Snowcat in Edinburgh

[yukineko-scot]

Took a walk in my lovely neighbourhood park today. A decent sized spot of nature with a bit of a hill in the middle, just a 15mins walk from the house.

[yukineko-scot]

Found a bakery that sells actual rye bread! This makes Edinburgh feel just a little bit more like home again.

[yukineko-scot]

Last week we had some beautiful days in Edinburgh, with warm sunshine bathing the hills with golden light.

This Monday... Well, the city looked a little different as mist covered the whole town with a thick veil of mystery.

Despite the chilly weather, I did venture out to scout the shopping centre that is just a 10 minute walk south from where I live. The Sainsbury's there is ENORMOUS! It will take a while for me to get used to navigating through all those aisles.

[yukineko-scot]

Induction - Jump into the deep end...

Finally really started my MA course today. The first day of induction has passed and I have gotten bombarded with information about the course and my fellow prospective screenwriters. Will have another day of induction tomorrow, with yet more (and more specific) info about the modules.

What I do already know, is that there will be a ton of work for the next year - and we have our first homework to hand in by Wednesday morning... So we really have been thrown into the deep end here! But I am very excited (and a little scared) of what the year is going to be like.

After induction, some of us screenwriting students went for a pint at a pub right next to Bruntsfield Links - which means I have already done quite a bit of socialising today. Much more than I previously had in this city, to be honest, and it all seemed to go quite well.

So now there are two possibilities:

Either I'm not as much of a snarky introvert as I thought (Quite a shocker, I must admit!) OR I'm simply much better at faking social aptitude than I had convinced myself of. Not sure which contingency I'm more comfortable with...

But this crash course of immersing myself in student life shall continue later tonight in the form of a pub crawl. Not sure if it's a brilliant idea, but why not give it a shot? After all, I'm not gonna be a fledgeling MA student for long... better get myself used to the networking habits of the natives early on!

[yukineko-scot]

Yesterday was another gorgeous day in Edinburgh!

Enjoyed walking around town, spending the last day before really starting my lectures just admiring the city. (Did get a student Ridacard as well, so now I can just take the bus to campus and it cuts down the travel time by half. Money well spent I'd say!)

And today... it was all foggy in the morning. A layer of mist just hanging above Edinburgh. It has cleared away now and the sun's come out, so it is a nice day today as well.

[yukineko-scot]

I love living in a city where I can see a castle every day.

[yukineko-scot]

First meal at the new house!

I hadn't realised how much I missed getting to sit down in peace to enjoy a homecooked meal... It was surprisingly relaxing in the new surroundings. There will be plenty more of these evening meals coming my way now!

[yukineko-scot]

There are a few things my room absolutely needs: something Audrey, something baseball and something anime. Funny thing how they all have more than one object representing them...

Of course you can never forget my darling Bumsli! That little teddy has accompanied me on all my adventures, so she had to come long for this one as well.

[yukineko-scot]

Views from Calton Hill were magnificent in the Sunday afternoon sunshine.

[yukineko-scot]

A House, a Room & a Desk! - part II

Moved in and made the room feel like it belongs to me. It's quite small, but so am I - shouldn't pose a problem then! I truly love how much desk space can be fit into such a small space.

I think I'll enjoy living here just fine!

[yukineko-scot]

A House, a Room & a Desk! - part I

Signed the lease for a house today!

Yes. It is an actual house, not just a flat (which seems to be very rare to get in Edinburgh - especially for students). And I know which room is mine, and it has a brand new desktop in it... This all makes me really happy!

The house will be ours (mine and three other film students' from Napier) for the next 12 months. I will be moving in tomorrow, so I get to settle in before my course actually starts on Thursday. There won't be any internet access for a while though... We still need to get a contract set up for that as well as for gas & electricity, but at least we got the keys today!

It'll take about a week or two for the broadband to be connected, which means I will be relying on campus computers and free wifi in cafes. So expect only sporadic updating for the next couple weeks.

Trust me, you'll know when I have regular and reliable internet access again!

[yukineko-scot]

OINK!

There's this tiny street side shop called Oink on Victoria Street in Old Town selling hog roast rolls. It's a local business established by two farmers from the Scottish Borders who wanted to bring the taste of Scottish hog roast from the farms into the city.

The shop itself is tiny and got absolutely packed in a matter of minutes after I stepped in. The queue actually stretched out of the shop and into the street, blocking a part of the sidewalk. There were locals, students and tourists alike waiting for a bun stuffed with roasted pork! (Poor pig was already half eaten by two in the afternoon...)

There are three sizes available, depending on how famished you are for your share of shredded meat. There's the Piglet, the Oink and the Grunter - quite fitting names, I would say!

So today I had an Oink for lunch, and it certainly was hogsome!

OINK!

[yukineko-scot]

If you come across a kilt-wearing stormtrooper in Edinburgh, remember to pay due respect. Otherwise you may experience a nasty bout of blaster rifle fire to the back...

You have been warned!

[wolferspussycat-deactivated2022]

[yukineko-scot]

Top row, middle picture: The perfect picture for this blog!

(And yes, almost any cat picture makes me happy, so the rest of the post is also quite fitting...)

[yukineko-scot]

Stopped to eat lunch at Bruntsfield Links yesterday.

I've been walking all over town for the last few days, so sitting down to relax in a park with great views was definitely called for. Watching an insanely curious and overly energetic puppy pestering every other dog crossing its path offered some hilarious entertainment.

[wordsthat-speak]

I just want to have a completely adventurous, passionate, weird life.

Jeff Buckley, on moving to New York (via wordsthat-speak)

[yukineko-scot]

Start of a new adventure

It's been six years since I did this the last time.

In 2008, I left Finland to get my first university degree in Worcester, England. It was the first time I really headed out into the world on my own, moving out of my parents' home and traveling to a city that I knew nothing of and where everyone was a stranger to me. But that went alright.

Three years passed by fast. New friends, plenty of thriling (and sometimes mortifying) experiences, and a crash course in how to take care of myself when I'm away from my established security network and need to build a new one from scratch. Sometimes things got tough to handle, but I managed and finally graduated with a pretty good degree - and I wouldn't trade any of it back!

After graduating with a BA in Film Studies and Journalism, it took me a while to figure out what I really want to do with my life. (Or even if somewhere at the back of my mind I already knew, I was not yet ready and confident enough to pursue it right away...) So I worked. Kept myself immersed in the world of films by getting a job at a local cinema while also freelancing as a film journalist for a Finnish film magazine.

Little by little I got closer to realising what my dream had already been for a long while: to be a working screenwriter.

It's not going to be easy, I know that already. But if I don't give it a shot now, I'd regret it later. So I'm starting that (very probably) rocky climb towards creative success by getting my Masters degree at a respected film school in the UK: Screen Academy Scotland.

We'll see how it goes. All I know for now is that I'll give this chance all I've got! Hopefully that will get me started, and a year from now I'll be a few steps closer to turning my dream into reality.