Thistle do fine.

Hi friends!

I've successfully traveled 5 hours into the future, and I'm pretty impressed with recent developments. Four flights (Dayton-Philadelphia-Newark-London-Edinburgh) landed me in the capital city of Scotland, with a couple dozen other time-travelers who took the group flight. Luckily we encountered no difficulties, and arrived in Edinburgh bleary-eyed and impressionable: perfectly conditioned for Orientation with the IFSA-Butler staff. We checked in to the hotel (fabulous; they even had a complimentary rubber ducky in the bathroom). After dinner, a group of us set out to explore the city.

Edinburgh is a beautiful, winding, intensely interesting city. In the center of town stands the Edinburgh castle, dating back to King David I in the 12th century. The ramparts were built right up to a cliff edge, with a sheer drop of at least 50 feet. Imagine scaling that, with medieval siege technology. Around the castle are the Princes Gardens, built and cultivated after the draining of the Nor Loch in the 18th century. "Loch" is misleading, as it wasn't so much a lake as a giant cesspool, located in the valley below the castle, where human and animal waste was dumped since the Middle Ages. Apparently by the 18th century, when it was drained, a crust had developed over the surface that was so thick that a grown man could walk upon it. The valley now boasts a lovely green space, with trees, trails, and squirrels. The valley also divides the city into 2 parts: Old Town and New. The Old Town is on the same side as the castle and the royal mile. The layout of the city is typical of towns developed during the Middle Ages; topsy-turvy. There are plenty of alleyways, called "closes," which is short for enclosure. They lead to courtyards with apartment building forming the perimeter. and you have to the careful wandering through the closes, as you can sometimes run afoul of the startled pigeon. New Town is across the valley, and is called such because it was planned and constructed in the late 18th century. It it set up on a grid system, sporting Georgian architecture, so it's much easier to navigate and everything is symmetrical.

My favorite spot in Edinburgh is King Arthur's Seat, which is a handful of hills and cliffs near the Holyrood Palace. Standing on the top of any of the hills affords a great view of the city, though it's quite a trek to the top; most of the time you're just scrambling on rocks and slippery tuffets of grass. There are no safety rails, and most of the paths seemed to have grown organically as people have picked their way up the slope. This struck me as very different from the states; a similar location would have been covered with guardrails, plastered with warnings and prohibitions, and there would have been a good deal of litter. King Arthur's seat was pristine, and almost wild. There was a kind of purple heather and groves of low shrubs clinging to the cliffs. It felt almost like a younger world up there, especially in contrast to the city below.

The people in my abroad group are all in all pretty fabulous. Most come from the east coast, but there are a handful from the midwest, including someone who goes to Oberlin and another to Marietta. We'll see how well we keep up friendships during the semester. We're scattered all over campus and over many departments, but I'm sure it will be nice to be seeing familiar faces as we commence into the school year.

Now St. Andrews: I've only been here since this afternoon, so I'm not that well acquainted yet, but I can say that I love the town. It's small, but of course compared to Gambier it feels positively bustling. A few people from my group and a freshman from Edinburgh that we met got sandwiches and picnicked on a lawn beside some ruins of a cathedral. We did some shopping, then returned for dinner and our "compulsory" hall meeting. The one thing that is rubbing me the wrong way at the moment is the seemingly strict dormitory rules: we need to sign out in the evenings, report visitors, and we're not allowed to put anything on the walls. Hmm. The dorm I'm in, University Hall, seems to be primarily freshmen, which I'm not entirely pleased about either. After last year in Leonard, I don't think I can stand being coddled by a reslife staff that is largely younger than me. But we'll see how that goes. The freshmen sure are excited, though.

I think I'll be going out tonight and explore the town a bit more. The beach! I can't believe I'm living by an ocean!

By the way, the flower of Scotland is the thistle.