Principles of Scottishness!

Hi all. I haven't been following any posts. I know I have a missed a lot! I miss you guys. Like Buttercup said, I have arrived now and I am finally getting my bearings! Let me run you through everything in the next lines.

Leaving
There was a mad traffic on my way to the airport. I thought I would miss my flight. Spent about 3 hrs getting there! I had a lot of mixed feelings saying goodbye to my mum! I sorely miss her.

Arrivals
My flight to Heathrow was smooth. Landed at 5.30AM and my connecting flight to Edinburgh was for 6.50. Almost missed that due to security checks. Had to jump the queue. I explained about my flight and they breezed me through. My brother is on holiday so he was with me. We had a minor ish with the groundnut sha. We poured it in an Eva bottle and it was in my brother's hand luggage. When they checked and saw what it was we were allowed to go! This was 10 mins to take off!

Edinburgh
On the flight, there were only 4 black people including my brother and I. I was terrified. thank God I wasn't by myself. We didn't have any problems though. The school meet & greet that was meeting us came about 1 hr late. We landed around 8.30 and the bus came at 12. My dad called and said we should have taken a taxi to Dundee and we should stop doing Ijebu! That woulda cost about £120!. Taking the bus from school was free. plus £10 for my brother. I told him I would rather wait.

Getting there
The scenery is gorgeous! I love the place. The journey was smooth. Lots to see. I met my faltmates finally and they were nice. My room is lovely. I finished unpacking in less than 1 hr. Thanks to my brother. The Agent cam to meet me to hand over my set of keys and all my flatmates didn't go out. All three were courteous and saw to my comfort.

Day to day
My first 2 days, I didn't see any balck person! I was worried. On getting to the City centre, I saw like 3. Do you know what it's like being the only black person in a like a 100 people gathering? Luckily my brother was always with me so I was fine.
My flat is close to every where so I have everything I need.

I have discovered a shop that sells Plantain and Okro! All the supermarkets here sell Pork. No BEEF SAUSAGES. It was annoying at first sha. But the shop that sells okro sells it. More expensive but at least I can have it now. Tesco, Asda, Lidl, Iceland, Somerfield none had beef sausages.

On the first day of Fresher's week, I saw more Africans. I couldn't believe how glad I was!
The first went by quite fast. It is my second week now. Our internet stopped working about on Wednesday. They just fixed it tonight. Apparently we had reached the limit of our subscription or something like that.

I complained but I was told the person that signed the contract has to complain himself! That is one of my flatmates, finally got him to do it. He is European so we have a mini United Nations going on!

I have registered at the jobshop, applied for my NI no, registerd with a GP etc. Also filled the council tax exemption form.

I do not have a phone yet. I don't know what to get. I have a Lyca mobile but it's not working. I can't make calls on it but I can receive. I can't even top up! Mailed them but they said they will call me on Monday. It's Induction week now so I ma quite busy so the phone is turned off. If they called, I can't retrieve the voicemail. Fired off another e-mail to them. They should call after 5 or during my break.

It was frustrating when the internet wasn't working.

Met a Nigerian lady on PHd today, she gave a pep talk about surviving the LLM. I quickly got her contacts and asked about food and Salons. She gave me contacts. So that is one less thing to worry about! I can't imagine dashing off to London every time I need my hair done or need some serious African food. She did it for SIX months before finding those people!

School
I am thinking of changing my course! I was apprehensive about telling my dad sha, since he is the one paying. He thought it was a good idea. I discovered that I can do a joint LLM for the price of 1. Only downside is, the second semester will be in France. Where I will obtain the second LLM. We will be there for about 5 months and come back to Dundee for dissertation. I am hoping I can change sha. Waiting to hear from my Professor next week. The 1st semester is the same as the course I original planned to study but instaed of staying here for 2nd semester, I get to go to another Uni and bag another degree. I guess I had better start learning French. Although we will be taught in English.

So far, it's been interesting. Everyone wants to get a distinction! You wouldn't believe how ambitious my classmates are. They are from a range of diverse cultures! There is someone form Saudi Arabia, two form Kazakstan, Thailand, Gambia, Tanzania etc. Learning new names everyday and teaching people how not to murder my name. I am loving it all though. But it is hectic. Next week will be easier though.

The Scottish Accent
It is very hard to understand! Most people speak with clear accents though. But when you do meet, the native speakers you say 'pardon' every second. Luckily, I have met only 3 people or so on the member of staff with the accent so it's not bad. Also most of our resources are on the school intranet so not too much interaction with them.

I think I have rambled on long enough! I will get to reading posts once I am through trawling through legalese. I am sooooooo glad to be back here.

Be good all. Oh, and thanks for reading till the end!

Leaving Home

Coincidentally, this is my 50th post! I thought I would have gotten here sooner. I love all your comments from my last post.

I am finally done with packing. I leave tonight! I shall miss home like crazy. I couldn't leave my room yesterday. I was hugging my pillow till I remembered my clothes with the tailor!
My friends have been great. One call almost brought on the water works. I had mini sent forth get-togethers. It was so much fun!

I went with kinky braids. It looks lovely. I have the long one with curled tips. I can pack it in any style :) I woulda put up a picture but I am yet to have a bath in case you guys smell me from the pix! :D I didn't freeze the palm oil. I got all the other items. Thanks guys

I don't want to go again o:( I am replying last minute emails etc. My flight is arriving Edinburgh around 8:30am tomorrow. School bus coming at 4:00pm. Imagine my joy when I got an email that there is an extra bus coming at 11:30am and if I would like to be booked on it! Almighty God does wonderful things. I won't have to wait all those extra hours.

On the one hand I am looking forward to school, a masters will look good on the CV afterall. On the other, hmmn. I shall miss going to work! Yes the 3rd Mainland Traffic! Imagine. I won't miss the frown lines and cursing that goes hand in hand with driving in Lagos sha! But I will miss my car, the time I spend with my sister on our way to and from work :( that is our own special moment. It is mostly just us. Listening to the news and giving our comments and arguing! Kai can we argue? The office wears, pencil skirts, all the shirts, the suits and shoes! Nothing beats a lovely shirt with pencil skirt and heels! From now its jeans and sneakers. Hmmph!

All in all, I am rambling. My flatmate just mailed that our internet has finally been fixed! I say Yay. More blogging if school time-table is favourable. The next time I post, it will be from Dundee. I am missing my family already. Unconsciously, since last week I follow everyone around with my eyes .

Even yesterday, when I went out with my friends, I was scanning the opposite traffic lane for a glimpse of my sister. She has finally started driving. Her official driver (moi) is leaving. She is doing good sha. I am looking forward to a time she will drive me round Lagos. I drove that girl for years! She used me like something else. School runs, visits, airports drops etc. I was her designated driver of choice. I will mis our bickering sef.

Let me stop before I go all maudling on you guys. Have a fab weekend. I didnt proof read. Sorry for any typos. My phones haven't stopped ringing since Monday.