I am currently into the second hour of my six hour layover of doom at the Newark Airport.  And, because my flight into Edinburgh lands at 8 AM tomorrow morning, I figured now is the perfect time to outline my plans for the semester before I become too jetlagged to cognitively function.

My classes for this semester are:

Scottish Studies 1B, Creating Scotland: This isn’t a straight up history class, but discusses a lot of the geographical (both physical and human) aspects that shaped Scotland… and from that then the history.  I’m excited to see what this class has in store.  It will help me a lot to flesh out my knowledge of the country I am living in.

Archaeology 1B: a continuation of last semester that explores more archaeological theories.  Last semester stopped at the growth of farming, this semester will pick up from there and go through the ancient Mediterranean cultures, ‘the Celts,’ and end with Roman Britain. (SQUEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!)

Celtic Civilisation 1B: again a continuation of last semester that, wait for it…. explores… MEDIEVAL CELTS. (might actually be convulsing on the ground.)

I am super, super excited for my classes and while I know I can’t let up and slack off they are subjects I really enjoy.

I am also continuing to look for a flat for next year.  Most of them open up this month and the next so should have one soon.  Going on a dig this summer is still a thing, and the full lists are going up this month.  I should know by March where I will be heading.  Right now I’ve looked at a few digs in Scotland, France, and Spain.  But again, it all depends.

Non-academically, this semester I am looking to expand my reach a bit a do a bit of traveling.  EUMC picks back up soon with weekend camping meets and I am very excited to get back into the Highlands.  In February, the uni takes a week off for Innovative Learning Week aka basically a week to go learn something new outside of the classroom setting.  The uni hosts a bunch of cool events so I’ll probably be sticking around Scotland… but who knows.  The first two week of April are Spring Break, and I definitely want to travel for that.  Still haven’t figured out a plan yet, but because I would have been living in Europe for over six months by April I am eligible for the ‘European Interrail Ticket’ which is not only cheaper but includes more countries. (FYI Interrail is the cross continent train service that allows you to travel between countries quickly and cost effectively.)  There are a lot of cool cities in Europe that I am dying to go see or go back to like London, Florence, Luca, Prague, Vienna, etc.

But again, it all depends on what I can figure out.

This spring, I hope learn how to do traditional outdoor rock climbing.  Thus far, I’ve only been climbing indoor because I am waiting for the winter to stop.  I am not super keen to try outdoor climbing for the first in winter.  I’ve done stupid stuff in the past, but throwing myself in the fire, sorry ice, is a more than a little past my stupidity tolerance.

So that’s my plan for now.  I’m sure it’ll change but that’s just the nature of being in University.  I am just hoping to make the most of my time here, while, of course, continuing to work hard in my studies.

Alright back to this layover… I may have to start running laps in the airport.