The Adventure has begun!

I made it! I had a wonderful flight on Icelandair. It was a very direct itinerary to Glasgow, and overall quite pleasant. I was able to sleep almost the entire flight both to Iceland and to Glasgow, so that really helped with jet lag. Once in Glasgow, I took a bus to Central Station to hop a train to Edinburgh. Unfortunately, Central Station does not have regular service to Edinburgh. After another bus to Queen Street Station, I was on my way! After a short cab ride from Waverly, I was home.

One thing I love about Scotland is how willing people are to help out. I had been struggling with my luggage (yes, I did over pack), and at least three different times people stopped to help me out. It reminds me very much of "Minnesota Nice" and makes me feel quite at home.

Currently, home consists of a very small studio flat. It is in Thomas House, which is a part of the Sugarhouse Close residence hall. It is all quite new, so kinks are still being worked out. A wonderful neighbor allowed me to use her shower this morning because I didn't have hot water. Other people mentioned no cold water, leaky showers and unbearable heat. Luckily, they are sorting things our quite quickly. When I arrived home tonight, everything was working properly! I have a small kitchenette, but haven't attempted to make anything yet. I do not know how I will do with only two small burners (plus, Pops isn't here to clean up after me).

Yesterday was a busy day. I got into my flat at about 1:00 in the afternoon. After doing some shopping for essentials, I started meeting people. All University of Edinburgh students that live in Sugarhouse Close are postgraduates, but from all colleges. So far in my hall I have met a Film Studies, History and another MBA. The RAs hosted a wine and cheese mixer to get to know people, and it was quite packed! It was very nice to start getting to know others, though.

This morning, we started the official Induction for the MBA program. Our week seems to be very full and structured compared to other departments. We started with a kick off with Tony Kinder, who is the director of the program. Most of the professors for the first semester turned up and talked about their classes as well.  From there we had a tour of the Business School, had our photos taken for our student profile and had a Royal Mile scavenger hunt. After the hunt, we met at Bank Bar for some drinks. Unfortunately, my team did not win. We might have gotten third, though!

Overall the day was really great. There are about 46 students in the program, all from incredibly diverse backgrounds. Not only are there many different nationalities, ages and work experience differ greatly as well. I can already tell it will be an incredible learning experience. Just tonight, I had dinner with people from Taiwan, Thailand, Ecuador, Egypt and South Carolina.

That is about it for now! My current goal is to get sheets and a pillow for my bed. Good thing I brought the Harry Potter Snuggie, or I would be a cold girl. Hopefully I will be able to get to Argos tomorrow, then to Ikea at the weekend.

Cheers!