Thanksgiving and SNOW

Thursday I went to the German Christmas Market on Princes Street. Every year, Princes Street is super decorated for the holidays, and the grand lighting of the city was on Thursday night! It was so beautiful and there were drummers suspended in the air to make a human mobile and there were drum lines on the ground - it was a big deal! The German Market was delicious! I tried streudal, Gluwein (mulled wine) and Brat-something (potatoes).

Gluwein at the German Market!

Strawberry and vanilla streudal! yummmm

On Thursday (actual Thanksgiving) I was able to skype home to the family. It was soo great to see everyone back home, but I was also quite jealous that nearly my whole extended family decided to come the one holiday that I WASN'T home for!! Thanks a lot guys! ;) jk - it was great visiting and hopefully I'll see you all again soon, whether at Christmas or soon after.


I'm on the computer screen!! crazy huh

 The next day, I got to celebrate Thanksgiving with my Rotary Scholar friends! Iain and Jenn were kind enough to share their flat. Jenn practically made everything - she's a wonderwoman chef! I came around 4 and started helping. We had lots of food, lots of wine, and we were merry! So I guess you could call it a successful Thanksgiving. We even had scholars visit from Bristol and Glasgow! It was a great night!

This first signs of snow...

So the snow set in on Friday. And it hasn't stopped since! Edinburgh has been freaking out about it which really surprises me. Apparently they were not prepared for it this early in the year... Uni cancelled the first day of exams, which affected me as my first exam was supposed to be today (the 6th). There was basically an uproar because the school was going to move it until the 11th or later - this was a problem because lots of people already had flights booked for before the 11th (including me, which is the 9th). The business school worked with us and allowed the Monday exam to be TAKE-HOME!!! I was thrilled - what was initially the worst case scenario turned into the best!! I was really worried about this particular exam (International Trade and Business Strategy) but having it take-home was immensely better.

So all in all, I guess the snow has been a good thing...as long as my flight still gets to leave on the 9th which I am VERY much looking forward to! Fingers crossed, and pray for me! Believe it or not, it's the most snow that I have every seen in my whole life in person! Seeing as though my family opts for the beach, I've never been skiing or snowboarding or anything like that, so it's been a treat!

Nessie!!



Business School



Tuesday was a group presentation in International Trade & Business Strategy in front of two of our lecturers - so not too stressful of an audience. The assignment was to launch a product in an emerging market from a list of 5 countries. We chose to launch Vaseline in Ghana. I think it went pretty well, but regardless, we were a sharp-looking group! :)

Karun, Me, Stephanie, & Dom

We had one last "hurrah" before exam studying kicked in on Friday. The picture below was at the very end of the night around 3 or 4 am so I was looking a little rough by that point. But it was a very fun night! It started with my Wine Society Christmas dinner at the Glasshouse hotel. It was a formal sit-down meal with 3 courses! Then I met my friends at a club, Hanover 99 until it closed. A few of us from there headed to Espionage which is where this pic was taken. One of the guys, Dom, had to help me back home because I made the illogical choice of wearing heels in the snow/ice! Bad idea on my part - won't be doing that again! But it was very nice of Dom to lend a hand :)

Me & Manoel

I completed my take-home exam today and submitted it. Now all I have left is my Marketing Management exam on Wednesday and that's it!! Counting down the days till I'm back home - it's lovely here but I miss my friends and family back home SO MUCH! Plus, holidays are always much better spent at home I think.

Halloween until Thanksgiving

It's lately been much work, but some play too! In November, many group and individual projects have been and will be due so it's been "crunch time." My teams have had its up's and down's but overall I am pleased with my groups and our work.

The Thursday of Halloween weekend was the only day I had a chance to celebrate Halloween. I would've celebrated the whole weekend, but I attended the Rotary District 1020 Annual Conference in Aviemore, further north of Edinburgh. Thursday was fun - I convinced some friends to  join me at Vodka Revolution. I was a vampire this year with red contacts and fangs!! SO MUCH FUN. I just wish I could've dressed up in the following days for the weekend!

Max & I...Max didn't get too much into the holiday spirit as Halloween is not very big in Germany

Max, Heiner, me, & Pieter

Dani O'Brien (Hermione) & me

Sami the pirate and me

Maire Claire aka MC and me

The Rotary weekend was nice. I took a train up to Aviemore with another scholar Max. We settled in our rooms once we got there on Friday afternoon. Elaine was my roommate for the weekend. On Friday, I had a nice sit-down 3 course dinner with my sponsor club, Esk Valley. Saturday morning was full of various presentations. At one point, I stood in front of the 700 guests and briefly introduced myself. (All the scholars did so.) That evening was a ball and ceidlich. The dinner again was lovely and the dancing was always interesting and fun.

Iain and me at dinner on Saturday

Attempting to dance at the ceidlich

Stuart and me at dinner Saturday

That following Wednesday, I visited Dalkeith Rotary Club and gave a presentation to the lunch group. It was a more traditional type of Rotary club - mostly men but their President was a woman. Dalkeith was very welcoming and kind. And Elaine, my sponsor, was the best! - she picked me up and dropped me off as well as brought my presentation equipment (projector, laptop, screen)

Dalkeith Rotary

I went to Oxford for the weekend to visit a Rotary scholar, Zeke, who attends the University of Oxford. We went to his college's formal dinner on Friday, and I got to hang out with other Rotary Scholars at Oxford Uni. The next day, Zeke and I went to a "bop," which is a themed party. Apparently there are bops nearly every weekend. This one was themed superheros! Zeke went as G.I.Joe and I went as Poison Ivy. The outfits were thrown together that day, so not my best of costumes. It was great to see Oxford again, and eat some infamous, heavenly Ben's Cookies!!

Last week, I went with my friend, Ignacio, to an International reception. International students were encouraged to submit a picture that they have taken of Edinburgh during their time here for a prize of 150 pounds. Ignacio won!! He loves photography as his hobby, and I am so proud of him! I saw the most recent Harry Potter movie!!! SO GOOD.

The winning photograph

Last week was Alaina's birthday (from Russia). Before her pub celebration, we decided to mess around in the Business College taking pictures!

"Trapped" in the HUB!

Maria, Moritz, Alaina, Max, & me

Me and the birthday girl!

Us with "Tall Paul"

This past Monday was the last Wine Society meeting of the semester - it was Christmas themed! We had crackers and snacks in addition to our Champagnes, Sherry, and Ports. Quite festive. Tuesday, I went to a Champagne and Opera evening. I tried 3 Champagnes from Duval Le Roy then saw the opera, The Marriage of Figaro. The opera was light-hearted and the singers were all very talented, however I must admit that I much prefer ballet recitals. Today, I saw the Uni theater society's rendition of Roald Dahl's The BFG - which was one of my favorite books as a child! Though the budget wasn't huge for the production, the performance was quite fun and creative. It really looked like the actors enjoyed themselves.