December!

It is officially December, and I am officially in a new flat! I will post some pictures tomorrow, but I am all moved in! Candice very kindly came and helped me with what was a bit of a process - while I managed to pack everything I had, there was too much for one taxi (and before you make a comment about how much stuff I must have bought while here, remember that I was having to move all of my food as well... Connie). So Candice helped me carry a load onto the street, the taxi came and drove us the couple of blocks to my new flat, where we unloaded, then carried all of it up four freaking flights of stairs. Which was exhausting. And I had no idea where I'd shoved my inhaler while packing, so I was wheezing like crazy. It was all very glamorous. Then we walked back to the old flat, and did it again. Though I very wisely moved all the heaviest bags first, so the second load was lighter and smaller, nicely balancing out how exhausted we were at that point. Then we went for late lunch at the pub just up the street, which was good (they had a deal - two meals for £10 - that included pretty much all of their vegetarian dishes, which was a pretty sweet deal) even if the service was really slow (and it was a sports bar so there were a bunch of dudebros yelling at the football match (soccer)).

I only have one roommate at the moment. My second roommate is moving in in a couple days.

My legs are killing me.

Anyways.

Last Sunday Alix and I boarded a bus to head up to what looked like an awesome vintage clothing sale. Much to our disappointment, it turned out to be mostly 70s and 80s fashion, which were basically two of the worst decades for fashion, and even some stuff from the 90s, which just makes me feel both old and indignant. After making fun of the clothes for a bit, we bussed back into the city and headed into Armstrong's, a vintage clothing store chain in the UK which was absolutely magical. I tried on so many dresses from the 50s, but alas, women then (and... actually... now) aren't really built like I am (as in, the national average height for a woman in the UK is 5ft3. I am 5ft10. Wow, that is actually a huge difference). BUT Alix and I did have a blast trying on all of the vintage fur coats (as I told Connie, while I am anti-fur, I don't mind vintage fur, because one the animal has been dead for ages, and two, buying fur from a vintage store isn't supporting an industry that continues to murder animals solely for their pelts, which is stupid and wasteful).

I ended up buying the coat I'm wearing in the picture, which is suede with wool trim, and the fabulous hat as well (much to my regret, I could not justify the muff, no matter how cozy and awesome it was). Alix also left with the coat she is wearing.

After that we met up with Melissa for dinner and drinks at Biblos (student discount of 25% on all food, and G&Ts for only £1.95 means that we have officially found our new favourite place), after which we attended the 50th anniversary special of Doctor Who at the cinema, which was freaking AMAZING. It was part of a simulcast, watched in 94 countries and simultaneously screened in 3D to more than half a million people in cinemas across Latin America, North America and Europe, breaking a Guiness World Record. It was so much fun to attend a screening - there were people dressed up, and while pretty much everyone was dead silent the entire episode, there were certain moments (such as when the new doctor was briefly seen) that everyone cheered and clapped. Everyone also clapped when it ended. It was just such a fun experience. I love going to fan events where everyone is just unabashedly excited about this thing that we all love - not to mention the fact that there were both young fans and older men and women that had probably been watching the show since they were kids.

Wednesday night Alix and Melissa and I met up to plan our super secret project (to be revealed soon!), but before that we stopped to wander around the Christmas Market.

Everything is incredibly expensive, but man, does it smell good. There are all sorts of food stands, selling everything from churros to chocolate fountains with sticks of marshmallows, to hot beverages like mead and coffee. There are also loads of stands selling gifts, souvenirs, cheeses, and coffee beans.

We shared an order of churros (Melissa and mine's first ever). I always thought they were just an American thing, but apparently not. They were pretty good - I mean, they were basically deep fried dough rolled in sugar, its kinda hard to go wrong on that one.

The market is just overlooking the Princes Street Gardens, and includes a ferris wheel (that is eight freaking pounds) and a skating rink (ten freaking pounds).

Looking up the gardens towards North Bridge.

After we got bored of that, we headed up to the Elephant Room for food and hot chocolate. And to finally leave our mark on the bathroom!

Thursday was American Thanksgiving, which I actually celebrated for the first time with Kate and her roommates (two of whom are American). I'm still eating all the leftover mashed potatoes I ended up leaving with. I was horrifically full afterwards - it was so good. And Kate made this tofu-turkey roast thing that was completely delicious (unlike my last time trying tofurky).

I ate so many potatoes with cranberry sauce. I felt bad for how much cranberry sauce I was taking, but then I realized pretty much no one else was eating it, so I took more (Rachel, one of Kate's American roommates made it from scratch). Mashed potatoes with cranberry sauce is the best thing ever and no one can tell me any different.

I had the tiniest slice of pumpkin pie for dessert, I was so full, but it was so good. 

There were also several hilarious moments when all the non-Americans/Canadians just stood around taking pictures of the food, especially the turkey. There were also several rousing arguments about when the "real" Thanksgiving was.

This week was also Book Week Scotland, which my classmates made a series of promotional videos for, concluding with this video, a series of seflies from everyone on the course with their favourite book (or, in many cases, whatever they had on hand) - this was because selfie was named word of the year by Oxford Dictionaries.

I had someone recently ask me how, as an English major, Publishing student, and all around huge language nerd, I felt about the way language is changing. And in some ways I feel sad, because I do feel like we are losing something with the way digital language is evolving, but on the other hand, internet shorthand is not used in novels, where the richness of language is still valued and always will be valued. And really, internet shorthand is just that - shorthand to make communicating over a digital medium faster and more efficient. Overall, I enjoy watching language evolve. English has always evolved, appropriating words from other languages and transforming over the years, and, as any student who has attempted to read Chaucer in the original text can attest to, we wouldn't even recognize much of English language as it used to exist. Evolution is a natural part of language, and I don't think there is anything to mourn as it changes, nor do I think that including selfie as the word of the year indicates a general dumbing-down of our culture (selfies, after all, predate cameras), nor does it indicate, as so many columnists and writers claim over and over again, that my generation is more narcissistic and self-involved than any generation predating it.

With that in mind, I leave you with this selfie.

My hair is getting out of control.