Green Education in a Green Country

30.11.07

Graduation

I'm officially done! I graduated on Tuesday, in a beautiful (okay, long and boring) ceremony. It was fun to dress up in silly robes and get bopped on the head with a piece of John Knox's trousers (I'm not kidding -- that is how they graduate you here). I graduated with distinction - basically the equivalet of "cum laude". Now I just need to find a job.

Here are some graduation day pictures:


The ceremony was held in the impressive McEwan hall.


Me with my program advisor.


And what's a graduation without a picture with the piper?

1.11.07

Debunking social stigmas...

...against buses.

Types of public transportation vary in the way they are perceived. Subways and trains are viewed as being cosmopolitan, and ferries are just fun. But buses are perceived as fit only for the poor, the elderly, and schoolchildren. Oh, and crazy people. Not exactly a glamorous crowd.

However, my experience, at least here in Edinburgh, has been different. Sure, the people listed above ride the bus (and sorry if you're in that group and feel oh-so-unglamorous now), but so do bussiness-people and families. Blue collar and white collar alike. And now, officially, I can add celebrities to that list.

Yes, last weekend I had my first-ever up-close-and-personal celebrity sighting* -- on a bus. Emma Watson, the actress who played Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter movies, got on the bus Aaron and I were on last weekend, and we eavesdropped on her conversation for about 20 minutes (we have no shame). It was so cool!

Now, I concede that there may be a difference between the buses here and the buses in your town. Buses need to be clean, reliable, frequent, safe, and convenient in order for those who have other transportation options to ride them (double decker-ness doesn't hurt, either). Perhaps once your town introduces buses that embody all these properties the celebrities visiting your town will start riding them too.

And I have to say, there are probably few other ways in which you can really eavesdrop on a celebrity like when one sits down a few seats behind you on a bus. It's really the way to go in celebrity sighting. I know you are dying to know what exactly Emma Watson talked about for the 20 minutes we listened in on her. Well, that is between me and Emma. And the friend she was talking to. And the 15 or so other people seated around her.

So....go, ride a bus! Find your own celebrity to eavesdrop on.



*I have also seen Bill Pullman, Sandra Oh, and Will Ferrell in person, but from a bit of a distance -- certainly not close enough for eavesdropping.