 Okay, here we go. So I started school again this week after a year long break from it. My last experience of school was in March, 2020. So I was trying not to give it too much thought. The great thing about Edinburgh is how close it is to nature. So it's been really nice just taking advantage of Hollywood Park and Arthur's seat. So Monday morning, I only had prerecorded lectures. Class is structured completely differently here. So you basically have lectures and then in-person discussion groups called tutorials. Two of my classes are pretty asynchronous and then I have one live lecture. But all of those little discussion groups will be in-person and they haven't started yet. So I wanted to get a jump on my work for the week so I did a lot of that on Monday. Okay, so I just took a break to go get a package that was delivered for my parents. I knew that it was coming because I left my ring code at home. Like I ordered a ring code but it didn't arrive in time so they didn't mail it to me. And he's been like telling me all week. He's been like, yeah, you know, there's gonna be a special surprise. All your friends are gonna love you when this arrives. Me, I'm thinking like, oh, maybe he sent some candy corn because that's kind of like a normal, like funny thing to put in a package. Have all the people from the UK try candy corn because that's not a thing here. No, I was wrong. So he wrote out like 100 fortune cookies that you would find in a normal Chinese food restaurant. So now I have fortunes in my ring code pocket for my father for daily use, I guess. So there's ones that are, you know, full of wisdom this one. It says he who throws dirt is losing ground. Then there's other ones that said help. I'm being helped prisoner in a fortune cookie factory. So anyway, that was funny. Thanks, dad. I just don't know how to explain this one to people. This is a very weird first day of school. Wait, wait, hold on. This one, this one is my favorite. It says a foolish man listens to his heart, but a wise man listens to cookies. I think that's good life advice. Tuesday morning, I started with a weird burst of energy. So I woke up and I went for a run slash hike in the Hollywood park. Honestly, wait, that's actually questionable. So basically I started running in one direction and then I saw this structure that looked like ruins or something on a building like it looked like it was on this hill. So I wanted to go see it because study abroad, but I ended up getting really lost and I went down this really steep side of the hill and I found myself in this little valley and then there was no way to get down except through this like very tiny and bushy trail. It was pretty fun. I recommend it, 10 out of 10. This day, I also have my first live lecture and it's been kind of weird doing real class for my bedroom and definitely a motivator to get my work done so I can spend some time, you know, out in the city. I did a lot of reading on Tuesday about medieval Europe, which was a real crash test to see if my brain still worked after 15 months out of academia. It was a little rough, but we got through it. I did the bulk of my work on Tuesday, so I did a lot of reading and I got to listen to this really cool talk about creative industries, which was just like right up my alley and in my course of study. It was really good to like tap into that side of myself that like really loves school. Wednesday, so on Wednesday, I signed up for a 720 AM Pilates class. It was my first workout class post pandemic and it was actually pretty fun. I did get a membership at the school's gym and it's a gigantic building and they offer a ton of classes that you can take. It was a small fee, but for a gym, it was pretty reasonable. Then I had a meeting with my tutor or I guess I would call like more of like an academic advisor and I went to go meet some friends at the library bar, which was really cute. These little moments. I wanna talk about how being here has weirdly made me hyper aware of the college experience. Because I'm here and I'm living with pretty much all freshmen and they're all like right at the beginning of their college journey and it's been kind of funny to like be here during like their first week. You know, I'm almost 22, so it's I'm here and I'm sort of going through my own adjustment, like trying to figure out life here because it's a new country, but like I've sort of already done a lot of what's happening right now. A lot of it is just sort of like reminding me, I guess that like I kind of will never get that like real like college experience that like we're all kind of sold before we go. Mine will just, it's done, it's gone. Like it's unsalvageable at this point. Like I will never have a true college experience if that even exists. Like I think that like we're sold that idea, but the perfect situation never exists. But obviously for those of us who, you know, had the pandemic disrupt all of it and you know, whether it was at the beginning or right in the middle or at the end, it's just like something that's maybe, maybe feels like something that we're lacking, but it's really been like I'm okay with it. Like I think I'm here and I'm sort of like watching the beginnings of everybody else going on this experience and it's just sort of reminding me that there's just like absolutely nothing I can do change the past. And it's like weirdly like grounding me a lot, just like saying yes to things and trying new things and not like taking myself too seriously, which I have a really, I have a habit of doing. So yeah, I don't know, this first week was good. It was so good to be in class again. I mean, even though it's virtual school, which is like still kind of weird, I'm really looking forward to like being in person next week and checking out like the tutorials and like what that means. So I'll definitely keep you guys updated next week. Am I doing dorm tour next week? I'm not really sure how it's gonna work here because I don't like, I feel like kind of shy. And I mean, like this is private. I keep making that joke to myself but like this is private. But like it's like, I literally don't tell anybody about this, but like I also tell everybody about it because it's like public, it's online. I don't know, it's very strange. But I guess I just wanna say like if you're starting college or if you're in the middle of it or I don't know, you're just like, life isn't going right for you. I mean, we all have this like collective experience that we're trying to grapple with. I don't know, it's just like a certain point where like we have to let it go. You know what I mean? Like it's done. The damage has like really been done, you know, in a real way. And I think that just looking forward is like if you're looking for a sign, this is it. It's time to move on, it's time to look forward and you know, just focus on good things and then more good things will come. I don't know, I'm being very sappy because it's late. They say the later it gets, the more honest you get. Who knows? Thank you for watching. Bye bye.