Hey there everybody, after nearly 17 hours of traveling, practically no sleep, and a lot of hanging around in airports, I have finally made it to the University of Stirling in Scotland. I flew from PDX to Calgary, then to London, and finally to Edinburgh. On my flight from Calgary to London, I didn’t sleep much because there were two crying, unhappy children sitting in the row in front of me. Oh well, I found other ways to pass the time (I almost finished the book I brought with me).
A farewell to Portland as I get ready to board my plane to Canada.
Nearly to London!
As I said before, my flights were all on time and I had no complications getting to and from different terminals. I flew into Edinburgh, where I would meet a shuttle to take me to the University. My shuttle driver’s name was Hamish (how much more Scottish can you get), he was super nice and pointed out all kinds of things on our 45 minute drive to Stirling. After saying goodbye to Hamish, I was given the keys to my flat, which I share with four other girls for my eight weeks here. No one was there when I got there because everyone was on a day tour of Stirling, which I sadly missed because of previous engagements at WOU.
My view of the Wallace Monument from my flat.
Since then, I have unpacked and met all of my flatmates. I have found out that some Scottish accents are a lot harder to understand than others, I have had to ask people to repeat things so many times, which can be a bit embarrassing. Today was my first day of classes and was a bit overwhelming for me. I had missed registration and a lot of the information at orientation, but luckily one of the program coordinators helped me out and now I know what’s going on. I also went to the store with one of my roommates to pick up some food supplies. Other than that, I am still settling in and figuring out just what I am going to do and where I want to go with the rest of my time here in Stirling. Even though it is a bit stressful now, I know everything will work out fine in the end!
Natalie