Hello readers!

I have been in Scotland for about a week now and it has been amazing! I would be lying if I said that as  I am writing this I am not exhausted, but it has all been worth it. This week started out on Monday (Jan 23) with Isabelle and I running through the airport to catch our flight. The airline that we were flying had been having some technical difficulties the day before causing many delays, and also there were some big storms coming in so we got on a flight that was departing two hours before we were originally scheduled. So, once we met up and got our new boarding passes we said a very quick goodbye to our parents as we raced through security to the gate.

After we boarded, we were off to Newark, New Jersey for a now four now layover which doubled from our 2 hour layover since we got on an early flight. Once we landed we found food right away and then just hung out at our gate laughing, talking, playing cards and practicing some magic tricks. Luckily time seemed to fly by and before we knew it we were on our way to Edinburgh, Scotland!

Once we landed we met another girl, Brittany, who was going to be in the same program, so once we all got through customs we got a taxi together and headed to the Dalkeith Palace. We were all pretty excited when we got to the house a) because we were not on something that was moving and b) because we were in Scotland! After arriving we were greeted and showed our rooms where we unpacked before going to explore the grounds.

After a bit of exploring we ended up wandering downtown to the grocery store in hopes to find some food, but we were all too tired from traveling to figure out what we wanted to have so we ended up walking backing towards the house looking at the restaurants when we spotted a Subway. Since we were all starving we got some food there which was delicious! When we were ordering our food we were all concerned because we didn’t know what to call the “American Cheese” we like to get on our sandwiches. Brittany was the first to order, so she just asked for the white cheese. That is when we got told that what we call “America Cheese” at home was just called “Regular Cheese” to them!

After eating we headed back to the house for a relaxing night of Yahtzee and attempting to sleep off the jet lag.

The first night sleeping in a new place is always a bit scary, at least to me, so I didn’t get much sleep. The adrenaline of being in a new place was still flowing through me so I was still able to get up and be alert the next morning. In the morning we went to Morrison’s (a local grocery store) to get some breakfast which was delicious and not terribly expensive. After a while of exploring more we headed back to the house and got ready to go into the city! Tonight was our first night going into Edinburgh. We were going to go to Edinburgh University for a celebration of the national poet, Burns, but when we got there they were sold out of tickets so we ended up going to Palmyra Pizza for some food. I wasn’t terribly hungry so I got some Mint Tea that was AMAZING!! It had real mint leaves in it which made the flavor so vibrant. Even though I didn’t order food I ended up eating a few pieces of Isabelle’s pizza that was also really good. After our bellies were full we headed back to Dalkeith where I was able to end the night reading some scripture and taking all of my new surroundings in.

Today (Jan 26) was the start of orientation so the next few days were all pretty similar. We would wake up and have breakfast , then we would sit through different seminars learning about the house, traveling and the town we would be living. Then we would do some sort of activity. The first night (Thursday) we did basic getting to know you games which was nice to meet almost everyone in the house. Friday we did a bus tour of the city of Edinburgh which was very fun and a good way to see a lot of the different parts of the city. Saturday was a very adventurous day. We did a clan challenge called The Amazing Race, so we went around the city and took photos in different places and things which would have been fun had it not been raining all day and cold. So, after a while of being cold and wet our group decided to give up and head back to the dryness of the castle.

The last day of orientation was Sunday (Jan 29). The day started off the same as any other where we got breakfast and sat through some seminars, but then later that night we had a Ceilidh which is a social event with Scottish or Irish fold music, singing,  traditional dancing, and story telling. We learned five traditional dances and had some yummy Scottish food which was all very fun!

Over all my first week has had just about every emotion packing into its short 7 days, but it has definitely been a good start to my adventure! Tomorrow is the start of classes, stay tuned and follow me as I go along on this opportunity of a lifetime.

Talk to you all soon 🙂