As March Begins

Greetings!

It's been awhile. A long while. Much has occurred and life has grown busy.

My days have been filled with essays (one done, one about 90 percent done with footnotes occuring tomorrow...), plenty of sleep, a birthday party, an Indian dance party, a costume party at Miriam's, a traditional Asian dinner, another internship skype interview, the beginning of a poetry festival, and plenty of writing, thinking and reading.

I took these the other night on a walk and really liked how they came out. :)

Katie left last Wednesday and it was really wonderful having her here. She left for Ireland for a few days and is now back in France. A few more photos from her visit are below:

We had such beautiful weather the days she was here.

 

 

As for the Indian dance party, my friend Sheen (who is Scottish but originally from Bangladesh) was invited to the South Asian Society's Bindi dance party. She brought along Miriam and I and brought along a salwar kameez for us each to wear.

Sheen, myself and Miriam.

 

Yesterday began STANZA, a poetry festival here in St Andrews lasting until Sunday. I wish I could provide what the acronymn stands for...I belived the first three letters are for St. Andrews, but I'm stumped on the 'NZA'. It's Scotland's sole international poetry festival and pretty exciting. Yesterday I attended a reading in the school of English and drank wine handed to me in a white plastic cup that reminded me of a dentist's office. :)

 

I've continued to stay up until crazy hours allowing writing and thinking to take over, telling myself night after night thoughts and words that keep me awake in the middle of the night are far more important than sleep. The sun here was out in full force here last week and while it's only warmed up to somewhere in the 50s, the sun is stronger than any sunshine I've ever felt. My lack of scientific skills lead me to believe it's the high latitiude and earth's tilt towards the sun. I'm not really sure though. Additionally, each day feels minutes longer than the last.

 

I celebrated the end of medical exams with my kitchenmates (who are mainly medical students) on Monday evening by attending a traditional hot pot dinner with them. The dinners and the food served are always a bit different, and much of the time I struggle with the spices and drink far too many glasses of water, but they're exciting events. :)

 

This weekend I'll be headed to Argyll, a forest in western Scotland with my study abroad program for some outdoor adventure. :)