After two weeks of journeying throughout the United Kingdom with my parents, and after arriving in Edinburgh four days ago, I have finally begun my program! As everyone else arrived, jet-lagged and disgruntled, I was pretty chipper and wanted to go out and take a few walks around the city, all of which I got a little lost on and had to "wing it" (though I got lost on purpose the third walk I took with my orientation roomie and a friend we met during dinner - whoo making friends).
Although I love my parents very dearly, and I am very grateful they took the time to fly out to the UK and to have the patience to deal with me, it was like a breath of fresh air to be on my own again. The evening I first met my parents in Frankfurt, I couldn't stop talking to them, and I was so happy to see them. The following two weeks were filled with sightseeing and traveling by car with them, after which everyone gets a little cranky. We were with each other all day, and although we had some very good conversations, I readily accepted my regained freedom.
Along with settling down into life in Edinburgh, it has a few striking differences to Madrid and America. For the first time in more than three months, my clothes don't stick to me with sweat. No more cold showers at 12:30 a.m. or leaving most of the water on my body to evaporate. No more waiting until the "hot part" of the day has passed before I can start doing errands on a Saturday.
The "downtown" of the city is actually pretty small. There are very few tall buildings, and there are tons of winding streets which are easy to lose yourself in. However, most of these streets go through, so it's not a problem. All in all, I think I'm going to like Edinburgh, a city which is big enough without being overwhelmingly huge.
I'm tired, so there will have to be more tomorrow.
Also: too much SEO makes me fizzle and fall apart and have haunting memories of Germans with keyboards.
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