I'm coming home with a Scottish accent. lol JK. Coming to Scotland was fine. The alcohol selection in the airport was crazy. For example, I almost bought this bottle of vodka:
One of the dumbest things that I've observed is that Europeans pay for water. A bottle of water was 20 kroner on the plane! So dumb.
When we got to our hotel (the University of Edinburgh turns their dorms into a hotel in the summer? It's pretty cool.) we had to check in but immediately leave for our walking tour of Edinburgh. We took a bus there so we got to see some of the city on the way there. SO BEAUTIFUL. It's exactly how the British tv shows depict the United Kingdom and that general area. Small, old, stone houses, lots of hills, and of course, accents. Our tour guide, Kit, had a great Scottish accent. They say 'a wee bit' and she called us 'loves'. Even though I was tired and super hungry, the tour was amazing. Kit went through the entire history of Scotland, and man, it is depressing. It was interesting though, which is weird because I normally find history super boring. Kit also asked who among us were Harry Potter fans and there were a few, so she pointed out the Cafe where JK Rowling used to sit and write Harry Potter, the school that Hogwarts is based off of, and a few tombstones that she got names in the book from.
After, we finally got to sit down and have our first Scottish meal. We then had the rest of the evening on our own.
Today the first thing on the agenda was a talk with an anthropologist with a focus on positive psychology. It was boring and I was basically sleeping (but only because we had already talked about a lot of the stuff in class). After lunch we went to a Buddhist Temple and learned about meditation. It's relevant because it's been shown that meditation can help people relax, be open to new experiences, and be more positive and happy.
From there we went to the Real Mary King's Cross, a guided historical tour which shows you how life was for the Scotts in different points in time. The road that we "walked" down was eventually covered by a whole new level because it was unsanitary and gross. Those people had such sad lives and there was nothing they could do about it. Dinner was on our own tonight so two other girls and I found a restaurant, Biblos, that had fish and chips (and a 30% discount). It was ok, but the crepe we shared for dessert was the best thing ever. Although the day started off sunny and almost even hot, it was pouring for the majority of it so we came home early and decided to have a night in.
Up tomorrow: The playfield Institute (i'm not sure what it is) and kayaking lessons. There's a high chance of thunder-storms woohoo!
Sounds so fun! Except the small plane part. The plane I took from Liberia was one where you walked out and went up some stairs, and that one was alright. I must not enjoy flying as much in my old age. Maybe if I were flying to London or Europe it would make it worth the terror.
ReplyDeleteOnly one person in the phone booth? There were about 6 of you in there the last time I took a photo of one like that!
ReplyDeleteI think I would cry with joy if I saw the famous cafe where JK wrote HP haha. I've always wanted to go to Edinburgh, enjoy the rest of your time there!
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