A bit of Scottish Snow

It snowed today, and we're expecting about 8 inches over the weekend! It was funny with all the people who had never seen snow before (from Australia, Argentina, Singapore) running outside to take pictures of it all. All of us from Nashville were just as excited, since we never see it either!

The weather's all around pretty blustery and drab here. The wind has been gale force at about 25-30 mph every day. Lots of rain has now turned over to some snow, but it's still pretty nasty outside.

I feel better about all the assessment assignments now, as I've had some time to process everything and it'll be a lot of work, but should be interesting at least. Everyone is very helpful and the course leaders are very knowledgable and available. We'll even have these online help sessions to discuss things. Overall, they've done a good job creating a real academic, interesting environment where we all can relate and discuss items. The only real criticism I have right now is that it's very much UK-only focused, so that only helps one of us overall. It'll be good knowledge in the long run when looking at global studies, but I think with everyone being so global they could have focused things a bit more in that direction. It's sort of the overriding critique from everyone, and everyone is receptive to critique, as they really want to make this class great.

We have a big assessment tomorrow where we have to role-play as a CRA interviewing a PI, and have to cram 3 days worth of material to cover in about 6 minutes, so it should be pretty realistic ;-)

We're taking a bus tour this weekend of the city, and then we have Sunday completely off, but I don't know what I'm going to do yet...we'll see!

It's nice to be here, but it is a long time. I do really miss being home. (Shout out to my wife!) This has been the longest we've been away since we've been married, and it's definitely no fun. I really, really love being married, and I really, really love Kristin, so this is just entirely too long of a time ;-) It's just so different having your life totally entwined with another person. It's just amazing to be apart and realize how much you've come to rely on one another and how much your life has changed. Only one more week until we meet up in London, though! I can't wait!

It's funny to hear us pick up some of the intonation...the accent is impossible to duplicate, but I'll catch myself drfiting into a Scottish or British intonation every now and then.

Now, for some highlights:

Kilt watch: 2 seen - none worn by Ryan or Tom. Status pending.

Bagpipes heard: 1

William Wallace impersonators photographed: 1

Strange/local items eaten: Haggis (Twice!), Lamb, Fish n' Chips, Biscuits (Cookies), Brown Sauce, Salad Cream, English and French Mustard, Cranachan, Sausage and Mash, and a really good steak.

Strange American items explained to others: Biscuits and Gravy, Gravy in general, American football, FDA guidelines

Time difference: +6 hours from Nashville time.

All the pictures are uploaded now, enjoy!

Time to sign off for now from Edinburgh.

Cheers,

Ryan

P.S. Thanks for the comment Renee! We're working hard! ;-)