Megan's Adventures in Scotland: "Fresher's Week" 9/15/09

And I thought LOBOrientation was cheesy.

Actually, nothing too horrible, and I enjoyed myself today. Breakfast this morning at theEdinburgh University’s cafeteria was enlightening, as I got the full Scottish breakfast: tea, eggs, sausage, beans, fried tomatos, and, of course, twelve forms of potatoes. Breakfast is also much cheaper and I really feel I get bang for my buck (or “pow for my pound?”...hm…).

We spent the day doing “fresher’s week” things. Freshers are what they call Freshmen here, and so there’s fun and games and lots of staying out late that my old bones could do without. It was like carnival or Las Vegas, where there’s color and lights and people handing you things and wanting you to buy this student card and that uni card and take this pamphlet and sign up for that promo—and candy floss. This is just normal cotton candy, but people were lining up like crazy for it here. Apparently they don’t have cotton candy for every occasion like it seems we do in America. Sounds healthy.

There are quite a few tours and fun touristy things to do through the school during fresher’s week. Sam and I went on a “Coffee Crawl” while Lindsay was in orientation and visited, among others, the Elephant House, where JK Rowling sat and wrote the Harry Potter books and as such is dubbed “the ‘birthplace’ of Harry Potter.”

There are also ghost tours (which are always crowded and difficult to get into) and book tours and any tour you can think of. Right now Lindsay and Sam are at a book tour, so I am writing this now but will have to post it later when I have internet access (I forgot to ask Lindsay for her password before she left—whups).

The reason I asked to be left at home (besides hoping to have internet) is because I have created a new convert. On the walk from the dorms (okay, okay, they call them “flats” here, I guess I oughta conform) to the school (also, “school” is for kids, so I should say “university”), my geek sonar discovered the local gaming shop. We poked our heads in and looked around. After Sam heard what this “gaming” entailed, she of course wanted to try it out. I’m having to crunch together a campaign right now (wizard + barbarian, I’ll NPC the cleric and hope for the best) for a test game—again, without the internet. This is comforting, as it gives me the feeling that I am, in fact, in Kansas anymore.

Out wandering the town, I discovered the lovely architecture of the uni’s Law building, Orkney brand ice cream (that’s for Emilee, Dr. Obermeier and Dr. Donovan!) and Greyfriar’s Bobby’s staute and pub (for Guy at Tricore!), interesting-looking schooldesks, and more! Another beautiful day in sunny Scotland!

As much as I am enjoying myself here in Edinburgh with Lindsay and Sam, I can’t wait to get toAberdeen. It will be older, so the buildings I photograph here will be commonplace there. People will actually sound Scottish there. Most importantly, I’ll have my own place with my own internet and my own schedule. And I’ll be over jet lag. That will be wonderful.

Love and hugs to all! Megan, out.

The Law Building