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
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