Looking back, it's been a long time since I've posted anything other than a "mission report," and while I feel like I need to give the landmarks their due, these posts really havent been about me or the University of Edinburgh as much. Of course, it is easier to write about trips--everything is new and different, and the lazy writer does not lack in source material or photographs.

Life in Edinburgh itself has not transpired to become a montage of exciting sights and sounds--which I should have realized. Even when you travel to a foreign country, your natural tendencies exert themselves eventually. If you like to relax, you arent going to work your ass off; if you arent an enthusiastic adventurer at home, being abroad generally wont change your entire lifestyle, especially when you end up in a country not that obviously different from your own. So I don't explore a new part of Edinburgh every day, I have yet to visit the waterfront community of Leith, dear god, I havent even been to the castle yet. Instead, I've enjoyed myself in ways I often forget in New York--sleeping in, learning a new sport, trying new food (had haggis last nite, it was delicious), and most importantly, reading for fun. Reading has always been a hobby of mine, and as I remembered this summer, when I read both the collected detective stories of Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes) and of Raymond Chandler (Philip Marlowe, amont other characters), I can devour books that pique my interest. So I've been reading constantly here: Dickens books (Great Expectations, David Copperfield, Tale of Two Cities thus far; Hard Times and Bleak House to come) and the short stories of the original creater of the "private eye," Dashiell Hammett. Am I missing out on a lot of the life here? Yes, unfortunately. Am I wasting my time? I think not.

One of the greatest things I have discovered here, which goes contrary to everything I previously believed, is that it IS possible for me to hang out often with the same group of people and enjoy myself. Columbia had me convinced that there were only certain individuals I could stand for prolonged periods, not groups; yet here I am, spending nearly all my time with some combination of Dominique (Loyola-New Orleans), Ben (Bowdoin), Ben (Wisconsin), Natalia (Johns Hopkins), Nick (Wesleyan), Adam (Williams), and my flatmates Tom, Jenny, and Dave. A quirkier, more eccentric group I have never known, and I wouldnt be surprised if this coherence exists only because of the pressures of being strangers in a strange land (ach! try the haggis and blood pudding!), but nonetheless, I dont tire of these friends. With none of us that busy, we have tried a bit of everything together: eating, drinking (a lot), exploring, and often just lounging around watching The Simpsons and Family Guy. The positive nature of my whole experience has depended in large part on these folks, and I'm thankful I met them when I did.



This is a picture of Dominique, Ben, Nick and I...


A bit of news: unable to escape my roots, I've joined the student newspaper here, a weekly aptly and boringly titled "Student." I guess the name "Newspaper" was already taken. In a weird joining together of worlds, my friend Katy Steinmetz, who I met way back in freshmen year at Columbia, is the Features editor here, since she has already been studying abroad here for a semester (small word indeed). So I've used my "connections" to already write an article, which will be running in a week or two. The topic? The Facebook. yes, folks, even the UK has begun to see the spread of Mark Zuckerberg's creation. As my fraternity brother Steve Hofstetter, a CU alumnus, is a comedian who is aiming for 100,000 friends on Facebook (he has 70,000), I of course felt obligated to interview him. I'll post that short, 600-word article here when it pops online eventually.

Ever since picking up a copy of Men's Health to read on the airplane flight out here in early January, I've oddly, in the country of haggis and fried Mars Bars, gone on a health kick. My diet now is a lot of eggs, chicken, etc.; I'm taking whey protein and creatine; and i'm doing some sort of workout 5-6 days a week. The paradox has set my head-a-spinning. Let's just pray that I can keep this level of fitness up back in New York next year, because the honest truth is that I havent physically or mentally felt so good in a long time.

I'm sure I could ramble on forever, but since I don't write these posts JUST to read my own words, but to actually share my experience, I'll leave off for now so that the length of this thing doesnt scare everyone away.

Cheers,
Brian