Getting There is Half the... Fun?

Fun may not be the first adjective I would pick when completing that cliche, and journey, battle, and challenge don’t quite seem to fit either. My last 48 hours in the States were hectic as I took care of final preparations, packed my bags, and said goodbyes. When the hour of departure approached it was difficult for me to realize that the moment I had dreamt about for months was actually about to occur. I had anticipated that it would all seem suddenly real when I stepped into the terminal, but I ended up feeling like it was even more surreal than ever. I slept fitfully on the overnight flight from O’Hare to Heathrow (I never have been able to sleep well on planes), and when we landed in London early Saturday morning I was quite exhausted. I shuffled through passport control and security and after a brief breakfast boarded the next flight to Edinburgh. Edinburgh is a beautiful city, one of the few that has managed to blend ancient and modern in a pleasing way, and the descent was enjoyable.

Baggage claim (the Brits call it baggage reclaim) was chaotic, as the majority of St Andrews students were arriving that day. I thought that 6 large suitcases and a carry on was a reasonable amount of luggage to bring considering the length of time I would be staying, the lack of Target, and the unfortunate state of the exchange rate, but as my mom and I kept piling the cases onto the trolley a number of people blatantly stared. When I looked around a bit more I noticed that most students had one or two bags, and three was unusual and viewed as extravagant. Needless to say, I was embarrassed. Luckily my mom and I had split the baggage into two trolleys so it looked like I had less, but it was rather obvious that I had overdone it a bit on the amount of stuff. Oops. I never knew I was high maintenance until I began to pack for college. After an hour or so wait, and then another hour in a bus, we arrived in St Andrews and were deposited outside my dorm. Our luggage, however, was not. It finally did show up about 6 hours later, and then we sheepishly lugged it to my room on the second floor, amidst the gawking eyes of my peers. I was hurriedly ushered into a brief information session, where I learned a few things about New Hall and the University in general and then was let loose. We were too tired to do much unpacking, and just sort of stared listless around my single, en suite room (its fantastic!) until it was time for me to go down to dinner. The excitement of arriving gave me a second wind and I managed to go out and have a pretty good time before falling in to bed around 1 AM, grateful that I was finally here.