SCOTLAND SCHOOL

I arrived in Scotland only two days ago, and already, I am thrown straight into school. I was supposed to arrive in Edinburgh on Saturday, but the lovely Baltimore airport canceled my flight. So instead of flying to New York and then getting on a direct flight, I instead had to go to Frankfurt, Germany first and then fly to Scotland. It was fun, in a way, to fly on a German flight where the pilot and flight attendants all spoke German. It was also entertaining to try to pick the passengers that I believed could be German and who was visiting or passing through. But overall, it was annoying to go to an airport that I had not planned for, where everything is in German for the most part and try to find my gate throughout their maze of an airport despite my drained jet lagged mind and body. It was even more annoying to arrive in Edinburgh late as there was a woman waiting for me to take me to the town where I needed to be for classes. She had to come all the way from Dublin twice as there were other girls in my program who managed to make it to Edinburgh on time. The whole thing was just a hassle. I suppose I am being overdramatic because I had never experienced such annoying flight delays and cancellations before. The most seasoned of travelers would probably think I am whining.

However, despite all my trials, I made it to Scotland and I am currently trying to get adjusted as best as I can.

The time differences, while inconvenient for communicating with loved ones, makes posting so much easier. I can go through my whole day and not think about it until the night because it is still only late afternoon at home. I have not made an opinion of the people in Scotland yet because I have barely made friends. And making friends is hard here considering I only have two days of class a week. I just barely meet some girls and suddenly class is over and it’s just, “well see you guys next week!”. The class scheduling is perhaps the biggest change for me. I am not used to such little class time. I do not know what to do with myself with so few classes. And they say it covers the same amount of credits as five classes in the U.S. And that is just unnatural.

I need more time here before I can give a true assessment. Everyone expects me to be oozing excitement and be bursting with happiness. It is not that I am unhappy or unexcited. I am still just so out of it. I am learning everything and taking it all in. I am not wearing a huge smile on my face all the time because I am still processing everything. Also I do still miss home. I miss my family and my friends so much and it is only the third night, yet is is hard for me to understand that I will be staying here for the next five months. I am a whole ocean away…

But then again, everyone says that I will absolutely love it here and never want to leave. I think that will be true. I will hopefully come back fully adjusted like Scotland is my second home.