Arcadia Scotland

In terms of our student blog posts Erin Fabian strikes again in terms of another excellent post covering her final few weeks in Edinburgh. It's a bit of a bittersweet read, covering the uncertainties of hastily packed suitcases, last few pictures and quick goodbyes, but ultimately a positive account of her time in Edinburgh. I've included Erin's blog below for everyone to read. If you have stories of the past whirlwind time in Scotland then please let us know - we would love to hear and share with our Arcadia global community!

Whit’s fur ye’ll no go past ye

Scots for “Whatever is meant to happen to you, will happen to you”

Okay so I’m finally ready to talk about the end of things. I came back to California on March 18th, after a whirlwind three days of stress and packing and eating more sweets than I have ever in my life. It was very odd to have everything VERY suddenly come to an end. Even right now it kind of feels like I’m on spring break and I’ll be back in the city any minute now. Regardless, I am trying to be as positive as possible! Everyone in the world is being impacted right now, and it’s kind of a nice solidarity of misery. I also know that while it’s upsetting for me to have to leave Edinburgh, it’s also far more difficult for seniors to have to leave college entirely with little notice.

My last days in Edinburgh were spent wandering around the city (6 feet away from other people of course) visiting my favorite places and taking all the touristy pictures my heart wanted. I also finally made it up to the Edinburgh Castle and went around the grounds! My friends and I also did a sunset hike up Arthur’s Seat. It was one of the first things I did in Edinburgh, so it felt fairly fitting for it to be one of my last things as well.

The Warrender Park gang did our best to have some fun and some stress relief during the crazy time, and just hanging out in our kitchens came to be one of our only options! We also enjoyed just walking around the Meadows too, as flowers were finally starting to bloom and the sun was actually warm for once.

I also finally got a good picture of my favorite character of Edinburgh! The man himself wasn’t there, but here is Three-Huskie Guy’s skateboard and dogs! There’s a guy that cruises around the city on a skateboard pulled by these three huskies, and it’s the best thing ever. They are extremely well-trained, and he also brings them into any pub he goes into and they just lay beneath the bar and chill until he is ready to go. I also used to see him a lot in the Meadows were he would let the dogs play with all the other ones. This is outside a grocery on Nicolson, so I guess they weren’t allowed inside.

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  I was pretty sad leaving for the airport, I really am going to miss living in the city a lot. I was finally at a point in the semester where it wasn’t really a “challenge” anymore. I wasn’t getting lost on my way to class, I had made friends that I was comfortable with and enjoyed being around, I had a schedule that made sense, and I felt really good with what I had been up to in Scotland and had lots of things to look forward to. Unfortunately, it all got an odd and premature ending, that really didn’t give me a lot of tied up ends or closure, but so it goes.

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    my room before I left, all empty
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    My last window picture, featuring me
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    Hannah's kitchen the morning she left
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    My last picture of Warrender Park before I got in my cab to the airport

Being home is an adventure, and transitioning to online classes and trying to get back on a proper schedule has been hard, but I’m sure it’ll work out in time. We have plenty more time of this, so I guess it’s a good idea to make the best of it!

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  Social Distance Hiking!
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  Zoom Meetings!

Regardless of how it ended, I will always really value and miss the space that I built for myself in the UK. I am really lucky to have had the experiences and adventures that I did, and am happy I got to have an international education experience, even if it was cut a bit short.

Cheers!

Erin