Snapshots...

Here are some photos that I took since here... No photos of my neighbours (the cows) yet though… That will have to wait till Sat/Sun because I usually get up and rush to work and by the time I come back, it’s already dark…

The Glasgow Bus Station that looks like Toa Payoh Bus Interchange

Irvine Guest House

My accommodation for the first night… Also the place I met Mark.

Having to carry my luggage up the stairs is no fun...

Dining room

My room for the night...

Town of Irvine

... at 10am on a Sunday morning. I like this town already.

Seriously, there should be an international law that prohibits everyone

in the world from getting up before noon on Sunday and public holidays...

My Hospital Accommodation

With a chair and comforter like that, how can you doubt you’re on hospital grounds?

My room is really quite spacious...

Hand towels from “Kimberly-Clark”

Complete with the “Steps for handwashing” above the sink…

Once again to remind you you’re on hospital grounds.

But if you are so hopeless and can still forget,

especially if it's in the middle of the night,

DON'T WORRY

Just take a look at the comforter…

I said the other day that the only things that can save this place are: Internet and nice people. Well…

Internet
Not available on residences. There is, however, a computer lab available in the hospital’s medical library, a 5 min walk down the hill from the residences. Hence, if there is no blog entry for the day, it means I have nothing to say that the weather is bad and I do not love you all enough to be bothered to put on my jacket, windbreaker, open my umbrella and risk being blown away just to blog. If, however, you still love me despite this, you are very welcome to call, sms or e-mail me to tell me that you miss me.

People
Very very fortunately, I have pretty decent flatmates. Lyndsay, who is a part-time psychologist, part-time student, has been living here for 7 months, pretty much all alone except for people like me who come and go. I can only imagine how the past 7 months has been for her: alone in the flat, then people moving in and probably upsetting her storage space, using her dishwashing liquid, taking up her freezer space… then moving away after a few weeks….then new people moving in again… and the cycle continues. Surprisingly though, she is still nice and not at all resentful against us.

My other flatmate is Yvonne, a sweet and pleasant girl who is a medical student and will be here for 5 weeks. The other morning, she was washing her dishes after breakfast so I left my bowl and spoon next to the sink planning to wash it after she was done with hers. 5 minutes later when I went back to the sink, my stuff has been washed!

The flat is not very “friendly” though. There is barely a communal area (which is right outside the bathroom and the toilet and is half the size of our rooms), a tiny table, and only 2 chairs. The kettle is so small that boils water for just 2 cups of tea. So, although I have pretty decent flatmates, we tend to remain in our rooms and only talk when we happen to meet in the kitchen which comes up to about 5 minutes in the morning and 5 minutes in the evening, on a good day…

There is 1 other person that I’ve spoke to in the building and it’s the guy that lives alone in the flat below mine (people are distributed strangely. Lots of people live alone instead of being placed to live together in 1 flat). I was walking up the stairs behind him 2 days ago and I noticed this pair of pants he was wearing. It was green. A very distinctive and familiar green. I couldn’t resist and I had to ask, “Are you an OT student?”. Turns out he is! A 3rd year OT student, originally from somewhere in the Gulf (he told me but I forgot) and studying at Queen Margaret in Edinburgh.

So overall, accommodation is awww-right.

6 weeks here will be fineeeeee...