Yes, Virginia, there is "snow" in Scotland.

Just when I thought I'd figured out Edinburgh weather patterns, I am thrown for a loop. Yesterday had a high of 12C (about 53F) and was sunny and glorious, until some nasty rain in the late afternoon. This morning started just over freezing and never rose higher, but the promise of sun I saw walking towards breakfast changed into big fat snowflakes by the time I walked down to KB for my morning lecture.

During this walk the snow changed to icy sleet-like drops, then rain, then stopped completely by the time I made it to the physics building. So I actually walked in the worst half-hour possible. It drizzled a little bit this afternoon; the rain drops changed into snowflakes and then back again.

Brilliant.


This reminds me of a poster by the JCMB library, advertising need-based scholarship money. Today was not the first time I saw it, I just haven't mentioned it until now. I think it resonates with me because the phrase is so short and so profoundly Scottish:
"Clever but skint?"
Roughly translated, this means "Smart but broke?", yet has a much better ring. Every time I see it I marvel. Perhaps other phrases don't sound as good as in American English, but this one "clever but skint?" is a work of art.

Wintertime

This morning I walked down to KB for the first time since classes finished (so, in about two weeks). Things actually got more treacherous than the last time I came down. Sometime, possibly last night, the temperatures finally fell below freezing, so the perpetually-wet sidewalks actually froze. The temperatures are back above freezing now, but of course not everything has melted yet. Luckily, my walk to KB is mostly south, and so most of the sidewalks were melted. The problem was with the east-west sidestreets, because the sun doesn't get high enough to extend over the buildings, and the ice was just thin enough to not be visible and just thick enough to still be slippery.

I'm starting to believe it doesn't get much colder than this in Edinburgh, although the wind chill makes it quite cold at times.

Luckily it's almost the solstice, and the days will start to get longer again. On December 20th (the furthest weather.com will let me see) the sun will be up from 8:40 AM - 3:40 PM. Oh good, a full seven hours of sun!
Of course where I'm staying over Christmas is even more north, near Ullapool (latitude: 57 N; Edinburgh is at 55 N; Washington DC is at 37 N, and currently getting 9.5 hours of day). By the time I'm there it will get about six hours of daylight. Oh good.
Flora: "It's really too bad you'll be visiting when it's at its absolute worst."

Anyway. I had my first exam yesterday, in Musical Acoustics, which took place in the same room (a basketball court!) as a medic exam. The medics papers were in the front half, so I spent a good two minutes not being able to find my name and flipping out. The acoustics exams were in the back corner. Why we couldn't take the exam in our usual room is beyond me, but the court has a balcony area that one or two of the proctors used to watch us from above. I felt like I was in a prison exercise yard.
Especially because I was seated at the front of a row, and if I need to cheat off of the medic in front of me for a different exam, then clearly I deserve to fail.

Down at KB this morning to turn in two hand-in assignments, which are actually due Thursday and Friday, but my last exam (Archaeology) is Thursday, so might as well turn them in now. So Thursday at noon, when Archaeology is over, I will be a free woman. (Sort of. I need to make study guides for my other two exams, in May. Another point I don't understand: why are my exams for Term 1 physics courses sat in May? Don't ask.)

Bright as Yellow

I haven't updated much because I guess nothing is really happening... this is the third-to-last week of classes, so after the next two weeks it's exam time. Theoretically, everyone's focused on those problem sets, essays, and exam-studying.

But, I am now the proud owner of a new pair of glasses! And my first-ever sunglasses!
The sunglasses will be very helpful on my morning walks to class... actually, really, any time I walk in a Southerly Direction. Currently the sun rises at 7:50 and sets at 4:04 (according to weather.com) and spends much of the day at a low angle. My walks to KB are especially bad, it's half an hour long, at around 9, and going S/SE the whole way. Ouch, eyes.

Also keeping me busy are rehearsals for the Theatre Paradok production of "The Visit", by uhh, Durrenmatt? someone German anyway. I wasn't going to participate in it after all, but a week or two ago I agreed to help with lighting and so whenever we're in the theatre space I've been going to rehearsals, in an attempt to see what parts of the stage need to be lit when.
The play goes up next week, but I still shouldn't be too busy. It's a lecture theatre, so really our lighting will be pretty minimal: be able to light the three regions of stage (there's a small platform in front, close to the audience, and an extra 'room' in the back of the stage, usually hidden by a curtain) with the lights we have. Probably don't have enough lights to use colors... besides, we can't find gels and don't want to buy any.
So, simple enough.


This is something I've meant to put in this blog for weeks:
Anyone in any sort of hazardous occupation has a bright, neon yellow vest as part of their uniform. Construction workers, traffic police, other police, crossing guards. Cyclists. Police cars and ambulances also use neon yellow paint, although they are still white with blue.
I think fire trucks are still all-red but I could be wrong.

Fire Regulations

So far I have noted a huge difference in the treatment of fire safety here. Fire exits are marked differently, typically a green sign with a running man and a directional arrow to point towards the exit, rather than the US red light "EXIT" signs from the ceiling. Long hallways, like my corridor, are split by a fire door halfway down, and most doors are hinged to close unless propped open. Furthermore, leaving a door propped open will result in a verbal warning from a warden here.

The fire alarms are tested once a week in public areas and are so sensitive that in the flats, even steam will set off the fire alarm unless the windows are opened to ventillate the air. On the other hand, I have no idea where the closest fire hydrants are... there are probably plenty and I just haven't noticed them.

Today I was in my maths lecture when we heard a very high-pitched whining. The professor paused in the middle of his explanation of Bessel functions, and said, "I assume that's just a drill. Well, we'll move on, shall we?" Wow.
He continued to talk about Bessel functions for a minute more, with no one in the lecture theatre paying attention. Finally, he put down his chalk and said, "well, okay, maybe we should participate in the drill too, so I'll leave this here for today. If you want a copy of the notes I'll leave them by the teaching office later this afternoon." The students took their collective time packing up before leaving, and we all stopped to pick up copies of the notes on our way out. The crowd of students, from our class and others, stood next to the building's front doors, which I am pretty sure is not a fire safety regulation. In fact, most of it was against regulations.

Recently I've been exploring all those words that are spelled differently between British and American English.
-"Fetal" gets turned into "foetal". A lot of double-vowels.
-grey
-colour, honour, neighbour, etc.
-realise, civilise, etc. Nothing has a "zed", pretty much.
Turning my language default to British English helps catch a lot of these.

-Oh, and "cell phones" are "mobiles", which I can't even pronounce properly.
-when you want to call someone, you phone them. I never remember that one.
-"well" can be used to mean "very". So, "He was well upset."

Last night I went to Laserquest (like Laser Tag) in a competition between Phys Soc and Maths Soc. We all were able to play two games... and while I was awful (ranked 15th out of 18 in both games) I had a lot of fun. The packs had sensors on the back, chest, shoulders, and lasergun, but were designed for use by people much larger than myself, so the too-broad shoulders clipped walls as I turned corners. I'd like to think that at least I didn't get in the way of my fellow team members, but I literally ran into so many that I'm not sure that's the case either... oh well. PhysSoc won anyway! And it was just an amazingly fun evening.

A lot of people have taken it upon themselves to educate me in terms of British comedy. Mostly this means watching old John Cleese sitcoms, along the lines of "Fawlty Towers".

First Day of Classes!

Actually less exciting than I would like.

My two morning classes were down in KB for physics and physical maths. ("Maths", not "math".) The adjoining tutorials, rather like the problem recitations and labs at UVA, are required... not something I knew, not for third-year courses. Unfortunately, both physics classes have tutorials either during my Gaelic class or so close to the time slot that I would never make it to class on time. Theoretically they can reschedule tutorials if there are conflicts, but for Quantum I was the only one with a conflict of the entire lecture theatre, so tough chance of that.

With a heavy heart, I have dropped my Intro to Gaelic class. I know, I know. I was extremely excited about it.
Instead I've signed up for Archaeology of Scotland, which sounds interesting AND has a field trip one weekend! Archaeology field trip! So cool.

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I've tried to break some more obnoxious Americanisms.
"Sketchy", for example, has no meaning. Instead things are "dodgy".
Black coffee is simply not understood, and tea is always taken with milk.
It is extremely difficult to remember "trousers" instead of "pants"; pants mean underwear. Tricky.

A day in the King's Buildings

Yesterday was the first time I walked down to King's Buildings (KB). The School of Physics talk was for the entering first-year students, so it was a little silly for me but I still got a lot out of it. For one, there was a 30-minute break during which we enjoyed free coffee and "sticky buns" (danishes, not cinnamon rolls). Second, there were two guys there representing the Physics Society, so I was able to chat to them about third-year classes . They had cool hoodies on: dark green and embroided on the back in white:
PHYSICS SOCIETY
Don't laugh.

In the afternoon was the Visiting Students' meeting. I am glad I went to the first-year meeting because there was very little introduction to the department. We signed up for meeting times with the DoS (Director of Studies) and he signed us up individually for classes.

semester one:
Quantum Mechanics: 9-950 TF
Physical Mathematics: 10-1050 TF
Intro to Gaelic Language and Culture: 12-1250 MTWF (!!!!!!!!!)
Musical Accoustics: 14-1450 MRF
Friday will be a busy day, but Wednesday and Thursday are quite nice.
When I signed up for the Gaelic, the DoS said, "Oh, you're going all ethnic on me!" Hehe.

I need to send some emails to the head of the physics department to clear classes I didn't think I'd sign up for, and then maybe semester two will work out.