Comfort Zones

This city is feeling more and more like home. I only had one tutorial today, so i was done with class at noon. I got lunch with Bri at this place called City Restaurant. My breakfast consisted of sunny side up eggs, bacon (which was essentially ham), sausage-tasted weird, toast, a potato scone (yummy), and coffee. We wandered around Old Town towards the Royal Mile. It was decided that it was necessary to stop into every single touristy-esque shop. I bought some shot glasses, a plethora of post cards (and stamps too!) and even whisky-flavored condoms. I had to.

Then we walked, arms linked together, towards Princes Street, which is one of the most crowded shopping streets in Edinburgh. I bought a purse at Topshop...and am planning on going back to that store tomorrow in order to do some serious monetary damage. We walked over to the movie theatre and saw "It's Complicated." Scottish popcorn is certainly worse than American popcorn for one reason and one reason alone: they do not put butter on their popcorn. This is truly baffling, especially because every other food in this country is either doused in butter or deep-fried. I really liked the movie, but all the scenes of the ocean and California really made me just a tad bit homesick.

Then, Bri and I met up with Jessie and we grabbed dinner at a restaurant called Aspen. I had fajitas. Incredible.

I went to a party tonight with Bri, Jessie, my flatmate Olenka, Alayna, Mirjam, Jackie, and Alison...needless to say, we were rather the spitting image of a herd of girls. We had to dress up like the country we were from, or the country we were studying abroad in. I put on a bro-tank that had 'American Gladiator' written on the back and called it a day. The party was actually quite fun and interesting, especially because it gave me the chance to meet some non-Americans.

As soon as I got there I started talking with this guy who was Polish, but also grew up in Finland. He made some comment about how he knew there were a lot of American girls here at the party, and I should go talk to them and be comfortable--and that's when it hit me. I was done meeting Americans; I didn't give a shit about being 'comfortable.' Absolutely nothing about this country is 'comfortable,' so really, what does it matter anymore? I talked for a while with some Irish bloke and a Scottish girl who was from Aberdeen--that's a fair bit north of Edinburgh. Apparently, they want to study abroad next fall in California, and they were drilling me with questions about the greatest state in all America. It's true. I met a guy who was from the Czech Republic; I talked awhile with some Canadians--and of course I met a bunch of Americans who were from all over the country. One of the guys whom I met is clearly a huge stoner and pulled a joint out right then and there in the pub. I was amazed, but somehow strangely pleased that I always somehow magnetically draw male stoners to my side. It's becoming something of a skill at this part. "Hello, my name is Kat. I like to read, write, oh, and I possess this extraordinary talent of being able to attract the hugest stoners to my side. It's true; they flock to me like a fat kid to a cake."

I met some more Scots, and then talked for a while with a guy who was from Brasil--he was definitely one of those people whom I would categorize as being incredibly handsome. Olenka made me go back and ask for his number, which I did, though I doubt I'll ever call him.

I'm getting better at walking up to total strangers and striking up a conversation with them. I'm not especially good at it, but being in a foreign city really makes you uncomfortable for most of the time. When you lack a comfort zone, everything is uncomfortable. But as a consequence, it makes doing uncomfortable things strangely less awkward--for no matter what I was doing at that given moment, it would most likely be awkward and uncomfortable. Does that make sense? Sometimes you just have to square your shoulders back and march right up to someone and say, "Hi, my name is Kat." And you see where the conversation leads you. I really do enjoy meeting new people, especially people from different countries.

This is what the Royal Mile or The High Street looks like. It's only a hop, skip and jump away from my flat.