Bit of catch up...

Blogging is hard, guys. Really. BUT. I am determined to keep this going this semester, so here goes: Blog Post Take 2!

Since the last post I made, I’ve finished the IFSA-Butler orientation, moved into my room in Pollock Residence Halls, met a WHOLE lot of people from a WHOLE lot of places (including various places around the United Kingdom and Ireland, Spain, Slovakia, Poland, and Australia), had my first plate of fish and chips and pint of Guinness, took a tour of beautiful Edinburgh Castle, began the infamous Freshers’ Week, did some traditional Scottish dancing, got my finalized class schedule and walked the equivalent of probably 10+ miles all around Edinburgh. And more. This is in the span of about four days? Yeah. Talk about overwhelming. Here are some visual aids, to inspire the imagination:

The top of Calton Hill, looking toward Arthur's Seat.

First pint of Guinness!

The entrance to Edinburgh Castle, guarded by Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland (left), and Sir William Wallace (right).

An absolutely packed Scottish ceilidh (pronounced KAY-lee). It's like swing dancing...on speed.

Orientation finished fine—it was essentially a bunch of power points about expectations and procedures of the University of Edinburgh and living in Scotland, and the like. We did have two really cool people come and speak to us: an Edinburgh policeman who talked to us rather hilariously about personal health and safety, and Margo MacDonald, a Member of Scottish Parliament (MSP), who talked to us a bit about Scottish politics historically and currently, and also took questions both intelligent (something about David Cameron’s coalition government?) and…not so intelligent (Northern lights? Really?) She was quite humorous, and had a thicker, almost Glaswegian accent than some of the program directors, which was actually really lovely to listen to. She also offered us some tidbits on places to eat and things to see while in Scotland, often with some humorous anecdotes and tangents. My favorites being:

[To a girl in the front row]: “Oh, you could meet my grandson! He’s a student there—you could get married!!!”

[On traditional Scottish foods]: “You’ll notice that they all have oatmeal in them…good, hearty stuff. And the story goes, is that the English would feed the oatmeal to their horses, and the Scots would feed it to their men. And so they’ve got the best horses….and we’ve got the best men.”

She was pretty cool.

Anyways, on Saturday, we all checked out of the hotel and moved into our university accommodation, either the university flats or the residence halls. I am in Baird House, which is one of the Pollock Residence Halls, on the fourth floor in a single room. The girls (and one guy) in my hall are all pretty cool. We all seem to be getting along pretty well, and they’re all really cool people. There’s three girls from various parts of England (including London and Scarborough), and the guy is from Scotland; one of the girls plays harp (legitimately—she has a huge harp at home, and a smaller one here at school with her. It’s brilliant.)

Also, about the room: 1) The room is bigger than Mary and my room last year. 2) There is a sink, full-length mirror, shelves and a cupboard in my room. 3) The view is awesome. Observe:

View of some other residence halls, and the city beyond.

Mmkay. That’s enough writing for the moment. I’ll update in a bit about Freshers’ Week and my excursions and adventures around and about Edinburgh—they are bound to be interesting.

LOVE.