Sammy the Bagel Smuggler

    Today is officially my fourth day in Edinburgh and with all the hubbub experienced in the past three, it feels as through I've been here for a full week already. Today was also the first day that I got the chance to sleep in, something I swore I'd resist while abroad. Unfortunately, the jet lag got the best of me and I found myself dozing until 10:30, the hour at which breakfast in my dining hall is finished. My university meal plan provides breakfast and dinner everyday, leaving us stranded for lunch plans. However, I'm no first year student and my years in college have taught me, if anything, that a large purse can double as the perfect receptacle for smuggling extra food out of the dining hall to save money. Starting tomorrow I will be Sammy the Bagel Smuggler, as living in Edinburgh is pricey and no amount of pride can stop me from pinching pence through immorality. Yet, I am living with mostly first year students and I hope I don't frighten any new friends away by having a bag that constantly smells of baked goods and has crumbs at the bottom.
    I've already gone to one class, entitled Gender and Development, that investigates gender roles and inequity in developing nations and development efforts. My class is actually made up of both undergraduates and postgraduates so the reading material is complex yet satisfying. Sitting in the class and hearing familiar sociological terminology felt like sliding on a favorite pair of slippers, the type that have intimately formed to one's foot over time. It may sound absolutely nerdy but it helped center me, place me back in my self-proclaimed element. What's more, I even got to participate. Yes, after arriving only two days before and having class at 9 am that's a 30 minute walk from my dorm, the participation addict in me shot up my hand the second there was an opportunity. Jabbering on about social constructs and macro/micro systems of reinforcement in a blatant nasally American accent, I felt very much at home. The class was so wonderful that I may even switch out of my psych courses to take on another sociology course but practicality bids me to consider all the options. However, I will resist the nail-biting patterns of the past and decide to take the classes that excite me most. It's Scotland for God's sake and after all, whit's fur ye'll no go past ye!