Home for the holidays!

Hiya everybody, I'm home for the holidays! Well, I guess that kind of about sums it up. So if you don't hear from me for a while, that's what I'm up to. No I'm not dead or anything, just relaxing at home... studying for exams. Oh, but after a sad diagnosis of my hp from the geek squad at best buy, my poor computer remains completely fried. So, after 2 months of not having my own computer, I finally gave in and got a mac!!! *sigh... it's so beautiful... Happy Holidays everybody!!

Edinburgh!!!

So last weekend some friends and I took a last minute trip to Edinburgh, the world's most haunted city. And oh boy did it live up to that description. I arrived a day later than my friends because I'm such a good student and didn't want to miss my lecture, but when I arrived, we went straight to a ghost tour where we toured the world's most haunted graveyard. It was really REALLY spooky. But more on that later (because I wasn't the one who took the awesome photos that show what happened, but I'll give you a verbal description at the end since it's REALLY scary and you may not want little kids reading it alone at night) For now, take a look at how cool the city was!!You didn't see any kind of modern buildings anywhere! (okay, well only one or two, but you REALLY had to look) Everything was made out of old stone and all the streets were cobblestone.We stumbled on a little Christmas market where they sold everything from hats and gloves to mulled wine and toys. We had funWe actually tried the mulled wine, and it wasn't too bad. For those of you who don't know what it is, it's pretty much hot wine with a few unknown spices in it. Not bad.

Oh, but then we went up the castle!

And toured the inside!

and toured some more and some more There were some cool cannons too! (In this one you can see where I was attacked my the ghost of George McKenzie. More on that later though...) Anyway, the castle was on the very top of the hill (hehe, those silly people called it a mountain!) So you could see the entire city from the top! In the castle, we also saw the Scotish crown jewels, but unfortunately you weren't allowed to take picture of them. But they were really cool; you'll just have to take my word for it.

After the castle we went to a really cool hat shop

And then we tried haggis and cranachan! I'll let you google haggis, but cranachan is when you get some kind of fruit, usually strawberries or rasberries (in our case rasberries) and you bake them in whisky. Yum... ? The haggis really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be (after I got over what it was made from) and the cranachan? well, let's just say somehow we finished it without getting drunk or too sick. (haggis is on the far left, cranachan on top (served with cream) and on the bottom was our safety food: a good old lemon and lime cheesecake. We knew we'd at least like that one) On our last day, we hit Edinburgh Zoo, the home of the only koala in the UK! It was fun. And REALLY cold. But take a look . I can't remember what this one was called, but it's pretty much a mini deer. Awwwwww....... There were lots of cool birds Some were jerks (you can see it in his eyes...) And we played with the penguins (if you're wondering who's the girl in the video with the British accent, no, it's not me trying to be British, it's my friend Mia who actually IS British. I actually have no speaking role in this vid)

And of course there were tigers, zebras, and monkey, but I think it's about time to hear the ghost story. Please note, proceed with caution. This is a SCARY story...

Okay, so here's the scoop. In this most haunted graveyard in the world, there are more people burried there than there are people living in Edinburgh today. When we first arrived at the graveyard, we went up a little hill thinking, oh, how nice, they burried the dead on the hill top, how nice. But no, in reality, it's a hill because they needed more room to burry the dead bodies, so they piled earth on top of the old graves and built up. In addition, this graveyard was the site of several illegal plague dumpings.

So the story of George McKenzie. He apparently was not the nicest of all guys. But he and his family were burried in the cemetary until some kids came and desecrated his grave. The details are a little fishy but I can only assume they did what all young vandals do. I'll leave it up to your imagination. But anyway, after that, the incidents started happening. At first, only boys were attacked. People would find kids unconcious in the gated part of the graveyard with burn marks around their necks. No one could wake the kids up, but as soon as they left the gated area they would immediately wake up and could only remember dissembodied hands trying to strangle them.

So this happended for a REALLY long time. Today, people still get attacked. The most haunted part of the graveyard is actually gated and walled off, and you are given a strong warning that if you choose it enter it on the tour, you do so at your own discretion. The tour guide will NOT let anyone be isolated at any time. If someone needs to leave, the whole group has to go because he will not allow anyone to go off by himself, even just around a corner. If McKenzie is near, they say that you'll feel the air go very cold VERY fast. But only around you. The best defense for this is just to move a step over. But the most prominent thing about McKenzie is that he learns and experiments how to get a person isolated from the group because he only attacks one person at a time. So now, you'll feel the cold chill, move a step away, and a couple minutes later feel another cold chill, step away, and then another, and another, every time moving farther and farther away from the group. And as soon as your just barely out of eye sight, he gets you. The group will hear a scream, and find the victim unconscious with burns around his or her neck, and as soon as they pass the gate, the victim will wake up only remebering disembodies hands trying to strangle him or her.

But he doesn't always full out attack you. The most common attacks are in the form of pinching, ripping clothes, cuts, and other pranks. Which is where I come in. So here's my story. When I entered the graveyard, there is actual physical proof that my jacket was fine, no rips, nothing at all. We have this proof because my friend snapped a random picture and I happened to be in it. No rip, nothing. But just after we left the graveyard, there was a huge rip down the side of my jacket. I hadn't walked into, bumped, fallen, snagged it on anything. But there it was, a good 6 inches down the side of my jacket. Physical proof that it hadn't been there when we first entered the graveyard and suddenly discovered less thay 5 minutes after we left... My friend Mia had nightmares that night and had to sleep with the light on.

But don't worry, I'm still safe and sound!

Oh, one more...

Okay, this one's from my friend Rosie:

20. Yes, we do have music in the US

Just some ettiquite rules all should be aware of

Okay, so I'm fine with people coming up to me asking where I'm from and what-not, but for future reference, my fellow exchange students and I would appreciate it if those who wished to do so followed these 19 simple rules of ettiquite.

1. please do not interrupt us mid sentence. Wait for a proper moment of entry before introducing yourself and starting a conversation.
2. rule number one is especially true regarding cell phones and study groups.
3. please refrain from overly excessive physical contact. Unless you are super good looking, it is unwanted.
4. please note we do not accept marriage proposals just so you can become an American citizen.
5. please refrain from insulting comments regarding gender, nationality, and accents. They are not appreciated and will be dealt with swiftly and excessively.
6. please refrain from asking what number wife I am when I say I'm from Utah. Again, such comments are not appreciated and will be dealt with swiftly and excessively.
7. no, Thanksgiving is not the American word for Christmas.
8. no, we do not know your second cousin who lives in Montana.
9. or your nephew who goes to school in Oregon.
10. no I will not deliver that package to him when I go back to the states
11. yes, it does stink having to pay double for everything (British pound to US dollar conversion issue)
12. no, I did not vote for Bush.
13. no, I don't like him either.
14. yes, I am looking forward to his leave in January
15. no, I will not argue with you about politics
16. no, I am not Chinese.
17. no, I do not understand Chinese.
18. no, I do not speak Chinese.
and finally,
19. no, I am not interested in going back to your place.

Hope this was educational!

Forgot one...

Oh, and curry. I've seen a couple of those, too.

the British have some CRAZY tastes

Every time I go grocery shopping I never get over the shock/revulsion/amazement of all the different flavors of potato chips (or, as the British like to say 'crisps') the locals enjoy. Instead of NORMAL flavors like sour cream, ranch, nacho cheese, etc, here are a list of all the crazy flavours I've discovered...

bacon
prawns
roast chicken (this one's just disgusting)
roast beef
salt and vinegar (okay, they have this one in the states, too, but I still think it's weird)
extra salted
extra vinegar
sweet caramel (on POTATO CHIPS?! come on, that's just wrong!)
extra cheese (this one's not SO bad, but it's just cheese and no spicy goodness)
chile (not too bad, but you have to get used to it)

That just about covers it. Now, off to class!