Running in Holyrood Park

Wow, so two posts in one day. Excessive, right? I think it is. I just got back from my run though and have so much adrenaline! It is CRAZY. I decided to run where I said I was going to in my last post. As it turns out, the park is Holyrood Park, which obviously includes Arthur's Seat. It's such a nice park, as you'll see. I didn't hike up Arthur's Seat today. I'll save that for another day. But you'll see where I did go, which isn't too shabby either. Still some very nice views of Edinburgh and the surrounding areas.

Enjoy! I know I did.

I honestly can't believe I live 5 minutes from this. At most, its a 10 minute walk. Blows my mind how lucky I am.

St. Andrews!

Yesterday, some of my friends and I traveled to St. Andrews (Scotland) with the International Student Centre. It cost 8 pounds, but that included transportation and entry to the castle and cathedral (which, in all honesty, should be free). St. Andrews was nothing like I expected- its so much smaller and with less to do. Living in Edinburgh now, I guess I just expected everything to be as exciting and bustling. Don't get me wrong, St. Andrews is beautiful and quaint. I'm just glad I live in Edinburgh. We got lucky and had a beautiful day, for the most part. It rained a little, but hey, we got a rainbow out of it. (And the wind was manageable.)

The castle was hardly a castle- mainly just ruins at this point. It was humorous because a huge group of us, while looking for the castle, completely passed it because it looked nothing like what we were expecting. The cathedral was SO cool though. Obviously it was in ruins as well, but something made it seem much more grand. There was one tower that is open to the public to be climbed, however, the weather conditions prevented us from doing so. There was also this really cool pier/jetty into the water, but by the time we discovered it, the wind and rain were too deterrent for us to go check it out.

Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves on the trip. I can't think of anything else to add at the moment, but if there's anything obvious that I left out, feel free to ask.

The Pub Where We Ate Lunch

St. Andrews

I just thought this was funny...

View of where golf was born, apparently?

Also, on another note. I went to the pub on Thursday with my American friends and met the coolest kids. They were a bunch of math students who happened to live in the same building and were all from the UK. (Ireland, Scotland, England). We had a lovely chat for a few hours and now I've been invited out with them. I was supposed to go out with them last night, however, there was a slight mishap and the girl whose number I have left her phone so I couldn't get in contact with her. But she promised to make it up to me, so I'll be seeing them soon.

Drinking whisky- again! We obviously think we're classy.

Haverford in Edinburgh!

Malone's Irish Pub

On Friday, my friend Michael and I hiked up Arthur's Seat which is THE ABSOLUTE COOLEST. Everyone needs to come to Scotland right now and do it. I'd include pictures, but since I was with Michael, who lives about an hour away from Edinburgh, I didn't want to be the biggest tourist. And now I have a great excuse to keep going back. There's a really nice park at the foot of the mountain (volcano? I'm not actually sure what it is) so I'm thinking that's where I'm going to be running from now on. I'm finally starting to get better I think. This morning was the first morning I woke up able to breathe out of my nose. So I think I'm finally going to try physical exercise again! I'm thinking about running with camera in hand, just in case I find something especially breathtaking. Just about all of Arthur's Seat (the views from the top) are unreal. 

Ok well I think that's about it. I should really start my day- need to do some reading for school, although my books are in the Darwin Library over on the science campus (don't feel like going there). Maybe I'll just go for a run like I said earlier. It's a beautiful day out. 

Cheers!

I Promised Pictures...

New friends!

Oh Edinburgh

Three academic days down! Would you look at that? Granted, today isn't over, but my classes are. I figured I'd write a blog now while I have some free time.

My first day of class was well, my first day. It's so obvious that I'm new here. Don't know any of the science buildings, don't know where the lecture theatres are inside of them; I don't even know the proper person to ask these questions. So. About my first day. I live right next to the humanities campus called Central (or George Square typically), however, my one bio class (surprisingly not the other) is located at the King's Buildings, the science campus. Naturally. Depending on where one lives, its quite a walk. From Central to King's, its about a 35 minute walk, give or take 10 minutes depending on your speed. So, living on the humanities campus, my walk is around ~35 minutes. No big deal; its a nice city. Typically students take the shuttle between campuses, which I intend to do some of the time. However, one needs her student ID to take the shuttle. I didn't have the ID yet, so my friend and I decided to make the trek to the other campus early in the morning. Her class was at 9, which she was late to, but mine was at 11 so I wandered around for a bit and settled in for an hour on the 7th floor cafe in the bio building. Class went well, although it was strange to have such a large class in such a large theatre. After that, I was done for the day so I happily walked back home.

I went to the library to pick up my ID card (yay, I can take the bus now) and made myself some lunch. I then realized that I still had to matriculate into the University and the one step standing in my way was meeting with my advisor (here they call them DoS- Director of Studies). I had to go back to the King's Buildings, figure out who my advisor was, set up an appointment and then meet with them. Luckily, my lovely advisor emailed me back quickly and I was able to see him later that day. This is where I made several mistakes. I chose to take the bus for the first time without knowing where the bus stop was. I asked a nice lady though, who gladly showed me. However, I didn't think to ask what the bus looked like though, which would have been nice since the bus stop was for several buses. After standing in front of my bus for an embarrassingly long period of time as other students stared at me and entered the bus, I got on. The bus was late so I was late to my meeting. This made me late to get back to the bus stop. Therefore, when I arrived, the line for the bus was so long that even though I made it in time, there was no room on the bus. So, instead of waiting in the VERY cold weather, I decided to walk back instead. At this point, it's very very cold and very dark. (The streets are well lit though, don't worry. I felt safe.) I hustled my way back but incidentally walked a little too far on one road and wound up passing the ONE place they tell you to not go near at night. Naturally. I wasn't there for long, so again, please don't worry.

The walk home made me late to meet a friend who I told to come by my place at 6. Luckily, I caught her leaving so it worked out. My friend was coming over to join me and a few other friends as we made dinner. The ISC (International Student Centre) was having a potluck that night, so we decided to go. In short, it was surprising how many students went and how well they can cook. The space was really too small to enjoy conversation or get to know anyone, but it was a nice night out with some new friends. Now I'm pretty good friends with the girls I cooked with, who are from Switzerland, France and the Czech Republic.

I realized later on that night that I had academic issues with some of the courses I had chosen to take, so the rest of the night I spent trying to fix my schedule and freaking out if I wasn't able to enroll in the class. It seemed like a bigger deal then. I've sorted it all out by now so everything is alright. By now, I've been to all of my classes, like them and have successfully enrolled.

Yesterday, I was testing out a class called Health and Society. However, on my way there, I realized I actually had no interest in the class. (Well, I did, but from the course description it was too much repetition of classes I have already taken.) Instead of going to the class, I decided to wander around the city and figure out where the gym was. On my way to the gym, which is probably about 10 minutes away from at most, I took the following pictures.

Arthur's Seat - So Close!

Pretty sweet, huh? I wasn't certain I was matriculated so I couldn't sign up for the gym yet, but that's one of my goals for today.

Yesterday was also nice because in my bio class, I sat down randomly and happened to strike up a conversation with the girl next to me. If what I say next doesn't make you believe its a small world, I don't know what else will. Turns out she used to play field hockey with a girl on my field hockey team now. We were both aware that each other existed, but never talked, met, etc. So it was by pure chance I sat next to her and met her. It's really nice that I did, though. Her flatmate plays for the intramural club team here so I now know about the team and can join! They have a match on Friday, but I don't have my stick and gear yet. I was told there's an extra stick so we'll see!

Other good news is that my new friends invited me over last night to hang out with them. I've finally met people from the UK now! When everything really got going, Americans were the minority. Probably about 2/3 of the people were from the UK. We decided to go to this cheesy karaoke pub for a little then headed out to two clubs.

Proof I Went Clubbing.

 The first club (Bongo) was a bust so we quickly moved to another one (The Hive), that I surprisingly liked. Both clubs had no entrance fee, probably because it was a Tuesday- lucky us. [Pictures to follow, eventually.] It played a lot of old music- music from the 1990s and 2000s so it was pretty awesome. A nice throwback and of course everyone knew the songs played so everyone was just singing along. A few of the girls and I tried absinthe for the first time. I think last night was the latest I've ever stayed out before. It was also really nice because a guy I met there walked me home (and bought me a drink!). While I didn't feel unsafe at all, it was nice having him there. Especially because I started walking down the wrong street. Stupid me. He also asked if I had done any of the tourist stuff yet and when I said no, he offered to take me to the castle or up Arthur's Seat. I took him up on the offer so hopefully we'll go to Arthur's Seat on Friday. Assuming he remembers that he told me all of this.

On the downside of all of this great stuff- I'm sick. My cold just seems to be getting worse with each day. Today being the definite worst. I'm thinking about going out to the Tesco to find stronger cold meds.

 Oh and by the way, I remember where we went the first night.  The Abbey. That's where I had the whisky.

The Pub From The Other Night
(Photo Courtesy of Rebecca)

I've successfully made my own meals for a few days (salad, clementines and pasta). Obviously very open to suggestions on easy (cheap) meals to make.  I think that's about it for now. I think I'm going to go take a nap now- not feeling so hot. Mkaaay bye.

First Full Day- Check.

Overall, today was a pretty amazing day. My first full day in Edinburgh consisted of orientation, exploring and trying my first Scottish whisky.

Orientation was basically the same as any other orientation. Boring. Way too long. Much too much repetition. The nice thing about it was the tour of the main campus that was given afterwards. That somewhat forced people into smaller groups, allowing for the group to get to know one another. From my tour group, I met several girls who I'd later have lunch (the lunch was courtesy of the ISC Orientation) with and then go grocery/phone shopping with. After realizing we weren't completely done with our shopping, one friend and I decided to set off down the street we lived on to look for stores that sold home appliances, etc. We not only found what we were looking for (hangers, hand towels, blankets) but also discovered probably half of the touristy part of the city as well. We accidently wandered our way up to Edinburgh Castle, where we watched as the sun set.

Part of Edinburgh Castle as the sun sets

It was a pretty surreal day, having finally seen so much of the beautiful city. Despite having been in the city for really only one day, its so obvious why everyone who travels or lives here loves it so much. It's unlike any city I've ever been to. Admittedly, I haven't been to all that many cities, but regardless, this one is something special.

    

 After our excursion around town, I had a little downtime to figure out how to work my phone. I obviously immediately let Sydney (who is studying abroad in London) know that I had a working phone and was SO delighted when she called me shortly thereafter.

Dinner wound up being loads of fun too. Sonia, Priya (two Haverford girls) and I joined two new friends for dinner at a delicious Indian restaurant. The owner was so incredibly hospitable, offering us free naan and a special (and free!) vegetarian dish that he made just for us. After dinner, we stopped at a pub for our first night out. Chill, adults. We have class tomorrow (meaning, we didn't go hog-wild). But three of us, being in Scotland and not wussing out with an American cocktail, ordered Scottish whisky. My whisky, Glenkinchie 12 Year (a single malt from the Scottish Lowlands), was the "malt of the month" (yay for discounted alcohol) and was pretty tasty, if I do say so myself.

After a few hours of chatting in the pub, we headed back to our respective accommodations to get prepped for school (in my case, completely figuring out my classes and where they're located). Which I still have yet to do. So, knowing that, I bid you all adieu.

Finally Moved In

I am finally moved into my flat in Edinburgh. FINALLY. What a long two days. 

My travels started off a tad rocky when my mom and I attempted to use the online check-in option for my flights. After being told that Iberia (a section of British Airways) does not fly out of Philadelphia (MAJOR PANIC) and being locked out from the log-in for typing the code wrong too many times (MORE PANIC), we finally resorted to calling the airlines and the mess was cleared up. As is the Ervin tradition, we arrived way too early at the airport, causing me to wait by myself in the terminal for two straight hours. No big deal, though.

My flight to London-Heathrow was crazy. Well, the plane itself was. Definitely the biggest plane I've ever been on. 39 rows of approximately 9 seats per row. (Except mine of course. I was in the very last row and apparently on a date with a guy who was also going to be studying abroad at Edinburgh.) Also, not only were there coach and first class passengers, there were "club world" members who had even cooler chairs and the weirdest set-up I've ever seen on a plane. They had remote-controlled panels that would raise up to block themselves from being seen. The flight went well though. They served us dinner around 11:00 PM. I was served salmon with pasta, salad, a roll and a piece of banana cake. Sadly enough, this dinner was actually much better than some of the DC dinners I've eaten before. The salad was definitely more fresh, that's for sure. Seeing as the flight was from 10 pm to 10 am, I mainly just slept. Or tried to. I made sure I found myself some caffeine as soon as I got to London. 

The flight to Edinburgh was pleasant. Sonia (another Haverford junior) and I met up at the terminal and flew together to Scotland; it was nice seeing a familiar face. The flight itself was about an hour and a half, which felt so short compared to the last one. There was a delay to be taxied to the runway, so we were sitting there for quite some time. I can't tell you how long because I wound up falling asleep during that time. It was only until we got onto the runway that I woke up. Whoops. Guess I was tired.

Immediately from the airport, Sonia and I picked up our bags (We waited under 10 minutes for them; how efficient!) and were helped to get a taxi to pick up our flat keys. Our taxi driver was THE BEST. The nicest, friendliest, most helpful. Couldn't have gotten to my flat without him. But seriously, I couldn't. He made sure I got into the building from the street before he left and thank goodness he did, because I couldn't get my key to work. (It works now.) I had two suitcases which provided my lift workout for the day, seeing as my flat is on the third floor. My flatmates seem nice. I have three, but I've only met two. My roommate is a fashion major from Hungary named Veronika, but not pronounced Veronica like you'd think. The other one is Amanda, a senior from UCLA who is spending her last year here. The last flatmate who I haven't met yet is Africa, who is from Canada. That's all I know about her. Africa and Amanda are here for the whole year, so I feel a little more comfortable knowing that they can help me around the city. 

Hm, ok well I guess I could show you the basics of my room and my flat. I'm still in the process of making it look like home. I'm all unpacked but something is still missing. Also, the girls who went to Edinburgh last year recommended not buying linens from the school. I should have listened. They're horrible; I'm definitely going to go buy myself something warmer and less... stiff/scratchy. 

                                             Hallway view of the apartment (from my room)

                                                            My side of the room

                                                        My side of the room pt 2

                                                            Another angle of the room

I don't have any fun pictures of the city or anything because I got here around dinner time, unpacked, then quickly went to a "Meet and Mingle" with other international students. However, being incredibly tired, Sonia and I decided to call it a night super early and well, here I am. It's 9:32 PM and I'm ready to crash. But really, its only 4:32 for you guys. Which makes me being so tired even more absurd. Tomorrow is our orientation, so I'm sure I'll take some nice pictures for you. Sonia and I saw glimpses of Edinburgh Castle on our way in. OH. MY. GOD. The coolest. Edinburgh (the city) is AWESOME.

Fun facts I've learned:

-The London airport is insane. It's basically a mall. It's that full of shopping and nonsense. But also annoying (especially with 4 hour layovers like the one I had) because they don't let you know which gate your flight is leaving from until ~40 minutes before it boards.

 

-When an address, like my own, says '5/2 Street Name', the 5 is the actual number on the street and the 2 is the apartment you live in. Maybe that's obvious, but it wasn't to me. Also, you say 5/2 as "5 stroke 2".

-Starbucks are everywhere here. Really, Starbucks?

-You can still set off a metal detector even though you don't have any metal on you. Thanks, airport security. I loved the pat-down.

-Each student has a phone in their room and its free to call any other student (who is part of the university). Hello prank calls?

I think that's enough for now. I can't think of any fun facts right now. My brain is fried. I hope this post makes sense.