The End of Freshers’ Week at the University of Edinburgh

Hi everyone,                                         

Wow what an adventure so far. It’s so weird to think that only about a week and a half ago I knew no one in this country. Now I’m here and I’ve made so many friends and so many connections. I have to say coming off the plane and the summer before I was so worried about making friends and meeting people. I had that whole freshman feeling all over again and I’m a junior now ha ha! But things have been better than I could have ever expected. I found a great group of guys that are so diverse. I arrived at my accommodations after an extremely tough walk that lasted 2 hours. The whole time I was dragging two 50 lbs rolling luggage bags, a huge Swiss backpack, and my laptop bag that kept knocking my knees causing great discomfort. I finally made it too my Sciennes accommodation area and I was greeted by some very nice RAs who brought me to my room.

Now I was the first one in my flat and everything was pretty dark, when I came to my room it was dark and smelled like mildew. And I was like “Oh no here we go, not a year of this.” But after a while of unpacking two of my flat mates arrived. One was Oscar Newlands, a very fine gent hailing from Cambridge, UK and the other was Pierre Park, a very chill and laid back Korean born guy who has lived in London for most of his life. These two guys literally brought the light into my new life here in Edinburgh. We all instantly became friends and shared a drink of Whiskey to our new friendship. Since then we’ve met up with three other guys from our residence hall: Lukas Kvedas, a Lithuanian born guy who now lives near Aberdeen, Scotland and who loves his basketball, Miguel Angel Montesino Benitez, a really comical athletic guy from Malaga, Spain who loves to meet new people, and lastly my main man Jamie McLaren who’s the tough guy who has a real gentle side to him who was born and raised in Edinburgh, and who also helps us around the city as out personal guide.

–The cheers to our new friendship–

–The first time gong out and hanging–

I feel so fortunate to have met these guys, because they really helped me transition. We’ve already been on so many adventures this Freshers’ Week, going to pubs and clubs, hikes and other events. We’ve cooked great food together, like Miguel teaching me a Spanish disk called “Tortilla de Patatas.” This week closed with an awesome Freshers’ Ball that we all attended dressed in our finest suits, the night included partying, socializing, gambling at our mock Casino, and much more. I can’t wait to spend a year with these awesome lads!

–From left to right its: Lukas Kvedas, Miguel Benitez, Jamie McLaren, Me, Pierre Park, Oscar Newlands–

Cheers, Alexio

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