Walk on the Riverside

Me and Tina walked down to the Tesco Extra today; it's the biggest store in Dundee and we both needed some major supplies that we couldn't get at Tesco Metro or Lidl so we decided to make the trek! It's a little weird because once you get down to Perth Road, you can see Tesco right there only a ways across from you but because the railroad track is there you have to walk all the way down the road and back around again.  Really annoying! They should definitely just build a skybridge! But oh well it was a beautiful walk and it was good to get out and get some exercise...I stayed in most of the morning and watched tv on my computer haha-just felt good to be a lazy lump.
Here are some shots of our walk down!

 This is the road leading down to Perth Road from campus

 Me and Tina

And here was down Perth Road almost to Marketgaite where we walked all the way down and around to the bus station and past to the Tesco.

Outside the Tesco.
Haha and then when we were shopping I saw this!

After that we took a cab back home with all of our purchases and ran into Ben (my roommate) and Stefanie (his girlfriend) and they helped us carry everything up the stairs.  After unloading we all sat down to some food and then me and Stefanie played a couple games of chess:) she beat me pretty easily the first time but after warming up my strategy I got better and beat her after taking all of her pieces:)
So that was the day today~miss everyone.

First Friday TGIF :)

The last of the week went a lot better! I got a gym pass and worked out some of my frustrations :) Also, I watched a ton of tv and relaxed lol so that was good too.  I went to my bio lectures-I'm taking a class called Drugs and Drug Targets.  It's fairly interesting; we are studying the effects of different drugs on the different systems of the body.  The first lecture was an hour, the second two hours, and our Friday class was a three hour lab day at the local hospital.  It's called Ninewells, and it's a teaching hospital too.

 
It was pretty cool I took the bus from the road adjacent to the school called Perth Road.  Perth Road  has a TON of restaurants and stuff so it's much more exciting that the other parts of Dundee so far!  It's also a lot better for the view because it's on the side of Dundee facing the loche.  I forgot my camera this time but we go to Ninewells every Friday so I will take pics then.  I was waiting for the bus and met a big group of people going to the hospital too; it turned out they were in my class.  So we all got to talking a lot and I partnered with two of them for my experiments.  The others were in the other half of the class that went to the computer lab. 
The lab experiment itself was really cool!  We are studying the effects of agonist and antagonist drugs in combination with other drugs.  We were using a little piece of pig ileum (which is in the small intestine) that was in a water bath, hooked to a ink reader.  Basically the reader measured the contractions of the ileum after we gave it drugs...all the while being infused with oxygen to keep it alive.  It was cool cause we got to use drugs like atropine and mepyramine and histamine.  We established our control contractions to Acetylcholine and Histamine, which are agonists (which caused reactions) and then incubated the ileum in solutions of mepyramine and atropine first before using ACh and histamine.  The second two blocked the contractions because they act as muscle relaxants.  All the while we would flush the water that the ileum was sitting in and this little machine drew out the actual contractions.  Pretty sweet actually really interesting! This is a version of what the organ bath aerator looked like.

Anyways after that we took the bus back to Perth Road and I rode on the top of the double decker:) !! It was really cool lol the view is awesome! I'll take major pictures next week.
So the night before I had gone to the pub quiz at a place called Braes (pronounced Breeze) and the pub quiz was kinda lame but the pub was really cool.  I didn't eat anything there that night and wanted to go back so I suggested to Fiona and Alanah two of the girls I partnered with if they wanted to go.  They said yes but we had to wait for the others so we walked from the bus stop to Alanah's flat and we just hung out for a while. Lol I showed them how to figure out their espresso machine and they let me try some of the Nestle chocolates over here that had come in a big tin. We had a good time just sitting and talking...then another of her roommates came home.  She is really nice too is from Switzerland.
So after everyone got home we walked to Braes but couldn't find a table so we went to this place called Tonic.  It was really good I got cajun chicken nachos.  It was the first place I have seen here that calls fries fries haha so that was kinda cool too.  They had a big burger selection but I didn't really feel like a burger.  Some of them sounded pretty awesome though!

I emailed the restaurant manager for a menu and better pictures cause it would be cool to show you guys what it was like for real:)
So other than that things are going well; I made a lot of friends yesterday and they invited me out tonight!  I might even be able to travel with some of them and it was really nice to just get out and get outta my doldrums and homesick mood...ha it's kind of a struggle occasionally and seeing new things and people definitely helps.
After I got back last night me and Ben and Hanah hung out and me and Ben played chess.  That was pretty fun too! He has a really nice board.  I was really mad though because I have been playing my whole life under the misconception that queens can move like knights and last night I found out they can't:(
 Damn. lol. Anyway, love and miss everyone-more to come!

End of the Day

Well, the second lecture of the day went alright...the professor was much better, though I can't say the air in the room was.  Sheesh the air ventilation sucked-felt like I was breathing in other people's BO and exhaled air for an hour.  After that I walked down to two grocery stores to find coffee filters-I got nothin.  What the hell is the world coming to when a store doesn't even sell coffee filters?!
Anyway...the one good part of the day was hanging with my flatmates and watching tv.  Hannah is making tacos later so that should be good.  And she said that she is going to pick up some coffee filters for me.  Hal o freakin lejuh.
I'm gonna post my pictures on here cause they are cool...they are just of around the town.  Quite pretty-there's one nice thing...at least the buildings are pretty. Grr I'm just gonna drown my sorrows and crabbiness in endless hours of tv since I can't seem to shake this shitty mood.

 

The view outside my window

Downtown Dundee

The Church of Scotland by the Overgate Centre

Then I found this really beautiful building and I found out that it was a museum!

After that I was walking around the shopping areas and passed a homeless man...it's interesting here they have a newspaper company that employs only homeless people and they get money for the papers they sell. It's kind of a neat way to help the people that need it most.  I walked by him at first and then I stopped and figured it would be a cool opportunity...I gave him 5 pound for a picture:) he said I looked sad and I told him that I was far from home and kinda lonely and he gave me a hug! He was really nice!

That finished up my day of exploration...anyways I feel a bit better now; me and my roommates had taco night and it was pretty cool.  I took some pictures and I am considerably cheered up:)
Here are the pics from tonight!

 Hanah beating Ben up hehe

 Ben pretending to be hurt:)

 Jen, Shawn, Ben, Sean, Hanah and Tina

 Me and Tina

Bomb ass taco...they come in trays here!

That's all for now! PS Hanah bought me coffee filters so I had coffeeeeeeee!!!! FINALLY lol

Homesick

I never really appreciated home until I left it.  Of course I knew I love home, but I definitely know now I love it better than here.  Sure don't get me wrong it's interesting and exciting here but so far, I think everyone here has it backwards most of the time.  Like classes for example...what the hell you sign up for classes and they don't even tell you where or what time they are until the day before!! And everyone is nice enough but you just can't get the same value for things over here.  I did get a cheap coffee pot but for the most part everything else is just ridiculous.  They don't have salsa...they don't have good bottled beer...and they serve fries with Chinese food! WTF.  I think I am just frustrated right now.  I know I'm venting but I miss home.  I miss everyone and I miss my family.  Even the bus here is freakin expensive. 
Let's just say that no one should worry about me moving here. I would kill myself.  I mean I thought that other places would have different politics and the culture would be different! Well other than having it off and being more confusing and more expensive, I think our way of life is a lot better.  At least we drive on the right side of the road...and they have shitty politics just like us but way less say in how those politics go!  The cars are funny looking and I may be American and lazy but it makes sense to have cars.  It does.  Cause if you don't live in the middle of the city you're screwed and if you do live in the middle of the city you are stuck with other people that live there too!
The clothes are ok for the most part except they make everything for little people and I am DEFINITELY the tallest girl like everywhere I go.  (Taller than a lot of everyone either way actually).
First lecture so far was rather disappointing too...some dumb lady in the back bloviated on and on and on in response to the professor's extremely dull lecture.  And he encouraged it! It's like why bitch about semantics? That's so dumb-give me the true information and let me deal with that instead of giving me a jumbo sized list of personal conjecture (which he admitted to).  I'm going to my other lecture in about twenty minutes so we'll see how that one goes.  And that's another thing! 50% of our grade is basically participation and interaction, but we have at least five or six professors that teach the class in sections..so how the hell do we get a proper grade on participation when it's not one teacher with us everyday! Urgh.  I walked Dundee again and got some cool pictures but I'm just too homesick and heartsick to post right now.  Just want my bed at home and to hold Lilly and Bailey get their lovely dog hair all over me.  It might be annoying but at least I'd know I was home.  I'm not posting on facebook for a few days...it just makes me sad.  Sorry guys.

Day in Dundee: Night of Pool

So as planned day before yesterday me and Martina walked down to the shopping centers. I had walked there with my friend from Mukilteo but it was good to go again when I was more rested.  There are three mall-like shopping places in the immediate area...only about ten or fifteen min down the road so it's not too bad of a walk at all.  Man I swear though when I get back I am gonna be in the shape of my life!  Everyone here walks everywhere.  And I'm on the fourth and top floor of my building and my building is at the top of the hill lol.  Shoot my thighs are already stronger!
The shopping places don't have parking lots.  At all. People don't really drive too much in the city...the bus is really expensive and not worth it.  And instead of getting your car towed you get a fatty ass ticket for like 200 pounds when you do park in lots you are not supposed to. The centers are called Overgate Centre, Marketgate Centre, and Wellgate Centre.  Each one is named after the original gates into the city and each one has different attractions!  Overgate is nestled around this BEAUTIFUL church...it's a church of Scotland and it's fantastic.  I'll add a picture as soon as I have one.  The buildings around here are made out of this really cool gray stone and are so old looking-its really cool.
There are a lot of places from home in the shopping centers like Gap, KFC, McDonalds, the Body Shop, the Bon Marche (I got a kick out of that one!), and Starbucks of course.  It's comforting to have places from home but it's weird cause things are so different! I went to McDonalds and got a Big Mac meal and it was way smaller...and you don't get free refills here ever! Even at restaurants-it's strange.
But anyway so me and Martina walked around and went into the clothing stores and looked around-I found a belt at Gap but I am kinda on a budget so I didn't buy anything else.  They have some cool stuff but their jeans are hid-e-ass lol like guys jeans are so so so ugly and the women's jeans have rhinestones and stuff. I saw them and was like that's weird thirteen year old teenagers wear  stuff like that at home haha.
After we walked around the shops we walked back home and relaxed a bit.  After a couple hours me and my roommates went out to one of the four bars in the student union building and played pool in the pool hall. It's crazy they have like 20 tables in one room and everyone comes and plays together!

I got some pictures with the locals-it was school girl theme night but I saw this girl that was all gothed out lol.  I was trying to take a picture incognito

but I couldn't so I went up to them and asked for a picture!

Then I got some pictures with my roommates!

The one with dark hair is Stefanie who is dating my roommate Ben and the lighter haired girl is Martina:) she is my roommate from Germany!
Then there is Hannah! She didn't wanna be photographed haha but I snapped one anyway...

It was weird we had these guys come up to us to give up flyers-every once in a while the school clubs will have fundraisers and theme nights and it's like 3 pounds to get in...this one was for NEDs and NERDS which is Non-Educated-Delinquents vs like college students.  I guess the NEDs are little town thugs that hang around and ask for overage people to buy them booze and cigarettes.  They are highschool dropouts and they are just kinda loser kids that act all gangster lol.  I guess Scotland is known in the UK for really bad underage drinking and teen pregnancy!

That was pretty funny.  I tried this beer called Tennents and it was REALLY good...it kinda reminded me of PBR back home but a little harsher.  It was 2 pounds a pint and shots of tequila were only a pound 30.  The pool bar had a jukebox and they played so much American music all night it was crazy!
Then we got some food from this concession place they had inside and it was pretty tasty-me and Ben and Stefanie started talking politics.  She loves watching West Wing and it was cool cause I got to talk about my side of politics lol.  I think they were fairly surprised to know that I am a Conservative.
Overall it was a really fun night!
Then yesterday I went and "matriculated"which just meant that I went and got my student card.
No big. Quite scary actually lol.

After that I just came back to my room and later I met Caitlin from Mukilteo for coffee. It was really good, they make coffee REALLY thick and I had that with mulligatawny soup and bread for only 1.99 pounds. It was awesome for the coffee instead of little creamer cups they brought me a cup of real cream it was so good.  After that I came back to my room and taught Stefanie how to play card games...just speed, go fish, and rummy.  It was fun lol and me and her and Ben set up an improvised beer pong table and played rum pong but only with one cup. We were just messing around not really playing.  The cups were really narrow so it was super hard.  He got it in first but I didn't drink it cause it was that nasty Morgan spiced rum shit. Yuck. Regular maybe but no spiced for me. And Bacardi is better anyway lol.

Last night I went to bed early at about nine cause I was really tired and now it's about 10am here. I woke up at about 630AM.  It's weird cause it doesn't get light out here until at least 830AM.
That's all for now! more soon:)  Miss you guys!