Now that I’ve covered the more
generic topics of settling in and blatant cultural differences, I think it’s a
good idea to go over my living arrangements. Upon arrival, I discovered I would
not be living with any locals, or even non-Americans. Bainfield student accommodation,
my building, is currently home to dozens of other American exchange students. I,
myself, am living with girls from Louisiana, North Carolina, Idaho, and Connecticut,
and my first reaction to this discovery wasn’t super positive. Initially, I was
upset at the idea of after spending so much time and effort on my application
and looking forward to living a temporary Scottish lifestyle with locals that
already knew the lay of the land, the good restaurants, where to go to watch
decent local music, or the best pubs around that I was placed in housing with
Americans just as lost as I was. In fact, not many of us Americans were too thrilled
about living arrangements. As I read some of the first International blog
entries from students staying with host families or living with natives I
couldn’t help but feel as if I were missing out a bit, but thankfully, I very
soon came to understand and love my living arrangements. Although it’s been a
lot harder meeting locals, I now realize how comforting it has been to live with
a bunch of students as lost as I am in this new city. All these American kids are
also trying to figure out the bus routes, phone plans, currency exchange, which
cafés to study at, where to buy peanut butter, what haggis is, how to survive
the bitter winds, the local vernacular, and so on. I am so glad I’m not doing
this alone. Moreover, once we all began to settle in, form familiarity of our
surroundings, and get to know each other, it got even better. Being with all
the American exchange students means I’m living with people just as excited to
explore as I am. We haven’t been around long enough for the wanderlust to wear
off (pardon the cliché). Every day I have a reason to get out of bed and
explore, and on the days I’m feeling lazy, I have travel-enthusiastic friends motivating
me to get off my ass and do something new with them. And finally, living with
all these Americans means that when we head back home, I’ll have friends all
over the country to visit and even more new places to explore.
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Floor mates from left to right: Marina, myself, Maggie, Sophie, and Julie. The four took a day trip to the city of Stirling then a small trek to the Wallace Monument.
Before that, the four of us took day trips to explore St. Andrew's and Perth.
(left) Sophie, Julie, and I in an awesome burger joint we found in St. Andrew's
(right) goofing off in Perth