Lovely

It's a gorgeous Saturday morning and I am sitting at the kitchen table in my flat drinking green tea and trying not to spend too much time gazing out the window at rooftops and mountain-scapes. I need to get some work down this morning so I can go to the pub in the afternoon to watch the Scotland v. England rugby game. Then at a little before 6:00 I am heading to the train station to meet Lily for the best week of our lives.

This week has generally been a good one. Last Saturday Lee and I went to the Edinburgh Farmers Market which is picturesquely placed right below the castle. Although many of the booths were selling meat and fish there were also some booths selling foods more tempting to a vegetarian. There were a few vendors selling homemade jams, a vendor selling different varieties of honey, vendors selling cheese, breads and baked goods, and apple juice. Lee got a bottle of the apple juice and I have to say it is the best apple juice I have ever had in my life. EVER. We also got crisps from a stand that made the crisps right in front of you and allowed you to choose the flavor. We got salt and vinegar.

After sampling our way through the farmers market we walked around the West End for a while. When we got hungry we headed back to the farmers market to get some lunch. I got some soup, which was nice, but did not truly excite my taste buds. Lee was feeling adventurous and got venison haggis with neeps and tatties (turnip and potato mash). He didn't like the neeps and tatties so I ended up eating that, and he didn't really like the haggis either. I tried a tiny bite just so I could say I tried haggis, and it was... weird. I think I disliked the pâté-like consistency. It wasn't quite so smooth as pâté, but definitely a different consistency than most meat and quite rich too. I think I am going to stay away from haggis for the rest of my time here, though I might try vegetarian haggis.

After a somewhat unsatisfying lunch we came back to my flat and had afternoon tea. We drank Earl Grey and ate chocolate covered Digestives, Jaffa cakes, and toast with Nutella. It was quite a spread. We spent the rest of the afternoon watching a free show in a jazz bar. The band played mostly smooth jazz along with some jazz oldies such as "Old Black Magic". I think Lee and I were among the youngest people there, but that was rather nice. I liked watching all these elderly men and women with there friends singing along to the songs they had known when they were younger. When the show was over Lee and I got a dinner. We ate pizza and chips (1/2 a mini pizza and chips for £1.95!) and spent the rest of the night drinking cheap cider.

Monday was a day of doing little productive things like laundry and letter writing. Lee and I also began the finalization process for our Easter Break travel extravaganza. We are going to Brussels, Oslo, and Munich.

Tuesday was a busy day. I had a meeting at 9:00 in the morning to finish up a poster for a group project for MCB. We worked until 10:00 lecture. After lecture we were given 45 minutes of class time to finish and submit our poster, and then the rest of class was spent critiquing other groups' posters. The whole class period was just a laugh. First one of the girls in my group decided our poster had to be perfect and kept trying to make little changes to it when we hadn't even finished adding all the content, then the girl who still needed to add her information typed incredibly slowly, pecking daintily at the keys, and the whole time the professor was going around yelling "20 minutes left!" "10 minutes left!" "20 minutes left!". It was as if he had no concept of time, or perhaps just enjoyed making us nervous. We submitted the poster on time and then begin looking at other groups posters. This is when I lost it. It was obvious that some groups put no effort into their posters (likely because it was just an exercise and wasn't for a grade), and the outcome was hilarious, such as yes or no answers to questions that weren't yes or no questions. We were suppose to give feedback and all we could say for the yes-and-no answer group was, "Nice colors, but maybe answer the questions more in depth next time." Afterward I ate lunch, had BioTech lecture, and then BioTech practical. At 4:15 my friend Harriet and I walked home together, telling each other all about our respective experiences with the MCB poster project.

Tuesday evening Lee and I saw Beach House and Grizzly Bear at Queen's Hall. It was an excellent venue, with places to stand and sit. Lee and I decided to watch the show from the balcony as the stage was not elevated, thus in order to see the band you had to be in the front-most standing rows. Both acts had excellent lighting accompanying their music. Beach House had these white fuzzy structures that looked like closed beach umbrellas and that would light up pink, green, and blue. Grizzly Bear had glass jars with lights hanging all around the stage that lit up in response to the music. The music was great, but what was most amazing about the concert was that everything was on time. Lee and I got there at 8:05 and Beach House was already playing (they went on at 8:00). Then it took less then 30 minutes to move Beach House's equipment off the stage and move Grizzly Bear's equipment on to the stage. Grizzly Bear played for an hour and a half or so, and the concert was over at 10:45. I have never gotten out of an evening concert this early. I wasn't tired and the evening was still so young.

Wednesday I went to the King's Buildings in the afternoon and worked. In the evening I meant to do work, but I ended up making brownies instead. The brownies were amazing. I think they were some of the best brownies I've ever eaten. Lee and I ate them with ice cream.

Thursday I read for most of the day and then went to Genetics, Nature, and Society. Only four other people showed up, and after 20 minutes we all decided to leave. None of us received an email informing us class was canceled and there was nothing on the class website. I emailed the professor to ask if there is going to be a make up class and she has still not responded. Have we been ostracized? That evening I had tea and biscuits with my friend Lindsey from 6:30 until 9:30, and then spent the rest of the evening working.

Friday I had MCB lecture and tutorial and BioTech lecture and practical. I presented in tutorial and I think my presentation went fairly well. On my feedback forms I got mostly 4's and 5's (scale 1-5) except on one of them where I got 2's and 3's. Although the forms are anonymous, the people who fill them in hand them back to you directly so I knew who had given me the form. It was a guy who I gave 2's and 3's to for his presentation. My low marks for him, however, were justified as the tutor pulled him over after class and told him he needed to improve his presentation skills. Also, our tutor that day was Graeme Reid, whom I adore! He is an engaging and informative lecturer and an all around nice guy. BioTech practical was short and the last practical of the semester.

Friday evening I watched a movie and then Lee and I went out to a pub. After one pint I felt quite nice, but also somewhat sleepy so we headed home, stopping at Tesco along the way to buy some delicious crisps. There was something really lovely about walking lazily back to our flats in the crisp night air while munching on balsamic vinegar and caramelized onion crisps. I felt like I was gliding instead of walking.

And today Lily comes, which I know I already said, but I am very excited!

I've been drinking a lot of green tea in the morning recently and it is sending me back to summer mornings in China.