saturday, which is when our dinner and dance will take place.
I’m really excited for this trip--we’re staying until Sunday night--firstly, because I’ve wanted to visit Scotland for a long time--at least since freshman year of high school--and because I’ll be able to spend time with Californians. I love, love, love England, and a lot of the British, but there’s something unabashed and hopeful about Californians that is surprisingly comforting after spending so much time amidst the slightly-downtrodden English public. In addition to this, it’s really nice to understand the slang and vital popular culture references that so many jokes call upon. Here I often feel I must look stupid because I’m never able to figure out by the content of someone’s comment whether or not they’ve meant it sarcastically or humourously and so I never laugh, just kind of stare wonderingly as people of another clan partake in congenial chuckling.
I promise--pINKY PROMISE--to upload pictures I take, and hopefully to talk a bit about some fun stuff I did. Until next Monday~
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