It's only been in the last week or so that thoughts of 'What am I doing? Why did we come here? What's the point?' pop up in my head, most likely the result of some difficult and emotional stimuli encroaching upon my generally happy mindset. Asking around, it seems like I'm the odd one out to have only had these thoughts recently, and with the knowledge that I've successfully passed my first year (the probationary period) and have been accepted as a full-fledged PhD-2, I'm feeling quite encouraged and excited about my forthcoming research and adventures. Derek and I are actually heading out on our first UK roadtrip on Monday and heading north to the highlands, so stay tuned for more on that.
I think to acknowledge the passing of a great, unique and often surprising year here in Edinburgh, and having already relived our first few days in my Six Month Review post in March, I'll try to assess some of the changes that have taken place in our lives over these crazy 12 months. Could be a bit difficult from such an insider position (little chance of me being objective I suppose), but I'll put my historical research training to the test and see what I can come up with.
Food
I remember that in the summer before coming here Derek mentioned once that he was quite excited about the food, what was going to be available, what he'd be able to cook once we're here (for those of you who don't know us that well, Derek's the cook in our house, although I do love to bake goodies). In contrast, I was worried about the food. I'm a bit of a picky eater, and once I've established my favourite things, I'd be happy to only have those things I know I like.
Our meals have definitely changed. Bangers and mash pops up about once a week, and I'm a big fan of the toad in the hole Derek makes. Vegetarian haggis is a favourite of both of ours (we just had it tonight actually, with steamed veg and spicy chips). There's more variety in cheeses, and Derek gets his stewing beef from a local butcher. The bulk of our groceries are delivered to our door every Tuesday between 10 and noon via ASDA's (UK's Walmart) delivery service. For about 30p more than a roundtrip bus ticket to get to a full-sized grocery store they delivery groceries (incl. beer and wine) to your door (and up flights of stairs to your flat). Its an awesome service and I'm a bit surprised a similar system hasn't caught on back home.
My favourite meal for a special occasion is Marks & Spencers' chinese food, particularly their lemon chicken and their ribs. We rarely go out for a meal, as dinner prices are so expensive (£12 for an entree? I don't think so). There's some great lunch deals around, particularly for buffets. Jimmy Chung's is our favourite chinese buffet, and just last week we tried Indian for the first time at the Red Fort, and as it was buffet-style we could sample small amounts of all the dishes to figure out what we liked.
Clothing
When I mentioned to Derek that I was going to include clothing in the blog he just looked at me half-smiling and then looked down at his clothes. He does have a point -- the bulk of his clothing is straight from Waterloo, but he has accumulated a smart interview outfit and a couple nice M&S jumpers (sweaters). But what he forgets is that a year ago he didn't have his M&S days-of-the-week socks which quickly became a staple of his look. When the Thursday socks starting showing their weakness by developing holes much sooner than the others, he couldn't bear to part with them. Luckily for his birthday last week he got a whole new set (although unfortunately the new ones are new colours...). And I can't forget Derek's ultimate Scottish accessory (no, not the kilt, although I think that'll come), his Scottish hat. Which I love, and which I think suits him very nicely.
For me, my clothing style has changed a bit I'd say. First, I've had to adapt to UK sizing: clothing is four sizes larger (its quite depressing), shoes are a size smaller, and bra sizes are a letter larger. I wear skirts more often thanks to the fashion of wearing leggings or opaque tights year round here. My Uggs, a lovely Christmas present from Derek's mum, are the perfect year-round accessory to the short skirt and leggings or patterned tights look around campus, and that's what I was wearing today actually. Yes, I actually own patterned tights, and tights in different colours, and black leggings, and now lilac leggings.
I still shop at some of the same places, like La Senza for pajamas and H&M for cheap but nice clothes (with normal/US sizing), and my latest pair of trainers (sneakers) are my standard Adidas ones, although in gorgeous watermelon colours. I also bought a pair of tight jeans, which are great for wearing with high boots, but I always wear a long top or sweater with them. I've also bought a couple short black and navy dresses from H&M which I wear as tops over jeans. I haven't gotten into the scarf look that's popular here, but I did buy some pink wellies last week to help get me through another rainy winter.
Shelter
Well, to put it bluntly, we're paying more rent for a smaller flat (apartment) than we had back home. The fridge is so small it fits under the counter, and there's a bar-fridge-sized freezer in the closet. The water pressure in the shower is so bad I've permanently switched to baths, and we have to switch the power to our tv off at the mains (the outlet) every night due to the Scotland-wide risk of fire. Our washer dryer is convenient to have in the kitchen (standard here), but it doesn't actually dry. It just spins -- no heat or anything. The windows don't have screens so bugs can fly in, but that actually doesn't happen very often. And the mattress is a UK double -- much smaller than the queen we had back home. But we've adapted.
Being able to turn off the power at the mains is actually really handy to keep from wasting electricity. We have beautiful wooden floors and some decent furniture. Its not the decor we'd choose, but with a few throws it much more like home. Having a dishwasher is awesome. And how can I complain about the constant street noise in the living room when I look up from my computer to see Edinburgh Castle a block away, towering over everything. Yes, there's lots of drunk men and women walking down to Grassmarket's bars and up to Tollcross' strip clubs, but the costumes of the stag dos and hen nights are a great sight, and when the tour buses pause in front of our window we catch bits of information about the neighbourhood (plus we can watch the tourists' heads float by the window sill).
Life
Well, most of my days are spent in the library reading and writing history, looking up historians' points of view, comparing their findings to what I'm reading in the parliamentary papers, and developing the framework for my thesis. But this only comprises part of my day, and in the summer there was a whole lot more daylight to fill (from 4:30am to 10pm some days!). And we can't forget that when we returned to Edinburgh at the beginning of June Derek was no longer a student, so he has been balancing his time and energy between job searching, applications and interviews, and developing flash computer games which altogether have been played over 18500 times so far, and have made him a bit of pocket money.
Drawing on this summer as my sample, we found ourselves with busier social lives than we've ever had. There are probably several reasons for this. One is that back home, with the exception of two or three very close friends of mine who I see individually, Derek and I share a single circle of friends with relationships and connections that go back years (over a decade for some). And so, if the group was doing something that night, we'd have something to do, and if they weren't, or if only some of them were getting together, then we didn't.
Here I find myself with three distinct circles of friends, with a fourth possible circle building as I get to know my Edinburgh best friend's boyfriend and integrating Derek into the relationship as well. One group is made up of girls from my year and program and their friends. Another is made up of friendships which developed during the history trip to The Burn that I blogged about in February, in which I predicted that a few of those friendships would last. Through them I starting meeting other MSc students who met every Thursday for drinks or games or dancing... it was great, and I hope the few of us who are left can continue it this year.
A third circle grew out of our old living quarters with the other two couples in our university-owned townhouse. The first two involve a majority of international students, and I think that as university students we've realised that we have to get out and meet new people because everyone is new to us, and otherwise you won't know anybody. And so this summer we found ourselves attending Thursday night socials, hosting a flat-warming party and Derek's surprise birthday party, attending festival shows with friends, drinking beer in the Meadows at the dissertation celebration, learning the lindy hop with a bunch of historians (with an excess of willing guys!), saying goodbye to friends who were heading home, and going to our first sushi party. We're also managers of a fantasy premier league football club, but all I'll say about that is that we're no longer in last place in our mini-league of historians.
I've had countless cups of hot chocolate and one-on-one conversations in coffee shops and sitting on the grass that lasted for hours. I've learned about different cultures from friends who are based around the world, and now we've got couches to sleep on in a growing number of countries as we travel. I've sung Wannabe with a group of girls in a traditional Scottish pub at their karaoke night. I helped a few friends edit school and award applications, introductions, and in one case, a dissertation, because I enjoy it and its good practice for what I want to do in the future. And I still managed to write my first 11000 words, and put together another 10000 in quotations for my next chapter. Its been a crazy busy summer and an unbelievable year. Here's hoping the next twelve months will be as magical.
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