When people would ask how long I was back in Pittsburgh for, there was a caveat to it: "I leave July 22...if they let me back into Scotland."
And they did! International travel is kind of an unknown variable at the moment, but I made it back to Edinburgh to finish my program with no problems.
The second half of my trip home was just as delightful as the first. My parents and I hiked at McConnell's Mill, a beautiful ravine up near Grove City - ironically, I never went to McConnell's Mill while I was a student at GCC, but I wish I had. It was humid and sweaty and so, so green, and there were kayakers and hikers and picnickers there with us.
I also got to have lunch with my grandmother, who I haven't seen in almost a full year! It was so lovely to see her, to catch up and hear how she's been doing, and to share my adventures with her. And of course, she perfectly matched her mask with the rest of her outfit - she's always fashion inspiration, even in the middle of a pandemic.
I connected with a few other people, including my roommates from last year, and had mimosas and banana bread and Eat N Park and Chipotle. And then I headed to Wisconsin for a wedding.
My senior year of college, one of my friends convinced me to participate in 24-hour theater project with her. Here's what it is: participants come together and get into groups of writer, director, and actors. From 7pm to 7am, the writers come up with a script. Then the director and actors come in at 7am and work until 7pm, when all of the plays are performed.
The group I was a part of really hit it off. We started hanging out more and more to watch Stranger Things, play Dungeons and Dragons, make soup, and escape from the pressure of school for a little bit. All seven of us have graduated at this point, and we're spread across the globe: Scotland, Japan, Florida, Virginia, and Wisconsin. So we only get to see each other when somebody gets married.
Lindsay's wedding was the third in our group, and at this point I hadn't seen any of them in person for two years - way too long. We rented a lovely air BnB for the weekend, and the wedding was incredible! It was in a gorgeous barn and was perfectly Lindsay: classy and funny and comfortable. They also had popsicles (!) at the cocktail hour and some of the best wedding food I've ever had!
Seeing my friends was wonderful and amazing and too, too, short. Just one day later, I was on a plane back to Edinburgh, where I spent fourteen days in self-isolation. Scotland is opening up more and more every day, still with necessary precautions; you must wear a mask in every store/restaurant/building, and if the cases start spiking, they won't hesitate to shut the country down again.
In course news, I am almost done with my degree! Yesterday, the bulk of my thesis was due: the first twenty-thousand words of my novel, Strange and Deadly Crimes, and a chapter-by-chapter breakdown of the rest of the book. This coming Friday, I'll turn in a three thousand word Critical Self-Reflection (How did I go about writing? What worked and what didn't? How did the things I learned in this course help me? What other resources did I use and how did they help?), and a five hundred word Personal Development Plan. That will include a schedule for finishing my novel, as well as other competitions and magazine submissions I can do in the next few months.
I've waffled a lot on what I want to do when my program ends. My friends Sienna and Pim and I just secured a flat in Stockbridge that we'll move into at the end of the month (look forward to a virtual tour!). I'm going to be in Edinburgh at least through January, when my lease ends, and I'll be working and trying to finish my novel! After that, who knows?
Book Recommendation: Heroes by Stephen Fry. This has been my main resource for my book - Fry does a great job of detailing the stories of heroes in Greek mythology. My main focus is on Heracles, and I found pretty much everything I needed to know here. Fry makes the stories fun and relatable and memorable. If you like Greek myths, I highly recommend this one!