Quick Recap and a bunch of pics!

I know it has been a long time since I have updated, so sorry about that, but it has been crazy busy here at the house! Since the 10 day break, we had a Halloween party at the house, went to Melrose Abbey and Bowhill, and out to the clubs for Halloween, made a delicious Wop, had a Rocky Horror Party, celebrated Leah's 22nd Birthday, another kid in the house's (Gates) birthday, went to the zoo with my host family, went to visit Nicole and family in Germany, had Thanksgiving and a ceilidh (pronounced Kaylee) and went to a Celtic match! Whew... that is a lot! Most of the stuff is pretty self-explanitory, so I am just going to put up loads of pictures and comment on them! Here goes...

I am going to start with our Wop, which we made in preparation for Halloween festivities.

This is me with the beautiful finished product. We put so much fruit in, it was just delicious!
Bringing it in (we have been doing that for just about every situation you can imagine since returning from the 10 day) for the completion of the Wop.
The massive amount of fruit that went in. A funny note: we made this in the bin that is supposed to hold our dry foods. At first we did not have a bin, but then I bugged John long enough so he finally brought us one. We have refused to use it since the beginning, instead continuing to keep the food in our drawers. After the Wop we were finally able to tell John we put it to use!
In goes the liquor! We put in a 1.75 of vodka, a liter of white rum and a bunch of different juices!

Our first delicious cup.

Now we are getting to the host family stuff. These are of two outings we had, one to the seaside and one to the zoo.
Here is me, Mindy, our host mom and P, who I guess would be my host brother. He is the other one who was assigned to Mindy and Paul.
Me, P and Paul looking at a giant stuffed animal-claw game. It was so big! The animals you could win were the size of the giant prizes at the state fair!In front of the Firth of Forth. Mindy, their adorable daughter Alice, who is 2.5, P and me.
Another shot of the sea.
Mindy, Alice and Paul at a park.
Mindy and Alice. This was at a cool pub that had great Scottish live music playing. It was a really neat atmosphere.
Alice with the little friend she made to dance with.
Sea Lion at the Edinburgh Zoo. The zoo was really neat, it is kind of tucked back out of town on a hill, so it goes back instead of out. When we got off the bus, we did not even see the entrance. It was really cool, but it did get kind of steep at some areas.
Rhino... This was my favorite animal, mainly because it looked so sweet. It looked like it should have been a robot, but it wasn't.
Me and P with a giant stuffed penguin. The zoo is known for their penguins, the have one that was knighted, so they had these all over the place.
These are lemurs, although you can't really see them. I guess their camouflage works pretty well.
The penguin march. They got so close, you could touch them. It was cool, but there were only like 5 penguins that came (it is optional for them) and I guess sometimes there are tens of them, so that would have made it cooler.
More marching penguins.
This penguin sat as still as a statue on that little square the entire time we were by the exhibit.
Warthog thing. So gross looking.
They also had a brand new, really neat gorilla exhibit. It was really awesome. This gorilla was running up and down, showing his dominance.



We had a Rocky Horror Picture Show party the Wednesday before Halloween. Basically, guys dress up like transvestites, girls dress like hookers, and you play games to welcome the "virgins," or those who haven't been to a party before, then watch the movie screaming and reacting to different parts. It was really fun! There were only a number of pictures that were appropriate for the blog, unfortunately, which is pretty bad because I usually put pretty honest pictures on here, so that says a lot about the debauchery of the evening.
Me with the noisemaker that I needed for the "party" scene of the movie.
We brought the hand to the party.


We had a Halloween party the Thursday before Halloween for our host families. It was really fun. On Halloween, we went to Bowhill (the residence of the Duke who owns Dalkeith House) and Melrose Abbey, then out to the club that night.
Me holding "the hand" after the Halloween Party.
Us having a dance party before going out to the bars. We have these quite often.
Me with the stag party we met at the club. We have been attracting these the last several times we have gone out. The one in the black was the stag.
The three of us getting down. Leah has my crook, which was a fun prop for the evening. We used it to "hook" people.
Back to the party. Here is us with one of the host family's kid. He took to D, and now she calls him her boyfriend, and he sends stuff for her with the people who have that host family. He was so cute!
Us with another host child by the haunted house. I don't really have pictures of it, but some of the guys (Jason, Colin, Greg, Pearce and others) put on an excellent haunted house in the basement, which is actually the old castle dungeons. It was SCARY!!!
The three pirates: Misty, our other roommate, D and Colin.
Me peeking under Pearce's kilt. He was an undead Scotsman.
Me with Colin the pirate.
Full Bo Peep costume. Great job Mom, everyone loved it/could not believe you made it. I had so many people asking where I got it. So thanks so much!!
The three of us again. Right before this, D's "boyfriend" snuck in the picture, so I was very sad. Check it out:
Note my sad face at having the kid in the picture.
P and I with Mindy and Alice at the Party. Alice was Batman, which was fitting, because my pumpkin I carved was the bat signal. It was really sweet, but I didn't get a picture of it.


These are just some random pictures from random things.

Me recovering from a dance party in our room, but on D's bed. We were having a Tank Top Day, even though it was really cold. Tank Top Day quickly turned into a dance party.
All the roommates, after we had been drinking and dancing for awhile.
Pig Tail Day. We like themes.
Me preparing for Pig Tail Day. That is not coffee in my mug. (Mom, thanks for the pink lemonade! My favorite mixer from home ;-) They don't sell normal lemonade here, their lemonade is more like Sprite or 7up)


These pictures are from Halloween, at Melrose Abbey.
Us crouched in a fireplace.
We picked up these cones and made a band. I was on drums, with Leah and D handling guitar duty.
Us in a doorway.
On top of the church. Note the beautiful scenery.
This where Robert the Bruce's heart is supposedly buried. This is a new stone, they uncovered the old one a couple years ago and analyzed it, and it actually contained human heart remains. Pretty sweet. We are making hearts with our hands by the heart. Ironic.
Here we are sleeping in the sleeping quarters. Can you see the pattern yet?
Walking up the "stairs."
Eating in the dining room.
Me in front of the Abbey.
This is us at Scott's View, a beautiful lookout point. The story goes that Sir Walter Scott would stop here everyday and admire the view, and as his horse was leading his funeral procession, the horse stopped here, without being commanded to let him enjoy it one last time. It was one of the most beautiful sights I have seen since being here. This is down in the boarder area, which is where Scotland and England meet, so it is different than anywhere else we have been.
On top of the church with a member of faculty from one of the colleges. At the end of October, they has a meeting with all the presidents and stuff of all the different UW colleges, and they all stayed in the house with us. I think they were trying to get more schools in on the program, but it was cool because we got to interact with them and discuss the program, so it was cool. One of them also shared Dutch cheese and wine with me, so that was solid. They also donated 75 pounds to our going away party.
Another look at Scott's View.
More Abbey.


The grave where the old Duke, who died last year, is buried next to his parents. This is at Melrose. His grace (as you are supposed to address the Duke) is the one who originally made the contract with UWRF to do the program. His son continues it, and we met the new Duke of Buccleuch (his son) a couple of weeks ago.More of RTB's heart.
More Scott's View. I'm telling you, beautiful.
Us in a window.

The top of the Abbey, without us standing in the way.


Next are some pictures from Guy Fawkes Day, or more commonly called Bonfire Night, to celebrate Fawkes' foiled plot to literally blow up parliament. It is said that he was caught, match in hand, next to tons of gunpowder. Traditionally, fireworks are lit off, and effigies are burned of Guy Fawkes and sometimes other more modern political figures, such as George W. Bush. British trick or treating, called Penny for the Guy, is where kids go around prior to Bonfire Night trying to raise money to buy their fireworks.
We just had a bonfire, with some fireworks.
Me with Greg.
Us holding D.
Greg spinning me around in a fireman's carry. I was very dizzy after this.
John and I.
Me with my Sparkler. Some fireworks.

After the bonfire, we decided to dress like ninjas, and go on a walk late at night. Of course, we saw something over the bridge that freaked us out, and just took off. When we thought the danger had passed, a guy from the house, Jason, sneaked up behind us and scared the crap out of us again. We have been plotting our revenge since.

I can't figure out how to shut off underline. We just might have to roll with it.

I don't think we have too many pics from Leah's birthday,
Ok, underline is under control. Anyway, not a lot of pics from Leah's birthday, although it was epic. Just a great night. So the night before Leah's birthday, it was Gates' birthday. (Nov. 6). We just stayed in the house and drank...a lot. It was so much fun, though.

Here is the birthday boy. He turned 20.
The three of us and my Strongbow cider.
Bringing it in for something... I don't know what, though. From left, Gates (before the shirt removal), Leah, me, D, Peter, Hannah and Drew.
Best. Picture. Ever. We were all singing along to Don't Stop Believing by Journey. Pretty much the Best. Song. Ever. I have really learned to appreciate 80's music since arriving.
More of Journey.
We are streetlight people, living just to find emotion.
Here I am helping D drink champange because her hands were full.
My hands were not full.


This brings us to the trip to Germany. Nicole and fam live in a village in the town of Kaiderslaughtern. I think I have that right. I arrived on Thursday night, and left Monday morning. I had a great time, and it was wonderful to see some family way out here, and re-get to know Nicole, Paige and David, as well as meet Luke, because I haven't before. It was nice because Trent was there just a couple weeks ago, so there was good association for the kids with our family.
Here Paige is making a dress.
This is a really cool restaurant we ate in that was a rennovated castle. It was so cool! They were actually having a private birthday party, so we were originally turned away, but they ended up setting a table for us and letting us eat by the bar. It was really good, and I had some spatzel. It was tastey. The next night we had some delicious German sausage at home. All the food was so good, it was just great to have legitimate cooking and food for a prolonged period of time. I also got a nice taste of German food, a taste of the beer and some wine. It was a great weekend of eating and drinking.

The first night I was there, I had a German beer, which was excellent. I actually would like the name of it so try it again, I liked it so much, which is actually unusual for me, because I don't normally like beer. Anyway, the next morning when Nicole offered me coffee, Paige said, "Traci only likes beer." It was really funny. I guess she got my number right away.
A building in Terir, which is the oldest city in Germany and was built by Romans.
Paige and Luke.
Luke coloring.
The Dom in Terir.
Luke with a sword.
Paige coloring. She colored in that jewelry and cut it out for me. She also sent home pictures for Trent and Trevy, and Luke made me a picture too.
The kids wearing sweatshirts for Perry's football team. They are so cute!

I had so much fun staying with them. There are really no more little kids on either side of my family anymore, so it was great to be around the kids again. One of my favorite things was the last night I was there, and Luke asked me to get him ready for bed, and then I read to them both while they sat in my lap. It was just adorable!

We also saw the Twilight movie, which is a book series by Stephanie Meyer. I bought the first one in the airport in Edinburgh, and talked to Nicole later, she had read the whole saga. I quickly finished the first one, we saw the movie and then I bought the other books while I was in Germany and in Glasgow when I got home. They were really good, I just finished book 4 two days ago. It is a vampire love story, but I think I fell in love with the fictional male lead. He is just so dreamy! The guy who plays him in the movie, Robert Pattison, is also about the most gorgeous guys I have ever seen. Google him if you don't believe me!

We also went on base a couple times, and I got a neat ID card. The guys who were giving them out were teasing me a little bit, so that was funny. They were telling me I couldn't smile, which resulted in me laughing and a terrible picture. I stopped at the grocery store and got some American staples, like Reese's peanut butter cups, goldfish and mac and cheese to bring back. Nicole also peer pressured me into getting TWO Vera Bradley bags, but they were at a discount and there was no tax, so it was not that bad.

Overall, I had a great time, and it was wonderful seeing everyone.
Thanks so much, Nicole and David!!


Now it is time for Thanksgiving! The Ceilidh was really fun, it is basically a Celtic square dance. Dinner was great too, and I think the entire house took a nap in between the meal and dance.
Here I am with Pearce and Jason, our two guys with kilts. Me and Jason killed it during one of the dances!
Here is my table at dinner. We wore dress shirts and sweatpants.


Last Saturday was the Celitc match. They won 1-0, aganst Inverness. But it was not a great game, they played very poorly, but I got good practice in at yelling insults at the referee. I also played alot with my color change feature on the camera, which turned out great with all the green! It was really cold, and the stadium was outdoors, but it was still a great time. After the game we me
Luke, John, me, D and Leah at the Celtic match.
Pearce and I on the train ride there.
Here is where our seats were... Pretty good!
Drew and I on the walk to "Paradise,"or the Celtic Stadium.
Boruc, the beautiful "Holy Goalie" for Celtic, getting a yellow card. He juggled the ball on his feet for a bit before a goal kick, then he switched fields, so he was booked for delay of game. He just turned his back and showed the ref his number. It was awesome, he is such a bad ass!
So here is the sweet color photo! Check out my hoops (the Celtic kit or uniform), don't they look sweet?