Middle of Mo'vember Reflections

Time has passed quickly and I have found myself living in Edinburgh for 2 months now. In some ways it feels like I have been here forever and in others, it feels like I just arrived. I began new classes three weeks ago-ended Public Health and Health Inequalities and Economics of Health Policy and began Globalization and Public Health. I have turned in my first two assignments and am working on my Final Assessments due in December. I don't know where the time has gone! So many people told me that this year would fly and to be honest, I was skeptical upon first arrival. Yet, judging the way the past two months have flown, I can easily begin to see that the rest of this year will fly by as well, adding to my archive of memories.

I am making the adjustment to "academic life" better as time goes by, but there I still go through sporadic periods of "why the heck am I here?!" I have been frustrated by what I sometimes perceive as a rather close-minded outlook in my programme and courses. It seems that in many ways, the course curriculum is very geared towards one side of an issue and teaching is based from that particular standpoint, versus showing both sides of an argument equally and letting students formulate their own views and perspectives. On that note though, I have been challenged to be able to better defend my views and re-evaluate why I believe what I do.

Two months have gone by and I feel like I have fallen short of so many of the goals I had for the semester. Still on the to-do list is:
-Make it to a Toastmaster's Meeting
-Make a trip out of the country
-Get involved with volunteering: am working on getting involved with the British Red Cross
-Go to a Ceilidh: but I will be going to two on Nov 30th and Dec 5th!
-Find a church that I really like: have been to several, but none that fit quite like King of Kings (my home church in New Jersey)
-Buy a new flute and start playing again!

I may have found a new hobby. One of my bestfriends, Rebecca (my Canadian neighbor), is an avid rock-climber and she took me to the climbing wall at the gym two weeks ago. I LOVED it. I've never been before, but had a great time and thought I actually did well for a first-timer. Will have to get some pictures to post.

PS-This month is "Movmeber"-which is a charity event where men grow mustaches or beards to raise money for men's health. So show your support and grow a 'stache!