From the land of ( insert random nationality).

It is the end of week three of my time in Edinburgh. There have been several "really?!" moments thus far and it is my goal to share a few of those with you in this post. I'll start by clearing up some common misconceptions about Scotland that I have found as falsities or half-truths.
It is a widely held belief (as provided to us by King Edward Longshanks, and relayed to us by Braveheart, some 700 years ago) that Scotland is full of Scots. While this may be the case in towns such as Dundee, Glasgow, and Aberdeen, it has not appeared to be the case in Edinburgh, especially at the University. Much like the road trip game "Woody", it has become popular practice to shout "SCOT!" and hit your nearest companion each time you positively identify a student as Scottish. In my particular program, there are 3 Scottish people out of 3 dozen. What then, you may be wondering, are the major nationalities represented in the International and European Politics program? In order:

1) German
2) American
3) Chinese
4) Dutch
5) English

I know, it is a shame. I wanted nothing more than to immerse myself in thick Scottish culture in efforts to master their unique and highly attractive accent. Alas, I have a better chance to come back speaking like Albert Schweitzer than Ewan McGregor.
It's not that you can't find authentic Scots if you truly want to- you need only look in the hub of all things political, social, religious, and academic: the local pub. It is no exaggeration to say that the majority of Scottish culture takes place in a pub. From football games to Prime Minister speeches; from a night out with the boys to a business transaction, it happens in a pub. The depiction of the average Scottish man being bearded, sweater-donned, and relatively jolly is, I am happy to report, true. You can credit several factors for this, but I would start no further than the pub. There it is easy to pick out the faux from the pack. The faux sits in a booth rather than at the bar; he orders Corona instead of Carlsberg; his hair is gelled and his face is clean; he is the modern, urban import from London- not your blue-blooded Scot. You could relate this to American sports fans: he's the guy in the crowd reading a book during the 3rd quarter, or the one wearing the green Cubs jersey to a Yankees-Rod Sox game. In other words, he is trying to hard. Just stop. Everyone knows you don't know what you're doing.
This is the Scottish Faux.
That rant was a little off topic, but it needed to be said.
Ok, the second misconception involves the weather. Now, this might be a temporary or uncommon occurrence, but since I arrived 21 days ago it has rained or drizzled less than a half-dozen times. It has been beautiful. The weather is extremely dynamic, by which I mean to say that it can be dark gray in one half of the sky and light blue with white clouds in the other half. And due to the angle of the sun, you never have the mid-day hang; the sun transitions seamlessly from the morning glow into late evening ambiance. The combination of all these factors makes for an absolutely stunning picturesque skyscape. Aside from the torrent wind (which is similar in some ways to the winds off Lake Michigan), the weather has been perfect. The temperature reaches into the upper 50s during the day and falls no further than mid-40s at night. As I said, this may be very temporary, as I have already heard people speak of there being less than 5 hours of sunlight in the winter, but as for now I am loving it.
The third thing is not so much a misconception as a personal realization. We have been preached to by our professors that there is a key difference between American and British methods of academia. In America, we are taught to be original in our thinking; to venture outside the box to form a new perspective on a topic. Having spent my entire life in the American education system, I can vouch for this. In contrast, the British system cautions against going anywhere near the edges of the box. As my program director Sean Malloy put it:
"You are allowed to stand safely within the confines of the box and state one of two things: How great the box is! Or, how terrible the box is. If you run across an original thought in doing so I either offer you my congratulations or my ire, because you are by all means a liar."
With the upsurge in personal confidence and sense of self-appreciation, I am now armed to face the trying weeks ahead. While it will take some adjusting, I am in a way relieved by the lack of importance placed on originality. For all you post-modernists out there, here's a victory for the good team: the team that believes in standards of quality. AKA- not your team.
That is all for this time. I hope I have shed some light on the realities of Edinburgh, at least as interpreted by me (take that as you will). I hope everyone is doing well and I look forward to hearing from you all. Cheers.