It's been just over a month since I arrived in Edinburgh. And it was just over a month ago that I stood in an empty room in an unfamiliar country with no friends or idea what I was doing. While I'm still on a quest for the latter, I've since found myself to feel quite at home here.
I live in a rather basic accommodation, something between a dormitory and apartment. From what I've gathered, there are about 250 students in my neighborhood. Six of us live in my apartment: two Scottish girls, a Lithuanian girl, a quiet Vietnamese boy, and young girl who claims homes from Britain all the way to Vietnam. Recently, we also recruited a most energetic Canadian girl from downstairs. While admittedly awkward at first, the majority of the household quickly became a sort of makeshift family. Nowadays, we often prepare "family" dinners together and crowd around tiny laptop screens to watch movies for study breaks. I'd have to say that there are definitely perks to living with mostly girls. The kitchen is usually tidy and aromatic, and the cupboards are always stocked with fresh ingredients. It does have its drawbacks, though. Whenever they're seen heading to the bathroom with toilet paper, the nature of the visit remains ambiguous. When I do the same, you know it's going down. Life is also more dramatic with girls, but I suppose I secretly love it. All in all, I think these girls may turn out to be the sisters I never had (sad face).
The city itself is gorgeous, an age-old capital that houses thousands of international students and families yet still maintains its rich, Scottish culture. Aside from the countless stone buildings and dim-lit taverns, there is a hidden gem of a beach nearby, the North Sea just out of walking distance, and a grand castle that overlooks every street and sidewalk. Although I always walk, the public transportation system is convenient and fast. There are shops all over the city for books, musical instruments, charity clothes, groceries, and anything else that your imagination might fancy.
As for night life, it is certainly the beer-filled pub scene that I expected. Pubs and bars are open every night of the week, so grabbing a pint with a friend after class or dinner is more than encouraged. Needless to say, with over 100,000 students living in the city at any given time there are more than enough fun activities to go around. My weekly agenda almost always includes night clubs, pub crawls, live music, and park football.
The most dramatic difference from home that I noticed upon arrival was Edinburgh's demographic layout. Half a million people live here, and while a fifth of that consists of students (mostly international), the rest is 98% white. And that's based off of an official census, not my observances. A blinding statistic, if you ask me.
Of course there is the myriad of British accent variations, most of which I've now learned to tune my ear for. Younger Brits are perfectly understandable, but I've found myself politely nodding in confusion to old Scottish ladies on more than one occasion. The students here at my university, almost all from outside of Scotland, seem much more mature than their American counterparts, in my opinion. Evidence includes style, level of responsibility, humor, and overall attitude. Most of the students at my college back home are really quite babied and catered-to, protected in a "bubble" if you will. Here, I feel that we are more so just people living in a city who also go to school. Granted, this heightened level of maturity is most likely attributed to the fact that most students here are international and naturally more experienced in traveling, exploring new cultures, etc.
The course work, by comparison, seems much easier than back home. Furthermore, there's more room for error. A grade of 'A' here is constituted by 70% or better, while a grade of "passing" only requires 40%. I quickly learned, however, that A's and B's are given out much less frequently in the UK. I believe that the average GPA for a college graduate in Scotland is around 2.1, much lower than the 3.0+ average in the States. They say that an essay marked 90% or better here would be worthy of publication. Classes typically consist of 2 or 3 50-minute lectures a week, followed by a tutorial in which students have a more intimate session with a tutor (usually a grad-student).
So now that all the boring bit is over with, let me just say that I absolutely love it here. Even with my home university 700 miles away from my family, I've never felt such a strong sense of independence as I do here. I truly do what I want. I'm not ashamed to say that I turned my first assignment of the year in this week and drank all of my money away within the first month. College, man. I hear the busking scene here is fairly profitable, so I'm kind of putting all my eggs in that basket (hint: anyone who wants to send me non-perishable goods ---> 26 Sciennes, Edinburgh, UK). Naw, I'm just kidding. But seriously, some Cap'n Crunch would be sexy.
