The Beast from the East

Hi everyone, Due to a couple of stressful weeks of classes, I haven’t gotten to posting in a while, so I have some catching up to do. Over the past few weeks, Scotland has been hit by a couple of snow storms. Although there was never more than 2 or 3 inches of snow on …

My First Cricket Match

In the first week of classes, the University of Aberdeen hosted a refresher’s fair aimed at introducing new students to its large number of clubs and societies. I went to the fair and signed up to be notified about when most of these groups met. Fast forward one month, and I am bowling my first …

Robert Burns Night

As an aspiring poet and avid reader of poetry, I was familiar with Robert Burns and his work before coming to Scotland; however, I was not familiar with the celebrations hosted on and around January 25th (Burns’ date of birth) to commemorate the famed Scot. “Robert Burns Night” or “Robbie Burns Night” is a very …

FOMO

Fear of Missing Out. It’s an expression you will hear pretty frequently if you are considering studying abroad. It is also the reason most of my peers at home have given for why they are choosing not to study abroad. Now, the intention of this blog IS NOT to criticize choosing not to study abroad …

And Bob’s Your Uncle, I’ve Made Some Mistakes

I am the kind of person who doesn’t like to make mistakes. In fact, this is one of the reasons I chose to study in Scotland: because it is an English-speaking country and, not being multilingual, I figured that I would make a fool of myself in any country where English is not the main …

Reflecting

Looking back on my time abroad, it almost doesn’t even feel real. Did that really happen? Did I actually live in Scotland for four months? A brand new country where I didn’t know a soul? Where I wasn’t able to see my family and friends for a whole season? Yeah, I actually did that. I’m …

Trying to “Hope” Again

So… Hope’s 2nd semester classes are about to start up, and it’s becoming more and more apparent to me that I don’t remember how to be a Hope student. Someone the other day asked me if I have experienced culture shock since arriving home, and I confidently answered, “No!” I mean, jet lag definitely affected …

Flying Home

I haven’t written in a while, and that’s because I’m finally home! Home for me is Southeastern Ohio, so a traded granite Scottish buildings for cornfields and green pastures. It’s exciting to be in America again, weird but exciting, and my adrenaline was high the whole day that I was flying home. My day started …

Scottish Exam Week(s)

The semester is finally drawing to a close, and I don’t know what’s worse: having to leave Scotland or having to take exams. The truth is, my exam week isn’t necessarily harder than my finals week at Hope. It’s just different. First off, Aberdeen’s exam schedule starts with a review week. During this week, students …

Aberdeen’s Holiday Parade

Chestnuts roastin’ on an open fire… reindeer riding on Segways? Yeah, that’s what I saw at Aberdeen’s Christmas Parade. Don’t believe me? Well, just take a look at the video below. I captured the whole thing on my phone and wanted to upload it so that I could spread some holiday cheer, but first, here’s …