so many things
Sep. 30th, 2003 06:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
angledgeMy trip up here got off to a really crummy start, I must say. Not only was I basically deaf from the ear infection, but due to some ... er, unfortunate delays which can't be precisely attributed to any one particular veternarian, I missed my train on Saturday. £47.50 later, I had another ticket. So that was complete bollocks.
But the train journey itself was incredibly beautiful & enjoyable. The train was roomier & more luxurious than the plane had been coming across the Atlantic. I slept & listened to music & arrived in Edinburgh feeling quite a lot better.
I found my new home, Richmond Court, after a bit of trouble with the taxi driver - basically, I couldn't understand a word he was saying. A fresher from Brighton came to my rescue, however, & he even helped me carry my suitcases. Wonderful people, the Brits.
Moved in, met my neighbors (not a single Scot amongst them - my dorm apparently is nearly all international postgrad students), found a grocery store, & bought a calling card. Figured out how to place an international call from my room's phone - it involves dialing no less than 47 digits & is only slightly more simple than brain surgery. I called Stacy, I called Mom, & I went to bed.
A bit about my room: it's TINY. For those who remember Dickson Hall's singles, its as small as the smallest room there. I have a bathroom in the room, but it's dimensions are incredibly tiny. I can put my hands flat on both walls in any direction. The shower is located approximately 6 inches from the toilet, & there's no sort of enclosure - just a spigot & a drain. When I shower, everything in the entire bathroom gets soaked - including the toilet paper. I usually set my shampoo bottles on the toilet seat. The sink is approximately 10 inches wide & 6 inches deep, so accuracy in spitting out toothpaste is a must. Needless to say, if anyone comes to visit me, I will be providing them with information about neighborhood hostels & B&Bs, which are numerous. There's just no way my room could be shared.
I started Sunday by attending church services with my next-door neighbor, Heather, who is a Ph.D. candidate in theology. We went to Communion services at St. Giles Cathedral, which is considered the birthplace of Presbyterianism. The cathedral is extremely beautiful - loads of stained glass, huge high stone ceilings, astounding music, etc. And the service was also very good - the minister has the incredibly Scottish name of Gilleasbuig Iain Macmillan & the accent to go along with it. One surprise - they actually used wine for communion! For those of you who haven't been to church in a while, many American congregations have switched to grape juice. But we were served quite a full-bodied Cabernet, & in a 200-year-old silver chalice, no less. Things are different here.
The rest of Sunday was spent at an international students' fair, which was really fun. I met students from Taiwan, Japan, China, Lebanon, Portugal, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Norway, & the Ukraine. Everyone here is so incredibly friendly. The whole experience, not suprisingly, reminds me of Orientation Week at Cornell, many years ago on a continent far, far away. Everyone is excited & optimistic & eager to make friends.
So I was starting to wonder if I was ever going to meet any Scottish students when I went to my orientation session on Monday morning. I had two big surprises awaiting me there: 1) almost all my classmates are Scottish (hooray!); & 2) the "orientation session" was no such thing, but was actually the beginning of four solid days of computer instruction! That's right, my classes sneakily began an entire week early. Those tricky Geographers, watch out for them.
But it's not all bad. Last night's classes ended at 5.00 pm, at which time we all decamped directly to Bannerman's Pub, which is practically next door to our building. The lecturers were drinking right alongside the students, & some people carried on for the next seven hours. Not me though; I left around 7.30 pm to go to my first student society meeting. BLOGS (the strangely acronymed gay & lesbian student organisation) had organised the Gay Gaymes, which featured Twister, some fun dice games, a balloon relay, & The Weakest Link. I nearly won the last game, & was awarded a bottle of wine. But I gave it away to a cute grrl named Amy. What can I say, she's a redhead. I'm in trouble here.
And today, back in class. I actually had the temerity to skip this morning's lectures, but they were introductory database stuff & I'm pretty familiar with that stuff. Besides, I had to take care of some errands. I registered with National Health Services (as a full-time student, I'm eligible for British health insurance), bought a voltage adapter for my laptop, got some more food, & opened a bank account. And guess what the bank gave me as a welcome gift? No, not a toaster oven - a six-pack of vodka mixed drinks & a Twix bar. You've just got to wonder about these people.
So ... I'm already starting to feel settled in, & I have to say - I absolutely adore this city. It's so beautiful, & so compact, & so much fun to walk around. Yes, the weather is a bit crappy. But it's certainly no worse than Ithaca. And there's just something magical about seeing Arthur's Seat, which is a big hill that dominates one side of the skyline, & Edinburgh Castle, & Holyrood Palace - all ancient features of the life of Scotland. One of my classmates, Iain Cameron, was telling us about a place near town where you can stand on the ruins of the Antonine Wall & see the layout of a Roman camp that's approximately 2,000 years old. Right next to these, there is the framework of the new Scottish Parliament building, which will be the first sitting Parliament in Scotland in nearly 300 years. The city simply reeks with history. And then in my course (& many others in the University), cutting edge research goes on daily. It really gets my pulse racing.
But the train journey itself was incredibly beautiful & enjoyable. The train was roomier & more luxurious than the plane had been coming across the Atlantic. I slept & listened to music & arrived in Edinburgh feeling quite a lot better.
I found my new home, Richmond Court, after a bit of trouble with the taxi driver - basically, I couldn't understand a word he was saying. A fresher from Brighton came to my rescue, however, & he even helped me carry my suitcases. Wonderful people, the Brits.
Moved in, met my neighbors (not a single Scot amongst them - my dorm apparently is nearly all international postgrad students), found a grocery store, & bought a calling card. Figured out how to place an international call from my room's phone - it involves dialing no less than 47 digits & is only slightly more simple than brain surgery. I called Stacy, I called Mom, & I went to bed.
A bit about my room: it's TINY. For those who remember Dickson Hall's singles, its as small as the smallest room there. I have a bathroom in the room, but it's dimensions are incredibly tiny. I can put my hands flat on both walls in any direction. The shower is located approximately 6 inches from the toilet, & there's no sort of enclosure - just a spigot & a drain. When I shower, everything in the entire bathroom gets soaked - including the toilet paper. I usually set my shampoo bottles on the toilet seat. The sink is approximately 10 inches wide & 6 inches deep, so accuracy in spitting out toothpaste is a must. Needless to say, if anyone comes to visit me, I will be providing them with information about neighborhood hostels & B&Bs, which are numerous. There's just no way my room could be shared.
I started Sunday by attending church services with my next-door neighbor, Heather, who is a Ph.D. candidate in theology. We went to Communion services at St. Giles Cathedral, which is considered the birthplace of Presbyterianism. The cathedral is extremely beautiful - loads of stained glass, huge high stone ceilings, astounding music, etc. And the service was also very good - the minister has the incredibly Scottish name of Gilleasbuig Iain Macmillan & the accent to go along with it. One surprise - they actually used wine for communion! For those of you who haven't been to church in a while, many American congregations have switched to grape juice. But we were served quite a full-bodied Cabernet, & in a 200-year-old silver chalice, no less. Things are different here.
The rest of Sunday was spent at an international students' fair, which was really fun. I met students from Taiwan, Japan, China, Lebanon, Portugal, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Norway, & the Ukraine. Everyone here is so incredibly friendly. The whole experience, not suprisingly, reminds me of Orientation Week at Cornell, many years ago on a continent far, far away. Everyone is excited & optimistic & eager to make friends.
So I was starting to wonder if I was ever going to meet any Scottish students when I went to my orientation session on Monday morning. I had two big surprises awaiting me there: 1) almost all my classmates are Scottish (hooray!); & 2) the "orientation session" was no such thing, but was actually the beginning of four solid days of computer instruction! That's right, my classes sneakily began an entire week early. Those tricky Geographers, watch out for them.
But it's not all bad. Last night's classes ended at 5.00 pm, at which time we all decamped directly to Bannerman's Pub, which is practically next door to our building. The lecturers were drinking right alongside the students, & some people carried on for the next seven hours. Not me though; I left around 7.30 pm to go to my first student society meeting. BLOGS (the strangely acronymed gay & lesbian student organisation) had organised the Gay Gaymes, which featured Twister, some fun dice games, a balloon relay, & The Weakest Link. I nearly won the last game, & was awarded a bottle of wine. But I gave it away to a cute grrl named Amy. What can I say, she's a redhead. I'm in trouble here.
And today, back in class. I actually had the temerity to skip this morning's lectures, but they were introductory database stuff & I'm pretty familiar with that stuff. Besides, I had to take care of some errands. I registered with National Health Services (as a full-time student, I'm eligible for British health insurance), bought a voltage adapter for my laptop, got some more food, & opened a bank account. And guess what the bank gave me as a welcome gift? No, not a toaster oven - a six-pack of vodka mixed drinks & a Twix bar. You've just got to wonder about these people.
So ... I'm already starting to feel settled in, & I have to say - I absolutely adore this city. It's so beautiful, & so compact, & so much fun to walk around. Yes, the weather is a bit crappy. But it's certainly no worse than Ithaca. And there's just something magical about seeing Arthur's Seat, which is a big hill that dominates one side of the skyline, & Edinburgh Castle, & Holyrood Palace - all ancient features of the life of Scotland. One of my classmates, Iain Cameron, was telling us about a place near town where you can stand on the ruins of the Antonine Wall & see the layout of a Roman camp that's approximately 2,000 years old. Right next to these, there is the framework of the new Scottish Parliament building, which will be the first sitting Parliament in Scotland in nearly 300 years. The city simply reeks with history. And then in my course (& many others in the University), cutting edge research goes on daily. It really gets my pulse racing.
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no subject
Date: 2003-09-30 11:42 am (UTC)thanks!
From:Re: thanks!
From:no subject
Date: 2003-09-30 03:02 pm (UTC)There was a whole kabel of them plotting against you, huh?
I don't think I got anything at all from my bank when I opened my account. I'm jealous.
"Seven Nation army" Man I love that song. I don't know why, they lyrics make little sense. Actually, while I really want to hate the Withe Stripes for being yet another pseudo-garage band, Elephant is pretty damn good all around.
no subject
Date: 2003-09-30 03:53 pm (UTC)What language to they speak there? Is there electricity? What direction does the water flow when you flush the toilet? Do they have cars over there? Are there restaurants? Do any pixies or sprites live in your dorm? I'M SO CURIOUS!
(no subject)
From:(no subject)
From:no subject
Date: 2003-10-01 10:20 am (UTC)They must have expected Lilliputians to be living in your room.
And would you like us to send you rain-bonnet for your toilet paper?
(no subject)
From: