The Digs.

A couple of months back, I mentioned that I am living in the Darroch Court flats while studying here in Edinburgh. Ironically, the picture that I posted back on August 10 shows the exact entryway to my flat--enter through the right door.

For an accommodation at a University so large, I must say that I am very impressed with the facilities. There are 5 of us living in the flat. Everyone has a single room and we all share a common room (dining room/kitchen) and three bathrooms. And, unique to Darroch, we have a two-in-one washing machine/dryer right in the flat, meaning we don't have to lug our clothes to any basement to use shared facilities. Very convenient. My flat is also very central with the main academic quad within just 5 minutes on foot and the state-of-the-art Centre for Sport and Exercise literally right next door.

It's no Oldenborg, but It'll do. It'll do.

Spam & Beans

So this may not be as important as the sudden collapse of the NYSE or an important financial merger, but it's a breakthrough nevertheless. I cooked my first proper dinner for myself tonight. Okay, some might argue that cutting up a can of Spam and grilling it with green beans might not count as cooking, but I totally do. Especially when you add in the microwave rice, which, by the way, was not as bad I thought it might be. And yes, I was given weird looks by my Scottish flatmates for eating Spam, but that's just par for the course.

On an entirely unrelated note, you need to watch this clip. I don't mean to pick on Sarah Palin or anything, but with Tina Fey returning to SNL, how could I not post this. My favorite line: "I can see Russia from my house." Please excuse the Youtube clip being ripped from Fox News. It was the best I could find.

The City

The Old College

Edinburgh Castle

Cafe where JK Rowling began writing Harry Potter

Just walking around the city over the past week before Freshers Week (Their equivalent of Freshman Orientation) kicks off. Here are some of the sites that I'll be living relatively close to. I was especially excited to see the Elephant House...the cafe in which a struggling JK Rowling would sit and write the beginnings of the saga on napkins.

To give you an update: Tomorrow, I will finally be moving into Darroch Court and, hopefully, meeting up with my flatmates. Finally can say goodbye to Pollock Halls and the weird cafeteria food that they serve here. (Didn't get to try the Haggis, but I was tempted to).

Darroch Court.

A few weeks ago, I finally received word about where I will be living in Edinburgh for the semester (well, for the most part anyway--there will be a period in the beginning of chaotic movement from place to place). The building is called Darroch Court, and apparently is not so bad as far as University flats go. When the Pomona students were registering for accommodations, we were given the opportunity to sign up for the standard dining hall experience (which we were warned about by past students) or a self-catered option. Self-catered, from what I gather, basically means we are on our own food-wise. Yeah, Pomona will be giving us stipends to spend on our meals...but the preparation of those meals is (scarily) entirely up to us. And, there's not really a L&L nearby, so I'm gonna have to learn quick. A loco moco can't be that hard to make.

I will be living with 4 other students all of whom are going to be University freshmen with a good mix of nationalities. We all get single rooms in the flat and share a common living area and kitchen. I've read positive things about the complex, but I guess I can't really know until I get there.