Winter in Scotland

Is a) dark, b) cold, and c) surprisingly not as devastatingly depressive as I had imagined - hooray for that!! It has been a mix of action-packed and quiet - some ying and yang never hurt.

December was jammed-packed with finishing my first semester of my Masters program (successful, btw!), enjoying Christmas markets both in Edinburgh and Germany, and celebrating the holiday's with the Lad's family in Cupar (yes, that is 'Cooper', a town spelled the wrong way, though I don't think anyone in the Kingdom of Fife would agree with me...).

For my birthday, the Lad took me to Munich to enjoy the Christkindle Markets (or translated nativity markets). It was the most amazing display of Christmas cheer you can imagine! There are massive outdoor markets with stands selling Christmas decor, fondue, pork sandwiches, bratwurst, mulled wine, cider... I mean, the list of wonderful things could go on forever! To make the trip even better, we met our friends Andrew and Molly there, and even made a Furman night of it when another Paladin showed us around the local beer houses.

Gluwein = Delicious mulled wine, morning, noon or night

Paladin nation reunion

Hoffbraus House!

Classic...

 We also had a wonderful Christmas in Cupar. The Sharps were wonderful hosts. Unfortunately, the Lad came down with food poisoning over Christmas eve... The rest of us tortured him on Christmas day by enjoying our Christmas lunch. Our first Boxing Day (26th) was spent with a walk on St. Andrews beach and more family coming around for lunch and more British holiday "tely" specials! It was a really good time - although, I'm still no Christmas pudding convert...

Anni decorating ornaments at their "Christmas party"!

My friend, Cathy, and me at the Christmas Market in Edinburgh.

Merry Christmas from Cupar!

Traditional British Christmas lunch - notice "crackers" yes, that will be gun powder, folks!

"PAWS" for Reflection: III

Greetings to my fans! I'm taking a moment in between my snoozes (which are mostly all taking place on my warm, highlands wool blanket these days - brrrrrrrrrr!) to update you on my activities in Scotland!

I have had some visitors, and they seemed to enjoy seeing my mom as well! My grandma has been, followed by my Aunt, and then a whole bunch came for my Thanksgiving celebration. 13 people gathered in the rented apartment, to look onto gorgeous St. Giles and partake in even more gorgeous food and drinks.

Here are some more pics from my Scottish adventures...

One of my many train rides - I'm a pro!

Having a blast on the beach with my Tia (Aunt)!

Playing with mom in my park, the Meadows. I've had many compliments on my pink coat!

Here I am giving some pumpkin carving lessons - these Brits have a thing to learn about Halloween! They have never even had toasted pumpkin seeds - Tragic!!

Asking Jack why I have the devil costume, think my angel must have been lost in the mail. Darn ebay!

Something wrong with this picture?! Musical beds with the cutest puppies!

I did a lot of snuggling with my Godmother Linda, while she enjoyed the bubbly - I'm so glad she could visit!!

I made myself useful on Thanksgiving by helping with the turkey. Naturally, I was compensated with many mouthfuls from different guests throughout the evening...

Soon, I will be heading back to the country for our Christmas celebration! I'm excited to see what this "hogmanay" Scottish New Year business is all about - needless to say, I'm hoping it involves some hogs, as I've been filled-up on fowl just recently!

Happy tails...
xxx Hunley

Wherrrrrrrrre has the time gone - Part IV: Our first holiday!

What do you do when you live in Europe, have a half-term break, and there is a Lad's birthday to celebrate??! Why, you head on holiday of course!!

In October, the Lad and I took our first vacay together. We flew to Bratislava, Slovakia, boated up the beautiful Danube to Vienna, and spent the Lad's birthday and the end of our adventure in Prague. What a wonderful time we had!

Vienna highlights included: The Lippizaner horses and practice session at the Spanish Riding School, a small wine bar that was popular with the locals, the Clock Museum (I love the designs and periods, he's a sucker for the engineering - perfect match of dork, eh?!), a truly unique, traditional Austrian dining experience of boiled meats and sides, and fabulous macaroons for the train ride.

Prague highlights: The lights on the bridges and buildings at night, a hunting lodge dinner to celebrate the Lad's special day, the amazing panoramic views from Petrin Hill, Prague Castle, wandering through the open air markets.

Please enjoy some photos from our trip to remember!!!

One of the Lad's favorite parts - our 50mph power boat ride up the Danube!

The historical Prater amusement park made for a great start to our getaway!

Vienna Opera house at night is breathtaking!

A very happy (and, since he finished his and mine, soon to be full!) Lad

MACAROONS, tre fantastic!

A special birthday dinner :)

Don't believe I've ever seen such beautiful fog!

Best view of the trip, from Petrin Hill

Found a Clemson cheerleader Barbie in the Toy Museum and couldn't help myself...

Prague's Old Town Square

One of my favorite parts - walking the town and bridges at night!

Wherrrrrrrrre has the time gone - Part III: Workin and Schoolin

Oh, right, I did come here for a Masters Degree program - almost forgot!! Just joking, but it did feel strange to leave my footloose summer behind me and begin my grownup life in Edinburgh!

I am studying Children and Young People's Mental Health and Psychological Practice... To put it more concisely, that is a mammoth name for Child Psychology. I will have two semesters of study, and then I will write my dissertation, finishing in October 2012. I'm reading A LOT, doing a lot of group work, presentations, even blogging for one of my courses - yes, it is assessed, and yes, I'm trying to be more consistent than with TB. haha. There is much to learn about child development, psychological interventions, and how it all relates to practitioners and the child mental health field. I could go on about things such as heightened cortisol levels in foster care infants who have faced adverse parenting situations, but I will spare you...

In the same week I began the course, I also started a job! I'm a nanny for two sweet girls (5 and 6), three days a week. I pick them up from their "primary" school and basically keep them from burning the house down. I'm just kidding, the worst they have tried is "flying" off the clothes dryer or locking themselves in the bathroom to form a "secret club" - !! We have fun at snack, with homework, and playing Polly Pockets. We finish with "tea," and that would be supper, not the caffeinated beverage, for young children, at 5 pm as I originally suspected (thankfully!). The things you learn when caring for wee ones!

Wish me luck as I move into the end of this first semester - many projects and papers to finish. Let's hope I make it past my first hurdles of this Masters Degree!

My FAVORITE photos = My FAVORITE photographer

My sweet, little sis has become quite a fine photographer!! She is very talented. Let me tell you, as much as she enjoys taking photos, I enjoy taking pictures of her taking photos just as much! The best is when I jusssssst catch it, and she turns around, grins and says, "I knew you were doing that!" Such a creeper :-)

My obsession began last summer, in the Scottish highlands, when I captured this jewel (think it is still my favorite!!)

Here are some new additions from our trip to Portugal. Enjoy!!!

By the way, this is her photo from the highlands - beauty!!

Wherrrrrrrrre has the time gone - Part II: Cooper girls do Edinburgh, again!

After our fabulous holiday in Portugal, Heather came to stay with me for a week, in Edinburgh. We also had our DC friend, Olivia, visiting. She is so fun and fit right into the "ginger club" here in Scotland - the Lad being the on the welcome-wagon team, of course! ;-)

We had a grand time bumming around my new city, visiting the ever popular St. Andrews, and completing a 7 mile coastal walk, from Gullane to North Berwick (2 of my favorites). You wouldn't believe how many seasons you can see in a 2 hour walk in Scotland... After we forged the weather, we luckily had a cozy pub and yummy fish and chips waiting. Hunley was very happy to join us for the walk - she was sniffing, hopping to and rolling in EVERYTHING. By the end, she was almost unrecognizable, and we were embarrassed to bring her on the trip back - yikes.

The girls were able to meet many friends and be introduced to some quintessential Great Britain, including: double-decked bus transport, curry takeaway, and 'Pimms and lemonade' (seeing a cocktail theme?!) - all with some shopping, dancing, and even karaoke thrown in!!!

No question who her father is...

Starting off on the walk!

Ohhhhhhhhh dear. This look is complete with fox poo in the collar - sick!

Hunley and I were sad to see them go. Hoping for more visitors soon... :)

Wherrrrrrrrre has the time gone - Part I: Ao Sol!!!

"In the sun!"

First, I want to make it clear that I never predicted that I would be good at this blogging business, and now we have a case of self-fulfilling prophecy on our hands! While I do enjoy sharing my experiences and Scottish life with y'all, I'm not the best at carving out my time and motivating myself to post. I am going to attempt to recap the past 2 months (yikes!) in a few posts, and then I will try to not get so behind again - early New Year's resolution?!

When I left you last, I was preparing for the first visit with my SISTER!!! There were some Visa renewal scares that attempted to postpone our reunion, but we ended up being able to meet as planned, for an end of summer vacay to Portugal! We spent 3 nights in a quaint, fishing village called Sesimbra. It is just south of Lisbon, and it has a gorgeous beach, fabulous seafood, and not much English (but we made it work!). We had a perfect, studio apartment and really loved living the good life for a bit!

We moved from our seaside oasis to the 'big city' of Lisbon. It is not really, that big, but very unique. There were some ominous undertones and visible signs of the time, but we enjoyed exploring more of Portugal. We experienced some great Caipirinhas (Brazilian cocktail that has luckily made it to the sister country!), tapas, pastries, music, etc. The two highlights for me were: 1) the complimentary wine tasting at Vin Portugal in the Praco do Comercio - very informative and great way to enjoy Portuguese wine and culture; and 2) the area of Belem - bit outside the busy, main city, on the water, great atmosphere!

Alas, our sunny getaway had to come to an end. However, from the Iberian peninsula, we traveled back to bonnie Scotland - stay tuned...