The Begining of the End

Hello everyone,
The past week has been rather crazy. My parents arrived after a long journey on Tuesday. With very little sleep and a quick meal later, they were ready to sleep. Denying themselves the chance to sleep, they hopped on the First Bus(First is the local bus company) to see my flat. After a quick tour of Aberdeen University and the surrounding area, we headed over to a local fish and chips shop for some grub. The "Whale Challenge" called my name. The whale is basically a sixteen ounce, hand battered, deep fried, cod fillet. It was the best "whale" I have ever had. I finished all of it and the chips for a free dessert. It was a good meal to say the least.

(Artery Clogging Bliss)

The following day we went down to Saint Andrews. I have never seen such anticipation in Leigh Smith. Saint Andrews is located about an hour and half south by train of Aberdeen. Once you get of the train, it is about a ten minute bus ride into Saint Andrews from Leuchars Rail Station. As we approached the town, Leigh was not sitting on his seat, but squatting just above it trying to get the first view of the Old Course. The first thing after the Welcome to Saint Andrews sign is the Old Course Hotel. Leigh's eyes lit up when he saw this historic monument. We then commenced to walking around as much of the Old Course as we could. I have never seen such a spring in Leigh's step. He started rattling off historic shots he had seen televised. He especially liked the seventeen hole which forces many professional players to hit over the Old Course Hotel. Saint Andrews is a beautiful course. There is a huge difference between it and American course. American courses have narrower fairways and an abundance of trees. Saint Andrews has no trees at all. It was cool to see my Dad get so excited about Saint Andrews. I can't really imagine him being any more excited the rest of the trip. (Family Picture in front of the 18th hole)

Friday, we took the train down to Edinburgh. It was a little stressful traveling with parents for once. I am used to traveling just by myself or with a bunch of people my own age. Here, I had to worry about many things other than myself. My mom and dad did not pack the lightest. This is a traditional Smith habit. Leigh has a fully loaded back pack, duffel, and carry on. Debbi has a 50 pound rolling suit case, and an equally heavy carry on. However, Leigh can only manage his luggage, and his own and my five foot mother cannot handle hers. Therefore, I am stuck with her carry on, 50 pound suitcase, and my own back pack. Tensions ran a little high on the trip down by train to Edinburgh.

We quickly settled in to our hotel. I had to sleep on the floor, but considering my parents came to visit me, it is safe to say I am not complaining. It was an exciting two days in Edinburgh. Unlike Aberdeen, Edinburgh is a huge city. I could walk around the city for days and discover new things every day. We ended up going to the castle, and exploring quite a bit of the rest of the city. It was blast, and there was still so much to see. The most memorable part of the castle was a guy dressed like William Wallace. For those uneducated in Braveheart, it is Mel Gibson's character who paints his face blue.

(Debbi and I on top of Edinburgh in Edinburgh Castle)

(FREEDOM!!!)

I am now approaching new territory. My parents and I are currently on the train to London. Don't worry, all of the luggage made it on the train successfully. I have been wanting to get down to London for quite some time, but I knew I was coming down here with my parents so decided to wait. There is already a difference in the landscape and architecture. I would describe it as a trip from Indiana down through Tennessee. We are about three hours into our train ride, and I keep looking out the window and smiling. the landscape is beautiful, and I am one lucky guy for having this opportunity. I am even luckier having my parents along for the ride, even with the adjustment to having some authority back in my life.

The blog was title The Beginning of the End because I have already realized time is going to seem to short. I am finally beginning to understand the W CURVE. This curve attempts to explain transitioning individuals between relocation. Scotland is a wonderful place to study abroad. This is a reality that just will not last. I applied for my old position at Medical Protective while on the train to London, I am already half way done with my time in Scotland, and I barely have four weeks of school left. It is up to me to enjoy every last second and pint! I will update the blog as soon as I can. I meet up with Kevin Martinez, my cousin who is coming to visit me, on Thursday. We then head to Paris, Munich, and Zurich. It is about to be a fun two weeks!

Peace and Love!
Nick

What is more Scottish than Scotch Whiskey?

Last week was a crazy week. I had to unfortunately do work for the first time this semester. Wednesday was consumed by a whiskey distillery tour of anCnoc distillery, and Thursday was enveloped by Saint Patrick day celebrations. This left me Friday to do my homework. It was a fun, but busy week.

The main attraction last week was the distillery tour. I am flabbergasted with the economics and science behind whiskey distilling. Distilling takes approximately 48 hours, but the actual whiskey takes twelve plus years to age in cask. This means distilleries are planning and producing for sales twelve years down the road. Seems to me that there is a fair amount of guess work being used.

I have learned many things about the whiskey business since I have been here.

• The name scotch is reserved only for scotch whiskeys produced in Scotland. The scotch must distilled and aged in Scotland.
  
• Scotch is simply a subset of the whiskey family.
• Twelve year old Scotch means the youngest type of Scotch in the whiskey is twelve years old
  
• Many of the distilleries use American Oak cask because barrels are cheap to acquire. American law requires the bourbon be aged in new oak barrels. Therefore, the used barrels are worthless to bourbon makers.
  
• Whiskey gets it flavoring from the wood and not the actual distilling.
• American Oak, European Oak, and Sherry Cask are used to impart unique flavors
• American oak is famous for its vanilla taste and aroma

I learned so much by visiting the distillery. The whole business really fascinates me. My chemistry minor served me well in understanding the chemical changes happening. The pictures below take you through the scotch making process.
The machine that cracks and then grinds the barley.

The ground barley is then rinsed with water to remove the sugars and enzymes. The water containing sugars and enzymes is then pumped into these giant vats. Yeast is then added to the mixture. The yeast uses the sugars to create alcohol. I could feel the heat on my face from this exothermic reaction.

After fermentation continues for eight hours, the mixture is pumped into the first still. The still heats the mixture, the vapor goes out the top, vapors go through pipes where it is cooled, and the liquid is then collected. The first still is called the wash still. Each still is made completely of copper. The copper reacts with impurities and creates a very distinct whiskey. These stills are known as reflux stills because of the bulge in the neck of the still. This causes a very light spirit to be formed by removing many of the impurities.

The liquid from the wash still is then run through the spirit still. The same process is undergone and the liquid is collected. This is called the spirit.
Here is the warehouse where the cask are aged. The warehouse smelled very strongly of whiskey. This is known as the angels dram because a small portion of the whiskey evaporates each year. I literally felt tipsy after being in this warehouse for five minutes. The most amazing part of the warehouse was the amount of cask. Each row held 32 cask. These cask are rolled manually into place. Each one weighs close 500 pounds.

My experience at the whiskey distillery was amazing. I learned so much about the art and science of distilling whiskey. The final part of the tour was a whiskey tasting. After observing process of whiskey production, I had new found appreciation for the dram I was given. I savored the taste and the aromas all the more as I put the glass to my lips.

I topped off the week on Saint Patrick's day. Thursday I celebrated Saint Patrick's day at the watering hole, the local pub. I enjoyed many a Guinness beer and even got a free hat. It was a great week to say the least!

Best and love,
Nick

Spring

Every morning I wake up to the sun shining through my window. With a little smirk on my face, I shower and get ready for the day ahead. The sunlight seems to be increasing by hour each day. When I arrived in January, the sun would literally be gone by four O’clock in the afternoon. Yesterday, the sun set at 6:15. With the sun come the beautiful sounds of spring. Every morning I have about a fifteen minute walk to campus through beautiful Seaton Park. The arrival of spring is most obvious here on my walks to campus. The birds are chirping, flowers are either blooming or preparing to, and the trees now have a hint of green. It really is an amazing walk to campus each morning.

I bring up the idea of spring because it came up in a conversation with my friend Callum and I. Callum is a local Aberdonian or a “towney as we would call him at Wabash. Yesterday, as Callum and I walked to the sports village, we began talking about Scotland in general. My first question was about the weather. He informed me that the weather will be significantly warmer after we are gone for three weeks during spring break. I received this news with the utmost joy and a smile broke across my face. The weather in Aberdeen has not been terrible, but I am in the need of a warm up. Walking twenty minutes to school in the ice cold rain accompanied by the harsh gust makes you feel like Adam Vinatari with ice in your veins.

Callum then told me another intriguing fact about Scotland. If you are hurt playing sports in Scotland, you first go to the physical therapist who then recommends you to the specialist. I’m sure my eye lit up at this point. This was the true reason I came to Scotland. I wanted to see how National Healthcare works. There have been many interesting conversations with people about this subject already, but this by far sparked my interest the most because it is the complete opposite in the states. Last summer, I had to go to a general physician, who then sent me to the orthopedic, who then sent me to the physical therapist, and even then, the physical therapist could only work on one knee before acquiring another prescription. Here in Scotland, it is the complete opposite. Honestly, I don’t really know which system makes more sense to me. I am a believer that everyone should have access to healthcare, but my experiences over here have shown me nationalized healthcare is not the answer. Everyone likes the fact that they can go to do the doctor and that it’s free. Even I, a student here for a semester can go and receive my entire healthcare for free, but no one seems to understand where the money comes from. Every Scottish person I have asked have simply said it is free. I can deduce that it is not free. Sales tax, or VAT as they call it, is 20 percent. Income taxes are higher and there are taxes on everything. I am really amazed at how different healthcare is here. Many of the primary care providers here only have masters. Two of my friends have also had to go to the doctor, but could not get an appointment for three weeks.

I forgot to mention that Tuesday day was National Pancake day in the United Kingdom. Lexi and I found out that British Pancakes are actually skinny pancakes or crepes. For me, these just would not do. I took it upon myself to make American Pancakes, as they are called here, for my flatmates. The picture below shows me in action. They liked them, but I got the impression that they liked their version better. Amusing how two different societies have different kind of pancakes!

The weather certainly is a lot colder here today! It still is 46 degrees out, but the sun for the first time in two weeks is hidden behind clouds. The piercing wind that I have not missed is back with a vengeance. However blah the weather is, it is a great day! I’m back at Starbucks after finishing my last lab of the semester. I now have six more hours a week to study, sleep, explore, and travel. The really nice thing about not having is lab is the opportunities it gives me. Lab only allowed me to travel Saturday through Mondays on the weekend. Now, I am not required to be anywhere from Friday at 4 till the following Friday. I can basically take week long trips if I want too. Every other Monday I do have things to go to, but I doubt I would travel every week. The pound is killing me, and I really need to find some ways to conserve money. The perfect combination would be the United States Economy takes off, the federal reserve enacts a very strict monetary policy, the treasury starts buying back the dollar like it is supposed to, and the central bank in London decides to print an absurd about of pounds. This is not going to happen, but an economics major can always hope not to get screwed by exchange rates!

Last night I went out to cinema with my roommates. Movies are the only things that are cheaper than the states. I can get a movie ticket for 2.75 pounds. The quick math is (2.75*1.63)1.03=$4.62 to get how much that actually cost me. Needless to say, I like going to movies here. The girls that we go to movies with have gone to three straight “dude” movies as they call them. To settle the score, we let them pick the movie last night. The choices came down to No Strings Attached and Rango. Although Natalie Portman is incredibly attractive, I was rooting for Rango! Luckily, I got my way! Rango was a pretty good flick. Not one that I would buy on DVD, but Rango kept me entertained for the two hours I was in the theater. Next week, we’re going to two movies because there are a couple good ones getting released this week. After the movies, our group went out to the pub and had a pint. Me being cheap elected for a 85 pence vodka and coke, but hey that is still like a buck fifty! It was quiz note at the pub. Quiz night is basically three rounds of ten questions. We only scored one point in the first round! I did learn however that venti is not the biggest coffee size at Starbucks. Fun fact of the day right there!

Finally, I will move on to the important stuff. Yesterday was the first time I felt like a true American here in Scotland. I have constantly asked questions of people about different things, but I lived up to my fraternity nickname yesterday. I was the question master?! We talked about everything from abortions, politics, how many kids people have, binge drinking, socialism, the rules of cricket, is cricket popular, religious views, do girls ask guys out here, are there the same stereotypes, do I talk funny…… the list goes on and on. I learned a lot from these conversations. The most interesting fact came after making my roommate Dan and I an American style cheeseburger! Did I make it American for him. It had hamburger (known as mince here), bacon, cheese, slightly toasted the bun, and more cheese. It was by far one of the best burgers I had tasted myself! While consuming these delicious creations, we started talking about marriages in the United Kingdom. The conversation went everywhere, but it made me realize that our cultures experience the exact same changes. Although I learned that there are a lot of differences that I had never inquired about before yesterday, but these differences are what keep the United States and the United Kingdom from being the exact same culture. Without these slight differences I really believe I would be back in America. Hell I can go feel at home at the ASDA (Wal-Mart owned store which is a Wal-Mart). That is all for today.

I hope everyone is having a simply great day!

Nick

Quote- The best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them.

Ernest Hemingway

Song- The Life by Kenny Chesney

Daily Update

I’ve decided that a daily update is the best way to do this blog. If I don’t do this daily I will either forget to do it, or I will have post like yesterday. Yesterday’s post was a rambling mess. Four complaints have already come in! Three of them chimed about my lack of proof reading and one for causing someone to cry. I’m done talking about yesterday though.

Today has been a better day already. I woke up crazy early and I’m not sure why. Went to my one class of the day, followed it up by mailing three postcards out to family and friends. I think sending postcards are the coolest thing and I’m not exactly sure why. I send Lexi one or two a week! I know she likes them and is hoping to scrapbook all of them! I followed that up with a quick run to the pharmacy. My search for a NetiPot came to an end today. However, it was not the outcome that I wanted. Apparently NetiPots are not offered in the United Kingdom. I had to settle for some sort of spray to help my sinus problems. I’m now at Starbucks using free and fast Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi is not what it is in the states here. Actually, it is quite awful. The internet at school is slow. Unlike the States, most places charge you for it and it is slow. Also, I find it hard to work when I’m at school. The library is nice to work at, but I have never been a fan of staying in libraries. I always think they smell funny. My room has a nice desk, but I constantly find myself cruising the internet, falking (Facebook stalking), and or just taking a nap. Most importantly, good coffee is hard to come by. Even Starbucks isn’t the same. I can’t find a coffee place other than McDonalds that serves a bitter, strong, black coffee the way I like it. That is enough of me complaining about Coffee and Wi-Fi.

My other goal with this blog is to point out the differences I spot here in the culture. Some will probably favor America while others will not. Today it favors Scotland. I am amazed at the amount of parents who spend time with their children. I constantly see couples during the week day walking with their children. Today I saw two parents taking their teenage daughter out for coffee together. This family is currently sitting down and just talking. They are not rushing, the girl is engaging her parents, and neither party looks like they will leave anytime soon. This is just one of many examples I have seen of this. Families are simply better at slowing down, enjoying the little things, and communicating!

Quote – “Life’s a garden. Dig it!”

Song- Summer of 69 by John Cougar Mellon Camp

Have a great day all,

Love Nick

Finally!

It may have taken me a month, but my blog is finally up and running. This blog may be a bit long because it will be a condensed version of my first month Abroad.

It all started with a week of anticipation. My sister was due the 25th of January with my beautiful little niece. I was being myself by flying out only two days after her due date. Usually, I run close to being late, or slightly late, but this time I was way to early. Baby Noneman came into the world January 31st. It was a shock to me I must say. I am over in a foreign country, still in the process of making friends, and yet all I could think about was this little girl back home who barely weighed 8 pounds. Since that point, I have accepted the fact that I will have to be patient. It will be June 11th before I get to meet this lovely little girl.

Since those first two weeks, I have settled in pretty nicely. Aberdeen is nothing what I thought it would be, but at the same time, it is everything I need. The city itself is about the same population as my hometown Fort Wayne Indiana. Unlike Fort Wayne, people here enjoying living abnormally close to one another. I can walk around the majority of the city in a day. I would never be able to do that in Fort Wayne. The other shocking change to me was the lack of a car. Even at college I had a car near me all three years. To me a car symbolizes freedom and adventure. Here, only the wealthy or those who live in suburbia have cars. Now, I am stuck to a bus with confined routes and I hate it. When I pictured studying abroad, I did not see myself struggling to adjust to a lack of car, but to me it is a big deal!

The other things that did not turn out how I expected are the exchange rate and the culture. I monitored the exchange rate on a daily basis up to my trip. The pound right now is equal to about 1.61 dollars. Therefore, for me to get a single pound I must trade 1.61 dollars. I figured since the pound was so strong, that I would easily see a decrease in prices here. Wrong! If I walk into a store and buy a bottled coke, it is a pound. If I walk into an Apple Store at Union Square, Apple simply replaces the dollar sign from the states with a pound sign. This means I am essentially paying 1.61 times more for everything! This is quickly eating into my budget and making me appreciate how much I worked at MedPro last summer. I am already anticipating going back to work in the states to help repair my bank account.

The other thing that caught me by suprise was the culture here. Everyone loves Americans, hates George Bush, and in my mind want to be like Americans. If I go down to Union Square, a local shopping mall, I feel right at home in it. It literally could be picked up by a giant crane, moved to Glenbrook Square, and everyone in Fort Wayne would love the new shopping center. There is even a Hollister store that I walked into and was transported back to the states. However, as I previously stated the prices on the clothes are the exact same.

My biggest fear coming over was being able to understand accents. I am now five weeks in and feel very comfortable talking to anyone. There are some folks that are hard to understad, bu I can usually pick out what they are saying. It is hard to adjust to certain slang that they use.
Cheers= Thanks
Chips= Fries
Crisp= Potato Chips
Bin= Trashcan
Rubbish= Trash
Futbol= Soccer
I constantly findmyself going back and forth between slangs. I must admit that I really like the word cheers instead of thank you. It just sounds so much more joyous than thank you!

Now, I will tackle the studying part in studying abroad. I'll be brutally honest, there is not much studying going on at the present moment. Classes here are very different. I'm in session for 12 weeks with a three week spring break (Easter holiday as it is called here), a week for revision in may, and then two weeks of finals. I'm currently taking four different classes organic chemistry, economics, linear algebra, and a literature/history course on European civilization. I have two papers due all semesters, three labs, a project on how to restart the British economy for econ, 4 continuous assessments, and finals. A continuous assesment is simply an assignment that is turned in and grades. I must pass each one of these things. Passing is a 40 percent here. As my dear friend Shea Rolf pointed out, "You can guess on a true false and still have 10 percentage points in your favor." Yes, 40 percent has taken all will out of me to desire. I still do all of my homework, and am currently trying to catch up in linear algebra. Linear algebra sounds like Spanish right now that's how much catching up I have to do! The Hardest part about classes is going to tutorials. I'm required each week to go to 4 tutorials which are basically little tutoring sessions with your professors. Here they find a way to make finals harder, by simply going over problems that will be similar to what is on the final. Basically, know how to do tutorials.... all six of them for some classes...... pass the final! :-D

Now on to what I have done so far. My first adventure was down to Glasgow with my fraternity brother Zach Hampton. The first night in we went to the Golden Arches (McDonalds) and got some food. While we were ordering, two girls decided to call us fat Americans, and the server decided to serve the 10 people behind us in line before us. This is one of the funniest moments in my mind and I do not know why. Zach is studying at the University of Lancaster in England. We decided Glasgow would be a nice middle meeting point for us. Boy was it Fun! We went the weekend of February 19th. Luckily that was the same weekend that Celtics and Rangers had a game against each other. The Celtics and Rangers are the two soccer teams in Glasgow. The rivalry between them makes the Indiana and Purdue Rivalry look like best friends. People literally get stabbed for wearing the wrong jersey. We walked around the city for two days straight and saw everything we could. there really isn't a cooler city to just walk around. There are a million thing to see, but it is impossible to cover in a weekend. My favorite is the fountain we saw showing the four colonies. I had to laugh when I saw India, South Africa, Australia, and Canada. No America on there! After all the sightseeing, we went out to a club called garage. My ears were still ringing a week later from the music. I have not been back to a club since.

The following weekend Lexi arrived into Aberdeen. She had alot of trouble in Chicago. Her plane had mechanical problems, they took forever deicing the plane, so she left about 7 hours after she was supposed to. Somehow, she almost made her connection in London Heathrow, but missed it by only 2 minutes. Luckily there was a later flight, and she only had to wait 2 hours. The frist two days were pretty laid back. Sunday we explored Aberdeen and just relaxed. (She had trouble getting used to the 6 hour time difference everyone does) Monday we went to dinner and a movie downtown. The movie was Just Go With It and we highly recommend it. The following day, we hopped a train down to a place called Stonehaven. Stonehaven is famous for having a beautiful castle names Dunnotar. It was breathtaking. Both literally and figuratively. It was about a 2 mile walk up hill and along steep cliffs. The following day we took a day trip down to St. Andrews. I had wanted to go to St. Andrews since I decided to come to Scotland. St. Andrews has by far been my favorite spot I've visited. The town is very small, but very nice at the same time. It is full of students and pensioners. It almost feels like Florida during spring break. The castle and Cathedral there are both fascinating. It is hard to grasp how they built the buildings without any modern equipment. The castle had a really cool bottle dungeon. The bottle dungeon is basically a whole in the ground where you were left to die. The Old Course of St. Andrews gave me goosebumps. There is so much history there for a sport I love and not many more iconic pictures to look upon than the bridge at the 18th hole. I was tempted to run out and get a picture on it, but I think I will wait till I visit it with my Dad. That way, he can bail me out if I get in trouble.

Lexi and I joined my flatmates Thursday night to the usual movie we go too. This week it was I am number 4. The movie was alright, but the company was great. there was a line however that got me thinking. In it the main character says, "Home is not the building, but it is the people who you care about." I will come back to this later.
Friday, Lexi and I went to Edinburgh for the night. We stayed right down town in eye shot of the castle. Well, the castle is on a giant hill, but we were literally right by it. The castle looked amazing as we walked to dinner on Friday night. We were so excited to see it the next day. However, it was by far our least favorite castle. The castle itself is still in great shape and has some awesome exhibitions, but when we went there we just didn't get eh same feel. The castle is basically now a tourist trap. It did provide some amazing pictures however! :-D

Sunday, we had to get up at 5:20 to get Lexi to the airport. It has been a rough day to say the least. we each had a little break down in the airport. Said Bye, and scurried off on our separate ways for three months. I know that time will fly by, I will be wishing time will slow down, and I'll be meeting my little niece. Lexi reminded me that home isn't necessarily a building, but the people. Lexi brought home to me this week and it was nice. It was so nice having someone always with me to talk to. Everyone knows I love to talk. Lexi somehow listens to me. It was great having that all week. After we said bye, I went downtown because that is where the airport shuttle takes you. I saw something cool, and out of habit turned to talk to her, but she wasn't there. It is funny how quickly one can get into a habit! She's gone though and with her are left many new memories. I'm so glad that she came over and we got to enjoy Scotland together. I love my new friends over here, but there i just something special about making memories with old friends. Its like you know that three years down the road, you will look back and say, "Remember when we were in Scotland and took a picture of the guy playing the bagpipes?" Then he turned to us and said, "I'm from Georgia!" Yes that actually did happen. Now, I'm urging these three weeks to go by fast. My parents come the 27th of March to visit me for a week and a half. Then my cousin is coming in the 6th of April through the 16th. This is when I'm going to be doing the majority of my travels and I really am excited for it!
Keep Lexi in your prayers as she flies home today!
In loving Scotland, but missing friends,
Nick