Travel Pathology

The documented experience of attending the University of Edinburgh to study the science of nursing

  • Dissertation Final (One year ago)

    It was four in the morning. The rain had splattered the windows and the lounge was lit by only a singular candle. The draft throughout the house pulled on the single candle flame that lit the coffee table before me. I use my mouse pad to scroll through the same 81 pages, making minor adjustments…

  • The Fringe

    Pedaling down Nicolson Street, I navigated past construction crews and stray flyers swirling in the breeze. With hardly any traffic or pedestrians, the city feels somewhat abandoned, with only the sound of my bike being rattled by the cobblestone. As I turned onto Melville Drive, the Meadows came into view, with a few people walking…

  • Paris! Pas encore!

    I twisted the key in the lock of room 15 and pushed the old wooden door along the carpet, revealing the small interior of my room. One step inside, and my knee collided with the bed frame as I lowered my bag onto the floor. I stepped over to the balcony doors and opened them,…

  • Work Tales

    Working my first international job has been a source of great amusement during phone calls with friends living in the United States. The silliness of miscommunication between colleagues who share the same mother tongue, the misfires caused by accents, and the inevitable differences that add spice to what were once routine interactions in my life…

  • “It’s in the Itinerary”

    Sitting on the train with the rolling Scottish countryside in the background, I realize that trains are an excellent place to tackle long-delayed writing tasks. On my way to London, my grandmother is in another carriage. The train is crowded because, apparently, it is a bank holiday this weekend. Additionally, the train is delayed, giving…

  • Mariposa

    Why haven’t you written to me yet? The skeleton of a paper accuses me from my laptop screen.  Well… I’ve never really written a dissertation before, it’s difficult to know how to begin. I confessed to my personified project.  To my left, the window frames a chaotic thunderstorm juxtaposed by delicate piano notes of Debussy…

  • I better get started

    Walking up through campus and spotting a girl from my cohort in the distance, we make eye contact and start waving towards each other. “Hi, how are you?” I call out. “Good, how about you?” she responds. “Doing well, see you…” Wait, when will I see her again? I wanted to say “in class,” but…

  • Types of people in the library

    Now that the term is coming to a close, one finds herself living inside the library. Each day unfurls in the same rhythm. I wake up uncomfortably early, throw on whatever sweatpants are nearby, maybe brush my hair, and make my way to the tall concrete building overseeing the park. At the library’s threshold, swaths…

  • Soup day

    Outside, wisps of fog drift by, gently brushing over the roofs. Below, the streets are darkened by the day-long onslaught of raindrops breaking through the misty fog to meet the earth. Cars pass occasionally, disrupting the otherwise quiet neighborhood with sounds resembling tearing paper as they tred through rain puddles. “It’s going to be a…

  • Morning’s No for me

    Up in the morning’s no for me,Up in the morning early;When a’ the hills are cover’d wi’ snaw,I’m sure its winter fairly. Sticking with the Robert Burns theme this week. It’s currently 11 in the morning, and I’ve just barely crawled out of bed to sit at the kitchen table and drink some coffee. Even…