The map and I are getting to know each other well...

It’s 3 am and I’m wide awake. Jet lag is going to suck.

So, the verdict on dinner: Definitely not as good as Pomona’s dining halls or as good as cooking with the family, but just fine. I am glad that in about two weeks, I’ll get to cook on my own, though. Food-wise, the only thing I saw here that I wouldn’t see in the states was that yogurt-pudding stuff, similar to what we had in Israel. Their dairy products just come in more varieties than ours.

Alex's breakfast- Sausage, tatties, beans, eggs and toast

My breakfast- porridge, canned fruit, tomatoes, dried fruit medley with oats

Since last writing, I got to talk to most of the other people in the Pomona group. Everyone’s nice and seems excited, which is good. As a whole (at least for now), we’ve got a lot of energy and enthusiasm about being here, and I think that’ll make a huge difference as we explore for the next week and a half. For now, everyone kind of already has their set “people” to hang out with, me included. But I’m excited to meet lots of new people during Fresher’s Week (which will hopefully be as awesome as it sounds- a week of endless events just for us, basically), in our classes, and in our flats obviously.

We met our program director Tom at dinner. He’s here just for us, knows everything, and looks exactly like the old man who plays chess against himself in that Pixar animated short. And he bought us all a glass of wine or beer as we talked about our upcoming adventures around Edinburgh. I have a good feeling about this guy.

After being really, really confused about where I was during our group walk around the city last night, I spent some time studying the map. Two good things came from that. First, the city makes much more sense now. The layout is pretty straightforward. Still haven’t gone to Princes Street, though! And second, I found really great city and street names. Dumbledykes Road, Drumdryan, Cockburn, Abercromby, Kirkcudbright, Earl Grey. And, best of all, Claremont Street. Not too far away, after all.