Haggis, Hilarity, and the Highlands: Scotland Part Two

Hello there patient readers, and welcome back to my poor neglected blog.
     I realize that I haven't written a post in a full month, but as I'm sure most of you understand, I have been busy with finals, essays, rehearsals, and procrastination. My bad. Please accept my deepest apology.

The Beautiful Highlands and My Butt.

     Anywho, I believe we left off driving away from the lovely Loch Ness. I saw yaks. Yes, ladies and gentlemen; yaks. The fuzzy creatures deserve mentioning even though I literally only saw them; didn't pet them or anything special. I liked them though. As we drove, our lovely Scottish tour guide told us about the mountain looming ahead of us. Ben Nebeit means 'the mountain with its head in the clouds,' and this puppy was taaaaaall. Not as tall as some of the Rockies, but the tallest mountain I'd seen here so far. Our guide said many people attempt to climb the mountain, and many succeed. But sometimes, the mountain rescue team is called out to help. The top three reasons are as follows: 
3. The weather made their climb impossible and they were stuck.
2. They were ill prepared for the climb and are now freezing in their unsightly bermuda shorts.
1. Bananas.

Goin' Bananas.

     At this point, I'm like bananas? and our tour guide laughs at the bus full of puzzled faces. I can tell she likes this part of the tour. She explained that many hikers bring bananas with them while they climb as a light, healthy snacks. When they're finished, they throw the peels and keep hiking not knowing that their peel won't  decompose in time. Apparently, the mountain is covered in peels and people will accidentally step on them and fall, possibly down quite a ways. So THAT is the number one reason hikers have to call the rescuers. Hehe. You know you kinda want to giggle. Go ahead. Do it. 
     Our next stop was a castle. Well... castle ruins. And NO. I wasn't the one to ruin it. It was only about a ten minute stop so I quickly wandered about taking pictures and climbing over barriers that definitely weren't meant to be climbed over. And then I was late to the bus again. Oops. Whatever. YOLO. Except no because I hate that phrase. Forget I said it. I suppose I could delete it... But nah. This is how my mind works and lucky you, you get to read my crazy mind. 

THE FORBIDDEN FREAKING FORREST

     Moving on. Along the road to Glencoe, the guide pointed out "Oh by the way this hill over there? It's the forbidden forest and Hagrid's hut sat right there. Across the way is the scenery they used for the background of the Quidditch scenes." AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I am frantically pressing my face against the window and cursing my eyelashes for whacking the window every time I blink. I want to scream at the guide to let me OUT, but I'm too afraid she actually will and then happily drive off, so I just soak in the view with my flat face and camera. 
     Other parts of Glencoe were lovely as well, such as the three sister mountains: Faith, Hope, and Charity, the frozen waterfalls, and the tree that mysteriously grows out of solid rock. I do have to admit, though, while talking about Glencoe, I can't help thinking "And four for you, Glen Coco. You go Glen Coco!" Sorry. Call it what you will, but Mean Girls has fabulous quotes. Also Anchorman. And Harry Potter......... Speaking of movies, Braveheart happened here in Scotland. I learned about William Wallace and stuff, but I took too long to write this blog and have forgotten the details (Most of it). Watch the movie for more information. I did see his monument though. And the Stirling castle from afar. It looked really nice and I am a bit disappointed the tour didn't stop there. I wanted go inside, but the tour was now on the way back to Edinburgh.

I couldn't find my haggis picture,
so here is my mouth that ate it instead.

     Skip to Edinburgh. The tour might have ended, but my adventures hadn't. You might have thought I'd be tired and go back to the hostel to sleep. NOPE! Chuck Testa. Uh... I mean. No. I didn't. Instead, I went to a pub-by-day/club-by-night called the Frankenstein and ordered dinner. Haggis and black pudding to be precise. What's that? Here's a little definition for you:

HAGGIS- (n)- A Scottish dish consisting of a mixture of the minced heart, lungs, and liver of a sheep or calf mixed with suet, onions, oatmeal, and seasonings and boiled in the stomach of the slaughtered animal.

BLACK PUDDING- (n)- Also known as blood pudding or blood sausage, is a type of sausage made by cooking blood or dried blood with a filler until it is thick enough to congeal when cooled.
     

I added my name to the walls of the Elephant House!

Tasty, huh? Surprisingly it wasn't as bad as the description implies. It was pretty good. The blood pudding had a weird texture (understandably) and the haggis was kinda spicy, but I ate most of it! Yay for being adventurous and NOT throwing up! I can say I've had more disgusting things before (I did Fear Factor. Don't ask what I ate). After feeding Sanna some of my meal without telling her what it was, we finished and walked back to our hostel in New Town where the others were already waiting. I asked how their tour went and they said it was fantastic as well. Luka even told me that his tour guide said there is a man in Edinburgh who JK based Hagrid off of. It was a really cool story. I wish I could remember it, but I didn't remember to write the story down so I forgot. I'll ask Luka later. But another day was over and the next day was an early start as I had to catch a bus to St. Andrews and meet my CouchSurfer host in the morning.

Tea in the Elephant House

     Flash forward to morning. Apparently leaving an hour early doesn't mean you will catch your bus when you can't find the station. So that happened. My motto of everything happens for a reason proved true this time though. I went back to the hostel and had a marvelous time with the others until they caught their bus. Then, I set to work finding a place to stay. CouchSurfing showed me several people who I requested to stay with, but as fate would have it, an American guy named Nick who was living in Edinburgh and studying answered my plea for help. He and his friend Nate, who was visiting, had dinner reservations and couldn't meet up with me for a few hours, so I went back to Old Town and the Elephant House (remember this is the place JK wrote Harry Potter). 

View From Edinburgh Castle.

     Before I came to Europe, I went on the Elephant House website and discovered they have a live camera feed online. With this in mind, I called my Dad and made him go on that website while I stood outside waving at the camera. He told me to smile and he'd take a screen shot for me, but it took a few minutes before he could actually figure out how to do it. Those few minutes were EXCRUCIATING. I was on the street in front of a coffee shop smiling and waving at their roof. I don't get easily self-conscious but oh my gosh that got me. OHMYGOD. I JUST REALIZED OTHER PEOPLE ON THEIR WEBSITE SAW ME. Well that is just great. I hope they enjoyed the show.

In the castle!

     After that debacle, I went inside to burn some time and struck up a conversation with an older lady who was having tea as well. She was very nice and we talked and drank tea together for about half an hour until she had to go meet someone. At this point, I decided to go buy tickets for a ghost tour because I'm badass like that, but they were sold out and instead, I bought one for the next night. Nick called and we met up at his place which was actually quite nice although up four flights of stairs (much like my own room here. Got somethin to say UK? Huh? HUH?!). Nate and Nick were extremely fun and it was great to hang out with other Americans again. The boys wanted to go out clubbing, so I thought eh. Why not? And joined them. We went to about three different places and had a blast! Apparently I'm a great wingwoman. Yeah. That's right. I'm gonna skip the alcohol soaked bits of this story because some of my readers are judgey, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself so we'll leave it at that.

The Vaults of Edinburgh. BOO!

     The next morning, Nick, Nate, and I went out to have some curry and then visited the Castle of Edinburgh. This time I actually paid to get in. It was beautiful inside the castle and the view was phenomenal. Scotland is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been, that is for sure. In the castle, I noticed a few unicorns in the architecture, but not nice ones; regal, dangerous ones. Apparently it's Scotland's national animal. HAHA. Only Scotland could have a unicorn as their national animal and still be badass. Sadly there were no unicorns on the crown jewels of Scotland, I checked, but they were still pretty awesome and sparkly. The rest of the day was spent wandering around and just generally enjoying the day. That night I went on the ghost tour and visited the vaults of Edinburgh (which I later saw on a top 5 list of scariest places on earth) as well as a reaaaaally old cemetery. The tour guide pointed out a tombstone reading "RB SCROGGIE: a meal man" (meaning a corn dealer) and told the group that Charles Dickens was walking through the cemetery and misread it as "a mean man" from which he came up with the story of Ebeneezer Scrooge. Dude. Charles Dickens. In the same place. Sheesh!

Colin and I in Edinburgh. Some Asian person took
the picture. Not lying, they always take the best pictures.

     My last day in Edinburgh was short, but I had enough time to meet up with my buddy Colin (Australian guy I met in Austria who visited me in Kansas) and we went to a pub where he introduced me to the delicious snakebite drink and talked for a few hours. It was a quick meetup as I had to catch my bus to Birmingham at 3:20, but we managed to get a few pictures before I had to go back to Nick's place. When I got there, he and Nate weren't there so I cleaned the room he let me stay in, folded the linens and air mattress, and washed all the dishes that were dirty. I didn't eat off of them, but it was my small way of saying thank you. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see them before I left, but I hope to someday as I really enjoyed their company.

All I wanted was to make it back to uni.
Is that too much to ask?!!?

     This is where it goes wrong again. Yes, I made it to my bus, but it was scheduled to leave ten minutes AFTER I thought it was supposed to and the bus driver lectured me. Bleh. So other than that and the fact I had to sit by the stinky toilet, it was alright. When we got to Glasgow, there was a ten minute connection, so I ordered a sandwich in the station. The lady took FOREVER and guess what? Yep. Missed my bus AGAIN. After a moment of panic, I found out the next bus to Birmingham was tomorrow and I panicked again. Luckily, an older gentleman called me lassie and that calmed me down because it was so freaking cool. The only thing I could think of to do was wander until I found a place to sit with WIFI  and that place was ironically Revolution vodka bar. I searched CouchSurfing and waited for a couple hours (with tasty drinks) until Angela called me and offered me a bed for the night. I graciously accepted and she came to my rescue. The train ride to her place was fantastic because I witnessed a very drunk young man being told off by a twelve year old. Angela and her family were nice and she kept saying "wee one" which made me laugh. 
     The next day, we went back into Glasgow and she took me around to a few places of interest before my bus finally came in. I actually made it to my bus on time, but Jesus punished me for being late to the last two with no toilet paper, the scent of baby poo, and an ice cold bus. Eventually, I made it back to Birmingham and caught the wrong bus home. -____- It was fun walking back to uni in the rain at midnight alone and with luggage for fifteen minutes... Not. 
     And the moral of the story, kids, is Scotland is great, Rusty is bad with busses. The End. 

I also became Dr. Who's companion.

Cartwheels, Castles, and the Loch Ness Monster

Hello my lovely people! 
     I have an extra long post in store for you, so either settle in or click the X now!
     This past week, I visited Scotland!! Yay!! I slept most of the eight hour bus trip sleeping, but upon arrival in Edinburgh (pronounce Ed-en-bur-ah) I awoke and couldn't believe what I was seeing. It was so beautiful! Yeah, it was full of vehicles, tourists, and the standard array of shops; but the whole town was cast into this sort of surreal atmosphere with the Edinburgh Castle looking over the mundane activity below with a sort of disdainful, coldness from atop the massive cliffs in the center of the city. My eyes soaked up the scene greedily and I took far too many pictures. When I tore my eyes away from the castle, I noticed also my first store to my left: Hector Russell- Kiltmaker. I couldn't help thinking Is this for real? 

Old Town from the Castle courtyard and me
looking quite dapper if I do say so myself.
PS: Brittany will never get her scarf back.

     After dropping off our bags in the hostel, we grabbed a bite to eat in a little sandwich shop called Pinocchio's and then wandered about until we found a grocery store to pick up some drinks. It was already rather late, so we headed back to the hostel and then after a couple hours, went out to a club called Bongo.
     The next day, some of us decided to venture out into the city. Edinburgh is divided into two halves. Old Town and New Town. The Old Town is above the New Town on the other side of the castle. We hadn't visited that side yet, so trekked up the ungodly steep hill and then visited the castle courtyard. The view was spectacular and I could even see the highland mountains! Naturally, I took several dozens of photos with my massive face blocking half of the landscape. See left. We were expecting to pay 8 pounds to get into the actual castle, but it was 16!

Seriously. LOOK at all that plaid.

     After visiting the gift shop and experiencing the most plaid I've ever seen in one place, the group decided against the hefty fee and we all decided it was lunchtime anyway. Sanna and I went to a cafe called The Elephant House and the others went to a little place across the street. NOW. What you have to understand about The Elephant House is that I already KNEW I would visit here before I even left the states. I had this planned for at LEAST a full year. You are probably asking yourself Why would she want to go to this place so badly? What is so special about it? Well, my friends, let me explain. This bustling little cafe was nothing special about 15 years ago. Just another small business among hundreds in the beautiful Old Town of Edinburgh. Then one day, a lady came in and scribbled down a few thing on a napkin... Then she came back and wrote a little more... Then more... And this woman kept coming back to that small cafe, at that little table with the castle view, until those little scribblings were put together into one, finished book. This book would lead to six more, and they in turn would lead to eight movies. These books would change peoples' lives and the movies would be cool you'd have to wear Hot-Hands in your gloves. (Careful though. Those things can burn.) In case you haven't figured it out yet, this woman was JK Rowling and the books were obviously Harry Potter. 

Happier than Pancho wearing a dress.

     So now you may be asking yourself what my next move was now that I made it after such a long time. And I'll tell you. I ordered a sandwich. And a pot of peppermint tea to share. Like a boss.

My friend went to Edinburgh and I all got was this crummy boulder.

     After indulging my obsession, Sanna and I met up with the others and wandered out of Old Town into the big park beneath the cliffs and castle. It was such a nice day we all laid on our coats and soaked in the sun we so rarely see here. After two whole minutes of relaxation, Ellen so kindly began to throw grass in everyone's face and Sanna engaged her in an epic grass battle to death. Except not really. 
     Once the show was over, we wandered through the park a little more and I found the perfect rock for Blake. I had asked him a couple days earlier if he wanted anything from Scotland and he said "Yeah. Get me a rock." What a classy gent. So I picked this one up for him... No. I totally couldn't lift it. But what I could do is book a highland tour. And that's what I did. Sanna and I decided to take a long day tour the following day, and some of the others booked a shorter tour for the next day as well. With that wonderful day behind me and a new exciting and ridiculously early one ahead of me, I went to bed. The others partied. It was a typical night.

Sanna and I off on our adventure!

     The next morning I was up and at em at the lovely time of 6:45 AM. Sanna and I had a quick breakfast at the hostel and then headed up that infamous hill to Old Town where our tour began. On the way, it was raining and I noticed, oh joy. My shoe had a hole in the sole and my sock was completely soaked. Despite this unfortunate discovery, the tour started off brilliantly. When the bus was leaving Edinburgh, the first thing our lovely guide pointed out was the University of Edinburgh that JK Rowling attended and based Hogwarts off of. Score one for tour guide lady. While driving from place to place, the guide was constantly telling stories about Scotland's history and legends. I learned a TON, including that Mary Queen of Scots had four ladies in waiting, each named Mary as well. How ridiculously confusing must that have been? Mary, come here! No, not you Mary. That Mary. No no no! Ginger Mary. Oh wait. This is Scotland. We're ALL ginger... 

Ariana, Sanna, Me, Kris, and Ellen in front of my future home.

I've conquered Nessie.

     I also learned a little about Macbeth; the REAL King Macbeth, who wasn't actually as evil as Shakespeare portrayed him. Our guide then told us about the Battle of the Shirts in which highland clans were fighting each other under the hot Summer sun until the heat became too unbearable. At that point, the chiefs called a timeout and allowed the clansmen to take off all their clothes but their shirts and swim around with each other all in good fun. After a while, the chiefs called the battle back on and all the men picked up where they left off until only four men were left from each clan and the battle was deemed a draw. That was pointless drama if I've ever seen it. Which I have... I mean come on. I went to Dewey High School... Anyway, we were also told about how Scotland highlanders didn't have trespassing laws. Instead, if you pissed someone off, your head would end up on a stake. One last legend our fearless leader relayed to us was of the Lix legion. A town in Scotland is named Lix because during the rule of the Romans, the Romans were having trouble conquering the Scottish highlanders, so the Romans sent their last hope: the Legion of the 9 (or IX in Roman numerals). Basically, the badass legion went after the highlanders and were never seen again. Tourists flock to Lix to this day with metal detectors, searching for the gold eagle standard that the Romans carried with their lost unit, but it has never been found. (Cue ghostly wail) 

Loch freakin' Ness. Be jealous.

     Back to me. So at the first stop in a little town whose name I've already forgotten, (I looked it up: Pitlochry) I went into a gift shop and purchased a pair of Scottish wool insoles. This helped with the hole in my shoe and my feet didn't feel so awkwardly sock-less with the woolly cushion beneath them. I also purchased a dessert called a Scottish tablet. Its ingredients included butter, milk, and sugar. That's it. So ridiculously sweet that even Ryan Gosling's speech at the end of The Notebook didn't even stand a chance. Another item of Scottish cuisine is a soda called Irn Bru that for some reason, either because of ingredients or caffeine, is illegal in the United States. It strangely tasted like either fruit or bubble gum and was bright orange. Leave it to me to jump at a chance to try something illegal, even if it is only a sugary beverage.

Dude in a kilt. Seemed appropriate...

     After Pitlochry, the group squeezed back onto the bus and we made our way up to Inverness. Inver means by the water, so the city is named "By the water Ness." Loch Ness. This is where we stopped next. Loch Ness is another one of those places that I have always known I would visit. It's so mysterious! Not just because of the "monster," but also because of the size and depth. Loch Ness is about one or two miles across in most parts and 23 miles long. Pretty big, but that's not all. It is so deep, that all the water from all the lakes in England, Wales, AND Scotland could fit in its lake bed if its own waters were displaced. Its also so deep that the Eiffel tower could be placed inside and completely submerged. And here's the kicker that really got me: All of the people on earth could fit inside Loch Ness COMFORTABLY. That is one massive lake. With this in mind, Sanna and I scuttled off the bus and after a refreshing lunch and walk through the incredibly Nessiefied souvenir shop, we headed down to the loch. Our tour guide had told us that we could either take a ridiculously expensive boat ride across the loch or hang out on the dock as there was no way to walk along the shore. I obviously took that as a challenge and drug poor Sanna with me to walk along the forbidden shore. Forbidden shore. That sounds really cool. And it was!
     The lake was beautiful. If you ever get the chance to go, please do. Sanna and I wandered along the shore a little ways and then I had the bright idea to do a cartwheel in front of the lake and get it on picture. Yeah. My cartwheels suck big time.

The second attempt. Cold as Titanic waters. Seriously.

     Since that utterly failed, I decided to skip to part two and get in the lake. After removing my soft as clouds insole-filled shoes, I delicately balanced on mossy rocks and stepped into the FREEZING COLD HOLY COW WHAT AM I DOING?! lake. I stayed in approximately 30 seconds and then hightailed it back to the shore. I regrouped. Put on my shoes. And then walked another 30 feet to an old dock. I promptly removed my shoes again and set out to show this lake who was boss. Haha. The lake was obviously the boss. I stayed in about two minutes this time before I gave in and clambered back onto the dock. I replaced my shoes and then Sanna and I continued down the rocky shore. Up ahead there was a mysterious object jutting out of the water. I walked towards it and judged the distance from rock to rock. "Sanna! Should I try and climb it?" "NO!" So naturally, I removed my shoes once more and began my tricky journey to the unidentified thingy.

Me being super cool and serene and stuff.

     Of course, I made it. I climbed atop the cement cylinder and looked all around me. It was gorgeous. But damnation. No monster in sight. Crestfallen, I began my descent and carefully made it back to shore and put on my shoes. At this point I should mention Sanna is a great companion. She took fabulous pictures of my (un)graceful journey and thoroughly enjoyed our little escapade. We made our way back to the dock and I picked up a nice little rock for Blake on the way back. At the dock, Sanna and I had another person on our tour take a picture of us right as the cruise boat was returning. I also met a dude in a kilt and coerced him into taking a picture with me. And that was it for Loch Ness. Until we meet again! Next time I will have scuba gear and an electric blanket turned all the way up waiting for me once I get back.
     And off we went again!

TO BE CONTINUED.

Ghosts and Easter

"Ghosts of Bedlam" AKA the play I get to slap someone else in the face.

Oh my gosh!
     It's been two weeks since I last blogged. And I have ALOT of catching up to do. Currently, I am in Edinburgh (pronounced Eden-bur-rah), Scotland and this is the highlight of my entire experience abroad so far. But since I have so much to write, I will split this week and last week into two posts and write last week's now.

I cook tasty Mexican food. Jealous?

    




     Wednesday and Thursday, I performed my first play in the UK, "Ghosts of Bedlam," and I have to admit it went very well. I got to play the antagonist which I have never done before, so that was extremely fun. I slapped a character on stage and she aimed a punch at me. Stage combat is the best. My character, Rachel, roughed up Milly, Laura's character and that was fun as well. HA! The most fun came after the show was over. Dismantling the set was great. I felt like quite the little "Bob the builder" with my power drill and socket wrench. Until Scott let the two panelled flat fall over and pierce itself on the (thankfully unoccupied) ladder.

LOOK. AT. THIS. Easter is my new favorite holiday.

     Friday, I introduced Laura to the food of my people: Tacos!!! She really enjoyed them, but not the guacamole which she claimed was "bland until the jalapeño kicked in, and then worse." Oh well. You can lead a Laura to guacamole, but you can't make them eat it...

She had a shamrock on her door. AND she's Irish. Perfection.

     Sunday was Easter and thanks to Laura, I didn't spend it alone in my room eating cereal. She invited me to have Easter dinner with her family. It was soooooo good. And what's cooler is her nan (grandma) is Irish and she and her boyfriend, Neal, have very strong Irish accents. What's more is that she has a shamrock on her door. Epic.
      This deserves it's own paragraph: Custard on apple pie. WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE?!

     I apologize for my extremely brief post, but I am on a hostel computer and people are staring at me, waiting for a computer.

Russell xx

PS: I have discovered Dr. Who.
   

How I Made Someone Cry

Guten Tag!

St Patrick's Day with a few Irish buddies!

     Guess what? Sunday was St. Patrick's Day. It was fantastic! I went with Laura to the Irish Center pub and it was packed full! We left for town around 11:30 AM and it was fantastic! So many Irish and wannabe Irish people waving their flags and watching the parade. Let me just say, these people really know how to celebrate! There were so many people in the pub I had to shove people out of my way to squeeze through. Also, someone decided to squeeze my butt while I was squeezing past them. Squeeze. Say it five times fast. It doesn't sound real anymore.

Famous dude!

This is what too much fun looks like!

Anyway, after that butt-squeeze encounter, I met this dude named Geoff Horsfield 

who is 

apparently a  famous football (soccer) player here. 

     Naturally, I made friends with him and took pictures with him.That's just how I roll. Laura and I went home around 8:30 PM because by then we were completely tuckered out.

     Side note: On the way back, like an idiot, I took off my shoes and then my feet died a slow painful death. Cold pavement+rocks+standing in heels 9 straight hours before=serious ouch. And that was my St. Paddy's (edited version).

     Also, last weekend, one of my very best friends, Brittany Jonas, performed in her second professional opera show. Go Brit! Sorry I had to miss it! Another thing I missed was my other great friend Ethan Menke's 21st birthday! No!!! Why do I miss so many great things? AND as if that wasn't bad enough, I also missed Pancho's 21st birthday! UGH. This is crap. Just crap.

Brittany (Opera-Star) Jonas

Pancho (I-like-to-embarrass-Rusty for-fun) Fields

 

Ethan (What? Do I have something on my face?) Menke

     I contacted the boys to let them know I was thinking about them, but I can't help feeling a little sad I couldn't be with them. Although, to be fair, it is Spring break at home and I probably wouldn't have seen them anyway. Boo. Shout out to you three wonderful people though. Except Pancho. Pancho made these pictures of me. -__-

Little does he know, I just bought an
economy size box from the store.

That is not even me. He must have found
this in a cataloge and just cut it out.

     Laura Morrissey is taking over my life slowly with Ed, Edd, and Eddy and Courage the Cowardly Dog nights after the gym. We even watched the Haunting in Connecticut sequel last night. I barely made it through. But with Ghosts of Bedlam (the play) coming up this week, we rehearse and run lines together constantly. Hold on. Laura is literally here. (2 hour writing break) She just left. We had tea and watched YouTube videos. Totes didn't rehearse... Oops.

Laura and me. She is coming to Kansas Newman next semester!

     Today in my Modern Drama lecture, we learned about Artaud and his 'Theatre of Cruelty' and then we put it into practice. Keep in mind this guys aim is to shock the audience, not entertain them. This dude's work paved the way for the horror genre. Without him, horror movies wouldn't exist. When my group did our performance, I made a girl cry. If you're reading this Liz, I'm really sorry! And I feel extra bad because although I felt kinda bad, it was also thrilling. You know the way people in TV shows talk about the power and evil and how it is addicting and feels good? Yeah. Like that. No one knew I was in the performance so I situated myself into the middle of the group while the two other blokes harassed the audience by forcing them into a corner with the lights off and whispering "Follow the yellow brick road" which was foreshadowing for what happened next. Everyone went silent for a solid 30 seconds and then without any warning I let out my most hideous, bloodcurdling shriek from the midst of the audience. The girl in front of me started crying immediately and other people in the audience screamed too, in shock. Moohahaha. If you want to learn more about 'Theatre of Cruelty,' watch below. I warn you, it's weird as heck.

This was in the package from home.

     To be honest, that's all I have for today except to mention I received another package from home and a letter from Grandma Cici. It's nice getting mail. It makes me feel good. Unfortunately, on another note, Grandma Laura's sister died today so I gave her a call to send my condolences. It was nice to talk to her, but I could tell she was hurting. She's taken care of though. Aunt Sami printed off my past blogs and sent them to her to read. They haven't arrived yet, but I'm sure they will soon.
   
I wish you the best!
Russell x

The Many Faces of Peanut Butter

Ello Gov'na.

     It's almost 1 AM. Time to write a post. -__- At least that's the way it always seems. March 10th was Mother's Day! I have no idea why their Mother's Day isn't in May like ours, but whatever. Since I found out so short notice, I didn't have time to send anything home, so I resorted to creativity. Please browse the photos and enjoy the fruit of my labors. Click to enlarge.

Also, get over the group picture that won't stay in line. I just spent two solid hours trying to get the pictures to line up. THEY WONT FREAKING LINE UP. My OCD mind is dying a slow and very painful death. Leave me alone. This is as good as it gets.

Aren't we adorable? If you say no, you are wrong.
It is a scientific fact.

     Later on Sunday, I had the pleasure of introducing Laura, a Drama student coming to Newman Kansas next semester to my lovely friends Pancho, Ethan, and Blake. While Skyping, they asked her to say many things, admiring her accent, and somehow it came out in conversation that people here thought it strange I eat peanut butter with apples. The boys assumed this meant Laura needed educating and took it upon themselves to explain every type of peanut butter. This is their analysis:

1. JIF Smooth Original- The safe choice. The best choice. You can't go wrong with Smooth Original. It is the god of peanut butters.
2. JIF Crunchy- This one is a bit risky. It's kinda like kissing that random guy you just met at the club.
3. JIF Extra Crunchy- VERY risky. This is only for the brave of heart. Back away. Slowly.
4. Peter Pan Original- JIF's gay cousin. Always living in JIF's shadow. This can be taken literally as JIF jars are typically larger and can cast a sizable shadow over the puny-in-comparison Peter Pan jar. 
5. Rusty's choice of peanut butter- Also known as Organic Almond Butter. It is a fake. It's not even made with peanuts. Pathetic. May also go by the name "Grandma Food".
6. Ritz Peanut Butter Snack Crackers- For those with a peanut butter craving on the go. Satisfying the craving and adding the deliciousness of a salty Ritz cracker.
7. Peanuts- The raw product of peanut butter goodness. Eat with salt. Eat alot.

Right before they busted out the peanut butter.

     Did I mention they had jars of each kind? And a massive jar of peanuts? They did. They had at least 5 jars of peanut butter. I have literally NO idea what possessed them to buy 5 different kinds of peanut butter. I don't even try to understand their logic anymore. I did, however, notice there was a lack of almond butter representation.

     This video chat lasted until 7 AM. Ethan played damage control and tried to apologize to Laura for the boys' behavior. Haha. She'll see way more of that next semester. After the boys hung up, Laura and I were ready to hit the hay and then... Brittany got online. We chatted until 9 AM. Laura left around 8 AM and that's around the time Chris Hansen joined the Skype call. I don't even remember all that we talked about because I was so exhausted, but it was great talking to them. We were all in different time zones! Kinda cool. 

My loves. I want them to sit next to me so I can
put ice cubes down the back of their shirts.

     Skip to Thursday. Today in Modern Drama, Pancho told me via chat he and Brit were in the same room ready to Skype. This NEVER happens so I left class and talked with them until Panch had to go to a meeting. I didn't miss much in the class.. All we did was learn how to write essays which I've been doing forever and a day. The class is a freshman class, so I didn't feel bad skipping a few minutes. Blake popped in last minute and Kevin talked to Brittany in his "Perfect Irish accent" (Get it Jit? It almost works). After lecture, I went to Dutch lesson. Luka is a good teacher and I really feel like I'm learning alot. I Facebook messaged Mom that I was in Dutch class and sent her some phrases. She asked what I had said to her in Danish. -__- Nice one Mom.

This happened.
...I'm not even sure what THIS is.

     At 7 PM, Laura and I logged onto Skype and had a meeting with Mark Mannette. I had already chosen my classes the day the course schedule came out, as usual, so basically he just listened to me advise myself and answered a few of my specific questions. Good thing Justin was there to help with computer issues on mark's end. Justin should read my blog. I will tell him he is mentioned. That will make sure he reads it. Oh. Hi Justin. You seem to be reading my devious plot. Heh... Yeah...  Anyway, I was sad Mrs. Zogleman wasn't in the office, so afterwards I emailed her. Three times. There were alot of capital letters. My pride was collateral. I may have said I miss you a few times too many. Oops. Oh well. 

     Laura and I went to the gym. Yeah that's right. We work out. We've been going for a couple weeks now and I think we have a pretty solid reward system. Basically, if we work out a solid week (besides Sunday, our rest day), we get to reward ourselves with ice cream. If we work out for two solid weeks, we get to go shopping! I haven't been shopping for anything but groceries since I got here! This is a good incentive. I want to buy new shoes. I have to lace all of my casual shoes. I am too darn lazy to lace my shoes every day! I lose enough calories working out that I think I have earned the option of lace-less shoes. 

Side note: Other than working out, we also make videos. See below.

Yeah. We know we're cool. And now I'm tired and thus, I will bid you good night.

Russell x