From Saturday, 14 September 2002:

What can I say about the last two days? In fact, it's hard to even distinguish them as days. I've only had one hour of sleep since I woke up in Florida on Friday the 13th. It was an emotional morning, even if I didn't realize it at the time. Partly because of the big trip to Scotland finally arriving, and partly because it was tough to leave Liz and Mike after having such a great time.

I left for the airport around 1:00PM EST, after saying goodbye to Liz and Mike. I made it to the airport and had the chance to call Mom around 2:45PM EST. We left Tampa around 3:45PM EST and made it to Chicago around 5:30PM CST. I had a bit of a layover, so I took the chance to call Gloria one last time before I boarded. We got a little delayed and weren't able to leave until around 8:00PM CST. The flight was a long one, but we managed to get into Glasgow around 9:00AM GMT on Saturday the 14th.

The act of getting to the University was a long one that I won't go into, but I didn't get here until around 3:00PM GMT. I had enough time to drop my bags of at Pendreich Way before heading up to Alexander Court to meet my new friends Molly and Kevin. We joined up with other folks studying abroad here and headed to town. We ended up spending most of the evening at a restaurant called "The Filling Station." It was okay, but I don't think I'll order the Peppercorn Chicken again.

First impressions of Scotland: The place is beautiful, if only a little overwhelming. The lack of sleep teamed with the fact that I had no clue where anything was located really frustrated me. I know the public transportation system is great, but right now, I'm mad at the buses. But that was only day one. I'm sure I'll have a good time, but I already miss Mom, seeing as how I haven't seen her for several weeks.