first post in scotland!

I made it! It's pretty late here (2:03am to be exact) but I really wanted to write because I am worried that if I let too much time pass I will start to forget what has been happening, and since I haven't started journalling yet, I want to have it all on record. So I apologize for those who are just browsing because I posted this on facebook. I realize that not everyone will be as die-hard of a fan as my mom is and won't want to know every detail, but I do want to have some sort of record so just bear with me.

So I guess I will just start with the airport! Everything ended up being fine, but I did run into issues pretty much every step of the way. I had to take stuff out of my bag because it was too heavy (paying extra wasn't enough- they wouldn't take it over a certain weight), there was airplane traffic around hethrow so we had to circle around before landing, which meant we cut it realllly close for our connecting flight, and of course they had to scan my bag a few times at security and run a test on my liquids (which took up time we didnt have), and then my bag got stuck at hethrow so I didn't get it until this afternoon (sunday), the visa situation was confusing, but everything ended up fine. we made the connecting flight, we ended up not having to get a visa, and my bag was delivered so I didn't have to carry it! Silver lining!

Anyway, so we got picked up from the airport by a university shuttle system. The ride from edinburgh to campus was about 45 minutes long. It was Charlene and I and 2 bulgarian girls. The driver was really nice and had a pretty interesting past driving buses for awesome tours through morocco and owning campsites and bed and breakfasts etc. The drive was beautiful! It was pretty sunny, and awesome countryside landscapes- lots of sheep and cows etc. Soon we were driving through the town near campus, Bridge of Allen. Cute and quaint. It reminded me a lot of Dublin. Really nice houses. We drove by a wedding- women in bright pink gowns and the men in- you guess it- KILTS! first kilt spotting. fortunately it wasn't a windy day. So Bridge of Allen is on one side of campus, and Stirling is on the other.

The campus is beautiful. There is a loch on campus with swans and a place to rent canoes, as well as a bridge over it that takes you right into the student union building (the atrium). The atrium has a ton of stuff- a bookstore, a school store type thing (sweatshirt and school supplies etc), a library, an eatery, some sort of art exhibition that I need to explore further, a cafe, and apparently a restaurant and bar downstairs (campus bar- can you believe it). There are also some lecture halls as well as smaller classrooms and multipurpose rooms. I have yet to see the whole building, but it's pretty much the center of campus. Oh! There is also a convenience/liquor store in the union. Crazy. I bought some hard cider and they didn't card me! Brilliant! (After rereading this I should clarify that I am absolutely of age here, it was just exciting to not be carded because people never believe I am 21 in the states.) But anyway, the shuttle guy dropped us off and we made our way to our building carrying all of our stuff (minus my huge bag which was stuck in hethrow) and went to the reception to collect our keys and check in. We eventually found our apartments. Charlene and I are in the same building, but different stairwells, but really close by. We are actually both on the 3rd floor, but they aren't connected. You have to go down the stairs and around the corner, and back up her stairs. But they are adjacent and really close. There was no one in my apartment and I had very little to unpack so we went to Charlene's where we coincidentally bumped into one of her roommates in the stairwell. Her roommate's name is Calla- she is studying abroad here for the semester from Canada. She is in her 5th year, so slightly older. The three of us get along really well, and are the same page about everything so far, and are getting excited to travel on the weekends. One of charlene's other roommates, Jordan, was there as well. He is a first year from manchester. He's on the tennis team here (sports are REALLY big). I was able to talk to my dad a few time on the phone to check in etc which was nice. The 4 of us hung out and ordered some pizza because we were too tired to walk into town (about a 45 minute walk) and didn't know about the restuarant in the union yet. Later we met a girl who hadn't really met anyone yet so we hung out at char/calla/jordan's place (my roommates were still m.i.a. at this point). We decided to go out on the town. We took a cab into the Stirling city centre, just got out where the cab driver dropped us off and went into the bar that he recommended. It was an australian themed bar. It was sort of an older crowd, but it might just be that I am used to college park bars where everyone is underage. But there was an outdoor seating area so we bought a round of pints (i feel so scottish) and sat outside. 4/5 of us were drinking so we decided to go to take turns buying rounds and going to a different bar for each round. The city is pretty small but swarming with students and locals (i assume) and so it was fun to walk around and people watch. Everyone was pretty dressed up, which was funny because all I had were the clothes in my carry on. I borrowed a shirt from calla, threw on a scarf and called it casual pub attire. We went to a few other places throughout the night and ended at one that was more of a dance club. for those of you who watched Skins, it was reminiscent of some of the clubs they went to, but less rave-y. The bathroom had cool mirror tiles. Maybe this is too detailed haha. We ended up getting back pretty late and I slept at Char's because I didn't want to be alone on my first night (still no sign of the roommies).

This morning (sunday) we woke up comfortably late, got dressed etc and went to the atrium (student union for those of you who aren't paying close attention) for some food. On the way there we ran into Calla who had received word that there was an international student orientation lecture in a half hour, so we grabbed a bagel sandwich at the atrium food area and went to the meeting. It was short because we will have another one tomorrow. We asked a few questions and got our ID cards etc. There were about 150? maybe? international students there. maybe more. Between 100 and 250 for sure. A lot from the US and Europe. But it was a mix of study abroad, exchange students, and international students who will be there for all 4 years.

I'm actually having trouble remembering the order of what else happened today, which means it's good I opted to stay up and write this down before I forget more. But in some order, we showered, I recovered my bag, i unpacked a little, we went into the town of stirling (by bus this time) to walk around and eat dinner, I videochatted with the fam (parents+jason+kitty as well as grammy+zayda+aunt maris+aunt val+the beautiful alanna) and hung out with char/calla/jordan's most recent roommate Tom. It great to see everyone over video and wish grammy a happy 80th birthday! For dinner we went to the Corn Exchange in town, which advertised 2 meals for 9.99 pounds. I had beef chili pie with mash and vegetables (chili on a crust with mashed leeks and salad on the side). It was warm and yummy. Since then I was able to talk to a few friends online and finally finish this blog post.

I apologize for the insane detail and lack of thought provoking cultural observations. One cultural observation I have noticed, however, is that men are way more affectionate (? i guess that's the word I would use) with each other. At the club I saw a man kiss another guy's nipple just while joking around. They were like laughing and talking loud and high fiving and then he lifted his shirt and the guy licked his nipple! Overshare of the night for you. Please excuse me, I suppose my discretion has been completely depleted by 3:13 am. It really is time for bed for me. Tomorrow we plan to wake up early to make our class schedules and hike to the William Wallace monument which overlooks the campus. Plus there is more orienatation, grocery shopping to do, and a plan to have some international students over to hang out and meet people.

oh last thing before i forget, i did meet 2 of my apartment-mates. Their names are mark and mike, though mike goes by his last name, which is escaping me at the moment. Mike plays gaelic footbol (soccer, keep in mind) which he said is like rugby+soccer with hands and feet, a round ball, and a weird goal system. I will definitely have to go watch one of this games. The other is Mark, who is a bio major and an olympic weightlifter, which I assume is a type of weightlifting because he wasn't bursting at the seams with muscles or anything (not to razz him or anything, maybe he just hides it well haha). They are 18 and 19, but both 2nd years. They seem nice, but they went out tonight and so I haven't seen much of them. Here's hoping that the other ones move in soon so I can meet them.

Alright, I really should go to bed. Thanks for following, and I will update again soon, and hopefully add some pictures! I'm not going to edit this now, so sorry if there are incomprehensible mistakes I will catch them later.

-Amanda
(can't decide if i should sign my posts. decision is tbd.)