Hairspray

So, I went to see Hairspray with some of the international students. Without giving too much of the "plot" away, let's just say that the movie is in typical Broadway-musical style in that it takes a serious topic and makes it all butterflies and sunshine; in this particular case, it's the topic of segregation.

After the movie, I had to explain that segregation was not all butterflies and sunshine to my fellow movie-goers. They seemed to think that the film was based on truth, but instead Broadway musicals gloss over reality. I spend a fair amount of time dispelling the myths about America and Americans. I'm beginning to need some back up.

Today I met an American. As in, a not-tourist American. I was paying for this weekend's international students trip to Falkland Palace and St. Andrews at the Chaplaincy, and he was talking to the secretary. We were both sort of surprised. Americans just don't live in Edinburgh (apparently), much less work/study at Heriot Watt University.

Rendez-Vous

A missed meet-up with the other international students, and I end up watching Paris, Je T'aime on my own in a theatre that holds ~80 people. It's like watching a movie in a large living room.

There's nothing like 10 short films about love in a foreign city to remind you that you're watching a movie without any friends...in a foreign city. The last one nearly killed me.

And then. AND THEN. I come home to this:

That's right. My flatmate filled my shelf with Stella! You'd think the other three shelves would be enough? Then again, having a shelf full of beer may not be the end of the world...

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I was walking back from the movie theatre at 11pm, and somehow ended up on the road with all the show bars. I thought I had maneuvered it so I wouldn't cross them (I would've preferred avoiding drunken guys coming out of lap-dance-a-palooza), but no harm done. There were middle-aged American women hanging out of the next building/hotel, taunting each party-goer that exited the neighboring establishment with, "Good evening darlin'" in a light Southern drawl. god. I love being American.