First Impressions of Edinburgh

I think I'm going to love living in this city. Actually, my very first thought when we got out of the airport was "welcome to Scotland" - as the wind howled at about 45 mph and the rain blew sidewise at all the travelers. But Monday and Tuesday have actually been decent weather-wise. No rain - decent sun - and comfortable windbreaker weather during the day. Cools off quite a bit when the sun goes down (which is well before 5:00 still).

Monday was a very full first day - lots of orientation on process, accomodations, and some substance. We had lots of tours, and a wonderful welcome dinner hosted by the head of the Business School at the university. Great opening salad with some really tasty strong cheeses...lots of wine and some lavish deserts. Went to a pub on the way home with one of my two roommates Nitin - who is a very sharp political reporter for the world's largest daily circulation newspaper in New Dehli, and with Demus, a high-ranking energy advisor for the Australian national government. We had a pretty lively conversation about modern India - caste system, conflict with Pakistan etc. No smoking in the pubs...which is nice. Most close down at 11 or 12...which is also nice...no reason to stay out too late.

The other Chevening Fellows are mostly extremely accomplished people - one of the very top economic advisors in China, top energy advisors for a number of other countries. We'll learn a lot from each other, I think - both in the classroom and in the pubs. One of my favorite memories of the week thus far was sitting around an old pub in the early afternoon, sipping on a whisky (Scotch as Americans call it), and chatting about international climate change policy with Nitin from India, Wanda and Zejun from China, Demus from Australia, and David from Canada. 3 from the developing world. 3 from the developed. If that crew has enough whisky over the next 3 months, we just might figure out how to solve these problems. The course leaders seem great - nice, fun people with different backgrounds - bankers, economists, scientists, etc - we almost all share a passion and interest to learn more about this very complicated policy area. Going to be very stimulating.

On Tuesday, among other things, we sat in on a class for regular MBA students about climate change and business. Most of them have very little background on climate change...which is interesting...but not sure we're going to get all that much out of this course. We're also sitting in on a class for students in a brand new master's program in carbon management. We met some of those students today - they paired us up with students from our home country to walk around the city. The two Americans were an Indian-American recent college grad named Rahul, who is a nice kid, and a homebuilder from Santa Fe whose name I can't remember. I get the sense that while these masters students have a passion about climate change, that the fellows still have a lot more knowledge and practical experience...but again, that could be fine.

The architecture in the city is pretty spectacular. Very old Europe feel...windy streets, old stone buildings. got a wonderful feel. lots of cool old pubs that look like they've been around for hundreds of years (because they have) - some great old churches (some of which are now concert venues - looks like the live music and theater scene is very vibrant). The university itself is about 500 years old, and has some wonderful old lecture halls we saw yesterday that put Harvard's famous Sanders Theater to shame. Edinburgh, at least the neighborhoods I live in, definitely feels like a college town. Lots of students milling about...lots of pubs and music. The population has a cosmopolitan and international feel - haven't met many people who are actually from Scotland - most seem to be foreigners who came here and never wanted to leave.

I hope to post some pictures soon...but haven't had time to do much sightseeing yet. And looks like rain for most of the next week or so. Welcome to Scotland.