don't worry america, i found osama

Ok, I'm likin' this whole "List of Today's Happenings" thing, so let's continue here on this first fine day in October...

1. Today we matriculated. They cut off our limbs. No, actually that's their word for officially enrolling at the university, but it sounds more like some kind of amputation procedure. They fished us through a very strange process of mile-long lines down random hallways, being directed through 15 different "clusters," they kept calling it, explaining over and over who I was, what program I was on, who was paying for my schooling, and how long I was going to be here. We all came out of it feeling like a pin ball in a pin ball machine...it only took about an hour, but we were worn out!!

2. We were required to register with a local doctor. There were several booths of representatives from different "surgeons," they call them. We chose our surgeon based solely on who had the best Scottish accent.

3. One of the staff I spoke to at the matriculation was clearly Scottish, and he commented on how he really liked my accent....what accent? I thought.

4. Upon finishing the ridiculous matriculation process, I went outside to meet Alayna. There were several doors that led outside, one of them being a set of automatic ones. I stood in front of it for a few seconds and when it didn't open, I naturally went to push open the door next to it. Unfortunately it wasn't until half a second after I pushed that I noticed the door was covered in signs reading, "Fire Exit," "Do Not Open," "Emergencies Only," "Will Trigger Artillery," those types of things. Next thing I know, the whole lobby is peirced with an annoying beeping alarm and everyone calling me "Number 6." Apparently I was not the first to commit this embarrassing offense. So the security gaurd came over and was half-jokingly asking me if I could read all the signs on the door, to which I assured him I was indeed able. All the while, Alayna standing on the other side of the many doors laughing at my expense, not to mention the countless other students in the lobby at the moment. Whatev.

5. On the way home from our amputation or malnutrition or constipation, whatever it was called, we stopped by the grocery for some dinner ingredients. I offered to make my mother's famous potato soup. Ah, it was so wonderful to have some real comfort food, and share that with my new friends. It tasted quite different than when me and Mom make it three times a week during the winter months, but this could be due to the fact that Scotland doesn't have half&half, so I'm not sure what it was I used. I also never found green onions. We thought we bought salt and pepper, but upon returning home we discovered we had grabbed two peppers. Plus we didn't have a can opener for the cream of chicken. We kind of live like cavemen.

6. Other things I found at the grocery included an oddly shaped bottle of Dr. Pepper. Thankfully it tastes much like I remembered it :) Alayna also introduced us to Jaffa Cakes. A soft, cake-like wafer with orange jelly stuff on top, and chocolate on top of that. A jolly good treat!

7. Whitney (from Flat #6) and I went to the first meeting of Eikon's small group called Eikon 1.0. It's basically a 6-week introduction the the church and its values. It was at these two girls' flat about 15 minutes walk from ours. It's view of the city, the skinny winding staircase, narrow halls, and high ceilings with gorgeous crown-molding made me want to move to the city for good....someday.

8. One of the girls who lived in this beautiful flat coincidentally had lived in Springfield, Missouri for some time. She attended New Covenant and Hillcrest High School.

9. One of the guys at the small group, who actually leads a different small group but it sounds like he goes to one every night, was perhaps the most interesting person I have met thus far. He is a tall, black man from Nigeria...drum roll please...his name is Osama.

10. Osama is a gentleman, you see. He didn't want me and Whitney or Ilinda (another new friend from Finland) to walk home after dark by ourselves, so he decided to walk all of us home to our different flats. We wandered all over the city "dropping" people off, literally skipping through "The Meadows" (a large park near our flats), and discussing topics such as, "If you had to choose one song to describe you, what would it be?" I like Osama. Don't tell George.

11. Princes Street pictures will come tomorrow...I swear.