Hannah and Rainy Day Strolls and South Carolina Thieves

Yesterday would have been a perfectly uneventful Sunday. "Would" being the key word here. I took a lovely walk with two of my friends through Seaton Park, the park that stands between where I live at Hillhead and the Uni's campus. It was misting outside, not quite wet enough to put up the umbrella and not quite dry enough for my hair to remain frizz-free (unfortunate). It was a nice walk, we walked through the park and saw:

A magical spider web covered in droplets of water.

 A holey leaf

Some very pretty flowers covered in water.

 And some more leaves, also with water droplets. (I get the feeling that water droplets are going to become a motif of the time I spend here in Scotland).

 And once we headed through the Uni's campus on our way downtown, we saw this cool old car which I want for my own!

It was when we got back home to Hillhead that the real excitement began. Okay, it wasn't really exciting, more headache-inducing nerve-wracking unpleasantness. Because once home I found an email waiting for me from my mom telling me that - guess what? My debit card isn't going to work. Beeecause, someone in South Carolina (SOUTH CAROLINA?!) used my debit card number in a Walmart and got $400 from my account. WHAAAAT?! Really? Not even someone in the UK, no no someone in the good old United States, hacked into my account somehow and went Walmart crazy.

Well, luckily since I had a notice on my account letting them know that I was out of the country for the next several months, the bank caught it right away and shut down my debit card. At least they were prevented from getting anymore than they got on that first Walmart shopping spree. But now I'm in Scotland with no way to access my money. Looks like that emergency credit card I brought is going to come in handy. On the upside, it looks as though the bank is going to refund the stolen money at some point. And I'm hoping that it won't take too long to get a new debit card. It's just a matter of it getting to my home in Chicago and then getting to me. A week? Two? Hopefully not too long.

At any rate, it freaked me out a bit. Privacy invaded. But it could have been a lot worse. So thanks to my bank for being proactive (and my mom for letting me know, since the bank called my house). I'm just glad I didn't try using my debit card while I was out and get really freaked out because it wouldn't work. That would have been even more unpleasant.

Well, that's all for now. Hopefully the next entry will be about my upcoming trip to Edinburgh and of the more cheerful variety!