Family Update Letter 3

Hey Everyone! (picture links at bottom of letter)

Just sending a quick update, since it’s one of my days off. Things are going pretty okay. Nothing is ever perfect, but I am way better off than I was a month ago. And I’m keeping busy with school and school related activities.

I met with my two advisors last week and they assigned me a lit review on all the relevant literature out there on Film and Religion. I was going to try to write some abstracts for conferences, so that I could travel at the school’s expense (especially home), but I’ve been advised that unless it relates to what I’m writing my PhD Dissertation on, I should steer away from the extra work. Bottom line, if it’s not going to help me write my dissertation, it’s not worth my time right now. The advisors were nice, though, and seem very hard on me. My Film Studies department advisor made me feel like she was criticizing me for being an American. She mentioned some obscure foreign films and seemed shocked that I had seen them and/or knew of them. She also gave me a huge list of films I have to watch for my research. My Theology Advisor from Divinity I like a little more. He just published a new book on Film and Religion and I can’t wait to read it. So I have a lot of reading to do this month, because of that literature review that is due on November 1. In May/June I have a One-Year Review and I have to have a ton of stuff done for it. I’m nervous, but I can do this. Once I’m done I’m home free, so I just have to keep focusing on the awesomeness of the end result.

So I’m doing a lot of reading overall, which is time consuming and sometimes stressful. On top of that I’m taking two classes: Film Theory and Avant-Garde Cinema. I have to go to screenings and do readings. I’m trying to arrange a Halloween Double-Feature Fest for the Post-Graduate Film Studies students during the week of Halloween. They’re all really excited and I’ve already had people volunteer to help. We’re just locating a venue at the moment and then it should go forward. If this goes well, I might do it for Christmas too.

But school has been pretty good. I’m mingling. I’ve been trying to go to the school events to stay social, get out of the house and meet people. I hate the bus though. I miss my car very much, especially since the two buses that go out to my house are cursed to not come on time or come very frequently. Maybe in the winter they’ll be more reliable. Or I’ll just have to find heavier clothing. Apparently even my heaviest shirt doesn’t cut it here in Scotland. I think my biggest need is a good jacket.

I’ve been trying to figure out the television channels here. Some shows they don’t show or the shows have different names. This one Scottish girl in my Film Theory class was talking smack about Korean television and me and this Canadian girl were comparing our silly situations with television in the UK and the Scottish girl got all defensive, like we were criticizing her or something. It was very silly. It seem Scottish people, and Europeans in general, love to speak poorly of every other country (especially the US), but thing their countries are the best. A French girl on our bus to Stirling did that. She was sitting next to me, but her and her Russian friend were talking about driver’s licenses and how stupid Americans are for allowing kids to drive at 16. It showed how ignorant they were about what they were talking about, because they didn’t understand it’s a state by state thing, there are classes involved, and there are reasons why our country almost requires young people to drive early (jobs, extra curricular activities, etc). I didn’t say anything, but later on in their conversation they started speaking poorly of our political system, again making assumptions that were completely unfounded and could have also been made of England their system, too. I thought it was really ignorant. I don’t make sweeping generalizations about countries, people, etc., unless I have facts to back up my observations. These are the kinds of attitudes that are tearing our world apart, instead of bringing us together.

The nicest and most eager to network people are the Asians, especially the Chinese. They don’t walk around with their nose in the air, they are very polite and inquisitive. Really nice people, from the ones that I’ve met (Vietnam, Korea, Chinese, Japanese, Singapore). I’ve only met one Scottish person who has been really nice. His name is Barry and we’re in Film Studies together. I’ve also met a Canadian who is relatively nice, then a girl from Germany and, I think, Denmark, my fellow PhD girl is from Iran but studied in Canada for 7 years, and then a few Americans. I can honestly say the American girl is really a turn off and I can understand why people view us negatively. She doesn’t know how to discuss things in a round table discussion. It feels like she wants to fight and she turns off a lot of people from wanting to even listen to what she is saying. I’ve also met a few French people and I’ve been encouraged to take a few introductory French classes, especially because of my desire to work in Film Studies. So I think Ray and I might take some French classes together, because he wants to improve his French. It’ll be fun.

I’ve also been meeting people through the International Student Center. They are the ones who host the trips around Scotland. We went to Stirling this past Saturday and we’re going to Rosslyn Chapel this Saturday. I have a small group who has banded together for Saturday’s trip. We’re taking the local Lothian bus line out to the town and then we’re walking to the church. It’s free for me, since I have a bus pass anyways, but riding the bus is pretty reasonable. It’s 2.50 pounds for a day ticket (on and off as much as you want) or 1pound each time you get on the bus. I pay 38pounds a month for unlimited bus travel. I make sure I ride the bus at least 1 round trip a day, especially to get out of the flat for a bit when I don’t have class and wanna take a break from research. After Rosslyn Chapel, though, we’re heading to St. Andrews & Falkland Castle (Oct 13), Pitlochry & Edradour Distillery (Oct 20), a fun Ghost Tour and Halloween Special (Oct 27), Loch Katrine (Nov 3), North Berwick (Nov 17) and then they’re doing some Holiday fun stuff (Thanksgiving Dinner). I have someone who is going to help me smuggle Ray onto the trips, by posing as a student. Who knows, maybe when we take French together, he’ll count. But they don’t really check up on us and as long as we stay discrete it’ll work out. They can’t not let him come on the public bus trips, just the private bus trips. But it’ll all work out. Not worried.

Speaking of Ray, he’s filing his Visa paperwork today. He’ll be traveling as a dependant on my student Visa. He’s looking to leave October 17 and he’ll be here by October 18 with Archie. The airline he wants to fly with has a special pet program, so Archie will fly safely and happily. The garden in the back of our flat will be perfect for him. He can also ride the bus with us, if we want to take him around town with us. Many of the places here also have dog ties out front and there are many outdoor cafes. Even when it’s chilly, it’s nice to sit at them, especially when the sun is out and it’s bright. It will be great to see him. We are going on a Vault Vigil (what mom and I went on) on November 2. It’ll be six hours doing ghost investigations in the vaults under the city. He is actually excited to do it and I am interested to see what will happen.

Other than that, things are going pretty well. I went to the independent art house movie theatre here the other day. They have a huge café and sell movies and magazines there, too. It was pretty nice. The weight loss is still going well. I’m at -55 pounds. Ray will have to bring some more clothes for me to wear so that I look nice. The flat is working out. I anticipate exchanging some words with a neighbor once Ray arrives. The wall between their kitchen/living room and our bedroom is so thin we can hear him blow his nose in the morning and he loves to blast his music (example: Sunday morning, 9:34AM). I’m conserving using the gas for heat and I’ve been bundling up and now I have two small electric heaters. We’ll see how my plans work out when I get my first electric bill. But the flat is nice and I’m relatively comfortable. Still don’t know what to do about the front bedroom and the loudness of the street and neighbors, but we’ll work it out. Ray’ll have an easier time sleeping in there than I will.

I miss everyone and I’ll try to keep updates a bit less far apart. It’s just been a really busy last couple of weeks. Once Ray is here, things will be better and I’m sure life will be a little more happier. I’ll be able to go out more, I think. But I just have to keep plugging away and do a good job with school, so that when I come home I can do what I need to do to start my family. I miss the cats, I miss my friends, and I miss my family very much. Love to all of you and ::hugs:: and ::kisses::

Click the picture and to the right you’ll see a next button that you can scroll through the pictures. If you’d prefer a zip, please let me know and I can try to send a zip through a messenger service.

Pictures from Scotland (mom trip and the rest of August)
http://s9.photobucket.com/albums/a74/reelmonkey/Scotland/August%202007/

Pictures from Loch Lomond (International Student Trip)
http://s9.photobucket.com/albums/a74/reelmonkey/Scotland/September%202007/Loch%20Lomond/

Pictures from around Scotland (September 2007)
http://s9.photobucket.com/albums/a74/reelmonkey/Scotland/September%202007/

Pictures from Stirling (International Student Trip)
http://s9.photobucket.com/albums/a74/reelmonkey/Scotland/September%202007/Stirling/


Pictures of the Apartment (I’ll update these when I get more situated)
http://s9.photobucket.com/albums/a74/reelmonkey/Scotland/Apartment/

Love,
Sarah KB.