Life on crutches

As you could guess, I haven't been out doing a whole bunch of exciting things like I'd like to lately, compliments of the ankle.  So probably this post won't be very exciting, mostly just a reflection of how much more difficult things are when you only have one fully functional leg!

But yeah, been spending a fair bit of time at home lately.  Have tried to make a bit of an effort to go out and do things, though not sure how much I've actually done since I last wrote a post.  But, small achievements right?  I've been down to other flats in the same block - mostly to steal food :) Beth and Camilla made some delicious Australian desserts last night - which reminded me I really need to learn how to make lamingtons! And with the help of Ian and Beth, who also live here at Belmont, I finally did my washing last night!

Which it turns out I was very glad of today, because if I'd put it off I would have had no long pants to wear, and with the strong, rainy wind I had to walk to class in I think I could have about frozen right there on the pavement.  I think I got my first taste of what winter weather will be like here in Dundee.  Looked up the forecast to see how strong the wind was, and in kilometres it was almost 50!  Which when you're in it and on crutches, really does feel quite strong.  Definitely have a few things I need to do to prepare for winter here:
- Get a winter coat.  Which doesn't sound so hard, but I have a feeling the shopping centre will be a bit of an ordeal for me when I finally get there.  Combine that with the fact that I'm really indecisive...
- Also on the topic of clothes, get a good pair of shoes!  Another thing I need, but will probably have to wait on until the swelling in my foot is completely gone so I can properly try them on.
- Most importantly I think -  get over the Australian in me that just wants to hide inside whenever its rainy and overcast.  Something its fairly easy to get away with in Canberra, but probably not so much in Dundee.
Also if I'm going to be on crutches for much longer I'm going to have to invest in some more tights and/or long pants on this epic shopping trip of mine, so I can go a bit longer between washes!

Anyway... Sunday was probably my busiest day of the week, and also the most enjoyable :)  Went to church in the morning - via taxi...  Considering how early it was I wasn't quite up to 'walking' twice the distance of my furthest walk thus far!  It was kinda awkward navigating a crowded building on crutches, but after church the minister invited me over for lunch with some other students.  That was awesome, cos I got to both meet a few more new people, and also have an amazing proper English roast dinner.  Probably my favourite feature of that dinner being that there were 3 kinds of potatoes, and also I got to try Yorkshire pudding which it turned out was delicious :)  But my biggest accomplishment (aka the furthest I have walked!) over the weekend was going to the trivia night organised for exchange students on Sunday night.  I went with a girl called Jo, who lives in the same block of flats as me and is lovely :)  Despite completely failing at the trivia part - our American trivia knowledge in particular sucked! - it was a good night, followed by a nice dinner, and then a trip to Tesco for some Ben and Jerry's for dessert.  I think I've finally gotten a little quicker on my crutches, after all that practice!  We also got a taste for trivia, so are planning to go next Sunday night to trivia at the Union.

Matriculation for the sports clubs is this week as well - a little conflicted about that, cos of the whole not being sure when I'll be able to run again thing.  It's too expensive to sign up and then not play at all, especially cos I'm not sure if all the clubs do one semester rates.  So will have to think about it - have til Friday to decide.  Probably if I'm going to sign up at all, I need to pick just one.  Decisions decisions! Lol.

Anyway, I shall end on the subject that is apparently most common in my blogs - food!  I am on a search for a pub that serves stew, and hopefully good stew.  As it gets colder I'm starting to really want it!  I'm also booked in for a visit to Broughty Ferry to apparently have delicious Scottish steak pie.  But at the moment, the need to go grocery shopping is looming in the near future, I'm just not quite sure how I'm going to do it.  Even if I take a taxi, I wouldn't be able to carry it back up to my room.  So that's an obstacle I'll have to figure out.  But today I was really craving a coffee, after seeing a bunch of people in class with coffees.  Unfortunately Belmont Flats isn't Unilodge, so there aren't cafes right at the bottom of the stairs where I could get one.  But since I have no class tomorrow, I've decided to have a library day to get some work done, and I'm pretty sure theres a cafe next door where I'll be able to get one :)

But now I need to go get some inspiration for a short story in German.  And also some sleep.  Here's hoping the next time I write a post, I'll be able to walk, even if it's retardedly!

Fun catch-up, with an unfortunate ending.

So, feels like not long ago that I wrote my last post, but a lot has happened since then!  Had an awesome catch up with Hannah on Monday - it's been far too long since we last saw each other!  Just hung out in the arvo, then made the fateful decision to go to the trampoline club for Monday night training...

In my last post I think I talked a lot about all the sports I was trying out/wanted to try out, and had grand plans to join a bunch of clubs.  I did shinty and fencing last week, and also tried out trampolining last Saturday.  It was really fun, and being 9am on a Saturday there weren't many people there either, so plenty of bounce time for all of us :) So I decided to go back on Monday, and since Hannah used to be part of the club she came too.  However, maybe the session on Saturday made me too confident, or maybe I'm just retarded, but for whatever reason on Monday night I tried to do a backdrop (which I had done on Saturday) and ended up lying on the floor for the next hour and a half with icepacks on my ankle while it swelled to the size of a small golf ball on one side.  Then got a taxi to the hospital, where they gave me a cast for the night and told me to come back the next day.

Turns out its just a bad sprain, so they gave me a 'moon boot' which in the doctors words will help me be able to "gimpily walk" hopefully very soon, and for now crutches to aid the walking process.  Have been keeping the weight off it whenever I go outside, partially to avoid looking extra retarded, and also just to give it a break, but trying to work on walking around my room without the crutches.  Have sort of achieved this with the boot on, but not really with the boot off yet - goal for the next few days I guess!

But anyway, as unexciting as the event itself was, it has resulted in a number of different things since.  Firstly would be my first ever hospital visit! (for myself anyway).  Of course it had to be in a different country!  But luckily for me, Australia and the UK have some kind of NHS-Medicare agreement, so I didn't have to worry about sorting out fees and travel insurance etc.  And also luckily, Hannah was there to accompany me to the hospital, and sit and wait with me, and make me rocky road when we got home at 1am.  Though compared to my limited experience of  emergency rooms in Australia, I went through really quickly here!

Thinking of Hannah and lucky in the same sentence though, we actually decided it must have a been an unlucky reunion this time, because even after we got home from the hospital the bad luck didn't stop.  Firstly, we had managed to leave my keys in the gym when we left, which of course presented a problem getting into the building.  Then on top of that, while I usually leave my room door and also my kitchen cupboard unlocked, Hannah had run back home while I was lying on the floor at the gym to get stuff, and had locked both the door and also the cupboard on the way out!  So we had to call security and get them to let me into my room, and then improvise with the stuff I'd left drying on the sink to make the rocky road!

Have to interrupt that train of thought for a second though and say that despite being a little unlucky, Hannah was amazingly prepared for someone who claimed to have never accompanied someone to hospital before!  She put in warm socks - something I was very thankful for after hopping across the wet ground on one foot in just a sock!  She also put in a pair of pyjama pants, which saved me from having to change to the weird hospital ones when they went to put the cast on me.  All round lifesaver at the time really!

Another thing I have found with injuring myself is it really shows you how nice some people can be.  First of all the people from the gym and also the trampoline club who helped me - none of them knew me, but they were nice enough to sit there and distract me, not laugh at the tears that managed to work their way out, and also practically carry me to the taxi!  One of the guys has even been nice enough to help me since - carrying my stuff home from a class, and sending me a message to see how the hospital went.  As well as them, its just the small things like friends offering to walk somewhere with me despite how painfully slow I make it, and also complete strangers asking if I need any help or just holding the door open for me.  If you're ever losing your faith in humanity, injure yourself and it will probably be restored!

Another thing it has affected has been class attendance - as with every semester, I had very good intentions about going to every lecture at the start of the semester, but I have to admit my attendance this week has been somewhat sporadic.  This is partially laziness, and partially the fact that the painkillers they gave me at the hospital apparently make me feel sick.  Missed my first tutorial for one of my courses this week cos I took painkillers before I went to the class right before it, and then sat there feeling like throwing up the entire time.  Also had to leave choir on Tuesday night early for the same reason :S  I guess I'll be able to catch those up though.

Probably what I'm most bummed about is that after deciding on the sports I wanted to join, now I can't do any of them, at least for a few weeks.  And same goes with the gym, which I only just joined!  Am hopeful I might still be able to have a bit of time to do them after my ankles better though.

Anyway, enough about my ankle.  I have still managed to do one or two fun things this week.  Went to choir on Tuesday - which was good before I started feeling sick.  Am enjoying singing again, even though I'm so rusty that the high notes feel very high now!  Also trying to decide whether or not to take part in the upcoming 24 production of the Mikado - sounds stressful, but also definitely an interesting experience.  Then had dinner with friends downstairs, and then met a bunch of my roommate's friends when they came over for a drink.  And last night I managed to drag myself to the first monthly Stammtisch - basically an opportunity for Germans and learners of German to get together at a pub and speak in German/English.  That was fun, and a chance to meet some more new people, as well as hanging out with people I already knew :)  Tonight I plan to go try out the gospel choir, and then after I think I'm meeting up with some friends for a 'Scottish night', which should be good :)

Goals for the immediate future include - going to Broughty Ferry to visit Jenna and sample some apparently delicious Scottish steak pie, visiting St Andrews, and of course visiting Edinburgh!  The further immediate future is also to get back to being able to do some sports/exercise...  Wales and Ireland are still hanging around in the future too, and hopefully by then I'll be able to walk.  But for now I definitely need to spend the rest of the afternoon catching up on German homework and tutorial readings - fun times I know!

Getting into the swing of things

So, since I've been so slack with the blog writing lately - especially compared to when I first created it - decided I should try and get back into it a bit.  Well, that and also I can't sleep.  The bad sleeping habits have started again already!  It's something about being back at uni...  This is going to be fun tomorrow when I have to get up for a 9am lecture!

But anyway, onto more interesting things.  This week has been pretty good so far.  Fairly light on class - don't have any class at all on Wednesday at the moment, which is kinda weird but nice.  Here's hoping I don't get put in a tutorial on that day....  Actually that's one weird thing about classes here - you don't sign up for the tutorial you want, you just get assigned one, and then have to petition to get it changed if you really need it to be.  So strange, and also a little inconvenient.  But I guess they don't have crazy rushes on My Dundee (their version of Wattle) of people signing up once tutorial sign up goes online.   Still trying to figure out that system actually - I swear I never had this much trouble with Wattle?!

So probably the most exciting bits of this week have been trying out some of the clubs and such here at Dundee.  Like I think I was saying in my last post, I decided to try some different things.  Tuesday night I went to the university choir.  It wasn't too bad, although a little intense for my first time back in a choir since late high school.  Am also planning on trying out the gospel choir tomorrow night, and then might end up choosing which one I like better.  But it was still fun, and met another cool Scottish person, which is a bonus!  Scottish people are now finally overtaking exchange students as the majority of the people I've met now.  They were also plugging this 24 hour musical production at the choir rehearsal which sounds kinda interesting - basically everyone meets up and learns the songs and parts etc overnight, and then perform the finished product the next day.  Definitely sounds like an experience anyway, so will have to see what happens!  Only downside is that you have to pay to participate, so basically pay to be sleep deprived??  But I guess it'd be worth it, cos it'd probably be a lot of fun.

Anyway, then yesterday arvo (Wednesday) I tried out shinty.  Not sure if I explained this in my last post or not, so I'll just explain it again.  Basically the best summary I can give for it is it's just like hockey but the sticks are shaped differently and there's practically no rules.  Apparently its very traditional, some kind of Highlands game.  I have to say I was a bit doubtful when I first turned up, after everyone telling me how brutal it is and the guys that met us to take us to the fields talking about having seen someone's bone before in a match....  But it was actually a lot of fun.  And since so few girls play it and most of them are new and so not very good, it doesn't really get that brutal.  Although two guys did get hit fairly hard in the balls just in that one practice - which as a girl I found kind of amusing.  Met some cool people there too, and have decided I definitely need to get this whole Scottish rolling of the r down, if I don't want to sound like a bogan when I say some of these Scottish names!

Also went to a flat party with Jenna last night, and met her sister and a bunch of her mates.  That was fun, although the flat we were in was absolutely roasting!!  Definitely confirmed to me that this winter I'm going to have to be even more of a pro at layering than in Canberra, if I want to survive.  It's the same overheating situation, but with more of a contrast between inside and outside I guess.  But yeah the weather has definitely started to take a chilly turn.  Thinking its time to buy a jacket and some good shoes soon.  Possibly next week - there's this event called Student Lock-in at the shopping centre nearby on Wednesday.  Basically you can get in if you're a student, and theres food and such, and extra discounts at a lot of stores in the centre.  Non-shopper though I am, it still sounds kind of fun, so will probably go along.

Then tonight, I had a go at fencing.  It was a bit of a last minute decision - hadn't put my name down at the Sports Fayre, but then met a girl at shinty yesterday who also does fencing, so found out from her a bit about it and decided to go along.  Have to say I'm really glad I did, cos it turned out to be really fun, albeit very sweaty and therefore stinky when everyone's sharing the same stuff every week.  Am definitely going to have to work on fitness though, for both shinty and fencing - knew I was unfit again, after having done no proper physical exercise since June, but the past two days have made me realise just how much.  My butt and thighs were already screaming at me tonight.  Something else that will make getting up tomorrow morning painful :S

Still also want to try out the trampoline club - just cos it sounds so novel!  The give it a go session was unfortunately at the same time as shinty though, so haven't made it there yet.  Will have to see about it next week... Have decided against the others I was looking at I think.  Namely badminton, archery and netball.  Netball and badminton I could do at ANU, and anyway netball would only be fun to play with friends I think.  And archery is apparently at the same time as fencing, and so is now out as well.

Anyways, should probably go try to sleep again.  Looking forward to a visit from Hannah this weekend, which should be awesome! :) Been too long since I last saw her!  But yeah, thats all for now, so night/morning... :)

One week in.

Ok, didn't have room in my last blog for Dundee, but now that I've been here a week I guess it's time to tell you a bit about it!  So I arrived last Sunday, just in time for Freshers Week.  As I said, Mum and Dad drove me here, so Sunday afternoon was just spent driving to the shops buying all the essentials.  That's one thing that has been weird during Freshers Week - in some ways I feel like a first year again, setting up my new room, and not knowing anyone or where anything is.  But hanging around with 17 and 18 year olds I definitely feel older than them, and all the speeches about moving out of home for the first time and such definitely don't apply!

Another thing I had forgotten could be so hard is meeting new people! Probably didn't help that I was pretty tired after Freiburg, but it felt like slow going at the start! I have now met a whole bunch of cool people though, including my first friends here in Dundee Patrick and Nora, who I met on the way to the official welcoming event.  That was great, cos they are both not first years either, so we were able to all feel out of place together! Also have really nice roommates, which is always a good thing - was surprised to learn that the other exchange student from ANU was in the same flat as me, and what's more, from the Central West as well!  Random, but cool :) Met another girl from Australia too, but so far that's been the only ones.  And also a bunch of cool people from assorted countries who all hang out in a flat just downstairs.  I think most of them are also exchange students. I have to say, I definitely understand even more now why exchange students tend to band together while on exchange - when you're surrounded by first years who are just new to uni, it's nice to hang out with other people who are closer to your age and also new to the area but not to uni.

So yeah, Freshers Week was pretty good - didn't do stuff constantly, but had a few good nights out and think I have maybe started to find my way at least in the area around campus.  Mostly from one very long walk while lost, but hey thats what getting lost is for right?  Notable events include the grub crawl on Wednesday which was run by the Christian Union.  That was quite fun, and a really good meal.  Although awkward in a funny way, as they had more people than expected and the different meals were hosted in people's flats, so we ended up sitting in bedrooms eating.  It was cool to hang out though, meet some new people and get to know other people better.  Also memorable was the almost 3 hours that I spent sitting in a corridor with 7 or so other exchange students, too early in the morning, waiting to matriculate.  That and not reading the paperwork they gave me at matriculation until the next day, and so finding out 5 minutes before it started that I needed to be somewhere to register for German!

Did the Freshers Fayre and Sports Fayre as well of course - a lot like Market Day at ANU, except split into two and on different days.  Also the Freshers Fayre was inside, which combined with crowds made it not only as squishy as Market Day but also a lot stuffier.  That was interesting though.  Had a laugh at the fact that campaigns for and against Scottish independence were at adjacent tables.  There were lots of interesting clubs, but now is the hard part of figuring out what I can actually fit in!  Looking at doing a different kind of sport - trying to decide between trampolining, badminton, archery and shinty.  The last one is some kind of Scottish sport that seems kind of like hockey but is apparently a lot more brutal.  So yeah, kinda on the fence about that one, but they have a give it a go session this weekend, so might go along to that and then see.  Also really want to join a choir, although apparently they have a few so not really sure which one?!  I did find iceskating too, but less sure about that one, cos I think its more social skating than actually learning and I definitely need the learning part!

Man this blog is taking a long time, cos I keep getting distracted :S  Watching Djokovic and Murray in the final of the US Open - thanks to my flatmate Calum for giving me the link!  Pretty good game, although I have a feeling its going to go on for awhile.  Lucky I don't have class til 10 tomorrow!  

Oh yes, so, started classes today.  Starting to feel less like a holiday and more like uni again.  Was definitely feeling from Freiburg right up til today like I was just on holidays.  But more than class, I think having to deal with university offices has changed that.  Went to two different German classes today and finally sorted out which class I should be in which is nice.  Think it'll be harder than ANU, cos the course I'm doing is all about writing and speaking, with hardly any grammar.  Will definitely have to hit up Nora and Patrick for some German speaking practice!  Should be good though :)  And since the German course is so small here in 3rd and 4th year, they are both in the same class just with different assessment, which is nice cos it means that Jenna is in my class!  It's been really great to see her again, and to have come to Dundee knowing I would at least have one friend :P Actually met up with her on my first night here and met some of her friends, which was really nice, and definitely a better alternative to sitting at home alone in my room! 

And since people have commented on it (namely Paul and Emily!), have to make a comment about the food in Dundee so far.  Haven't been out for dinner a whole lot yet - only for burgers and thats about it.  But I bought some Scottish cheddar, which was pretty delicious, and also in a block! Something I weirdly really missed in Germany.  They also have coloured cheddar, which I have bought to try but haven't actually opened yet...  Food here is not quite as cheap as Germany, but still pretty good.  Though I think it definitely has less fresh food, I suppose cos a lot of it wouldn't grow here so it all has to be imported.  Also, if anyone reading this has seen Doctor Who, I have tried a jammie dodger! :) Still haven't done fish fingers and custard, but thats something I could easily do in Australia I guess.  Other good food I've had so far includes; drumsticks, which no are not an ice-cream, but a raspberry-vanilla flavoured lollipop, irn bru (said iron brew) which is a delicious fizzy drink with a flavour I can't exactly describe but is really good, and also Belvitas which are a 'breakfast biscuit' - not really sure what that means, but they taste good so doesn't really matter!  I am yet to have a pub meal, and also go to a chippy.  But I will definitely do that soon!  Also while I'm on the topic of food, the schwarze johannesbeeren (black johannesberry?) jam I brought from Germany is pretty delicious - enough that I'm actually eating jam on toast again, something I haven't done since primary school I think.  Really need to buy some tea actually, and also want to get a teapot.

Anyway, since that paragraph is embarrassingly I think the longest so far, I'm going to move on.  Talked about fresher's week, class, just generally getting settled...  Probably not a whole lot more to say for the moment.  Had a lovely Skype date with Paul and Emily, Samm and Jack the other day - was nice to see some familiar faces again!  Also loving Whatsapp - though I am trying to stop and think about what time it would be in Australia if I send a message!  Still kind of in the process of getting settled, in the stage where I have most things but am still discovering random things I sort of need, and kind of know where places are but still rely on getting directions/using google maps.  Hopefully this time next week I'll be walking around Dundee city like a pro, and will have myself set up with some tea!  Now that I've mentioned it I'm really craving it!  And on that note I'll love you and leave you :)

A series of places, ending in Dundee!

 Ok!  First blog in awhile I know, but due to retardedness on my part I haven't had my computer for about a week, which was very sad :( So I'm going to go back over everything I can remember between then and now.  Feel very free to stop reading now, as this promises to be fairly long, and is just as much a memory exercise for me as anything else.  

So anyway, back to Freiburg.  Last weekend was not as great as I had hoped.  Was planning on going to Switzerland or at least a short trip nearby, but ended up being quite sick the whole weekend.  All I managed to achieve was a short shopping trip both days, as a means of getting out of the house.  Managed a little bit more on my last two days though.  

Had an international picnic at Seepark on Monday, where everyone was supposed to bring food from their country.  That was pretty cool, although there were so many people that when it got dark it was impossible to find anyone who wasn't already right there!  We also did a Stadtspiel on Monday in the second half of class, in which we had to go to a certain place in the city and find the answers to a sheet of questions.  That was good cos during it I finally saw the inside of the Munster - even though it was a little awkward cos we accidentally walked in on the midday mass!  But had a good team too :)  Also went to the Schauinsland on Monday arvo - apparently the longest cable car system thing in Germany, or something like that.  It was ok, there was really good views, but it was a little anticlimactic, and also kinda strange sitting for so long in a small car with strangers...

Tuesday was the last day of the course, so instead of class in the morning my class had a picnic breakfast on the Schlossberg - another place I hadn't managed to get to before then.  That was really nice, and had beautiful views of Freiburg.  The downside being that I managed to spill a large amount of chocolate milk on my white shirt.  Luckily I had taken a travel stain remover pen with me in my bag, which did an amazing job getting rid of most of it, cos we went straight from the picnic to the official ending ceremony.  The ceremony was interesting - there were the obligatory speeches by the course coordinators, and the final performance by the Sommerchor (course choir).  The choir was awesome, especially cos they had Jenny (a girl from my class) play the trumpet.  The weirdest part was when they opened up the mic to the room, with interesting results... the first girl got up and sang an opera song, then a guy got up and sang some song everyone was supposed to know, and got the room to stand up and hold hands and sing. Then another girl got up and sang a song in Hungarian or something.  I think it would have kept going but they cut it off there.  Then that arvo was just spent packing and cleaning and getting ready to leave the next day.  

Had brekkie with Rebecca Wednesday morning then took the bus to the airport to get the plane to London.  The flight was pretty good, and definitely a lot quicker than the one to Germany!  London looked like a model town as we flew over it, and was nice and sunny - but once we actually landed at Heathrow it was the grey rainy London welcome I had expected.  Took the tube to the city, which I have to say I enjoyed.  I now totally understand why its called the tube, cos that was precisely the shape of the train.  All the stations were interesting too, though I reckon it must have been pretty stuffy and crowded in WWII when people took shelter down there.  Didn't like the tube so much after getting to the middle of the city though - changing trains was rather difficult with my all my bags!  But I eventually made it in and found my parents and our family friends, Dub and Dee.  It was nice to see them again, and be so enthusiastically welcomed by their very cute kids Jack and Alice.  Went briefly to the British Museum with them, and Dub gave us a quick tour which was really interesting.  Then we headed back to Elsenham, a very cute little village just near Cambridge, for the night.  

Next day we headed to York.  Have to say I wasn't initially impressed with the English countryside, but as we drove further north it became more what I pictured.  Saw my first castle on the way to York, which was Bolsover Castle in Derbyshire.  It was pretty cool - half was ruins of the original castle, and then the Little Castle which was built later and still intact, though unfurnished.  We also took a detour from the motorway to find a country pub for lunch, and ended up in a deceptively pub-looking fancy restaurant for lunch.  Not cheap, but it was definitely delicious.  Dad and I had our first taste of panna cotta - which he is now in love with.  That day was definitely a day for good food, cos we had delicious Indian food for dinner once we reached York.

Cos we didn't get to York til later, we didn't get to explore til the next day.  But driving in we could see that York is a pretty cool city.  The first thing I noticed was the random mix of architecture, ranging from back in the Roman times right through to modern architecture, and all built practically on top of each other.  There's a Roman wall that still has a large part standing through the middle of the city and you can walk along the top of it.  We did a free tour of the city with this cute old lady who had been voluntarily leading tours for 24 years.  That was pretty cool, we saw all the best parts of the middle of the city, including the Shambles which was the butchers street in medieval times and still had original buildings with the hooks for hanging their meat on the street, and also the smallest medieval window in York.  We also climbed the tower of the York Minster, which was 275 steps of spiralling staircase!  The top was weird though - felt like being in a cage because it was completely enclosed, I guess to stop people from throwing themselves off the roof.  I was also pretty excited to see my first squirrels!  They were so cute!!  Little grey things scurrying around under the trees.  So much better than ratty possums!  We also saw the end of a street performance while having lunch which was quite funny.  He called himself the Man with Big Balls.  I found this link of Youtube, I think the show is similar to the one we saw. 

Enjoyed some more of the English countryside that afternoon on the way to the next place we stayed, just near Newcastle.  I have to say what I LOVE about the English and Scottish countryside is all the stone - bridges, fences, walls... Stone just looks so picturesque, and especially when it's covered by growing green stuff.  Stayed at the Bay Horse Inn, which was a very cute little pub/B&B in a tiny little village, and in which I had a delicious dinner of pork casseroled with apple and cider.  I have definitely been loving the food here in the UK - most definitely my kinda food!  

Next day we headed for Edinburgh - or at least, somewhere slightly south of Edinburgh.  Went first to Belsay - an big country estate with an old castle and also a still old but slightly newer country manor.  That was beautiful.  Definitely worth getting lost on the way to finding it. The newer manor was interesting, left completely unfurnished at the request of the family so that visitors would focus on the architecture.  Apparently it was meticulously designed by the guy who had it built, with a very obviously Greek style.  They also had heaps of gardens, including a huge one that went through big ravines where stone had been quarried to build the manor.  The other two great things at Belsay I found in the gift shop - a cool recycled wool throw for 12 quid, that obviously I bought!  I also saw an amazing looking bottle of gin, made of vodka made of organically grown apples.  Managed to resist buying it, but definitely wrote down the name for future reference!  The other exciting thing I saw on the trip was what the Enid Blyton loving part of me would fondly like to believe was heather.  Though I am resolved to actually touch heather at some point lol.

Also on the way we stopped in the town of Jedburgh, just over the Scottish border, where I had my first taste of haggis (from dad's plate, but it still counts!).  It was surprisingly good - as long as you don't think about what you're eating.  It pretty much just tasted like mince but with a weird texture.  Actually also on the topic of food I had my first taste of black pudding with my B&B breakfast.  A very strange food - not bad, but a really weird texture and very herby.  Too herby for me, but other than that not too bad.  But back to Jedburgh, we also toured the house that Mary Queen of Scots stayed in when she was briefly there.  It was made into a museum about her life, which was kind of interesting.  Then we went on to the B&B we were booked into for the night, which it turned out was a farm practically in the middle of nowhere.  It was kind of cute, and the people were really nice, but we had to drive 8 miles to the town of Biggar (yes, we made many bad puns!) for dinner at 'the Elph', aka the Elphinstone Hotel.  Where again, since I'm so food orientated, I have to mention the amazing steak and ale 'pie' I had for dinner, which was basically a plate of delicious meaty goodness with two pieces of pastry on top.  So good...

Then the next day we headed to Dundee.  But since I've already written so much for now, might leave that til tomorrow.  On a quick side note, I just have to say for at least the first 4 days of my time in the UK it was consistently both sunny and rainy at different points during the day.  So awesomely stereotypical!  But the weather here in Dundee hasn't been too bad so far - only slightly rainy once or twice, and a surprising amount of sunshine.  Even though the sunshine in Scotland definitely has no bite compared to Australian sunshine, or even in the sunshine in Freiburg!

Anyway, thats me for now, but more about Dundee tomorrow/soon! :)