February 2012
1 post
Chapter 10
‘Have a heart that never hardens, and a temper that never tires, and a touch that never hurts.’ –Charles Dickens
In honour of Dickens’ 200th birthday I thought I would pick a quote of his to start off this post. He was a wonderful writer (although sometimes a little editing might not have killed him) and I am hard pressed to think of another writer who could make me finish a book as...
January 2012
1 post
Chapter 9
‘Home is where you hang your head’- Groucho Marx
Heading home for Christmas was wonderful although it continues to amaze me how two and a half weeks can seem so long in one setting and unbearably short in another. I was greeted at the airport by a surprisingly friendly border control agent followed by an embarrassing ‘welcome home sign’ and a joyful cry of ‘thank god you haven’t gotten fat!’...
December 2011
1 post
Chapter 8
‘You can’t get too much winter in the winter.’ Robert Frost
Dear Readers,
The peacoat has officially replaced the trench coat on campus as December brought a temperature drop in our little town. It also brought some ridiculously high winds last night, but considering I live in a bunker-like castle we weren’t overly worried.
Christmas is here! Tesco has a little tree by...
November 2011
2 posts
Chapter 7
‘As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.’ - John Fitzgerald Kennedy
Dear Readers,
Thanksgiving has probably always been my favourite holiday (Christmas is a close second) because of its simplicity. This may surprise you since most people see it more as a stepping stone to Christmas. Even though...
Chapter 6
A vacation is having nothing to do and all day to do it in. - Robert Orben
Dear Readers,
Here in the UK students get something called a Reading Week. It isn’t a break for any particular holiday, it is simply a week designed so that older students who have a great deal of work can do said work without also having to run around to lectures. But as first years we don’t have very much...
October 2011
3 posts
Chapter 5
“Where there is no imagination there is no horror”- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Dear Readers,
It’s Halloween! For most, this is a favourite time of year, and on some level I understand that; candy, costumes, the Monster Mash, what’s not to love? But for the most part I have never really been able to embrace the holiday. For one thing I lack both an outgoing nature and...
Chapter 4
“What use is a book,” thought Alice “without pictures or conversations.” - Lewis Carroll in Alice in Wonderland
Dear Readers,
Last weekend I was a tourist attraction. All of the students in University Hall dressed in our traditional academic gowns and walked through town to the back of St Salvators to take a picture, a tradition that has been followed every year for the...
Chapter 3
“A Letter is a Joy of Earth -It is denied the Gods.” Emily Dickinson
Dear Readers,
I have always loved getting mail, and since coming to University I have discovered that this sentiment is shared by almost everyone else here. When we go through our mailboxes and come across that one person who has letters stacked up we look at each other in confusion, why would someone not check for post?
But I...
September 2011
4 posts
Chapter 2
“Everybody talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it.” – Mark Twain
Dear Readers,
As usual, Twain has a way of combining several observations about the world in a simple sentence, and in my first week at University I have experienced some of them. Firstly, believe it or not, it really does rain in Scotland almost all of the time. You can look out of the window, and see...
Chapter 1
Dear readers,
Welcome to my blog! I am about to embark upon my first year of college in Scotland, and as someone from New Jersey who has been lucky enough to travel internationally I have become aware that very interesting and entertaining events often occur when I travel, events that deserve to be remembered. So, in addition to book reviews, musings on movies and television shows I watch, and...
August 2011
1 post
