remember, remember the 5th of november... and other news

Hello there everyone, as you may have noticed the blog has been pretty dang quiet the last couple of weeks. Ryan and I have been rather busy and so that is all the excuse I have. First of all, I have been writing two rather laborous papers lately that have taken up all my time and energy except for a few things.

First, last weekend Ryan and I made a little jaunt down to London for a big party hosted by Google. Apparently one of Google's big strategies right now is to buy up all the 'brains' it can before its competitors can hire them. In line with with this logic, Google hosted a mega party in London for all the Rhodes and Marshall scholars in the UK. I thought it was kind of funny that I would be invited to such a thing, having no experience or training in either business or computer-anything. But apparently they trust so much in our innate intellegence and ability to learn that they are willing to hire any of us and then find a place in the company where we can fit in and thrive. Nice idea, huh?

For the party, they rented out this swanky club near Leicester Square, where the interior has been modeled to look like the ballroom did on the Titanic. The evening started out with a dinner, and some talks by various reps from the company and all the free drinks one could want. Then, they turned down the lights and brought in a DJ for us. Throughout the evening they gave away free ipod nanos (no, we did not win one, boo...), and the end of the night they gave us all goodie bags with Google tee-shirts, notebooks, these really nice computer speakers and passes to a real exclusive nightclub. The whole thing was very nice and if I had any inclination to go into the business sector I probably would give their recruiter a call.

Other than that, it is definately always a good time to hang out with the other Marshalls. We stayed in London at the flat of a fellow Oregonian and her husband and had a very good time chatting about politics, academics, etc. All in all a very successful trip except that I ate some pasta with a bit of cheese and proschisto which ended up giving me a raging migraine for like two days, spoiling our attempt to go see the Victoria and Albert Museum. Oh well. Another time. We will have plenty of other opportunities to spend time in London while we are here.

As for events in Edinburgh, I have been continuing to run, doing about 3 miles and trying to increase my milage. Hopefully Ryan's shoes will arrive in the mail soon so that I can have some company! We went for a very nice hike and did some climbing at the Salisbury craigs on Friday. Next item on the agenda, to get back into the swing and start doing some cycling again. Been slowly discovering all the good off-the-road routes for cycling in town so hopefully we can take advantage of those this Sunday and do some exploring. Amazingly, the weather is actually pretty good here. We have been doing comparisons every day of the weather in good old Forest Grove and the weather here, and believe it or not, it rains a whole lot less in Scotland. In fact, it has even been warmer here too than in Oregon. No figure, huh?

Sadly, we did not do much for Halloween this year, except make a little Jack-o-lantern which we later made a great pumpkin bisque out of. I was too busy working on my papers for school to go to any of the parties going on. Halloween originates here in Britian and so it is a pretty big deal here. Maybe next year we will get to join in.

The next few weeks are going to be busy, with lots of guests coming through our door. Right now we have a Marshall named Dan staying with us. On monday, we will have another Marshall, Natalie, and her husband Eddie (the couple we stayed with in London), and then on thusday Elizabeth Turner will be swinging through. Ryan and I love to have guests so keep um coming!

And finally, tomorrow is the fifth of November, the day of the Gunpowder Plot in 1605, when Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the English Parliment at Westminster. Here in Britian this day gets celebrated every year, which is kind of funny because you can't really tell whether they are celebrating the attempted revolt against the government, or (more likely I think,) the fact the plot was foiled and the government preserved. Anyhow, there are lots of big fireworks going on, and in London I understand they are burning Fawkes in effigy. lovely. One more holiday us Americans have never heard off, but a nice idea isn't it? Almost like an inverse of the 4th of july, when we Americans celebrate the success of a much bigger revolt.

Anyhow, thats all for now. Soon we hope to make a little weekend bike trip to St. Andrews and to see some castles. We let you know how it goes.
cheers,
Alletta