Moths, Dancing, and Autumn Skies

One of my favorite things about Scotland is the sky. It is ever-changing, ever-magnificent, and ever-thought-provoking. My favorite place to view the sky is from the road right above the science buildings near my dorm. One of the science buildings has a mirror-like panel on the side, so the beauty of the sky is captured on the wall, and all around it is an intensely panoramic view of the clouds and colors. I have yet to take a picture, but when I do I'll put it on this post.

I will no longer be writing every day, as it is a bit difficult to keep up with. However, I plan to add new posts at least 2-3 times a week, so keep checking in! Also, sorry for such a lack of pictures, I often don't carry my nice cameras during the day, and just take cell phone photos.

These past few days I've begun to develop a bit of a routine. I get up in the morning, get ready to go, hop on my bike, and attend my first class. After that, I have about an hour, so usually run my "dropping off" errands, such as turning in papers or going to sign up for something. Then I go to my next class. Next, I have another hour which I usually spend in the library or eating lunch. After that, I have my last class. Then I either go exploring around town, run my "picking up" errands, go to society meetings, or go back to the dorm.

My morning/evening bike route

Some fun/interesting things I've done over the past few days:

• I biked down to the harbor to participate in the kayak club. Unfortunately I was too late for that day, but still went exploring around the waterfront. I sat down for a little while in the shade to check something on my phone, and a fisherman nearby told me I should go sit in the sun, as it wouldn't be here for long (turned out he was right, it rained all day the next day). I did as he said, biking along a bit further until I came to a nice park right near the Fife Coastal Path, which had some grassy rolling hills above the beach and a little ice cream stand. I couldn't resist getting ice cream- it was beautiful out, and perfect weather for it. I sat with my bike on the top of one of the hills, looking out over the sea for quite some time.

Beach view

Ice Cream!

• I took my first ballet class in the Town Hall on Wednesday night. There were so many people! It was really nice being able to dance again, and especially in such a spacious hall.

• I planned out a trip up north to take on Saturday. I will be leaving in the morning on the bus to go to Kinross, where the Loch Leven Castle is located. Loch Leven Castle is where Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned for a year during the 1560s. During that time, she suffered tragedies such as miscarrying twins and being forced to abdicate her throne to her one-year-old son, James. She eventually escaped, dressed as a servant, with the help of a man named George Douglas. The castle is in the middle of a lake, and I'll be going on a 5 minute ferry ride to get to it. After that, I'm going to the town of Dunkeld, where they have a beautiful Cathedral and an interesting wood called "The Hermitage". There is also a bridge there, built by Thomas Telford (who my family may or may not be related to), and a little house where Beatrix Potter wrote some of The Tale of Peter Rabbit.

• I went to an Archaeology Society meeting, where I learned about the architectural drawings of buildings in Italy during the Renaissance

• I made some chocolate chip cookies in the shared dorm kitchen, which turned out really well.

19th Century Drawing, of predicted moth

• I went to a Wild Society meeting at the Botanic Gardens, where we learned about Butterflies and Moths from a local moth specialist. My favorite kind of moth is the Hummingbird Hawk Moth, which I saw while I was in Italy over the summer. I was very impressed with many of the species we talked about, especially this one: When an orchid (Angraecum sesquipedale) with a foot long spur was discovered in Madagascar in the 19th century, Darwin predicted that there must be a moth with a 12 inch long proboscis that pollinated it. Years later in the 1920s, they found the moth, and called it Xanthopan morganii praedicta, because it had been predicted.

biking classes dorm exploring societies walking