The Longest Day EVER

Written at 11:00 PM 8/18/09:

I never knew how much I would crave writing while I’m adjusting. I guess I’m just so used to talking to whoever is with me about whatever I’m thinking, that instead of that, I’ve gotten in the habit of whipping out my notebook and journaling. Unfortunately, I have yet to write something “live” for this blog since I’ve arrived. Oh well. It’s only the first day!

I am so excited to finally be in Edinburgh! What’s so crazy is that I actually remember being here when I was 12 with my parents. When we drove from the airport this afternoon to our apartments, I even saw the hotel that I remember staying in! I was SO excited! I feel more at home here than I even expected. We are staying in these wonderful apartment flats that are apart of the University of Edinburgh housing. While we’re here I’m living with 3 other girls and we each have our own room and we share a bathroom and kitchen! What a way to start off the trip! Once we settled in, we split off into groups to find some dinner. A group of girls and I ended up eating a typical pub restaurant called “The Abbey” where I had pot roasted beef and potatoes for dinner. It was definitely in a “welcome to Scotland”-meal.

After dinner we had our first group meeting and talked a little as a group about how things are going to work out this week. The most exciting thing is that tomorrow we have the entire day off to explore Edinburgh! SO exciting! This is the epitome of experiential learning. I can’t wait to tell you all of what I end up doing!

Tonight a bunch of us girls from the group went over to a café down the street that had free Wi-Fi and live music. It was pretty hilarious to see about 12 American, Bethel girls scattered about the café with their eyes glued to their laptops -quite a funny site. I didn’t have as much time as I would have liked to post and write emails and try to figure out skype and such, which is why my posts haven’t been “live” yet, but hopefully tomorrow night that might work out; I have a feeling I might end up at the same place.

Surprisingly I’m still awake and it’s 11:12 PM here (Tuesday night). I feel like I’ve been “up” since Monday morning (even though I slept on the plane)! Hence, this has been one really long day, and I need some sleep!