We spent our first night in a hotel, then moved into our home the day after we arrived. It's in a really nice, quiet area called Dean Village. Our balcony overlooks a small river called Water of Leith, and all of the streets around us are cobblestone. However, just a five minute walk and you arrive in downtown Edinburgh. Go for a twenty minute walk and you'll be at my school, a huge building that looks like it should be in Epcot in Disneyworld. So we're in quite a convenient location.
The first week was pretty much spent shopping for the necessary accessories for our flat -- pillows, food, you get the idea. We did go on some excursions, like Stirling Castle and St. Andrews, the most amazing small town ever. Also hit some adorable seaside towns that I want to move into right now.
I was pretty much a nervous wreck the night before school started and the morning of the first day. My dad said I was a lovely shade of green as I walked to school. But I survived, and I've survived nearly two weeks of it. It's quite interesting, transferring from an all-girls, Catholic high school to a public one in an entirely different country. First off, the school is very diverse. I've met people from Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Germany, and England (but that's not much of a surprise). At my table in Registration (which is Homeroom), there's a girl who was born in Korea, another who lived in Italy until she was ten, and another who is observing Ramadan right now. I really enjoy the diversity, because that's something I feel that Holy Names was lacking.
The class I'm taking are: English, Spanish, Modern Studies (Study of governments. Right now we're studying Scottish Parliament and devolution), Maths, Chemistry (Self-study since they ran out of room in the class), and Personal and Social Development/Education, where we do Community Service on Wednesdays and talk about issues pertaining to our age group on Mondays (today we talked about drinking laws and such). It's all been a lot of fun so far, and everyone's been extremely kind to me and helpful, which is wonderful. Also helps that everyone has amazing accents!
Well we're leaving the café now so dinner can be cooked and eaten, but I will be back to update more. Hopefully we'll get internet by Thursday!
And I'm sorry if this is really boring. I have trouble being concise, as I was informed in my Modern Studies essay :]
