The city swells with the resonance of a youthful melody felt between its tired stone walls. Out among windy, crumbling streets, students can be seen walking alone or in large groups at all hours, both nearby and far away from Edinburgh's four major universities. Through the footsteps of tired, hungry masses, pigeons waddle and fly just above. Edinburgh University is home to more than 17,000 students. Of this number, at least 3,000 are of international origin.
Mobile phones are trendy, convenient and rampant among the British residents at the university.
Every other lecture that I attend is interrupted by the sound of a distant, muffled ring. Such an occasion follows with the pause of a lecturer and the rustling of a rosy-faced student desperately searching for the device. Silence resumes a few seconds later, and the annoyed lecturer once again speaks. Walking through the Meadows to George Square in the morning, my slow daydreams are interrupted by electronic beeps. Even Seamus Heaney, who spoke of British and Irish poetry at Old College last month, was interrupted by an undeniable ring in a crowd of more than 500.