Oh, my goodness. What have I done???

This question has come into my mind several times this week. Of course it would happen. I'm 4390.79 miles from home with a big ocean in the middle. So yes, I miss everything I know, well almost, but I know that I'll be fine. I'll settle in, continue to make friends, and I will continue to love this place. It's a beautiful city.

So this whole week has been dedicated to getting acquainted with my new life. I now have a bank account, a mobile, groceries in the fridge, a new hair dryer (because I killed the other one, forgetting about the whole Voltage issue), my student card in my pocket, and the continuous quandary of if I should get a bus pass. Eventually, I'm sure I will, but so far, we've had quite nice days with vibrant blue skies, patchy white clouds, and a crisp fall breeze. Thus, I've been walking to and from school with an occasional ride on the bus at night. It's not a bad walk, when you do it once, but since I've walked it twice a day, to and from, the last 5 days, I've probably walked around 30 miles. Now, if we include all of the walking I did while I was playing tourist when my mom and brother were in town, well, let's just say it would be a lot more, and I've only been here for 8 days. My calves have been vehemently complaining for a couple of days.

I've met several Americans, a few from the Netherlands, one from Brazil, one from who knows where, and one from Scotland. Of course there are others, too, but I can't keep track of everyone and where they're from. The University of Edinburgh is a very international university with students from over 150 countries. Americans just seem to dominate the international student community. Surprise!

Yesterday, I went to an orientation session about bibliographies and reference lists. Am I a nerd if I admit that I was at least 90% engaged for the entire hour and a half? And then today, I went to a 2 and a half hour session on writing; at least 45 minutes of it was dedicated to grammar. I could've done without that portion of the lecture. I've now met my program director and colleagues and am excited for classes to start next week. I need to get into a routine so I can really begin to figure out my life here.

I finally made it to the University Library yesterday and joined the National Library of Scotland today. I now have adequate means to continue my quest toward becoming a super nerd. Exciting, eh?

Tonight, I'm planning on meeting a few other postgrads at a restaurant on the Royal Mile for dinner, and from there we'll head over to the Postgrad Ceilidh (a ceilidh is a Scottish party, basically, with traditional Scottish dancing and music), so it should be a fun evening. And who knows what this weekend will bring. A few of us are already planning a day trip to St. Andrews. Off to adventure!