how is it already april or appreciation post

Can we just pause for a moment and reflect on the fact that I've been in a foreign country for nearly 3 months? Insane how fast time goes.
I'm feeling all nostalgic already about the good times I've had here and I'm not done yet. I don't want to have regrets about my time here, but if there's one thing I can name as a regret, it's that I didn't meet the small group I'm in sooner! Shout out Fraser Court small group. The past two nights I've stayed up the latest I've stayed up all semester minus the one night I went clubbing which was about just as late. And these past two nights have been spent with some quality people. Seriously. It sucks that I won't get to be here longer to spend more time with them. Tuesday night was one of the guys' 18th birthday, which is a big deal here because it means you're legal to drink alcohol. I didn't realize that that was so important...I mean obviously people probably do it before they're 18 just like in the US people do it before they're 21, but whatever. Birthday celebration fun. and I didn't get to bed until like 1:30. What?!
Last night was our last official small group. It's funny to me how since I've joined, we've never actually met at Fraser Court which is where everyone besides our leaders, Ross and Lucy, and me live. Yesterday we met at Ross' apartment on the Royal Mile. If I lived in Edinburgh, I'd want to live on the Royal Mile. Maybe.  I kinda really enjoy the fact that we just discuss crazy topics that everyone has different opinions on. Although I never really end up saying a whole lot because I'm not one to speak up and half the time I don't know how to articulate my thoughts and it's just a bit chaotic for me. But I'm good at listening and listening to others makes me want to figure out exactly where I stand and how to be able to back up what I believe. It's times like that that make me feel young in my faith even though I've been on this journey for years; I'm reminded how important it is to really read my Bible and all that jazz. I want to be able to really feel solid and set in my beliefs. I know I probably will never feel 100% like that, that it is a continual challenge to formulate where you stand and I think it can change too after experiencing more life and that sort of thing. Really, the most important thing for me to remain strong in is that I believe Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. He is love. We won't ever have all the answers, but hashing things out with other people is good for the soul. As is laughing. After we spent a long time debating things, we spent the rest of the night in laughter over the most ridiculous things and just talking about so many random topics. I love hanging out like that. I also really love people that aren't American. Not to say that I don't like Americans but sometimes I enjoy other people more because they just seem more cultured. Obviously that is somewhat of a generalization. Plus non-Americans have way cooler accents and fun slang. I really need to work harder at incorporating English/Scottish/Irish slang into my vocabulary before I leave. The only thing I do is sign off emails or postcards with "cheers". I have found myself typing certain words in the proper English spelling way. Like colour and organise.  Probably from the fact that I had to write both my Art History papers with British spelling not American. From which I learned that the proper English spelling of 'mold' is 'mould', how wonderful is that? It makes a rather gross word more dignified. Ha. People are going to love me or hate me for saying that I like spelling things the British way. It really is the 'right' way since as Americans, we came from the UK. Granted, when we left it was because we didn't want anything to do with Great Britain anymore, but whatever. The UK is terrific. I wasn't thinking I'd be up really late again, but ended up being up even later. Worth it.
That's all.
In other news, I've really been missing Texas. What? I'm listening to country music and sometimes purposely try to use "y'all" in conversation. I'm losing it. Ha. Also it's almost Spring Break and my older sister and mom get here on Saturday! I'm so stoked. I've done nothing academic today, unless you count my bagpipe playing test. But that only took like 5minutes. Literally. I've been meaning to try to organise my essay for my music&technology class, but that obviously hasn't happened. Whoops.