Orientation woooo

Hey everyone,

I hope you are all doing well! I arrived to Edinburgh at around 7:30 on Wednesday and then took a bus with the rest of the group flight (~40 people?) to Apex international Hotel. At about 9:30 everyone went downstairs for tea and coffee, where I had the chance to get to know a few people and make plans for later that day. The only planned event was at 3 pm, a lunch/dinner with some orientation information. At around 11:30, a large group of us headed out to do some wandering. The weather couldn’t have been nicer - about 45 and sunny. 

This is what I like to call "Lost in Edinburgh":

A view from the street of the hotel:

We set off to find some of the university buildings in George's square, and were successful... eventually. After walking around for a few hours, we had the dinner, learned things about the city and university, and were again set free. It should be noted that all of us had been awake for roughly 24 hours by now. Later that night, around 5, some of us went to a pub and had drinks and chatted for while. Even though 5 pm felt like midnight. Since Edinburgh is further (farther?) north, it gets dark around 3:30, and light around 8 or 8:30 even. Most people crashed around 8 pm or earlier. 

I'll just even more briefly summarize today, since I have to be up at 7 tomorrow! Today we had breakfast at the hotel, and orientation activities until 2 or so. After that, we had a bus tour through Edinburgh, which was great! Albeit a bit drizzly. It was nice to start learning the names and locations of roads a bit better, since we'll be on our own after tomorrow. 

One spot we climbed up to on the tour (Not much of a view since it was quite misty):

After the tour, most of us went to get cheap mobile phones. Kind of sad, but once I got my phone I started to feel more like a "real person" in Edinburgh. Being able to contact my new friends is a great feeling. The shop probably didn't know what was happening as it was inundated with 40 Americans though. The Edinburgh residents unfortunate enough to be stuck behind us all in line looked rather angry... After the tour, a lot of us went to hang out in a pub a little down the street. IFSA-Butler students ended up taking the whole back room, with probably about 20 of us in there.

Anyway, tomorrow afternoon I move into my flat! The name of the flat is New Arthur Place, and I'm living with 3 other girls, none of whom I know yet. I probably won't have internet for awhile since it needs to be set up in the flat, so it may be awhile before my next update.

-Emily