Adjustment: First few days living at University of Edinburgh

Edinburgh Castle sits high above the city (view from Apex International Hotel where we stayed for program orientation)

Becky and I on Calton Hill. Arthur's Seat is in the background. The white building on the left is the new parliament building.

Sunrise (yes I got up before 6am) hike up Arthur's Seat ridge. The Firth of Forth is in the background. I love seeing the ocean!

Teviot is one of two student unions. It contains 5 bars and a nightclub.

Hello all! Since my last post there have been ups and downs (emotionally and lots of hills), culture, new friends, and weird weather! We moved into the university housing on Friday afternoon. Basically IFSA-Butler, the program I'm going through, dropped us off with a "Good luck! See ya!". So we had a lot to figure out. A group of about 20 of us got off the bus at Pollock Halls of Residence. Two boys headed for Lee House and the rest of us to Masson House. We since have figured out that those two boys are here for a year and the rest of us, part of the overflow of students wanting to live in the residences, are in a modified hotel. We walked into the lobby, saw the concierge and thought "huh...looks like a hotel". Well, turns out it is. They have turned it into a dorm for the semester. So I really like my room: double bed, tv, personal bathroom, but it is not the social scene I had hoped for. Everyone in this "dorm" is from the US. The first two days in the dorm we did not have internet access and I felt so helpless not being able to contact anyone!

But I only have to go over to the dining hall to see and meet the Brits! Plenty of other nationalities: my friend Ryder (one of the boys living in Lee house) is one of two Americans in the whole dorm, amongst 33 different nationalities. The dining hall is pretty good. Kind of like the dining hall I had freshman year at Hopkins except for the fact that they serve black pudding...yuck. Lots of interesting fashion and haircuts here!

Last night we went to an orientation event at Potterrow. Potterrow is the other student union, on the same square as Teviot shown above. The event was James Bond themed and people went all out with gowns and tuxes. Myself and some other Americans felt a tad underdressed. The line for the event was around the block so we went to the medieval beer garden (shown in the picture of Teviot to the left with the striped tent). Have I mentioned that drinking is incorporated into everything here? Yikes.

I went for a run yesterday. It was so beautiful. My dorm complex is right at the base of Arthur's seat and there is a lovely biking and running trail along its base. I ran around there, past Holyrood Palace (the Queen's official residence when she is in Scotland) and past the new parliament building. Then it opens up into fields...makes the run more interesting when I have that scenery!

I think I must have walked a thousand miles in the past few days. Between a tour of the engineering campus, walking around the main campus to get my bearings (they are in separate locations, about a 40 minute walk in between) and getting to my dorm, my feet have been a bit sore.

I'm sure I have forgotten some details but I will add to this blog as I can! Lots of love to you if you are reading this!