The First Full Day

After the awful Flight From Hell, I decided not to blog last night and to wait until I was in a better mood. To summarize that experience though, I had to fly from Detroit to Amsterdam, and as the plane was backing out to leave, the pilot announced that one of the valves was failing, so he had to delay the flight and call the mechanics to fix the problem. We all had to stay on the plane during this, and as they worked on the valve, they kept pushing our departure time back until they finally said we would most likely be leaving at 9pm. Note that we were originally supposed to leave at 6. I was getting really worried about missing my connecting flight to Edinburgh, and then the pilot told us that they had misjudged the source of the problem and had no idea what it was. At that point, they finally let us off the plane, and I knew they probably weren't going to fix it, so I headed to the transfer office and got on a flight to Amsterdam scheduled for 10:25. Unfortunately, because everyone else was trying to transfer too, that flight didn't leave until about 11:30. The whole thing was really miserable and stressful, and I knew that I was going to miss the first part of my orientation, so when I finally got to Amsterdam, I had to call the program and tell them I'd be late. The bad thing about that was my abroad cell phone needed a PIN number, which I didn't have on hand, so I had to use a payphone, which was way more complicated than it should have been because I had to ask around for the UK area code and then figure out how to enter it into the phone (even though the instructions were right there, I was too tired to understand them, so I didn't realize that the area codes were posted right above the phone). I actually got to the point where I started crying because I was so tired and frustrated. But I made it to Edinburgh, finally, and I just went to my room (my room mate was gone at orientation) and cried again because I was mad that I couldn't call my parents and that I needed an access code for the internet and that I couldn't use my voltage converter for more than 10 minutes straight, so how was I supposed to use my laptop to write papers, and I just felt so alone and didn't feel like being in Scotland at all. I also really wanted my luggage, which was stuck in Detroit with the broken plane. It did eventually arrive at the hotel late last night, and I was absurdly happy that I wouldn't have to wear the same sweaty, dirty outfit two days in a row.

I also felt a lot better after I went to dinner at 7 and met other students and talked to the program directors about what I missed, which wasn't too much. I also found out that most laptop chargers convert voltage for you, so I didn't have to worry about the converter overheating and just used the adapter setting instead.

Anyway, my second day was way, way better. I had breakfast with some people I'd eaten dinner with the other night, and then we all walked to Arcadia University's (my program provider) study center and did more orientation stuff. We got packets with all kinds of discounts and cards, including a really cool pass that lets you go to castles and other historic sites in Scotland for free. We talked about our goals for study abroad in small groups, and I met some cool people who I ended up spending most of the day with. We had about four hours to do a scavenger hunt around Edinburgh in small groups, but my group ended up going to the store to buy phones, then to lunch at a pretty nice restaurant, and finally to Edinburgh Castle, which has beautiful views of the city and the mountains in the distance.

Edinburgh Castle is really neat because it looks like it should be out in the country, but it's right in the middle of the city. You can see it pretty close from Princess Street, the main shopping district. From the the top of the castle, you can see the Old Town on one side and the New Town on the other.

This view is of the New Town. Princess Street borders the far side of the green area.

That little triangle of grass at the bottom with headstones along the wall is actually the castle's dog cemetery where some soldiers' dogs are buried.

(These aren't my pictures, by the way. I still need to upload those.)

There was a neat mini museum about the history of Scots in the British military. I figured out that the Seven Years War is the French and Indian War, and that was kind of interesting to read about from another perspective after having just read about it at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh. By the way, Heinz ketchup is everywhere here, and it is a wonderful thing.

My favorite part of the castle, besides the views and the dog cemetery, was the mini museum about the prisoners of war who apparently stayed in Edinburgh Castle.  There was a recording of a hypothetical conversation between some prisoners, and I got so excited because they were talking about John Paul Jones, who was a naval captain for the Americans in the Revolutionary War.  He's one of my all-time favorite historical figures and one of my all-time favorite Scots.

He's also in my favorite episode of Liberty's Kids, just so you know.

Also, just to clarify,

Not this Jonesy:

This Jonesy:

But honestly, I will take both.

The lady I filed my baggage claim with at the airport said that she doesn't understand why so many people want to study in Edinburgh because "it's rubbish." I'm not sure if she meant the school or the city, but I personally think the city is gorgeous. Everything is so old and Gothic and ornate, and the unevenness of the terrain makes it prettier because you can see the buildings and hills as a backdrop in the distance. There are a ton of great views all over town, but the castle has the best ones.

After exploring the castle, we went back to the study center to discuss what we were supposed to find on the scavenger hunt. The team that won the scavenger hunt got a free box of mini Mars candy bars. Apparently "fun size" is even less fun in the UK because they were the size of Tootsie Rolls. (Note: Mars bar = Milky Way and Milky Way = Three Musketeers). But they were still super delicious. I ended up making friends with the girls who won the candy (not exclusively for that reason), and we commiserated over Scotland's lack of Reese's peanut butter cups and processed, Skippy-type peanut butter. We talked a lot about peanut butter.

Anyway, we learned that the charity stores (or thrift stores) in Britain have some quality stuff you can get for cheap, so I'm planning to utilize those if I need anything, since things here are pretty expensive on average. I also found out that you can do online grocery shopping, but I'll probably try shopping in person first. I hope I can make local friends in Stirling who will tell me where to shop for what because I feel like that's the most reliable way to go.

I also signed up for some of Arcadia's co-curricular programs, which I had not expected to do, since I originally hadn't signed up for anything when the email about the programs went out in December. Now I'm going on two day trips and one weekend trip over the course of the semester, which will basically allow me to see castles and other historical stuff in places like the borderlands, the Western Highlands, and the Isle of Arran. I got on the waiting list for the pro rugby game between Scotland and Ireland, but if I don't get to do that, I'll just find someone to go to a game with me on our own time. There's also a Ceilidh in the spring which is free to attend, and apparently it's just a big party with traditional Scottish dancing, which I really want to see if I'm not busy that week.

After all of that, we all went to eat dinner at a pub that I forget the name of, and I sat with my candy bar friends, and we had a really fun conversation about dogs and other pleasant things we all enjoyed. One of those girls is going on two of the same co-curricular programs as I am, and we seemed to get along really well, so I think I might have someone to hang out with during those programs.

At dinner, I had what were essentially spring rolls filled with haggis. At least in that form, haggis tasted a lot of like gyro meat, so I liked it. I also had a salad with some unusual mixed greens, including clover, which I actually really liked. My main course was a steakburger, which was alright. For dessert we had more candy bars because our table won the quiz on facts about Scotland by a large margin. I never realized before today how much I know about the UK, but I guess I am somewhat better prepared to live here than I thought.

After dinner, my room mate asked if I wanted to go back to the pub and hang out with some people, so I did, and that was pretty fun. I decided to try a little bit of Scotch on the rocks because I'd never had hard alcohol before. It really wasn't that bad at all, and I didn't gag or get drunk or anything (it was basically a shot size). It just tasted like strong medicine at first, and I told the bartender it tasted like cough syrup, and he pretended to be offended. So I told him it tasted like high quality cough syrup, and he laughed and said, thank you. After a few sips I got used to the taste, and the bartender put some Coke in it for me. I really liked it that way, and it grew on me pretty fast after that. Not that I'm going to drink Scotch all the time now, but I'm glad that I tried it and know I can handle and even enjoy it. And anyway, if you're going to try Scotch, Scotland is the place to do it.

The pub was really cool because they had a record player in the corner with lots of great, classic albums. One of the girls I was with went over to put something on, but she said she didn't recognize anything. She found a copy of The Velvet Underground & Nico and thought it was a record by Andy Warhol because his banana painting is on the cover. That was a little funny to me because I've always known that was just the cover art, but I realized that's probably what a lot of people think when they first see that album. Anyway, I recommended she play Moondance because she said she liked the title song. Plus, Van Morrison makes for especially good pub music.

Overall, today was a really fun, interesting day, especially compared to yesterday. Tomorrow, we are doing some more orientating, including a guided tour of Edinburgh, and I'm really excited to meet my host family at the end. So far, I know I'm living with a lady named Frances who has two daughters who are 17 and 20 (almost four years apart like my sister and me) and a cat (fortunately I have Alavert to deal with that). I hope we get along well, and it will be nice to have someone in my host family who is my age. She might even go to the University of Stirling too.

Anyway, that's all I have for now, so I will close with the appropriate song of the day:

P.S. I must note that John Paul Jones's ship was called the Bonhomme Richard, so that's practically Bonham, so it's like John Paul Jones and John Bonham. Aww Zeppelin references before there was Zeppelin.