Harry Potter and a Pub Quiz!

I relaxed for most of Monday until the early evening. Molly and I wanted to go on the Caledonian Brewery Tour. When we got to the box office, it turned out the brewery tours were canceled for the whole week which was a big disappointment. But we made the best of it. Instead, we went to the Elephant House, which is supposed to be the birthplace of Harry Potter. The idea is that she scribbled it down on a napkin at the coffee shop while looking up at Edinburgh Castle.

Lorrie and me during dinner:

Molly drinking coffee with the castle in the background:

A better shot of the castle:

My steak and ale pie for dinner:

The one homage to J.K. inside the cafe:

The sign in the window:

It was really fun to eat there. It's packed with people, especially tourists, during the day, but it clears up a bit after 5pm.

After dinner, we headed to Pleasance (another student union) for our first pub quiz! We joined up with some other members of the house and had a team of over 8. Our team didn't really do that well. Most of the pop culture was British and their American pop  culture was befuddled. For example, they asked us to name a show Kenan Thomson had been on and accepted Kenan and Kel, but did not know All That or SNL (Saturday Night Live). We had fun and Lorrie attempted to draw pictures for the answers we didn't know. 

Fresher's Week Begins

On Sunday, a few of us walked back to Teviot. Teviot is in the Central Area, where most of the classes are. But David Horn is close to the King's buildings, where science classes are. This means that we are a thirty to forty minute walk from the main part of campus. Still, we walked to campus to get our fresher's passes. Fresher's Week is essentially a Welcome Week, but it's full of different types of activities hosted by the student association and the societies. Some of the events cost a few pounds, so it makes sense to get a Fresher's Pass for £35 instead of spending more on individual events. This would later turn out to be the biggest ripoff possible because the tickets were impossible to get for most of the events. 

After we picked up our passes, we went to the international student welcome centre. There they gave us information on bus schedules, bank accounts, etc. and some free Scotland stuff, like pens and paper. They have an organization set up just to help students studying abroad at Edinburgh and Edinburgh students returning from studying abroad somewhere else.

After getting a bag of free stuff, we walked back to David Horn. A few hours later, we walked back to Teviot. (All this walking back and forth will be a theme for the whole term.) We were trying to go to the Whisky tasting, since we figured that would be a fun Scottish event. Unfortunately, it was full before we even got there. But there was free food! Which turned out to be traditional Scottish food. It was really cafeteria style haggis, mash, and turnips. Since I'd already eaten a full dinner, I just tried the food before giving it away. The haggis was very salty, and I thought the salt covered up any distinctive taste it might have. I'll definitely give it another try. 

We decided to grab a pint and head over to the Welcome Ceilidh. A Ceilidh (kay-lee) is traditional Gaelic folk music and dancing. Once we were adventurous to join in, it seemed a lot like square dancing. It was exhausting though and we all headed off to find water. This might have been the biggest challenge of the night, and it's still a challenge. It's easy enough to find beer or whisky, but there is very little water to be had. We're the only ones who ask for it in restaurants and there are no water fountains anywhere in the school buildings. Instead, we headed home where there was plenty of water.

The First Night

This is all from Saturday, September 10, 2011:

Upon arrival, I found out that we had a house meeting. David Horn is four row houses pushed together with connected hallways. You can only use one of the front doors and that one goes in to the common room. There are common kitchens and dining rooms, but the bedrooms are mostly singles with a few doubles. Europeans really prefer singles. Before the meeting, Lorrie and I went to Sainsbury's, where I bought dishes, etc. since the kitchen only provided pots and pans. I also picked up a phone for 15 quid. I haven't had a phone this simple since middle school. Browsing the internet isn't even an option and I'm surprised when it successfully receives or sends texts. At the floor meeting, the two RAs introduced themselves and had all the students do an icebreaker. About half of the residents had arrived so the common room was pretty full. 

The RAs had organized a pub crawl with a nearby student house, Kichener. We all met up outside David Horn at 6pm and went to the first pub: Steamie Gastro Urban Pub. It was really modern with cartoon characters on the wall. Behind us were superheroes, Batman, Spiderman, Superman, but also Darth Vader. 

A picture on another wall:

(Source: http://twitter.com/#!/steamieeh9)

Lorrie and I both had a pint of Tennent's. This is a picture from Lorrie's camera:

Before we left for the second pub, Lorrie asked a British student if it would be possible to get half pints. He was flabbergasted to think that we would ever order less than a full beer. Lorrie tried to explain that we weren't used to drinking full pints, but he refused to accept that as an excuse.  

After Steamie, we continued walking along the main road. The next place was too full to go inside so we kept going (it was a long walk). Another American girl needed to stop to use the restroom and I waited with her. When we got back to the street, we thought we saw our group up ahead and tried to catch up. After about 5 blocks, we realized that definitely was not our group. I called the RA Joe and he was surprised to hear how far we'd gone. He game to get us and only when he'd walked us back did we realize we had gone about fifteen minutes past the turn. We ended up at the Pear Tree, a much more typical Scottish pub. We drank out in the beer garden and I spoke to students from Germany and Bulgaria. 

The next stop was Teviot, the main student union and the oldest purpose built student union in the world. (It looks like a castle!) The group split up inside because there are seven different bars. I went to the Sports Bar first and then we went by a jazz night. There are usually a few different performers in the student unions on weekends. 

When we were ready to crash, Molly, Lorrie, and I decided to split a cab home, which is actually cheaper than taking the night bus. When we told the cab driver it was our first night in Edinburgh, he was outraged that we were going home so early (it was past 11pm at this point). He declared that we should be out until 2 or 3am at least and was ready to take us back to Teviot. We begged off since we had been out since 6pm and were still suffering from jet lag. 

Disaster Departure

Traveling was fairly hectic--from the airport to the cab ride. I finally finished packing around 5pm on Friday, a little over an hour before I had to leave for my flight. My mom and Neal drove me to the airport, where the first disaster struck. It turns out that my large suitcase was way too heavy--34kg instead of 23kg. After attempting to rearrange things, I gave up and paid the outrageous fee. My mom was pretty shocked at how much I packed, telling me that all she took for six months in France was a small suitcase.


Security and boarding were easy. For my last meal in the US, I got Five Guys, which seemed appropriate. Once I got on the plane, I was happy to have an aisle seat. While it was mostly an easy flight, I did not have the best neighbor. He seemed to have Restless Leg Syndrome compounded with a lack of respect for personal space. He kept asking the flight attendants for another blanket, which they didn't have. At the end of the flight, I had to sit there while he berated the head attendant for a good fifteen minutes. 


On the flight from Heathrow to Edinburgh, I faced my first cultural challenge. I couldn't understand what the Scottish flight attendant was saying at all, so I just hoped it wasn't very important.


As soon as I stepped out of the Edinburgh airport, I was happy that I had packed so much. It was a blustery day. It turns out that it will be extremely windy for the next few days, so much that they asked us to keep the windows closed. Getting from the airport to my accommodation was quite a challenge. I did not have an exact address, just a street name. The street name actually changes every few blocks here, so it was easy to get the the area where Craigmillar Park was, but I couldn't tell the driver which house it was so we drove around a little. He lent me his phone so I could call to find out and it turned out we were right there. Once I got to the house, I gave him a generous tip. He kept trying to give it back, but I insisted. I later found out that it is not typical to tip cab drivers at all. The only place you should tip is restaurants, and that should be about 10% or less. 


The traveling has been the most stressful part of my experience so far. Moving, shopping, and Fresher's week area ll going well and I'll write more about all that soon!

Preparations

I got my welcome e-mail from the Visiting Students Office a couple days ago.

"Only a couple weeks to go and soon you will be in sunny (ha!) Edinburgh to begin your studies as a visiting or exchange student!"

After a blistering hot day in DC, the cold, rainy climate will most likely be a shock. 


As I get ready to spent four months abroad, the panic starts to set in about what to bring. Because of the exchange rate, it makes a lot more sense to bring clothing than to buy it in Scotland. But that adds the challenge of predicting what clothing will need, which is turning out to be especially difficult for outerwear. I have yet to find a winter coat, but I did find an amazing trench coat! What girl goes to the UK without a proper trench coat? The most difficult decision I have found yet is which scarves to bring. 


I am leaving in five days and I will probably spend the rest of my time packing, saying goodbye to friends, watching Buffy, and reading about the University of Edinburgh. There is a lot of material to go over in the next week, including information on Fresher's Week, different societies, my classes, and what to do upon arrival. 


The highlight of Fresher's Week will, obviously, be an appearance by S Club on the final night. If anyone has yet to hear their musical stylings, please enjoy: