Spring!

You know how moms are really good at encouraging you to do something without telling you "you better do this or else you're in big, big trouble?"

Peny Turner told me it was time for a blog post.

It's been nearly three months since I've updated everyone on my life. It's been busy but not much has really happened.

January was dark and quiet in St. Andrews. Students were at home for winter holiday and the sun was coming up at 8:40 and going down at 3:55. This has taken some getting used to. Many people here told me to prepare myself for the depression that would come with all the dark after Christmas. Honestly, I think it's because they never left the house. Luckily for me, I had a job that actually got me out and doing stuff instead of sitting at home in the dark. Don't get me wrong, the fact that the sun came up TWO AND A HALF HOURS after I woke up and was down two hours BEFORE I went home was pretty sad, and what little sunlight you DID have was covered by cloud or rain or rainy cloud, but it didn't last long.

January was also a slower month at Mitchell's, which meant there were many nights where it was just me on the front of the house. For those of you who have worked in a restaurant, you understand the stress of not knowing if you're going to be busy and trying to handle everything from the bar to the deli to table service on your own. It was doable, just character-building, I guess.

The week before my birthday, Clayton and I took some holiday time and went to Glasgow to explore. We went to the University, the Kelvingrove Art Gallery, the Necropolis, and some old cathedrals that made me feel like I was living out the real-life version of the Sword in the Stone or Harry Potter. It was fun to get out of St. Andrews and go somewhere we've never been.

About to walk around on the Necropolis

inside the cathedral

this is Dumbledore's office, just to give you some perspective.

inside the main room of the Kevingrove - these faces!

February was busier, at work and in life in general. On my days off, Clayton and I started exploring around
the city of St. Andrews and making a point to walk somewhere we'd never been. We walked the entirety of the Lade Braes (until it had us traipsing through the woods and eventually into someone's field on the outskirts of town). We walked down the entire 2 miles of West Sands beach, crunching on seashells and watching people wind surf with skateboards? We walked outside of town until we saw Highland Cows and down part the Fife Coastal Path .

Trying to touch a critter. These sheep were not having it.

Did anyone else know how GINORMOUS Highland Cows were?!

Now it's March. The days are longer (sun up at 6:20 and down at 6:20!) and the sun has been out sooooooo much more. You don't realize how much the sun makes a difference in the weather until you've experienced windy Scotland at 50 degrees in the rain, the cloud, and the sun. Seriously, 50 degrees in the sun is like flip-flops and shorts weather here. I never thought I would say that, especially thinking about how cold I was the morning of Mardi Gras last year and it was 58 degrees.

But our trip down the Fife Coastal Path was nice. We went Sunday after church, and lucky for us, it wasn't too windy and was sunny and warm(er than usual). We walked/hiked for about 5 hours, past the Fairmont and St. Andrews Bay Golf Course, and got to see some crazy things. Giant pieces of the rocky coast out in the water, random black cows on the path (who would NOT let me touch them!), and a very old WW2-looking bunker that we were brave enough to crawl into and walk around in it! We made some plans for eventual camping when it gets a little warmer. Should be fun!

climbing around with his walking stick

this was right about the time my foot sank down into the mud

inside the WW2 bunker!

this is where we turned around and started back!

cow selfie. I had to moo at her to get her looking at the camera. Also note how high up we were. The cows climbed up there!

and then this happened. Do you see it?

he climbed up on the rock! WITH HIS WALKING STICK?!

We're also waiting for news on PhD. For those of you who don't already know, Clayton and I came here with the understanding that the 1-year degree he is getting now (MLitt) would help him prepare for eventual PhD work. However, he still has yet to be accepted into the program. His would-have-been supervisor is on research leave and can't take on any more PhD students at the time. This is all unofficial information heard through the grapevine, and nothing is definite. We haven't heard a no, but we haven't heard a yes. It's a scary place to be, especially considering the whole reason we came here is for PhD and we dropped everything and spent everything to get here. I am praying for a quick decision, and then some amazing scholarship to fund us while we're here (yes, I believe we're staying).

All that being said, I am continuing to look forward to our time here, especially when the sun comes up at 4:30am in May and all of the cheap traveling we have yet to do. Did you know we can fly to Dublin for £9.99? That's cheaper than a train ticket to anywhere. Should have some more adventures to blog about soon.

the lovely sunny view from the window right now!

I'll leave you with a funny story. I don't know about you, but I'm incredibly cheap and I hate change. When we first moved from Crutcher #2 (AKA Burnt Bathroom Apartment) into Crutcher #4 (AKA Exactly Crutcher #2 But With Minor Annoying Differences), our toilet paper holder almost immediately came out of the drywall in the bathroom. Like, literally, ripped a hole in the wall and we had nowhere to put toilet paper. We decided to try to glue it all back together one night, and the only adhesive we had in the house was Gorilla Glue for some reason. Long story short, the Gorilla Glue only held in half of the toilet roll holder and the other half continued to rip out more drywall, making it completely pointless. So, the Gorilla Glue stayed in the bathroom for the next 2 years. One day, I was brushing my hair with my probably 10 year old hairbrush (remember how I said I was cheap and hated change?) when it completely ripped in the middle. The actual brush popped out of the stem. Time for a new hairbrush, right? WRONG. I conveniently had an effective adhesive within 12 inches of my broken brush! So I Gorilla Glued it. Now, for those of you who don't know, Gorilla Glue is the color of honey and expands a ton when it dries. So, the next morning, I woke up to find honey-colored glue puffs all around my hairbrush. So, I peeled off those puffs, and ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to say that I still use that brush. Why buy a new one when you can Gorilla Glue the one you love?

we've been through so much, little brush.

Carm