Information About My Next 6 Weeks

Life has been exciting lately... A bit too exciting, I would say.

I'm in the midst of packing (did I ever mention I hate packing? and unpacking too, for that matter) to leave on Saturday morning to catch the 6:40am bus from Aberdeen City to Glasgow. My travelling companion is a suitcase.

From Glasgow (I should be there at about 10:30am), I will take another bus to a small town to the south of Glasgow, called Irvine.

Irvine is the place I was (yeah, WAS...more on that later) supposed to have my attachment for the next 6 weeks. The uni probably came up with this original idea of ensuring I "tour" at least part of Scotland. So, from Aberdeen, which is North-west Scotland, I am now going to work in Irvine, which is South-east Scotland. Oh well... what's 300km and a 4 hour journey to a student who came all the way across the world, right?

I have absolutely no idea what the place is like and hence, this saturday would be an adventure for me. I panicked this afternoon when I called up a Bed & Breakfast to book a room for this weekend and was told that it was full and most other B&Bs would be PACKED this weekend because there is going to be a DUCK RACE. Oh great...

After calling up several B&Bs, I finally found one that could take me in on Sunday. Very fortunately, after I convinced the owner that I really really needed a place for Saturday, he offered me an "emergency room", whatever that is. So done! I now have a place to stay for the weekend.

I had also tentatively booked a room in another B&B that this owner runs as well, for the entire 6 weeks and he was nice enough to offer me a nice deal of "stay 6 days and I'll not charge you for the 7th day". And so I thought everything was settled...

Ah! But life has other plans for me!

My supervisor is ill! Therefore, I now have to go to another hospital, Crosshouse Hospital, to work (at least until my supervisor recovers and is back at work). No big deal.. except that the hospital is NOT in Irvine.

Very very fortunately though, it turns out that Crosshouse Hospital is just a manageable 10+km away (although it IS the next town already) and that accommodation has been arranged for me there for the entire 6 weeks! So I will work and live at Crosshouse Hospital until my original supervisor gets back to work and then I will work at Ayrshire Central Hospital in Irvine and live at Crosshouse Hospital.

Sounds complicated...but I'm sure it will work itself out (I'm oddly optimistic about things like that).

Last minute changes like these cause a lot of stress and anxiety. It is at times like this that I am reminded again that our mental health is very important. It makes all the difference between coping and breaking down. Lucky for me then, I've got supportive family and friends... :)