For some reason the internet at my house seems to not be working consistently for anyone except me. Except for some reason, my internet is in Spanish. I am currently looking at Google España. I feel like I'm stealing wireless from Spain or something.

Anyway, I moved into the house where I'll be living for the semester last Saturday. I say "house" because it is in a residential neighborhood and the building is a bunch of houses which are sectioned off on the second and third floors but which are all connected on the first floor. This means that I share a bathroom with four other people, but I share a kitchen and laundry facilities with forty other people. Its not so bad, though, because kitchens are gigantic and we all have our own cabinet and refrigerator shelf and everything.

The room is a single and it is pretty big. It even has a sink. In the room.
Yeah, I thought it was weird at first. Really its just bloody convenient. I think Hampshire should install some in Dakin. Except they would be disgusting after about two seconds. Thats the other thing; apparently the cleaning ladies come INTO MY ROOM every Thursday to clean the linens and sink. How they got cleaning ladies to dare venture into college dorms I will never know, but I salute those brave women.

On top of that they test the fire alarms to make sure they work. This means that every Tuesday at 11 AM the fire alarms in my house go off for about thirty seconds. Luckily, this will happen while I'm in class, anyway.

Speaking of which, I've made up my schedule for the semester. Right now I'm scheduled to take Pharmacology, The Structures and Functions of Proteins, and Reproductive Biology. We'll see what that list looks like after add/drop.

Regardless, classes start next Tuesday. In the meantime the University has been holding "Freshers Week" which is just like every other freshman orientation, only since it is a large University and since they are Scottish there are a lot of activities and a lot of booze. Mostly I've been touring the city and museums (there are so many...I never thought I could get sick of museums but I hope I won't see another museum again any time soon) and various other historic sites by day, and touring the pubs at night.

I checked out Edinburgh Castle when I first got here because it was right across the street from the hostel I stayed at before Uni housing opened up.
This was the view from the front door of the hostel. I was literally living on a mountain across the street from a castle built on top of a dead volcano. It is the birthplace of King James VI (James I of England) who was born in a closet. Well...ok...a room comprable in size to a closet.
That photo was taken from a corner of the room. It really is that tiny.

I also checked out the National Museum of Scotland, where I saw Dolly the sheep.

Along with that, I toured the underground vaults beneath South Bridge, and explored the Surgeon's Museum.

Its getting more and more difficult to think of myself as a tourist, because I've met so few actual Scottish people. I'm beginning to think that they were a myth created by the government to sell kilts to tourists. That'll probably change once classes start, though. It is nice, however, living amongst international students. I've been hanging out with people from Italy, Australia, Botswana, Poland, Switzerland, Germany, England, Spain, France...and America. There are lots of Americans here. I do live with a couple of Scottish students, though, one of whom is bilingual and can speak both English and Gaelic fluently.

As close as Scotland may seem to home, however, some things will always be different.

Anyway, all of the running around has left me exhausted. Most of my classes will be in the science buildings and so I chose to live there instead of closer to the city center, and so now on average I walk easily ten miles a day. This afternoon I was physically incapable of standing up. I'll update with more later, but for now I need sleep.