First Days, or, How to Have Fun Getting Lost

Tags

beginning, edinburgh, ifsa-butler, scotland, university of edinburgh

Firstly, I apologize for the cheesy post title. As someone who relies heavily on Google Maps to get everywhere and tries to avoid sentimentality, I had always scoffed at the idea of happily getting lost. Funnily enough, above the plaque indicating the street my flat is on is a neon sign with the Tolkien quote, “Not all those who wander are lost.” Usually I’m not a huge fan of things like this, but considering how we spent our first day in Edinburgh, it was incredibly fitting. 

If I’d had my camera handy while I was hauling 100 lbs of luggage up a cobblestone alleyway, I would have taken a picture. Fortunately, someone already has. Photo Credit: http://blog.shemakeswar.com/2014/08/edinburgh-fringe-diary-day-2-wandering-poetry-and-laughter

I’ll start from beginning of the trip, just to make things a bit easier to follow. My dad and I got to JFK around 2 p.m. on Tuesday, and after some diner food in the airport we said our goodbyes and I headed off to breeze through security and make my way to the gate. It was easy to spot the IFSA-Butler group, thanks to the luggage tags on peoples’ bags and the way college kids seem to congregate in circles, some siting on the floor, some standing in the middle of the walkway, and all of us jostling for space at the charging station. I met a bunch of kids from the University of Redlands there, including Sam, who I ended up rooming with during our two-night stay at a hotel in the Grassmarket and have been palling around with these first couple of days. 

Both the flight to Heathrow and Edinburgh were relatively uneventful, if not a little tedious because I had forgotten what it’s like to fly on such large planes (the shuttles from DC/Philly to Columbus are minuscule) and it was hard to fall asleep in such close quarters. Once we got to the hotel, however, it was nice to have some down time and call my parents while waiting to go to our welcome lunch. Then, Sam and I met up with a bunch of other IFSA-Butler students (including Grace and Aliya, who I’ve also been spending a lot of time with) and we set off to go climb Arthur’s Seat. We actually intended to run several errands  – coffee, ethernet cables, and SIM cards – but we were pretty dead set on getting to Arthur’s Seat, so we bypassed most of those.

The view from our little piece of Arthur’s Seat.

Another view from Arthur’s Seat, I think overlooking Leith and the Firth of Forth (through the fog).

Yours truly, after being awake for 24+ hours.

For those of you not familiar with Edinburgh’s landmarks, Arthur’s Seat is a dormant volcano in Holyrood Park. It’s said that King Arthur would use the hill as a place to think, but nowadays it’s mostly used for hiking and running. We walked a few miles around the city, likely taking every wrong turn possible, and finally made it to one of its lower crags; it had beautiful views, and was much more doable than ascending the entire hill on our first day. When we walked back, we realized just how simple it was to get to Arthur’s Seat, and therefore just how lost we got. However, it was nice to see so much of the city on the first day, and walking around instead of napping definitely helped with the jet lag. After returning to the hotel to regroup, we decided to hop across the street to a little Italian place for dinner. After all that walking, hot paninis and a short travel time sounded perfect. 

The next day was filled with orientation activities. We learned about housing, our home stays (I’ll be traveling to the Lake District of England to stay with a pair of teachers), health and safety (a lecture given a hilarious Scottish policeman), and a bit of history and current events. There was an optional bus tour in the afternoon, which seemed like a good way to get a better feel for the layout of the city. In reality, it reinforced just how lost we got on Wednesday. We did get to see a good bit more of the city though, including Calton Hill, which offers amazing, picturesque, and iconic views of Edinburgh.

Looking out towards Princes Street and the Balmoral Hotel.

The National Monument of Scotland, meant to honor soldiers lost in the Napoleonic Wars, but it was only half completed.

The incredible view, and the city of Edinburgh.

After our bus tour, we made a pit stop at the hotel and then went out Princes Street to do some shopping. We had the most amazing snack at Ben’s Cookies, found the phone store, and had dinner at Wagamama’s (an Asian fusion chain in the UK), and then met up with some other IFSA-Butler kids at a pub across from our hotel.

Friday was the end of orientation and our time living together in the hotel. We learned about academic expectations and services before being bussed to our dorms and flats around the city. I don’t think the fact that I’m living in this city really hit me until I saw my apartment. But now everything’s moved in, I’ve been to Primark for bedding and home goods, and classes start in just over a week. While I’m a little sad not to be with the big group any more (mostly because it’s comfortable and easy just to go from event to event during orientation), the rest of our flatmates should get here tomorrow! I already know one of my flatmates because she goes to college with me in the States, so it will be interesting to see what the other ones are like. 

If you’ve made it this far, I commend you for getting through such a lengthy post. Fresher’s Week starts tomorrow (erm, today) and there’s tons to do before classes start, so I’ll try to keep you all updated!