Edinburgh

I've been here for about three weeks now and things are, by and large, going very well. Edinburgh is a charming city. Wonderfully walkable, beautiful, and friendly. There is also a lovely, easily hikeable hill/mountain called Arthur's Seat just a few minutes walk from my residence. A view from the Seat:
And the view from my room:
Classes are going well. It's really amazing to have so many people around who are interested in language. So many talks and classes and so much research. It's a bit overwhelming, but in a very good way. The other people in my program and I get along really well too. There are 8.5 of us: 1 from Jamaica via London, 1 from Scotland, .5 other Brit (part time student), 2 from the US (including me), 1 from Germany, 1 from Kosovo, 1 from Spain (the Basque Country), and 1 from South Africa. We've started a tradition of a dinner together every other week. I'm quite looking forward to getting to know them all better. The people I share a kitchen with are also great. And I am actually meeting some Scottish and British people; especially in the British Sign Language club/class I joined. Couldn't ask for much more than that!
A few more observations about life and uni in the UK:
1) They eat very strange flavors of chips/crisps here. For example: roast chicken, prawn (shrimp) cocktail, and, best of all, lamb and mint. Ummm. Ick. And the beans on toast thing. Yeah, still don’t get that.
2) You really can't go shopping late here. The stores run out of things. Not just unusual things, I'm talking eggs and milk. It's a bit odd. And when I asked where the tofu was, the grocery store employee asked me what it was.
3) Edinburgh is expensive! Rent is cheaper than in New York, and groceries are about on par, but eating out! Whoa. Just try to do so for less than £10 ($19-$20). That's without a drink or an appetizer. Ouch.
4) The drinking age (it's 18 here) makes a big difference in university life. Not that undergrads in the US don't drink, they most certainly do, but here it's basically sanctioned by the school. The student union sells pints for £1.50. You can't even get a sandwich for that. It seems that all the club ("society" here) meetings are just not possible without beer.
5) CCTV scares me. There are cameras everywhere (well, everywhere public) recording all the time. And, apparently, some of them even talk to you. If you are say, riding your bike in a pedestrians only zone, a voice from the sky might just tell you that you need to get off. Talk about Big Brother. Creeeepy.

All in all though, Edinburgh is great. The Royal Mile (see to left) looks like it's straight out of a storybook. And I love all the accents around here. I think it's going to be a good year.
Though tonight I did watch a movie with some friends. Silly movie, but it took place in New York, on the UWS, and it did get me a bit. I might well be destined to end up back there in the long run, but right now Edinbugh is just right.