End of Fresher's Week and Start of Classes

Well Freshers' Week has officially come to an end. For the most part I think that everyone survived, although it seems like every other person I have spoken to either contracted the flu, a cold, or some sort of freakish bacterial something or another at some point during all the hustle and bustle. Luckily, I made it through without coming down with the dreaded "Freshers' Flu." I only had to endure a slight head cold, so I feel pretty lucky.

So last time I blogged, it was Wednesday and I had just completed my gliding adventure. I think I'll just go day by day again to recap the end of the week and the weekend since that seemed to work last time. Let's see...

Thursday:

So everyone remembers activity fair during freshman year, right? You go, you sign up for FAR too many things, you receive all the emails, you frantically try to pencil in every single event for every single club you signed up for into your planner book, you pull out your hair some, rush around trying to do everything, then realize it's physically impossible and just settle on one or two activities. So being the mature "third year" studying abroad, I thought - Oh no, that won't be me doing that silliness all over again. I will just sign up for a couple of things, just a couple. Yeah right. It's just way too tempting when you have the Scottish dance club, orienteering club, archery club, running club, literature club, chocolate club (yes... they have a chocolate club), the tea society (don't laugh), student newspaper, mountaineering club, and the hill walking (the Scottish phrase for hiking) club all handing you free candy and flyers and begging you to write down your email address. So naturally, I signed up for all of them. It never hurts to get an email right? Or 20 or 30 or so... Anyways, I know I won't end up participating in them all, I just like to have lots of options. Lots and lots of options!

The ones that I really think I will end up taking part in are orienteering, running, and hill walking. The others I will just dapple in occasionally. I also might do some editing for the Arts and Leisure section of the University of Edinburgh student newspaper, since they were interested in taking me on when I talked to them at the activity fair.

After the hullabaloo at the activities fair I took it easy for the afternoon before heading off to get some free food with my flat mates at the Latin American Society dinner. Throughout the week we became absolute pros at the Freshers' Week free food scene. We learned how to time it just right to ensure that we were the first ones in line rather than the disappointed people at the back of the queue fighting over the meager remains of a well foraged buffet table. I keep discovering random little things that I really, really like about Scotland. Example number one - the salsa here is way less spicy, which my super wimpy taste buds approve of. The bottle at the Latin American dinner claimed to be 'hot' so I cautiously placed a tiny dollop on the edge of my plate only to find that it tasted just like mild in the States!! Yes, I am in fact rambling about salsa... what an impressive topic. Okay... moving on.

Friday:

On Friday I went to the Giant Freshers' Freeshop. Allow me to explain. Basically, envision a room filled with piles and piles of discarded clothing, pots and pans, cutlery, school supplies, and random household items. You name it, they probably had it buried somewhere in that room. One of the student organizations, People and Planet, organizes this drive each year. They encourage students who leave in the spring to donate the items they no longer need or want so they can be recycled for the incoming freshers. Some people were walking out of there with boxes and boxes full of stuff, but I just foraged around until I found a couple of plates and a pair of jeans and called it a day.

Remember the orienteering club I mentioned? Well later that afternoon, I took part in their first event. Orienteering is an outdoor sport where the aim is to navigate between points marked on an orienteering map, choosing the quickest route possible using a compass or just your intuition. I might actually run into a legitimate problem while I am here... you see I have kind of already fallen in love with this sport after doing it only once. And although it is incredibly popular in Europe, it is almost nonexistent back at home. I very well might have to start a new club at Davidson!! The event on Friday was just a warm up session geared towards new members and those trying the sport for the first time. It took place at Pollock Halls, the university's main freshman dorm area, so it was definitely more of an urban landscape than you normally find during orienteering competitions. Usually, the competitions take place in remote, forested areas where a compass is a must and you also need to take topography into account when reading your map. For this run though, we just had to navigate our way around to the little metal plaques mounted on different landmarks around the course. One of the instructors, a guy named Alastair from Inverness, followed me around to see how I did and he told me he was actually quite impressed I picked it up so quickly. It was just so much fun! Of course, I have read maps before and I have done my fair share of running before, but this was just combining the two. I am already planning on joining the club and training with them four days each week and hopefully going on their weekend trip to the Lake District in England.

After orienteering I decided to hike Arthur's Seat once again since it was a really nice day. Then later that night Andrew Evans (another Davidson student) and I went to a ceilidh together. It was way better than the one I attended on Monday night since it was in a much bigger venue and the band actually explained the steps to you so you didn't look like a complete idiot just bouncing around trying to keep up. They made us switch partners fairly often so I ended up dancing with Andrew as well as a bunch of different Scottish guys wearing kilts!! Exciting!! Haha, I am such an American. But by the last dance Andrew and I were literally about to pass out... honestly going to a ceilidh for three hours + is probably the equivalent of running a marathon. Although... all the locals seemed completely fine while we were standing there huffing and puffing. I guess we are just nowhere near as hardy as the Scottish. That's okay though, I survived, so I'm alright with that.

Saturday:

Turns out the Archery World Cup (yes, they do in fact have a World Cup for archery...) was taking place in Edinburgh down in Princes Street Gardens on Saturday and Sunday. So of course, I had to check this out. It was actually pretty entertaining - I ended up watching an Italian and an American duke it out before heading off to meet Andrew at the Edinburgh Castle.

View of the archery competition

The Edinburgh Castle was spectacular. We saw beautiful views of the city (see below) and it was also amazing just wandering around the different buildings and reading all about the castle's history. We both got in for free with the Historic Scotland passes that Arcadia provided us with, which offer free admission to over 60 historic sites in Scotland. Usually it is about £11 to get into the castle I believe, so we were pretty happy about the whole set up. We saw the Scottish Crown Jewels while we were there as well. Also known as the Honours of Scotland, these date from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and are the oldest set of crown jewels in the British Isles. We saw the sword, sceptre, and crown that were used during the coronations Scottish monarchs from 1543 to 1651 (including Mary Queen of Scots and Charles II). Unfortunately we couldn't take pictures, but it was really interesting to wander through the extensive exhibit explaining the history and significance of the Crown Jewels before we finally got to see them. Let me tell you, they sure do a great job building up the suspense! We wandered from room to room reading plaque after plaque for about 30 minutes before finally reaching the room that held the real deal.

On the right: This is the "1:00 Cannon," which they still shoot off each day. I haven't heard it yet while walking around the city, but I bet it's quite deafening if you are visiting the castle at that time!

Touristy picture with the kilted statue

Sunday:

So on Sunday, I decided to go on an adventure. Unfortunately, I didn't get a spot on the Arcadia weekend trip to the Highlands, so I decided I would have to see it on my own. My friend from Melbourne told me about this tour company named "The Hairy Coo" which offers free day trips to the Highlands. There are loads are tour groups offering trips similar to this, however most of them are extremely overpriced and usually kind of a rip off. This one just started up four months ago and is run by two young, energetic, adventurous guys who wanted to take a different route than their competitors by offering quality tours rather than just expensive touristy outings. So you go on the tour and then at the very end when you get back to Edinburgh, you tip whatever you thought the day was worth. I am definitely going to write a positive review for them on TripAdvisor.com since I had a great experience and would definitely recommend the company. I reserved my spot online on Friday afternoon and then showed up at the Deacon Brodie café on the Royal Mile Sunday morning around 8:45, where I was greeted by a kilt clad tour guide named Russell and ushered onto a bright orange bus meant to resemble a Highland Cow named Irene. Our itinerary included views of Stirling Castle, the Wallace Monument, a visit to Dounne Castle (where Monty Python and the Holy Grail was filmed!!), off-roading in the Queen Elizabeth Forest Park, a short hike, a stop at the Lake of Menteith, lunch in the small town in Aberfoyle, a visit to the Scottish wool center, and a trip to the Falkirk Wheel. So we certainly covered a lot of ground during our ten hours, all of which were filled with funny anecdotes and interesting historical facts from Russell. Here are some pictures from the day:

Stirling Castle through the mist

Replica of the Stirling Bridge, where the famous Battle of Stirling Bridge took place in 1297

View from the top of Dounne Castle

Dounne Castle

Climbing up and down the narrow little stairwells... wouldn't want to take a spill here...

View of the Lake of Menteith

PONY!!!!!!! (There were lots of cute animals at the Scottish Wool Center)

Loch Drunkie. Yup, that was the name. Apparently it is right near a Whiskey Distillery so people joke that if you drink the water you will get a bit tipsy

Our lovely bus, Irene

Photo op with our tour guide Russell

So we stopped to take pictures of a few Highland Cows and Russell kept trying to get people to wear the Hairy Coo hat. No one would do it, so of course I stepped up

The Falkirk Wheel - a rotating boat lift that connects the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal. It opened in 2002 in an attempt to revitalize Scotland's water transportation system by reconnecting the two canals. It was pretty cool watching a boat come through!

View of the Forth Bridge from the small town of South Queensferry

So that was my day in the Highlands! Like I said, it was a great trip and I was glad I got a chance to see some of glens, lochs, and bens (mountains) that the Highlands have to offer. Everyone says that Scotland just gets more and more beautiful the further north or west that you go, so I am really looking forward to the trip that Jenny and I are taking up to Carbisdale (in the Upper Highlands) and out to the Isle of Skye in just a few weekends.

We started classes this morning (gasp!!!) so it is back to school time! My first lecture was for my Scottish Archaeology class, which I think will end up being very interesting. The teaching system here really is so different, what with tutorials, so few lectures each week, and such a big emphasis on individual research outside of class. But I am sure that I will get used to it. I am jut about to head off to my English class, Fiction in Edinburgh, which I absolutely cannot wait for. I was very glad to get a spot in it and I am sure it will allow me to indulge my bookish side for the next few months. So this week is all about getting settled into classes and then Patrick is coming to visit on Thursday! He's staying for the weekend and we are planning on going on a ghost tour as well as taking the train up to St. Andrews, so it should be a lot of fun. Until the next blog! Hope everyone is doing well, I am thinking of you all! And I apologize for such a long post, there is just so much going on!

Fresher's Week - Part 1

Alright! So, thus far I have survived part one of Fresher's Week. Allow me to explain exactly what that entails. So first you should take Davidson's student population of 1,800 and multiply that by about 14. That will give you roughly the population of the University of Edinburgh. Then take into consideration that 1/4 of that number is experiencing college for the very first time. Cue the thing that is known as "Fresher's Week." Basically, it is an entire week, Sunday the 12th to Sunday the 19th, dedicated entirely to fun, crazy, activities geared towards first year students. Also, don't forget to add all the other visiting or postgrad international students new to the University of Edinburg to that number... so maybe it's really more like half of that 26,000.

Now, add 50+ activities each day, utilizing blow up bouncy castles, enough free food to feed a small army, and hundreds of volunteers to herd us around the city and make sure we have absolutely as much fun as possible while getting to know the city and meet other new and slightly disoriented/overwhelmed students. In a nutshell, it is a week dedicated to fun before buckling down and starting class this coming Monday. And it is SO FUN!!!! I don't even know where to begin... so I think I might just have to go day by day. That's the only way I can wrap my mind around it really.

Saturday:

My friends and I decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and hike up Arthur's Seat. Arthur's Seat sits at about 823 feet and is the main peak in a group of hills that form Holyrood Park, located right in the center of Edinburgh. It is easily accessible and has absolutely breathtaking views of the city from the top.

View from the very top

Group picture

Yup, we climbed that!

That night I went out with my new flatmates. They are all really nice and each one has a really interesting story. From the left - Tara is from Boston and is here for all four years. Her Dad works for William Sonoma so our kitchen is AMAZING and completely outfitted with all the latest and great appliances. I'm quite a big fan. Then there's Camila who is from Oxford. She took a gap year after finishing secondary school and traveled all through Argentina as well as across the United States. She's fluent in Spanish and is studying Italian here at the University. She said she'd be willing to teach me, so we'll see how that goes. Then there is Bex, our "pretend" flatmate. Although she doesn't actually live with us, she hangs out with us all the time and is in our flat more than her own I think. She is really sweet and is from a small town about 30 miles south of Edinburgh in the Borderlands. Then there is Lauren who is also here for just one semester. She is from California and goes to Pomona College. So those are the roommates!

On our way to get some free food at the Teviot Union. At the beginning of the week, we got out the extensive Fresher's Guide and mapped out all of the free food for the week. I have only had to purchase one meal so far, so it's been a great success in my opinion.

HAGGIS!!! Ugh, yuck, ew, gross!!! Actually, no. It was quite good really!

A photo taken during the ceilidh we went to (basically a traditional Scottish dance somewhat similar to line dancing. But harder...) Thankfully Bex knew exactly what she was doing and was able to point us in the right direction so we didn't look completely lost.

Had to take a picture with the man in the kilt. Of course.

Monday:

In addition to all the free food and fun events such as parties, informational meetings, dance classes, scavenger hunts, coffee crawls, pub crawls, club meetings, etc., etc., etc., ETC., they also offer a lot of highly subsidized tours during Fresher's Week. So I decided to sign up for the trip to Rosslyn Chapel, which is located in the small town of Roslin about 15 miles outside of Edinburgh. You have probably heard of it thanks to Dan Brown's novel The Da Vinci Code and of course the 2006 movie. Our guide told us that the chapel was built by the Sinclair family starting in the mid-15th century and that its real name is the Collegiate Chapel of St. Matthew. It was pillaged and shut down after the Scottish Reformation in 1560 and was closed until 1861 when Queen Victoria visited and reopened it as a place for public worship according to the rites of the Scottish Episcopal Church. The church actually had a huge metal roof covering it for the past 13 years to prevent further water damage and allow for the restoration of the roof. They actually had removed the covering just 10 days before we visited, so we were one of the first groups for quite some time to be able to take pictures of the exterior. Unfortunately we couldn't take pictures of the interior, but it was beautiful. Our tour guide also shared many interesting facts and talked about how most of the legends popularized in Dan Brown's book are most likely completely untrue. However, that didn't stop the number of annual visitors jumping from 8,000 per year back in the 1990's and early 2000's to 177,000 per year after the publication of the book and the release of the Da Vinci Code film.

Tuesday:

During the day on Tuesday, my friends and I went to the Trade Fair, which was basically a HUGE room full of free stuff. I walked out of there with lots of candy, a coffee mug (from the contact lenses prescription table... whatever, they couldn't tell if I was wearing them or not and I needed a mug), fruit from the organic foods table, pens, pads of paper, a reusable grocery bag, free passes and discount booklets, the list goes on and on. It is really easy to live frugally here since there are about a bajillion student discounts and all of the restaurants and cafés right near campus are incredibly well priced. More money to travel on!

After that, we shouldered all of our loot and went on a Radical Tour of the City. A local expert led us around Edinburgh and shared little known historical facts about places that most of us had already seen and heard about. It was pretty neat to get the version that wasn't just straight from a guide book. We ended at the Mosque Kitchen which supposedly serves the best and cheapest curry in the city. Boy, were they right. For £5 you were ladled a heaping serving of rice, curry, and vegetables, complete with naan bread the size of your face. Even though the set-up was quite funny and slightly questionable (you walk down an alleyway and are served your food from a teensy tiny little kitchen in the basement of the mosque before sitting down at rickety tables outside underneath a tent with only plastic spoons, no knives) I will most definitely be paying that place many more visits.

Tuesday night's activity was absolutely amazing and I will not forget it anytime soon. I am so glad that I decided to come to Edinburgh to study abroad, primarily because of its literary history. Last night I signed up to go on the "Book Lover's Tour and Literary Pub Crawl" led by Allan Foster, the author of Edinburgh Literary Tours, the first guidebook ever published geared towards the city's literary background. Here are some of the pictures I took throughout the tour.

Where the first

chapters of Harry

Potter were actually

written. Most people

mistakenly think

that this momentous

event took place at the

Elephant Café across

town, where all the

tourists go. But apparently

the locals know that this

was the real place. Also, another

interesting fact, J.K. Rowling's

sister studied at the University of

Edinburgh Law School.

The Spoon Café and Bistro - the man who bought this didn't even know that this was where J.K. Rowling began Harry Potter.

During the tour, Allan Foster also told us the story behind Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. Doyle was born in Edinburgh and studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh under professor Joseph Bell, who was actually the inspiration for the character of Sherlock Holmes. And you're not going to believe this... it turns out that my archaeology class will actually take place in that very building, which has now been converted into the Archaeology Department as well as faculty offices. The building right behind it, the old surgical hospital, was also the site that inspired Robert Louis Stevenson's The Body Snatcher. The short story was written based on the Burke and Haire murders that occurred in Edinburgh between November 1827 to October of 1838. Granted, all of this history was pretty creepy (my goosebumps were definitely not coming only from the cold rain), but still interesting. I could go on for several more paragraphs about all the interesting tales he told us, but I won't bore you too much. Instead, I'll shift gears to Wednesday's activity, which was quite a bit different.

Wednesday:

So this morning, I woke up early to meet up with the University of Edinburg Gliding Club, which is offering flight trials twice a day during Fresher's Week. So for a discounted price I received transportation to and from Kirkcaldy and thirty minutes of gliding. So for those of you unfamiliar with gliding (which would have been me twelve hours ago) here are the basic steps.

1) Strap yourself into an emergency parachute

2) Hop into unpowered aircraft

3) Attach fore said aircraft to a tow rope

4) Give the designated "launcher" the okay signal

5) Feel yourself being yanked up, up, and away by the mechanical tow, moving about about 45-60 miles per hour and heading upwards at a 45 degree angle

6) Hover about 1,000 feet up in the air after the pilot drops the tow rope

7) Start flying and enjoying the amazing views

Here is me wiggling into the somewhat

awkward emergency parachute. You

were in a reclining position during flight

so the parachute had to be pulled VERY

tight when you were standing up. It made

me waddle around like a penguin.

View right after take off

All ready to go!

I think the take off was without a doubt my favorite part. The adrenaline rush was unreal as you just hurled off into the clouds in this tiny little plane. It was also really peaceful up in the air since obviously there is no engine and no need for those huge headphones you usually see people flying in. My instructor, Collin, let me take over the controls for about five minutes and it was really neat getting to fly along the contours of a ridge and practice turning and accelerating and de-accelerating. Too bad we didn't do any cool tricks like loop-de-loops or flips while were up there! No... I'm only kidding. Just cruising along at that altitude was quite enough for me!

Whew! So that is basically what I have done so far this week. I cannot believe I have been here for just a little over a week, it feels like it has been almost a month. I think it is because we have been doing so much each day, it will probably be nice to settle down and start classes. I will try to blog again at the end of the week after some more Fresher's activities! On the agenda are another ceilidh (this time hopefully I will look like I have at least a faint inkling of what I am doing), more walking tours, an all day community service outing here in the city, and, of course, lots and lots of free food.

Too many pictures...

I've already taken over 200, so I apologize for the overload on pictures! They don't even do it justice either, it is just so beautiful here! And luckily the rain has held off since that first day so far... knock on wood.

Nice blue sky... I hope it lasts!

Scoping out the cheap places to buy things for our dorms. Scottish equivalent of Dollar Tree = Poundland in case you were wondering.

Jill and I along North Bridge Street

THE GRAPES!!!! I MUST go back here. End of story.

Group picture outside of Armstrongs resale store! With the Scottish kilt mannequins of course.

Wall of kilts

My store! Well not really at all, but still. I was excited to find that my middle name also happens to be a hip/crazy/retro clothing store

Cooking demonstration at the Edinburgh New Town Cookery School the second night of orientation

Our chef Fiona cooking "stovies," basically a Scottish version of mashed potatoes. Usually you cook them with the meat drippings left over from your big Sunday meal, but we just made a vegetarian version to cater to our big group. In my opinion, Fiona is basically the Paula Dean of Scottish cooking, since she seemed to start each recipe with about a pound of butter. Just without the Southern accent. We made several different things - the stovies, a smoked salmon and caramelized onion tart, bean pate and smoked mackerel pate, as well as a raspberry jam tart for dessert.

Andrew (also from Davidson) and I stopping to snap a touristy picture outside the telephone booth. Of course.

Everybody squeeze in!!!

Loch Ness monster hats. Clearly we had to stop and take a picture wearing them.

View from the bridge right after sundown

SCOTTISH STUFFED ANIMALS!!! Great picture to end on in my opinion

So I really apologize for the bombardment of pictures. So much has happened in such a short amount of time, it's almost impossible to recap it all. But in a nutshell, we have learned a lot during orientation thanks to interactive getting to know you activities (a wonderfully cheesy an awkward staple of any orientation program), lots of helpful lectures from our Arcadia program coordinators Anna and Morgan, and a good deal of time spent walking all over and getting to know the city. So far I am really enjoying my time here and haven't gotten cold yet. (Yet being the operative word there...) Tomorrow we move into our flats and next week is the orientation with the University of Edinburgh, more commonly known as "Fresher's Week." It is supposed to be a ton of fun and jam packed with events catered towards both international and first year students. I will do my best to continue to take lots of pictures and blog again soon! Hope everything is well back in the U.S. I miss all of you!

Arrival and Orientation

Well here I am, safe and sound in Edinburgh! The trip here went very smoothly actually, thanks to a little help from a wonderful thing called Tylenol P.M. I took two about 30 minutes before boarding my flight from Philadelphia to Heathrow, and the next thing I knew light was shining int through the window and the stewardess was waking me up asking, "coffee or tea miss?".

I am absolutely amazed at how beautiful it is here. Amazed. Everything is so lush and green (which makes perfect sense seeing that it rained twice within six hours of my arrival). I now see what they mean when they talk about the weather being "variable" and "unpredictable."

My journey overseas was fairly straightforward. I managed to keep track of all important items, avoided getting lost, and both of my bags were there waiting for me in Edinburgh, so I am chocking it up to a success. To start off my attempt to study abroad as frugally as possible, I took the bus from the airport rather than a taxi the entire way. It worked out well, although I bet I made several locals chuckle as they watched this Davidson sweatshirt clad girl drag her two big suitcases off of the double decker bus, across the cobblestone street, and then heft them into the nearest taxi outside of Haymarket Train Station to complete the trip to my hotel. But I managed to get to Channings Hotel for £9 rather than £20, so I am alright with a few people laughing at me.

The hotel was absolutely wonderful and exactly the spot that I needed to sleep off my jet lag. The staff was immediately friendly and welcoming and the bellhop, Scott, even offered to sit me down and go over a map with me so I wouldn't get too lost when I went out exploring. After his advice I decided that, thanks to success of my Tylenol PM during the flight, I felt up to a run. He directed me towards the Leith Path which runs right along the river that spills out into the Firth of Forth. My jaw was hanging down nearly the entire time I was running, it was so beautiful.

After that I made my way back to the hotel to shower before heading off to meet up with Jenny Hall, another Davidson student who is also studying abroad through Arcadia. Minus cell phones, we had resorted to communicating via email to set up a time and place to meet. Thankfully we managed to find one another in the very busy Waverly Train Station before heading off to Maxie's Bistro for dinner at the recommendation of the concierge at my hotel. I had asked him where we should eat on our first night in Scotland and he said Maxie's without a doubt. It was a cozy little place with a small dining room inside and a rooftop terrace as well. We opted to sit outside and enjoy the view... however, the second rainstorm decided to make its appearance about five minutes after we got our (delicious) food. Jenny and I kind of sat there in the drizzle, wondering what the protocol was for dining in the rain in Scotland. For all we knew, they might just sit right through it since they're so used to it! But our waiter came and offered to set up a table for us inside, so we scooped our plates up and relocated to continue dinner, just slightly damper this time around.

Jenny has already dubbed me the official "navigator," so I was glad that I could get us to and from dinner and back to the hotel without any mix ups or wrong turns. Hopefully that trend will continue! I feel like I sort of already have a feel for the city thanks to reading so many of Alexander McCall Smith's books, all of which are set in Edinburgh. When I was running the first day I navigated my way over to Moray Place and India Street, where two of the characters live in his 44 Scotland Street series. I still just cannot believe that I am actually here...

My room at Channings Hotel

The view from my room

A clock in the park right next to the Edinburgh Castle

My very first view of the castle! Made me realize they really weren't kidding when they said it was up on a hill...

The Scott Monument

A pretty doorway along the Royal Mile

My hotel concierge's recommendation for dinner - Maxie's Bistro

The view from our table on the restaurant's rooftop terrace

I asked the waiter what he recommended for dinner, and he said the mussels since they were "so fresh they tasted like they had just jumped out of the sea!" And I also made sure a bowl of lentil soup made its way to our table... it was chilly

Pretty sunset from Deans Bridge during the walk back to my hotel

So after that first dinner, I headed back to my hotel and attempted to conk out. However, it took about two hours and another healthy dose of Tylenol PM to do the trick. My body is just now getting used to the time, so I think I will sleep better tonight thankfully. On Wednesday morning I woke up and went for another beautiful run, this time through Inverleith Park and then by the Royal Botanic Gardens and along another riverside path I stumbled upon. I still think that the best way to get to know a city is to go out and get relatively "lost" and just happen upon places you probably wouldn't have found otherwise. But no worries, I carried a map with me at all times and did have a good idea of where I was.

After getting all of my luggage together I headed over to Pollock Halls, which is the main campus/dorm area for all the freshmen attending the University of Edinburgh. Arcadia had reserved rooms for all 60 of us here for the two nights during orientation. The rooms are small and simple but they have everything we might need and are close to the city center, so it has been a nice place to stay while getting to know Edinburgh. I feel like I could spend about 5 paragraphs talking about orientation, but I don't want to put anyone to sleep, so I'll give an overview in pictures instead.

Lunch the first day with some people from my program. We ended up eating at a little French bistro over in the Haymarket district. Very Scottish I know...

View of the far side of Arthur's seat in Holyrood Park during our orientation walk

The building where we ate dinner. From the outside it basically looked like a miniature castle. Which apparently is the norm here in Scotland.

View from our dinner table

Eating dinner with Jill (left) and Mureid (right), two of the girls I have spent a lot of time with during orientation

We figured we were in Scotland and were somewhat obligated to pay a visit to a pub our first night. So we chose The Montague right close to Pollock Halls (so we wouldn't have to walk very far in our somewhat jet lagged state!)

We were pretty much the only people when we got there around 8:00. Which was probably a good thing since we had absolutely no idea what we were doing and it took us about 10 minutes to figure out what we should order. (Thankfully the bartender was very nice and helped us out). Due to my abhorrence of beer (good choice to come to Scotland I know) I ended up trying a Bulmers pear flavored cider. However, it was HUGE! I think I took all of three sips and then the other girls helped me finish it off. So don't worry mom and dad, not going too crazy over here :)

From the left, Jill again, Louisa (who also goes to Davidson), and Stephanie

Leonard Hall, where we had all of our indoor orientation sessions

First drink of Irn Bru!! It is the strangest stuff ever... it is the most popular soft drink by far in Scotland, taking precedence over even Coke and Pepsi. It's hard to describe... basically it looks like someone dropped an orange highlighter into a bottle of fizzy water and then it tastes like they added about 50 packs of bubble gum to the awfully colored mixture. It's actually pretty tasty though! Although it has a good amount of caffeine so we were super jittery after that. Made for an interesting afternoon...

Okay, so apparently I have overloaded Blogspot's picture capacity, so if you're not tired of me already, keep going onto the next entry, there will be more photos!