Whirlwind!

Whew, I am finally here and semi settled! But it was quite a journey to get here...

Jess and Alberto drove me to the airport (the awesome people that they are) and it hadn't really sunk in yet that I was about to board a plane taking me across the country. I did have the sense to make my last American cd that I heard The Little Mermaid, but other than that I was pretty relaxed about the whole deal. At 6:30 pm I got on the plane, which was the HUGEST plane I've ever seen (it was called an AirBus for God's sake). My preconceptions of a larger seat that would lean back so that I could sleep quickly disappeared. It was about the same size as any Southwest flight I would take to Chicago. I settled in to enjoy the private TV and try to sleep (which didn't go so well). I arrived in Manchester after 7 hours of flying and very little sleep at 8 in the morning there, and ran into another girl on my program who basically saved my life by helping me through customs. Although customs was much more relaxed than I was expecting: basically he asked me what I was doing in the UK, stamped my passport, and sent me on my way. Immediately I was impressed by how nice everyone was! A man personally followed us up the stairs to show us where to go, and the customs man was having a genial conversation with us! I may have been blinded by the awesome accent, but it seemed like a good place to be! We went upstairs and I ordered my first legal drink just for the heck of it (just an Irish coffee, it was 8 am after all). We then boarded a very small plane - we actually had to walk outside to get to it, like a movie - and embarked on the short trip to Edinburgh! The only flight attendent was a Scottish woman, and I had NO idea what she was saying half the time...an indication of what was to come...

Once in Edinburgh we ran into another girl on our program, and shared a cab into the city. The first experience of driving on the wrong side of the road was rather terrifying, but I got used to it pretty fast. However, I'm still not used to watching for cars coming at me from what seems like nowhere, but hopefully I'll master that soon before I kill myself. We headed to the residence halls, where we were staying for our program orientation, and hung around for a while before we got into our rooms. My first foray into the city to buy a new cell phone was amazing! The city is absolutely beautiful, and it just seems so OLD! I'm totally fascinated by this place, and I can't wait to explore it more! We got a cab driver who thought we were amusing and loved saying things in his thick Scottish accent that we couldn't understand, such as murder (mirrrrrdirrrrr) and police (pahlis), and he taught us the right way to say Edinburgh (EdinburrrrUH). When I originally said Edin"burroh" he told me that a "burro" is a Mexican mule, and that was offensive. At the phone store, the guy selling me my phone asked me about the election, and when I said that I was an Obama supporter, he told me he was glad because "we're getting a little tired of you Americans and your current president." He also went on about how American presidents USED to be smart, like Kennedy and Reagan (I know, two very different examples) and how we should get back on track.

Well, since I don't have internet yet in my flat, I'm using the Wi-Fi at a cafe and I'm losing batteries!! I will write more later, but that was pretty much my first day in Edinburgh! Pictures soon too....