Democrats Abroad Debate Party

Kellie and I attended a debate watching party this weekend hosted by Democrats Abroad - Scotland. We made a wee video about it. Enjoy.

Research

As of Monday, I have begun my stint as a research master's student here at the University of Edinburgh. The whole process began with a meeting with my adviser, a fateful meeting during which we essentially planned the ins and outs of my academic year. It was decided that I should take a course on postmodern theology, take a research methods course in the fall and a dissertation proposal course in the spring, write supervised essays on Heidegger and Habermas, and then begin writing my dissertation on the Gadamer-Habermas debate around the beginning of April or so. Along the way, it is hoped that I will spend some time honing my skills in German and will attend the weekly research seminar in Theology and Ethics. All in all, it looks like it will be quite the busy year.

So, one might wonder precisely what a research student does. This is a valid question. I am not sure I have a good answer for it quite yet, but according to my one week of experience, it would seem that a researcher spends a fairly large amount of time in the library and reads a fairly large volume of books and articles. At least, that is how I have spent my time of late. This seems to be the researcher's primary task. Second, of course, one must attend all the seminars and lectures at one's school and meet regularly with one's adviser. This seems important. Then, of course, there is the in-between-time, time which chiefly consists of walking in between libraries. It's a good 15 minute walk (at a brisk pace) between the New College library and the main library at George Square. I timed it. Taken together, these seem to be the chief tasks of a research student.

Feeding the Birds

We went on a nice walk down to the loch in Holyrood Park to feed the birds. It was a little terrifying.

A Pub Crawl

Submitted for your education, a typical night out on the town. First, we visited the Jolly Judge, just off the Royal Mile, which was interesting mainly because of the table of American flight attendants sitting near us and talking rather loudly about various things. Afterward, to Biblos on South Bridge for hot chocolate. A lovely night out.

New Town and the Waters of Leith

Here are some photos from a lovely Saturday afternoon of exploration in New Town. Enjoy! (By the way, you can click on any of the pictures to visit the photo gallery.)

Glasses

Funny story. I posted the video a couple days ago of our night at the ceilidh. Well, the last dance was particularly intricate. The crowd was formed into two lines (men and women) and you proceeded, in pairs, to spin each other and then take the hands of the next person in line, spin them, and then return to your partner, and so on down the entire line. Fun, dizzy, sweaty, and exhausting would all be good descriptors. In any case, Kellie and I got a bit into it, and about halfway down the line, we were spinning quite madly, and when we returned to one another before another round, we smacked into each other with such great force that the plastic on part of my black glasses was cracked. It was one of those things that was not really funny at first, but the more I think about it, the more I laugh that my glasses were broken due to over-exuberant Celtic dancing. Fortunately, I've got my other pair of rimless ones, but sadly, for the time being, no black plastic glasses. Let this be a lesson to you all: a ceilidh can be dangerous is one does not control oneself.

It's Taco Night!

Ceilidh

Last night, Kellie and I attended the opening of school ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee) at New College. We made a video about it. Enjoy!

Calton Hill

Here are some pictures from our visit to Calton Hill. Enjoy!

The Edinburgh Parthenon

Orienting

So, orientation. A fundamentally disorienting experience. So, I'm at this reception this evening for postgraduate (read: graduate) research student and I am talking to this group of physics students about what I am doing and mention that I have a Master of Divinity degree. One of the women asks me if I read tea leaves, and I reply (quite wittily) that I did in the U.S., but that I am not licensed to do so in the U.K. She then asks if I can tell fortunes from the stars, and I say (again, quite wittily) that I normally can, but not in Edinburgh, because it is too cloudy. Then I realize that she actually believes that my previous degree is in DIVINATION, not divinity. Funny.

Arthur's Seat

Kellie and I spent Sunday morning hiking to the summit of Arthur's Seat, the remains of an extinct volcano that rises above Edinburgh. It's actually not a bad hike, and the weather was surprisingly nice, so it turned out to be a lovely morning. We were somewhat surprised, at reaching the summit, at the large number of folks who were just hanging out up there. But, I guess if there is a huge geological formation in the middle of your town, it makes sense that it can be a fun hangout, especially when climbing it affords you the kind of views we experienced. Here's a video montage we put together, but you can also check out the individual photos at our photo gallery.

Edinburgh, Week One

Let me preface this all with a note about packing and moving. It is always a traumatic experience to move out of one’s home, and this trauma is always compounded by the fact that one’s belongings seem to breed while one is not looking, meaning that one inevitably ends up with more stuff than one knows what to do with. This was certainly the case for Kellie and I as we packed up our apartment and moved the majority of our belongings into the storage unit. Every time we came back for another load, our things seemed to have multiplied. And then there’s all those annoying little nooks and crannies of one’s apartment that seemed like such convenient storage locations when one first moved in. Quite a traumatic process, to be sure. But we survived, and after a lovely weekend in Dallas with family and friends, we were off to the airport on Monday afternoon.

We got through all the security and such at DFW without any problems. The first kink, however, was that the airline personnel required me to check one of the bags I had intended to take as a carry-on. This did not bode well with me, as I was quite sure that the bag would be lost. Of course, it was. This was something of annoyance, too, because that bag contained socks, boxers, and important documents. Fortunately, the bag and I were reunited within 24 hours. Still… In any case, other than the baggage problem, the flights were as pleasant as transatlantic flights can be. We arrived in Edinburgh without any major international incident, and indeed, met some fellow American travellers on the way. It was raining when we arrived.
As should be obvious from our video, the flat itself was hard to find. The building number is not visible from the street, and one must pass through four different locked doors requiring two keys and one key-code to get into the flat. On arrival, however, we discovered that the flat was actually bigger than we had anticipated and has a great view of the city. A pleasant surprise. The bed is uncomfortable and the bathroom is a bit odd, but other than that, the flat is beginning to feel like home. Other than the lack of internet, of course, which hopefully will be corrected within a few days. We’ll see.

We have spent most of the last few days getting our bearings, shopping for various housewares to make the flat functional, and exploring our new city. We are located in the heart of Old Town, which as one might guess, is the oldest part of the city. Pretty much everything is within walking distance, ranging from Edinburgh Castle to the University to Arthur’s Seat. We even (accidentally) walked about 2/3 of the way to the ocean one day, in search of a bedding shop. It’s quite easy to get around on foot, which is good. The only trouble is that the streets are rather confusing to navigate, as they have a habit of twisting in strange directions and changing names arbitrarily. Thus, one must explore them a few times to get a feel for where they actually go. In the process of exploring, though, there are all sorts of interesting things to find, shops to visit, and sights to see. This makes every trip away from the flat something of an adventure. One never knows what one may find.

Pub Shopping

An interesting fact about Edinburgh is that it is (supposedly) home to more pubs per capita than any other city in the UK. From what we have experienced in our few days in this town, it appears to be true. One cannot walk down even a single city block without encountering at least one pub, usually with at least a couple of regulars hanging around the doorway, smoking a cigarette or drinking a pint of ale. The pub is very much a part of the culture of this city. Visiting one’s pub of choice, it seems, is an essential part of an evening out. One goes there, not only to enjoy a pint of one’s beverage of choice, but also to enjoy conversation, to meet new people, and to watch and/or argue about sports.

Now, I understand the importance of the pub all too well; in Austin, my friends and I frequented the Crown and Anchor Pub, just down the street from the seminary. Thus, one of our tasks here since arriving has been to find “our pub,” that little home away from home where, even if everyone does not know our names, we will at least fit in. But, in a city that is teeming with pubs, how does one go about finding the right pub? There is no easy answer to this dilemma, so Kellie and I have been trying a variety of different places. Our first night, we dined and had a pint at the Filling Station, right on the Royal Mile. From the outside, it seemed authentic enough, but upon closer inspection, it turned out to be akin to a Scottish Chili’s or Applebee’s. Not quite what we had in mind. The next night, we decided to try the Brass Monkey, which one can actually see from our bedroom window. This place was dark and cosy, but we felt a little out of place there, maybe because it was such a small place and we are, after all, Americans. After that, we visited the Southsider, a bit of a larger pub off Nicholson Street. This place seemed nice enough at first, and we even grabbed a cosy little booth, but we were a bit put off after being accosted by a drunk and somewhat incoherent Scotsman. Too bad. Next, we visited Frankenstein’s, which is an older place (founded 1818, supposedly), but rather gimmicky (the place, as one might imagine, is gothic horror themed) and pricey (£3.40 for a pint of Guinness!). We also visited Biblos, a little coffee house/pub just around the corner. This, too, was a bit pricey, but has a nice atmosphere (and free wi-fi).

So, I guess the point is that we have not yet found our Crown and Anchor, so to speak. But there are still lots of options out there. To be sure, it is actually quite fun exploring the Edinburgh social scene and getting to peek inside so many different nightspots. If you have any expertise in Edinburgh pubs and want to make a suggestions, that would be most welcome. Cheers!

End of Austin, Beginning of Edinburgh

How to Cross the Street

Interviewed

So, as I have stated previously, Kellie and I do not yet have internet in our flat. In the interim, we have been walking to the Potterow student center to the use their wifi connection. This afternoon, as we were checking email and posting pictures on facebook, we were approached by two reporters and asked to take part in a story they were doing about meat-eating among students. Apparently, with rising food prices, some students have turned to cheaper types of meat, particularly organ meats. They proceeded to produce five styrofoam containers filled with cooked bits of organ meat - sheep's heart, cow's liver, kidney, etc. We were asked to try some of these items and tell them if they would be something we would consider eating. Very odd. Of course, the oddness of this situation was nothing compared to the foulness of the meats we were asked to try. Words cannot describe their grotesqueness. After we provided the interviewers with our objective opinions of the dishes, we were asked to pose for pictures... with the trays of organ meat... in the middle of a student center crowded with new university students, who looked on at us, these silly Americans, as if we were mad. After it was all over, Kellie and I could not get a cup of coffee to wash the taste out of our respective mouths fast enough. Another strange Edinburgh afternoon.

Tour d'Flat

Finding Our Flat

P.S. Yes, we have arrived safely. No internet yet. Will post more soon.

Our Bags are Packed...

This week was, in a word, hell.  You never really understand just how much stuff you have until the time comes to clean out your apartment and shove all of your worldly possessions (minus a year's worth of clothing) into a 72 square foot storage room.  Everytime you take a load to the unit, you breathe a sigh of relief.  But everytime you return to take another load, your stuff seems to have bred.  It's scary, really.  It took a lot of energy, but by 3:00 on Friday afternoon, our stuff was effectively sorted: 72 square feet of it stored in Austin, a carload of it coming with us to Dallas, and the rest of it either donated or tossed.

So, our bags are packed.  Over-packed, perhaps.  But packed nonetheless.  We got to Dallas on Friday evening for a weekend of relaxation with family and friends.  Last night, my Dad and Kate hosted a bon voyage celebration for us at their home.  It was a lovely occasion, and a great way to say goodbye to many of our friends in Dallas.  Then, today, we attended another farewell soiree with Kellie's extended family.  So many goodbyes this week.  So many people that I will miss.  But, although I will of course miss my friends and family, I take comfort in the fact that we will be able to stay in touch.  Conversely, I have begun to realize those things I will miss about Austin, my home for the last three years.  Here are some of my top picks:

(1) The Alamo Draughthouse
(2) The Crown and Anchor
(3) Riding the Town Lake trail
(4) Whole Foods on Sixth Street
(5) Fantastic Tex-Mex (e.g., Chuy's, Trudy's)

Just to name a few.  One can keep in touch with one's friends and family, but places are a bit harder.  But, so it goes.  That's part of what I take to be both the miracle and tragedy of life, time's arrow.  We move irrevocably forward, never turning back.  We can never revisit those times that have passed.  They remain in our memories, to be sure, but they can never be re-experienced.  That is the tragedy.  But the miracle is that, because our experiences are, in essence, once in a lifetime, they are infinitely precious, for each moment occurs once and then never again.  There is something beautiful about that, I think.  When you realize this simple fact, even the most mundane moment becomes something truly extraordinary.

By the way, something about traveling makes me reflective.  I'm not sure why.  In any case, we leave tomorrow afternoon.