Four bags, Three Coats, Two Parents and Me

Somehow, I squeezed my life into a suitcase, duffel bag, backpack and messenger bag. I cheated, though. I had a pillow as well, I guess, and a couple shoes hitched a ride in my parents' suitcases (thank god they decided to drop me off) and we're already planning a small care package. I'm hoping that my parents won't judge the couple books and jackets I'm missing as unnecessary. Of course, that all depends on the cost of shipping.

When we arrived, lacking in sleep because of the fantastic choice of films on the flight (such as Midnight in Paris), we stumbled around the city for a few hours and scavenged some decent breakfast (a full breakfast for the goofy Dutch guy, fluffy eggs and toast for the Iowan, and a few dense pancakes for the fresher). We had planned to walk most of the day, or at least until two, when our hotel room opened, but by about one we had collapsed in the hotel lobby, praying the rooms would be available just a few minutes or so earlier. The Irish student at the desk offered advice on living costs and bank accounts and travel to us and another American fresher with her mother (who recognized me the other day in my Social Anthropology lecture the other day and we reintroduced ourselves). Luckily, before two o'clock arrived, we sank into our beds for a couple hours before hunting down dinner.

We did find a great Indian restaurant on Rose Street, which runs parallel to Princes Street, the main shopping street, but its delicious food was compromised by the high prices ( and they charged for every last glass of water and every small dish of dipping sauce). We counted it as a last celebratory meal for my transatlantic college acceptance (which we also did for the lunch we had this past Friday just before my parents flew back to New Jersey- I'm not complaining, though- my fresh Bruschetta and Sticky Toffee Pudding were delectable).

Anyways- Freshers Week. What a great time. I owe so much to the girl living in the room next to me, Ali, who convinced me I had to go out the first night with the dorm. I had been planning to try to get over jet lag, which would have proved pointless, anyways, since I spent all of Freshers Week going to bed no earlier than two o'clock in the morning...

I ended up meeting, almost immediately, a delightful group of people from my house (dorm), who have become the friends I go out with or stay in with.

The second day after moving in, I clambered up Arthur's Seat on the steepest path (to my knowledge) with Madeleine and Mikey from my dorm and Mikey's friend, Ben. The wind blew us against the mountain as we climbed, instead of off the cliff, which was very much appreciated.

 

At the top, we ran into a couple friends from the house who ran up just before us. We were quite satisfied with taking our time up and down, though. Since we took our time, we gazed for a while at the city and spotted at least three rainbows and some old ruins.

 

I'll report more about that week later. For now, I'm going to drink tea and hope that my bothersome cold goes away soon. The weather right now is actually great: sunny and not too chilly. I think I caught the tail end of the "fresher's flu", which has flown around. Hopefully, this blog will be more successful than my last, and I will post more than once per season. Greetings to everyone and thanks for reading!