the blizzard continues

The first snow was lovely. The few days following proved that the snow was here to stay, but it was still manageable. Well, now Edinburgh is over a week in to what seems like a never-ending blizzard. It has snowed at least once everyday in the past 10 days, with some days (like today) rendering the city paralyzed. I can't even see the huge mountain from my window! I understand Edinburgh was not prepared for this much snow this early in the season, but their pathetic attempt to make the streets manageable has left much to be desired.

My class last Monday was canceled because of the weather and rescheduled for today, however the snow today is 2x worse that in was last week. What's worse, the patches of pavement (er, cobblestone?) cleared from snow are now reminiscent of glaciers. Even my completely overkill Canadian winter boots are finding the city hard to traverse these days. Gatwick Airport in England finally reopened after being closed for two days, and the Edinburgh Airport has been struggling. Mainland Europe is in shambles as well. I just hope everything is running smoothly in a few weeks when my family is due to arrive!

My week of Thanksgiving celebration is officially over, and now the focus is on Christmas. They start Christmas festivities in November here...hard to believe the actual holiday isn't even for a few weeks yet! Edinburgh takes Christmas cheer extremely seriously, and the city is not only very well decorated, but runs a huge German Christmas Market along with a big carnival and outdoor ice skating. They have a huge lit up ferris wheel next to the Scott Monument that creates a beautiful backdrop for the whole market.

This past Friday, in celebration of the term coming to an end (yep, no more classes 'till January for me!) a bunch of us walked down to experience the fun in full swing. We took a spin on the ice rink which was great fun, and then warmed up with some mulled wine and delicious German bites in the Market. My friend from Berlin said the market was just as nice as the ones in Germany, and she had just come from a weekend in London and reported that their Christmas festivities had nothing on Edinburgh. Above all, it was nice to have a fun night out to get our minds off of essays, which are causing everyone lots of stress.

The other night en route from the Law Library to the Main Library, a bunch of us stopped off to have a nice dinner at this restaurant called the Buffalo Grill. I decided to order something that I could not make so easily at home, and picked the Rainbow Trout dish. All of our meals arrived, and I was greeted by a big, full fish - complete with its head, eyes, tail, skin, bones...everything. The women put down a little funny shaped knife that I assumed should be used to dismantle my meal. Well, the fish was absolutely delicious, but the effort to de-bone the thing was no small feat. I also was able to eat about half of it before letting everyone else have a go to finish it up. Needless to say, I have a new consideration when ordering fish here and might just stick to a burger or the chili next time.