Sunday, June 13, 2004 (Arriving in Edinburgh)

Today is the big day – I will leave Switzerland for three weeks to study English in Edinburgh.

At the airport in Zurich I said goodbye to my husband. It was with a laughing and crying face, then it would be a long time to be away from each other, but I was also excited about meeting new people, learning a little bit about the Scottish culture and of course improving my English. On the flight from Zurich to Amsterdam I spoke with two men from Aberdeen. They were working for an oil company and they briefly introduced Scotland to me. During the wait for the next flight, I filled out a questionnaire about the airport in Amsterdam. It wasn't a bad start to learn English.
In the next flight I met some people from Hamburg. They were going to make a round-trip through Scotland in eight days. Special circumstances, the woman closest to me, has some relatives who live two villages away from our home!

In Edinburgh the first drive on the left side of the road was a special moment. And I thought that I needed a second look to understand how to drive in a four lane roundabout. After a warm welcome by my host family and their cheeky dog JoeJoe, I had my first cup of tea in Scotland. Then a lot of information followed one after the other. There would be a lot to see and do in Edinburgh. www.edinburgh.org



View from the bedroom window at my host family.

Before dinner I wanted to see a little bit of the neighbourhood. My idea about the short walk to Corstorphine Hill died suddenly, then I was standing on private property and a caretaker was very surprised to see me on “his” guarded plot of land. So I looked for a different way to the tower. But bad luck again, the battery of the digital camera was dead and so I don’t have pictures from the nice view and the tower.



View from Corstorphine Hill in the direction of the Pentland Hills.

Before dinner, I met Miguel (from Spain) and he gave me some tips for the stay. My host mother was a very good cook and I enjoyed the sweets after dinner too. But I think it won't be so good for my figure … :-) That evening the Red Hot Chilli Peppers had their concert. During the evening Rezwald another new fellow occupant, from Kenya. He would work for Edinburgh School of English – if I understood it right – his job seemed like a guard for younger students, but he helped also with the preparation for the start of the summer semester. At 22:30 it still wasn't dark yet and I appreciated this fact for the whole stay.