I’ve almost been in Scotland for a month now, and I still can’t get over the scenery. You’d think living here last summer would have taken away the awe factor. Nope. Never going to happen. I’m forever in love with this country. I mean… HOGWARTS LIGHTS UP PURPLE AT NIGHT. Seriously. In love. <3

BUT I’m blogging to update y’all about what’s happened in the last month not to babble about how it looks like a postcard! I moved into my dorm last week. As much as I hated dorm life back home, I LOVE it here. Although, I think that’s mostly because my dorm is on the Royal Mile.. In other words, I can be at Edinburgh Castle in like 10 minutes. I’ve timed it. Plus, all the other people on my hall adopted me day 1. I can’t come home without someone screaming, “MISS-A-SIP-AYYYY.” They like saying that more than my name, but that’s because double names aren’t really a thing here. I always get questioned about it, so I’ve given up on being called anything other than nicknames. Want to meet a few of these friends? Unfortunately, I haven’t taken near as many pictures as I should (the guys seem to somehow escape every picture), but here are a few of the girls:

And just in case you were wondering what my walk back to the dorm looks like, here ya go:

Did you know the University of Edinburgh has an ENTIRE WEEK dedicated only to partying? Yeah. It’s called Freshers week. For the WHOLE week, new students just get together for planned activities. Let me be honest, 90% of these activities involve alcohol, but it IS the land of whiskey… Double that with a drinking age of 18, and all is fair game. I’ll admit I skipped most of the Fresher’s week activities. I’m a senior; it was a bit weird to be surrounded by people just starting Uni. I tried. I dedicated my week to exploring instead. Yes, I did explore pubs. (I was trying to keep the spirit of the week in mind.) I started classes this week! I got ridiculously excited when my teacher’s spoke in Scottish accents. I love my two classes on Scottish history and culture, but I’ll admit that my Russian class terrified me on day 1. I left the class knowing how to say milk, so I guess I can handle it. 🙂 Fun fact(actually not fun at all): When they say it’s going to be foggy, it’s fog like you’ve never seen before.

I swear it adds a whole new meaning to “there’s a surprise around every corner.” Seriously, fog, just hide the city. No big deal. We don’t need to see. On to an actually fun fact: alleys are beautiful here. There aren’t dark and sketchy; they’re always a surprise and usually get you where you are going about 20 minutes faster. Take a peek:

Edinburgh truly is a fairytale land. I said I would get away from the descriptions, but I can’t. I’ve never been so in awe of any place in my life. I could stay here forever and always find new things that amaze me. How often can someone just casually walk past Castles? Or buildings thousands of years old? The cobblestones aren’t comfortable to walk on when you are in older parts of town, but it’s still exciting. It’s history under your feet.

From daytime to nighttime, the magic in this town only grows:

Hopefully, now everyone can partly see why Edinburgh has stolen my heart. I can’t wait to spend the next few months of my life here. Expect a new post soon! Can’t wait to update on things I’ve found my way into! Cheerio, y’all. <3