Scotland Hospitality

Hello everyone!
Where to begin? I am officially in the land of rough accents and bitter cold weather, and yet somehow everything seems to be so cozy and peaceful here. People relax and wander around without a care in the world, and though they aren't particularly vivacious, they have lovely hearts that are modestly swelling all the time.

My school is lovely and looks more like a house than anything else. We meet our teacher and found out that our program has two other Americans, a Spanish girl, and the rest are British. There are only twelve, so we should all know one another quite well by the end.

I wish I could say that my American travel companions and I are above mimicking the Scottish, but alas, we seem to delve into a twirling of the tongue at every sentence and are spatting retched accents all the time. No one seems to mind too much, I am sure they are used to it by now.

New Year's was something I shall never forget! It really was too amazing for words, but I shall try! It was magical, with Beth, Sonja, Christine, Ellen, and Heather and the whole Old Town of Scotland lit up like the most grandiose fair I have ever seen! Lights every where, and men in kilts!!! We had beers in our bellies and mittens and scarves and were surrounded by a modest 200,000 others and fair rides. We went on one terrifying one that I still am shaking at. We met so many people from all over the world, including two very handsome Scottish men clad in kilts. We even had our own singing group as we belted out "Shook Me All Night Long." Oh my, my heart is still fluttering at that evening; it was truly an even that will stay with me my entire life.

Matt, Nat, and Karolina (Peru friends/volunteers) are all coming tomorrow and I can't wait. We will somehow manage to fit them on the floor of our apartment and keep them as toasty as we can. I am sure we will not be home much, seeing as they love pubs as much as we do. Our small group also is going on a tour this weekend to Loch Ness. It will be so fun to reminisce about our Peruvian adventures and what everyone has been up to. It is nice that Matt is Scottish because he can be our translator ;-)

The bad news.......our apartment was a scam but we were so lucky to find one in a day. It is more expensive, 700 pounds for 5 weeks, and its a one-bedroom. We do love it, and though we feel a little violated about the scam, we are happy now and have gotten the WORST day over with (please let it have been the worst). That night when we got here was absolute hell, no other word for it. On top of finding we had no place to live and had come during the busiest time of the year for Edinburgh we were still struggling physically from a miserable flight. We had NO lights the whole ten hours, along with no television and music. It would not have been that bad if the whole plans had banned together and laughed it off, but it was only five rows. How lucky are we? And we got a whopping 25 pounds off our next Virgin Atlantic flight. How very sweet of them. So, I was a little upset at being robbed of my coveted reading time, but little did I know what lay ahead!

But now we can laugh and be at peace in our new place with lovely landlords. We are now enjoying our neighborhood, and have found that food here is vey cheap indeed, including Indian! I am at an enchanting coffee shop about fifty feet from our flat where everything is carved by hand, even the high-backed chairs. It is called Black Medicine and I know it will be my new corner to nestle in (especially since our flat has no internet). We begin school Monday, and Christine and I are excited to delve into scholastic life once again.

I hope everyone had a magical New Year, and that 2009 brings you all the blessing and dreams you deserve.

Cheers!