So my alarm clock didn't sound this morning, luckily I realized there was sunshine and thats just not normal for seven am, and so I got up and dressed in more than enough time to grab some breakfast and meet my group for our walk to class.
Speaking of walking! The campus is spread out over the entire city, the Residence halls being on the far southern part of the old town, and the rest being all over the place. I suppose now is a good time to talk about how Ediburgh is set up. The railtracks run right up the center of the city, dividing it into two halves, the "new" and "old". I have only passed by New Town, and it will probably remain that way for a while. The old town is built in levels, because apparently, Edinburgh was once a walled city that feared to expand outside the walls for nearly three hundred years. So everything is stacked all haphazard atop eachother. Unfortunately, its also one giant slope up to the Castle, so if one isn't climbing stairs, one's stumbing down steep alleys. But anyway, back to the sprawling campus...
Its not all that confusing, or at least not to me. Everyon else seems to be lost all the time. I guess my innate mapping abilities are coming in handy, because I always know roughly where we are. It helps that one only has to locate a landmark, (generally the Castle for center of town, Arthur's Seat for the dorms) and then its not hard to orient at all. There are only a few main roads, the most obvious of which is The Royal Mile, which extends from the Castle down the long slope to the royal residence at Holyrood, a mile away. Clever people, these scots! That's also the sight of the new parliament building, which is STILL under construction, at great expense, because apparently, these people like to argue about details like material, labor, etc. AFTER construction begins, which holds up the whole process, and raises costs. It does seem to be their method in all things, too, as even the buildings aren't cleaned without a fuss.
I had my first class today- History Of Scotland. We mostly did the Geography of Scotland, and given that our professor is a Geographer by trade, as he puts it, that didnt really surprise me. I'm interested in his side comment, the salt lochs here are often used as submarine bases...hmm....interesting.......anyway! We also lectured on the foundations of the Clans, and all the associated mythology regarding tartans. Apparently, tartans were created with no regard to color or pattern, insofaras the clans were concerned. It was not until 1740 (during which time the Scots were not permitted to WEAR tartans) that the kilt was created, as part of a military uniform. They became popularized under the reign of Queen Victoria, and it was then the Clans were assigned colors and patterns- at random, I might add. This will make my hunt into the Logan name quite interesting, I'm sure...particularly as they are, so far, not listed on any of the maps and books I've had time to explore. At any rate, it reconsiders my decision to spend money on any fabric bearing the Logan "colors". Now my focus has turned to finding a nice brooch bearing our crest, as this was the actual identification used amongst the highlanders.
There was sun all afternoon! Granted, that means from about 12 until about two...but sun it was, nonetheless. I really enjoy these made up, strung together words.
There's really nothing interesting to report...my evenings are very quiet here- generally a movie coupled with sewing, some time for reading (though not much), and then my personal journal time. Hmm...maybe once I have homework, things will spice up a bit. Anyway, I'm out of room, so I'll finish up. Toodles!
