Happy New Year!

The last month has been one of those that seems to drag while also rushing past. And somehow, while writing my 13,000 words, the year expired and a new one began. I suppose that there's a bit of catching up to do, eh? Mostly I've been reading and writing, and revising my writing (thanks for being so helpful, Mom and Dad!), spending endless hours in libraries or at my desk, putting off correspondence and meeting up with friends, until I could finally breath a sigh of relief and submit my bloody essays. And submission is finally done! Hooray!

I hope that you all had good Christmas', Hanukkahs, Solstices, and so on. Solstice here was a fantastic milestone to reach. At the height of darkness the sun rose late in the morning and it was dark again by 3:30. Even now, though still dark for long hours, it is not quite so bad and the returning sun is abundantly welcome. It's fascinating to observe the shifting of the planet from such a northerly latitude and I don't think it will ever fail to be so for me. For Christmas I decided to take a brief break from my work to visit my dear friend Emily over in Northern Ireland. I had been going without any sort of real break for far too long, and so, I decided to jump a train and ferry to Belfast. While I definitely missed home and all of you there, my trip to Belfast was good and a marvellous way to spend my Christmas. And I had a grand time with Emily, her Tom, and her brother James. It was a holiday full of good food and good people and I couldn't have asked for more.

After Christmas, we all piled into the car and Tom drove us up the coast to the Giants Causeway, which was beautiful, ancient and fun.

The rest of the visit was wonderful and Belfast was very interesting. Though, mostly it was nice to just take a couple of days off in good company, before jumping headlong into the end of my essay writing.

I now have about a week until my second semester commences, during which time I intend to stock up on Edinburgh experiences, knitting, photo taking escapades with my new/old King Penguin Kershaw eight-20, and possibly even a quick survey of the highlands. And then it will be back to the books and classrooms and libraries for the next leg of the journey. Before then though, I'll be sure to get another blog post in. Be well!

I'm not sure, really, where to start this one off. It's been quite a week. I found out on Wednesday that my cousin, Angie, passed away last Monday. And that's mostly what's on my mind at the moment. It makes all of my silly research and worries over school work seem just that, silly. I know that's not really the case, but it's hard to be so far away when something like this happens. Hard to process it. I was never that close to Angie, but she was always so full of life, full of energy, and some of my earliest memories have her in them. Maybe it was merely that she was a youngish adult when I was little, but she was one of those adults able to focus on children, to pay attention, and that's what I will always remember most.

I guess it's been almost a month since I posted last. Time really does fly. Mostly, I've been reading more than is imaginable, and beginning to write my essays for the end of term as I attempt to keep up with classes. And, so far, so good. Though I do not recommend reading the current serious material out there on geoengineering the climate. At least not unless you have a very strong stomach indeed. Word to the wise.

Edinburgh is still (at least to my mind) unseasonably warm and green. The leaves are only just really leaving the trees in the last week or so, the grass is still bright and cheery, and the temperatures are still hovering in the 50's in the day and 40's at night (and that's in fahrenheit, for those of you who wonder), and the rains have not set in yet in earnest, though I hesitate to state this last too loudly. The sun still shines a bit every day, and for that I am exceptionally grateful. The mix of rain and wind and sudden sun can be, as you might expect, quite beautiful. I have not yet been able to roam and take the photos that I would like to of the mist lit up round the city...but I promise that I will. For now, we'll all have to settle for this photo I took of a rainbow arching across the building on the other side of the street.

This month has also introduced me to Edinburgh's idea of road maintenance scheduling. Apparently, they don't want to get in peoples' way during the daytime....so, they do their road construction at night. Which is all well and good, unless you happen to live where they decide they need to work, and then you just don't get to sleep properly for the week or two it takes to fix a pothole. And, no, odd as it may be, I am not exaggerating. Here they are, working away at night.

A week ago now, I made my first attempt at lithography. No, I probably should not have taken the time away from studying, but it was a fun experience and gave me some new ideas for future prints. A time which I very much look forward to. Here's my first try.

I dedicate this one to Angie. It came into being as she passed.

And now I should go back to my work. Climate change negotiations are about to commence once more. The crime of aggression has now been defined, with the result of essentially outlawing war. The Euro-zone is in melt-down mode. And the UK is trying to decide if it needs or wants a Bill of Rights. It's interesting times we live in and, for good or ill, those winds'll keep on blowin'.

Things are picking up. Not that they were slow to begin with.

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....

O.K., so no pirate graves cloaked in mist. Though perhaps I'll get out and take some of said photos tomorrow. Instead I have something entirely Scottish that I stumbled upon this weekend past.

You know you're in Scotland when you're walking down the street and happen upon a group of men dressed (only) in kilts, beating on drums and playing bagpipes. Somehow I don't think this happens anywhere else in the world.

With that, I will leave you until the morrow, when I will post more photos and a proper update.