Orientation!

I finally starting my travel journal! I would have done this sooner, even before I left but I've been ridiculously busy. I'm finally in Scotland, in my flat, in the right classes, with food, and bedding, and now internet. I guess I'm figuring it out! It's been so hectic though, going through orientation and then moving and having to start classes immediately. So lets start from the beginning!
My flight left from JFK on Monday the 1st in a horrible storm. I got to the airport around 1:30 and checked in around 2. There were a few people from my program checking in when I was so I got to meet some people right away. We all had to wear red ribbons on our bags so we could be identified. There was supposed to be a woman meeting all of us from IFSA-Butler (my program) but she was late and missed most of us. At least we all got to Edinburgh without problems! The flight wasn't too bad. We went Virgin Atlantic aka the party plane into London. Everyone working there must have been 25 including the pilots and the people were very nice and joked around which made everyone feel better. The food actually wasn't too bad and not even terribly salty like usual. There were over 50 movies to choose from and lots of TV shows so it was pretty nice. There was a lot of turbulence though, especially at the beginning of the flight with the bad weather in NY. Once we got past that it was much better however. When we got to London it was about 6 in the morning but no one was very tired. All 60 of us got off the plane and instantly didn't know where to go. Heathrow is very confusing! Our next tickets didn't have a terminal, just a gate number and they were so confusing no one even knew what company we were flying with. So we all got on a bus and hoped for the best. We went to some terminal and got off and by some miracle we were in the right place. Customs was very fast because we were the only plane going through at that time. By 7:30 it was still dark when we got to the gate and had to wait for another hour or so. Then we were off to Edinburgh where the weather was beautiful unlike the dismal US we had just left.
Once in Scotland Katherine and Cathy, two of the program ladies met us with balloons and stuff. We really had no idea what was going on and were pretty groggy. I was so glad that my bags got there and out of all of us only 1 person lost their luggage. A lot of people had come in to JFK from other places so I was surprised more people didn't have problems. We all shuffled onto a bus and went to our hotel which thankfully they had prepared early for us so we could get into our rooms (originally we were going to have to wait 4 hours). That night we didn't do much, just relaxed and had a "traditional" Scottish meal. I walked around a bit with a few people and then went to dinner at the hotel to find that the dinner was two different kinds of haggis, potatoes, and beans. They didn't even give us an alternative! Actually haggis wasn't too bad. It was taken out of the sheep's stomach and was just weird mush. There was vegetarian and regular and the regular kind was much better than the other. I was surprised that there was so much oatmeal in it though. It was good but I don't think I'll be having it again for a while. The next day, Wednesday, we had a bunch of talks. The first with this guy who owns a travel agency and he talked about Scotland culture and things like that, he was very funny and basically made fun of everything that wasn't from Edinburgh. After tea time we had a visit from some police officers. They too just made fun of people and showed us pictures of "dangerous Scottish people" that might steal from us. They were really pictures of this character on a popular British TV show about some girl who is really ugly and mean. Most of it was a joke as Edinburgh is a very safe city. After that was lunch and then the afternoon off. I walked around the city with some people, bought a phone and then relaxed.
On Thursday we had more meetings. This is where I learned about my home stay. I'm going to a town called Penrith in Northern England. It sounded interesting until I got information about my family and saw what their interests are. "God, Worship, The Church..." and it went on. I some how managed to get with the last religious strong hold in Great Britain. At least it'll be a new experience but I do have to be there for Sunday morning so we'll see. That takes place the last weekend in January. There was also an academic meeting that day. I am one of 3 (out of 72 total students in the program) that is in the science program. I finally got my schedule and information about the geography program. After lunch some guy from the Scottish Parliament came to talk to us. He had a very thick accent so it was hard to understand him but he tried to convince us that everyone in Scotland wants to revolt and become their own nation. Since this I haven't seen any proof of it but it was interesting none the less. That guy is part of the leading party at the moment and since there is voting this May, maybe he will end up being correct. After lunch we had more free time so I walked around and took some pictures. That night the whole program went out to dinner and then most of us went out for a few pints. We went to a few pubs around the hotel and had a really good time. We went to some Scottish pubs and an Australian bar, very different than home.
The last day of orientation we learned about housing and got keys, etc. After lots of waiting around we got packed up and went to our flats or dorms. My flat is right down the street from the hotel (which is across the street form Edinburgh Castle) and right in the middle of Old Town. Old Town is really great. It has wonderful little restaurants and pubs that are especially geared towards students. The University is only a 5 minutes or so walk from my flat. My flat is also huge. There are 12 people in my flat, 6 Americans including me, 2 Swedish girls, 1 girl from Canada, 1 Australian, 1 Italian, and 1 English... no Scottish girls at all! Most of my flat is international actually. As soon as I moved in I got some bedding and had dinner. All this and it was only Friday night! So this doesn't go on forever I'm going to start a new journal right now with the rest of my adventures up until this point.

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