Arrival in Damascus

So i have arrived and after just two days am feeling more settled than i thought i would.  The old city is still a bit of a tangled maze of hot, narrow passageways with wafts of spices, perfumes, and sometimes more unpleasant smells, beautiful hanging vines and at night neon lights, dark corners and crowds of people; but i'm exploring it and finding my bearings gradually.

  It really is beautiful and has a definite oriental feel, especially the old damascene houses with their central courtyards and fountains.

  I'm living in the south of the old city in a fairly nice house with a little central courtyard and roof terrace with 5 other girls. One is Syrian, one from Manchester university who is half Lebanese and three girls from SOAS.  I was lucky enough to meet a guy called Ahmed the night i arrived from the airport who some of the other students from Durham have been living with and he knows most of the landlords in the area and showed me to this house. I was then whisked off to a restuarant in the heart of the old city with live music and to my surprise young children dancing on the tables!! Since then i have been for the necessary aids test the university requires for registration (the quickest blood test i have ever had!), had a three hour arabic placement test which was horrendous but everyone finds it ridiculous, got myself sorted with a syrian phone and i start lectures at 9am tomorrow!  So far there seems to be lots of students from exeter and soas, some from edinburgh and a very small durham contingent. The first day was actually today but seeing as everyone else has been here for atleast two weeks starting one day late is pretty good i feel. My arabic is coming back to me slowly after a whole summer forgetting it but my colloquial or amiya amuses some of the shop keepers still! We had a nice chat with one of the taxi drivers today in arabic though and got a free taxi ride for the privilege so that was nice! Time is running out so i will post again when something exciting happens!