Wandering the Grassy Hills

The beautiful city of Edinburgh is beginning to feel a little more like home now, after two short weeks. Yesterday I was walking in a park and a lady asked me for help finding a building, and I knew where she needed to go!...but then today I decided to take a different route home and got lost. opps.

A lot has happened since my last wall post, so I'll try to remember everything. Last Saturday the International Student Centre went on a day trip to St. Andrews. We traveled about and hour and a half to the charming little seaside city. The tour bus stopped on a random road in the city and we piled of the bus. Girl in Charge gave us all little photocopied illegible maps of St. Andrews and told us, be back by 3:30 or you have to take the train back to Edinburgh. The idea of riding a train and my love of travel mishaps did almost make me want to miss the bus, but I decided I shouldn't get left in St. Andrews on this trip, maybe next time. We went to what used to be a big castle, but now, is more the skeleton of a castle, but still very interesting and beautiful, right next to the sea. After only a few minutes Girl in Charge told us it was time to leave and to go to the cathedral and cemetery. We could see the stone spires of the cathedral off in the distance and set off behind Girl in Charge. You can see for yourself this is a mysterious place. After looking around and taking pictures we had the rest of the day to ourselves, Girl in Charge warned us one more time not to be left behind and said, its impossible to get lost in St. Andrews. So we went in search of the little St. Andrews Museum. Girl in Charge lied, you can get lost in St. Andrews, but it was ok, we just got to see more of the city, right? For lunch, we stopped at a little cafe and I got my first ever vegan sandwich, and it was pretty tasty. At a lot of little restaurants here you have to pay more to "sit in" the restaurant, so we decided to "take away" and found some benches next to a pretty church. The sidewalks were lined with flowerpots with colorful flowers, the girls I was with said it looked just like any little town in the States....didn't look like any towns in Texas to me. Apparently the scenes from Chariots of Fire where Eric Little is running on the beach were filmed on the Beach in St. Andrews, so I took a picture, unfortunately, not of me running on the beach. All in all, it was a great day and I would love to go back again to just wander and sit in a little cafe.

Unfortunately I did come to Scotland to go to university and classes finally started on Monday. I can't complain too much though, I only have three classes, two of them only meet once a week, and I don't have any class on Tuesday or Friday! My first class was Philosophy of Religion, it was wonderful, we were all crammed into a tiny classroom and our professor stumbled in, confused and looked like he hadn't showered in a few days. His sweater looked about thirty years old and had a giant rip in the elbow. Just from the looks of him I knew this would be a good semester. Whenever he started to talk he would look up at the ceiling and close his eyes. Philosophy professors are usually kind of odd, and I'm glad to see they're like that in Scotland as well.

So, for the wandering the grassy hills...if you read my last blog, you saw that I went to find the castle, so this week I decided to walk up the crag behind our flats. According to Wikipedia a crag is a steep rugged mass of rock projecting upward or outward, especially a cliff or vertical rock exposure in the north of England or in Scotland.(In case you were wondering.) The crag isn't as high or as difficult of a hike as Arthur's Seat was, but it was a great way to start off my morning. When I got to the top I could see all of Edinburgh, I wonder if people ever get tired of this city.

You can't come to Scotland and not go to a pub. I went to a pub called Greyfriars Bobby a few days ago. The pub was great, kind of dark, but cozy. There's a story behind the name, maybe I'll tell it in a later post. I decided to be daring and try the haggis. I didn't know what to expect, but it wasn't bad at all, it was just kind of like meatloaf. I think I would get it again sometime. Speaking of yummy Scottish food, I also tried sticky toffee pudding, which might be one of the best desserts I've ever had before. I think I'll have to find a recipe to take home with me.

We walk all the time here in Edinburgh, well maybe not all the time, but during freshers week we did! And because of that, my feet are killing me and I have blisters everywhere, gross...sorry. I decided I needed to go shopping for shoes, which I love! I went to Princes Street, that's where all of the clothing stores and the "mall" are. Most of the stores looked way to expensive to even go inside. The very first store I walked into I saw them, the ridiculous, bright shoes that I wanted! After walking up and down Princes Street and going into all of the stores and getting a little depressed at the outrageous prices, I went and bought my shoes. Sadly they gave me blisters too...but I still love them.

This blog is getting a little lengthy, so a couple more things really quick. I went to the Elephant House, the cafe that claims to be the "birthplace of Harry Potter." Its one of the cafes where JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter.
I was walking down the street yesterday and passed a really short lady, she looked like she was from somewhere in the south pacific, and she had safteypins all over her face, like, going through her skin. It reminded me of that creepy show I watched on the discovery channel about body piercing.
I finally did laundry this morning, washing two loads and drying one cost eight dollars, I'm not sure how I feel about that. And I have clothes drying all over my room right now.

Castles, Arthurs Seat and a Sitar

I've been in Edinburgh for almost a week now! It seems kind of like its been a lot longer than that. I've had a chance to learn my way around and meet people from all over the world. I finally got my cell phone to work, it took me three different trips to Princes street and the North Bridge, which is about a 45 minute walk from where I live, but now its working! Now I'll be able to get into contact with people that I meet, I really dont know what we did before the age of cellphones.

Yesterday when I went to get my cell phone all set up I went down the Royal Mile again, the very touristy street. I took my camera with me, cause there are some really pretty buildings and views of the city and then I heard a strange noise. I looked across the street and there was a man sitting on the ground playing the sitar. Then I looked back across the street and there was an old man wearing a kilt, playing the bagpipes.

I had my first little adventure yesterday. I decided to wake up early and go for a run. Most of the streets here are kind of busy, so I didnt know where I would go run, but right behind our residence area there is a big park and Arthurs seat. Arthurs seat is a big rocky hill that people climb, I'll put pictures up soon, I promise. I ran to the park and saw a sign that said Craigmiller Castle 2.5 miles. 2.5 miles seemed a little far for me, but I decided to go in search of the castle. I ran through the park, where everything is extremely green, I could see the hills and old houses off in the distance, past a pretty lake with ducks and swans. Then I came to what seemed like the industrial district. It seemed safe enough so I kept going. Now I felt more like I was in that movie about the boy who wants to do ballet( i think he was in ireland, hmm...). I was about to give up on my search, until I saw a hill and the top of what looked like it was a castle. I kept going and sure enough, up a grassy overgrown hill, there was Craigmiller castle, built in 1560 and abandoned a couple hundred years later.

I decided to try to go meet some people yesterday so I went to the international student centre to meet a group and go on a hike up arthurs seat. I'm glad that I went, but sad that I didn't take my camera. From the top of Arthurs Seat I could see pretty much the whole city and someone said when its clear you can even see St. Andrews off in the distance. I'm going to St. Andrew's tomorrow, and I'm excited about that.

I better go now, Im going to meet a couple people for lunch! Hopefully we'll get Indian food or maybe try scottish food, something exciting. All of this starting over and trying to make new friends is kind of strange to do again. Especially after two summers of being the person encouraging everyone else to do it, and then again, I'm only here for 3 months.

Classes start on monday, I still don't have everything figured out....I'll keep you posted :-) If I dont get into another class I dont think I'll graduate in August, which I will not be happy about!

I'll put up pictures soon I promise! :-)

First days in Edinburgh

I made it to Edinburgh on Saturday. The trip was pretty uneventful, which I guess is good, even though I do really like mishaps while traveling. When I got to the university housing to pick up my key, the girl helping with Freshers Week told me I was at the wrong office and the office I was supposed to be at was 5 minutes down the road, so I trekked down the road in the rainy cold with my three suitcases, down the stairs and found where I was supposed to be. Thankfully a nice Slovakian student helped me carry my stuff up the stairs, but he told me I had TOO much stuff...opps, a semester is a long time to pack for!

Sunday we had an International Welcome Day. I met a lot of people from all over Europe and a lot of Americans. Our Welcome Ceremony was held in this giant old Hall, McEwan hall. Apparently its where they have graduation, it looks kind of like a cathedral, with giant murals on the walls and stained glass windows.

Sunday I also went to my first ceilidh(pronounced kaylee). I went with my flatmate Sammy and her twin sister Kristen. They are both from Inverness(where the loch ness monster is from) up in the highlands so they had done the whole ceilidh thing before. We walked in to a big dance hall with a band on one side, they were all dressed up in plaid, and one man was playing the bagpipes. When the music started playing an old man told us to find partners and told us how to do the dances, it was kind of like squaredancing, but really just mass chaos and confusion, people twirling around, legs and arms flying, but it was a lot of fun!

Today I went with Sammy and my other flatmate Meredith to go on a campus tour, but it ended up being a disappointment and we left after a few minutes. Instead we went to a giant poster sale to buy posters for our rooms. We hung out in the HUB, which is like the SUB at Baylor, but here there are like three different buildings that are kind of like student union buildings, there are so many different buildings, hopefully some day I'll figure them all out. In the HUB there is a place to just hang out, a little coffee/pastry stand, a grocery store/bookstore, chaplaincy office, a game room and a pub, all in one building, oh and a big dance hall with a disco balll upstairs.

Sammy and her sister took Meredith and I,(Meredith is from Brooklyn) to the Royal Mile. The Royal Mile is the road where the Edinburgh castle and the parliment building both are. It was really beautiful, cobblestone roads lined with old stone buildings all squeezed right next to eachother, and lots of little alley ways. I forgot my camera, but I know I'll go back soon and take pictures. Really, when I thought of what Scotland might look like, this is pretty much what I imagined it would look like, but none of it has been a disappointment yet.

I still need to get settled a little, I found the grocery store yesterday, I dont think they have giant grocery stores like in the states, which is fine with me! Hopefully I'll get a cell phone and internet set up in my flat pretty soon.

3 days and I'm gone!

I leave for Edinburgh, Scotland on friday, today is tuesday. I decided to start this blog before leaving, first of all because, im just really excited about the trip, and because I've been doing a lot of getting ready the past couple days. Going to Scotland is much easier than going to many other countries around the world. I'm a little scared that I'm going to get to Scotland and they're going to be like, "umm...sorry, actually we aren't going to let you into the country." And then I would just travel the world for a semester, I think I could handle that, but seriously...I better make it there. This is the first time that I'll be spending any time outside of the US in a developed, not third world country. If I were going to Tanzania or Ecuador and forgot an important document, I could probably beg my way into the country. I dont think Scotland works the same way.

Like I said, Ive spent the last couple of days preparing for Scotland, packing and repacking, stocking up on things I might use, becuase I know things are going to be expensive. When I went to Tanzania four years ago I could pack forty pounds more than I can for Scotland. So, I'm about to drive to Waco one last time before leaving the country until December. I guess 3 months isnt really that long, but I know I'm going to miss everyone and miss out on a lot of fun and memories while I'm away for the semester. But travels and adventures are in my blood and the thought of what's ahead kind of makes me feel at home.

I'll try to update my blog regularly while I'm in Scotland. It might be boring, but for those of you who really love me, you'll read it anyway...jk. :-) I'm new to this blog stuff, so we'll see if I can figure it all out.