Travel Pathology

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

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • Scottish Winters

    Well I just paid a hefty utility bill. And it wasn’t enough. All the times I summoned electricity to run the kettle for tea, all the watts expended to operate the microwave to heat the pack I stuff under my covers, the evenings when I threw frugality out with the rainstorm and flipped the switch…

  • Burns Night

    Crammed inside a humble cottage, seated by a cozy hearth, a group of nine friends assembled to partake in an evening filled with laughter, camaraderie, and the reverberations of cherished memories. The occasion commemorated the solemn fifth anniversary of their dear friend’s death. With bellies full of Haggis, they raised a glass and joined together…

  • “Victim of Inertia”

    Ok, it is time to get back into the swing of things. Sitting at the kitchen table this morning with my Princess Diana teapot holding warm earl grey tea and my journal which articulates a growing “to do” list, I find myself resisting intrusive invites from my brain to quit writing this post and return…

  • Sniffles, sunshine, and staying home

    I was having a dream that there were polyps on my tonsils and throughout my throat. I was assessing them through the eyes of a woman I had never met before. She was horrified and in turn, I was as well. When my eyes finally peeled open late this morning, and I remembered where I…