I'm still here

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I have taken to walking to and from work through the Meadows, a large park-like space just south of the city centre. Not only is it far quicker, it is also far prettier than walking along the main road as I used to.

I've been feeling a little restless lately, a little settled. I don't have the option to move on just now and I think that's one of the reasons I've been a little out of sorts. Today, however, walking home through the Meadows I was reminded of a few of the reasons I stick it out here:

The leaves are beginning to change colours and fall, which means that autumn is not far away. Autumn in Edinburgh is beautiful and I missed a lot of it last year for various reasons. It also means that soon we will be celebrating Samhain (or Halloween) and ushering in the winter.

The architecture here (as evidenced to me by the buildings bordering the Meadows) is unlike anything I'd seen before I arrived and I still love it as much as I first did. The buildings in Edinburgh are beautiful. Most of those in the city centre are made from sandstone and each one looks like it has a hundred stories to tell. Even the tenement buildings serve to remind me that, although I am settled, I am still away from home and all that is familiar.

I also pass the darkened spire of an ancient church every day. The church is most likely older than my country and gently reminds me that I am here experiencing a culture that is based on more than rugby league and beer.

The other thing I pass each day are the landmarks from the map of my new area that my friend Julie from work made for me. The map is stuck up on the wall in my bedroom, printed from Google Maps and with Julie's careful purple annotations such as "No 1. chips on way home" and "Henri's (Brioche to die for)". Last Wednesday when I walked home from work with her, Julie some of them out for me, too.

I think, through it all, that this is one of the main reasons I stay. I have amazing friends here who want to share this experience with me and, although I am not always happy and I am often cripplingly homesick, it is my friends who pull me through. My experience of this place and this experience would be much the poorer if not for them.

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