HK4L

Here it is. The *lovely* Nokia that I have talked SO highly about! Clearly, I needed a little Hello Kitty lovin' to spice it up (thank you Julie Ho!), which of course makes it all the more better to deal with. I am surprisingly getting used to using T9 for the first time, although I am glad that it is only semi-permanent. Miss you iPhone, I'm sorry we had to take a break from our relationship - I hope you will be able to forgive me once June comes rolling around.

If you're ever feeling like you want to spend some extra $$$ feel free to give me a call! My number is (011) (+ 44) 7796079685. Unfortunately upon purchasing a 20 pound international calling card I managed to leave it in the store, not realizing until the next day. Yeah. Not cool. So needless to say I will not be making any calls to the US anytime soon.

If you don't want to waste money calling me, do not forget - Skype is FREE! My username is: calderellaa

And lastly, my favorite of all communication, snail mail. I may be in Scotland but that doesn't mean I stopped loving cards! Mail me at:
Sarah Caldwell

Flat 13 Room 2

38 South Clerk Street

Edinburgh, UK

EH8 9PS

More US candy investments

Next to the ever-delicious and addictive surplus of Cadbury candies that cover the UK (specifically CRUNCHIES!), stores are also filled with a huge selection of gummies! I cannot remember what a lot of the brands are, other than Haribo - which like Cadbury is also available in the US, though really only in gold gummy bears - but they are all delicious. It is so hard to resist buying them, and then, once they are bought, eating the WHOLE bag. I have already run into this problem a (few) times. They have so many weird shapes - I don't know how someone ever even thought to make them a gummy candy (a diamond ring?). Since I really am not picky when it comes to candy I enjoy them all, though there is one shape that I am a little too skeptical to try: the fried egg.

I highly doubt (and really hope) that this doesn't/isn't supposed to taste like egg. Despite this, I am still too afraid to try it.

"Don't say the F word"

It is both obvious and necessary that while I'm here as a student "resident," I am also a tourist! Over the past few weeks I have tried to take advantage of as much as I can as I know the time is only going to start flying from here (as if it hasn't already!).

So far, I've toured Edinburgh Castle (for free thanks to Arcadia for providing Historic Scotland passes), hiked in and around Arthur's Seat twice (though barely living to tell the tale thanks to slippery rocks and improper footwear hahaha) and really just explored the city in and out - there really is SO much to see.

Necessary UK tourist photo

Cliffs surrounding Arthur's seat

Sunset from the top of the cliffs

Almost at the top. Literally Arthur's "seat"

(....it looks like a butt)

Thanks to Meredith for the amazing panoramic from the top!

If you know anything about Edinburgh, there is SO much history in the Old Town, a lot of it centered around the ever-busy Royal Mile, or High Street. It is known as the Royal Mile as it starts at Edinburgh Castle and ends roughly after a mile at Holyrood Palace (where the Queen still stays while in Scotland). Covered with traditional shops, pubs, and restaurants High Street is full of commotion. On the weekends it actually reminds me of Church Street (in Burlington, for all of those non-VT readers) with street performers and people everywhere, seemingly from all around the world. 

I was lucky enough to have a lot of pre-departure info about the Royal Mile, as my wonderful family historian (THANKS NANA!) provided me with it. High Street is covered from side to side with "closes" and "wynds" leading down and around the city. According to the lovely Wikipedia:

• The Old Town of Edinburgh, Scotland, consisted originally of the Royal Mile, and the small streets and courtyards that led off it to the north and south. These are usually named after a memorable occupant of one of the nearby apartments, or by the occupations of those that traded therein. Generically they are termed closes although individually they may be named entries, courts and wynds, all of which are Scots terms for an alley. A "wynd" was one wide enough to take a cart, a "close" was too narrow for a cart. Most slope steeply down from the Royal Mile. Many have steps and form huge flights of stairs. To be a true "close" it requires to be built on both sides, giving a canyon-like atmosphere. The Royal Mile comprises four, linear, conjoined streets: Castle Hill; Lawnmarket; High Street; and Canongate. 

Anyway, upon coming to Edinburgh, knowing of multiple family connections, I was sure my Nana would have some kind of genealogical assignment for me to complete. And that she did: my great great grandmother, Mary Tague, was born at 5 North Gray's Close, and later moved to 7 Old Assembly Close between 1882 and 1884. When Conor comes to visit we have been instructed to take lots of photos in front of both closes, but to hold my Nana over until April I got a preliminary shot while walking by Old Assembly Close the other day:

(I was a little hesitant putting this up here, DEFINITELY have to get a better one when Conor is here....)

While history isn't really my favorite subject, it's hard not to be interested in your own family. Just thinking of the life they had in the 1800s, especially compared to now, is amazing. And I am so lucky to have access to so much of it! What would I do without you, Nana?!

introduction part II

Now that I got that first entry out of the way, I am feeling a lot better about consciously wanting to update this. Hopefully this post will not be as long and daunting as the last - and with upkeep the following will be easy to write.

I already talked about flat mates, friends, iPhone withdrawal, dentist paper, etc.....so I guess it's time for the inevitable: school. There is not a lot I can say because quite honestly, I really don't understand it either. And quite frankly I really don't care.....yet, hahaha (again, sorry Mom). The courses (not classes) I am taking are: Creating Scotland (ZzZzZzZz), Doing Survey Research, and Religion and Society. The second two are "honours" courses, meaning third and fourth year (junior or senior). The weird thing about class here is that it really...doesn't happen. The Scotland class meets three times a week for 50 minutes, along with another 50 minute tutorial, pretty understandably relatable to home University classes. But the honors classes are a completely different story. Both meet about 1.5 times a week (not worth explaining further) with no real expectation. Basically, you get a list of about 25 books (not exaggerating) and pick "what you think will be important" to read. Yeah. Soooooo....I don't know about that one. I guess we'll see how this continues throughout the semester. Oh, and the best part is, all of your grades are determined pretty much by ONE 5000 word paper. HA.

I thought that taking Creating Scotland would be both beneficial and interesting, seeing as I will be here for the next 5 months. Well, I know it's only been a week, but as of yet, it's been somewhat painful. Rather than the anthropological/historical approach I thought it would be going in, the class is actually 50 minutes of detailed descriptions of the bark on a tree. I feel like I'm reading The Hobbit all over again (that is not a good thing). Ugh.

Back to the good stuff. Actually, this isn't so good either....but I PROMISE I'm having a good time! I promise!!!! Anyway, I don't have much to say about the food. It's not pretty. Thank God for Nutella and green tea. I don't think people here eat fruits and vegetables. Seriously. And even when I manage to get some, I try not to think about where it's coming from. On the other hand, the UK is in fact the land of CADBURY CANDIES!!!!! I don't know what the US is doing, but they really should invest past those cream eggs that come out during Easter. Cadbury Candy is just oh so sensational. Definitely made with a lot of magic, a little love, and probably some form of addictive drug. 

Specifically, Cadbury CRUNCHIES are the beeeesssssttttttttttttttt EVER. I don't even remember why/how I started eating them when I was little. I can remember being excited the first time I went to Ireland that I would be able to buy them. Then, again, the next time. And at some point OOP! in Providence sold them (RIP). I went through a short period of withdrawal until the lovely Jamie Hollands so nicely brought me some back from England this summer. And now I am here living in the motherland of Crunchies! ....Although I do wish I could eat an apple without being worried about my health....

The moment you've all been waiting for...

OK OK, I know... It's been almost two weeks and this blog that I've promised everyone still hasn't happened. Well, here you go! Who knew I would be getting hate mail in Scotland (...Conor...), you'd think that people would be happy I wasn't sitting alone in my room on the internet ranting about myself, and instead actually out doing awesome (a very "American" word) things in this awesome city. JEEZE.

I'm just kidding about the hate mail........a little. (Conor, you suck)

Alas, now that I've continuously put off writing this, there is SO much to say. First and foremost, I am having a better time than I could have EVER imagined. I tried to hide my nerves before leaving, but to say I was nervous was an understatement. Now, almost two weeks later, I am laughing at myself. I came here with full expectations that I would be an absolute uncomfortable mess for the first few weeks....hasn't happened in the least bit. Of course there are moments that I miss all of my lovely family and friends back in good old Lil' Rhody (and VT!) but I am already dreading coming home. I still cannot believe that after all of the work I've put into this experience over the past two years, I am finally living it!!!! I honestly feel like I am going to wake up in my bed at home, and that it was all a dream. And I recognize the total cheese factor in that last sentence, but it couldn't be more true.

I guess I need to start from the beginning. I am already feeling lazy and I have barely started this paragraph (what a great start to this semester, HA). I know, though, that it will be worth to have this to look back on so I am going to force myself to power through with medium detail.

For those that I have not already told, I came with a third party organization. Technically, I am enrolled in the University of Edinburgh, through the Arcadia University (in PA) College of Global Studies. Therefore, the first four or so days of being here consisted of orientation with the Arcadia office and the other forty-ish students that came with the program. To anyone reading this that is planning on studying abroad, that is one of the best things I did!!! I am so happy to have spent the first few days within a group of people in the same situation as me. It made building friendships and acclamation SO much easier. Having now moved into flats, many other visiting students that I've met who directly enrolled found their sole venture and acclamation here to be a lot more difficult (especially in a time that is already so stressful). I digress, upon an extremely sleep-deprived arrival (arrived in London at 4:30 AM their time, and then in Edinburgh at 7:00 AM their time...meaning about 2AM for me), I actually found another girl from Arcadia in the airport - we took a cab together to the hotel Arcadia set up for us.

Arcadia provided a LOT of great guidance in everyday living, travel, school preparation, and fun in general. The support that they offer is very reassuring, and the structure that they provided within the first days left no room for homesickness! In exploration of New Town, Old Town, the Royal Mile, etc [DO YOUR EDINBURGH RESEARCH PEOPLE, IT'S WORTH IT!] I had no time to even think about what I had left in the States.

Speaking of things left in the States...Edinburgh made me realize that I have a major problem. I am finally able to (not proudly) admit that I am addicted to my iPhone. The first step to help is admitting you have a problem, right? Well, I've finally said it. The Nokia I am stuck with here you would probably get paid to use in the US, it's THAT bad. I think my iPhone is what I miss most about being home (Sorry, Mom). I did bring it with me though, so if I have WiFi, thanks to Steve Jobs, I can iMessage all of you lovely other iPhone users for free! I also think that the app "WhatsApp" will let me do the same for Blackberry/Droid users. While this sounds all fine and dandy, I realized the first day in that this city is sadly allergic to WiFi, so it is not very often that I can actually use iMessage. In the event that I do have it, and you are lucky enough to receive a text from me - don't get too excited, it doesn't mean I'm back home...

While the WiFi allergy is depressing, though probably better for my mental health, the amount of elephants (almost) make up for it! Many know of my absolute love and adoration for elephants (9th/10th grade ring tone, anyone? haha) and it hadn't really occurred to me/I had totally forgot before coming that there would be such a large Indian population in the UK. As a result, there are elephants everywhere!!!!! I wish I could take pictures of them all. Unfortunately, they are not real (obviously), and I can only dream to safari like Jess Sullivan and experience thousands of wild ones. Maybe one day! JK Rowling actually wrote a lot of Harry Potter in Edinburgh's "The Elephant House" coffee shop. I have walked by, but not ventured in. I guess it is also speculated that she wrote a lot of HP in Spoon Cafe, though it was under a different name. Arcadia took us there for dinner the second night we were here.

After days of comfort bonding, Arcadia split us all up into our flats Friday morning. Luckily in my dorm, which is quite the walk from some of the others, has a few of Arcadia people, so I wasn't completely alone. And everyone had exchanged numbers anyway, it's not like we had anything else to do. Slowly over that first weekend, my five flat mates trickled in, and they are.....interesting.....to say the least. Four are from England/Scotland, and there is one other direct-enrolled visiting student from Maine. I can probably say that I've had about 2 minutes of interaction with each - all are pretty quiet, which was a little unnerving at first (with memory from my awful first 2 months at UVM), but I stayed positive. I guess I can now be thankful for my traumatic first semester at UVM, as I came here prepared for the worst. While I do kind of wish I had the friendly, welcoming, close-knit flats that a lot my friends do, I am still happy with what I have - I have already made so many friends in my building and all over campus, so there is no real reason to complain.

I lied, there is definitely another thing I can selfishly complain about (next to my beautiful iPhone), and that is the bedding. We were provided bedding packs with a duvet, duvet cover, pillow, and pillow case. Now, I'm not sure if people are used to sleeping on the blue paper they use to cover your shirt at the dentist, but I definitely am NOT. The duvet isn't completely horrible, as it is pretty warm, but I almost immediately bought a second pillow and two, actual cotton, pillow cases. Big difference. I can't really bring myself to spend money on a new duvet cover (or any kind of decoration for that matter) when I really do not spend that much time in my room as it is. It slightly resembles an asylum (or what I imagine one to look like). But I put some pictures from home on the wall, and for all of the other amazing aspects of this experience I'm getting apart from my room, it is certainly good enough to sleep in.

And in only a few hours, my worries about my flat were practically gone. I found my friend Audrey from Arcadia (Hi, Audrey, I bet you're reading this!), she was feeling pretty similar to me, so we decided to stick together. All of you Cranstonian Rhode Islanders would be interested to know that Audrey is actually from......Cranston. Unbelievable, I know!!!! During name-game orientation activities, we were both interested to hear that each of us were from RI, but then to find later that we were both from Cranston. Absolutely crazy. And to top it all off we get placed in flats practically next to each other. No matter how far away you go, I guess you truly can't get away. I'll always love to hate you, Cranston!

In keeping busy, any discomfort really diminishes. And I can honestly say that there really isn't a time when I'm not busy. I feel like I have been going and going and going since I got here. It is so crazy to think of the reality of it all, as I really haven't been here for two weeks yet, and the friends I've made I feel as though I've already known for SO much longer.

OK. How was that for a first post? Happy, Conor? There is a lot more I still need say but I figured this is long enough as it is and I will try to make an introduction part II later today. (haa, maybe tomorrow)

CHEERS!

PS: Oh, and for those of you that want to see pictures, just jump on the facebook bandwagon already - they are all on there - you know facebook is going to suck you in eventually so might as well start now!

PPS: There's probably a lot of awful typos in there, so I apologize