I've been in Scotland for a grand total of 91.25 hours. And yes, it is beautiful. No it has not rained yet. And, no, none of my roommates are Scottish.
I have three roommies, one from Malaysia, one from Kenya and another from New Brunswick, Canada. They're all really cool and I think its going to be a good year with them. And I have a separate bedroom I can lock myself into if necessary.
However trying to get anything done I feel like I'm waiting in a queue to bash my head into a brick wall. There seems to be a system of how I need to do things, but no one seems to understand the system or know what order things need to be done it. Very annoying.
So, so far I have accomplished 1) meeting my department co-head's, 2) being told about all the other students in the Folklore program - there is 1 other full time master's student, 4 part time masters students and 7 or 8 PHD students. The other full-timer is American. I knew it was a small department, but I didn't realize how small. - 3) standing in a lot of lines, 4) getting an application for the gym, 5) getting the application for the letter of introduction to a bank, 6) getting an application for a bank account (I need a phone number & an intro letter), 7) getting an application for a mobile contract (I need a bank account first) - anyone notice a pattern? - 8) and finally figuring out who I need to talk to about sorting out paying for school. So I've accomplished nothing. Well, not true, I got my Internet hooked up and I put away all my clothing.
I still don't really believe I'm here. I feels like a weird vacation, where I don't get to do any fun things, and then I get on another unbearably long plane ride. Its also strange thinking that I'm going to be living somewhere so small. And other people don't seem to realize that Aberdeen is small. I have a roommate who is scared of getting lost, but there isn't anywhere to get lost. Sometimes I streets are a little disorienting, because of how they loop and turn, but there's not where to get lost too. Besides the main town is surrounded by rivers and the north sea, so it you run into water you've gone too far, but not very far.
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