First Week of Class

Classes have officially started and I’m finding it quite hard to get back into the pace of going to lectures. I haven’t had classes since March and so my attention span has taken a serious beating. Not to mention I came down with the notorious Fresher’s Flu this week – a sickness that no doubt comes from too much partying, not enough sleep and living in close quarters with lots of other people.

So far I’m a bit intimidated by my British History course because I left England before we covered any British History and the readings are a bit confusing already. Having been to a few of the lectures I am feeling more at ease but am still daunted by the idea of having to write four essays for the class. I haven’t written one since my first year at Queen’s and am far more familiar with writing lab reports for psychology.

My Psychology Methodology class is my main focus this year as it’s the course that basically decides whether or not I get into grad school if I choose to go that route. There’s another girl from Queen’s here studying psychology so at least we’re in it together. The first lecture was a bit of a wake-up call to say the least!

Unfortunately all but one of my classes are all in the same room of the same building so there won’t be much variety. But I can’t complain too much as the room is actually really interesting – the walls are all old and wooden and there are paintings of old (unknown to me) dead people. My class sizes here are so small compared to at Queen’s. The entire 3^rd year of Psychology here at Edinburgh fit in a lecture room smaller than I have ever had a class in.

That’s enough about school…

On Monday night I invited my friends Shannon and Alden over for dinner. I made tacos and Alden graciously did all the dishes for us. Later, I went to pre-drinks at Shannon’s where I met a few more Queen’s girls and we all went to a welcome party that Exchange 360 was throwing at Malone’s Bar. Malone’s was packed and it took quite a while to order a drink (note to self: Tennent’s lager is disgusting) but I met lots of new people from all different countries. There was also a guy playing all my favourite songs on acoustic guitar so all in all it was a good night.

Last night I went to dinner at a friend’s flat and then to Teviot where we played a couple of games of pool and tried to get the jukebox to work. We also checked out the Library Bar which is just one of many bars in Teviot. All around the walls are glass cases full of old textbooks on botany and chemistry and physics. It reminded me of Queen’s Pub, my favourite bar on Queen’s campus.

This Saturday I am going on a day trip to Loch Katrine which is being run by the International Student Centre. There is a boat cruise and the scenery is supposed to be beautiful. A bunch of the girls from Queen’s are going as well so it should be fun and an opportunity to take some more photos and meet more exchange students.