My new stomping grounds

Whew! I can't believe it's only been a week! It seems like much longer than that since I was in Chicago kicking Laurel's ass at mini golf. But now I'm here, in the room that I'll be in for the next 9 months!! How awesome/crazy is that?

Seeing as how my last post was such a short "I'm here and alive!" kind of thing, I've been meaning to get on and do a much larger post with pictures and let you all know what's going on over here.

On the first day (Wed), I landed around 9:30, went through customs no problem at all, and then picked up my luggage, changed my money, called home, and went in search of the bus to Edinburgh! One bus to a terminal, and then the bus I wanted. Everything going according to plan so far. At first I was excited and didn't want to miss anything, so I was watching the city as it went by, and then the countryside when we got there. However, there is only so long that sheep and hills can hold your attention when you haven't slept more than 4 hours in the past 40, so about half way there, I decided to rest my head on the headrest in front of me.

Next thing I know, I'm being politely asked if I could move so the guy I'm sitting next to can get off the bus, and I realize that we must be there. Almost everyone is getting off, so I assume that it must be the right place. Just to make sure, I mumble something that may or may not have sounded like something "Is this St Andrews Square?" A woman standing in the aisle clearly nodded her head and also mumbled something affirmative. "Oh good," I thought "I didn't sleep through my stop." I hurry off the bus, get my baggage out from the back, and watch as it rolls off. Now, the sign where I'm standing concerns me a bit. It doesn't say St Andrews anywhere on it. I pull out my map and look around. I walk to the next street. None of the street names match my map. "Crap." I'm exhausted, hauling around 120 lbs of luggage, and now I'm lost too. Just great. I remember that the bus was scheduled to leave from Glasgow every 15 minutes. I decide that I'll just pull out my stub and wait a while to see if I can get on the next bus. It shows up much sooner than I expect and after he drops of his passengers at this stop, I kind of stick my arm in the door to keep it from closing. (Sudden flash back to the London tube. "Room for one more?" *Door closes*) Luckily he kept the door open and let me on after I explain what had happened. I think he was laughing inside, but he was nice enough to keep it inside. This bus did in fact deliver me to the correct location. (Which ended up probably being further from the hotel then the first place I got off was. Too bad I wasn't more awake or didn't have a better map.) I got off, walked a ways with my 120 lbs o' crap, and finally checked into my hotel. I jumped in the shower to wash the plane feeling off, and then called home and took a little rest. One big step down, unknown amount to go.






The door down by those flowers is the main entrance to the hotel, which is in the same building as a big shopping mall. The crazy twisted thing is a pedestrian bridge to access the car park.










That night we all went out to dinner, and then wandered around town. I hadn't met anyone too awesome from the group yet, mostly people I wasn't too keen to hang out with, so on the way back, I stopped on the North Bridge (see map) and sat on the edge of the bridge and took pictures and watched the sun set.






After about 30 minutes, a group of girls came walking by in the direction of the hotel and they were obviously Americans and they looked kind of familiar, so I assumed they were with the IFSA group.

As they were walking by, somebody said something to someone (I'm fuzzy on this part) and then I snapped a picture of them. It was only after their surprise and confusion that I realized that they weren't IFSA students. Whoops!!

They ended up being study abroad students through Arcadia university (another program that I had looked at) who were going to be studying in Edinburgh. They also ended up being really cool, and we spent the rest of the night all wandering around together.



The next couple of days we spent doing orientation stuff (hearing stuff that I'd mostly heard three times already) and wandering around the city. We took a bus tour, which was pretty fun. I bought some fudge. We also decided (I decided actually, but I got other people to agree) to hike up to "Arthur's Seat" which is this hill/cliff side thing that overlooks the city.

And this is the view that we got from the top and a picture of all of us hikers.

After exploring Edinburgh for a few days, we left for Stirling University Sat morning. Since then I've been settling into my room, exploring campus, finalizing registration, hanging out with some of the IFSA kids, and getting my kitchen going. The campus is beautiful and the last few days have been amazingly warm and sunny. I hope that keeps happening, it's nice. Classes start on Thursday and Wednesday is the Student Association (SUSA) day for all of their clubs and societies to set up tables in the atrium and recruit members. I'm hoping to look into the fencing, drama, muay thai boxing, and ultimate frisbee clubs. I don't know if I can handle all 4, but they're the ones that sound awesome.

I think that's about all I can handle posting for now. I'm sure there's still a bunch more stuff I could say, and questions that you still have but they'll just have to wait. I'll leave you with my address and the knowledge that the next batch of pictures will be pretty beautiful.

Quentin Schroeder
Room 3 Flat 1/4/2 Fraser
Fraser of Allander
University of Stirling
Stirling, Scotland
United Kingdom
FK9 4LE


Love you all!