Indecision

It's 2 a.m. here in Edinburgh and I am still awake thinking about my future. I wanted to just sit back and enjoy my year here but the further I go the more I realize that big life-changing decisions are just around the corner, and I do not feel ready to face them. All my life I have had trouble with indecision, is usually ask someone else to decide or put them off entirely.

With any luck I'll graduate this semester, which means I will be free to choose just about any path. If I get a full-time job here and a work visa I could feasibly stay here forever. But then what about my family? I have always been extremely proud of the close bonds I share with my family and my friends. I do not know how long I can maintain these vital relationships via letters and Skype. My cousin is having a baby, how am I supposed to be a good and loving aunt from so far away? What will happen when my brother settles down with a wife and kids, what if I meet someone special here?

When I think about how much I miss everyone from home I feel miserable for wanting to stay. Except I love it here. Living here has been almost a magical experience, and I would be heartbroken if I had to leave. The problem is I would be just as heartbroken if I weakened these family ties I hold so sacred. If I stay here I'm guaranteed to live hand-to-mouth for many years. If I go home I might be able to get a small reprieve, but I will be stuck in the black hole that is Bakersfield, and I want something more for myself. I also am afraid of looking and feeling like a failure, forced to come home to mommy and daddy because I can't hack it in the real world on my own.

Sometimes I still wonder about being a writer. Everyone likes to voice their opinions the fact that I do it on paper doesn't make me special. I fear for the world of print media, because it may be dwindling slowly into oblivion, and job-wise that does not bode well for me. I started this blog in hopes that I would be noticed, that somehow I could stand out and get ahead, but everyone is blogging now, and there's nothing to set me apart.

I sometimes wonder where I would be now if I followed a different dream. For years I wanted to be a pyrotechnician so that I could design fireworks. For some reason or other, I decided it was too hard, that I needed to be better at math, chemistry and physics, and I asked myself would it really be worth it? When I saw the fireworks light up the sky heralding the New Year I thought maybe it's not too late to go for it. The first time I interviewed a source for my school paper and later when I saw my name in print, I remember feeling that same awe. Maybe it has just been too long since I have actually written for a publication, so I have lost the thrill. Maybe all it takes to get that spark back is writing professionally again.

I want to travel the entire world and see everything there is to see, but as always money is the issue. I promised myself I would travel Europe while I was here. I wanted to be off somewhere new every weekend, but money runs short and plans change. I might have to stay here a while because at this rate I cant afford a flight home. Maybe instead of the journalism field I could go into the tourism field. I could get paid to go places and write for travel guides or magazines. I think one of my many dream jobs might be National Geographic, where I could get paid to go somewhere new and exciting and write about my adventures. As I imagine this the question comes back to me, what about family? When will I find time to see them again? When will I find a place I can call home? and is it really worth it?

Another dream is to be a film critic. Not just a film critic of course, there's no room in journalism for a one-trick pony anymore. I would have to write many things but if I can write about the wonderful world of cinema occasionally I think I could be happy. I might even like working in the classic film field, like with Turner Classic Movies writing about film history and the Golden Age. The questions now are: how do I get my foot in the door? and will I be able to support myself this way.

Up until now these have all just been dreams, the life I contemplate while I'm still in school 'figuring it out.' The time has come to figure and figure fast because soon I will be out of comfy college life and in the real world with a massive student debt and no promised career and no one to hold my hand and do it for me.

All of these paths are laid before me and there is no certainty as to where they lead. I am afraid of making the wrong decision but I can't be indecisive forever.

And that is what is keeping me awake at 3:25 a.m.

Zoo and pub

Hey everyone. In case this is your first time following me I last left off during my Christmas break from Uni, right after my friend and I got home from Paris.

Today I visited the Edinburgh zoo, one of the most famous zoos in Britain I am told. They had just gotten in a pair of pandas and so that was the main focus of the exhibit. They are beautiful creatures but my particular visit was a bit lackluster. The handlers did not let them out of their indoor exhibits and so they laid around the whole time, sleeping and having a poo.

My favorite part would probably have to be the penguins, they were the liveliest and most spirited of the animals and they were so cute waddling around. at around 2 they went on their daily "march" around the street. They have apparently done this every day for the past 50 years since one of the employees left a door open by mistake and some penguins wandered out. This walk is optional, they don't entice the penguins out with food or anything so it consists of whichever penguins want to walk. It was very cute.

I also had fun watching the big cats, the birds and the sea lion (who incidentally swam right up to me and left before I could get my camera out.)Another cool part of the zoo was the Living Links exhibit which show different animals along the links of human's evolutionary chain. (that and baby monkeys are so cute!)

For the evening's festivities I decided to go pub hopping, something I had done a few times before. I go to one pub have a drink and a chat and go on to the next. Tonight I started out with the Ghillie Dhu (very Scottish by the sound of the name.) I was a fine place, mostly full of middle aged middle class men just off of work. I stayed for a drink then left.

Right next door was a place I had been dying to try: The Rat Pack. Those of you who know me know that I am a huge Rat Pack fan, anything to do with those guys or their kind of music and I immediately begin to salivate. I had even more reason to salivate tonight because just after I arrived three of the most beautiful young men I have ever seen came in. Turns out one of them was playing a gig tonight on piano and his two friends had come to watch. We were the only ones in the pub and they invited me to join them. At some point midway through the first half hour of that set and I decided to forsake my pub hopping plans and see where this night was headed.

I seem to have had a good track record lately, first I'm hanging out with two gorgeous guys at a rugby game, now it's three in a piano bar, fingers crossed for four tomorrow!

But seriously, I had absolutely the best time singing along and talking and cheering and making merriment with everyone. If I had not met them, I would have probably gone home early and been in bed by 10, how boring. Instead I stuck around enjoying the company and the music. Three hours later the set was over and it was time to head home. They invited me back to their place, just a train ride away near Glasgow, and I was tempted but had to decline. They generously dropped me off at my place, so I didn't have to spend money on a cab, and went on their way. I was hoping for a kiss goodnight from one of them but alas... not tonight. But who knows what the future will bring? I got lucky tonight, I wandered into the right pub at the right time, maybe I'll get lucky again.

and for tomorrow...Christmas Market in Prince's Street Gardens.

Ta ta for now.

Arthur's Seat

Sorry this is a bit out of order, I was so busy with school I didn't have much time to write. I climbed Arthur's Seat, the inactive volcano here in Edinburgh, with my friends Kelsey and Maria recently, but I wanted to talk about my trip to Paris first so it was still fresh in my mind.

We went in the early afternoon after class one day. My friends are in such good shape that I couldn't keep up with them as they climbed like billy goats up the steep hill. It didn't help that I stopped every few seconds to take pictures, but they were very nice and patient and waited for me.

The journey to the top was very tiring, my legs felt like jelly up there but the view was spectacular. It was absolutely worth the climb. Since the sun sets so early here in the fall I was able to catch the sunset over the city and got some great shots. there was a 360 degree view of everything around, and I was really happy to share that sight with my friends. The wind was blowing really hard, so you could literally lean over the edge and the wind would hold you up. Don't worry I didn't actually try this, and you shouldn't either, but it was pretty cool.

I am doing this photo project where I bring a plush of Woody from Disney's Toy Story around on my trips and take pictures of him in various interesting or historical spots. I brought him to Arthur's Seat but forgot to take any pictures of him until I was already on may way down the hill. I managed to get some good ones though, which I have posted to facebook.

My friends had to be back by a certain time but I wanted to get more pictures of the sunset so I told them to go on ahead. I followed a different path down the hill and it was a much gentler slope and easier to navigate in the dark. I also got some great pictures on the other side of the hill so I'm glad I took the long way. It was a very long walk home but if I keep walking like I did that day I'll be in shape in no time.

I plan on going back up to Arthur's Seat on the first of May. It is said that at dawn on May first if you wash your face from the dew on the slopes of Arthur's Seat you will be granted eternal youth.

Thanks for reading, take care.

Paris

I just recently got back from a 3 night trip to Paris with my friend and flatmate Brooke and I cant even begin to describe what an amazing time I had.

We took off on the morning of the 11th and arrived just after 10 in the morning at Beauvais airport. We didn't know this at the time but the airport was actually about an hour drive away from the city centre, so if you ever plan on flying to Paris via Beauvais make sure you have a ride into town. We had booked a shuttle a few days before so we were all set.

We stayed at the Hotel Moris Grands Boulevards and that was the best decision we made. It was situated in the center of town right next to a metro and we had the room to ourselves. If we had booked a hostel it would have not been much cheaper, it would have been away from the city, and we would have had to share with many people. It wasn't time for check in yet so we put our bags down and hit the city.

The first thing we did was take the metro to the Eiffel Tower. I have seen many and more pictures of this but nothing can prepare you for such an awe inspiring sight. We got off the metro, climbed up the stairs, turned a corner and there it was. We were pretty far away and still I had to crane my neck up to see the top. We walked across the square and the street and arrived at the base. each of the four legs was a building where you could buy tickets. It was cold and cloudy so there weren't very many people there and we didn't have to wait too long in line.

You have to take two separate lifts to get to the top and they are packed full of people. We went so high that we literally disappeared in the clouds. From the top it was hard to see out too far but it was still incredibly beautiful. We took many pictures and had a lot of fun. If there were such a thing as past lives I think I worked on skyscrapers in one of mine because I was very comfortable being up so high, in fact I wanted to go higher. After a while my hands became numb despite the gloves I was wearing so we decided to go back down.

By then it was time we checked into our hotel. there were a couple of bad reviews online about the walls being too thin and the room being too small but it was just perfect for us. There were two comfy twin beds a view of the courtyard, and a bath, a real actual bath. Brook and I were really excited about that because we only have a tiny shower in our flat. It then became our plan to each take a bath that night sipping on French champagne and eating chocolates.

Next stop: Shopping.
We went to the Galeries Lafayette and looked around at the incredible luxury imagining the day when we can afford to drop 500 Euro on a simple cocktail dress. The first floor was about a quarter of a mile square and it was entirely filled with shoes. The second floor was just as big and housed makeup perfume and jewelry. The next three floors held different styles of clothing and we had a good time picking out really ridiculous clothing and laughing at the extortionate prices. We looked for a restaurant inside but found they were all just as expensive as the clothing so we wandered around looking for a good place to eat.

We found a cute little pizzeria and I had BACON PIZZA, no lie. My French is extremely limited so I thought it was supposed to have ham but it was actual bacon, and it was so good. That was probably the most unexpected meal I've ever had. Also, bottled coke is so much sweeter in Paris, so we had a lot of that. After dinner we wandered around for a bit. It was a bit rainy but somehow the moisture kept it from being too cold. Paris at night is stunning. It is lit up with Christmas lights and decorations and reminds me of a little village except it goes on forever.

We got the champagne and chocolates and went back to the room and stayed up all night drinking and talking, didn't manage to get that bath though.

The next morning we accidentally slept in late so we rushed out to seize the day. It was much clearer than the day before so we took full advantage of it. We got ourselves lost trying to find a Lolita store for Brooke. Lolita is a type of dressing very popular in Japan which projects ultra-girly innocence and there was one such shop in Paris. We had fun looking at all the super cute dresses and accessories and Brooke bought herself some super cute socks.

A funny thing happened while we were still looking for the store, a homeless lady approached us begging for money. We told her sorry but we didn't have anything for her and she kept at us. We told her we had no cash only a card and she said you can buy me food with your card then, I couldn't believe her gall, that has never happened to me before. Finally she gave up but I was getting so frustrated with her. Other than that, most people were incredibly nice and helpful, and even better, everyone spoke English.

After that we went to see Notre Dame and Sainte Chapelle. Sainte Chapelle was the single most gorgeous room I have ever seen and it was good we went on a sunny day because the light streamed in through the stained glass and thousands of colors lit up the room. It seems a little silly but tears actually welled in my eyes when I saw it.

Next we walked all the way to the Musee d'Orsay only to find out it was closed on Mondays. I was bummed because we had walked all that way and poor Brooke got blisters all over her feet and I didn't get to see a museum. That's OK though cause I'm sure I'll get another chance. We walked just a little way farther and hopped on the giant Ferris wheel in the Place De La Concorde. It was sunset by then so we got to see the city lighting up. It was so cool to look at the Eiffel Tower and other various monuments from there. The traffic in the square was incredibly packed, we were so surprised that anyone could drive in those conditions, but there they all were below us, honking away at each other.

We went back to the hotel to get all dressed up for a fancy dinner. We went back to the Eiffel Tower to get night pictures and had dinner at a nice restaurant. I had steak with Bearnaise sauce and wine and for dessert we split chocolate macaroons with raspberry, it was all so delicious.

The next day was Disneyland! we hopped on the metro and about 45 min later we were there. Disneyland Paris is SO cool. It has five lands: Main street, Frontierland, Adventureland, Fantasyland and Discoveryland. Like the one in SoCal it had rides like Indian Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, Space Mountain, Thunder Mountain and Haunted Mansion but each were different in some way. Haunted mansion was much scarier with a sort of killer bride theme and more corpses, also I didn't see a hidden mickey in the ballroom. Indiana Jones was based on the Temple of Doom and most of the ride was outside. Both Space Mountain and Thunder Mountain went upside down, which was scary on Space Mountain because you're entirely in the dark. The park was so empty, we never waited more than 10 minutes for a ride. And we ended up doing everything twice. I thought I saw a hidden mickey in Pirates in the treasure room but was unable to get a good picture. We took tons of pictures, rode the rides, watched the parade and shopped. One weird thing about Disneyland Paris was that it closed at 7 pm instead of 9 or 10 like we expected, but by then we were done and ready to go home anyway.

For our last dinner in Paris we went to a Creperie, which we thought was only fitting. We each had savory crepes and for dessert we split a chocolate, banana and apple crepe which was very bizarre but tasty. We went back to the hotel, each had a bubble bath and some more champagne and watched the movie Stardust in French. Foreign language actually improved the movie, which was cheesy and stupid to begin with but we had fun making up funny dialogue and guessing what would happen next. We did the same thing with an old episode of Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman which I swear featured Fabio.

It was loads of fun but it was over way too soon. We woke up the next morning and got ready to go home. The weather must have sensed our moods cause that morning it was gray and dreary again, but our time had come. We got home in the late afternoon and I spent the rest of that day and the next trying to finish my essay. I turned it in today and I am so happy and relieved to finally be done with school until mid January.

Pictures soon to follow, thanks for reading.

Going Plaid: School

First of all I want to say sorry for not posting sooner. Life is really catching up to me here in Scotland.

I have heard for years that other school systems are much better than those in the US, and I assumed that I was going to have my work cut out for me here. Not only is the grading system vastly different (70% is an A) I thought their expectations would be much higher. I was simply wrong.

This is week 8 of school and so far I have been breezing through. True the first few weeks are easy, and all the work comes at the end but I was very surprised at how the same effort I make at home is working just fine for me here. It's a big relief because I was under the assumption that when it came down to the middle of the trimester I would no longer see the light of day shut away in my room studying and writing papers.

I also have never had a more exciting and beautiful campus. Napier has many campuses and I think I lucked out with the best one. It's called Craighouse and it used to be a mental hospital, but don't let that creep you out. It is situated on top of a hill with a fantastic view of the city. (and at night no one can hear you scream muhahahaha j.k.) The main building is like a castle with a magnificent great hall where they hold wedding receptions just about every weekend. The classrooms themselves are all different, one is a beautiful yellow and blue room with white detailing all over the place, another is a large dark wood paneled room with an alcove in the corner, a fireplace and a window. The classes are also in all different places, there's rooms right off the great hall and there's hundreds more to be found if you like to explore.

And you have to explore it too because it's like a maze, there are 3 wings and each wing has its own staircases that lead you to the different floors, but once you're on the 5th floor in the East wing for example, you cant just walk over to the 5th floor in the West wing because they're not connected. They say its set up like that so the mental patients had a harder time getting out, very clever. On my explorations I found many disused rooms and offices and once even a hidden dark spiral staircase that lead all the way down and out of the building, I was afraid to open the door at the bottom though, because I thought it might set off the fire alarm. My friends say it's creepy but I think it is so much fun. There is a little tower at the top of the highest point and it is my goal to find out how to get up there. I've already been to the highest accessible room but maybe there's a door that leads to the roof.

One of the best things about my campus is its nature paths. There are dozens of dirt paths that lead off the campus in different directions, one of them even leads to another campus. I had a great time one day getting lost in the woods, but before you freak out I was never really lost, my phone has GPS. It was great to see all the beautiful trees and paths that opened up to grassy hills and even better views of the city. It's starting to get cold so I need to do as much exploring as I can before the first snows come in.

The classes themselves are fun too. I'm meeting a lot of cool new people and learning great things. In Modern Drama I just did an excerpt from The Glass Menagerie where I put on a hammy southern accent. In music we're studying modern musical movements from the late 1800s to present day, and in Global Current Affairs we just got done discussing the Occupy Wall Street movement and how it is spreading to a global level. I am going to have a discussion with my program coordinator here and see if I can join the Feature Writing course next trimester because if I can I will be able to graduate this spring!

I'm also learning something new outside the classroom: improv. There's a comedy group called the Improverts who put on a show every week, much like Who's Line is it Anyway, and host free workshops on the weekends. My roomate and her boyfriend instantly befriended the group and they all convinced me to go to a workshop. It was so much fun. I'm not very good at making things up on the spot but it's worth getting up there for a few minutes just so you can experience how funny everyone is.

That's all for the moment but now that I'm making myself sit down and write you should keep on the lookout for more posts.

See you next time!

Kt

Going Plaid 2: The first week and Fringe

The plane from Newark arrived late so straight after Tom and Eunice (the wonderful amazing glorious family that agreed to house me and love me and take care of me this year) picked me up. We went to their place dropped off my stuff, changed called the family, and immediately went out for the whole day. We went to the fringe festival, got tickets for 3 different programs High Jinx with the Hamiltons, Wedding Band and Silence in Court. The Hamiltons are a celebrity couple, the husband is an ex politician who left politics because of a scandal, and together they started this chat show. They featured guests who were all having shows at the fringe so it was good to watch them first that way we could figure out what was worth seeing and what wasn’t. It was a fun show and from watching it we decided to see one of the featured artists in his little play Wedding Band. It’s a typical wedding and the singer and his mates are making all the preparations to play that night. The main character was great but his friend stole the show, it was funny and simple and sweet.

Next we walked around Edinburgh for a bit, we went all down the Royal Mile. (the road that leads from Edinburgh Castle to Holyrood Palace) the road was cut off from traffic and the streets were lines with touists street performers and an endless sea of people handing out fliers for their fringe shows. Then we had dinner at a Californian restaurant. It was pretty good too, I didn’t realize that there could be a wholly Californian restaurant, but I liked it immensely. After dinner they asked me if I was tired yet and wants some sleep, and of course I was too excited, I was starting to feel tired but I couldn’t let that stop me.

Our last show was a great drama. I basically presided over a rape case, and I totally called it. The premise is the audience is the jury, there are no witnesses and no evidence, just his story against hers. You hear them out and you get to cross examine them. The actors and actresses had to be very fluid in their lines and had to be ready to answer our questions. The way the end was done changed each time depending on the verdict, and it was by far my favorite fringe show.

Edinburgh is BEAUTIFUL! I can’t believe how incredibly gorgeous it is, the buildings are all artistic in design and structure and you can tell there is a story and a history in every brick, in every cobblestone. I spent the whole time gawping at the view, it is really just sensational, I didn’t even bother to bring out my camera that first day, I was too much in awe, plus I would have really looked like a tourist. That night we caught a cab home, talked to my parents once more and finally went to sleep.

End of Day 1

On Day 2 I slept in until noon. But each day I began to get more and more on track with the time difference and over my jetlag. Some days we went out, other days I went out with Ross and Julie. (Tom and Eunice’s daughter and son in law) We walked in and out of the closes (alleys) listened to folk music, wandered through Grassmarket (a great part of town) and saw a lot of street performers. My favorite part of that week was going to Camera Obscura with Tom. A camera obscura is a camera or type of pinhole camera placed up high with a 360 degree view of the city, it is projected down into a small room where people can see, but that was just the beginning. This place was 7 floors high with something new and fascinating on each floor. On one floor is a bunch of history, old pictures of Edinburgh when the city was being built and modernized, pinhole camera photos and so much information. Other floors featured optical illusions holograms and play areas like photo booths that morph your face, a make your own kaleidoscope program, an infrared camera, and a mirror image camera. There were also a mirror maze room, a morph mirror room, a tricolor shadow room, a 'leave your shadow behind on the wall' area and so much more. It costs something to go to the actual camera obscura show but I think free to visit all the rest of the floors, and its right on the Royal Mile where the real heart of the city is.

Our last experience with the Fringe festival ended on a somewhat sour note. We went to see a comedy chat show, where people from the festival talked and did bits from their routines. It was completely vulgar. I am usually all for people having a right to say whatever they want, its what freedom of expression is all about, but someone should have warned me what that show was, and I wouldn’t have gone, because I was literally cringing in embarrassment. I was so uncomfortable that I sank lower and lower in my chair and wished I was anywhere else. I knew that Tom and Eunice were just as uncomfortable as me but we didn’t have an easy path to the door and were too cowardly to walk out from the front row. They all used crude language, which in itself I wouldn’t have minded much, but the subject matter was mostly about sex and just gross for grossness sake. We learned our lesson from that show and vowed to never again be shy about leaving a show you don’t like.

I went sightseeing and shopping and wandering around. One day Tom and Eunice said “go off wandering for a bit” they gave me bus fair and set me off. I went over to the west end of Prince’s street, the main shopping strip, walked over to the Scott Monument (my favorite building) and wandered back to the place I’ll be staying for the year. From there I caught the bus back to Tom and Eunice’s house. They were proud that I figured out where to go and how to get there on my own.

The jetlag and pushing myself out into the cold lowered my immune system a bit and I caught a small cold on the last few days. It didn’t move down to my chest thankfully, just lingered in my sinuses. Eunice knew just how to take care of me, she made me soup and gave me ibuprofen and gave me vapor rub to put on my chest within a few days it was gone. She also wouldn’t let me out of the house one day until I had my jacket and scarf on. It’s really sweet the way she takes care of me.

The rest of the week was just me getting used to the city and getting ready to move in. Next post I’ll share my first experience in my new flat and Fresher’s Week.

Going Plaid- Getting Ready

A Year’s hard work has gotten me to this point. It was September of last year when I walked into my international student’s office at my local university and asked about coming to Scotland. When I first asked they said they don’t have, in their school’s study abroad program, a school in Scotland that I could go to. They had programs for Manchester and Ulster and London, but not where I had hoped to go.

That was when I discovered the International Student Exchange Program, ISEP. My University had just begun to provide this program for students and it included two options for study in Scotland, Napier in Edinburgh and Strathclyde in Glasgow. I decided Napier had a better communications program and Edinburgh would be a more ideal setting for me (even though my biggest Scottish crush, David Tennant is from Glasgow.) As part of this program, though, I would have to pay for all my own tuition and housing, rather than exchange with a student in Edinburgh for a lower rate. This meant getting my hands on a considerable amount of money, but that wasn’t going to stop me. I applied constantly for scholarships and in the end I took out loans.

I had been working on my application all throughout that quarter in between my classes and was ready to submit it by November, but the due date for the application wasn’t until March. I had some time to dream and contemplate and sweat it out before discovering that I was accepted.

Once accepted, this is when the real work began. I first applied for loans; after all, what’s the point in coming to Scotland if you’ll run out of money after the first month? I got together what savings I had and put away all the money from my part-time job to help pay for this.  I got a tip from a friend to try a certain loan company and they accepted right away.  My fees for the year, which included my tuition and housing amounted to $22,000. I already had a little saved and a little more coming from my local university, so I asked the loan company for 23,400 when I could’ve been safe and asked for 25,000.

The company accepted that amount and sent the money to my school, which the school promptly rejected. CSUB said I did not need nearly that much to live on and they were only prepared to accept 12,000. I then showed them that my fees alone greatly outweighed the amount they were prepared to loan me.  I filled out a lot of forms and made a lot of calls to raise the amount to its proper place, and it almost worked. In the end the school settled on 19,000 from the loan company and I stopped fighting that losing battle.

I still don’t understand my school’s decision to only accept 19,000 even though the loan company was already prepared to give me the full amount. What should it matter to the school how much I owe a private company? Surely I am an adult and know exactly what I am doing, and surely I would know better than they do the cost of living the country I’ve been researching for a year.

Despite all this, I was very excited; I had removed another obstacle from my path. My next step was to apply for a visa. Since I would be here for a year I needed the Tier 4 general student visa, which is much harder to get than a simple student visitor pass. I waited very impatiently while the border agency first told me I had not sent the right paperwork and if I didn’t send it within 3 days they would reject my visa. They next told me I didn’t have enough money to live on over here, so I needed to provide proof that I was receiving a loan and was only waiting on the school to give me the money.

While I was still waiting my parents threw a huge going away party for me, in which my favorite local band Whiskey Galore played for me. Family and friends came from all up and down California and brought me gifts and hugs and warm wishes for my trip. It was a wonderful party and I’m glad everything worked out, ( I would’ve been very embarrassed giving all the gifts back if it didn’t.)

More than anything else I was afraid my visa would get rejected and my plans for Scotland would come to a screeching halt. I wasn’t going to give up if it did, but if i couldn’t get approved in the allotted time, then school would start without me and I would be stuck.  I waited for what felt like an eternity, and finally I got the news that I had been accepted.

For the first time I was sure that I was going, and the elation I felt was just incredible. Here was a moment I had been dreaming about. I started making lists of things I would need to pack, things I would need shipped over and things I would need to do once I got there.

 Next on the agenda: arrange a flight and find out when to arrive. As soon as all my family heard about my plans they were all excited as well. My aunt told me she had a friend that was born and raised in Edinburgh and her parents live there still and that I should meet them. I asked if there was any way they might find me a place to stay in Edinburgh for a week before I can move into my flat, and they said you’ll never find a hotel this late, everyone’s in town for the fringe festival, so why don’t you come stay with us?

 I couldn’t believe my luck, here was a family, who I never met, prepared to take me in and show me around the city and generally be there for me all year! My family and I met them (one in person, one via Skype) and we made arrangements and asked tons of questions. In the end they became my fairy godparents, I would have been so completely lost without them.

So I went shopping and packed and bought a laptop, packed, researched everything, and packed some more. I got my flight arranged for the 24-25 of August and it only cost me about $650, really awesome for an international flight.  The week preceding my departure was fun but difficult. There were so many friends and family members I wanted to see one last time before leaving and I had difficulty squeezing them all in. In the end we just had an open house and anyone could see me if they wished.

We departed for lax early the next morning. We went along the freeway singing tunes and having a good time. We stopped for breakfast and Mum had to constantly be doing things to keep the tears from welling up. But she’s been incredibly strong throughout this whole thing, given the circumstances. We got to the airport, got my luggage checked and it was time to say goodbye. I didn’t have much time, by then it was 11 and my flight left at noon.  Several rounds of hugs and kisses later I was heading off to my terminal.

For once going through security was a breeze, I didn’t beep, they didn’t screen and rescreen my things and I was clear to go. I wanted to say a quick online goodbye to my friends but there was no wifi in the terminal. I texted my two besties and boarded my plane.

My first flight was about 5 hours to Newark. This was just after the earthquake and just before Hurricane Irene. On the plane I put on my soft music and my noise cancelling headphones put a mask over my eyes and zonked out. I don’t think I slept deeply for very long, I remember fading in and out a lot. I was sitting in the middle with a guy on either side of me, and we were in the exit row so we had some extra legroom. The guy to my left was a workaholic; he had one laptop on his lap and another on his tray table and was switching back and forth. The guy on my right was a ninja, while I was fading in and out I detected some movement on my right, like he was getting up; by the time I took off my mask he was already in the isle heading toward the bathroom, I didn’t even feel him go past me.

Once in Newark I found out where my next terminal was, had some food, and went exploring. I had a little time so I skyped my parents and tell them I was ok. Boarding began from the second plane, and I found out I had a row to myself. This plane was nice, I got 3 pillows and 3 blankets and 3 screens to watch movies or TV, play games, or listen to music. I played around a little but needed to get back to sleep.  I woke up as we began descent over Scotland; I looked out the window and saw patchwork green fields and a deep blue ocean.

We landed, I gathered my things and set off to begin my adventure.