The making of friends

While I've been rapidly acquainting myself with Edinburgh itself, spending lots of time walking around and discovering how easy it is to get lost and unlost within a three block radius, I've been somewhat remiss in making the acquaintences of my fellow students. More than ever before I've found that I don't meet people easily, and the evenings here have been a little lonely.

I've met some folks in my residence, and if the first year of undergrad is any indication, I will most likely spend more time with them than anyone else I meet in my classes or elsewhere around campus. I like them, but I feel a bit old around them. Many are straight out of undergrad, and while I should congratulate them for realizing in three months what I took two years to learn, I tend to feel more like a wrinkled duenna around the lot of them. This is to the point where somehow since arriving I have managed to convince myself that I am 26 years old, instead of my (actual) age of 24, and I think that's how I've dealt with what seems to be a great discrepancy in approaches to this venture. Or, I'm just being stand-offish and smug.

So I went out on Friday night, or stayed in, as it were, to attend a potluck where everyone was encouraged to bring a dish from their home country. And so, not inclined to cook anything, I searched all over town for an apple pie that I could bring, finally finding one across town, thirty minutes before I was supposed to attend a compulsory building tour for my college. And so there I am, running across town with this bloody great pie in my arms, looking desperately for a place to hide said pie once I reached the building, only to bring it to the potluck and have no one eat any of it because apparently Americans and Scots are the only cultures with sweet tooths. But there was plenty of wine, so I got over it.

More bottles than heads?

Found an Ikea today...that is not the hectic experience that it is in the States. Maybe it's an inverse relationship between proximity to Sweden and the likelihood your world will end if the store doesn't stock Bjorisnug or something. Anyway, I got a floorlamp and a plate--I refuse to live in a world of overhead florescent lighting and literal one-pot meals. Then we went to Costco (I know, I was surprised they had that here, too) and what did I see but that SAME STUPID PIE in the bakery section. I got sold a Costco pie at a fancy patisserie, and upcharged for it, and I actually THANKED the clerk when she put the damn thing back in the box it was SOLD in so that I could dash around town with it. Bollocks.

Still, a good day out with some people with whom I would like to stay in touch. And I'm trying to stave off the sticker shock, reminding myself that these are one-time purchases and I'm sure I won't need to buy another floor lamp or fresh produce or anything while I'm here.

Anyway, must go. The flatmates are convening to discuss...I don't know, the toilet paper buying schedule and the possibility of cooking as a group. Um, hate to burst that bubble, but I'm a terrible cook and would almost always rather have toast than put any effort into my meals. If they're willing to eat toast this will work out just fine, otherwise...