I was not excited to go out in it (and later it turned into freezing rain which was worse), but I had more Stuff To Do, so I put on my boots and headed to Tesco to get some groceries. I also wanted Command Strips, which I had not been able to find at the last four or so stores that I tried (note to all people visiting Scotland in the future: bring your own Command Strips). They didn't have them, but when I tried to do the self-checkout with my groceries, it didn't want to take my credit card. I had to get an employee to swipe it for me because credit cards in Scotland use chips instead of the swipe method. So anytime I want to use my credit card, it's kind of a struggle because you have to let them know right away that there's no chip and then the cashier has to do some manual stuff and see your ID and then try swiping it like five different ways before it works. I'm not sure why there isn't just one uniform way to use credit cards, but the younger cashiers get really flustered when you don't have a chip because they are not prepared for that kind of a drastic change today. I had a conversation about it with the lady who works at the student union shop, and she said it's because people are like sheep and they don't think outside of their little world, haha. She was a fun person to complain about stupid little things with.
Anyway, I mailed my postcards and then went to the library to look for some of my weekly readings. Unlike at Denison, the professors want you to find the articles yourself, so instead of posting them in PDF's for you on Blackboard, you have to go looking on an online database or in the library. I wouldn't have had a huge problem with this except for the fact that I didn't really understand how to navigate the library yet, so it took me way too long to find only two books. I was kind of glad that they had the articles in books though because it meant I didn't have to use any of my print money.
After getting the books, I wandered around campus to find all my classrooms, which are unfortunately really far apart. During this expedition, I discovered that my boots are not waterproof, and by the end, my feet were totally wet and freezing cold. So I had to walk through the slush in my already soaked shoes to buy some rain boots at Sainsbury's (and some Command Strips, hooray!). They have ugly pink bows on the side and look kind of like they're made for little girls, but my options were extremely limited. I was just glad to be able to walk back home with dry feet.
I didn't have time to go change before the bus tour though, so I just had to deal with it for the time being. I still had some fun on the tour, especially seeing Dunblane and the Dunblane Cathedral, which is this really beautiful 7th century church that is still in use today. While I was there, I bought a couple funny little books with facts about Scotland and quotes by Scots.
My favorite part of the trip was seeing the mailbox that was painted gold after Andy Murray won in the summer Olympics. I'd heard about the mailbox, but I didn't know it was so close or that we were going to see it. Apparently, because Andy Murray lives in Dunblane, right next to Stirling, he sometimes practices tennis at the university.
Our bus tour guides were two university students. One of them said it was his first time leading a tour, and it definitely seemed like it. He had a script with some interesting facts that would have been better if he hadn't glossed over them, saying they were "really boring." I did learn that there's a castle in the nearby village of Doune where Monty Python and the Holy Grail was filmed. I kind of want to visit that one sometime.
Doune Castle
Also, I learned that the premiere of Braveheart was held at the macrobert arts centre (officially spelled with no caps), which is the theater on the University of Stirling's campus.
There was a funny part of the tour where they mentioned Loch Lomond (which isn't very close at all, so I'm not sure why they brought it up), and then they played a weird, Michael Bolton type version of "The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond" over the bus loudspeaker.
At the end of the tour, we were supposed to go in the Wallace Monument, but it was closed, which was just as well because I'd already seen it, and it was probably terribly cold and nasty up there in the snow. So instead, the bus driver offered to drive us past some Scottish Highland Cows, which people got really excited about. They also got excited every time we drove past some sheep, even though I'm sure lots of them see plenty of sheep at home (I know I see a lot in Ohio). I was excited too though because highland cows are really adorable and very sweet, and I'd never seen one in person before. We couldn't see them up close from the road, since they were hanging out in the back of their pasture, but I'm glad I know where they are now so I can come back in better weather.
After another busy day, I really wanted go to bed early, but I had to go to the fitness centre at 8:30pm for induction, which is basically a short tour where they make you sign a waiver and show you how the equipment works. It was all pretty straightforward, though the guy who showed us around was really nice, and I got to see how great Stirling's fitness centre is. Supposedly, the Scottish national rugby team works out there sometimes, and as I said before, Andy Murray uses the courts, so everything must be top of the line. It actually made me excited to work out, especially after having to use Denison's mostly broken machines for the past three years.
By the way, while I was on campus, I discovered that the little grocery store in the student union sells some American candy for a reasonable price. You can actually buy a king size pack of Reese's for about 65p. I have no idea how I never noticed that before. They sell pretty much every kind of candy there, and it's not outrageously priced.
Anyway, tomorrow is my last day of no classes before the weekend, so I need to start on my reading for next week. Not sure what's going to happen tomorrow, but hopefully I'll have something to write about.
Song of the Day (in the title again):
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