Back to School

Hi everyone!

I'm using this blog as opportunity to procrastinate for a little bit. We are officially back in the swing of things in Edinburgh with plenty of assignments coming up this week. In better news, I had the privilege to attend quite a few Rotary events the past couple of weekends so I thought I would take this opportunity to share everything that has been going on. The Rotary Club of Portobello was kind enough to invite me to speak about myself and experiences while studying here. It was a cool opportunity to tell them about the American military and explain what I am studying and why it is important. We also conducted the traditional Rotary flag exchange where I gave them the flag from Indian Rocks and received the flag from the district of Edinburgh which I will be bringing back to Mr. Polanksy in a few months. I think everyone was a little bit jealous of the warm weather Florida has right now compared to the cold and rain of Edinburgh. I also had the chance to go to a Burns dinner at the Rotary Club of Corstophine with the other scholars.The Burns dinner is conducted annually around Scotland where they celebrate the life of Scotland's national poet, Robert Burns. Everyone eat Haggis as their main meal, if you do not know what that is I strongly suggest looking it up. After the meal we had a traditional Scottish Dance or Ceilidh as well. It was a very cool cultural experience. This past weekend I attended a charity pub quiz with my host parents, Stuart and Moira. I was not too much help as the majority of the questions were about the United Kingdom, but I did great with all of the American sports ones! We did not win, but I did meet some great people. Alexi and I have do have a week off from classes and bought tickets to Iceland in two weeks, so hopefully my next update will come with some pictures of the northern lights. Going to Iceland is something I have always wanted to do, so I am extremely excited. I hope everyone is doing well and as always please reach out through facebook, skype, or email (My phone doesn't have international calling).