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:
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