Anyway, here are some photos...
cheers!
alletta
The flat all dressed up for a Christmas dinner!
And here are some really big guns at the Imperial War Museum...
Myself and a bit of rather large ordinance.
And myself and a chunk of the Berlin Wall...
Friday, December 28, 2007
Merry Chistmas Everybody!
Hope you all had a fantastic holiday and that your new years celebrations are going to be just as good! We had a very nice though quiet Christmas here in London with our flatmates.
Anyway, here are some photos...
cheers!
alletta
The flat all dressed up for a Christmas dinner!
And here are some really big guns at the Imperial War Museum...
Myself and a bit of rather large ordinance.
And myself and a chunk of the Berlin Wall...
Anyway, here are some photos...
cheers!
alletta
The flat all dressed up for a Christmas dinner!
And here are some really big guns at the Imperial War Museum...
Myself and a bit of rather large ordinance.
And myself and a chunk of the Berlin Wall...
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Long time no blog!
Howdy folks! Our apologies for the very long delay. Life has been hectic to say the least and so inevitably things like the blog have been getting put on the back burner the last few weeks.
Life in London is going pretty well. We are finally starting to feel pretty settled in at the flat. There was quite a bit of deliberation that we might move, as we are paying a lot for rent and decided that we needed to save more money. However we have worked out a deal with our flat mates where we will switch rooms and taking the smaller one, pay about £200 a month less. So that settled, we are staying put for now at least.
My first term at LSE has finally come to a close, and I am now technically on my Christmas break, however I have several term papers to write over the vacation so not really. I really enjoyed my classes this fall and had the opportunity to meet some cool people, so in short I would say it has been a success. Though everything has been very interesting, my favorite class has been Arabic. I have now learned to read and write and to speak just a little bit. Over the rest of the year I will be learning the grammar, vocabulary and how to speak it really. I have always enjoyed learning languages and Arabic in particular is a really beautiful and interesting one. Even in the most mundane things it is incredibly poetic. Whether I will ever get to make use of it I have no idea but I am grateful to have had the opportunity to learn it and expand my horizons nonetheless.
Ryan is settling in really well at work. Unlike his last job in Edinburgh, the cycle shop is really his element and all the people he works with are genuinely his kind of crowd. We are taking advantage of his staff discount and investing in some new road bikes and gear, which will be really nice for our big UK tour this summer. His company seems to treat its employees pretty well. This last week they had a big Christmas party on a boat that sailed up and down the Thames. At the raffle Ryan even won a new i-pod nano! (which, since he already has a 30G i-pod video, I have commandeered).
Other than that, I am getting in shape again. I entered the lottery for a place in the London Marathon, but unfortunately did not get a place. Now I am looking at running instead at the Isle of Wight Marathon, or the Shakespeare Marathon (in Statford-upon-Avon, of course). I am working on organizing a whole group of Marshall Scholars who will run together, raising money for charity.
In the meantime, I have signed up for a sort of race this January with some of the other Marshalls, called Tough Guy, which basically involves a 6 mile cross country run and then a long series of crazy obstacles. http://www.toughguy.co.uk/ The whole point of the race is to be as uncomfortable as humanly possible. (Some of the obstacles, for example include swimming through icy muddy bogs, running through fire, crawling through nettles and climbing over rough walls). It is basically a test of mental endurance. The point of the competition is not to be the fastest, but just to finish and have a good time. The only reward is the glory. To get ready I am going rock climbing once a week, running 2-3 times a week (5-8 miles) and doing some weight lifting once a week at the university gym. All the guys I am doing it with are in the military, which gives them all a big advantage. Hopefully a couple of them will hang behind and keep me company! So far we haven't decided on a team theme (the tradition is to dress up in crazy matching costumes). The idea has been floated that we could dress up like characters from the movie Grease, though I am feeling a bit skeptical about doing it in a poodle skirt and sweater set.
Thats one tough chick. We'll see if after a couple months of hard training I look that burly.
Finally, for Christmas this year, we are spending the holiday here in London most likely. We were going to visit our friends Eden and David in Scotland, but decided to save the money (rail fares were incredibly expensive). We might visit some friends for dinner Christmas day, however since no trains run on the 25th and 26th, that might not work. Oh well. It might be nice to have a quiet dinner at the flat maybe even invite people to our place.
In any case, we hope you all have an excellent holiday.
We miss you all so much!
Love, Alletta and Ryan
Life in London is going pretty well. We are finally starting to feel pretty settled in at the flat. There was quite a bit of deliberation that we might move, as we are paying a lot for rent and decided that we needed to save more money. However we have worked out a deal with our flat mates where we will switch rooms and taking the smaller one, pay about £200 a month less. So that settled, we are staying put for now at least.
My first term at LSE has finally come to a close, and I am now technically on my Christmas break, however I have several term papers to write over the vacation so not really. I really enjoyed my classes this fall and had the opportunity to meet some cool people, so in short I would say it has been a success. Though everything has been very interesting, my favorite class has been Arabic. I have now learned to read and write and to speak just a little bit. Over the rest of the year I will be learning the grammar, vocabulary and how to speak it really. I have always enjoyed learning languages and Arabic in particular is a really beautiful and interesting one. Even in the most mundane things it is incredibly poetic. Whether I will ever get to make use of it I have no idea but I am grateful to have had the opportunity to learn it and expand my horizons nonetheless.
Ryan is settling in really well at work. Unlike his last job in Edinburgh, the cycle shop is really his element and all the people he works with are genuinely his kind of crowd. We are taking advantage of his staff discount and investing in some new road bikes and gear, which will be really nice for our big UK tour this summer. His company seems to treat its employees pretty well. This last week they had a big Christmas party on a boat that sailed up and down the Thames. At the raffle Ryan even won a new i-pod nano! (which, since he already has a 30G i-pod video, I have commandeered).
Other than that, I am getting in shape again. I entered the lottery for a place in the London Marathon, but unfortunately did not get a place. Now I am looking at running instead at the Isle of Wight Marathon, or the Shakespeare Marathon (in Statford-upon-Avon, of course). I am working on organizing a whole group of Marshall Scholars who will run together, raising money for charity.
In the meantime, I have signed up for a sort of race this January with some of the other Marshalls, called Tough Guy, which basically involves a 6 mile cross country run and then a long series of crazy obstacles. http://www.toughguy.co.uk/ The whole point of the race is to be as uncomfortable as humanly possible. (Some of the obstacles, for example include swimming through icy muddy bogs, running through fire, crawling through nettles and climbing over rough walls). It is basically a test of mental endurance. The point of the competition is not to be the fastest, but just to finish and have a good time. The only reward is the glory. To get ready I am going rock climbing once a week, running 2-3 times a week (5-8 miles) and doing some weight lifting once a week at the university gym. All the guys I am doing it with are in the military, which gives them all a big advantage. Hopefully a couple of them will hang behind and keep me company! So far we haven't decided on a team theme (the tradition is to dress up in crazy matching costumes). The idea has been floated that we could dress up like characters from the movie Grease, though I am feeling a bit skeptical about doing it in a poodle skirt and sweater set.
Thats one tough chick. We'll see if after a couple months of hard training I look that burly.Finally, for Christmas this year, we are spending the holiday here in London most likely. We were going to visit our friends Eden and David in Scotland, but decided to save the money (rail fares were incredibly expensive). We might visit some friends for dinner Christmas day, however since no trains run on the 25th and 26th, that might not work. Oh well. It might be nice to have a quiet dinner at the flat maybe even invite people to our place.
In any case, we hope you all have an excellent holiday.
We miss you all so much!
Love, Alletta and Ryan
Friday, November 02, 2007
All The News Thats Fit to Blog
Hello, I hope that you are all doing well out there in the wide and wonderful world. Right now I am in my bed, having a nice mellow evening with the lovely Alletta Brenner, maybe you've met her, she is a diamond let me tell you. Well then, as some of you may well know neither I or the little lady have made a post in some time. Thus, what I am going to do is fill you in on our doing's, going's on, and what not's.
The first and foremost change is that I am no longer working as a gardener. After a few weeks working with Dan, I began to see that it wasn't going to work out. Nothing against him or the work, I was just not going to get enough money/hours by working with him. Plus, it became clear that if both Alletta and I were earning our income from Dan that things could get a bit sticky. Best not put all our eggs in one basket. So now I am working in a bike shop! This new line of work is a wonderful change in my life. Basically I get to play with cool bikes and bike related gear, clothing, and components all day. Which is wonderful!! The name of my company is Cycle Surgery. I work at the West Hampstead branch. My co-workers are all very lovely people. It is a very friendly and low pressure atmosphere. So far I have sold two bikes! I started on the 16th so now I've been there for three weeks, my goal was to sell a bike in first month (I admit it was a modest goal). Once I've been with Cycle Surgery for 3 months I will qualify to get trade prices on all merchandise and bikes at the shop. (For those that do not know what trade price is, it amounts to as much as two thirds off! a very good deal). So in four or five months Alletta and I are going to buy new road bikes! All very exciting.
London is proving to be a very nice place to live. Fall is now in full swing and the weather has not been too bad. We have had a few nice days here and there but I am sure that the nasty weather will come around soon enough.
Alletta and I went to a few concerts in the time since the last post. First we saw The Go! Team in mid October. It was a great a great show. There were two opening bands. One, which was real good called Operator Please and another, which was not good, known as the velvet peaches (they are not even good enough to justify yperlinking, Yuck!). Operator Please had good energy, they actually had a presence on stage, played with the audience ect. The other guys well they sucked, no presence, the lead singer thought he was Robert Plant, but let me tell you he was not. I was overwhelmed with joy every time there songs ended. They were a Detroit band with nothing to say. The not so leading lead singer was sensing his inability to 'rock' the audience in any way and left the stage before the rest of the band even finished their last song. Then The Go! Team came on and rocked our socks off!
More recently Alletta, Tanya, and I made a journey out to Cardiff, the capital of Wales, to see Arcade Fire. The show was amazing! The trip no so amazing. We decided to save some cash by sacrificing time and rode the National Express (Grey Hound of the UK). The ride was meant to be 3 and a half hours long, we ended up doing that plus another hour and a half! All of the delay came form just trying to leave London! That was less than fun. To make matters worse the toilet on the bus was busted in two unfortunate ways. It was failing to flush and the door was busted. So every hard left turn yielded swinging doors and sewage.
Yes, it was less than fun for those at the back of the bus (that was Alletta and I).
Despite all of this I real enjoyed the show. I do not know how many of you know Arcade Fire but you really should check them out if you haven't They are amazing!!That goes for everyone, parents, aunts, cousins, friends, Romans, countrymen, whoever! BUY THEIR ALBUM! It's worth it!
Because of the Arcade Fire trip to Wales our Halloween was not very eventful. (The Concert was on the 30th, thus we came back on the 31st, didn't feel much like a party.
The future holds exciting things to come along. Alletta is going to give a talk at a conference in Swansea (it's in Wales). For Thanksgiving Alletta and I are going to Dunbar in Scotland. Eden Graisbery Blair, our former Forest Grove High School Teacher, is a new Mum and we shall break bread with her new little family. All very exciting!
Okay well that should do it for now. I don't wanna go on to long. May you be in peace my friends and family. Until I blog at you again.
(Hopefully sooner than later)
Ryan
The first and foremost change is that I am no longer working as a gardener. After a few weeks working with Dan, I began to see that it wasn't going to work out. Nothing against him or the work, I was just not going to get enough money/hours by working with him. Plus, it became clear that if both Alletta and I were earning our income from Dan that things could get a bit sticky. Best not put all our eggs in one basket. So now I am working in a bike shop! This new line of work is a wonderful change in my life. Basically I get to play with cool bikes and bike related gear, clothing, and components all day. Which is wonderful!! The name of my company is Cycle Surgery. I work at the West Hampstead branch. My co-workers are all very lovely people. It is a very friendly and low pressure atmosphere. So far I have sold two bikes! I started on the 16th so now I've been there for three weeks, my goal was to sell a bike in first month (I admit it was a modest goal). Once I've been with Cycle Surgery for 3 months I will qualify to get trade prices on all merchandise and bikes at the shop. (For those that do not know what trade price is, it amounts to as much as two thirds off! a very good deal). So in four or five months Alletta and I are going to buy new road bikes! All very exciting.
London is proving to be a very nice place to live. Fall is now in full swing and the weather has not been too bad. We have had a few nice days here and there but I am sure that the nasty weather will come around soon enough.
Alletta and I went to a few concerts in the time since the last post. First we saw The Go! Team in mid October. It was a great a great show. There were two opening bands. One, which was real good called Operator Please and another, which was not good, known as the velvet peaches (they are not even good enough to justify yperlinking, Yuck!). Operator Please had good energy, they actually had a presence on stage, played with the audience ect. The other guys well they sucked, no presence, the lead singer thought he was Robert Plant, but let me tell you he was not. I was overwhelmed with joy every time there songs ended. They were a Detroit band with nothing to say. The not so leading lead singer was sensing his inability to 'rock' the audience in any way and left the stage before the rest of the band even finished their last song. Then The Go! Team came on and rocked our socks off!
More recently Alletta, Tanya, and I made a journey out to Cardiff, the capital of Wales, to see Arcade Fire. The show was amazing! The trip no so amazing. We decided to save some cash by sacrificing time and rode the National Express (Grey Hound of the UK). The ride was meant to be 3 and a half hours long, we ended up doing that plus another hour and a half! All of the delay came form just trying to leave London! That was less than fun. To make matters worse the toilet on the bus was busted in two unfortunate ways. It was failing to flush and the door was busted. So every hard left turn yielded swinging doors and sewage.
Yes, it was less than fun for those at the back of the bus (that was Alletta and I).Despite all of this I real enjoyed the show. I do not know how many of you know Arcade Fire but you really should check them out if you haven't They are amazing!!That goes for everyone, parents, aunts, cousins, friends, Romans, countrymen, whoever! BUY THEIR ALBUM! It's worth it!
Because of the Arcade Fire trip to Wales our Halloween was not very eventful. (The Concert was on the 30th, thus we came back on the 31st, didn't feel much like a party.
The future holds exciting things to come along. Alletta is going to give a talk at a conference in Swansea (it's in Wales). For Thanksgiving Alletta and I are going to Dunbar in Scotland. Eden Graisbery Blair, our former Forest Grove High School Teacher, is a new Mum and we shall break bread with her new little family. All very exciting!
Okay well that should do it for now. I don't wanna go on to long. May you be in peace my friends and family. Until I blog at you again.
(Hopefully sooner than later)
Ryan
Friday, October 05, 2007
Another School Year Begins
A month into our life in London, and we are settling in nicely. Ryan has been working part-time for our flatmate's landscaping business, and I am also working for him as an administrative assistant. So far we are getting along well together, we often cook big vegetarian meals as a household and are enjoying the benefits of sharing the grocery bill, which now includes a big weekly organic produce box that I am particularly thrilled about. For the most part, I am feeling healthy, just a few headaches here and there. Ryan however got bitten by some kind of exotic bug last week and ended up in the ER with a massively swollen hand and arm! (Unfortunately we didn't think to take any pictures, but I can assure you it was gruesome looking). Anyhow they gave him a heavy load of antibiotics and he seems to be fine now. Other than that, he has been applying for jobs around London, aiming for something working for one of the city's many universities.
Last weekend we went to a really nice dinner party at the flat of some fellow London Marshall Scholars. There is a sizable group of us here in town together this year, and of those a lot of great people that Ryan and I both get on well with. We are looking forward to spending more time with them all, perhaps instigating a kind of weekly pub night together. One this is for sure, this year will be a far cry from the kind of isolation we felt last year at times up in Scotland.
I am finally all registered and signed up for classes at LSE, which will start next week. This year I will be taking the following courses: Foundations and Key Issues in Human Rights, Complex Emergencies (about humanitarian disasters and political crises), Population and Development, Terrorism and the Rule of Law, and War, Peace and the Politics of National Self-Determination. LSE is a really fantastic school, and already I am really impressed by all the resources it has to offer, not the least of which is a really cheap student gym where I can train for my next marathon!
There are about a zillion student groups and sporting clubs, including a rock climbing club (which we will most definitely join) and a cycling group as well.
The weather has been quite good in London this last month, though elements of autumn are definitely beginning to creep in. Still, it is much warmer and drier than Edinburgh, and so that is doing wonders for my disposition. Before the weather changes too much I hope that we can get out a bit on our bikes and explore the surrounding countryside.
All in all, I think that it is going to be a very good year!
lots of love,
alletta (and ryan, though he never gets off his bum to post on his own!)
Last weekend we went to a really nice dinner party at the flat of some fellow London Marshall Scholars. There is a sizable group of us here in town together this year, and of those a lot of great people that Ryan and I both get on well with. We are looking forward to spending more time with them all, perhaps instigating a kind of weekly pub night together. One this is for sure, this year will be a far cry from the kind of isolation we felt last year at times up in Scotland.
I am finally all registered and signed up for classes at LSE, which will start next week. This year I will be taking the following courses: Foundations and Key Issues in Human Rights, Complex Emergencies (about humanitarian disasters and political crises), Population and Development, Terrorism and the Rule of Law, and War, Peace and the Politics of National Self-Determination. LSE is a really fantastic school, and already I am really impressed by all the resources it has to offer, not the least of which is a really cheap student gym where I can train for my next marathon!
There are about a zillion student groups and sporting clubs, including a rock climbing club (which we will most definitely join) and a cycling group as well.
The weather has been quite good in London this last month, though elements of autumn are definitely beginning to creep in. Still, it is much warmer and drier than Edinburgh, and so that is doing wonders for my disposition. Before the weather changes too much I hope that we can get out a bit on our bikes and explore the surrounding countryside.
All in all, I think that it is going to be a very good year!
lots of love,
alletta (and ryan, though he never gets off his bum to post on his own!)
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Our new dog!!!!!
Our flatmate Dan just brought his pet to come live with us (he had been up in Manchester with Dan's mom), and so now we have an awesome new member of the household!
Meet Chunky!
We love him soooo much!
Meet Chunky!
We love him soooo much!
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Monday, September 10, 2007
London here we come!
So after a great deal of excitement and only a few major mishaps we have finally made the big move south to our new place in London. Our new place of residence is in a really great flat with our roommates Tanya and Daniel in Camden, just minutes from the Chalk Farm tube stop. Our new place is extremely nice and homey, and in many ways like our old place in Eugene. It has wood floors, big windows and is very nicely decorated. It is in a 1920s era block of flats with a courtyard of trees in the center. There are lots of families and people from all over the world living in the complex and it so it always smells like delicious cooking! We are within a short walk of the rest of Camden, with all its amazing pubs and music venues, as wells as nearby Regent's Park, Hampstead Heath and the really nice neighborhood of Primrose Hill. We are within 20 minutes of central London and yet our neighborhood is so pleasant, full of trees and families and quiet streets. I still can't believe how quiet and nice our apartment is. Our roommates are great. Tanya is a freelance photographer and Daniel is an actor who runs his own landscaping business. They have great tastes and share many of the same interests as we do. So far we are having a really fun time. Last night we had an illicit barbecue in the back yard and bought tickets to see Arcade Fire together in October. After a big trip to Ikea for storage stuff we are getting settled in very nicely in the new place, and can already tell we will be much more comfortable than we were in our old place.
The last few weeks have also been quite exciting. My mom came to visit us and we had a really fine time hanging out together and seeing the sights. Ryan went down to London early for a job interview and so the first week of September was spent just my mom and I getting the house packed up. I was in charge of putting on a charity concert in Edinburgh on the 5th to raise money for sustainable development programmes in Darfur, Sudan and so that has been a major preoccupation for me since finishing my dissertation. In the end, despite an enormous amount of work, we had a pretty low turnout at the concert. Still we made money for the charity and I learned an enormous amount about putting on gigs. Hoping to try again and put another one on in London this year for the same cause once we get settled in and I get a chance to become more acquainted with the music scene here.
In other news, the move down to London was a big debacle. We had reserved a van ahead of time to drive all our stuff down to London, but when my mom and I went to pick it up it turned out the thing was a people carrier not a hauling van and it wouldn't work at all for what we needed. After a feeble attempt to remove the seats and put all our stuff inside, which failed miserably, we ended up returning the thing and calling all over town until we found a company that had a large hauling van available. When we finally got the thing, we realized we had erred on the side of caution and gone too big! The thing was extra long and tall and very hard to maneuver. To make matters worse, it was a manual transmission, making my mom the sole driver as I don't know how to drive stick and wasn't about to start on a rental vehicle in the UK! Unfortunately, mom had not driven a stick since 1963 and certainly not done so on a hilly terrain in rush hour traffic! We had a terrible time driving the thing back to my house, stalling at several stop lights and getting it stuck in an alleyway where we had to ask this nice guy walking by to maneuver it out for us. By the time we got the van home and packed it, it was after five pm, and I had developed a terrible headache. In the end mom drove down to London in one shot, with no dinner and no stops to rest or pee for over eight hours with me in the passenger seat loaded up on painkilers and groaning. Once we got to London we got lost for an hour and finally made it to my new house after 2 am. What a mess!! All in all, mom did a heroic job, so if you see her give her a big clap on the back!
Anyway, we are now here in our new place, and despite these initial hiccups, we are looking forward to a fantastic year.
alletta
The last few weeks have also been quite exciting. My mom came to visit us and we had a really fine time hanging out together and seeing the sights. Ryan went down to London early for a job interview and so the first week of September was spent just my mom and I getting the house packed up. I was in charge of putting on a charity concert in Edinburgh on the 5th to raise money for sustainable development programmes in Darfur, Sudan and so that has been a major preoccupation for me since finishing my dissertation. In the end, despite an enormous amount of work, we had a pretty low turnout at the concert. Still we made money for the charity and I learned an enormous amount about putting on gigs. Hoping to try again and put another one on in London this year for the same cause once we get settled in and I get a chance to become more acquainted with the music scene here.
In other news, the move down to London was a big debacle. We had reserved a van ahead of time to drive all our stuff down to London, but when my mom and I went to pick it up it turned out the thing was a people carrier not a hauling van and it wouldn't work at all for what we needed. After a feeble attempt to remove the seats and put all our stuff inside, which failed miserably, we ended up returning the thing and calling all over town until we found a company that had a large hauling van available. When we finally got the thing, we realized we had erred on the side of caution and gone too big! The thing was extra long and tall and very hard to maneuver. To make matters worse, it was a manual transmission, making my mom the sole driver as I don't know how to drive stick and wasn't about to start on a rental vehicle in the UK! Unfortunately, mom had not driven a stick since 1963 and certainly not done so on a hilly terrain in rush hour traffic! We had a terrible time driving the thing back to my house, stalling at several stop lights and getting it stuck in an alleyway where we had to ask this nice guy walking by to maneuver it out for us. By the time we got the van home and packed it, it was after five pm, and I had developed a terrible headache. In the end mom drove down to London in one shot, with no dinner and no stops to rest or pee for over eight hours with me in the passenger seat loaded up on painkilers and groaning. Once we got to London we got lost for an hour and finally made it to my new house after 2 am. What a mess!! All in all, mom did a heroic job, so if you see her give her a big clap on the back!
Anyway, we are now here in our new place, and despite these initial hiccups, we are looking forward to a fantastic year.
alletta
Thursday, August 23, 2007
FINISHED!!
Ladies and gentlemen, as of 2:30 yesterday afternoon, my dissertation was printed bound, and finally turned in once and for all. Now that I am done, and reveling in my freedom, I thought I would finally sit down and make an entry to the blog!!
Things are going pretty well here in Edinburgh. Ryan and I managed to secure an awesome flat in London just north of Camden and so that is a relief. A couple weeks ago we went on a final cycling trip in Scotland, starting just north of Glasgow and making our way north towards Inverness. As you can see, if was a beautiful way to end our days in Scotland.
Things are going pretty well here in Edinburgh. Ryan and I managed to secure an awesome flat in London just north of Camden and so that is a relief. A couple weeks ago we went on a final cycling trip in Scotland, starting just north of Glasgow and making our way north towards Inverness. As you can see, if was a beautiful way to end our days in Scotland.
Sunday, August 05, 2007
The Festival has begun!!
For those of you who don't know, Edinburgh erupts every August into one heck of a good time, with the Festival season... While we all call it 'The Festival' it is actually a whole bunch of festivals and events that all take place simultaneously, turning our city into a massive international party. Just a few of these are, the International Festival (which includes dance, opera, classical musical performances and some theatre), the Fringe Festival (theatre, art shows, comedy acts, music), the Film Festival (you get the idea), the book festival, the Jazz and Blues Festival, as well as loads of fairs and arts exhibitions.
As you can imagine, just about every conceivable venue in the city has been commandeered. In addition, the parks are all full of big tents, outdoor beer gardens, clubs, and buskers! At night, there are fireworks, massive outdoor parties and crowds of people all over the place. The change was stunning, last week business was as usual, and then all of a sudden the city was full of tourists and performers! The whole city feels transformed, and well, festive!
Today there is going to be a massive parade through town. (I'll post pictures as soon as I get them). We have also bought tickets to a bunch of shows, the first of which we will see tonight. So far the line up includes: Emergence-C! (a one man show about race relations in America), The Complete Dickens Unplugged (YES, this production is written and directed by THE Adam Long!), Wit, Into the Hood (think Into the Woods, in the Ghetto, with Hip Hop, and Breakdancing). We are also trying to get tickets to a showing of a new John Waters comedy that includes a Q&A session with him afterwards. This Thursday we have been invited to see the Tatoo (a massive bagpipe performance up at the castle). Tickets were completely sold out and impossible to get unless you were incredibly rich, and so we had given up on the idea of seeing it and were really depressed, but then last week we got an email from a member of the Marshall Commission who was in town and they invited us to come along with them for free! So that was incredibly lucky! We are also hoping to catch a number of art exhibitions, and the Box Wars if they do it again (imagine modern day gladiators, in giant cardboard costumes).
Aside from all the festival stuff, life is moving forward for us. We have found a place to live in Camden, in a big old house with 5-6 other people, and will be moving down to London on the 7th of September. Ryan continues to apply for jobs not in the betting industry, and I am continuing to slave away on my thesis, though the end IS near. I promise, once its done I'll post a copy online for you all. On Tuesday, our very good friend Ashley will be back in Edinburgh for the end of our European tour, and then at the end of the month my mom will be visiting for two weeks (yay mom!).
All in all, the month of August looks like it is going to be the highlight of our year here. Might as well go out with a bang!
love you guys,
Alletta
As you can imagine, just about every conceivable venue in the city has been commandeered. In addition, the parks are all full of big tents, outdoor beer gardens, clubs, and buskers! At night, there are fireworks, massive outdoor parties and crowds of people all over the place. The change was stunning, last week business was as usual, and then all of a sudden the city was full of tourists and performers! The whole city feels transformed, and well, festive!
Today there is going to be a massive parade through town. (I'll post pictures as soon as I get them). We have also bought tickets to a bunch of shows, the first of which we will see tonight. So far the line up includes: Emergence-C! (a one man show about race relations in America), The Complete Dickens Unplugged (YES, this production is written and directed by THE Adam Long!), Wit, Into the Hood (think Into the Woods, in the Ghetto, with Hip Hop, and Breakdancing). We are also trying to get tickets to a showing of a new John Waters comedy that includes a Q&A session with him afterwards. This Thursday we have been invited to see the Tatoo (a massive bagpipe performance up at the castle). Tickets were completely sold out and impossible to get unless you were incredibly rich, and so we had given up on the idea of seeing it and were really depressed, but then last week we got an email from a member of the Marshall Commission who was in town and they invited us to come along with them for free! So that was incredibly lucky! We are also hoping to catch a number of art exhibitions, and the Box Wars if they do it again (imagine modern day gladiators, in giant cardboard costumes).
Aside from all the festival stuff, life is moving forward for us. We have found a place to live in Camden, in a big old house with 5-6 other people, and will be moving down to London on the 7th of September. Ryan continues to apply for jobs not in the betting industry, and I am continuing to slave away on my thesis, though the end IS near. I promise, once its done I'll post a copy online for you all. On Tuesday, our very good friend Ashley will be back in Edinburgh for the end of our European tour, and then at the end of the month my mom will be visiting for two weeks (yay mom!).
All in all, the month of August looks like it is going to be the highlight of our year here. Might as well go out with a bang!
love you guys,
Alletta
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Friends and Fun Times in Scotland
Over the last week we have had two very good friends from home, Sophia Sansone and Ashley Sloan, staying with us at our flat in Edinburgh. Though it has been a little bit tight (our place is very small to start with and extremely small with four people occupying it!) we have had a great time showing them around and in general hanging out. Moreover, we have had several days of really decent weather, which has been awsome.
Over the weekend we made a day trip to St. Andrews, and blessed with a bit of genuine sunshine, we had a really nice time walking around town and enjoying all the old ruins.
Other notable activities were a visit to Edinburgh Castle, which is actually a massive complex of buildings, including a jail where prisoners of war from the American Revolution were kept, to an exhibition on the Arts and Crafts period of Scottish design, which included a lot of great works by women artists and was really really good, and a fantastic show at the National Gallery of nude portraits, which looked at issues of bodily representation in art. We also took a somewhat cheesy but very enjoyable tour of a section of old town Edinburgh, known as Mary Kings Close, which was made underground when the City chambers were built right on top of it in the 1700s. Much of the old streets and buildings were fairly well preserved, and along the tour we got to learn about the actual people who lived there at the time the streets were covered over.
Another major highlight was having dinner with our friend (and former high school teacher) Eden and her husband at our local pub this last Sunday. Sophia, who hadn't seen her since graduation, was totally thrilled. From what we know, if looks like she went into labor with her first child on tuesday, so Sophia was just in time to see her beforehand!
Sophia and Ashley have now left for London and Italy, respectively, though in August Ashley will be returning for a few days before shipping back to the United States. Till then, its life back to normal, and to work, work, work! However, if the weather permits, we are hoping to go on a long bike ride somewhere interesting.
Ashley and I peering over the ramparts at the Edinburgh castle
Ruins at St. Andrews.
A bagpiper on the Royal Mile
Over the weekend we made a day trip to St. Andrews, and blessed with a bit of genuine sunshine, we had a really nice time walking around town and enjoying all the old ruins.
Other notable activities were a visit to Edinburgh Castle, which is actually a massive complex of buildings, including a jail where prisoners of war from the American Revolution were kept, to an exhibition on the Arts and Crafts period of Scottish design, which included a lot of great works by women artists and was really really good, and a fantastic show at the National Gallery of nude portraits, which looked at issues of bodily representation in art. We also took a somewhat cheesy but very enjoyable tour of a section of old town Edinburgh, known as Mary Kings Close, which was made underground when the City chambers were built right on top of it in the 1700s. Much of the old streets and buildings were fairly well preserved, and along the tour we got to learn about the actual people who lived there at the time the streets were covered over.
Another major highlight was having dinner with our friend (and former high school teacher) Eden and her husband at our local pub this last Sunday. Sophia, who hadn't seen her since graduation, was totally thrilled. From what we know, if looks like she went into labor with her first child on tuesday, so Sophia was just in time to see her beforehand!
Sophia and Ashley have now left for London and Italy, respectively, though in August Ashley will be returning for a few days before shipping back to the United States. Till then, its life back to normal, and to work, work, work! However, if the weather permits, we are hoping to go on a long bike ride somewhere interesting.
Ashley and I peering over the ramparts at the Edinburgh castle
Ruins at St. Andrews.
A bagpiper on the Royal Mile
Friday, July 06, 2007
better late than never
Well then, it has been ages since we've made a post. Bad, naughty bloggers. Oh well. I'd like to say we have been incredibly busy, but preoccupied would probably be a better description. Since our last update, the following things have happened:
I got the position as a researcher for Amnesty International in Edinburgh. Over the course of the summer I will be working independantly on researching violence against women in Scotland, looking at the problems of forced marriage and honor killings in particular. The issue of domestic violence is both close to my heart and an area that I have already done some work, so I think this will end up being a great fit for me. I am also very excited to be part of the shift Amnesty is currently making toward looking at broader social problems as well as issues of political repression, torture, etc. I'm hoping that over the summer I can make some contacts within the organisation that might help line up a similar position for me down in London, where Amnesty has its biggest offices.
In addition to this, I have taken on a organising a fundraiser for our 2006 Marshall Class project. This year we are raising funds to provide a comprenhensive aid package to the village of Kerkera in Darfur. Working with a London-based NGO that is well established providing aid in Darfur, the idea is to provide everything the village needs to get back on its feet and become self-sustainable. My fundraiser is going to be a charity concert in Edinburgh hosting a variety of bands with all the proceeds going to Kerkera. It will be held sometime in September, and looks like it is going to come together pretty well. I have been lucky to be able to enlist several friends in the project, including several who are well acquainted with the music scene in Scotland and one who is an entertainment writer for a local paper.
The weather has been really, really bad in Scotland (really). For the last month we have had torrential downpours almost every single days, and temperature-wise we had never made it out of the lower sixties. So far, all we have on the forecast is more rain and this is not helping my disposition. The bad weather has seriously made a dent in our level of activity. We haven't been running in what seems like ages, and except for the trip we recently took (detailed below, of course) haven't done much bike riding at all. boo!
As always, I am working away on my dissertation and making good progress. I have had to repeatedly cut down the size and scope of the project in order to fit within the word limit (unlike my undergrad thesis, this one is limited to just 50 pages!), but it looks like I finally have got it trimmed to where it will work quite well. Unfortunately this has meant that I will only be covering the first four years of the Bush Administration (2001-2004) and will not be doing a comparison between Clinton and Bush. However, I still have a lot of interesting things to talk about. If you're interested, let me know and when it is done I will email you a copy.
For our first anniversary, Ryan and I made a small cycle tour of the borders area of Scotland, starting in Berwick upon Tweed, riding along the Tweed river toward the West, and then turning north and going over the Moorfoot Hills and into Edinburgh. The trip took us three days, and through lots of lovely old towns with charming row houses, historic Abbeys, several castle ruins, and a very old manor estate that is still functioning and occupied by a lord and lady! The scenery was absolutely beautiful, with a mixture of dramatic river valleys, hills, farmland and forests. We carried camping gear on our bikes and stopped along the way to rest at several campgrounds, where we met a number of other cyclists, including a large group of American teenagers who were going on a guided mega-ride from Scotland to Nice, averaging 75 miles a day! Most of the ride was along lightly used country roads and so for that part it was pretty relaxing. Also, for the most part we avoided any really bad steep hills. The only downside was the weather, which despite bouts of lovely sun, left us absolutely drenched every day of the ride! One day we got caught right underneath a massive thunder storm which was both exciting and pretty scary. We couldn't decide whether to stay on the bikes (after all they have rubber tires) or to get off (the frames are steel!). Thankfully we survived safe and sound and made it to our destination without getting hit by lightning (though there was a hit pretty darn close that made us duck). Thankfully we had just purchased new waterproof panniers and happened to stay at campgrounds with laundrettes so that we could dry our cycling clothes out! After the trip, we decided we needed a new waterproof tent and some better waterproof jackets (as ours were not up to the task of standing up to Scottish weather). Anyway, despite the weather we had a very good time and are definitely geared up to do more cycle touring.
Ryan has begun looking for work in London, and so far has applied for a couple of neat jobs in the area of recycling. We are feeling very hopeful that this time around he will be able to get a position that he really likes, and hopefully one that pays better! Please send him your best wishes and luck.
For my part, I have been working pretty regularly on researching the housing situation in London, with the hope that we can get something really nice lined up in advance to move at the beginning of September. Right now we are looking at moving to the areas of Camden, Islington, Stoke Newington, or somewhere in East London.
For the fourth of July we went to visit Eden (Graisbery) Blair and her husband David in Dunbar. They threw a pretty awsome flag themed barbecue and in a sort of Scottish miracle the weather was actually beautiful and sunny most of the time (it only rained once for about an hour). They had some other American friends visiting from the Bay area, and so it was a pretty genuine American event, with hot dogs, potato salad and even flag printed paper plates. Except for an incident where I went into automatic barbecue zombie mode and squirted ketchup all over my veggie sausage and put barbecue sauce (which is made from a tomato base) all over my veggies, resulting in a two-day migraine that I am just now getting over, a good time was had by all.
Next week we will be getting some visitors from home, on the 10th Sophia Sansone will be arriving, and then on the 12th we will have Ashley Sloan. We are sooooo excited to see them and will definitely have a great time. I'm sure there will be lots to post about it once they arrive.
I got the position as a researcher for Amnesty International in Edinburgh. Over the course of the summer I will be working independantly on researching violence against women in Scotland, looking at the problems of forced marriage and honor killings in particular. The issue of domestic violence is both close to my heart and an area that I have already done some work, so I think this will end up being a great fit for me. I am also very excited to be part of the shift Amnesty is currently making toward looking at broader social problems as well as issues of political repression, torture, etc. I'm hoping that over the summer I can make some contacts within the organisation that might help line up a similar position for me down in London, where Amnesty has its biggest offices.
In addition to this, I have taken on a organising a fundraiser for our 2006 Marshall Class project. This year we are raising funds to provide a comprenhensive aid package to the village of Kerkera in Darfur. Working with a London-based NGO that is well established providing aid in Darfur, the idea is to provide everything the village needs to get back on its feet and become self-sustainable. My fundraiser is going to be a charity concert in Edinburgh hosting a variety of bands with all the proceeds going to Kerkera. It will be held sometime in September, and looks like it is going to come together pretty well. I have been lucky to be able to enlist several friends in the project, including several who are well acquainted with the music scene in Scotland and one who is an entertainment writer for a local paper.
The weather has been really, really bad in Scotland (really). For the last month we have had torrential downpours almost every single days, and temperature-wise we had never made it out of the lower sixties. So far, all we have on the forecast is more rain and this is not helping my disposition. The bad weather has seriously made a dent in our level of activity. We haven't been running in what seems like ages, and except for the trip we recently took (detailed below, of course) haven't done much bike riding at all. boo!
As always, I am working away on my dissertation and making good progress. I have had to repeatedly cut down the size and scope of the project in order to fit within the word limit (unlike my undergrad thesis, this one is limited to just 50 pages!), but it looks like I finally have got it trimmed to where it will work quite well. Unfortunately this has meant that I will only be covering the first four years of the Bush Administration (2001-2004) and will not be doing a comparison between Clinton and Bush. However, I still have a lot of interesting things to talk about. If you're interested, let me know and when it is done I will email you a copy.
For our first anniversary, Ryan and I made a small cycle tour of the borders area of Scotland, starting in Berwick upon Tweed, riding along the Tweed river toward the West, and then turning north and going over the Moorfoot Hills and into Edinburgh. The trip took us three days, and through lots of lovely old towns with charming row houses, historic Abbeys, several castle ruins, and a very old manor estate that is still functioning and occupied by a lord and lady! The scenery was absolutely beautiful, with a mixture of dramatic river valleys, hills, farmland and forests. We carried camping gear on our bikes and stopped along the way to rest at several campgrounds, where we met a number of other cyclists, including a large group of American teenagers who were going on a guided mega-ride from Scotland to Nice, averaging 75 miles a day! Most of the ride was along lightly used country roads and so for that part it was pretty relaxing. Also, for the most part we avoided any really bad steep hills. The only downside was the weather, which despite bouts of lovely sun, left us absolutely drenched every day of the ride! One day we got caught right underneath a massive thunder storm which was both exciting and pretty scary. We couldn't decide whether to stay on the bikes (after all they have rubber tires) or to get off (the frames are steel!). Thankfully we survived safe and sound and made it to our destination without getting hit by lightning (though there was a hit pretty darn close that made us duck). Thankfully we had just purchased new waterproof panniers and happened to stay at campgrounds with laundrettes so that we could dry our cycling clothes out! After the trip, we decided we needed a new waterproof tent and some better waterproof jackets (as ours were not up to the task of standing up to Scottish weather). Anyway, despite the weather we had a very good time and are definitely geared up to do more cycle touring.
Ryan has begun looking for work in London, and so far has applied for a couple of neat jobs in the area of recycling. We are feeling very hopeful that this time around he will be able to get a position that he really likes, and hopefully one that pays better! Please send him your best wishes and luck.
For my part, I have been working pretty regularly on researching the housing situation in London, with the hope that we can get something really nice lined up in advance to move at the beginning of September. Right now we are looking at moving to the areas of Camden, Islington, Stoke Newington, or somewhere in East London.
For the fourth of July we went to visit Eden (Graisbery) Blair and her husband David in Dunbar. They threw a pretty awsome flag themed barbecue and in a sort of Scottish miracle the weather was actually beautiful and sunny most of the time (it only rained once for about an hour). They had some other American friends visiting from the Bay area, and so it was a pretty genuine American event, with hot dogs, potato salad and even flag printed paper plates. Except for an incident where I went into automatic barbecue zombie mode and squirted ketchup all over my veggie sausage and put barbecue sauce (which is made from a tomato base) all over my veggies, resulting in a two-day migraine that I am just now getting over, a good time was had by all.
Next week we will be getting some visitors from home, on the 10th Sophia Sansone will be arriving, and then on the 12th we will have Ashley Sloan. We are sooooo excited to see them and will definitely have a great time. I'm sure there will be lots to post about it once they arrive.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Thinking Summery Thoughts
Well now, while it appears that summer is in full swing back in Oregon, the weather here in Scotland is still stuck somewhere in spring, or maybe winter. For now, we are trying our best to think summery thoughts without depressing ourselves too much, and keep up the hope that maybe, just maybe there will be some nice weather that will actually stick for at least a few weeks in the next three months.
The last few weeks have been fairly active. We had a nice, week-long visit from Mike Smith, who we hadn't seen since last year. Unfortunately, Ryan had to work much of the time he was here. Still we had time to take a nice bike ride along the Union Canal and see the sights a bit. Overall, it was a good week, and as always, nice to have a little bit of life back home come to visit us here in Edinburgh.
I have been working as much as I can on my dissertation. Unfortunately, this has not been much, since I am having a hard time structuring my time lately. Finally, I have come to the realisation that in order to be effective in getting work done, I need to have a certain amount of pressure on me. So, in order to fill out my schedule a bit and give myself some more structure, I have applied for a position working two days a week as a researcher for the Edinburgh branch of Amnesty International. Aside from working for a cause I care about, I believe this would be a great resume builder for me. I have an interview tomorrow, so wish me luck.
Other than that, Ryan and I have been focusing lately on cycling. We decided a few weeks ago that we would like to try and work toward riding a century (100 miles in one day) by the end of the summer, and so we are currently working on training for that. Also, we are hoping to do a fair bit of cycle touring around parts of Scotland this summer in the process. We recently upgraded to clipless pedals, as well as investing in better touring gear, from camping stuff to saddle bags. This past weekend was meant to be our 'test case' with a 60 mile group ride to St. Andrews for charity. We were planning on going, camping overnight and then riding back the next day. Unfortunately due to bad weather, misinformation, and a migraine headache on my part, we had to turn back about 1/3 the way there. As it turns out, the ride was far more challenging than we expected, being very hilly, and while we had been riding longer distances recently, we had not done enough hill training to be adequately prepared, especially carrying loads of camping gear!! That, combined with my not feeling well, and both of us getting soaked and chilled by strong winds and heavy rain, the whole thing was pretty much doomed. Though the situation could not be helped, we both were feeling pretty down about having to turn back.
So, we are going to make another attempt at a short tour this weekend starting down at the border with England in Berwick and riding north to Edinburgh. This ride, being one we planned ourselves, will be much more managable in both distances and elevation changes, and will cover about 100 miles over three days with some sightseeing along the way. We are hoping to borrow a small lightweight camera to bring with us so that we can post some pictures of the adventure.
Likewise, since some friends of ours are moving to St. Andrews next month, we are going to try and give that ride another chance in a few weeks, though probably by a different route, without the camping gear, and hopefully with better weather!
Well, then. That's all for now folks.
love,
Alletta
The last few weeks have been fairly active. We had a nice, week-long visit from Mike Smith, who we hadn't seen since last year. Unfortunately, Ryan had to work much of the time he was here. Still we had time to take a nice bike ride along the Union Canal and see the sights a bit. Overall, it was a good week, and as always, nice to have a little bit of life back home come to visit us here in Edinburgh.
I have been working as much as I can on my dissertation. Unfortunately, this has not been much, since I am having a hard time structuring my time lately. Finally, I have come to the realisation that in order to be effective in getting work done, I need to have a certain amount of pressure on me. So, in order to fill out my schedule a bit and give myself some more structure, I have applied for a position working two days a week as a researcher for the Edinburgh branch of Amnesty International. Aside from working for a cause I care about, I believe this would be a great resume builder for me. I have an interview tomorrow, so wish me luck.
Other than that, Ryan and I have been focusing lately on cycling. We decided a few weeks ago that we would like to try and work toward riding a century (100 miles in one day) by the end of the summer, and so we are currently working on training for that. Also, we are hoping to do a fair bit of cycle touring around parts of Scotland this summer in the process. We recently upgraded to clipless pedals, as well as investing in better touring gear, from camping stuff to saddle bags. This past weekend was meant to be our 'test case' with a 60 mile group ride to St. Andrews for charity. We were planning on going, camping overnight and then riding back the next day. Unfortunately due to bad weather, misinformation, and a migraine headache on my part, we had to turn back about 1/3 the way there. As it turns out, the ride was far more challenging than we expected, being very hilly, and while we had been riding longer distances recently, we had not done enough hill training to be adequately prepared, especially carrying loads of camping gear!! That, combined with my not feeling well, and both of us getting soaked and chilled by strong winds and heavy rain, the whole thing was pretty much doomed. Though the situation could not be helped, we both were feeling pretty down about having to turn back.
So, we are going to make another attempt at a short tour this weekend starting down at the border with England in Berwick and riding north to Edinburgh. This ride, being one we planned ourselves, will be much more managable in both distances and elevation changes, and will cover about 100 miles over three days with some sightseeing along the way. We are hoping to borrow a small lightweight camera to bring with us so that we can post some pictures of the adventure.
Likewise, since some friends of ours are moving to St. Andrews next month, we are going to try and give that ride another chance in a few weeks, though probably by a different route, without the camping gear, and hopefully with better weather!
Well, then. That's all for now folks.
love,
Alletta
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
Monday, May 28, 2007
SUCCESS!!!!
Yesterday, starting at 9am in the morning I ran 26.2 miles in 5 hours 48 minutes (originally I thought it had been 5hr 55min, but after checking my official time in the race results it turns out I was almost ten minutes faster than I'd thought). Having been unwell much of the winter and spring, mild tendinitus in one knee and problems getting enough training hours in, I had been convinced that I would maybe not finish, or at least have to walk a considerable portion of the race. Instead, through careful pacing (slow and steady!!) and a lot of positive energy I managed to run the whole way. Before the race I had set four goals for myself: to have a good time, to run at least 18 miles, to finish, and if possible, to finish in under 6 hours. To my utter shock, I achieved all of them! Midway through the marathon I was really feeling tired in my legs and getting discouraged because I was running against a very strong headwind, and the weather was pretty bad, raining on me and everything. Each time I stopped to use the bathroom I had to wait in a long queue, losing 20 minutes all together and causing my legs to hurt (stopping altogether like that tends to give you cramps). But once I got to mile 18, started feeling really inspired, realising just how close I was to finishing. Soon the course turned around and I had the wind at my back. To keep the mood high I started singing along with my i-pod, loudly, and out-of-tune to the Rolling Stones, the Beatles, and of course Queen. I made a point of forcing myself to smile at all the volunteers and race officials along the way and in general, to have a good time. Overall, it worked, and to my surprise I was able to speed up considerably the last few miles, passing many of the other runners and finishing off with a massive sprint across the finish. Hands down, one of the most exhilarating experiences of my entire life. Even now with sore legs and blistered feet, I can't help thinking already about next years training strategy and how for the London Marathon in '08 I am going to try and shave almost an hour off my time.
Thanks to everybody for all the encouragement! A year ago I would have never believed I had it in me.
love Alletta
Saturday, May 05, 2007
Spring Updates
So... basically it has been AGES since either of us have made a blog post. For shame!!! All I can say is things have been pretty busy and since the weather has been so good I have been out and about doing things rather than huddled over the computer!! So, my apologies for the long delay. Spring is now in full bloom here in Scotland and so we have been taking advantage of it the best we can! Several weeks ago we went on a little trip to the beach to stay with our friends in Dunbar (which is on the eastern coast). For our first real cycling trip since we've been in Scotland it was a great sucess. We rode north to the coastal town of Musselburgh, followed the John Muir way along the coast highway, then cut south east through some lovely countryside. In total, we rode 38 miles going, and then taking a different route back, another 35 home. No flat tyres, or mechanical disasters. We made it safe and sound in pretty good time and got to see some fantastic sights along the way. We will definately be making additional trips in the future, both further south along the Scottish borders and also up north toward the highlands. Unfortunately it does not look like we will be able to do any trips longer than three days. Still, we will try to make the most of by taking the train home if necessary!
Another highlight of the last month was the Beltane Fire Festival, which was held on April 30th up on Calton Hill in Edinburgh. I was absolutely thrilled to see a pagan holiday get celebrated in such a massive fashion, with 25,000 people! In all, the festival was basicly a big dramatic production, with actors playing different roles in the battle between winter and spring. There was also a fair bit of fire dancing and other pyrotechnic thrills.
Over the weekend of May 7th, we headed off to Belfast, N. Ireland to run in a marathon relay team (Ryan went 9 miles and I went 7). Despite having to share our hostel with an incredibly rude and irritating youth rugby team which kept us up half the night we had a really great time. Both of our runs went very well and we left feeling very inspired, with me deciding to give it a go and try and run a full marathon this month (which will be next week), after all. Since then, Ryan has had to drop out of the running due to a knee injury, but I am still going for it, with three goals: to have a good time, to run 18 miles, and to finish, even if I have to walk the last 8!! Since I was unable to train as well as I really should have (due to being terribly ill for much of the winter and early spring) I am not going to break any records for sure. Still, I am going to give it my best shot and whatever I manage to do will be an achievement for sure. On Saturday I ran 15 miles, and not only survived but did it fairly well, so that was a real boost. Even if I don't finish this time around I see this year as a real achievement for me a physical terms and am determined to give it a go again next year, with the aim of finishing in under 5.5 hours. I feel incredibly inspired that I am able to do this at all, considering that I was never an athletic person as a kid and that until a year ago, didn't believe I was able to 'do' running at al! When I first started, I could barely run a mile. Let me tell you, if I can do this just about anybody can!!
In other news, I am plugging away on my dissertation, right on schedule. I have trimmed my subject down to analysing US foreign policy under the first bush administration (2001-04) with one case study (of Afghanistan). So far, so good. One chapter written, two more outlined and a whole slew of primary doc research completed. Will keep you all posted as progress is made, of course.
As of two weeks ago I finally got myself a job. I am now working part-time as a personal assistant. It is very easy work and allows me very flexible hours so even though I would like to work a bit more hours, I am pretty much happy with things. I might consider taking on a second job in August if I finish my dissertation early however.
I finally have begun recieving paperwork in the mail from LSE. I was given an unconditional placement offer a couple months ago, but just now I finally got everything all sorted and set up for sure. I will start classes on Oct 1, so we will be moving to London for sure sometime in the month of September. I am really excited about my studies next year. It will be an incredible opportunity to interact some some of the truly great experts in my field and I am certain, an enormously positive experience for my own professional development. Though we are both a little sad to leave Scotland, living in London will be a great experience for the both of us. Still, we are definately looking forward to our return to Oregon in 2008!!
This last weekend was Ryan's birthday (the big 23). We celebrated with a nice party at the flat with friends, and finished off the night with dancing at a nearby club. Yesterday, we went to Glasgow for a day trip, and had a thoroughly fun, laid back time strolling around the city taking in the sights. The weather was beautiful and Ryan was able to take some very nice pictures, which we will eventually get around to posting!!
Ok then, heres signing off for now. We love and miss you all much, and can't wait to see you folks who are coming to visit!
cheers,
Alletta
Another highlight of the last month was the Beltane Fire Festival, which was held on April 30th up on Calton Hill in Edinburgh. I was absolutely thrilled to see a pagan holiday get celebrated in such a massive fashion, with 25,000 people! In all, the festival was basicly a big dramatic production, with actors playing different roles in the battle between winter and spring. There was also a fair bit of fire dancing and other pyrotechnic thrills.
Over the weekend of May 7th, we headed off to Belfast, N. Ireland to run in a marathon relay team (Ryan went 9 miles and I went 7). Despite having to share our hostel with an incredibly rude and irritating youth rugby team which kept us up half the night we had a really great time. Both of our runs went very well and we left feeling very inspired, with me deciding to give it a go and try and run a full marathon this month (which will be next week), after all. Since then, Ryan has had to drop out of the running due to a knee injury, but I am still going for it, with three goals: to have a good time, to run 18 miles, and to finish, even if I have to walk the last 8!! Since I was unable to train as well as I really should have (due to being terribly ill for much of the winter and early spring) I am not going to break any records for sure. Still, I am going to give it my best shot and whatever I manage to do will be an achievement for sure. On Saturday I ran 15 miles, and not only survived but did it fairly well, so that was a real boost. Even if I don't finish this time around I see this year as a real achievement for me a physical terms and am determined to give it a go again next year, with the aim of finishing in under 5.5 hours. I feel incredibly inspired that I am able to do this at all, considering that I was never an athletic person as a kid and that until a year ago, didn't believe I was able to 'do' running at al! When I first started, I could barely run a mile. Let me tell you, if I can do this just about anybody can!!
In other news, I am plugging away on my dissertation, right on schedule. I have trimmed my subject down to analysing US foreign policy under the first bush administration (2001-04) with one case study (of Afghanistan). So far, so good. One chapter written, two more outlined and a whole slew of primary doc research completed. Will keep you all posted as progress is made, of course.
As of two weeks ago I finally got myself a job. I am now working part-time as a personal assistant. It is very easy work and allows me very flexible hours so even though I would like to work a bit more hours, I am pretty much happy with things. I might consider taking on a second job in August if I finish my dissertation early however.
I finally have begun recieving paperwork in the mail from LSE. I was given an unconditional placement offer a couple months ago, but just now I finally got everything all sorted and set up for sure. I will start classes on Oct 1, so we will be moving to London for sure sometime in the month of September. I am really excited about my studies next year. It will be an incredible opportunity to interact some some of the truly great experts in my field and I am certain, an enormously positive experience for my own professional development. Though we are both a little sad to leave Scotland, living in London will be a great experience for the both of us. Still, we are definately looking forward to our return to Oregon in 2008!!
This last weekend was Ryan's birthday (the big 23). We celebrated with a nice party at the flat with friends, and finished off the night with dancing at a nearby club. Yesterday, we went to Glasgow for a day trip, and had a thoroughly fun, laid back time strolling around the city taking in the sights. The weather was beautiful and Ryan was able to take some very nice pictures, which we will eventually get around to posting!!
Ok then, heres signing off for now. We love and miss you all much, and can't wait to see you folks who are coming to visit!
cheers,
Alletta
Monday, April 23, 2007
News and Updates
So the last couple of weeks have been pretty exciting, if not enjoyable. Our long-time friends Amy and Max came to pay us a visit at the end of their month-long whirlwind European tour. Since the weather has finally turned nice, we had a great time showing them around the city and in general just hanging out and relaxing. For my part, I was able to get my term papers done early so that I could take a little vacation while they were here, and likewise Ryan was able to get off work. It was a little strange at first to have our 'old' and 'new' lives colliding (old friends in a new place) but it was really a great time and a comforting bit of home so far away.
In other news, I have begun to work seriously on my dissertation, doing secondary research, scoping out primary source materials and starting to write up the first chapter. I just got a new copy of Office 2004, which will work with my citation management software. Hoping it will be more stable than the old copy of word 2000 I had which would randomly shut down and cause me to lose my work every hour or so. Unlike my last thesis, I am trying to get started this time around all organised and set up properly from the start so that I can hopefully be more efficient and avoid headaches. I will let you know how that goes!
Some sad news, Ryan's grandmother (Petrich) who has cancer has been doing very poorly. With the help of his parents he will be traveling back to the USA for the last week of May (5-24 to 6-4) to spend time with his family, especially Marcelle, while he has the chance. He hopes that he will also have time to catch up with friends too, so keep an ear out and your schedules open because you will likely hear from him.
This next weekend we are embarking on our first real bike tour of Scotland, exploring the East Lothian reigon on our way to visit Ms. Graisbery (still not sure if she changed her name and if so what it is) and her new husband in Dunbar, on the eastern coast (30 to 50 miles each way depending on route). We will be passing through a lot of fantastic scenic areas so lots of pictures are sure to follow. If this little trip goes well, will we definitely be doing more, perhaps along the Scottish coast from Berwick Upon Tweed back up to Edinburgh, and from Glasgow up to Inverness. We figure its best we get a real taste of Scotland while we can, and considering that we've hardly been out of Edinburgh so far, we can't wait.
Finally, for those of you who have any interest in our newfound athletic exploits--- although health problems have considerably stemmed our running ambitions for the season, we are still planning on running on a relay team at the Belfast Maraton (5 to 10 miles each), and then doing as much as we can at the Edinburgh marathon at the end of May, with a goal of 15 miles. For a first attempt, I think it has been a great experience and we are definately going to try again next year, maybe in the London Marathon. We will probably continue running a bit during the summer, but as soon as May is over we are planning to do more cycling instead. No matter what, we are certainly feeling more fit than ever and in a country where obesity and its related illnesses are just as rampant as in the USA, feeling pretty good about our lifespans.
Ok then, signing off for now. We love you all, and hopefully next week will have much more to share!
Alletta (and Ryan too)
In other news, I have begun to work seriously on my dissertation, doing secondary research, scoping out primary source materials and starting to write up the first chapter. I just got a new copy of Office 2004, which will work with my citation management software. Hoping it will be more stable than the old copy of word 2000 I had which would randomly shut down and cause me to lose my work every hour or so. Unlike my last thesis, I am trying to get started this time around all organised and set up properly from the start so that I can hopefully be more efficient and avoid headaches. I will let you know how that goes!
Some sad news, Ryan's grandmother (Petrich) who has cancer has been doing very poorly. With the help of his parents he will be traveling back to the USA for the last week of May (5-24 to 6-4) to spend time with his family, especially Marcelle, while he has the chance. He hopes that he will also have time to catch up with friends too, so keep an ear out and your schedules open because you will likely hear from him.
This next weekend we are embarking on our first real bike tour of Scotland, exploring the East Lothian reigon on our way to visit Ms. Graisbery (still not sure if she changed her name and if so what it is) and her new husband in Dunbar, on the eastern coast (30 to 50 miles each way depending on route). We will be passing through a lot of fantastic scenic areas so lots of pictures are sure to follow. If this little trip goes well, will we definitely be doing more, perhaps along the Scottish coast from Berwick Upon Tweed back up to Edinburgh, and from Glasgow up to Inverness. We figure its best we get a real taste of Scotland while we can, and considering that we've hardly been out of Edinburgh so far, we can't wait.
Finally, for those of you who have any interest in our newfound athletic exploits--- although health problems have considerably stemmed our running ambitions for the season, we are still planning on running on a relay team at the Belfast Maraton (5 to 10 miles each), and then doing as much as we can at the Edinburgh marathon at the end of May, with a goal of 15 miles. For a first attempt, I think it has been a great experience and we are definately going to try again next year, maybe in the London Marathon. We will probably continue running a bit during the summer, but as soon as May is over we are planning to do more cycling instead. No matter what, we are certainly feeling more fit than ever and in a country where obesity and its related illnesses are just as rampant as in the USA, feeling pretty good about our lifespans.
Ok then, signing off for now. We love you all, and hopefully next week will have much more to share!
Alletta (and Ryan too)
Sunday, April 15, 2007
My name is Ryan, and I am a bad Blogger.
Okay, so as many may know I do not post that frequently. So now I am going to give all of you a update on the goings on of Ryan.
Where to start. Well, I will spend a short time complaining about work. Why? Well its quite simple you see, work sucks. As of April 2nd night racing started in the UK and because of that Bookies are know open till 9:30 pm. This means that I have to work from 10:00 to 21:45, about 11 hours and 45 minutes. These are very long days, but our shop is very slow so they are not very busy days either. On the up side I get plenty of time to read now. Another problem is that working in gambling is beginning to wear on me. It's not exactly the best way for me to make the world a better place. In fact its quite clear to me that it does the exact opposite. I use to tell my self that the people that come in to my shop and gamble are doing it by there own choice. That they need to be responsible for themselves. For most of my customers that is true. However there are a few who don't fit into that argument. Some people are addicted to gambling just the same as someone is addicted to Booze or drugs. At the end of the day I may have given some people lots of money in winnings, but generally I've taken more from other people. In some cases one person will blow £600 or even £900 pounds in one day!! I don't care what kinda of position they are in financially, you just shouldn't gamble that much money.
Worse is when something goes wrong with a bet. Its taken late, or the price (i.e. the odds, 1/2, 5/1, 15/2 ect.) is wrong or late. Then when the customer comes back they are all upset with me for not giving them the amount of money they want. They are often not that polite and see me as the whipping post for their frustration. Arg! I know I can't do this much longer. Its time I found some other way to make a living. Okay enough of that.
On the 25th of March I took a much needed holiday.
My friend Hamza and I went to Amsterdam. I spent four days wondering the streets of Amsterdam. It was Amazing! The firstly the weather was great. I had just spent all winter in Edinburgh and the sun was not a frequent visitor. Rain, wind, and grey clouds often overstayed their welcome. From the moment I landed in Amsterdam the weather was sunny and beautiful. It only got warmer every day until Thursday morning when Hamza and I just got breakfast and then went to the airport. It felt so nice to be outside and not have to wear a coat.
Hamza is the kind of guy that likes to plan out the activities of a holiday to great detail. I am more of a random encounter kind of person. So to resolve this ideological difference I just followed Hamza around, let him be my guide, and then we had a great holiday. We walked all over that city, miles and miles of streets passed by.
There were all kinds of people staying at our hostel. Austrians, French Canadians, Americans from S.Carolina, Italians, Spanish. This made the lobby of the hostel very active and dynamic place. Lots of fun for all.
Among the many places I saw in Amsterdam was the Heineken Experience. It was basically a over-extended commercial for the Heineken Corp. that I payed 10 euro to see. But in the other hand I did get three glasses of beer.
(Other people in the tour gave me some their unwanted beer tokens) So all in all it was worth it, for the beer I mean.
Another noteworthy place I visited was the Ann Frank House. It was a bit of a let down. There was a distinct lack of artifacts and even furniture. Some rooms only had one thing to look at, a quote from someone painted on the wall. And often the quotes were not exactly that interesting or relevant. At one point a quote from Nelson Mandela is written on the wall, nice to here from a world leader like Mandela, but not exactly that enlightening of Ann's experience.
At the end of the museum is a video presentation about tension between free and hate speech. That was interesting but the presentation was a bit childish. At the end of each segment, there were several different free speech segments, the audience was polled,then the results of the poll are shown and compared to the results of all visitors of the museum ever. I don't regret going to the museum but I would just warn future visitors not to expect too much.
Alletta and I had another exciting experience recently in April. Amy Sample and Max Ward, our good friends from High School, came to visit us at the end of their European holiday. I have been missing all of my friends back in Oregon, and those that have left Oregon as well, very much. So needless to say it was very nice to see someone from my home.
Another crazy experience just as Amy and Max arrived here in Edinburgh is a dinner that happened. Those that were at this strange dinner were Eden Graisbe(not sure if she changed her name, and if so what it is), Mike and Mary Fitzgibbons, Amy Sample, Max Ward, and Alletta and I. Wow! seeing them was a flash from the past. Craziness, Eden is living in Edinburgh, she has married a Scot and is now starting a family. Mike and Mary (even though they are still Mr. and Mrs. Fitz in my head) have family living in Germany and have been coming across the water several times. The dinner was good. Manly the company, the restaurant was too small for a party our size, and the food was nice but not everybody could really enjoy it. We did talk and swap stories about teachers and students. It was all very strange. None of us had changed that much, but we did get to see a side of each other that was very different. We were meeting as equals, not as teachers and students.
After that we had the pleasurable company of Amy and Max for another couple of days. Much fun was had by all.
Well thats me. Other than that not too much different. I am looking forward to summer and fairer weather. Further, I am excited about trips that are coming up. Alletta and I are planing to start traveling all over the UK via Train and Cycle. I also want to try and get out doors and do some rock climbing. Alletta and I are still working out and training for the marathons. Although I should note that we are only going to do half marathons and relays. I am not really that upset at the fact that we aren't gonna do a full one, that was kind of a scary idea that I had not really wrapped my head around. Ok, so I am gonna leave you at that. I hope that I can amend my bad posting ways and give a update sooner.
Take care all you.
Ryan
Where to start. Well, I will spend a short time complaining about work. Why? Well its quite simple you see, work sucks. As of April 2nd night racing started in the UK and because of that Bookies are know open till 9:30 pm. This means that I have to work from 10:00 to 21:45, about 11 hours and 45 minutes. These are very long days, but our shop is very slow so they are not very busy days either. On the up side I get plenty of time to read now. Another problem is that working in gambling is beginning to wear on me. It's not exactly the best way for me to make the world a better place. In fact its quite clear to me that it does the exact opposite. I use to tell my self that the people that come in to my shop and gamble are doing it by there own choice. That they need to be responsible for themselves. For most of my customers that is true. However there are a few who don't fit into that argument. Some people are addicted to gambling just the same as someone is addicted to Booze or drugs. At the end of the day I may have given some people lots of money in winnings, but generally I've taken more from other people. In some cases one person will blow £600 or even £900 pounds in one day!! I don't care what kinda of position they are in financially, you just shouldn't gamble that much money.
Worse is when something goes wrong with a bet. Its taken late, or the price (i.e. the odds, 1/2, 5/1, 15/2 ect.) is wrong or late. Then when the customer comes back they are all upset with me for not giving them the amount of money they want. They are often not that polite and see me as the whipping post for their frustration. Arg! I know I can't do this much longer. Its time I found some other way to make a living. Okay enough of that.
On the 25th of March I took a much needed holiday.
My friend Hamza and I went to Amsterdam. I spent four days wondering the streets of Amsterdam. It was Amazing! The firstly the weather was great. I had just spent all winter in Edinburgh and the sun was not a frequent visitor. Rain, wind, and grey clouds often overstayed their welcome. From the moment I landed in Amsterdam the weather was sunny and beautiful. It only got warmer every day until Thursday morning when Hamza and I just got breakfast and then went to the airport. It felt so nice to be outside and not have to wear a coat.
Hamza is the kind of guy that likes to plan out the activities of a holiday to great detail. I am more of a random encounter kind of person. So to resolve this ideological difference I just followed Hamza around, let him be my guide, and then we had a great holiday. We walked all over that city, miles and miles of streets passed by.
There were all kinds of people staying at our hostel. Austrians, French Canadians, Americans from S.Carolina, Italians, Spanish. This made the lobby of the hostel very active and dynamic place. Lots of fun for all.
Among the many places I saw in Amsterdam was the Heineken Experience. It was basically a over-extended commercial for the Heineken Corp. that I payed 10 euro to see. But in the other hand I did get three glasses of beer.
(Other people in the tour gave me some their unwanted beer tokens) So all in all it was worth it, for the beer I mean.Another noteworthy place I visited was the Ann Frank House. It was a bit of a let down. There was a distinct lack of artifacts and even furniture. Some rooms only had one thing to look at, a quote from someone painted on the wall. And often the quotes were not exactly that interesting or relevant. At one point a quote from Nelson Mandela is written on the wall, nice to here from a world leader like Mandela, but not exactly that enlightening of Ann's experience.
At the end of the museum is a video presentation about tension between free and hate speech. That was interesting but the presentation was a bit childish. At the end of each segment, there were several different free speech segments, the audience was polled,then the results of the poll are shown and compared to the results of all visitors of the museum ever. I don't regret going to the museum but I would just warn future visitors not to expect too much. Alletta and I had another exciting experience recently in April. Amy Sample and Max Ward, our good friends from High School, came to visit us at the end of their European holiday. I have been missing all of my friends back in Oregon, and those that have left Oregon as well, very much. So needless to say it was very nice to see someone from my home.
Another crazy experience just as Amy and Max arrived here in Edinburgh is a dinner that happened. Those that were at this strange dinner were Eden Graisbe(not sure if she changed her name, and if so what it is), Mike and Mary Fitzgibbons, Amy Sample, Max Ward, and Alletta and I. Wow! seeing them was a flash from the past. Craziness, Eden is living in Edinburgh, she has married a Scot and is now starting a family. Mike and Mary (even though they are still Mr. and Mrs. Fitz in my head) have family living in Germany and have been coming across the water several times. The dinner was good. Manly the company, the restaurant was too small for a party our size, and the food was nice but not everybody could really enjoy it. We did talk and swap stories about teachers and students. It was all very strange. None of us had changed that much, but we did get to see a side of each other that was very different. We were meeting as equals, not as teachers and students.
After that we had the pleasurable company of Amy and Max for another couple of days. Much fun was had by all.
Well thats me. Other than that not too much different. I am looking forward to summer and fairer weather. Further, I am excited about trips that are coming up. Alletta and I are planing to start traveling all over the UK via Train and Cycle. I also want to try and get out doors and do some rock climbing. Alletta and I are still working out and training for the marathons. Although I should note that we are only going to do half marathons and relays. I am not really that upset at the fact that we aren't gonna do a full one, that was kind of a scary idea that I had not really wrapped my head around. Ok, so I am gonna leave you at that. I hope that I can amend my bad posting ways and give a update sooner.
Take care all you.
Ryan
Monday, April 09, 2007
Happy BeLated Easter!
Hello my dears:
Though neither Ryan nor I celebrate easter we did recieve lots of nice easter greetings and certainly always appreciate a chance to say hello and wish our loved ones well! So, hope you all had a happy easter! On our side of the pond, the weather is finally giving indications of summer to come, with the occassional bright and sunny day and finally a bit of warmth! We are trying to take full advantage of this by getting outside as much as possible! Since I have been finally feeling better we have been running a lot, and on friday we went for a 18 mile bike ride out of the city. To our delight, we discovered that there is a really neat old canal just a few blocks from our place that flows through several aquaducts right out of town, along side it is lots of vegetation and yes, a fairly new bike path. Feeling inspired we are now discovering a number of hidden bike routes throughout the city and so hopefully we can start riding instead of taking the bus anymore.
Other than the outdoor adventures, the last few weeks have been somewhat eventful. Ryan went on holiday to Amsterdam (a posting with pictures is promised to follow), and I went to London to meet Queen Elizabeth II and some of her family (no, her grandsons were NOT there). On both counts, we had a very good time. For my part, the reception with the queen was extremely interesting (no I do not have pictures, cameras were not allowed so you will have to take my word for it). I have to say I felt pretty dang special passing through all the tourists mobbed at the palace gate to stroll right inside! The palace was very beautiful, with a whole lot of guilded mouldings and some very old furniture. There were about 400 Americans there, some a real variety of fields, some of whom were famous, though most of us just happened to be in the UK and somewhat well-connect ed to the right people (turns out one of the main guys in charge of the guest list was a formal Marshall Scholar!). A highlight for me was the photographer Annie Leibowitz. Apparently a few real famous people, like Gweneth Paltrow and Madonna were invited but they didn't show (I did see Paltrow's nametag on the table!). Anyway, I did get to spend lots of time chatting with some Fulbrights and members of the Oxford rowing team, as well as a few American-born footballers. I did meet the Queen and shook her hand (she wore a black glove). What I can say is that she is a very pleasant and interesting lady. She looked very nice in a yellow tweed suit, though I was surprised how short she is! I guess famous people really do seem larger than life to us.. Anyhow, she is a keen feminist in her own way and was very interested in us students. I think that if I would have had the chance, I could have really enjoyed a long chat with her. Unfortunately I just missed out on that because I had drifted away from my friends and just as I returned they told me the Queen had just been there for several minutes chatting! Oh well. I did get to have several prolonged chats with the Duke of Edinburgh (her husband), who I must say was a rather funny guy (and not in the ha, ha way). There were also lots of really old, rich royals, and all together (with exception to the queen) they struck me as pretty snooty blue-bloods. Incredibly old-fashioned and not very keen on anything too intellectual. One of the highlights, was talking with members of the royal houshold, most of whom were former military men, who had become the personal secretaries, etc of different royals. The queen had about six or seven staff, while other members of the houshold had a few each. It was really interesting to hear how carefully orchestrated everything was, especially with regard to the queen, as while the staff made it a point to blend in with all the guests, they at the same time were constantly watching her, and monitoring who got close to her and how many people were around her at a given time so that she didn't stay too long in one place but didn't get mobbed either. I especially enjoyed the waiters, who would silently use their giant silver trays to manage the crowd, and politely urge us from one room to the other! Overall, the whole thing was a lot of fun and makes a great story to tell!
I had cocktails in this room!!
Other than that, I have been plugging away at my schoolwork and looking forward to the visit of Amy and Max this next week! I am sure that by next monday I will have much more to tell you all.
Much love from Scotland
Alletta
Though neither Ryan nor I celebrate easter we did recieve lots of nice easter greetings and certainly always appreciate a chance to say hello and wish our loved ones well! So, hope you all had a happy easter! On our side of the pond, the weather is finally giving indications of summer to come, with the occassional bright and sunny day and finally a bit of warmth! We are trying to take full advantage of this by getting outside as much as possible! Since I have been finally feeling better we have been running a lot, and on friday we went for a 18 mile bike ride out of the city. To our delight, we discovered that there is a really neat old canal just a few blocks from our place that flows through several aquaducts right out of town, along side it is lots of vegetation and yes, a fairly new bike path. Feeling inspired we are now discovering a number of hidden bike routes throughout the city and so hopefully we can start riding instead of taking the bus anymore.
Other than the outdoor adventures, the last few weeks have been somewhat eventful. Ryan went on holiday to Amsterdam (a posting with pictures is promised to follow), and I went to London to meet Queen Elizabeth II and some of her family (no, her grandsons were NOT there). On both counts, we had a very good time. For my part, the reception with the queen was extremely interesting (no I do not have pictures, cameras were not allowed so you will have to take my word for it). I have to say I felt pretty dang special passing through all the tourists mobbed at the palace gate to stroll right inside! The palace was very beautiful, with a whole lot of guilded mouldings and some very old furniture. There were about 400 Americans there, some a real variety of fields, some of whom were famous, though most of us just happened to be in the UK and somewhat well-connect ed to the right people (turns out one of the main guys in charge of the guest list was a formal Marshall Scholar!). A highlight for me was the photographer Annie Leibowitz. Apparently a few real famous people, like Gweneth Paltrow and Madonna were invited but they didn't show (I did see Paltrow's nametag on the table!). Anyway, I did get to spend lots of time chatting with some Fulbrights and members of the Oxford rowing team, as well as a few American-born footballers. I did meet the Queen and shook her hand (she wore a black glove). What I can say is that she is a very pleasant and interesting lady. She looked very nice in a yellow tweed suit, though I was surprised how short she is! I guess famous people really do seem larger than life to us.. Anyhow, she is a keen feminist in her own way and was very interested in us students. I think that if I would have had the chance, I could have really enjoyed a long chat with her. Unfortunately I just missed out on that because I had drifted away from my friends and just as I returned they told me the Queen had just been there for several minutes chatting! Oh well. I did get to have several prolonged chats with the Duke of Edinburgh (her husband), who I must say was a rather funny guy (and not in the ha, ha way). There were also lots of really old, rich royals, and all together (with exception to the queen) they struck me as pretty snooty blue-bloods. Incredibly old-fashioned and not very keen on anything too intellectual. One of the highlights, was talking with members of the royal houshold, most of whom were former military men, who had become the personal secretaries, etc of different royals. The queen had about six or seven staff, while other members of the houshold had a few each. It was really interesting to hear how carefully orchestrated everything was, especially with regard to the queen, as while the staff made it a point to blend in with all the guests, they at the same time were constantly watching her, and monitoring who got close to her and how many people were around her at a given time so that she didn't stay too long in one place but didn't get mobbed either. I especially enjoyed the waiters, who would silently use their giant silver trays to manage the crowd, and politely urge us from one room to the other! Overall, the whole thing was a lot of fun and makes a great story to tell!
I had cocktails in this room!!
Other than that, I have been plugging away at my schoolwork and looking forward to the visit of Amy and Max this next week! I am sure that by next monday I will have much more to tell you all.
Much love from Scotland
Alletta
Monday, March 26, 2007
Ok I finally posted some random pictures of my fellow Marshall scholars
We Marshalls are actually pretty normal. Really... Yeah so here are some random pictures, mostly from our London Orientation last October. So now you can get an idea what my NEW friends are like, ha ha, ha. (Just kidding, they are my friends but I do still love you all dearly) Enjoy!
So here we are at Westminster waiting to get a talking to from members of the Marshall Commission.
Some random pictures of London:
Ok I had to include these because British children are so dang cute in their little uniforms.
And some pictures of the London Eye, which we all got to take a ride on as part of our orientation program:
So here we are at Westminster waiting to get a talking to from members of the Marshall Commission.
Some random pictures of London:
Ok I had to include these because British children are so dang cute in their little uniforms.
And some pictures of the London Eye, which we all got to take a ride on as part of our orientation program:
Sunday, March 25, 2007
All sorts of news from the chilly land of Scotland
Hey there ya'll:
SO.. not too much news for you this week, though a few little tidbits which I am eager to share. This last week I spent four days in Cardiff, Wales on the annual Marshall scholars class trip. Overall, despite the fact the Welsh Assembly treated it a bit like a diplomatic visit, with lots of talks about devolution and Welsh politics filling up most of the days, we enjoyed a fairly good time. The Assembly put us up in a very nice hotel, and we did get a chance to learn quite a bit about Welsh culture, history, language and politics.
Cardiff Castle:
The new Wales Assembly Building:
Two particular highlights were: A midieval banquet at the Cardiff Castle, including many courses of Welsh food and some very enthusiastic entertainers; and a chance to explore St. Fagans National History Museum, which is an open air folk museum complete with real life houses and buildings relocated from all over Wales. The museum was extremely cool, with buildings almost a thousand years old, ranging from churches to houses, shops, barns, functioning gardens and farmlands, a mill and even a tannery, all furnished (or being used) in a historically correct manner with period furniture, fixtures, etc. Also included was a historically accurate reproduction of a Celtic village (as people in the region lived 2,000 years ago. All the different buildings were open to go inside and see what it was like. Always interested in how it would have been to live in another age, I especially liked seeing all the old dwellings, most of which included dovecots or pigeon lofts! (for those of you who don't know, my family races pigeons, which has also apparently been a favorite sport for generations of Welsh for many hundredsof years).
Some Miner's cottages from 1805 at the National History Museum (pigeon lofts in the rear behind them):
One down point in the trip, was when a sinus infection I have been fighting (unsucesssfully) all winter came raging back, requiring me to make a visit to the out-of-hours doctor and causing me to miss a day's lectures. Thankfully I was able to get some antibiotics and other medicines and finally seem to be on the mend.
In other news, I am nearing the end of spring semester, just a few weeks before I turn in my term papers and get to work in earnest on my dissertation. So close I can taste it! Although, I have enjoyed my projects for this past few months, which have included: an analysis of the pros and cons of using NGOs as a conduit for democratisation in Africa, a study on the different models of development utilized in post-war Afghanistan reconstruction with a particular regard to gender, and a theoretical discussion of how transnational movements can and do influence the foreign policies of governments with an analysis of the historical example of the International Zionist Movement during WW I.
Other exciting news: Ms. Graisbery (for those who don't know, a former teacher of mine at FG high) is currently living just outside of Edinburgh. She has related to me that Mr and Mrs. Fitzgibbons (thats right, THE now retired FITZ from FG High) will be visiting next week and so we are going to arrange a dinner-reunion. Coincidentially, Amy Sample and Max Ward will be visiting that same week and so it is going to be a real FGHS reunion, in Scotland of all places! How random! I am really thrilled and can't wait!
Finally, due to being sick pretty much all winter, it looks like I am not going to be adequately prepared for the marathon come May. However I will be running shorter distances, as part of a relay team and also a half-marathon. Oh well, the way I see it, I have done a respectable job becoming 'a runner' and I will give it my best to be healthier next year so that I can go the whole distance next time around. For someone who just took up the sport last fall, I don't feel at all like a failure. 13 miles is a very respectable distance for a beginner!
ok then, I hope everyone is happy and healthy back in Oregon (or wherever else you are). We miss you all terribly and look forward to many visitors this summer!
Alletta
SO.. not too much news for you this week, though a few little tidbits which I am eager to share. This last week I spent four days in Cardiff, Wales on the annual Marshall scholars class trip. Overall, despite the fact the Welsh Assembly treated it a bit like a diplomatic visit, with lots of talks about devolution and Welsh politics filling up most of the days, we enjoyed a fairly good time. The Assembly put us up in a very nice hotel, and we did get a chance to learn quite a bit about Welsh culture, history, language and politics.
Cardiff Castle:
The new Wales Assembly Building:
Two particular highlights were: A midieval banquet at the Cardiff Castle, including many courses of Welsh food and some very enthusiastic entertainers; and a chance to explore St. Fagans National History Museum, which is an open air folk museum complete with real life houses and buildings relocated from all over Wales. The museum was extremely cool, with buildings almost a thousand years old, ranging from churches to houses, shops, barns, functioning gardens and farmlands, a mill and even a tannery, all furnished (or being used) in a historically correct manner with period furniture, fixtures, etc. Also included was a historically accurate reproduction of a Celtic village (as people in the region lived 2,000 years ago. All the different buildings were open to go inside and see what it was like. Always interested in how it would have been to live in another age, I especially liked seeing all the old dwellings, most of which included dovecots or pigeon lofts! (for those of you who don't know, my family races pigeons, which has also apparently been a favorite sport for generations of Welsh for many hundredsof years).
Some Miner's cottages from 1805 at the National History Museum (pigeon lofts in the rear behind them):
One down point in the trip, was when a sinus infection I have been fighting (unsucesssfully) all winter came raging back, requiring me to make a visit to the out-of-hours doctor and causing me to miss a day's lectures. Thankfully I was able to get some antibiotics and other medicines and finally seem to be on the mend.
In other news, I am nearing the end of spring semester, just a few weeks before I turn in my term papers and get to work in earnest on my dissertation. So close I can taste it! Although, I have enjoyed my projects for this past few months, which have included: an analysis of the pros and cons of using NGOs as a conduit for democratisation in Africa, a study on the different models of development utilized in post-war Afghanistan reconstruction with a particular regard to gender, and a theoretical discussion of how transnational movements can and do influence the foreign policies of governments with an analysis of the historical example of the International Zionist Movement during WW I.
Other exciting news: Ms. Graisbery (for those who don't know, a former teacher of mine at FG high) is currently living just outside of Edinburgh. She has related to me that Mr and Mrs. Fitzgibbons (thats right, THE now retired FITZ from FG High) will be visiting next week and so we are going to arrange a dinner-reunion. Coincidentially, Amy Sample and Max Ward will be visiting that same week and so it is going to be a real FGHS reunion, in Scotland of all places! How random! I am really thrilled and can't wait!
Finally, due to being sick pretty much all winter, it looks like I am not going to be adequately prepared for the marathon come May. However I will be running shorter distances, as part of a relay team and also a half-marathon. Oh well, the way I see it, I have done a respectable job becoming 'a runner' and I will give it my best to be healthier next year so that I can go the whole distance next time around. For someone who just took up the sport last fall, I don't feel at all like a failure. 13 miles is a very respectable distance for a beginner!
ok then, I hope everyone is happy and healthy back in Oregon (or wherever else you are). We miss you all terribly and look forward to many visitors this summer!
Alletta
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