Guided Pathway to Scotland

Hello From Bonnie Scotland !

These monthly blogs will serve as a way to keep in touch and update you on various aspects of my life during this 12+ month journey. Writing these letters will also serve as a time of self-reflection for me and hopefully one day in the future I can look back and see how I progressively grow from this experience.

For those who don’t already know, I will be studying my Masters in Public Health at the University of Edinburgh starting Sept 11 to Aug 31 2018. This year I was honored as one of the 2017-2018 Rotary Global Grant Scholars by the Rotary Foundation and my sponsor club Southside Corpus Christi Club in district 5930. My host club is Scotland district 1020 Musselburgh Club (on the outskirts on Edinburgh).

The reason I decided to title these series of blogs Guided Pathways is because those are the best two words to describe my life. I went from being born and raised in New Orleans, LA to relocating to Plano, Texas to studying in Corpus Christi TX, and now I just moved to Scotland. Honestly, I am still in shock and I can’t fully explain why things have happened this way but I know it’s for a reason. My faith has stood as a strong foundation in my life and my identity. The Lord has guided my pathways to not only so many places geographically, but to so many wonderful people, experiences, and opportunities. Life changing events like being a part of the AVID program at Plano West, attending Camp RYLA ( Rotary Youth Leadership Award), and gaining a love for travel and Global Health with the medical missions trip to Costa Rica (also sponsored by district 5930), has been a few big led me to where I am today. Even the little things between those experiences like words of wisdom and encouragement has played a part in God's great blessing. That being said, I am so super excited for the fun and adventure that awaits the rest of this year.

I have been in Edinburgh for over 2 weeks now and I have experience so much change; change in currency, change in language dialect, change in cultural customs, change in diet ( I think I have a cup a tea with milk at least 5 times a day with meals lol), and definitely a change in weather (it is feeling like Texas winter and it’s just the first week in September)! The first week I stayed with the Douglas family, my lovely Rotary host family, who welcomed me with so much hospitality and the best welcome to Scotland I could ever ask for. Mrs. Julie and Mr. Gavin are husband and wife (see picture in photo gallery) and they have three older children who are out of the house established in their own careers. From the very start I was welcomed to their family with so much warm love and hospitality. They taught me how to navigate the train system, they took me to a show during the world-famous Edinburgh Fringe festival, and invited me to experience my first horse race with some Rotarians from the Mussel burgh Rotary Club. Most days that first week I would relax, and take my time adjusting and other days I would take a 10 minute train ride into the city to explore the city on my own. I felt a special sense of freedom and independence navigating my way around an unfamiliar city in a new country. That's when I knew this journey would not be only about getting my Maters degree but also about personal development as a young adult.

One day while on one of my solo city adventures I met up with Tishya, a girl from my MPH program that I connected with on Facebook before arriving in Scotland. She had only been in Scotland for three weeks (traveling from her home in Mumbai. India) , but she showed me all the ropes with getting my residence permit card, setting up a bank account, and all the local grocery stores students use. Since then we have hang out many times, including hiking up Calton Hill to watch fireworks over the city with some friends and sharing food and stories from our different cultures. She takes title as my first true friend in Scotland. (See picture in photo gallery)

After the peaceful one week with my Douglas family, I moved into student accommodation, which I will be residing for a full year. As many of you know I was a Resident Assistant (RA) back at TAMU-CC (Go Islanders!) therefore to continue with the job I love and budgeting reasons I decided to take on the challenge of being an RA again here at the University of Edinburgh. I am a part of a huge group of 200 RAs, but my site focuses on a group of 30 postgraduate RAs from all over the world, in which we will be responsible for 30-40 post-grad residents each. This past week has been my first week living in my accommodation and going through RA training which has been whirlwind of meeting new people, planning events, and information overload. I am truly thankful to have experience in residence life before coming here. My team of 30 RAs have already become close like a family in these few days. Just to give you an idea of the diversity between the 30 of us we represent the countries of Germany, Italy, Czech Republic , Scotland, England, Nigeria, India, United Arab Emirates, Austria, China, Malaysia, Canada, Greece and of course the USA. With this mix, I learn something new every day, just from simple conversations. I attended a Nigerian Church services with one of my RA friends and everyone was so welcoming and ready to dance. I plan on visiting more churches in the area in order to find a home base.

Our residents just moved in this weekend so we will be busy getting them settled and running events all week. This welcome week will be action packed with events happening everyday. I plan on going to lots of international events like the Bollywood Night, Jazz Lounge, and the sessions on learning the Scottish Ceilidh dance. I will also get a chance to meet my Public Health professors and finalize my degree track for the year. Sometimes I get so caught up with how beautiful this city with the greenery nature and various activities, that I forget that I am actually here to study. Lol, but I am sure that will change soon.

So in a nutshell my year is off to a great start and I am so excited to be adjusting well and taking this new journey. I have a few more exciting events coming up; I have my first Health Statistics course on Sept 18th, and I will be traveling to England on Sept 24th to meet other Rotary scholars studying in the U.K. and Ireland! I look forward to updating you all in a few weeks.

P.S. Although far away, I just wanted to say that my heart is still with Texas. I saw the devastation from hurricane Harvey on the news , and I immediately wanted to be there to help . Actually every time I mention that I was from Texas here in Scotland everyone immediately asked if my love ones were okay. I just wanted to remind you that when we make it through the storms of life we develop a special strength that we will have the rest of our lives. My life is living proof of that; who would have known that a shy little girl from New Orleans would end up at one of the top universities in the world! #TexasStrong

Thank you for your constant love and support! Much love and blessings to you all.

Cheers!