Another week has passed, it seems....where on earth does the time go? I know, of course, that this is a cliché of a question, but between reading and research and basic life things time is scarce of late. This past week was what they call reading week here. Which basically means that, after they bog you down with an amount of reading that you couldn't possibly keep up with, you get a week to try to catch up. Which I have finally, mostly, accomplished. Though there are always additional assigned readings that could take me another couple of weeks to do. But oh well. I also signed up for a presentation on a case that went before the European Court of Human Rights that I have to give this coming Thursday....something that I thought I would have plenty of time to prepare for given the scheduling, but of course I now feel as though I'm scrambling to pull it together. But, no matter how that goes, it will be good practice.
In other school related news, our essay topics were assigned this week. Some are daunting, some interesting, others less so, but all are demanding in scope and one thing is sure; there won't be any chance to wonder what to do with my time for the foreseeable future. Assessment for courses is a bit different here than back home and not very forgiving. I'm taking four courses in total, aside from my dissertation. Two are year long, and two are semester long, and for each class I write one essay per semester...meaning that my entire grade for my semester-long classes lies in one essay, and two essays for my year long classes. And nothing can be redone. Ever. The big difference, however, is in the grading system. All papers are submitted anonymously and graded by professors and then checked by a board created for such purposes, and the grades themselves are done by percentage with excellent translating into a mark of 70%. It's going to be interesting and challenging and quite a lot is resting on a total allowance of 40,000 words.
All that said, I have been carting my little camera around with me on every errand I run and have collected a few more snapshots of the city to share with you all. ...And I also managed to make it on a ghost tour of the vaults under the city, as well!
On the left is the starting point, called Mercat Cross, where people used to be tortured for public enjoyment, and on the right is our lovely and entertaining guide.
And here's a peek into the vaults under Edinburgh. If you get a chance, I recommend looking the underground chambers up online, as they're quite interesting. Apparently people lived down there for quite some time until they were closed off in the late 18th century and they weren't reopened until the late 1990's.
And here is Grayfriar's Church and Kirkyard. The first is of course the church itself, the second is a neat grave with skull and crossbones all over the place, and below is a view of the kirkyard and a fun little tidbit about Edinburgh's history with dead bodies.
That's all for now, folks! I'll try not to let it be so long before I post again....
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