Fáilte!

Fáilte is Scottish Gaelic for "Welcome!"

Welcome to Good Girl Gone Plaid, where I will chronicle my journey studying abroad for the next four months at Edinburgh Napier University (ENU) in Edinburgh, Scotland! While the primary language spoken in Edinburgh is English, I hope to learn some key phrases in Scottish Gaelic.

I am a junior at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in the small city of Geneva, NY. HWS is a liberal arts college where I am studying to become a Child Life Specialist, doing therapeutic work with families and children in hospitals. HWS is a beautiful but small campus. One of the reasons I am both incredibly excited and nervous to be studying abroad in Scotland's capital is that I will no longer have the luxury of rolling out of bed and having a five minute walk to class. I will need to become familiar with Edinburgh's bus transportation system very quickly as it will be my primary mode of transportation between my flat and the campuses where I will be taking my classes. I will be living in a flat with other ENU students and some of my fellow HWS abroad students. The flat is self-catering meaning, well, no Saga. I will either come out of this with newfound independence in the kitchen, or I will become even more skilled at making pb and j than I already am! Wish me luck! 

I don't have any overseas international travel experience, so every part of this trip will be new to me. The nerves are kicking in but the buzz of excitement is ever so present. They're definitely balancing each other out! Having a sense of caution is good, but I hope once I arrive and start to become acquainted with Scottish culture and life in Edinburgh, caution will turn into curiosity. I cannot wait to take it all in. 

With less than two days until departure, packing is becoming more and more stressful. There's a lot to do between now and Friday afternoon! Look out for my first post from Edinburgh sometime next week!