My room, Andrew Melville Hall

My first view of Scotland was absolutely nothing like the tourist pictures of rolling green fields. In fact, from the windows of the airplane, it was almost completely black and white-- black trees silhouetted against white ground. This was a surprise, as everyone I've heard from says it snows very little in Scotland, but it was quite a sight to fly into. When we landed and were picked up by our shuttle service, though, we got to see just how variable the weather here is. Every five or ten minutes during the drive, the weather changed from snow to sun to hail and back again.

It did that all afternoon, so unfortunately I haven't had an opportunity to go out and explore. I settled on using yesterday afternoon to get set up in my room and to look around my hall. I've discovered two things for sure so far. First, my dorm is hideously ugly on the outside, but the inside is actually pretty comfortable. Second, the "St. Andrews Diet" Mom and I were joking about when we found out I get less than three meals a day is most likely going to be a reality.

To start with the first one, let me explain what my dorm looks like. It was built to resemble a frigate or gunship or something of the sort, and actually does a remarkable job of it. V-shaped, it looks like two ships sailing away from each other. It apparently won an architectural design prize and is definitely distinctive, but it is unfailingly ugly. I can only hope it grows on me as I spend more time in it. And I suppose I can take comfort in the fact that it was designed to look like something cool, as opposed to the dorm next to mine which was modeled on a Swedish prison. It has guard towers and everything!

The inside of my dorm is much more attractive, and surprisingly comfortable. The rooms are not large, but they are large enough, and the three kitchens for student use (on days when we don't have three meals scheduled) look very nice, although I haven't used them yet. The people in my hall seem nice enough, and I ended up watching a movie with two of them last night. It'll be interesting to be living with mostly first years again, especially once my hallmates get back. Most students are still on break following their exams, but should be back by this weekend. I'm looking forward to it, especially since I've been told the food gets much better once they're here.

And it could definitely use the improvement. Based on what I've tried so far, I may not be eating much this semester, because the food is definitely suspect. Even while eating it, it's difficult to identify what it is, making me think that it won't be too hard to end up on an involuntary "St. Andrews Diet" this semester. I'll have to make a run to the grocery store for some emergency rations to keep in my room, especially because they serve food for only a half hour at each meal, making my chances of missing a meal much higher.

In fact, I already slept through both breakfast and lunch today. Even though I hadn't slept much on the plane, I lived through all of yesterday and went to bed at a normal time here to try to readjust my clock. Unfortunately, I then slept until 1pm, so I'm not sure how much it helped. But for now, I'm on my way out. Claire, a girl I flew in with yesterday, and I are meeting up with my friend Mark. Mark is a full time student here, and a fellow staffer on my Model UN conference, so he's promised to show us around since the weather is better today. Hopefully I'll be able to get some food too!