In the land of the unicorn

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Greeting, my fellow Americans! I decided to start some sort of blog in case any of you wanted to keep up with my adventures here in Scotland over the next 8 weeks. Let's start, shall we? Fun fat: the unicorn is the national animal of Scotland, for those who were unaware. Anyways, onto my story. My plane flew into Edinburgh yesterday (Saturday) morning around 7:30, which would be 11:30 p.m. in the states. A bus from the university took us (for free) to Stirling, where we were met and given our keys to our flats. I will admit that when the bus started driving, I had a small heart attack when I saw that a car was driving on the wrong side of the road and coming towards us, until I remembered that they do indeed drive on the other side of the road in the UK and all was well. Crisis averted. Anyways, I share a flat with I believe 5 other girls, where we each have our own small (very very small) bedrooms with a shared kitchen and bathrooms, however there is only one shower which could be problematic but only time will tell on that one(It's like a bigger version of Arbor Park for my fellow Western peeps.) We were then welcomed with a ceremony that included a man playing bagpipes and free wine, which was really the best part. Anyhow, seeing as I flew thousands of miles practically all day on Friday and there is an 8 hour time difference between here and the states, needless to say yesterday (Saturday) was full of sleeping. Today was much more exciting as we started off the day with a welcome lecture and campus tour and things of that nature. There are shops on campus where you can buy toasties. I have yet to find out what a toastie is, and I'm pretty sure it's a food item, but I'll keep you all updated on that. We were also taken into town to shop and buy food. It seems like groceries are much cheaper than in America, which is lovely. Yesterday was very grey, cold and rainy as was this morning, but by the afternoon the sun had come out and stayed. I took advantage and decided to take a nice walk around the loch and take some pictures around campus. Stirling has its own castle on campus (that's right, a real castle) which is open to us and the public. I've already declared it as my home, so sorry everyone else, no more access for you. Scotland reminds me very much of home, weather wise and scenery wise. I am very much enjoying the colder weather, for those who know me heat and hot weather is not my thing. Seeing as this summer program is basically only for americans, there are no Scottish students here at the moment which is a bummer. Everyone I have met so far is either from the midwest or the east coast, except for one fellow Oregonian/West coast person! Seeing as how I am only here for 8 weeks, I apparently don't have an address to receive care packages and things like that (boo), however I will gladly pick them up when I return home 😊 The last couple of days haven't been action packed but they are the beginning of my journey. On my list of things to do is see Nessie and get a kilt, so fingers crossed that both of those things are accomplished as I am not coming home until they are. My heart is happy here. I look forward to sharing my adventure with you all!

Until next time,

Kyndra

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Comments

[Andrea]

It's a go for Nessie!
SO awesome sister! While you will be missed, I'm so proud and excited for you and your new adventure! I look forward to hearing a reading all about it! Enjoy the Unicorns!! ❤️

[Jamie]

Superb first post; ready for more!
Have you bought a/some toasties yet? ? I really enjoyed the pictures you've posted, and reading this helped make them come to life! Excited to see/read more! Enjoy yourself and the wine!