29 JUN, WEDNESDAY: TRAVEL DAY
I woke up much earlier than I ever wanted to, to go on a bus for 8 hours all the way to Edinburgh. We had many stops on the way, which I didn't take because I was just sleeping on the bus the whole way up. I was still exhausted and didn't get a full rests sleep yet, so this bus ride probably saved me from being sick on the whole trip.
We did make a nice stop at Richmond Castle which had AMAZING views. I was in my sweats and flip flops since I didn't think I would be taking many pictures, but I couldn't help myself. I have too many pictures of this place and I got a lot of great panoramic views.
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| Soaking up the sun in the soft grass at Richmond Castle. |
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| Using my sweet panoramic feature on my camera to show off the castle. |
After we got on the bus for another few hours (and another lovely nap for myself) we arrived for dinner at the University of Edinburgh. We were able to eat dinner (for which I was incredibly hungry) for free which was awesome. We stayed in one of their dorm buildings called Baird. We all got our own room which was slightly smaller than our Pembroke dorms but I had a full length mirror which I don't have at Pembroke.
Later that night some of the Program Assistants took us out to see Edinburgh nightlife. My friends and I ended up at a bar called Southern which has been one of the cheapest places to drink yet. It was fun, but a few of us (Sam, Kate, Scott, Mikey, Edgar and Robby) decided to continue on the street. We were recommended by our awesome Program Director, Nick Godfrey, to a bar called "Frankenstein." It was a bar that used to be a church, so the architecture was really cool. There was only 5 people in the whole place, but we could tell that on a fun Friday or Saturday night, this would be cool.
After that we went back to the dorms and had a good nights rest for our big day on Thursday.
30 JUN, THURSDAY: DAY 1 IN EDINBURGH
Kate, Sam and I woke up early to have breakfast for free at the dorm. What I have noticed here in the United Kingdom is that their food is honestly not that good. I have been borderline hungry for at least half of this trip because the food is just weird or too cold. For example, I love eggs. I'm not that picky as long as they are scrambled and I will eat them no matter what they look or taste like - except the eggs in the cafeteria at the University of Edinburgh. I got a big plate of them thinking how it was going to be great to start of the day so nicely, only to find out that the eggs literally tasted like powder. AND they were cold. I was disappointed, but thank goodness they have Frosted Flakes so I just ate a lot of cereal.
Thursday was the only day that the program was going to bus us in and out of the main part of the city, so I took full advantage of that. This day was also the big walking tour day. Nick Godfrey took a walking tour called 'Saints and Sinners' and loved it so much that he signed up our whole program to do it! It was great and the best part was that it was free.
Before I did that at 1:30 however, I went to the National Gallery of Scotland. It was a very quiet, calm place and you also can't take pictures. I was a bit bummed about that but otherwise the place was really cool. They had one painting that was just larger than life and I loved looking at the detail of just all the strokes that the artist made hundreds of years ago. I'm a bit of a nerd like that. :)
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| National Gallery of Scotland - No pictures allowed inside! :( |
We were incredibly lucky throughout the trip to get such amazing weather. I love having blue sky in pictures. It was a bit chilly (I'm wearing lots of layers in most of the pictures) but it was so beautiful that you didn't even really notice it. Whenever the clouds would pass over the sun it would get cold again, but otherwise it was just wonderful.
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| Kate and I in front of Edinburgh Castle |
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| Monument for Alexander the Great's horse! |
After the two hour walking tour we took, Kate and I were really tired. We had been walking all day since 9:30 and we needed a break. We could either choose to take a cab back to Pollock Halls and pay about seven pounds, or we could wait an hour and a half to take the bus. The grass at East Princes Street Gardens looked warm and inviting, so we decided to be cheap and take the bus.
We were just lying out in the sun napping a bit (don't worry parents... we were safe and aware and nothing was stolen!) with all of the locals. It was GREAT. The thing that ended our relaxation time was cannons going off. It happened to be at the right time to catch the bus back to Pollock Halls though, so it was kind of lucky!
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| Cool park that Kate and I had a lovely nap in. |
Overall, Thursday was an awesome day. It's probably why I started to feel sick though because of how much I did.
1 JUL, FRIDAY: DAY 2 IN EDINBURGH
I had a late start to Friday because I was so tired. I also was trying to make sure I wasn't going to get that sick (I failed) so I didn't want to do too much. Kate also happened to wake up later so we were able to go into town together for lunch. We both had been fighting the cold coming on for a few days. We kept it easy and just went window shopping. We discovered POUNDLAND which everything is a pound (obviously). Best deals ever. I got my flu medicine there which helped me a lot for Saturday.
We also decided to go into the Scott Monument, which cost £3 to walk all the way to the top. Kate didn't know that I could be so scared of heights. I was just concentrating on breathing but on the first 'level' I couldn't take any good pictures. Eventually I sucked it up long enough to take a few good panoramics and some of Kate and myself at the top. Thinking about it still kind of scares me, but I am so happy that I did it. You could see forever and it was really cool to get such a good view of the city.
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| Scott Monument |
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| Conquering (or trying to) my fear of heights! |
2 JUL, SATURDAY: SICK
When I woke up on Saturday I was just felling so awful that I didn't do anything. So with no internet access or a TV, I had to just sleep all day. Most of my friends went to Glasgow for only £6 round trip, and I was really sad I missed going.
It was kind of a blessing in disguise though because it was one less day that I spent money!
I felt a lot better (I could move) on Sunday which was good since we were traveling. I hadn't had too much a real meal since Friday (and I still considered 'yesterday' 'Friday' which just confused everyone else).
For our big stop, we went to Fountains Abbey which is this cool national park type place. It reminded me a bit of California national parks like Yosemite, except that this park also had an Abbey from the 1100s. The Abbey was really really cool and (embarrassingly enough) reminded me a lot of what Hogwarts Castle would look like in Harry Potter. There was also a river running near it that Sam2, Kate, Danny, Robby and I sat by to relax before we got on the bus for home.
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| Fountains Abbey in panorama! |
It was such a crazy trip and even though I got a cold (I'm still fighting a cough that started on Monday) it was so much fun. I wasn't really excited to go in the first place, but it makes me excited to visit Scotland again some day.
Also when one of the girls on the trip said that they saw JK Rowling I almost died. I couldn't believe that I would miss her! :-P So now I HAVE to go back to run into her at a coffee shop or something :)
Thank you for reading all of this for those who will! I appreciate it. It took a really long time to write but I'm happy that I finished it!
Links to learn more about my trip in Edinburgh!
The City of Edinburgh
Richmond Castle
National Gallery
Burke and Hare
Scott Monument
Fountains Abbey
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