A Bit of Hiatus

Ugh.  Sorry guys!  A lot has been happening in the past few days or so, suddenly.  I am still updating, and am hoping to get back on a regular schedule next week.  This week, is reading week, which means that I have no classes because I'm "writing essays".  Except I did mine in advance, so it's really a week of vacation.

Football (Both Kinds)

In the U.S. "football" is used to refer to that game where people tackle each other a bunch to get a ball into the endzone.  In the rest of the world, "football" refers to what is known in the U.S. as "soccer," a game played with a two-toned ball where the aim is to get the ball into a goal net.  A lot of people will say that "football" makes more sense when applied instead of "soccer" because in soccer, is played with the feet.  The original term for both, however, comes from the idea that the sports are played on foot, instead of say, on horseback.

I digress.  February 5th, my birthday, held a great deal of football, as both the Superbowl and a Rangers' game were held that day.  

Rangers' Game

The Rangers were facing off against a team from Dundee, which was supposedly a match favorable to the Rangers.  You can read the match report online if you're interested so I won't go into it here, but the short of it is that the Rangers lost 0-2.

Still the experience in itself was fun.  There wasn't really a narrator, or any kind of show like in baseball.  However, the fans for each side more than made up for it.  Each side had a dedicated section where fans sang songs, danced, and shouted chants to cheer for their team.  They were so loud you could hear them from outside the stadium.  In recent months, police have been trying to crack down on it for fear of violence breaking out, but I didn't ever feel threatened by the chanting so I imagine outside of "Old Firm" games it's probably relatively harmless.

I didn't find out until later, but that game was a Scottish Cup match, and losing it meant the Rangers were out  of the Cup.  The Rangers have also been having some financial problems so in general it's just not a good time for them, poor guys.

I mean to go to a Celtics game at some point - as sacrilegious as that would be to some people - to see if there are any differences.  But I'd definitely recommend a match for anyone coming to Scotland as it's good fun and doesn't take up much more than an afternoon.

Superbowl

It took us a while to remember that the Superbowl is shown live in the U.S. and thus, "starts" five hours later here, so I only got to see up until halftime.  It was playing at a bar in the fabulous Queen Margaret Union, right next to the university, so my friends and I popped in and got a few pints.

There were of course, a lot of Americans there.  A few bars in the city were hosting similar events, so while not a huge deal, it's big enough that people feel the need to advertise for it.  

The bar tried to make the experience as authentic as possible.  There were people who were slightly too drunk who kept yelling "U.S.A" at the television (and I believe they were English, or Scottish, not American).  There were even "hotdogs," served on baguettes  that were surprisingly popular.  

Unfortunately, because Britain sucks when it comes to getting U.S. television, we had to watch the game on BBC, which meant no commercials, thus defeating pretty much the entire purpose of attending.  We did get to see the half-time show, but the jury is out on whether or not that was a good thing.  

Still, watching the Superbowl in a bar with a good amount of Americans was a nice little slice of home in the middle of the term, and overall pretty fun.

Small Problem

Sitting in my mailbox are £200+ worth of tickets to a Rangers game taking place tomorrow, and a birthday card addressed to yours truly.  Sitting somewhere under someone's bed, or perhaps in a garbage heap somewhere, is the key to said mailbox.

This is one of those times when I wish they taught more useful things in high school.  Things like, how to pick a lock, say.  Vastly more useful and applicable to my daily life than knowing when the Magna Carta was signed.  Thanks to certain video games, I know how picking a lock works conceptually.  But it's not like I've ever done it in practice.

Our mail box opens at the back without a lock (so the mailman can slip the mail in), and the gap is ALMOST wide enough for me to fit my hand in.  I suppose on the one hand I should be thankful that it's not, but on the other, it's incredibly taunting to see a letter with my name on it and not be able to grab it.

Tomorrow, a locksmith is hopefully coming before we have to leave for the game.  If not, I'll just find some small child or someone who can fit their hand in the back, or some brawny scottsman who can just break off the stupid lock.  I want my birthday card!

How To Survive Like a College Kid

Shameless plug here.  One of my professors (from my home college) just released a preview of his new novel.  If you're into reading, please take some time to check it out.  Now back to miles across the sea...

I've been feeling under the weather the past few days, so unfortunately I don't have much to report in terms of new stuff I've done.  This weekend promises to be exciting however with a trip to Lock Lomond and my first football game in the works, so Saturday and Monday's updates should be fantastic (no promises though).

This time I'll be detailing how I've managed to go from someone who can barely make something in the microwave, to a fairly self-sufficient human being.  

First, I had to get over the whole 'needing food to be perfect' thing.  At home I like to shop organic, natural, or whatever, and I won't eat anything that's marked past the "best by" date.  Here it's a free-for-all.  Provided it doesn't have mold, it's a go.  Even if it doesn't go with anything else I'm eating, into the pot.

Which brings me to survival point number two: everything goes with olive oil.  At the start of my journey, I used to try and make tomato sauce better by sauteing some stuff in oil and then adding it to the mix.  Now I don't even bother with the tomato base: it tastes just as good without it.  Basically, I just put some veggies and spices in a pan and throw them on some pasta and cheese.  Some of the greatest hits are:

Houseplants!

• Cherry tomatoes - I don't even like tomatoes, but put these in olive oil with some salt & pepper and they're fantastic.
• Garlic - Accidentally bought six heads of garlic my first week.  Haven't gone through it, but I've managed to add it to pretty much everything I make.
• Fresh Basil - One of my better purchases.  Found a live plant for a pound at Morrison's (a mid-range grocer), and have somehow managed to keep it alive.
• Onions - Especially sweet onions.

Other than that "recipe," I've made great use of Tesco and BBC, both of which have tons of recipes themselves.  The former even lets you plan out your meals (though their recipes tend to leave out ingredients in the ingredient lists).  Best thing is that they both have all their measurements in "British," which isn't always just a standard metric conversion.  A lot of things (like say, butter, and milk), will go by weight instead of volume or vice versa.  The only drawback is that both sites try to make their food too good, and as I'm poor I have to simplify them a lot.  But pretty consistently my flat-mates walk in while I'm cooking with praise of "that smells good!" or some such.  Which is a big change from the normal response of, "What's burning?"