Friends and family, I have some exciting news to report. After years of waiting, I have fallen in love. I didn’t previously believe in love at first sight, but after only one week of knowing mon amour, there is no doubt that I am head over heels. My love can be a bit of a wild, rugged individual, but is also distinguished and (dare I say it?!) beautiful. We share a passion for whisky, wool, and long walks down rocky coasts. I know it’s premature, but I may be moving in next fall. We do have some problems to work out. It would be hard for me to leave Oxford now, and I’m not sure if I am ready for this commitment. And the trifling matter that we have an age gap of some 350-700 years (depending on how you look at it). Of course, I speak of Scotland.
Last we spoke I was sizzling away in Portugal, and so much has happened since then! I know these events are all a month old, so bear with me! I left Portugal for Scotland on the evening of January 8 and spent a sleepless night in the London Gatwick airport. I had found out on the 7th that my Grandma Carol passed away that morning, and I’d been racing around since then to find a way to Skype home. The airport at 2am wasn’t ideal, but it was the best I found. It made me feel particularly alone and far from home. I will miss her so much, and I am eternally grateful for my weekend in New Mexico last fall and her words for me on Christmas day. All my love to my family – I wish I could be there with you.
Luckily, I had good friends to help through hard times. Brady and I met up in Edinburgh and had a great time exploring a bit of Scotland. I decided from the moment I arrived that I was in
love with Edinburgh, and my regard has spread to all I’ve seen of the country so far. Its sights and history are stunning. Brady and I climbed “Arthur’s Seat,” a very tall hill/small mountain in the middle of the city when I arrived on Friday and took a seven or eight mile jogging “tour” of the city the next day. That night, we took a tour of Edinburgh’s “haunted underground,” a series of vault-like rooms that were formed as the city built up around the arches of an old bridge. There are tons of ghost stories associated with the underground from satanic worship to hundreds of fatalities from plague, fire, murder, etc. Didn’t get to see any ghosts, but I was thoroughly creeped out for the rest of the night. I highly recommend taking the tour if you’re ever in Edinburgh... it’s one of the few tourist attractions I’ve felt deserved my £10!
We travelled to Aberdeen Sunday for Brady’s geology conference, and then I popped back down to Edinburgh for a meeting with the director of the Environment and Development masters program at the university. Turns out she’s from Boulder, CO! (But I won’t hold that against her...) On my way back to Aberdeen, I did a six-mile coastal walk across the bay from Edinburgh. Along the way I explored some caves with Pictish rock carvings and the ruins of MacDuff castle (f
rom the family of Shakespeare’s MacDuffs!) Brady and I met up again and continued on to the little town of Elgin, launching point of the famous Whiskey Trail of Speyside. We only toured one distillery, Glen Moray, but it was amazing and included an excellent tasting at the end. Since we were the only tourists silly enough to brave Elgin in January, we got the extended tasting experience.
Now I’m back in Oxford – finished my essay (barely,) and am working too much for my own good. It’s going to be a busy term! A very nice diversion last week with a visit from a Laramie-turned-Oregonite – Elijah was here and I had a good time showing him around Oxford on a lovely sunny day and then he got to see me pummelled in a rugby match against UWIC (that really, really good team we played last term). I’m afraid I couldn’t be a great hostess, what with classes and rugby practice, but it was still grand to catch up! Now I’m off to more rugby practice in the freezing cold followed by a sickening amount of reading... wait, this sounds familiar... reading reading reading rugby! reading reading rugby!
All my love,
Alyssa
Posts
