I’ve officially spent my first week in the wonderful land of
Scotland! This week has absolutely been incredible so far. I feel as if I’ve
already been here for a month (in a good way). J
On Monday, January 27th, to start off my study
abroad experience, I met two of my lovely friends, Kelsey and Cassie, at the
airport in Minneapolis. Of course my bag weighed over 50 pounds, so I gave my
dad some of my belongings to take home. I mean I guess I can survive without five
bottles of lotion. Ha! We eagerly waited to board our flight and were nervous
about our connecting flight due to a slight delay. We flew in to Newark and
luckily made our connecting flight which took us to Edinburgh.
Once we landed, we took a Taxi to the Dalkeith Palace, which
is where we all are living and taking our classes for the semester. Dalkeith is
located just six miles outside of Edinburgh and the estate is absolutely
breathtaking. We met the very friendly staff and got situated in our rooms.
Although sleep deprived and jet lagged, the three of us explored the grounds
and the town. As we were taking pictures, a rainbow formed over the palace.
This has got to be a good sign. Pictures don’t serve justice to how beautiful
this place really is.
We spent our first night at a pub in town called The
Blacksmith’s Forge. It has a laid back atmosphere and is a great place to just
hang out and have a few drinks. I tried this berry cider drink called Kopparberg and it was delicious!
The next few days were filled with various orientation
activities. We went into Edinburgh everyday over the weekend. On Friday, we
visited the Edinburgh Castle and it was breathtaking. It’s a military castle
and there was so much history to be soaked in. The architecture, paintings,
memorials, and views of the city were incredible.
On Saturday I went into Edinburgh again with some friends to
do some shopping. I know…really Madeline?! Our bus ride down was an interesting
experience. We were on the top level of the bus in the back and a Scottish man
got on the bus and sat in front of us. He was a little older than us and reeked
of alcohol. He had his dog on the bus with him and started drinking a beer. He
was talking with us and being obnoxious, but it was pretty funny. He called my
friend Amanda her “bird” which apparently means girlfriend. He told us his
nickname is Squiggles and he had it tattooed on his back. Interesting.
On Sunday we all went into Edinburgh again except with our
clans we got divided in. My clan’s name is “Stewart”! We participated in the
amazing race, which was essentially walking around town finding different
places with clues and questions. It was actually a fun experience because we
got to see some great places for ideas of where to go in town in the future.
One of those places is a cafe called The Elephant House, which is where J.K. Rowling first
starting writing her Harry Potter series. I mean HOW COOL!
We stopped at a pub called “The Smallest Pub in Scotland”
and as a clan all had a beer. We also went to the National Museum of Scotland
and saw a view of the city from the roof. Absolutely stunning. The sky was even blue!
Once all the students were back at the Dalkeith Palace, we
had our beginning of the semester celebration. We had a ceilidh, which is a traditional Scottish dance. A woman taught us how to do the
dances and we all had a blast. Henry, our chef, also made us Haggis pizza. Not
really a fan, but you have to try haggis when in Scotland!
Monday was the first official day of classes. On Monday’s I
have my Scottish Globalization class for six hours every other week. It was
long, but I’m definitely already learning a lot.
Today, I had two other classes, Developmental Psychology and
Interpersonal Communication. They both don’t seem to be too difficult. J I’m super excited that
I don’t have classes on Wednesdays, so I can use those days to “get stuff
done”. Also, none of us have classes on
Fridays, which allows us to travel elsewhere.
I went out with a bunch of great people tonight to a local pub called Masons and here are some of the people.
I’m so grateful to be on this wonderful journey. I haven’t
felt this happy in a long time and it is nothing but an incredible experience
so far.
I will post in the near future when I have more to write
about.
Sending love to all my family and friends back at home!
Cheers,
Madeline
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