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!
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| Max & I...Max didn't get too much into the holiday spirit as Halloween is not very big in Germany |
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| Max, Heiner, me, & Pieter |
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| Dani O'Brien (Hermione) & me |
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| Sami the pirate and me |
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Maire Claire aka MC and me
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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.
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| Iain and me at dinner on Saturday |
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| Attempting to dance at the ceidlich |
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| 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)
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| 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.
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| 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!
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| "Trapped" in the HUB! |
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| Maria, Moritz, Alaina, Max, & me |
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| Me and the birthday girl! |
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| 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.
