Fall Life!

Good Day,

The rest of this past week was filled with attempting to finish my first paper, and let me tell you- it was not easy. I might actually say that finding the location to drop off that paper was harder than writing it though, which is probably the most embarrassing part of the whole story.

Savannah, Anjali (my 2 flatmates), and I were at a loss for what to do for the weekend by the time Friday rolled around. Our intention was to head to St. Andrews. But....long story short, we had no place to stay and the cost of the train ride doubled so we decided the travel gods didn't want us leaving Aberdeen this weekend. It panned out pretty swell though- we found out that the farmers market (which only happens once a month) was on Saturday. We hopped aboard the bus to shorten our otherwise 45 minute walk downtown. I asked the bus driver how much a day pass would be and he responded, 'Well, what would you like to pay?' I said one pound, and he said 'okay!' but I just stood there looking like an idiot because I thought he couldn't be serious...but he was! I guess that was his last ticket at a cheaper rate for the day, so I didn't complain :) The market was filled with lovely smells from fresh fish, tastings of homemade teas, a buzz-worthy amount of wine sampling, and the delicious consumption of a haggis and venison Scotch pie. It felt like a great way to see what unique goods Aberdeenshire had to offer- and I was quite pleased with the results.

Also, as we were walking back to the bus stop, we walked into a Pound Mart (aka the Dollar Store for most of my readers.) Right then I saw it- red hair dye for a pound...I showed it to Savannah and Anjali and before you knew it we had our hands full, ready for a sporadic day of hair dying. That night we also took the liberty to stop at Lidl's (the grocery shop right next to campus) and grab some wine. So I made it into a cheese, bread, and wine kinda night while watching Parks and Rec- not too shabby in my opinion!

The following Wednesday was one of those you can't forget. We had a lovely Highland Frontier Society event- a bonfire on the Don River. Bonfires are the one thing that I really crave during the fall and I hadn't gotten my fill yet! However, when I asked them if anyone had brought me s'mores, they just looked at me in bewilderment. I couldn't believe it- they hadn't even heard of graham crackers!!! However, they did have mulled wine and sausages, which weren't comparable to s'mores, but still amazing! The people who I've met through this organization are indescribable- I love every minute with them :) It's the only place I've been to in a while where tin foil is a fashionable item and someone compliments you on the brightness of your 'head torch.'

This past week being Halloween, there were some pretty interesting events happening around campus- one being from an organization I've been helping with. They were looking to put on a traditional Scottish storytelling inside a yurt! What's a yurt you might ask? Well, it's a traditional tent-like structure used by nomadic people in central Asia. The organization was asking for volunteers to build one, and of course I wanted to help. All in all, it took a couple hours of 5 of us laying down the flooring, stretching the walls, and attaching wooden rods to make a roof structure. When it came time to hear the story teller, the experience got even better! She told some great stories, some being of witches and wolves.

Well, that's a recap of a couple weeks right there…now I have a new one boiling in my head about this past weekend- but I thought it needed its own blog.

Cheers!

Part of the gang at the bonfire :)