What a Interesting First Few Daze!

Hello World!
I am currently sitting in the Youth Hostel, looking out onto Queen’s Road in Aberdeen! This road is kind of boring and is basically full of businesses and banks. Nothing really fun. The two main streets in the town are King’s Street and Union Street. People go here mainly to shop it seems. It’s kinda like a tourist trap. I haven’t been to the water yet, but I have seen the harbor from afar. There are HUGE ships in it, so I’ll probably check it out. It’s been sunny the last few days, but don’t let that fool you, it’s always cold. I am never warm, even when I go to sleep. It is a nice city, although it is entirely made of granite. I have yet to see any building that isn’t made of granite. Although uniformity is nice and all, everything looks kind of gray and post-industrial. Oh, and everything they say about British food is true: generally sub-par. The first day, I tried to upkeep my veganism. I had a Cliff Bar I brought from home and a bag of chips. There was nothing else available in the super market, not to mention this was after an entire day of travel without food. So, I have to admit, today I had a macaroni salad that had mayonnaise in it ☹. Oh also, EVERYONE here uses a car, not just an American thing. I try to walk as much as I can, but occasionally I pay the 2 pounds (ouch) and ride the bus.
The Lab is incredibly interesting and different from our US labs. First of all, my project has nothing to do with what I did my presentation on. Essentially, I will be isolating Natural Products from newly freeze-dried Scottish Sea Cucumbers, YAY! But in all seriousness, it’s going to be really hard. After I isolate the natural products, (I don’t know how, I just know this German woman is going to freeze-dry my sea cucumbers on Monday), I am going to run my saponins (the natural products I am interested in) through a two dimensional NMR. What’s a two dimensional NMR you may be asking. Well, it’s this huge scary machine and spits out a ridiculous amount of data that the chemist must then analyze. In organic chemistry at Emory, I dealt with common 1 dimensional NMR. 2 dimensional NMR is a totally different beast. There are 3 maybe 5 different measurements you can take with the NMR depending on a nucleus’s spin and its proton shielding. Think of it this way, the NMR spits out a giant puzzle of a graph that If read correctly, represents a chemical structure. Hannah, who works next to me, said she had no idea how to read 2D NMR’s when she arrived just a couple of weeks ago, but now she seems like an expert, I HAVE HOPE.
They take safety incredibly seriously. I was at work from 10-5 today and all I did was go over safety things, and I haven’t even watched “the movie” yet. There is so much to remember, and I will probably forget so oh well. I work mostly with a 4th year German student named Hannah. In fact, I might as well be in Germany because everyone in my lab, except Dr. Jaspars, is German. While I am here I will specifically be working under associate professor Ranier Ebel. He is a great guy who really wants to teach me how to read the 2D NMRs, and that’s very exciting.
I’m kind of nervous about this weekend because I have zero friends and no prospects (besides Hannah). I was going to ask Hannah if she wanted to go get beers or something today after lab but she was working with Dr. Ebel and I totally forgot. Plus, she has a boyfriend and probably already thinks I am coming on to her because of my social desperation, Yikes. Oh well, I have only been here 2 days. Not to mention I have yet to meet “the boys,” these other German undergrads who work in the same room as me. Hopefully they will be a riot, but for now, lonely weekend.
On the first day of living at the hostel I met this aussie named Reese. He is nice, we say hi. Tonight I noticed some Americans coming into the hostel so I quickly and awkwardly asked how they would be spending their Friday night. One girl responded, equally as awkward, and said they would be making dinner but I could “hang out”. Thanks for the invite I suppose…. Hahaha. Anyways, they are all outside right now, being cooler and more social than I am, and I am going to go on a run because, oh yeah someone forgot to tell me but, IT NEVER GETS DARK HERE! HOLY EFF!
Oh, and I might have found a “flat” stay tuned for deets.
UPDATE!
It’s now 1:50 PM on the day after the above was written. And I have had such social success! Last night, after I finished my run, this guy from Glasgow named Brian who is living in my room said he needed to get a few drinks because he had had a hard day. Of course I obliged. We started off the night at some bar across the street. It was really ritzy and full of old women… so after about one beer we left. But then the night got exponentially better. We walked to the city center, and I swear… at night this place goes NUTS. Totally different city! All of the churches that people tour right in the downtown area are transformed into… hold onto your seats… nightclubs! Girls and guys are wearing their best club attire (the girls here, despite the cold, wear much less clothing than Americans) and the city streets are literally bustling with young college kids from the two universities here. Anyways, first we hit up this really chill fun bar where I got my lecture on the difference between Scottish Whiskey and American Whiskey. After some taste tests we went upstairs to the first night club. It was very cool but kind of empty, so we left. Next we went to this punk club. We walk in, there are green laser lights and foot high mohawks everywhere. After a few more drinks I decided it was time to start dancing. At this point we had met Reese the Australian and three of his friends. Next thing you know, the whole pack of us are head banging alongside the crazy goth punk kids and screaming odd things like “Angels deserve to DIE.” Good night. After we left and went to this CHURCH! Inside was a huge dance floor! The DJ played his set where the priest would give his sermon, high above the crowd, and colored lights that blinked to the sound of the bass illuminated the stained-glass windows. IT WAS AWESOME! After (at about 3:30AM) Brian and I lost the Australian and his friends, they were all wasted, at one point in the night I had to help one of them stand up. The Australian is still nowhere to be found and Brian is still asleep. All in all, I call that a good first night in Aberdeen. I think later today (it’s not freezing outside today) I am going to grab dinner at a supermarket and head towards the harbor to eat it on the shore. BYBEYBEYEBYEBYE

Oh and sorry I don't have any more photos to share. I haven't really had a chance to go shoot yet. The castle is campus.