Wow, March 1st Already

It is week four of the spring term. The students are busy writing their reflection statements and I am even busier trying to read them all. All 83 student has to write 24 pages.... hmmm, what was I thinking!!! That is at least 1,992 pages, and that doesn't include their 5-6 page research papers--that is an extra 450 pages or so. Oye. I'll learn.


It is a pleasure to report that our team won the Sam's Quiz last Wednesday. 9-10-7-4-10 for a total of 40/50. Even during the round of "4" we had the high score. It was fun to win, but it will be hard to defend because these questions and categories come from out of nowhere sometimes. "Carl Perkins" was a major coup for our team this week! Anyone know who he is???


Friday brought most of the house, via 2 buses to the Wallace Monument and Sterling Castle. The Wallace Monument, which was built for Braveheart's inspiration, William Wallace, Scottish hero during the late 1200's. It was completed in 1869 after eight years' construction--some of the time was due to money issues, troubles with the design and the controversies about who was managing the project. It statnds 220 feet high and is placed prominently on the Abbey Craig two miles north of the city of the city of Stirling (the city where Wallace scored a huge victory over the English in 1297. It was an impressive 246 steps up and down with 4 levels--level one memorializing Wallace, level 2 shedding light on key figures in the Scottish Enlightenment, level 3 was a tribute the construction (and significant bail out by the locals donations) and the top level (extremely windy that day--you know, the kind that makes you cry its so windy). The pictures will be on mywebsite soon.

We boarded the bus and headed to Stirling Castle. It is an impressive place and looks like the Edinburgh Castle a great deal (it even sits atop a large hill similar to the castle of the capital). The Castle has a significant amount of history and is credited with being the site of a great deal of influential events for the royalty, including baptism, crowning or their deaths--James the IV, James the V, Mary Queen of Scots, James the VI (and his Queen, Mary of Guise) and others to name a few. During a long and bloody history Stirling Castle has been attacked or besieged at least 16 times. It is impressive, if you could see and actually on the castle walls, to wonder how a castle as grand as this one fell. The impressive buildings that were commissioned by the Kings for royal ceremonies made it the most impressive castle and royal meeting place in the UK for its time. The combination of Christian and pagan symbols embedded into the walls via gargoyles and tapestries demonstrates the role of religion and the evolution of it in Scotland.

The castle is an architectural, historical and religious relic of Scotland's past.

This week I am writing my second Leave of Absence letter. I had a little pang of home sickness as I was writing it. It made me think, even though I am obviously having a stellar time here, than I will be here for a while yet and that I am missing my friends and family and home!! It is good to have something to long for.

On a brighter and similar note, I was able to meet (sort of by coincidence, but I think it might be something more than that) the director of International and European Politics program that I was accepted too. He was a very nice guy and is giving me a lot of information about what to expect, reading lists and some of the course syllabi from the previous terms. I am very happy that I made this connection and we have since been emailing a few times. I am feeling really confident about the situation and, as I've said too many times, I cannot wait to start!