Getting Used to Scotland

So, it's Thursday and I finally have a wee break to sit down and compose a journal entry! 

The first day of classes was on Monday, and I've barely had a minute that I wasn't working, getting to know my classmates, meeting Scottish students, learning, riding, or trying desperately to get the internet to work! Tuesday night I got a bit of a chat in using facebook, but any social networking site is apparently blocked at the college here normally. At the moment there are 4 colleges merging, and all of their strict rules about facebook are taking over. Take a peek at the picture to see what screen I get when I try to log on! These restrictions also apply to twitter, pinterest, skype, iMessage, and whatsapp! So I apologize for the lack of communication to everyone back home.

Let me begin with Monday: Our first "class" consisted of us sitting and talking about what we might do to learn about the anatomy and physiology of a horse and what categories we will be covering. Our professor is Sharon Anderson, and she is also very in charge of the program. She is awesome, and very accomodating. She makes us feel so welcome (and a bit pampered). After ten minutes or so of going over the syllabus, we took a proper tour of the college grounds and watched a bit of a lesson in action to introduce us to the horses. Monday evening we met up with some Scottish students and they showed us the student bar, where we learned that you don't tip so much here. Ginge (pronounced "ginger" without the "-er"), the bartender earned three times his nightly wages, and needless to say he appreciates the American students. 

Tuesday morning, Facebook began to work!! So we all went crazy and wrote notes home in the short intermissions during the day to let our worried family and friends that we are all doing great and meeting a lot of awesome friends. Breakfast at 8, a meal of toast croissants and cheese, was a foreshadowing of the carbalicious meals we would be served each day while we are here. We all walked over to our first Equine Fitness class, taught by our other awesome prof Louise, who is from Liverpool England and is much easier to understand than the Scottish people we have met so far. We learned how to judge a horse's fitness at rest, along with checking their health, all in preparation for our hands-on class at the yard(stables) next class period. After lunch we headed to the yard to tack up and show off our riding talents in the school(arena). Though they are obsessed with health and safety rules here while tacking up and all else that goes on, we eventually got on the horses for a few good laps to be evaluated and separated into lesson groups by ability. Jordan and I rode Patsie - not at the same time of course - and she is a wonderful and gorgeous mare! I can't wait to get into the real lessons.

Now Tuesday night went a bit crazy! It was the "Welcome to Scotland" night, and both the ecology and equine students were greeted and invited into the party by a bagpiper playing traditional Scottish music. Once inside the building, we learned that the national drink of Scotland is whiskey - of which there was no shortage. Men in kilts sang and recited the beautiful poems of the Scotsman Robert Burns, some dressed in pajamas or as dogs to act out the poems, and the men who sang had such amazing voices. Unfortunately, I could barely understand a word. Before the haggis was served, we were part of the haggis ceremony (of which I understood even less because it was 100% in gaelic). I was blown away and greatful to have been a part of that!

Yesterday (Wednesday), we had both of our classes in the yard. After an overview of the points of a horse, we were given labels to stick on our horse of choice in small groups. Jordan, Cheryl, Tiffany and I chose Patsie, who was exceptionally ticklish in certain places because of the labels! Later, in Equine fitness, we met at the yard to assess two different horses' fitness levels at rest and compare them. We then managed to get a ride to a tack shop, where I purchased a blue velvet helmet, since the school helmets here are not even remotely up to par. I am quite fond of it, and plan on acquiring a pair of navy jodphurs to match for shows! That evening, we sat in on a show jumping schooling show, and we collectively found ourselves evaluating the fitness levels of some of these horses! Some nine-year-olds on small white ponies could put our riding abilities to shame!

Today we worked in the classroom for both of our classes and got a break to go to the store in between. I bought eggs to boil in the mornings, and fruit!! I miss fruit, and we are only given a small a little apple or something in the morning!! They had blueberries for one pound, and I think that's a bit less than back home? I am on my way to dinner, and hopefully it will be yummy and I have a chance to relax tonight (and maybe facebook will work!!!) 

XOXO