Going Plaid: School

First of all I want to say sorry for not posting sooner. Life is really catching up to me here in Scotland.

I have heard for years that other school systems are much better than those in the US, and I assumed that I was going to have my work cut out for me here. Not only is the grading system vastly different (70% is an A) I thought their expectations would be much higher. I was simply wrong.

This is week 8 of school and so far I have been breezing through. True the first few weeks are easy, and all the work comes at the end but I was very surprised at how the same effort I make at home is working just fine for me here. It's a big relief because I was under the assumption that when it came down to the middle of the trimester I would no longer see the light of day shut away in my room studying and writing papers.

I also have never had a more exciting and beautiful campus. Napier has many campuses and I think I lucked out with the best one. It's called Craighouse and it used to be a mental hospital, but don't let that creep you out. It is situated on top of a hill with a fantastic view of the city. (and at night no one can hear you scream muhahahaha j.k.) The main building is like a castle with a magnificent great hall where they hold wedding receptions just about every weekend. The classrooms themselves are all different, one is a beautiful yellow and blue room with white detailing all over the place, another is a large dark wood paneled room with an alcove in the corner, a fireplace and a window. The classes are also in all different places, there's rooms right off the great hall and there's hundreds more to be found if you like to explore.

And you have to explore it too because it's like a maze, there are 3 wings and each wing has its own staircases that lead you to the different floors, but once you're on the 5th floor in the East wing for example, you cant just walk over to the 5th floor in the West wing because they're not connected. They say its set up like that so the mental patients had a harder time getting out, very clever. On my explorations I found many disused rooms and offices and once even a hidden dark spiral staircase that lead all the way down and out of the building, I was afraid to open the door at the bottom though, because I thought it might set off the fire alarm. My friends say it's creepy but I think it is so much fun. There is a little tower at the top of the highest point and it is my goal to find out how to get up there. I've already been to the highest accessible room but maybe there's a door that leads to the roof.

One of the best things about my campus is its nature paths. There are dozens of dirt paths that lead off the campus in different directions, one of them even leads to another campus. I had a great time one day getting lost in the woods, but before you freak out I was never really lost, my phone has GPS. It was great to see all the beautiful trees and paths that opened up to grassy hills and even better views of the city. It's starting to get cold so I need to do as much exploring as I can before the first snows come in.

The classes themselves are fun too. I'm meeting a lot of cool new people and learning great things. In Modern Drama I just did an excerpt from The Glass Menagerie where I put on a hammy southern accent. In music we're studying modern musical movements from the late 1800s to present day, and in Global Current Affairs we just got done discussing the Occupy Wall Street movement and how it is spreading to a global level. I am going to have a discussion with my program coordinator here and see if I can join the Feature Writing course next trimester because if I can I will be able to graduate this spring!

I'm also learning something new outside the classroom: improv. There's a comedy group called the Improverts who put on a show every week, much like Who's Line is it Anyway, and host free workshops on the weekends. My roomate and her boyfriend instantly befriended the group and they all convinced me to go to a workshop. It was so much fun. I'm not very good at making things up on the spot but it's worth getting up there for a few minutes just so you can experience how funny everyone is.

That's all for the moment but now that I'm making myself sit down and write you should keep on the lookout for more posts.

See you next time!

Kt