Arrival to Scotland

So...getting the visa was much more difficult for me than I expected. It seemed that everytime I sent something else in to the Consulate, they would email me back saying it's not enough or they wanted the original copy. Very frustrating needless to say. It would've been fine if they had made all that explicitly clear at the beginning but no. So, my visa and passport did not get returned to me until after the 3rd therefore I had to move my flight (which was also a hassle) to the 8th. I didn't get my visa until the morning of the 8th!! Stressful, but I'm actually glad that my flight got pushed because I wasn't quite ready to go yet, I got to see the first OU football game of the season, and I got to spend a little more time with friends and family!

Considering my previous difficulties in getting to Scotland, I expected trouble at the airports and between flights, but luckily, I had one of the smoothest trips ever! I flew through Delta but with KLM (British airlines), and I really like KLM! I was impressed. I'm not very good with long flights, but overall I was very pleased.

My Scottish sponsor, Elaine Henderson, was kind enough to pick me up from the airport. Her daughter's friend, Morven, was also there to greet me. It was such a relief to have someone there when I arrived. Elaine got me to my new flat, iQ Edinburgh, and helped me get my bags upstairs to the top floor where I'm at. She was even so kind to give me a gift bag full of delicious food and drink as well as a lovely bouquet of pink roses! I am very excited that Elaine is my sponsor, and I think that we are going to have an awesome time together this year!

My flat is beautiful. I have a corner room so I have have 3 windows instead of 1 or 2, and from my flat, I can see Arthur's Seat (big hill), Edinburgh castle, and a gorgeous church. My friend Thomas from Australia has been travelling around Europe and he arrived on the 9th (when I arrived) to help me settle in. I am so grateful for all of his help because everything is still a bit new and overwhelming for me.

My new favorite store is Asda, which is pretty much like a Wal-Mart. It's actually owned by Wal-Mart. I got many basic flat items there as well as from some stores on Princes Street.

On Friday, Tom and I climbed the Arthur's Seat hill. Honestly, I was not thrilled to hike up as high as Tom wanted to get on the hill but ultimately it was worth it because the sunset was incredible.

Scottish Thistle

I thought we were done after this hill...but no, we continued

 

Thomas and Me on Arthur's Seat

Last night, one of my classmates, Martin, coordinated a get-together for all Intl Biz masters students so that we could meet and greet. We started at the Black Bull Pub then ended up at a club called Opium. Note to self: it gets COLD at night. It's going to take quite a bit of getting used to for me. Overall, the evening was quite fun, and I'm really happy that I got to meet some of my classmates prior to classes starting.

Today, I went to International Day at the Uni. They provided us with a great soup and sandwich lunch then we sat in on a welcome speech and several information sessions. I didn't learn too much from the talks today but they gave us lots of literature about events being held this week for Freshers Week, clubs, etc.

I have very full days for the next week, with Business School orientations as well as fun Freshers events. I'll try to get more pictures of things to come this week!