St. Andrews

This week we've been blessed to have Stacie's family visit us for Christmas here in Scotland. We've been showing them around the city and even took them to a soccer match.  Today we all jumped on the train and headed to historic St. Andrews.  I was aware of the history associated with golf but we were all pleasantly surprised with the rest of the city.  Here's a few pictures:

Rugged natural features of hole #4

Group shot at hole #6

Old Course Hotel in background

St. Andrews coast on the North Sea

Castle ruins, (for McClure: history)

Cathedral remnants and graveyard

We all had a great day exploring St. Andrews and found it to be a charming Scottish village with amazing views and impressive history.  Stay tuned-in as we'll be uploading pics over the next few days as we play tour guide.

-Kyle

Getting in the Festive Spirit...

Kyle and I have been busy over the last week getting in the Christmas spirit by moving to a new flat and dressing up as Santa...not sure how the two go together? They don't really, but that was our weekend. We have been having issues with our flat in the past month (aside from the obvious issue of space) Mildew...a little while ago I noticed a lovely black and white substance growing on our bedroom wall- nasty! Long story short, we were able to get our landlord to agree to let us out of our lease for health reasons and the Lord has provided (Jehovah Jirah!). We moved in on Saturday to our much nicer and more spacious flat in the Bruntsfield area of Edinburgh. Here are some pictures of our new pad:

Entry Way

Living Room

Master Bedroom

Kitchen

Hallway

Possibly the greatest feature of our new flat is the laundry drying rack. To save space and utilize the high ceilings they have installed a pulley system to hang wet clothes. Check it out!


To celebrate our move, we went out on Saturday night to the Christmas Market. The market has a ferris wheel, swings, slides, ice skating, bumper cars on ice and tons of booths with traditional Scottish and German fare.

Now for the dressing up as Santa part. Every year Edinburgh has a charity walk called the Santa Stroll where you get a Santa costume as part of your entry fee. We went with a group of people from my work. After we all got our Santa gear on, we went for a leisurely stroll around Princes Street Gardens serenaded by bag piping Santas. Even Deacon got to wear a Santa costume and got 'oohed and ahhed' at as we walked around. He was quite the hit in his red cape!





This week is Kyle's last week of final's and then my parents and younger brother arrive on Friday to spend the week with us! We'll post some updates while they're in town.

-Stacie

Who turned the lights out?

"Save Me

Call my name and save me from the dark"

-Evanescence: Wake Me Up

With Scotland being a similar latitude to Alaska, things are starting to get pretty dark over here...I thought I was doing good not having to start work until 9 a.m, but when the sun doesn't rise until 8:30 a.m. it doesn't feel as good as it used to.  With the shortest day of the year being about 2 weeks away, we still have a few weeks left of diminishing sunlight.  The sun has been setting around 3:30 in the afternoon it's only going to bet worse.  On the flip side though, we will be living it up this summer when the sun rises at 4 a.m and sets at 11 p.m! 

-Stacie

Thankful

Yesterday Stacie and I shared food, wine and laughter with friends in Edinburgh as we celebrated Thanksgiving . The theme of the night was pinched from the poet-philosophers Crosby, Stills and Nash, "If you can't be with the ones you love, love the ones you're with".

Several Americans are in the b-school and we combined forces with the Canadians to celebrate Turkey Day. It was fun to introduce Thanksgiving to our friends from the UK, as well a Swede and Ecuadorian. The night was a great success and I'm always blown away when I reflect on all the blessings in my life.

Sticking with the thankfulness theme, yet sidetracking slightly, Stacie and I are thankful that our little Mercedes is on the mend. This summer she appears to have eaten something previously thought inedible and the mystery meal lodged into her intestine. In the past few weeks she lost a third of her body weight and had to have emergency surgery.

Welcome home from the Vet

Below is a picture that highlights her malnourishment plight. She looks like a sweet little skeleton with fur.


We are thankful that she pulled through (the veterinarian said she's a fighter!). Most of all we are thankful to my mom for shuttling her between home and vet, nursing her back to health and generously spoiling her in our absence. Mercedes buddy Max was a nervous wreck when she was in the animal hospital...it seems he'll protect her while she's on the mend.

Max the protector

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, we hope you had a great day and enjoy the long weekend with friends and family.

Love,

-Kyle & Stacie

Sorta like football (but I'm ignorant)

Last weekend I had the opportunity to take some time away from the books and witness a true spectacle. Rugby is a big deal in Scotland and S. Africa was in town for a match. This is significant because S. Africa is the reigning world champion. Here is a taste of my first National Rugby afternoon:

• Met 20 or so fellow MBA'ers for a pint in a local pub
• Sang 'Flower of Scotland' with tipsy crowd in jam packed pub
• Walked to new pub and bantered with visiting S. African expats up from London
• Enjoyed another pint in a very crowed pub
• Sang 'Flower of Scotland' with another crowd, this one a wee bit more tipsy
• Headed off to Murray Field for the match, popped into another crowded pub for one last pint
• Sang 'Flower of Scotland' with extra tipsy crowd (sociology note: increasing alcohol consumption = thicker Scottish accent)
• Bantered with more S.African fans on the way to Murray Field
• Harassed some Scotland fans for wearing wrong pattern of tartan kilt (only Scottish Rugby tartan allowed on National Rugby day...everyone knows that!)

• Arrived at Murray Field just in time to hear bag pipers and drummers finish 'Flower of Scotland'
• Asked British friends roughly 300 questions about rugby during match
• Was forced to drink several more pints during match
• Enjoyed Scotland's finest export (whisky) after each point scored (when in Scotland...do as the Scot's)

Overall my first rugby match was a smashing success. Scotland lost but put up a very respectable effort against the world champs. I enjoyed being part of the crowd and feeling the excitement rise in the stadium as Scotland marched down the field. I even figured out when to yell 'heave!!!!' at the appropriate time (trust me, if you mess this up you look like an idiot). By the end of the match I was critiquing the refs by yelling 'that call was rubish' and supporting the players with phrases such as 'that chaps a right good fellar'.

I'll certainly be attending another match.

-Kyle

A wee bit of free time...

A few weeks ago, Kyle was given a "break" from class with a study week.  Really, he was just as busy as usual. However, we finally had some free time on the weekend to go out and explore more of Edinburgh. We took a bus out to Cramond and Lauriston Castle.  Lauriston Castle was originally a 1590's tower house, but was left in trust to Scotland in 1926. 

Lauriston Castle

During our short journey to the castle, it's only about 15 minutes away, we ran into Kyle's two dream cars.  The stark contrast in these cars just demonstrate how Kyle has a streak of Idaho running through his Seattle veins. 

Orange Dream #1 (attainable)

Orange Dream #2 (slightly less attainable)

After we walked around the Castle grounds, we visited the village of Cramond, which is about 2 miles outside of Edinburgh city centre. Neither Kyle or I realized that we were so close to a beach! Needless to say, we were both very excited with our discovery of Cramond. 

Kyle on the Firth of Forth beach

Firth of Forth from a distance

It's been back to the books for Kyle since our excursion a few weekends ago, but thankfully this semester is almost over.  Kyle will be taking his last final as my parents get their first good look at Edinburgh on December 19th, a mere 5 weeks away! 

-Stacie 

It's good to be cool!

When we first came to the UK Stacie and I didn't know how we'd be received as Americans.  The predominant stereotype was that Europeans were anti-American and it would be best for us to downplay our national affiliation.  From the first week we got here that perception has been challenged.  In my MBA cohort I have classmates from all over Europe, Africa, Asia, North & South America and it's been interesting to see how positive a view they have of the States. 

This sentiment was on full display this week as Europe has been abuzz with the U.S. elections.  When I walked into class on Wednesday morning I was greeted by a Nigerian singing 'God Bless America'!  Stacie was greeted by a coworker sporting a US flag tie.  It's been both fun and eye opening to see your own country via a different reference point.  I've always been proud to be an American but it's been fun the past week to be a part of a global American hug.

-Kyle