The Ides of March

Well, technically it is not longer the Ides of March, but I won't let that ruin my catchy title.

The last few weeks here have been insanity. I am writing a huge paper for my International Law class, which I wish could say was going well, but who am I kidding. All I can now say, is that I know have a newfound respect for lawyers, especially international lawyers, who are willing to trudge through the hundreds of pages that make up treaties and ICJ cases and come out of it with some sense of what it actually said. I have this crazy theory  that pages 63-120 of the Nuclear Weapons Advisory case is just a bunch of words strung together with complete disregard for any actual meaning. But then again, I could be wrong.

It is really funny to think that it took getting me all the way to Scotland to turn me into this crazy sports fan. I am watching like 12 times the amount of televised sports I have ever watched in the past, which is really to say, like 1 game a week. But that is a major uptick for me. I am a newfound rugby convert (Katie was so right about this being a totally awesome sport). I have been following the 6 nations tournament, and naturally have been cheering for Scotland. It was really sad on Saturday when they basically got demolished by the English team and the guy sitting next to me in the pub leaned over to his friend and said, "So indicative of the England/Scotland relationship".  It is so much fun to going to pubs to watch the games, although after the 5th time the medics were called onto the field to make sure that one of players hadn't broken his neck, I began to worry about the sanity of playing this particular game.

I am also getting really into the NCAA basketball championship, which has pretty much everyone I know flummoxed. I entered a bracket and a betting pool with some friends in the hall. I will fully admit to copying most of my bracket from President Obama. This was totally fine for everybody when I was tied for last place at the end of the 1st round. However, now that I am currently in 1st, it is starting to tick some people off. As my friend Erikk (a big republican) put it, "It's not losing to a girl (who has never followed basketball before) that bugs me. It's the fact that I am losing to Obama. I didn't know socialists were good at basketball". I just told him it was sour grapes and that he should bow down to the intellect of our current president. 

On other notes, I am really excited about Spring break which starts on Friday. I am going to Paris, Athens, Santorini and Rome. 

I have included some random pictures from St. Patrick's Day and around town. I hope you are all doing well. I miss you all.

Love, 

Steffi

Loch Eck and Puck's Glen

Hey Everyone,

       I hope you are all doing well. I just got back from my "adventure weekend" in Loch Lomond. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, despite the fact that it was FREEZING...and raining....and snowing, but then again what do I expect. This is Scotland after all. I got to go kayaking in the morning on Loch Eck and then on Saturday afternoon went on a guided forest walk in a place called Puck's Glen. It was named that during the Victorian era because they said it looked like someplace that Puck from a Midsummer Night's Dream would live. I have included some pictures, and don't worry, after you have looked at how beautiful it is, it is ok to admit that you are just a little bit jealous. I miss you all and hope you are having as wonderful a time as I am. 

      Love, Steffi

Homestay in Stirling (and everything you ever wanted to know about William Wallace)

Hi everyone, 

    I hope you are all doing well. Now that it is March and I have been informed that I am seriously slacking on my daughterly, familiar and friendly duties I will make an attempt to blog with some frequency. 

     I just got back from my homestay weekend in Stirling, aka the Gateway to the Highlands. It was a complete and total blast. I went with another girl named Marissa and we stayed with a local couple who regularly take in students for homestay weekends. 

   On Saturday we went to the castle as well as the William Wallace monument. For those of you who were not aware, Sitrling is the place of two of the most important battle for Scottish Independence, the Battle of Bannockburn and the battle of Stirling bridge. We got to see William Wallace's actual sword which is crazy because it is huge, almost my height. Although it was so funny to note that despite the talk of nationalism and Scottish Independence at both the Monument and the Castle, it was only the British flag that flew over the castle, and not the Saltire, which is the Scottish flag. 

    We went to a local pub on Saturday night, which was a truly unique experience. It was clearly not meant for a younger crowd like us and a group of American students amongst a few dozen locals in their thirties and older stuck out like a sore thumb. It was amazing though. There was a ridiculous singer, who was singing to a backup track, everything from Chasing Cars to (my personal favorite) when he busted out 500 miles by the Proclaimers. It was at that moment when I think I had my first real Scottish moment. St. Andrews has a lot of American students and because it is a college town it is not the "real Scottish experience". But when the man started singing 500 miles, these 4 women pulled our group up to the middle of the dance floor so we could all dance along to this song. It was EPIC! 

I will blog again soon. I love you all.

Steffi

PS Just to set the record straight, yes that it me wearing a bonnet at the Smith Museum in Stirling, I think I look quite fetching. 

My first week....

Hi to everyone, 

I hope everyone is doing well back home in Santa Barbara, DC and the Bay Area. I have finally arrived at St. Andrews and am just settling into my dorm here. I arrived in Edinburgh on Saturday afternoon after what seemed like the longest series of flights in the history of mankind. The man in the seat next to me slept through the entire 11 hour flight from San Francisco to London, which was probably a good thing because he was catching a flight in Heathrow to get to Cairo. 

Edinburgh is such a beautiful city no matter how much the locals were complaining about the weather. Less than one inch of snow ad practically the whole city was in an utter frenzy.I met up with my group after about a day and a half of wandering around the city by my self and sleeping away my jet lag. We did all sorts of great touristy things like go to the castle and see the Scottish crown jewels as well as the Stone of Scone. 

We arrived in St. Andrews yesterday and it is an amazing town. I don't think that I am going to have to worry about getting lost, though, because there are basically only three streets in town. I met up with some friends this morning to go to an orientation thing and sort of introduction from different members of the St. Andrews community. Then we all went and checked out the town while buying a few necessity items like the blanket I was in desperate need of because it is SO COLD at night...the Scots would make Dad proud with their aversion to heating their residence halls. 

Afterwards there was another introduction party where new JSAs (Junior Study Abroads) were invited to a wine reception to meet professors from each department. I had a nice talk with a professor from the IR department and one from the film studies department.

Dinner was a bit of a mystery but I figure it is probably just better if I work off of a don't ask, don't tell policy. It was nice to sit and chat with hall mates, though.

I send my love to you all!

Steffi

P.S. I went to The Elephant House where J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter and it is amazing...and no, I did not feel like a complete and total dork for going specifically for that reason.