International Edinburgh

I have 48 days left in Edinburgh before I go home to the USA where I will complete my dissertation. I say, "home to the USA" like "home" is a totally clear-cut concept. Edinburgh has begun to feel like my home just in time for me to move on.

Luckily, I'm not the only person in my course getting ready to travel. Many of us will visit different countries during the dissertation section of the degree. Edinburgh is extremely international and many of my friends here lived in multiple countries and continents before moving here. Most of us plan to continue traveling after completing our degrees. It is lovely to be surrounded by people who grew up as global citizens.We all have specific places that are part of us, but we don't have very simple answers to the question, "Where are you from?"

My response, "England/Wales and all the culturally distinct parts of Virginia, USA" is less interesting than hearing about all of the places that my friends call home. Now, Scotland feels like home even though it is surprisingly different than anywhere I've lived before. 

While I'm thinking about how Edinburgh has come to feel like my home, I'll share a few things that I love about living in this city. 

• There are a lot of rainbows here: 

• It snows just enough for it to be beautiful:
  

• Edinburgh is full of ground-breaking scientific research:

• There are many amazing events involving fire:

• The buildings are beautiful:

There are far too many wonderful things about this city to count. I am very thankful for my time here and for everything that I have learned. I especially appreciate the insight I have gained from discussing global issues with people from all over the world and learning about international animal welfare legislation during lectures.

Living in the Birthplace of the Enlightenment has been quite enlightening. :)

New Year's resolutions during a Master's degree

Today was our first day of lectures after the winter break. It was good to be back in my normal routine.

A few of my plans for a good routine this semester/year:

• Wake up at 6:00 am every day.
• Meditate for 10 minutes in the morning and again right before bed
• Print lecture slides in the veterinary library and study for an hour before lectures start.
• Read/write/work in the veterinary library after lectures every day 
• Take an exercise class at the gym every weekend
• Prepare lunches and snacks the night before lectures
• Work steadily, set small goals and allow plenty of time for work on assignments
• Run errands on Saturdays
• Walk up Arthur's seat regularly
• Care for myself (go to the doctor for a check-up, get my hair cut, and do little things I tend to put off)
• Drink lots of tea
• Shop at Jordan Valley (amazing grocery shop that sells lots of vegan food, herbal teas, dates, and health food) 

This semester looks really good - we are getting into animal welfare applications and applying what we have learned to practical work in the real world. We will be assessing the welfare of livestock at an auction/market and I'll be doing a poster project in which I'll design an ideal enclosure for a manatee. 

If you happen to know what type of housing manatees in zoos or aquaria really want, please let me know. 

Over the sea to Skye

I visited the Isle of Skye during my winter break. It was incredible! I hiked along the beautiful Fairy Pools to the Cuillin mountains. I toured Talisker Distillery and tasted whiskey for the first time since I've lived in Scotland. We drove through the highlands and were really pleasantly surprised that the roads were extremely well maintained and easy to navigate. It was an unbelievably beautiful drive. The sheep in the Isle of Skye have awesome curly horns and we saw wild Red Deer, feral goats, 'hairy coos' aka Highland Cows, and beautiful horses. Here are some pictures of the trip:

A fairy pool

Fairy pools below the mountains

Cuillin Mountains