I live on the ground floor of the building which makes it feel a little like a basement, but that's okay! It's REALLY spacious. As in, I was shocked when I walked in. I've got a twin bed, a night stand, a desk with drawers and a rolling chair, a sink, a shelf, an armoire, a lounge chair, and what used to me a fireplace that now just provides a strange ambiance and a useful mantle. I'll post pictures when I can!
In my last post, I talked about how nervous I was, and I truly was sick to my stomach with the idea of leaving home for so long. I was looking for reassurance, and He certainly gave that to me when I got on my plane that took me to Heathrow today. Looking for a diversion so I could stop thinking about how unwell I felt or how sad I felt, I looked in the British Airways magazine to see what movies they were playing. And I broke out in a smile. Because the movie, "It Might Get Loud" starring Jimmy Page (Led Zepplin / The Yardbirds), Jack White (The White Stripes, The Raconteurs), and the brilliant The Edge (U2) was playing. This has recently become one of my favorite movies and as soon as I saw it, I knew everything was going to be okay. But not only that, when we left there wasn't a cloud in the sky, and the moon was full. The flight was absolutely breathtaking as rivers and lakes and the ocean were lit up by the moon, and the mist from the water seemed to meld with the sky. I got one photo that is as close as I can get to showing you just how incredible this was. I've never been on such a beautiful evening flight and what reassurance it provided me that everything would be all right and this was the right thing for me to do. I'm so grateful for that reassurance given when I needed it most.
Scotland so far has been great! My friend Amanda (who just became my friend today, but we both go to Elon and we rode to St. Andrews together which qualifies for friendship), and I had a lovely ride on St. Andrews direct with Paul. Paul is originally from Belfast, N. Ireland, followed a girl to London and it ended up not working out (isn't that always how it works?), he stayed in London for a while, and he's been living in the Edinburgh area for the past 18 years. Paul proved to be not only an excellent driver when we drove through a miniature snow storm (yes you read that correctly), but he was also an excellent tour guide.
We drove past Dumferline, which is on the opposite side of the Leith (river) from Edinburgh. Fife was the seat of ancient power in Scotland, and Dumferline was its capital, with St. Andrews at the northern part of Fife. Then we drove through the town of Leith which is where brothers Charlie and Craig Reed were born. These two are most famous for forming the Scottish rock group The Proclaimers. If you don't know they're music, think of "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)" or "I'm On My Way" which was in the movie Shrek.
Paul also told us about the castle on Loch Ness, called Urquhart Castle, which is where Ted Danson filmed "Loch Ness". I hope I'm not the only person that saw that movie. I remember the ending scene as if it were yesterday ....
And continuing on his film theme, Paul told us that the infamous running on the beach scene from Chariots of Fire is just a quick bus ride away ... which gives me WAY too many ideas! He pointed out the old golf course where the British open is played and then gave us a miniature tour of the town.
Amanda and I walked all over campus and town today taking care of a lot of details, i.e. getting water cases, getting the internet hookup material, getting a UK phone, etc. We also walked down to the ocean, which was ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE! The water here is so much more powerful than anything I've ever seen. I'll definitely be spending some time down there!
Tonight a few of us are going to go see Up In The Air to try to keep ourselves awake until at least 8PM. Then I'm sure we'll all be hitting the hay! Sorry this was a long post, but there's so much to say and I want to make sure it gets relayed back to all of you!
And as promised, here is the happy dance. Enjoy!
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