A rant on the situation with Scotland

I will start this blog post by saying that you can guess the topic from the title. I am not entering into a political debate, nor do I intend to, and have stopped this post from going onto facebook to make it less visible. This is a personal post about my feelings about situations surrounding a political situation and not a political post... if you can't cope with that then please don't read any further.

As I'm aware that enough of the people who read my blog are friends from outside of the UK I will briefly explain. Today is the day of a referendum that is taking place in Scotland to determine if Scotland will leave the UK.

I had decided to keep silent on the whole subject because it's something that's close to a lot of people's hearts and, while I may have an opinion, it isn't really my issue to fight over.

However, today I discovered something that really did make me unhappy. One of my relatives, who is Scottish, has had their house graffitied by some idiot who feels that is the correct way to treat a human being who has a different opinion/connections to England. 

From what I have heard, this isn't a one off, and most likely is going both ways. I've not done my research and press is always biased anyway. However, having something like this happen to someone who you have a connection to is really infuriating.

Now I will admit something that I haven't told many people:

On the day I received my acceptance at AUC I was up in Scotland, in the area I love and I had visited every summer as a child, near to where my family live. The day after, I went to Glasgow for an open day, still undecided about where I would ultimately chose and already holding a place at Glasgow. During the course of that day, I was shouted at by two groups of people at the university for being English. I decided at this point that Amsterdam was the better choice for me.

Are these people the majority? No. They just shout the loudest. Most of Scotland, no matter what they will vote today, if they vote today, will be civil about matters. However, it's got to the point where I am so annoyed that I can't pretend the loud people who turn a political matter into a personal one don't exist. 

Come tomorrow we will have a result of this vote. Whatever that result may be we all, Englishmen and Scotsmen, remain individuals and remain humans. People need to remember to treat those around them as individuals and humans. 

Fight to change a system, fight to change something you disagree with, but attacking and intimidating another living soul being different, having different opinions, or for any reason really, is just below the belt. This goes for any situation as far as I’m concerned.

Now go out and hug people.

Busy with nothing (as usual)

It's amazing how life can seem so chaotic yet, when you look back on what you've actually been doing, rather non-productive.

A lot of things are centering around The Move which, as one would expect, is a bit of a focus. I finally phoned up Glasgow uni and withdrew today, well, started the process. Seriously, phoning them confirmed that ditching Glasgow was right for me. The gentleman on the switchboard had no social skills and seemed to have issues knowing which number was the number for admissions and the lady I spoke to in the end was, in my view, curt to the point of rude. Anyway, I emailed her so they now have it in writing and, fingers crossed, I'll get confirmation that I am free soon enough.

And the prize for gaudiest ticket design goes to...

The other thing with moving is that I just can't get my head around it. I've booked to see Within Temptation in, basically, a year's time in Amsterdam (with a group of people I've met at gigs in the UK) and it's weird. I've also booked to see Apocalyptica, who have obviously influenced me musically, in October. I'm going to go and see them with Maria, a Dutch 'cellist penpal of mine who is all round lovely. The ticket arrived for that show today which was nothing less that a miracle as, due to a computer error their end, my address was written in Dutch format (totally scrambled compared to UK format and with half a post code) and also lacked the country. Seriously, I have a great deal of respect for the Dutch and English postal system that figured that one out!

As for the rest of life, I think we've all but finished tiling the bathroom at last! Because of issues with dad, and with his health, it's been over a year in the finishing. He needs to put down new floorboards as there's currently a giant hole in the floor (most rooms have holes in the floor!) but then I can get in there and paint the ceiling/woodwork etc. Fingers crossed we're moving forward with that.

Sadly, that's probably the best of the progress as I've now signed up for Netflix and thrown my productivity out of the window.

Old news... and a horse.

Blogging about this now feels a little redundant, after all I've told basically everyone the news that will be in this post so why bother. Anyway, this is the version with pictures* so enjoy ;-)

Well, well, well...

What a week it's been!

Soon after my 'Amsterdam adventure' I was on my way to Glasgow to attend a couple of events at the university up there. For those of you who don't know, I hold a place to study in Glasgow this September and applied to AUC with the plan to withdraw from Glasgow in the unlikely event I was offered a place in Amsterdam.

When I was younger I used to spend my summers up by Loch Rannoch. I have relatives in Pitlochry so we used to stay next to Loch Rannoch, meet up with relatives and have a lovely time. Of course, going up to Glasgow I simply had to force my parents to retrace the childhood route even if Rannoch is nowhere near Glasgow (eh, at least we were in the right country!)

It was absolutely wonderful to be in the area again. Scotland is full of stunning landscapes and natural areas and this is certainly one of them. Seriously, if you're a friend of mine from Europe (or further) and you visit England for whatever reason (like to see me) nag me to nag my parents to take
us up to Scotland... it's well worth the visit.

However, it was what happened up there that was most surprising for me. In the middle of a no-pick up area my phone somehow managed to pick up a message from a gent I'd met at the interview telling me to check my emails. So I did. Eventually. There were two emails from the university in Amsterdam saying, in the subject field, that I had been offered a place. Thank goodness it said in the subject because I didn't manage to open them until much later as my mysterious internet connection failed me.

So from that moment, I could enjoy myself. I had an offer for Glasgow and Amsterdam and I could, basically, choose. The visit to Glasgow the next day pretty much sealed my choice. Looks like I'm moving to the Netherlands in August. Eek. What a terrifying exciting prospect!

*Yes, I took these pictures while in the area. No, they aren't supposed to relate to anything I'm writing hehe

Success!

Before you read this and think that the above title means I've got into the university, I'll just make it clear: I still don't know!

However, for me, the last couple of days have been a great success. Firstly, and most importantly for me, I managed to catch two flights, several trains, and go through the entire interview day without being at all ill. Although the incapacitating levels of illness have been a recent development, it's been a long, long time since I've been able to do something 'exciting' without feeling at least somewhat ick. Seven years, to be exact. I've even managed to eat two full meals during this time. Does this mean that I'm cured? Well, it suggests that the tablets are starting to have an effect and I am really, really pleased. I mean, any change is a positive. 

Success number two comes in the fact that the plane wasn't cancelled, or even delayed. In fact, talking to the person on check in, ours was the first plane that wasn't delayed so that was lucky. Actually, less of a success, but I had some issues checking in as the machienes were saying my passport expired February 2014... it's pretty new and expires February 2024! All the same, it did cause some chaos and confusion!

The only photo I took is a fuzzy through-the-window shot. So. Many. Bikes.

The other main success was the fact that I had a really good day at the university. It wasn't exactly what I expected as the activities seemed to be centred around ensuring that we, as prospective students, knew what to expect from the course. The 'interview' part of the day consisted of two meetings with different, and seemingly random, members of the university, discussing parts of the application. Again, this seemed to be centred around ensuring that we as students would know how to work within the system and with our individually identified weaknesses when attending the university. I really don't know what we were being judged on here, if anything, and really wonder whether the majority of the decisions were made prior to us being invited to interview. I honestly don't know!

One thing that I really did like about the day was that it allowed me to meet a lot of the prospective students and I got a feel that, if I was offered a place, I could have a really good time socially. There were people with very similar interests, and on a similar academic level, from many different walks of life... I could really have a good time, I think. Of course, that is one of my main concerns about Glasgow University, along with the 5 year course in Glasgow. That said, Glasgow is more established and has better facilities. Urgh... I'm really confused... can't I mush the two together? I think I'm more confused now because I've seen both and they're very real!!

Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself right now as I haven't been offered a place to study in Amsterdam (nor have I been rejected yet!)... they're going to be sending an email out within the week, apparently. Eek. Considering I'm going up to Glasgow later this week, I'm going to have a lot of information to process and a lot of big choices to make. It's all so exciting but a little frightening too.