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Published: January 10th 2007
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Up up and away
this is the plane I took! well, not really, but it could be! I’m here! I am completely jet-lagged and exhausted, but very happy! My travel went very smoothly, even though there were some unexpected delays. The flight out of JFK was delayed for about an hour and forty minutes because of bad weather and congestion. I sat next to a guy named Amador who was on his way from Puerto Rico, where he had been visiting family, to Germany, where he is stationed at an army base. He’s leaving for a year-long tour in Iraq in a month - best of luck and my prayers go with him!
There was roller-coaster style turbulence in the middle of the flight, the in-flight movies were boring, and the food was mediocre . . . BUT there were SNAKES on the plane , which was very exciting and made the entire flight simply fabulous. See the photos . . . which are upcoming, because I don't have my camera cable with me right now!!! :-P
I missed my connecting flight because of the delay, so they booked me on the next flight that left a couple of hours later. It actually worked out much better, because Heathrow is
The Cowgate
my street is right off the Cowgate, definitely a street that contributes to Edinburgh's status as city with most bars and clubs per head than anywhere else in Europe . . . this according to my school handbook, at least! so big there was so much security to go through. I also got to sit in “business class,” which doesn’t mean anything on a flight so small and so short, except that my seat was in the very first row. Everyone on the London side of things in the airport was so nice! The security guys said things like “right this way, love” and “over here, dearie, just follow the signs and have a wonderful trip,” only not in a creepy old guy-in-a-Jersey-diner way. Maybe it was just the accents that were so lovely!
I also got to sit in “business class” on the hop from London to Edinburgh, which doesn’t mean anything on a flight so small and short except that my seat was in the very first row. (FYI, if anyone is traveling British Airways through the UK anytime soon, you can bring one and only one carry-on bag - I had to somehow cram my big purse inside my laptop bag to make it pass!)
My luggage came through with no problem, and I hopped a bus right from the airport terminal to the city center. I also discovered, to my great chagrin, that Scots
Nicolson Street
This street is right around the corner from me -- I bought my sheets and towels at the Pound Savers here! The glass building is a national theatre where they put on ballets are just as guilty of misusing apostrophes as Americans are! A sign on the bus door reminded passengers to “Make sure their bag’s do not cross the red line.” Oh well . . . the bus was double-decker and had tartan-printed seats, so even I can let a grammatical error slip when there’s plaid to make up for it. It’s a good thing I was going to the end of the route, cause I had a hard time understanding what the driver was saying! I definitely need to work on my heavy-Scottish-accent comprehension.
This city is gorgeous, and even though I’ve only seen a little of it, I’m sure I’m going to love it! I took a taxi from the bus stop - taxis here are very expensive, four pounds (eight dollars!) for only a couple of blocks, but it’s the norm not to tip the driver. My flat is on this little alley side street called Robertson’s close, and I’m in flat 12, which means up many stairs! If you head out from our flat in one direction, you’re on Cowgate, which is a part of the Old City that is almost underground, and is full of bars and clubs. If you go in the other direction, you’re on North Bridge, which is open and airy and full of shops and cafes and the like. Best of both worlds, I suppose . . . though the pub-finder I saw online does say there are literally dozens of pubs and bars within a ¼ mile of my flat, and my flatmates concur!
I have four flatmates, and we each have single rooms. So far I’ve met two, a girl studying law from Holland with a beautiful accent and a girl from Chicago studying politics. The other two are due to arrive tomorrow; one is from Germany and the other is from L.A. So we’re a flat of internationals! The girls have all been here for a semester before me - they had another roommate from Canada, who’s room I have now. They seem really nice - plus they’re making dinner right now, and it smells great! (A big plus for me . . . many of you know that cooking is not my favorite pastime!)
Speaking of cooking for myself, however, I went grocery shopping today and was really impressed with how cheap things were, even with the bad conversion rate. Granted, I only bought the cheapest generic brand, and I pretty much only bought what was on sale, but I still got about a week’s worth of groceries - frozen steaks, frozen green beans, peanut butter, cream cheese, jelly, three cans of pasta-with-sauce, bread, cheddar cheese, crackers, four cans of soup, a bag of whole wheat pasta, a jar of pasta sauce, and some clementines - for about ten pounds! Hooray! The less I spend on groceries, the more I have to spend on b…ooks for school! ;-)
This entry is being composed at the time it’s dated, but posted later, because I had to sign up for ResNet and it takes the school at least 24 hours or so to confirm my internet connection. . . then when I finally got ResNet approval a couple of days later, the connection wouldn't work! Then as I was trying to make my internet connection work . . . my computer crashed and I got the Blue Screen of Death!!!
Long story short . . . I
think my computer is better now, but it's still not online -- so my internet access is still spotty, as I have to go to labs or pick up wireless signals. So hopefully I will be able to start regularly updating this soon!
Signing off --
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Beth
non-member comment
Alida I love you and i'm so glad to hear that you are enjoying things over there. You're always in my thoughts...and snakes onthe plane? sheesh...hehe luv yas