Unrefrigerated Eggs.

Yes, unrefrigerated eggs are one of the many differences between the United States and Scotland. When in the grocery store you are walking through the aisles and right next to the bread one might be surprised to find the eggs, just chilling in their cartons on the shelves, nowhere near the cold stuff. So why, if eggs are perfectly fine on the shelf, do we, in America, keep them refrigerated? I'm very confused (don't worry, after purchasing said room-temperature eggs, upon returning to my flat they were placed in the fridge)...

I realize it has been a few days since my last post, wherein I had just received my luggage. Ahh, yes what a glorious moment that was! I was finally able to unpack and fully move into my room. Now it feels a little more like home and a little more like I will actually be here for 5 months! I was able to take a proper shower and sleep in a bed with sheets and more than just one blanket! It was quite nice.

Here are a few pictures of my room!
I should point out that the rectangular thing on the wall behind the toilet is the flusher, I was very confused when I first saw it :-) You push it in and then you have to push it again to make it stop flushing...very interesting!

This is the outside of my flat building!

Tuesday was my 21st birthday! After sleeping in, and then awakening to the thought that I am now able to purchase alcohol in the U.S. and then remembering that I am not in the U.S. to partake in this epic moment, I spent the majority of the early afternoon running hither and thither about campus talking to various professors and advisors about my modules (classes) I am going to take. After acquiring the necessary signatures I was able to matriculate (officially register) to which my reward as I like to think was my very own Dundee student I.D. card!

Then after a long day, I returned to my flat and decided to go on an adventure with my flatmate Christina. We walked around and found that if you walk through the shopping center where Primark (ya know the cheap store I mentioned before) is, you enter into this other outdoor shopping area, complete with McDonald's and KFC (so if I ever become THAT desperate for discusting food from the U.S. I know where to go). Christina needed to get a phone, so that was accomplished. I have not purchased one yet, because I am too indecisive and I'm not sure how pay-as-you-go phones work...hmmm one more thing to figure out.

Upon returning to campus, we went in search of food. We went to the Premire store in the basement of the student Union. For those of you who are familiar with Iowa State, it is similar to the C-Store, where you can buy some groceries. We discovered, that you know you are not in the U.S. because also at Premire, you can buy booze (keep in mind that this store is on campus)...in fact, the alcohol sections is much bigger than the non-alcoholic beverage section in this store. So, seeing how it was my 21st birthday and all, I had to get something!!

Later that evening I skyped with Megan and Haley from home and that was nice. Then I went out with my flatmates and other people to celebrate my birthday and Christina's and mine's first night out in Dundee. It was a VERY fun night!

Yesterday, I slept in and then finally decided to get out of bed. I went across the street and bought my membership to the gym, and I was told I could start straight away! Then I went back to my room and decided to look at my timetables (class schedule) for my modules. As I was looking over them for my three modules I was planning to take, horror struck...two of my modules have lectures at the exact same time. UGH!! To make matters worse, my advisor and I had been so concerned about a different module conflicting that we did look at all of them together :-(

So, I immediately emailed my advisor. He emailed back with directions on how to find the timetables online. So after doing so, I started doing some research. I was originally going to take a film module, a history of britain module, and an Atomic and Nuclear Physics module, but I came to the conclusion that maybe a different physics module would fix the problem. So, I have decided to take Solid State Physics in leiu of the Atomic module because it does not conflict with the other modules. Hopefully I have solved this stressor.

I am quite ready for classes to begin, because I have been sleeping in everyday, and although this is nice, when it gets dark at 4:30 in the afternoon, when one sleeps until noon, the day feels even shorter! I am not ready for the homework however...but really, what college student actually enjoys homework?

Here are some more pictures of Dundee!

This is Perth street that runs along one of the edges of campus. I think that really big building is a hotel.

This is the view from Dundee across the river to Fife.

This is one of the buildings on campus.
Double-decker bus...enough said.

I think that is most everything for now! Enjoy the photos!