Community Lovin’

I love bringing people together. Specifically, I love introducing friends from different parts of my life to each other. The friendships I have formed in each of my life locations have been integral to the experiences I have had in those locations. Therefore, by meeting my friends from different locations, one can gain a better understanding of the life I have led and the person whom I have become. I also just really enjoy awkward situations 😀 But it’s never awkward for long because my friends immediately have something in common: they are all super cool. Right?

Last Saturday night, as part of a weekend in London, I had the joy of watching six of my friends meet and greet as part of a mass Catmac friendship experiment. The mixture included friends from Inverness, university and a special appearance from Ashlea, a friend from my exchange year in Utrecht. As expected, everyone got on, there were hugs at the end of the night, promised catch-up drinks and a lot of facebook-adding the following day. I call that a success!

mid beautiful bonding chez brixton, london

I think part of the reason I enjoy bringing my friends together is because it’s important to me to feel part of something: a community. I guess my sense of belonging is emphasised when I know everyone in that community and they know me.

Time is passing very quickly at the castle. A lot has happened in the five weeks that I’ve been here which suits my temperament down to the ground as I love being busy. However, it’s a funny kind of working environment because I don’t feel like I ever really leave work. Even when I’m away from the office, in my own room as I am now, I’m still existing in my job environment. The days kinda roll into each other; the stage on which my life plays out doesn’t change; the people with whom I interact are the same every day.

I’ve always considered myself to be a very independent person. When moving to different environments, I’ve always set out to create different social networks, creating a life which is entirely my own in which I can determine exactly what I do and when I do it. There was some degree of apprehension when I moved to the castle and realised this sense of independence would no longer be possible. However, I’ve surprised myself. Five weeks in and I’m actually not bothered at all. Why? (I think it’s) Because I’m part of a community.

There are about 140 students studying at the castle. Added to that there are maybe about 70 members of faculty and staff who work here. That’s not really that many people. I may be seeing the same people every day but this has meant that I have quickly felt a sense of belonging to the castle community; I am one of that small number. Specifically, my academic travel colleagues and I get on extremely well – I think we’re all equally easily amused. Our wider team seems to be constantly eating birthday cake. I’ve joined the castle choir and become involved with a student club focused on my favourite Canadian charity, Free The Children. I go on field study trips with different groups of students almost every weekend. Regular hang-outs are had with corridor buddies Nick and Mitch. I eat alongside the students and my colleagues three times a day. Inevitably, I meet the same people in different contexts, increasing the common ground and bond. I love it.

Don’t get me wrong though, I still enjoy an independent CatMac. Last weekend, I had the opportunity to catch up with friends in both Edinburgh and London. It was good to wander extensively, coffee it up extensively, and community it up extensively!

celebratory drinks with newly engaged pete & menuo in edinburgh

catmacwanders. celebrating chinese new year in edinburgh with some terracotta warriers.

reunited with two of my bestest for a cultured russian coffee, old street, london

celebrating chinese new year with a crew of highlanders and asian friends, greenwich, london

the bonding continues at the effra tavern, brixton

post dinner with the most international family i know, south kensington

This is Home

I love flying into Edinburgh airport. Not because of the size, or the facilities, but because of the RBS adverts which greet you as you walk into the terminal building. “This is Home” one of the captions reads, with a backdrop of one of the many epic Scottish scenes. It’s hard to walk past them without developing an immense sense of pride that this ‘home’ they speak of, is yours.

As my brother likes to point out, I said Japan was my home, and Brussels was my home, and now the bonny, bonny fields of East Sussex are my home. Sure, my home changes. But my homeland doesn’t. (Don’t feel like you have to change your adverts though, RBS).

I’ve been very conscious of my nationality recently. Daily mockings of my accent from Nick and almost-as-frequent questioning regarding my thoughts on independence, mean I’m unlikely to forget. But that’s ok. Being Scottish is pretty cool. Last week, there was a Burns celebration chez the castle. Haggis was piped into the dining hall (albeit by a laptop); the ode to the haggis was read (in a Keith accent no less. Dae ye ken Keith?) whilst the haggis was stabbed; Burns songs were sung beautifully by soloists, duos, trios and the choir; hands joined whilst voices sang out the anthem that is Auld Lang Syne and the night was topped off with a cheeky wee ceilidh with some very enthusiastic non-Scots. Pure. Dead. Brilliant.

burns bisc style.
life discovery: i do actually like whisky.

#cambridgememories

I present thee blog post with a million instagram photos and extremely lengthy captions capturing my recent overnight trip to Cambridge with the entirety of the castle student population. It rained for the majority of the weekend but I loved it. Cobbled streets, bicycles ruling the road, cute shops and cafés. Hello Utrecht of the British Isles.

hello cambridge. the weekend started with a walking tour of the city and vists to some of the university colleges.

we also saw some people punting and the sun even appeared for a brief moment. #vexciting

well this is a cool street name.

after lunch, steph, kaitlin and i wandered and they very kindly posed with this most excellent street sign.

what what? it’s the st c’s of cambridge!

as per ex-flatmate fi’s recommendation, i made sure to visit this wee café gem. it was packed and we had to sit beside each other in a line awkwardly watching and listening to the conversations of the elderly party opposite.

“couples taking up four people tables are so inconsiderate”

i am so british. i love it.

dinner in the eagle with nick, matt & rachel. i had hunter’s chicken.hunter you did well.

after hunter and his chicken, we shared a dessert platter. £2 each? oh yes.

post dinner, we went on a mission to find burns celebrations. i went into the mill and asked for irn bru. they denied me my dream so i settled for crabbies, #stillscottish nick had it too but was less impressed.

sunday morning! we stayed at a travelodge at cambridge leisure park which as you can see by julia and rosie’s enthusiasm, was pretty much the most exciting place ever.

later in the morning i headed to this church to say a wee hello to the minister who is also my mum’s friend from university. i also met another couple of people from inverness so basked in their invernesian accents.

after church i had some time to wander so i took some photos of bicycles.

i really like bicycles. i felt like i was in utrecht. it was splendid.

i even saw some people riding bicycles. they are #livingthedream

i also dropped by the fitzwilliam museum. well when i say dropped by, i mean i went to the gift shop. there’s only so much art i can see in the month of january. but the building was super cool. #worthit

i met up with nick, rachel and a couple of the students for sunday roast. we returned to the eagle because quite frankly, it’s awesome. lunch was good. thumbs up all round. cheers cambridge.

Let Us Do or Drink Irn Bru

i kid you not, this is pure joy

“We’re not in Scotland”, scoffed the barman in response to my perfectly reasonable request for Irn Bru, a carbonated soft drink very close to many a Scots-man and -woman’s heart.

I was in Cambridge on an overnight cultural study with some of the students and was on a mad search for something resembling a Burns celebration, held every 25th January to mark the day Robert Burns was born. Unfortunately my search was in vain. Turns out the people of Cambridge (represented by the three people I queried) have never heard of Robert Burns, the great Scottish poet who gave us some absolutely belting songs (hello, Auld Lang Syne). Guys, what’s going on? You’re missing out on a perfect excuse to eat haggis!

However,  I must confess, I think I’ve celebrated Burns fewer than three times in my entire life. The only time I actually recall celebrating it was when I was on my exchange year in the Netherlands. It seems the ‘being out of Scotland’ brings the Scottish out in me, and where else would I feel more Scottish than in England?

I’m by no means a nationalist but I am proud to be Scottish: all I want for Scotland is for it to be recognised on equal terms with the rest of the UK. When it isn’t, the wrath of CatMac descends. Scary. Several weeks ago, when I was in Battle with Silvia, we went to a café and ordered cream tea. I handed over a Scottish note, at which the girl serving me screwed up her face in confusion. “Can we accept these?” she asked her boss who was standing nearby. Thankfully his response was much along the lines of my thought process. “Of course we can. Don’t be ridiculous; it’s legal tender,” he said.  The girl went on to explain that the café had had trouble getting their local bank to accept the Scottish notes. Pfff. This is not the first time Scottish money has come under scrutiny in my presence and it really infuriates me every time.

Last week, I was bopping about London after a field study and I discovered my new favourite shop: Stanfords. This shop specialises in maps and travel books which, if you know anything about me, you will understand basically equals the dream. I was extremely excited to find my ideal map of Europe, with every country name written in the language of that country. This is awesome, I thought. I carefully pulled out the map from its container only to be confronted with the worst possible error. There was no Scotland. The top of the map stopped at the north of England, as if Scotland didn’t exist at all. In my fury (not really) I stuffed (carefully edged) the map back into its container. Not cool, Stanfords, not cool.

These are little things, I know, but they are things that repeatedly occur and niggle at our sense of national pride. But to be quite honest, I’d probably get over it; just give me some Irn Bru.

some of the burns classics

A Field Day for Instagram

Sunny days are made for exploring.

This afternoon Nick, Mitch and I visited Beachy Head, chalk sea cliffs located just outside of Eastbourne. Blue skies, streaming sunshine, fresh air blowing, a vast expanse, spectacular, awe-inspiring views. It was an Instagram dream. A brief stopover in Eastbourne afterwards allowed for some more sun-related photography by the pier. And a 7-0 epic thrashing in air hockey. Oh yes.

South Ken Bonding

i heart kensington

Over the Christmas break, I found myself watching 2009 period drama film ‘ The Young Victoria’ which is based on the life of Queen Victoria in, as the title suggests, her younger years. As with any film or book based on real life events, I became engrossed in the storyline, googling as I watched, eager to learn more about what happened in her life, and in particular with regard to the ‘will-they, won’t-they’ storyline between her and Prince Albert. Much to the viewer’s satisfaction, the couple did marry both in the film and in real life.

Fast forward 2 weeks. ‘What’s the V&A?’ I asked Nina, as we made our way from Victoria station towards South Kensington. ‘The Victoria and Albert Museum’, she answered. Cool, I thought, a whole museum dedicated to this fascinating period in history, what a treat.

Or not.

It turns out the V&A is rather a museum of art and design, ‘the world’s greatest’ infact. I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed when hearing the description. I’ve never been that into art, and would definitely never make a point of visiting art galleries on city visits. However, three-visits-in-two-weeks later, I’ve perhaps had a change of heart. On my second visit, I went to a fashion exhibition, as referred to in the previous post. As we were waiting for the coach to arrive to take us back to the castle, I overheard one of the students saying ‘Imagine coming to the V&A and only seeing the fashion exhibition, I don’t want to be one of those people’. Ummm. I sheepishly looked away. Sure I might not be that into art, but I am in the world’s greatest art and design museum, I should probably take more of a look.

Nina must have sensed this lack of exploration in my life as I found myself back at the museum one week later with a different group of students. Determined not to be one of ‘those people’ I set about finding something to satisfy my curiousity. I didn’t have to try too hard. Two of the biggest exhibition spaces are dedicated to Britain, covering the periods 1500-1900, displaying the clothing, furniture, implements used in those times. So maybe I couldn’t read more about Queen Victoria’s life but I could see how she and others like her lived. That’s pretty cool, I thought. And it was. I wandered round for a couple of hours, and was thoroughly entertained. I recommend.

the V&A

what were they thinking when they made this chair?

it’s ok. charles rennie mackintosh is here. it must be a good museum.

V&A isn’t the only highlight of South Kensington though. And incase I was feeling hard done by, there are even more Victoria&Albert related sites too. North of the museum, in Kensington gardens, you can see the Albert Memorial, built to commemorate the death of Prince Albert in 1861. Opposite the Memorial stands the Royal Albert Hall. Ah yes, suddenly all these names make sense.

The Royal Albert Hall

the Albert Memorial

The V&A, alongside the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum, make up a pretty solid museum base in South Kensington. It’s generally a very wealthy area as exemplified by the beautiful buildings and cafés which one finds themselves walking past constantly. Oh, and Harrods is down the road.

Other lesser known CatMac highlights include the Kensington branch of American store Whole Foods Market which is one of those places where you can pick ‘n’ mix from a variety of fresh, organic food outlets; and a branch of Japanese store Uniqlo, which unlike in Japan, is extremely difficult to access in the UK. Basically #lovinglife #lovinglondon, but more specifically, #lovingkensington

lunchin’ kensington style

Novelties of the Tropical South

I’m not gonna lie, living in the tropical south of the UK is pretty exciting. Though the soaring-slightly-higher-than-home temperatures are for sure a highlight, this week’s cheers have been dominated by reunions, London and an excessive number of coffees en route.

On Thursday, Silvia, a friend from yonder catmacinjapan days, dropped by as part of a very indirect route from Boston to Thailand. Her sister, Nina, also works at the castle, and it was through this connection that I found out about the job in the first place. Got to love a personal link. Nina kindly gave me the afternoon off work allowing jetlagged-to-the-max Silvia and me to explore local hotspot town, ‘Battle’, famous for its proximity to that thing they call the Battle of Hastings. The famous abbey located in the town was unfortunately closed, leaving Silvia and me,  5 hours to kill with only cafés for entertainment. What to do? Guess we’ll have a coffee or two then. Or cream tea to be precise, darling. Of course there was time for a cheeky jumping photo, or twenty. It’s ok, I don’t know anyone here.

mmmmmmmmm

first attempt at a jumping hi-five. we’re so skilled.

Following our training on Monday, Nick and I accompanied groups of students attendings trips in London on both Friday and Saturday. This is really what our role is all about so it was good to get started, see what was involved and embrace some culture along the way. Free time at the Natural History museum, a fashion exhibition at the Victoria and Albert museum and exploration at the National Gallery made for a snazzy couple of days of education. I’m sure I’d be much smarter if I lived in London. Multiple coffee stops featured along the way including a rather embarassing abandonment of the Harrods café after sitting down and seeing their extortionate prices (£4.50 for a teabag? Really?) and a very exciting reunion with university friends James and Jané on the sunniest day of the year. Seriously, what’s there not to love about London? It’s the shizzle.

making friends at the natural history museum

love a london reunion so i do

blue skies and pillars. this is like the best day ever.

The weekend has ended on a more chilled note. Last night, upon arriving back at the castle, Mitch, one of our colleagues, had a cheeky wee welcoming soirée in his apartment complete with cheese, crackers and champagne. Oh yes, this is how we roll in the castle, my friends. I also had the opportunity to go to church this morning which was rather exciting. As much as I do enjoy the castle banter, I hope I can be part of a community outside of it.

cheese in abundance is a very beautiful thing

In other news, I’ve temporarily acquired a keyboard in my room, cue me blasting out Caledonia at the top of my voice all afternoon in an attempt to ensure I don’t lose my Scottishness. #scotlandforever #butenglandisok

Manure, Big Smoke & Burns

On Sunday morning, I woke up with a new sense of vigour. My body had been restored to good health and I was ready to escape the bedroom where I’d felt captive in illness for the previous 36 hours. Being sick is pants. Being well is the shizzle. ‘Let’s explore!!!!’ I messaged Nick with no exaggeration on the exclamation marks.

The castle referred to in the blog name is Herstmonceux Castle, one of the oldest brick buildings, if not the first, in the UK apparently. Oh yes. Not just any castle. The castle is the main landmark of Herstmonceux village, a short (ahem) 45 minute walk from the castle along a muddy, farmy, quiet, villagey road. Nick and I, like all of the students, are carless whilst at the castle. This means we are, in a sense, stuck. Fortunately, there are minibuses organised daily to various destinations in the area and some of our fellow staff members have vechicles so there are means of escape, should it be required!

Thinking we should see what there was available locally, we set off for the village. There wasn’t much to observe. Unfortunately, my enthusiasm backfired in that we were too early for the two pubs and had to settle for cans of fizzy juice from the local corner shop as means of rehydration. But hey, who needs a pub when you’ve found your local free manure supplier!

let me know if you’d like some too

Following an exciting afternoon of Asda and Starbucks, the official opening ceremony of the winter term took place on Sunday evening. I was pleased to discover that Canadian opening ceremonies are not as formal as their Japanese counterparts. After a brief welcoming speech from the director, everyone was free to mingle, wine and cheese in hand. It was good to have the opportunity to chat to some of the students, and also the professors who were there selling their courses. Already this experience has emphasised how impersonal my degree was at the University of Edinburgh. I was just a number; I could have been anyone. Contrastingly, here, the students are in classes of about 3o, the professors really get to know their students’ abilities and can provide advice based on that knowledge. It’s a pretty cool opportunity for the students and I imagine, probably more rewarding for everyone involved.

But if I thought Asda was exciting, Monday was only going to get better. Today, Nina, the Academic Travel manager, took us into London to test our navigation skills, using maps shock horror.  What do you mean I can’t use my iPhone?? In addition to seeing how we coped without technology, it was a good opportunity for her to show us the main London sites where we’d be taking the students, including the Victoria and Albert museum and the National Gallery at Trafalgar Square. The trip made me realise how little time I’ve actually spent in London. I’ve visited the city a number of times but never really to visit the city, more to see friends or catch a glimpse of Andy Murray at Wimbledon.  This new exposure to cultural sights made me feel like I was visiting for the first time, and it also reminded why I’ve always had it in my head that I want to live in London. I LOVE IT. There’s so much going on, there are a squillion nationalities everywhere you look, and it’s a beautiful city, full of history and charm.

inside the very swish restaurant of the victoria and albert museum

it’s sunny in london!!

the victoria and albert museum. note the blue skies. oh london you tropical south you.

The journey takes about 1.5 hours on the train from Polegate to London Victoria, making a day trip a distinct possibility. Upon arriving back at the castle, I joined the first practice of the open choir with the students which I was delighted to discover involved singing Scots Wha Hae and Charlie Is My Darling in preparation for the Burns celebrations we’ll be having later in the month. Why yes, I would love to sing traditional Scottish songs thank you very much. To top it all off, I got back to my room and discovered it was only 8.30pm. Win! #oldage

gareth malone, you’re very welcome too

Where is Sussex, anyway?

A new year, a new job, a new country… well sort of.

On January 2nd, still aching from my New Year’s ceilidh, I reluctantly paid a £50 excess baggage fee and boarded the flight from Edinburgh to London Gatwick from which I would train it down to Polegate and begin a new adventure chez East Sussex.

Much like Belgium, and Japan for that matter, East Sussex had never been on my radar. What’s south of London? Isn’t it just the sea? ….

Oh dear. I have so much to learn.

wow, this is really south

Whilst here, I’ll be working for a Canadian university which owns a castle in East Sussex. You know. As you do. To give you a quick history lesson, an alumni student from Queen’s University, Canada, donated the castle to the university back in the day, and now it is used as a study-abroad centre for students from across the globe.

So what’s my role? At the centre, emphasis is placed on field studies: first-hand, practical experience regarding what you are learning. This has been branded as ‘academic travel’  and I will be an intern in this team, alongside fellow newbie Nick. This will involve organising and staffing trips for students both locally and abroad. Dream job much? You could say that.

It’s been an eventful 48 hours. Students arrived yesterday, and orientation is in full swing. We experienced a power cut and water-stoppage last night due to the bad weather – suddenly water and electricity became the most exciting commodities ever. Poor Nick watched on as I vomited my entire food intake yesterday – nothing like vomit to cement a friendship. Mmm, things can only get better, right?

An opening ceremony tomorrow night awaits, followed by a training day in London on Monday. Let the blogging begin!

the view from my window. this is rural for shizzle.

don’t panic. they have shreddies.