Burns Supper
The Business School put on a lovely Burns Supper in honor of Burns Night, a holiday to celebrate Robert Burns, Scotland's most prolific poet. It is held on January 25, his birthday. Current students and alumni were invited, and we had a wonderful Scottish dinner as well as a Ceilidh. There were about 200 people there, and it was a wonderful evening!
My table at for dinner. All MBA peers and their partners.
Smoked salmon starter. Yum!
Scotch Broth soup.
Haggis, neeps (turnips) and tatties (potatoes). The neeps were delicious!
Dessert: cream, chocolate and fruit.
Women of the MBA
Ode to the Haggis. We toasted the haggis before starting to eat. There were also toasts to Rabbie Burns, a toast to women given by my friend Steve on behalf of the men, and a toast to the men by my friend Elisa on behalf of us gals.
Maria, Elisa, Amanda and me.
Me and Karim
Dancing with Jonny. Notice one missing shoe. It was getting intense.
With Kieran
Edinburgh CapitalsI somehow convinced 15 of my classmates, many of whom had never seen an ice hockey game before, join me for an Edinburgh Capitals match. The calibre of play was probably equivalent to really good high school teams or Division 2 college. It was a lot of fun, though! The stadium was probably about the size of Park's main ice area, and there was a turnout of about 2000 people. They give out a case of beer to the MVPs at the end of the match, and I hope to have that honor one day!
They did Chuck a Puck during the second intermission. I convinced Jonny and Cassie to do it with me. This was our competition: a bunch of kids. It was a little embarrassing. Luckily, the winner was the only person older than us!
Superbowl
I watched the Superbowl at a bar called Malones with a bunch of friends. They were selling discount Budweiser and chicken wings. Very American! I wore my awesome Vikings sweatshirt I found at a vintage sale in Edinburgh. It is from 1989, and perfectly balances my 1987 Twins World Series Champion sweatshirt.
Beer and wings
Ale, me and Ruk were the last ones standing, and the only of our group to finish the entire game. An Argentinian and Thai were up later than my fellow Americans!
After going out for drinks for my friend Kieran's birthday, there was a party put on by the North American Society. Inder, who is from Vancouver, Ale and I stuck around for it and were able to play a little bit of beer pong. I did so good during my turn, getting 5/6 cups and winning the game. Leah would be proud.
Two of my good friends have had birthdays: Cassie and Karim. Karim's birthday also fell on the night we celebrated Chinese New Year.
The gang for Cassie's late birthday dinner. We went for Mexican!
Kieran, Omar, Karim and I out for Karim's birthday.
Amer and I at dinner.
Chinese New Year
Our Chinese and Taiwanese classmates threw a great New Year's party. We all wore red, and the girls made an awesome spread of food. We all had a really nice time, and it was so kind of them to include us in their special holiday.
Six Nations
My friend Ale was able to get tickets to the Six Nations Rugby match Scotland vs. Italy. I was lucky enough to accompany him. Our seats were fantastic. We were about ten rows from the pitch. We were sitting in the section with Italy's supporters. It was such a fun game! Scotland ended up winning the match in fine form, and they have just beat Ireland as well. This is very unheard of for Scotland rugby!
So close to the pitch.
Drinks with Gerry
I also was able to catch of with Gerry, one of my professors from WIS. We have stayed in touch over the years, and were finally able to get together since my return to Scotland. He is such a wonderful person, and I enjoyed catching up with him very much. He is a great person to count as a friend.
Manchester Weekend
Manchester Business School hosted an MBA football tournament, and our guys scraped together a team. A few of us ladies went along as supporters to cheer them on. The other schools were Lancaster, Warwick, Oxford and Cambridge. We were the only school without an established football team, and were also the smallest class. Our guys were a little outmatched, but everyone had a wonderful time. I took my role as supporter very seriously, and we cheered our guys through thick and thin. No other teams, even Manchester, really had supporters, so everyone was quite jealous of us. I even overheard someone from Cambridge (who beat us 5-0) say that they felt bad because no one even cared that they were winning, while we were thrilled for our guys to just be playing. We also did quite a bit of trash talking to both the referee and the other teams. By the end of the tournament, all the other schools were on our side, going as far as booing the opponent when they scored.
The weekend included two parties and a tour of Manchester United's stadium. It was a long weekend, but very fun. I am so proud of the guys. They really did their best.
Cassie, Chloe, me, Elisa, Swati and Zorah: The supporters!
Team meeting during half time.
Old Trafford
A rest stop. It was such a beautiful part of the country.
Supporters after the last match.
Elisa, Ale and I at the club for party number 2.
My favorite moment of the weekend, captured by the talented Chloe. We only scored one goal in the tournament, and it was by Ernst. After the game, instead of being disappointed, Sam picked him up like he has just won us the world cup, and we all cheered and celebrated. It is a great example of how we spent our weekend: just having a great time, no matter what. The boys were also so sweet, and told us how our cheering made them feel good, even when they were tired, sore and getting beat. I have many great memories with some truly wonderful people.
We are almost done with this part of the semester. Our classes finish on March 21, and I will be leaving Scotland and all my friends on April 4. My lease is up April 5, so I will be going to Korea to visit Travis for a little bit before reporting to Shanghai with the rest of my exchange crew. It is hard to believe in just a few short weeks I will be apart from most of the people who have been making my MBA experience extraordinary. Hopefully most of them will still be here when I return in July, but no matter what, I will never forget them, and have made some friends that will last a lifetime.
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