Story from December

I can't remember if I've told this story yet, but my parents didn't seem to recognise it, so I'll tell it again just in case.

The first friend I visited over my Christmas holiday lived outside of Glasgow. One of the first days I was there, my friend was at work and so it might have just been myself and her mother home (I'll call her Mum to make things simpler), and I went into the kitchen to make myself a grilled cheese sandwich.

I ran into a few problems.

First, I told Mum I was going to make myself a grilled cheese. They call them "toasties".

Second, I asked Mum if she had a skillet. "A what?" A small frying pan? "A what?" I rummaged through her pans until I found what I wanted. Mum makes toasties on a sheet in the oven, not on a pan on the stove.

Third, the only bread they had was unsliced. I am not very good at cutting bread evenly. In fact, I'd never really tried until Scotland. Also the bread-cutting knife was not what I expected. The end result: two wedge-shaped chunks of bread with dangly bits where the knife caught the bread at angles.

Fourth, no American cheese. Not that I can blame them, American cheese is not the best, but for grilled cheese. I think I might have used cheddar, and was similarly horrible at slicing even, thin slices.

When it came time to the actual grilling of my sandwich, that was kind of a disaster. The thinner part of the wedgy-bread got burnt while the cheese underneath the thicker part hardly melted. It didn't help that I didn't understand Mum's electric stove. And the margarine was somehow not what I expected it to be, so it didn't quite cook as anticipated.

It was a pretty decent sandwich I suppose, just took a lot more work to make.

Home!

It turns out that those "lounges" they have in train stations close at about 10 PM. Drafty train stations are not pleasant when you have over 100 pounds of luggage and can't be bothered to dig out warmer clothes to put on and have an hour to wait until your next train.

Also the benches are metal, so cold and uncomfortable. I don't recommend them.

It was interesting to be in at York between 1-2 AM because a lot of trains slowly rolled through carrying some kind of cargo, my first thought was coal but I really doubt that's the case.

It was not interesting to be at Manchester Airport two hours before the airline check-in counters were open.

Both my bags weighed 23 kilos each, that's just over 50 pounds.
I think the US Customs officer thought I was lying to him. I dislike US Customs.
Maybe next time I should make less eye contact?


I'm home for the next wee while, but I doubt I'll post much unless I remember more interesting things to write about Scotland.. we'll see.

Random notes

There are a lot of things I've been meaning to write about Edinburgh, but of course I forget most of them.

There's been a recent advertising campaign with the tagline "KERB YOUR ENTHUSIASM". They want people to not make as many parking violations. Weird.

On Tuesday night I might a girl studying at Edinburgh who lives near me; on Wednesday I met a mother and daughter who lived in the area twelve years ago. Before those three, I've only met one before I think. Small world.

A week or so ago my Particle Physics lecturer showed us a video about the Higgs Boson, so if you've ever wanted to know more about this critter, I suggest you check it out.

Nurnberg 2; and photos!

Just added about 30 photos from Nurnberg, so check 'em out. More will be up later/soon, whenever Rashmi emails hers to me.


I forgot until I exited the Underground in Nurnberg---yes, they call it by the English word 'Underground'---that most places in continental Europe drive on the right-hand side of the road. That's nice, I suppose, but not when you've watched drivers use the left for the past seven months. That, and the fact our hotel was situated at a strange intersection of about six-and-a-half roads plus two sets of trolley tracks, made me confused every single time I had to cross a street. Which way to look? When I started to figure it out, I'd come across a one-way street with cars approaching the direction opposite from what I expected, and I had to start back at square one.

Everything was less expensive in Germany, though, because the pound is stronger than the Euro. Still expensive for the US Dollar, but I was converting every price into pounds, so it didn't bother me too terribly.

The airports were interesting. The Edinburgh airport is tiny for a city of its size, with only about 15-20 gates. Possibly because the Glasgow airport is huge and only about an hour away by car. The Nurnberg airport is also pretty small, of a similar size, but even less busy when I flew in and out. It was one of those airports where the planes can't actually taxi directly to the gates. Instead we queued to get onto one of those bus things, which drove out to the plane, and we queued in the wind and cold to climb up the stairs.

It was pretty cool to climb down the stairs, though, I'd only seen that done on movies and in newspaper pictures of famous people like the president, when they go to visit foreign countries and are greeted out on the runway. The pictures always show the Famoso looking worried as he descends the stairs. Yeah, I felt like that, and was glad to not be surrounded by papparazzi.
Still, I don't understand, can't they arrange for Air Force One to disembark directly into the airport, or with a slide into a limosine, or whathaveyou?

The Amsterdam airport, on the other hand, was HUGE. I may not have ever been in an airport so big, not to my knowledge anyway. They seemed to have arranged layovers in seperate concourses on purpose, so that the center of the airport was permanently marked with the most gigantic of gigantic security queues. Approaching it from one of the concourses was like finding a wolf spider on a trail out hiking. Or maybe Shelob.

After going through that mess the first time I realised the restaurant choices were better on the first side, but too late, I wasn't about to go through again twice. It was only in Amsterdam that I got my passport stamped, each way, then through the metal detectors again.

I suppose the Dutch are extremely concerned about security, when I first came into Nurnberg and Edinburgh airports the security guards looked bored and probably didn't even glance at my luggage going through the machine. Or at me, for that matter.
Leaving Amsterdam back to Edinburgh, we had to queue to use a metal detector special for our gate, then queue to get our tickets checked, then queue again to get into the plane, in no particular order.

I thought a lot about entropy while waiting through those queues onto the plane.
Also about filling quantum energy levels.

I also two entire books on my two days of travelling through airports. Two long books. And I knitted a hat. Not sure what that's meant to tell you.

Nuremberg 1

As hinted in my last post, I had a wee trip this weekend, to go visit Nurnberg (Nuremberg). I'll probably make a series of small posts about it as I remember things to write about. So, to begin.

Nurnberg is an old, old city. It has a center well-defined by the old city walls: within lies all the medieval architecture, including a castle known as the Berg and several old churches. Outside the wall looked to me like a fairly typical suburban-metro sprawl, though with some German-style architecture mixed in with all the glass office buildings and plain hotels. But within were houses painted white with brown shutters, Gothic churches, narrow covered footbridges, clocktowers, and extremely strange bronze statues. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera every time I passed by one of these statues, but when I post my pictures you;ll be able to see a few. Nurnberg was beautiful.

I wanted to see the courtroom of the famous Nuremberg Trials, but it is actually kind of far out of the city and the car was a manual, so we didn't make the journey to see it. I'm sure it's a boring place anyway, right? Just a courtroom!

It was really nice to stroll through the open-air market in the plaza of Lorenzkirche (kirche means church), which was open every day, although pretty empty when we first visited in the rain. Many of the stalls were exactly like the German Market I saw in Edinburgh around Christmas time, with the same roasted/sweetened nuts and heart-shaped biscuits, but the other stalls had different kinds of jewelry, or clothing, or cooking utensils, or whatever was being sold. Although most of the Germans we ran across seemed to have a good knowledge of English, the venders in the markets were more difficult to communicate with. We bought sausage sandwiches by pointing at what we wanted and holding up fingers; this procured us something called the Nurnberger Snack though we didn't know it at the time. Three small sausages on a hard roll, pretty tasty.

It was more difficult perhaps when we asked the fruit sellers what certain fruits were, or when we wanted a fruit in the center of the display. The stands were so huge it was pretty impossible to get close to a fruit if it wasn't placed in the front, but we made do and had some delicious grapes, strawberries, and dried apricots. At one stand there was dried ginger next to the dried apricots, but the vender spoke very little English. We asked what it was, still, because the label 'Ingwar' sounded like 'Ginger' but we weren't sure. He picked up a nearby ginger root, and then offered us to try a piece of the dried ginger. A lot of the venders let us sample what we were about to buy, except for things that were prepackaged, like the strawberries. The ginger was stronger than I expected, and he mimicked the 'whoa' sound I made with a laugh.

I have developed a strong appreciation for people who visit a country without knowing the language, it's difficult. Luckily the venders and waiters we came across had a good sense of humor about it and were very patient and helpful. Some seemed to enjoy the chance to practice their English with us, and for some others we found it easier to communicate in Spanish, although one waiter first switched to Italian when we obviously didn't understand German.

Other people were at least completely bilingual, and I'm sure this is a great asset to any employer. The hotel staff were fluent in both, as well as the every grocery store clerk we bought from, and the waiters at the higher-end restaurants. Nurnberg hosts a lot of fairs and conventions, so presumably they see a lot of English-speaking businessmen all year round.

Things I learned at the Shop today...

Today was another day of typical Scottish weather. Sunny in the morning, then a drizzle, then sunny from 11-1. Then a rainstorm that lasted about 20 minutes, followed by sun, followed by rain, then sun, then around 3:30 drizzle to rain to snow? to rain to sun.

Apparently England is having a lot of flooding problems this week, and there is some big storm approaching Scotland soon. But, as the storm has been predicted for several days now and has yet to come, 'it's those English metereologists who hate Scotland and want to give us bad weather'.

Hm, maybe.

I really like how the Scottish people I know say "idear".
Apparently the subjunctive is a pretty American constructive ('I wish I were a rich man')

After months of complaining to the head office about our lack of hangers, we finally got a set of 60 at the Shop. This was cause for much celebration, and now you can hardly browse through the ladies' tops there are so many on the racks.


No entries until next week, for reasons I won't divulge online. Take care until then.

more photos.

Added some photos from my Royal Botanic Gardens excursion, check out the new link.

Higgs boson

Germany is an hour ahead of GMT. The time zone is CET: Central European Time, and it seems to encompass most of Europe.


I found out yesterday that Peter Higgs, who theorised the Higgs Boson (which is yet to be discovered, but if it ever is, it will validate the Standard Model), is an emeritus professor here at U. of Edinburgh. Apparently he's about 84. Apparently he still comes in from time to time to do his work. How cool is that! There are probably times this year I've been in the same building as Higgs!

That is probably not as exciting to any of you, but wow. I had no idea he was even Scottish.

turn back time!

I know that Daylight Savings started last night in the US but here Summertime (a name that makes it easier to remember when it 'begins' and when it 'ends'!) doesn't start until March 30 or so. So those of you on the east coast are now only four hours behind GMT.

Today I walked down to the Royal Botanic Gardens, which are on the other side of the city. Actually my derive (in January) took me almost to the entrance of the gardens and I had no idea!

It was really nice to wander about the grounds, even though not a lot was in bloom the daffodils and crocuses and flowering shrubbery were really nice. The greenhouses ('glasshouses') were wonderful to wander through, each house had a different climate. Not just in temperature, but in humidity! I had to take off my jacket in the rainforest room, but then froze in the temperate room. And the Arid Lands section was actually so dry I couldn't believe. Luckily it was not so windy out as to sniffle-ify my nose, so I was able to smell most things... I think my favorite part was probably the orchids.

Did you know that Scotland has carnivorous plants? Yeah! Mostly they're native to bogs.

shopping

I'm really glad the student elections are over, I was getting really sick of getting harassed on my way out of the dining hall by candidates and their friends.

Shopping carts are called trolleys. You probably knew that.
Most places require a pound deposit to release the trolley from the other trolleys, and you get your pound back when you return the trolley. So a lot of people have pound-shaped tokens they keep on keyrings, because who always remembers to bring a pound coin with them to the grocery store?

Major grocery chains: Sainsburys, Tesco, Waitrose, ASDA. ASDA is owned by Walmart which is a little bit creepy to me. The groceries near to me are extremely small and have limited selection, but if you're willing to make the trek a little further there are some really big stores. Mostly I have rediscovered a love for food shopping, but some things always bother me, for example the fact that no one refrigerates eggs in this country, that's just barbaric. There seem to be a lot of differences in how products are organised, and the relative amounts of foods. Also, the alcohol section is huge, are stores in the US even permitted to sell liquor? (Here, yes, before 10 PM, and after 12.30 on Sundays)


A lot of my classes have finished up their lectures, or are about to, two weeks before the end of term! That's really weird, only nine weeks of lectures? Mentally I'm still used to 16.
It's a month and a half before my first exam!

Fairtrade Fortnight

The Fairtrade Fortnight is a two-week period all throughout the UK to raise awareness about fairtrade products and issues. It started February 25th and extends to March 8, I think. I haven't heard too much about goings-on, the university fairtrade group had a kickoff party featuring food made entirely of fairtrade ingredients. After Mass at the church I go to, there is always fairtrade coffee and tea, and this past Sunday the local MP (Member of Parliament), Nigel Griffiths, came to talk to the parishoners, especially to hear economics/fairtrade concerns.

A few stores have advertised that they have such-and-such fairtrade products, but I think mostly it is a period in which individuals try to put pressure on supermarkets to supply more fairtrade food, and when the local governments vow to support (or renew support for) developing nations.


Also, people actually use the word "fortnight" in everyday speech. "My tutorial meets fortnightly." "I went to Stirling about a fortnight ago." So on. Amazing!

Mothering Sunday

In case you didn't know, today is Mothering Sunday.

This day has apparently been celebrated ever since the Medieval times, and is always the fourth Sunday in Lent.

Basic Information

I believe that Father's Day, on the other hand, is celebrated the same time in Britain as in the US.


Happy Mothering Sunday to any and all mothers out there!

Edinburgh Capitals

In Condensed Matter yesterday we watched a very informative video, a clip from one of those Pop Science TV programs. Stuff Blowing Up
Sometimes it's nice to know that professors can get just as bored as students, and solve it in the same way--namely, surfing the internet for mindless junk.


Today I watched the end of a British Hockey League game. I think it was Coventry vs. Nottingham.
Who knew they followed hockey here.
To be fair, they don't actually. I guess nothing else was on for the sports channel to play.
Turns out Coventry plays Edinburgh tomorrow. Hrm. Edinburgh has an ice hockey team?
Yes, it does.

Take a look at the other teams in the league, a pretty random assortment, a lot of little cities, then there's Manchester and Belfast.

Also, Edinburgh plays in an ice rink right next to the rugby stadium. I've passed by the skating rink, it's small and looks more like a bowling alley---yet the website claims it's Olympic size and holds 3500 people.

Enough about ice hockey. Point is, it has even smaller following than basketball, which is even worse off than American football.