gin and jack

I went up to St Andrews on Saturday to drop off all of my things--it's beautiful! I have a single with en suite bathroom, double bed, and spectacular view of these very Scottish fields (I'll post photos when I have proper internet). I'm staying in Edinburgh, though, until tomorrow morning.
Edinburgh is as wonderful as it was last summer. It's a hill city, full of cobblestones and unexpectedly old buildings. People here aren't as friendly as they are back home, but once you get to know them, they're great. The women have amazing clothes and extraordinary boots here--it makes me want to make gutsy fashion choices and strut.
I went out Friday and Saturday night with Mr D and his friends, which was loads of fun. We went to a gay bar on Saturday night and I had so much fun dancing. I think I'm glad, though, to be going to a college town--hopefully there will be fewer plastic girls (Edinburgh has its fair share). I was back at the bar where I stayed last summer, too. It's funny how faces change, but the people stay the same--the same kind of people, I mean. I'm still just as awkward in bars like that, with the music too loud to actually talk and everyone just sipping and laughing at one another. I sat in the bathroom for a while, guzzling gin and pretending my life was an independent movie (somehow this makes awkwardness seem less awful, because in indie movies the awkward duckling usually finds another, equally awkward duckling and they waddle off into a used bookstore, which sounds divine). Enough gin and tonics later, and I was out, socializing with the best of them.
Starting my trip with Mr D has been just right--I don't miss California yet; I've been too busy, and by the time I get up to St Andrews, I'll have lots of things to do.

oh, ray

I'm here! Skies are gray and it even rained yesterday! Staying with Mr. D is lovely--he's got a perfect apartment with a cozy kitchen. I'm looking forward to moving up to St Andrews tomorrow, though, and meeting my roommates, etc (and when I say 'looking forward' I mean 'scared shitless'). I've just realized that I have no pillows, no comforter, towels, or sheets, making IKEA a necessary stop on Sunday.
The city is mostly the same, although its different, knowing that I'm moving here, that it's not just a summer lark.

T-23 hours

So, one day left. The bags are mostly packed, all the errands run. Things I'll miss about California: Borrone's custard, highway 280, driving in the foothills, our leather couch.
Things I'm looking forward to: Fog, living close to the beach and a big city, HISTORY all the time, trains.

should have been a cowgirl

I'm up in the mountains now, for the last time until December. I had a great drive up--California still takes my breath away, especially the parts of Highway Four where the road curves around and there's a break in the trees and whoosh--there's a vista, a really fucking gorgeous sweeping view of the mountains across a stunning drop. Dangerous, breath-taking mountains.

I'm driving home in the morning to pack and pick up my parents from the airport. I've been mostly calm about leaving, but I keep having minor freak-outs--about my haircut, about where to eat dinner, about picking a face lotion, stupid stuff. I think mostly I'm freaked about leaving California, the geographic place. People move all the time; we'll always be in transition. But the place of California, I can't call California, I can't expect California to write letters. On the bright side, I know it'll be here when I get back!