This is DreamMakers, the final version.  We were given Audience award and Best Acting!

Enjoy!

Too sick to post.  Will discuss my adventures in Manchester when I am not sneezing into my computer anymore.  

I like coffee!

So the first day that I was here I had a cappuccino at a sandwich place.  The coffee was horrible! They pre-made both the steamed milk and the espresso, and then roughly fused them together. It was not pretty :(.  But, this week I bit the bullet and decided to try a cappuccino again at a different place, a place where they were trained to make a good cup of joe.  

I like coffee again!  

Inverness, Loch Ness, and the Castle

Dunatar Castle and inverness

Dunatar Castle and inverness

Gosh guys,

  I am updating finally, it has only been a week... 

This week I went to Inverness. But before I get into my adventures there, I will tell you about Castle Fridays.  Every Friday, Karen, Domestic and myself are planning on going to castles around Aberdeen.  This Friday we went to the castle that is about 14 miles outside near a town called Stone Haven.  The castle, Donatar, is in the most beautiful place imaginable.  It's on a cliff overlooking the North Sea.  Unfortunately, because of the ice, we were not allowed inside the ruins.  We were able to get amazing photos from every angle though, because the cliffs lead down to a beautiful pebble beach, and there are pathways to land that towers over the ruins.  I could spend hours at this site, and I probably will in the future.  

We took a train to Inverness at 5:18, me, Sarah, Hege, Callie, and Karen.  We arrived around 8:30, checked into the hostel, and looked around for some food.  Inverness is moderately dead at night.  While there are people in the bars and clubs, there are hardly no people in the streets, except for a few sketchy guys.  Also, most food places in Scotland close at 8, so we ate take out Indian food at this little place.  Very good, and cheap!  We went to a few bars, before going to sleep at around 1:30.  The night was awful!  People were in the streets until around 4:00 in the morning, and the beds were made of springs and sheets.  None of us got a good night's sleep.  

The next morning we hopped a taxi to go to our pick up point for our Loch Ness Tour.  The tour was great, and guess what!  We saw the monster! Nessie!  No, I'm joking.  But the lake was stunning, especially with the mountains coated in Snow. It was valentines day, so there were a lot of really cute couples on the tour with us.  The castle was brilliant.  It looks over the lake, and there are a lot of different parts of the castle to explore.  There is one tower that is three stories high, so you get to climb down and up some pretty creepy steps, very narrow, but fun to climb.  I saw a cool video on the history of the castle as well, with reenactments and beautiful photography.  

The posts coming contain photographs of Loch Ness/Inverness, and Dunatar Castle.  Enjoy!  

Aberdeen shutdown

Yesterday there came a snow that filled the streets.  We had about 1.5 inches of snow earlier in the week without the road system having a problem. At about 1:00 yesterday the snow started to come down in massive flakes.  I would say there was a total of 4 inches that fell from the sky, and then it turned into an icy slush shortly after.  Aberdeen could not deal.  Buses that usually take 15 minutes to arrive would be stuck in traffic and not get to Hillhead for about an hour.  The traffic was crazy, and people panicked.  Undergrads who like to party most nights of the week were considering staying in because the roads were so bad.  My frisbee practice was cancelled because of lack of transportation!  

   However, Hillheadians had fun.  I have seen about 5 snowmen hanging around the flats.  They are huge men and women made of snow, much bigger than any the Minnesotans dare to build. Snow falls like this are such an event usually, except when there was a snow just a few days before.  Aberdonians are now sick of snow, after just a week.  I kept telling them to go to Minnesota and spend 3 weeks in the same snow.  

     Yesterday morning I woke up at the god-awful hour of 6:50 to walk downtown with my friend Karen.  I don't have class on fridays so I am planning on doing something cool around Aberdeen every week.  Next week we may bike to a castle about 14 miles away, depending on the terrain of Scotland. These pictures are from that walk, taken at Uni.  The ornate building is Kings College, the oldest building on campus. It's beautiful.  And the street is High Street, all of cobble stone.  It's a very long road that runs through campus and nick-named the spital.  

     I have realized that I must be a tourist and take more pictures so that I can remember this wonderful experience through images!  I hope to have more to say today or tomorrow.  

Frisbee in the snow

Hello everyone! 

  Today I played frisbee with the ultimate team here, Positive Mojo, or as they called themselves today, Positive Snow-jo.  It was a blast.  I started out in my tennis shoes, which turned out to be a dreadful mistake. I couldn't stay on my feet!  Whenever I tried to cut, I would slip and fall on my arse.  About 45 minutes in, I decided I had had enough and ran up to my flat to get my cleats.  

The team is like an intramural team at Olaf.  It is not super serious, and it is just a lot of fun.  You screw up and they tell you it's fine, or they apologize when they mess up.  About every 5 discs are dropped, it's a different game.  It's a co-ed team for most of the year, although sometimes the women will play in their own tournaments.  I love the people already and I've only met about 10 of them.  

  So there you have it, my first experience playing frisbee in the snow.  And what a lot of fun it was! 

The Address of Stephanie Tanner

Hey everyone,

  Here is my address for the semester:  

Stephanie Tanner

282D Hector Boece Court

Hillhead Halls of Residence

Don Street

Old Aberdeen

AB24 1WU

Scotland

(This post is as much for my benefit as for yours, since I do not know my address yet)  

Cheers! 

First day of classes

Hello all!

 Welcome to my blog.  This will be used to communicate my note-worthy experiences to all my friends and family.  Enjoy.  

   Today was my first day of class.  I attended two classes, Film Studies and Human-Computer interaction.  This was my very last day of film studies, however, because I decided to learn a little bit about Scotland and take a Scottish history course instead.  The Computer Science course was really interesting because not only are there level 2 undergrads there, but the class is also home to many students getting their masters in IT and other types of computer degrees. We had a lecture today on Usability which is one of the things I think that I want to go into after college.  If you want to know anymore about the classes you can email me or talk to me online.  

    As part of my blog I will do a play on the hilarious 'Overheard at Olaf' and have my own version, 'Overheard in Aberdeen'.  Today's victim is a scottish girl I heard on my way back to Hillhead. 

Overheard in Aberdeen

" 'e was a li'l pig' " 

You will see this feature on the right hand of the window.  I hope you enjoy!