I knew I was going to like it here even before the plane
touched down. Out the window, I took in the lush green countryside, the winding
roads, the Lion King-esque colors of the rising sun—and it all looked like a
new kind of home. The agony of those endless flights was quickly forgiven.
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Tired after many, many flights... |
I am finally here! After months of “Scotland is amazing!”s
and “Did you remember to pack your…?”s, I am finally here. I am all the way across
the Atlantic Ocean, in my temporary new residence of Edinburgh, Scotland to
spend the first semester of my junior year as a student at the University of
Edinburgh.
Being here is a big change for me. My sophomore year didn’t
exactly go as smoothly as planned, and I felt I definitely needed a fresh
start, a refreshing experience. Although I’m a bit sad about having to miss four
months of festivities at Pomona, I’ve got 3 more semesters left there, and
Facebook to catch me up in the meantime. And living in a foreign country also means
not being able to talk my family as much, after a summer of almost constant
interaction with them, which will be tough to get used to. But I’ll find a
support system here. Being here is a once in a lifetime opportunity that I am
so incredibly excited to make the most of. I am confident that I made the right
decision—both by choosing to study abroad in the first place, and by choosing
this university.
It’s beautiful here. And the people are so nice! Even though
my ideal August day doesn’t include
thunder, pouring rain, and gusty winds, I get to look out my window and see a
golf course, a lake, and Arthur’s Thumb, an inactive volcano. My room has a
sink in it… and it’s carpeted! I think I’m in heaven. The bathroom is the room
with the bathtub, and the shower room
has a shower! How novel.
And, best of all, my best friend Alex is down the hall!
Seeing her again after so long was really great, like no time had gone by.
We’re excellent travel companions, I must say. Whatever I’d forgotten, she’d
remembered, and vice versa. Plus, she’s not bad company. (Just kidding; I really
couldn’t ask for a better person to be here with.)
My impressions of Scottish and English accents are still
embarrassingly awful, and I am trying to cut down on the amount of times I say
“Dude” so that I don’t stick out too
badly, but besides that, my trip has been problem-free so far. Let’s see if I
take that back after trying the dining hall food tonight, though…
Today is just a day for moving in and getting oriented. We
will spend the next few days doing walking tours of Edinburgh and getting to
know the others in our group, and our Pomona course on Scotland starts on
Monday. I’m very glad that we have a director to help us get our bearings,
because otherwise I’d be completely overwhelmed right now at the idea of having
to figure out this huge campus and this old city. So instead, right now, I’m
mostly just feeling tired from all of the flying and time zone adjustments. But
I’m also very, very… happy. Deeply content and excited, like I haven’t felt in
a long time. I’m somewhere very, very new, but it still feels comfortable. It
feels right.
So, as my new countrymen say, Cheers!