Busy Bee

Oh my! It seems I haven't written in a very long time! As you've probably guessed, things have gotten really busy here. As soon as October hit my calendar turned from this:

to this:

I really should not even be taking the time to write right now, but I think it is a good break from the essays I'm working on. Here's what I've been up to for the past couple of weeks:

• I finished my graphic design project for the "Right to Rent" week the Accommodation Team at my school is putting on. As promised, below you'll find the posters I produced (I also made a flyer, but it's essentially the same elements as Poster 1, just two sided). They are now hanging up around town- I love the feeling of having your work so publicly viewed, but remaining anonymous. I am excited to do more work through Design Team- I'm already lined up for my next project!

Poster 2

Poster 1

• I went on my very first three-legged pub crawl with Canoe Club. I'll admit I was very scared to go, considering I drink very little and felt kind of uncomfortable with the whole "pub scene". I went back and forth in my head trying to make a decision whether to attend or not and finally pushed myself to be brave and try it (I knew I could always leave if things got bad). The theme was pirates, so I donned my most pirate-y looking clothing and headed to Rascals, the first pub. We were all given a list of rules and the order of the pubs we would be going to and a name tag with a character from a famous duo. I got "Maid Marian" so I knew that I would have to look for someone with the tag "Robin Hood". My partner and I were taped together at the ankle. He was quite a bit taller than me which made things kind of difficult, but luckily we were pretty coordinated and were one of the faster walking pairs. We travelled from pub to pub, six altogether, each crazier than the last. At the last bar, the Union, we were untaped. We stayed there until it closed at midnight and celebrated a couple of birthdays. Then we headed down to the pier to see the Northern Lights. Unfortunately, they were not visible despite the excellent viewing the night before. I hope to see them someday!

• Pretty much this past week has been focused on writing my essays for Anthropology and Art History as well as working on my presentation for Art History and studying for my Italian test. I've spent a ton of time in the library writing and doing research. It is difficult getting the texts you need for your papers because almost all of them are on Short Loan, meaning they are in high demand and you can only check them out for a couple of hours. I am not a particularly good note-taking person and like to constantly have the text on hand while I am writing my papers. This means that I have to go to the trouble of scanning all the pages I need, which is kind of an annoying and time-consuming process. What I really need is one of these so I don't have to keep opening and closing the lid of the copy machine: Book Scanner Maybe someday I'll get around to making one!

I have the outlines and first paragraphs of the essays done, but now I need to flesh them out- my least favorite thing to do. I wish you could just hand in the outline and be done with the process. After all it says what you want it to say without all the fluff and since it's consolidated it would be easier to grade! If only the education system were structured by a Nathalie!

• I went to a Lord of the Rings marathon with my academic dad's side of the family. I stayed for the first movie then came back later for the last. A endurance drinking game was incorporated into it- the goal was to drink your height in your preferred beverage by the end of the series. I decided to try it with lemonade, but after about three bottles I couldn't drink anymore (I know I'm pathetic)! My dad was successful in drinking about 6 feet worth of Irn Bru, a Scottish soda- I was quite impressed.

I met my academic mom for the first time! She is very nice, and we have a lot of similar interests. I am excited to do some baking with her side of the family on Raisin Weekend!

• I went on another kayaking trip this past weekend down the River Dee near Aberdeen. It was really fun- there were some intense wave-trains, and a lot of exciting smaller rapids. I had my first unintentional swim when we were practicing ferry gliding (see previous post), but luckily it was not in an area with a very strong current. It felt like time stood still for a moment- I couldn't have been underwater for more than 5 seconds but it felt like an eternity. I kind of had an out-of-body experience when underwater, like I was looking at myself, rather than being myself. Eventually I snapped out of the relaxed state and thought something along the lines of, "Hey, I'm underwater, maybe I should do something about it." I pulled myself out of the kayak and surfaced. I luckily remembered to grab my paddle as soon as I saw it, then grabbed on to the back of my leader's boat. Another girl fell out of her kayak too, so it was a kind of double rescue. When I got to shore I had to empty my cag, which was completely full of water. I felt surprisingly refreshed and energetic despite the cold and shock. I got back in my kayak, and my friend gave me some chocolate which also helped a lot. I was soaked, but so was everyone else since it was raining. On the way home we took a road that had a beautiful lookout point over some hills and valleys. I just looked it up, and found the name of the pass is Cairn O' Mounth.

Image of Cairn O' Mounth pass I found- doesn't really do it justice

All Ready to Kayak! (photo credit: Emily Stratton)

• I've done a bit more theater tech since I last wrote. I'm helping look for items they need for the Hair production, such as fake flowers and large rugs, and went to a workshop today to participate in painting the backdrops. I also went to the Byre for an hour this week to work on putting up the set for a production. I wish I could have spent more time, but I had a lecture. It was still nice to finally go backstage at the Byre! I am really missing doing sound and carpentry-type work. At the moment I feel I am rather on the sidelines of tech, and am greatly looking forward to becoming more involved.

• I've been trying to get used to biking in difficult conditions. It's been getting darker earlier, so I have had to use my nifty bike light. It's also been raining a lot more, so I've taken to wearing gloves while riding, and using my secret Butts Wynd covered parking spot (its not actually a secret, I just can't figure out why barely anyone ever parks their bikes there- it is a safe and dry spot with several bike racks).

• I don't have much to say about KnitSoc, but would like to mention that I am quite excited for the yarn bombing we're planning on doing within the next few months. Yarn bombing is when you knit a bunch of squares then sneakily sew them together over something in a public space. We're trying to find a good spot- right now the fountain in the main square seems a possibility. I am almost done with Nessie! I'll post a picture soon!

Well that was way more than I intended to write! I guess I need to keep up on my posts, so it does not become so overwhelming. I'm going back to work now!

academic family biking classes dorm exploring kayaking societies theater travel