Ian's Brain

Washington, D.C.: Adventures in Patriotism

2007-10-15T08:32:00.000-07:00

The District of Columbia is such a great place to feel good about your American identity. No matter how you feel about the current state of affairs in this country, there is really some pretty incredible stuff to be proud of here. I learned this the other day when I took a trip with my roommates Chris and David to the National Archives.

The archives are home to a lot of neat American history, including some belongings of our presidents, information on how this country has changed, as well as many historical documents. It's probably known best as the home of the U.S. Constitution, The Declaration of Independence, and The Bill of Rights. It was pretty incredible to see the things we only see in history books in the flesh. They are all of course kept behind special glass in special lighting as to preserve them, but they are becoming hard to see even still. Here I am giving my salute to the Declaration of Independence. The only legible thing left on the original parchment is John Hancock's signature. As you can see, they like to keep it in low light, and no, flash photography is definitely not allowed.

Here are also parts of both The Constitution and The Bill of Rights. Once again, they are too hard to really see, so you'll just have to take my word on the fact that they are authentic.

We spent the rest of the day walking around the mall, ultimately making it to Congress. Of course we had to take some fun pictures of us goofing around there, but we took some time to be serious too.

All in a day's work in Washington, D.C.! I'm definitely having fun here and I'll blog ya'll later!

Love, Ian

Washington, D.C.: Been Busy, Been Slacking

2007-10-05T07:19:00.000-07:00

So I kind of got behind in my updates of the wonderful place we call Ian's Brain. I apologize sincerely! I'm going to try hard and really buckle down to post as often as I was in Scotland.

Anyways, here's a recap of what's been happening for the past week and a half in D.C.:

-My new address is 1608 Rhode Island NW #1008A, Washington, D.C. 20036. That's about six blocks from the Whitehouse in downtown D.C. Pretty cool, I know. I've seen a few motorcades go by, but so far no sightings of famous/evil politicians.

-My apartment is great! I share a room with another guy, and we share a flat with two others. We all get along really well and go out on the weekends together.

-My new job at the National Institute of Mental Health is awesome! I do a lot of busy work mostly which consists of de-skulling brains. I know it sounds morbid, but all I really do is sit in front of a computer photoshopping MRI images of brains for our study. However, sometimes I get to work with really cool people and have been down to the child psychiatric ward. Also, next week I get to help and sit in on a screening of a new patient. Definitely excited for that. If you didn't know, NIMH is basically the creme de le creme of psychology research in America, so I'm getting some really great experience from the best in the field. I'll have to do a longer more detailed entry about what i do at NIMH.

-The bars here are a lot of fun! So far we've been to a few different nightlife areas of D.C. Adams-Morgan is pretty cool, we've hung out in Georgetown, and we live very close to Dupont Circle. The drinking culture is not as important as it was in Scotland, but by no means is it not important here. The bars are open late, and people definitely like to party.

-Last night I did a night tour of some of the memorials. I got to see Lincoln, FDR, and Thomas Jefferson all lit up at night. Absolutely beautiful I might add. Grandpa always told me how much I was going to love the Jefferson Memorial at night, and it didn't fail to impress me. The Lincoln was of course classic and beautiful, and the FDR memorial was quite impressive. It's very big and split into four different rooms to represent the four terms of his presidency.

Sooo I'm going to make a pinkie promise that I will get back into updating this thing. The first weeks have been very hectic getting settled in and all. That along with baseball playoffs starting, I've been a busy boy! I hope all is well in everyone's respective places of residence across the world as you read about my brain, and you'll hear more from me soon!

Love, Ian

Goodmorning: From Washington, D.C.

2007-09-23T07:42:00.000-07:00

I made it safe and sound to the beautiful District of Columbia last night. My plane landed around 9:45, and my close friend Kaivon who lives here came to pick me up. Now I'm staying at his house in Georgetown for two nights before I head over to the UC Center downtown.

Georgetown is a really cool place! Lots of great bars and the campus is really nice as well. Kaivon also has a bunch of cool friends that I got to meet, which was also a lot of fun. We went to a couple bars last night, and I got bump elbows with America's elite. At least in college student form. I was pretty jazzed cause we were at one bar when Kaivon tapped me on the shoulder and told me to turn around. I looked over and I was standing right next to Patrick Ewing Jr. and a few other guys I recognized from the Georgetown basketball team too! I was a pretty big fan of Georgetown last year in the Tournament if you didn't know, so I was jazzed. However, we decided to leave because their athletic prowess and big muscles were getting them all of the female attention. How am i supposed to compete with nearly professional athletes? Needless to say, I think we made the good choice of not trying to pick up on the girls interested in them.

The whole California thing doesn't work as well as it did in Scotland as far as talking points go, but it still works to an extent. Apparently there is a certain intrigue about Californians. Did you know that you can't spell "Californian" without "Ian?" Kind of cool huh.

Anyways, so far so good here in Washington! I'll keep everyone posted with more stories and pictures really soon!

Love, Ian

Angels Baseball: Passion? Obsession? Both?

2007-09-18T20:41:00.000-07:00

There are few things I enjoy as much as Angels Baseball. Every opportunity I get (bank account permitting), I head to Anaheim to watch my favorite team play. For the games I don't go to, I'm almost always parked in front of my TV to watch.

When I moved to Davis, I knew my devotion to the Angels would be tested. In Northern California most people are either San Francisco Giants fans or Oakland Athletics fans. Additionally they only play these two teams on TV. Luckily, Major League Baseball markets some packages on the internet allowing me to watch and listen to games. For $15 a month I could have gotten audio and video of every game the Angels play, quite tempting! However, I thought about my grades and my financial situation when I decided to order just the audio. It was pretty nice cause I listened to almost every game (sometimes even in class... hehe).

The other troubling part about being an Angels fan in NorCal is that Giants and A's fans aren't very friendly to the Angels. The Giants of course lost to the Angels in the 2002 World Series and the A's usually prove to be Western Division rivals each year. Basically I get a lot of crap for being an Angels fan at school. This is okay though, especially because I like a little bit of friendly competition.

So why do I love the Angels so much? I suppose the origins date back to my childhood. My dad took me to a few games when I was little, and it only seemed obvious for me to favor the local team. Even though my dad grew up as a Dodgers fan, he never took us to any games because their stadium just isn't as easy to get to for us. I started really getting into the Angels seriously in 2001 and 2002. I remember working on my AP US History homework while listening to the game on the radio almost every night, and that was when the Angels really started heating up. The 2002 season proved to be one of the best in Angels history and I listened to or watched nearly every game. When they clinched the wildcard spot in the playoffs, I started getting a little bit crazy. I spray painted "Go Angels" on the side of my beat up Dodge Dart. When they won the American League Title the other side of the car got "AL Champs" and "World Series Here We Come." When they won the World Series, the AL got changed to "MLB Champs." After that I didn't have much else to do but paint my car and wait for the next season.

This season has been shaping up even better than that epic 2002 season and believe me, I'm just as excited. As I watch pitcher John Lackey take a shutout into the 8th inning with 10 strike outs, some of you may be wondering what really separates the Angels from other baseball teams. Why should I like these guys so much? Maybe I should just lay down some reasons for my love:

For starts, the Angels have one of the best managers in the game. Mike Scioscia. Not only does this guy know the game; he's a class act. He rarely loses his temper, he plays clean, and he rewards the players who perform well with playing time. One of my favorite parts about this guy is that he's bilingual. Today there are so many Latino players in the league, and a lot of times there is a communication gap, but not with Scioscia. He can affectively make sure all of his players stay on the same page whether they speak English or Spanish. This year he is in contention for AL Manager of the Year.

The Angels have great uniforms. The red, the white, the gray, the dark blue, and the A with the halo. The Angels went through a number of uniform and color changes in the 90s, but it seems like they've found something popular that's sticking. My personal favorite? The Angels' road grays.

The 2007 Angels are a very ethnically diverse ball club. The regular outfield consists of two Black guys and one Latino. The infield has two more Black guys, two more Latinos, and two White guys. The starting pitchers are made up of two Latinos and three White guys. And the bullpen has one Black guy, one Latino, and four White guys. How cool is that? There is a ton of diversity on this ball club yet so much synergy. Now you're probably wondering where all of the Asians are, but never fear, one of the top minor league prospects is an Asian American kid playing catcher.

The Angels just won that game by the way.

The Angels play a great running game. One of my favorite parts about baseball is watching fast guys steal bases. The Angels as a whole steal more bases than most of the other teams in the game. They play on contact and are always aggressive on the bases. They have one of the lowest home run totals of any team in the majors, but they manage to get guys on base and in scoring position consistently enough to stay one of the best teams in the game.

Beer is cheap at Angels stadium. When the new owner took over, one of his first orders of business was making the beer cheap. He also lowered the price of a lot of merchandise, especially baseball hats. He wanted to make sure all kids who came to a game could afford to take something home. A hat for six bucks is awesome for lower income families who can't afford to buy expensive merchandise but still want to support their favorite baseball team.

The Angels have had at least 3.4 million fans in attendance every year for the past five seasons which is pretty incredible. The games always sell out making for a great atmosphere at the games. As a result, the Angels have gone 51 and 25 at home this season. That's a major league best for the year!

The Angels have Chone Figgins. He's definitely one of my favorite players. He's well known as one of the fastest players in the game, he has one of the best batting averages, and he stands at only 5 feet 7 inches. He's an incredible athlete and always making the game exciting.

Angels fans are great fans. They are community oriented, friendly, energetic, passionate, and upstanding. I won't name any names, but some fans from some other teams are a lot less nice, making their games hostile and often not friendly for the whole family. I believe there's a time and a place for everything, but I love how Angels stadium is always a place for everyone in the family.

The Angels are good. They win. The owner is committed to helping the team keep winning. They strike fear in other teams and make Southern California proud.

This list could probably go on forever, but I think you get the idea. So many people feel like they may put so much into a team and get nothing back, but I truly feel that win or lose, the Angels are always worth it.

Baseball is a special sport. For 162 days of the year, a group of 25 guys go out to the field to give it their all, and that's pretty incredible. Sure a lot of these guys get paid millions, but most of them are out there because they love the sport.

The Flight Home: Fanta in America Sucks

2007-09-17T21:21:00.000-07:00

Before leaving London I made sure to get a Fanta to bring back with me into the states. As you might have heard, Fanta in Europe is amazing and it's absolutely terrible in America. Someone must have caught on in Minneapolis because they wouldn't let me take it back through customs. I was pretty pissed when they made me throw it away. At least on the 9 hour flight from London to Minneapolis I had an empty seat next to me. They also serve complementary alcohol which is quite nice.

I was reluctant to use the bathroom when I got to the airport in Minneapolis because of everything I had been hearing in the news, so I checked all of the other stalls to make sure there weren't any U.S. Senators hiding in them before doing my business. Needless to say, I made it out alive.

The flight from Minnesota back to LAX was a little less comfortable, but was at least quick. I made it home to see my parents excited to see me at the airport.

I'm at home now and if you've been keeping up with my blog this far you know how amazing my experience has been. But the adventures aren't over yet! Saturday the 22nd I head to Washington, D.C. where I will be for 3 months. Stay tuned to the blog for more exciting adventures!

Love, Ian

London: A Tube-ular City

2007-09-17T12:03:00.000-07:00

"Mind the Gap." "Please Mind the Gap." "Watch Your Step, and Do Mind the Gap."

Every tube station in the London Underground says it different, but it all means one thing: watch your step. I didn't go so far as to buy one of those silly shirts that says it, but I am certainly a fan. The tube is such a great way to get around the city that a lot of the times I just wanted to ride the thing for fun.

Our first day in London was filled with the most touristy sightseeing we had done for almost the entire trip. We got off the tube in Westminster to be greeted by Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and Parliament. All were amazing sights that I was excited to see. In a whirlwind of the rest of the day, we also managed to see Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, the Millennium Bridge, the Tate Modern, the London Bridge, the Tower Bridge, and the Tower of England.

Big Ben

Parliament

Westminster Abbey

Buckingham Palace

Palace Guard

Tate Modern from the Millennium Bridge

My head getting crushed by the Tower Bridge

The Tower of London- not very tower-like

The infamous London Bridge. Kind of... boring?

The Eye and the Thames. Both lit up at night.

The Tate Modern was absolutely amazing. I got to see pieces by nearly every famous modern artist from around the world, but unfortunately no pictures. My favorite part about the museum was a program they called "Tate Tracks." The Tate asked different musicians and bands to tour the museum and pick out inspiring pieces to write songs about. They then let you listen to the song while you studied the piece. I had a great time enjoying the works of Warhol, Picasso, Monet, Pollock, Dalí, and hundreds of others for an entire afternoon, and best of all, the Tate is free!

Later in the day we enjoyed a traditional British dinner of fish and chips. They'll deep fry anything in the UK.

In the evening we went out to Soho to explore the nightlife. They do things a bit differently in London with the bars closing around 11 or 12 and the clubs staying opened into the night. We went out earlier on to see what it was all about and peak our heads into a few clubs before they started charging covers. The first one that looked happening was called The Village. Inside was a pretty diverse looking crowd and a lot of happy music. Now I'm no expert on clubs in London, but after about 3 minutes I could tell something was a little weird. It soon became apparent that we were at a gay club. It might have been fun, but I figured it wasn't the best place to try buying a girl a drink. We continued on and found another club with over priced beer and go-go dancers. Unfortunately they were the only ones dancing, and I wasn't about to awkwardly dance between them. We pressed forward until we were offered hard drugs twice, nearly ushered into a dirty looking strip bar, and asked for a 15 pound cover charge to go into a club. The bars were closed and we called it a night.

The next morning we decided to see if we couldn't find a fun show to see on the West End. We checked out some of the half price ticket offices and ended up getting 19 pound tickets to see Stomp. The show wasn't going to start for another couple of hours, so we hopped on the tube to go see the British Museum. Just like the Tate, it was free and incredible. As soon as I walked into the Egypt exhibit, I was greeted by the Rosetta Stone, one of the most famous ancient artifacts in the world.

The next pictures require little explanation as we basically walked around the museum taking silly pictures with famous artifacts.

After the museum we grabbed lunch and found the theater where Stomp was showing, and were lucky to discover that our seats actually weren't too bad. The show was great and the whole audience really got into it. They made some amazing beats and sounds using the most random household objects. Our favorite was the kitchen sinks filled with water used to make beats and tones. The show is a lot of fun and highly recommended by yours truly.

After walking around the city one last time and going to see the Thames, the Eye, and Big Ben all lit up, I made it an early night, because it would be time for me to travel home early the next morning.

I almost forgot! We also randomly found some sort of royal cavalry guard. I made sure to take a picture with him.

Cheers!
Ian

Florence: The God(s) Must Be Crazy

2007-09-11T05:57:00.000-07:00

Let me just start out by saying that I am convinced that traveling by train is far superior than other forms of travel. You buy your ticket, you sit down, and you relax until you reach your destination. No bull. No junk.

We woke up early to take the train from Venice down to Florence which is about a 2 and a half hour trip. We got to see the Italian countryside and a bunch of little towns on the way. Upon arriving in Florence midday, the place was very busy. We were right in the heart of the city and it seemed like there were people everywhere. Traffic was pretty wild as well, but luckily they drive on the right side of the road there. Better for Americans like us at least. The hostel the 4 of us were staying in was just a few blocks from the station so it was pretty easy for us to get all settled in. Before exploring, we practiced our Italian with a book that Patrick purchased in Scotland. We wanted to make sure we could all order a meal, a drink, ask for the bathroom, and know how to say please and thank you in Italian. In the evening we were pleased to find that the prices in Florence were not too expensive and that we could actually afford to eat and get a drink, so we had a nice dinner and a bottle of chianti. We finished off the night with gelato which is Italian ice cream and amazing. Not going to lie, I think I had gelato 6 or 7 times within about 3 days.

The next day we began touring around the city and saw many of the cathedrals. We were only a few blocks from the Duomo which is absolutely amazing on both the inside and out. It is so intense to imagine these architectural marvels being built hundreds of years ago. Here is the front side of the Duomo which we got to go inside of. It is made almost entirely of marble.

Here is a view of the fresco on the ceiling inside.

I tried to avoid taking pictures inside of most of these places because it seemed a little disrespectful. Most of the tourists were snapping away at everything, but camera flashes can damage paintings over time, and I felt pictures simply wouldn't do some of this justice. Santa Croce was another cathedral with some pretty ornate architecture and a number of famous funerary monuments inside. Located in the cathedral were the remains and monuments of Michelangelo, Machiavelli, and Galileo just to name a few. Here is the outer facade.

After cathedral hopping around Florence for the day, we decided to hike up to Michelangelo Plaza to see the sunset and view of the city. The scenery was awesome as we could see almost every spot we had been to that day.

The highlight of the adventure came at this plaza when were approached by a group of musicians wearing traditional Renaissance outfits. They asked if we spoke English and if someone could help them out by posing in some pictures for them. Patrick and Dylan seem to fit the build for a couple of outfits they had ready, so they put them on and smiled for their cameras. There was nothing more amusing than watching two already awkward guys posing awkwardly in awkward costumes with an awkward group of people that they didn't even know. I don't think I stopped laughing for about half an hour. Here are some pictures.

We finished off the evening with drinks and dinner at a small restaurant and later retired after our long day. The next morning we woke up early to go see the famous Uffizi Gallery. It is full of beautiful Renaissance art including many works by DaVinci, Boticelli, and Michelangelo. I would have loved to show you pictures, but photography was strictly prohibited. If you are ever in Florence, I would highly recommend the gallery. It's pretty incredible seeing the actual paintings and sculptures most only get to see in books or on TV.

We finished off our adventure in Italy at a nice restaurant with great cheese, bread, wine, pasta, and fish. The food was some of the best I had on the entire trip. And before bed we made sure to go have our last scoops of gelato, ending a great adventure in Italy.

Enjoy this last picture of me mocking Michelangelo's David as I say arivederci!

-Ian

Venice: Floating City or Sinking City?

2007-09-09T01:48:00.000-07:00

We overslept. But I suppose it's only appropriate for the whirlwind of a trip that was to follow. We made it to the Dublin airport with enough time to get checked in and situated and were soon on a quick flight to Venice, Italy. Because we were on a budget, there was really no way to travel directly anywhere, so we landed in Treviso, took a bus to Venice, then took another bus back to our hostel/camp ground thing. By the time we made it, it was already 1 pm after landing in the city at a little after 9 am.

Four of us ended up cramming into this tiny bungalow thing they called a "pit" where we could sleep and keep our stuff. This thing was literally a 10 x 10 box for all of us, but we managed to make it work. Here's a picture of it, and I know it loses some of the effect, but just use your imagination.

After getting settled, we took yet another bus back to Venice where we began to aimlessly wander the city of canals. It was absolutely beautiful with the old buildings right on the water. From a map they look like streets, but there are no roads or cars in Venice, only canals and boats.

After nearly 8 hours of travel, we were all pretty hungry, so Dylan, Chana, Patrick and I found a nice little Italian restaurant on the water and had lunch. I had a pint of Birro Moretti and the best lasagna I had ever tasted sitting right next to a canal.

We continued the day walking through the city trying to decipher a map that was giving us little if any help. We eventually found San Marco Basilica and Plaza, home to more pigeons than I had ever seen in my life. Now some of you who know me well know that I am not a big fan of large crowded places, especially with tourists. Add pigeons to the mix and I freak a little bit. They think that everyone is holding food so they jump all over your arms and heads and you practically have to shew them out of the way just to walk. I was definitely not a big fan of standing in that Plaza, so we decided to go up to the top of the tower next to the church to get a view of the city. It was an amazing sight as we could see to every end of the island and then some.

We winded down our day by grabbing some pizza and gelato for dinner. My other new favorite thing since being in Scotland is the soft drink Fanta. You're probably thinking about how disgusting I am for liking that gross orange soda with the wacky commercials, but the recipe is different and much better in Europe. It's more like Orangina that you might find at the supermarkets in the states. Anyways, they had Fanta everywhere in Italy, and a can of that with a slice of pizza really hits the spot. Gelato has also become a new favorite and I'm sure I will discuss it more when I write about Florence.

The Sun was setting on the canals of Venice and I was exhausted after a long day of travel and walking. We headed back to our house box thing and slept like babies despite a horrible rain storm that tore through the camp ground and shook everything. We thought it was thunder and lightning, and some of it might have been, but we were also right beneath the flight path for Marco Polo Airport... The next morning would be an early one as we were to take a train down to Florence. More adventures to come!

Ciao,
Ian

Dublin: Doublin' the Price of Everything

2007-09-07T09:49:00.000-07:00

Dublin was a quick flight from the airport in Edinburgh, and about 6 of us met up there after the program ended in Scotland. We figured it would be an easy trip before we went to Italy, and it was until we saw the price tag...

The hostel we stayed at was clean and reasonably priced, but we didn't discover Dublin's true nature until we got to the Temple Bar, the heart of the city's party scene. We all decided the first thing we had to do was order a Guinness, and when we heard the price tag was 5 Euro our jaws dropped. That's probably around $8 U.S. for a pint of sweet sweet beer. Crazy I know. We sucked it up but discovered that the food was no cheaper costing an average of 15 Euro almost everywhere. The most affordable thing we found was a deal where if you bought a hamburger before 6 pm, it was buy one get one free. The first one still cost 3.85 Euro and was probably one of the worst I've ever had.

The saving grace of the night was that we found Ireland's oldest pub! Established in 1198, the Brazen Head turned out to be a cool time. The drinks were still expensive though.

The next day we got to walk around the city and saw Trinity College, the National Museum of Ireland, some cool city parks, and the Dublin Castle. To be completely honest, it seemed like there wasn't a whole lot to do in Dublin without a huge bank roll. We considered going to the Guinness factory, but once again the prices were just out of control.

We finished off the day back at Temple Bar to watch the Irish Hurling Championship. What a cool sport! It's hard to describe, but I'll try. Imagine a cross between soccer, field hockey, football, rugby, and baseball. Just check it out on youtube.com or wikipedia and you'll understand. After that we got to see an Irish band which was also a lot of fun. The day in Dublin ended well, and we fortunately left the city with enough money to get to Italy. Here's a picture of the city centre in Dublin. Check out the cool needle thingy. Not entirely sure what it was, but it was big!

Cheers!
Ian

Edinburgh: Ending

2007-09-01T02:49:00.000-07:00

Well my trip in Scotland has come to its conclusion. I'm pretty sad to leave, but I have new adventures ahead of me. In a few hours I will be in Dublin, and then on to Italy and finally London. I'll be home the evening of the 10th, so unless I magically find internet on my backpacking trip, I'll have a report for you all then!

Love, Ian

Edinburgh: No... Actually St. Andrews

2007-08-29T15:41:00.000-07:00

We took another class field trip to the town of St. Andrews. It might sound familiar to some of you for the beautiful castle ruin, others might be reminded of the oldest university in Scotland, or it's ringing bells about golf. You're all right! Here's a picture of me overlooking the whole town.

The castle ruin in St. Andrews is a pretty cool one. It sits right on the ocean and has some really great tunnels you can explore. Here's me on top of one of the walls and another of me looking back at Sam and Jessie as we all climbed through the tunnel. It definitely got a little crowded in there and I was pretty relieved to be out. Still quite cool nonetheless.

The city is a great little college town that reminded us of Davis. We all got a little bit sentimental. We walked and stopped in shops as well as admired the university until we got to the old golf course. St. Andrews is basically the Mecca of golf. The old course is one of the most famous in the world and the Scots are credited with creating golf. Here's a picture of me next to the famous links!

Now for you avid readers of my blog, you know I like swimming in crazy places. St. Andrews proved to be no exception. Otis, Ashley, and I decided to brave the North Sea.

The water was chilly, but we were brave. I know some of you are rolling your eyes (probably because of my choice of swimwear), but how many can say they swam in the North Sea?

We finished off our day in the fishing town of Crael. Definitely a neat place, and quiet compared to Edinburgh. The scenery was spectacular, but I think we all agreed that our favorite part was the little crab shack right next to the harbor. Now this was literally a crab shack. A shack, lots of crabs, and a little old lady. We all got crab shells full of dressed crab and enjoyed it on the water.

I can't believe my trip to Scotland is coming to an end. Only a few more days here in Edinburgh before I leave for Dublin!

Cheers, Ian

Edinburgh: Update On My Previous Post

2007-08-29T15:38:00.000-07:00

So I actually went to eat at Elephant House with my friend Joe who has been studying at University of Edinburgh. Not going to lie, it was pretty damn good. I had the haggis and the view of the castle was pretty amazing. Didn't see JK, but I'm sure she's hiding here somewhere...

Edinburgh: JK Rowling

2007-08-23T10:24:00.000-07:00

This post is for all of you Harry Potter fans browsing my blog. Apparently JK Rowling's brain child was born here:

The Elephant House is located on George IV overpass in Edinburgh. They not only serve coffee and full meals, but also a wide variety of beers... Honestly, JK? Witches? Magic spells? Evil sorcerers? Please tell me you were hammered.

Love, Ian

Edinburgh: Arthur's Seat

2007-08-23T05:28:00.000-07:00

Sunny days here in Edinburgh are few and far between, so when it's not raining we've got to make it count. To the east of Edinburgh's city centre lies Arthur's Seat, a large volcanic rock formation standing over 800 feet above the city. Certainly it appealed to us not only for a good hike, but also some great views of the city and the port to the north of us. This is a view of Arthur's seat from my classroom window on the 6th floor of Napier University's Merchiston Campus.

Sam, Erika, Otis, and I took a bus to the other side of town to see if we could check this thing out. It sits literally right next to the Scottish Parliament building and Holyrood Palace so we were pretty excited to catch a glimpse of some things we hadn't yet seen in Edinburgh. We took our heavy coats because I have mentioned before, the weather in Scotland is temperamental and almost always subject to change. We also figured it would be windy and cold at the top. To our surprise it wasn't too bad. After a good 25 minute hike, we made it to the top and could see the entire city. Absolutely beautiful and definitely something worth checking out if you're visiting Edinburgh. Here's a picture of me and a picture of the four of us at the top of Arthur's Seat.

Look closely in the picture above and you should be able to find Edinburgh Castle, St. Giles Cathedral, part of Holyrood Palace, and Leith.

Cheers, Ian

Edinburgh: Night Out

2007-08-17T12:19:00.000-07:00

I ended up at a club the other night with a group of friends here in Edinburgh. One friend in particular probably had a little more to drink than she should have, but this is besides the point. The point is that she needed to go to the bathroom. I needed to use the facilities as well so I escorted her to the restroom. In a hurry and quite pissed(that's slang for very drunk here in Scotland), she inconsiderately cut a guy in line for the men's room. With a dumb founded expression on his face he looks at me and says, "Did yeh jest see that?! She f**cking cut roight in frent of me!" Kind of embarrassed for her I say, "Ah look I'm sorry, she's with me and she's quite pissed. I'm really really sorry." He responds saying, "OH! I didn't ken she was with yeh! It's ok, where yeh hail from mate?" I told him I was from California and his face immediately lit up as he said, "Yeh mean like surf's up! Do yeh surf!?" I told him of course and that I surf every day. With a very excited grin he invited me to go ahead of him in line. I laughed and said it was quite alright, but it got me thinking that maybe there's still hope for us Americans abroad. Maybe it was my Californian accent, or maybe it was because I was polite to him, but in any case I plan to restore Edinburgh's faith in Americans one Scot at a time.

Edinburgh: The Highlands

2007-08-12T12:53:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday morning, the group of 22 of us along with our professor and his family took a bus from Edinburgh to the Scottish Highlands. Our ultimate destination would be the Aigas Field Centre, a Victorian estate built in the 1760s currently owned by famous British naturalist, Sir John Lister-Kaye. He and his family run a pretty nice place where you can stay on the property in cozy little cabins and dine in their baronial style hall. Here is a picture of Otis, Sam, and Dylan exploring in the garden outside of the estate:

This place was really a lot of fun, and we even learned a thing or two. Sir John gave us a lecture on the history of the highlands, we got to see some of the plants and animals native to the area, and learned about the lifestyle of Aigas' original residents. We also learned a few things about Scottish etiquette. The lady of the house yelled at Dylan for trying to get seconds at lunch time. Despite there being more than enough tuna salad to feed all of us even 3 times, Lady Lucy claimed they "didn't do seconds." We would ultimately fail to get in Lady Lucy's good graces after waking her up later that night, but what would you expect if you had a group of college students staying on your property? Here's a picture of a few of us later that evening in a beaver hide(for spying on wild beavers). Our volume was largely dictated by the bottle of scotch whiskey you see near the bottom of the photo.

The next day would be a busy one, with planned trips to the Culloden Battlefield and Cawdor Castle(setting of Shakespeare's MacBeth). However the highlight of the day would be back at Aigas where a few of us played a game of croquet on the pristine grass. It was such a great experience to play the sport of royalty on an actual royal lawn! Here is Otis, Amy, Dylan, Sam, Jessie, and I posing with the snobbiest croquet faces we could manage.

The next day would also hold surprises as we finished our weekend at Aigas and the Highlands. We visited the Urquhart Castle ruin located right on the shore of Loch Ness. After exploring a number of castles, I've definitely decided that the ruins are the most fun. Many of them are outside, and this one in particular allowed us access to most of the castle lookout points. Of course there were some amazing views of the loch, and it fortunately wasn't too crowded.

After exploring the ruin, a few of us decided that we couldn't leave the Highlands without having swam in Loch Ness. I'll let the next few pictures do most of the explaining.

The water was mighty cold, but it was really the rocks that posed the biggest problems for us. Most of us managed to bruise or cut our feet. We never saw any signs of Nessie while we were swimming, but he did make a mysterious appearance later in the day...

After the long weekend, it was time to head back to Edinburgh, but I'll never forget my trip to the Highlands! My latitude has been extended to 57º 32'!!!

Edinburgh: The Living Situation

2007-08-08T14:20:00.000-07:00

I am currently living in Edinburgh, which is the capital of Scotland and one of the oldest cities in the country. My flat is located just off of Morrison Street located near the city’s centre. Morrison is a moderately busy street but our flat is on the 6th floor making it less noisy than it might be were we right next to the road.

Here are also the views from either side of my flat.

I live with two other guys in the flat and we all have our own rooms. Dylan is my first flat mate and my old roommate from my freshman year at UC Davis. We have stayed close since, and it’s really nice having a good friend along on this trip. Sam is my other flat mate, a really great guy we just met here and a couple of years younger than Dylan and I. For dinners we usually cook a meal all together and it works out nicely. Sainsbury's Local is a small grocery store a few blocks away with reasonable prices on produce and other food. Here's a picture of Dylan and Sam:

There are a lot of little quirks about living here in Scotland that I didn't expect. One thing I've become quite attached to is having my own sink in my bedroom. To wash my face, shave, or brush my teeth I don't even have to leave the room! Pretty handy if you ask me. However, one thing that has caught me off guard is that almost every sink has two completely separate spouts for the hot and cold water. This goes for the bathrooms, the kitchen, and even public restrooms! These silly sinks are more of a hassle than anything else, and because I'm too lazy to fill the entire sink with mixed warm water, I end up moving my hands quickly back and forth between the hot and cold. It's pretty ridiculous. Also something I found odd is that some of the light switches are on the outsides of rooms. For example, all of our bathroom light switches are in the hall outside the bathroom. Very strange if you ask me.

Lastly, our kitchen is nice and spacious. I like it a lot. However, they equipped us with some pretty primitive cooking utensils and no dishwasher. The washer you do see in the picture happens to be a clothes washer. To answer your next question, no, there is no clothes dryer.

So that's the scoop on my living situation here in Scotland! Up next is hopefully going to be a little info on the course I am taking here. Stay tuned...

Love, Ian

Greetings from Scotland!

2007-08-06T07:03:00.000-07:00

I made it safe and sound! I've been here a couple of days now and I'm just getting internet access at a little place called All Good Coffee. I asked if I could use their wireless and they said yeah sure! It's all good.

Edinburgh is absolutely beautiful. Every day here is pretty gloomy, and it's usually raining but the city is still amazing. I think it gives this place some great character. From my classroom we can see the castle and the ocean, and my flat is pretty close the shopping district on Princes Street and all of the clubs and pubs. I'm staying out of trouble I promise...

Almost all of the Europeans I've met so far are really friendly, especially the Scots. They think our accents are funny, and alot of times we can't understand them at all, but it's alot of fun. I really like it here. The city is clean and old fashioned but at the same time very modern and technologically advanced. Everything is very green, the cars are really small, and the weather is very cool. The summers here are about like the winters in Southern California, so it looks like I won't be getting much summer at all this year. That's ok though cause this places is really amazing.

I hope to give everyone a better idea of what this places is like in detail and will soon when I have more time. And of course I'm taking tons of pictures, so never fear you will see them soon. Check back in a couple of days cause I'm going to start posting some good in depth entries about my travels and studies. Start posting some comments too so i know someone is reading this crazy stuff!

love, ian

12 hours from now...

2007-08-03T00:44:00.000-07:00

I will have embarked on my journey across the pond. Look, I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty nervous about this one. I don't think this is nearly as bad as when I first left for college, but I'm still pretty antsy. Now don't get me wrong, I'm totally excited, and I know this will be a blast, but aren't I aloud to be a little scared. We're talking uncharted territory here... well not really, but you get what I'm saying. I know that once I get to Scotland I'm going to laugh at myself and wonder why I was ever nervous at all, but until then... wish me luck! Of course I will keep everyone right up to date on what I'm up to here at Ian's Brain, so check back again soon. I'll miss you all!

Love, Ian

Inside: Pizza Delivering

2007-07-30T17:24:00.000-07:00

Some of you may or may not have known that this summer I have spent the majority of my time delivering pizza, mostly in an attempt to score some extra cash for my upcoming trips. When I realized that I was going to be without a source of income for about five months, I decided action would need to be taken. It seemed only logical that with the flat pay and the tips, delivering pizza could get me rich quick. So many have asked, "What's it like? How is it?" Well the answer is pretty simple, but I will describe in detail to give you the perfect picture of what the life of a pizza delivery boy looks like.

In essence, being a pizza delivery boy is a lot like being Santa Claus. Now you're probably thinking "Huh? Santa?" Yeah, the big man. Jolly, brings toys to little boys and girls on Christmas Eve, omnipotent and checking if you are naughty or nice. You know who I'm talking about. Now before you click your back button or check your email, let me just explain. As dusk falls on any given summer night, calls begin pouring in to Z-Pizza on Main Street in Seal Beach, California. These calls are coming from who I might consider the most desperate of Americans. Not because they are poor (Z-Pizza happens to be ridiculously over priced and expensive), and not because they face any serious strife (Seal Beach is a mostly well to do area), but because they are lazy and hungry. These people turn to take out to satisfy an urge that they believe they cannot satisfy themselves. Instead of fixing themselves something to eat, they call up pizza places to do the "hard work" for them. And if that doesn't sound pathetic enough, they then enlist someone to bring the food to them because they are again too lazy to take care of that part themselves.

Now before I get too cynical against people ordering for pizza deliveries, let me just explain a few things. For starts, there is definitely a time and place for pizza. For one thing, Z-Pizza makes damn good pizza, rather Elisaud, David, and Nacho make damn good pizza (I am obligated to give credit where it is due). I can definitely understand why many would want the stuff on a regular basis. Also, I can sympathize with those that decide they just aren't up for cooking on certain nights. On top of all of this, pizza happens to be one of those foods that you can't just whip up on your own (unless you happen to be my Grandpa Ramsay). However, I will stand by the assertion that pizza should be for the deserving, much like presents for little boys and girls around the holidays.

A regular night at Z-Pizza begins with me filling up little cups of salad dressing and looking good behind the counter. But when the phone calls start coming in is when the real work starts. Hungry Southern Californians call, Elisaud, David, and Nacho make the pizza, I get a list of what I'm taking... check it twice... seriously... and then I'm off. One of the best things about delivering pizza is that despite having to go to peoples' doors, they are almost always really happy to see you. I am bringing food! Their hunger woes are soon to be no more because I came to save the day. But is this really valued? As most of you probably know, it is customary to tip the delivery boy. It is an unspoken rule that four or five dollars is sufficient, especially for larger deliveries or deliveries to further locations. This is where I believe some become less deserving of both pizza and my delivery services. If they assume that Z-Pizza pays me extra to make those deliveries, even to the depths of Huntington Beach, they are gravely mistaken. Gas is on yours truly. There's nothing worse than me driving 10 miles round trip to get a 71 cent tip (actually happened). Now you're thinking, who gives these kinds of "gratuities?" The answer: Rich people in Huntington Harbor (multi-million dollar homes on the water), and old people. I guess it's little surprise; they probably didn't get rich by giving generous or even fair tips to delivery boys. Greedy people don't deserve pizza. They deserve to have cold lima beans for lunch and dinner.

Bitterness aside, being a delivery boy certainly doesn't come without at least some glory. Getting a good tip or a friendly customer can make a bad night better. But I'm not in it for the people with cash in hand; I'm in it for the kids. Yeah they can't pay me, and some of the little ones don't even know to say "thank you," but I believe they are the ones who truly appreciate pizza, and subsequently me, the most. I pull up to driveways to see the faces of small boys and girls up against windows, breathing heavy and ready to take in the aroma of cheese or pepperoni. Some of them might even be chanting "PIZZA! PIZZA! PIZZA!" as I walk up to the porch. If I ever happen to drive by a park full of kids playing, I can almost always count on someone shouting out "Hey Pizza-guy!" with a smile and a wave. These kids aren't even getting pizza and they are happy to see me! I can hardly say that for any adult. As I said before, it's a lot like being Santa Claus, only instead of presents, I bring pizza. That and I'm not seasonal or religiously affiliated. Truth be told, I think I'm better than Santa. You don't have to leave me cookies or anything, but I'd like that. :)

Welcome to my new blog!

2007-07-25T15:07:00.000-07:00

I decided to start this so you could all keep tabs on what I'm up to on my upcoming trips around the world! If you were unaware, I will be studying abroad in Europe this August and then in Washington, D.C. in the fall. I'll break down my itinerary for you:

August 3: Leave Los Angeles
August 4: Arrive in Edinburgh, Scotland
September 1: Arrive in Dublin, Ireland
September 3: Arrive in Venice, Italy
September 4: Arrive in Florence, Italy
September 7: Arrive in London, England
September 10: Arrive in Los Angeles
September 22: Arrive in Washington, D.C.
December 20: Arrive in Los Angeles

I'm counting down the days to the madness!