This post is dedicated to Leah Rosenthal. You are the Dean to my Sam
The
next day, I was finally able to skype Clair. I was so excited to skype my best
friend (minus Jackson)! Even though we don’t go to the same school anymore, we
text each other almost daily. Sadly, I am in the UK and the international cell
phone rates aren’t exactly cheap. So it was so good to talk to her. But why am
I narrating this part of my life with you? Well Clair’s boyfriend, Brennen,
studied in Edinburgh this summer for about a month. Ever since I’ve known
Brennen, we have this running joke that we disagree on everything. So the fact
that we both pledge allegiance to different Scottish cities is nothing new. But
he told me that Glasgow was to industrial and not very pretty while Edinburgh
was more touristy and had a better landscape. So in true Barney Stinson
fashion, I took that as a challenge to find the idyllic parts of my city. I did
not have to go too far.
I took these pictures on my walk back from my education lecture.
Unlike usual, the sky was not overcast and leaves were falling. It was picture
perfect!
On
Saturday, my friend Lauren and I headed out to Edinburgh on the Megabus.
Although it was early in the morning and I had stayed up pretty late the night
before, Lauren and I talked all the way there! As soon as we got to Edinburgh
we stopped at this cute pub right by St. Giles Cathedral. One of the waitresses
looked familiar and later I figured out why. Remember when my mom and I went to
Arthur’s seat? Well we ran into a mother and daughter from South Africa who
told us all of the cool things to do in Edinburgh. The daughter told us that,
if we were eating dinner in Edinburgh we should grab dinner at her pub… near a
touristy church. We didn’t eat there that night because we went to St. Andrews
but its so weird that I would end up eating there eventually. When I first met
her, I was this helpless tourist that had no idea what Scotland had to offer me
and by the time I saw her again, I was aquainted with and living in Scotland.
It was so weird!
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| St. Giles Cathedral
After
lunch, we were supposed to meet our friends that stayed with a friend who lives
in the Borders. However, they told us that they hadn’t even left yet. So Lauren
and I decided to walk around and see what we could find. And we happened on
“The Scottish Whisky Experience”. It was insane. They had a huge gift shop
filled with different types of whiskey. If you bought a 10 pound student
ticket, you could go on the whiskey experience tour. It reminded me so much of
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. First, you got on this ride that took
you through the whiskey process. The seat was in a shape of a barrel and they
had projections of an Einstein looking guy describing how whiskey was made. I
was just waiting for Gene Wilder to pop out of a barrel and start singing about
the factory. After the ride was done, we were brought into a room and given an
educational whiskey talk. Now I know that Scottish whiskey tastes different
wherever it is harvested. We were also given a sample of whichever kind of
whiskey we’d like to try. I tried the lowland whiskey, because it supposedly
has a flowery taste. I found out that I don’t like whiskey, but the experience
is something that I will never forget.
 
I couldn't help myself. This is how I feel about whiskey :D
|
Next
we went exploring through the city. We got a picture with “William Wallace”,
went to the Tartan museum (it wasn’t really a museum, it was just the place
where they made tartan), and then went to get a snack a cute coffee shop. By
the time we were done with our snacks, it was time to meet the rest of our
friends at the hostel.
The
hostel was fine but I had never stayed in one before. It’s kind of a weird
concept of sleeping in a room filled with people you don’t know. But we were a
party of six, which made things better. My friends were all hungry when they
got there, so we ate dinner at a Chinese restaurant by the Haymarket train
station. The food tasted good, but it was pricey and they did not have good
service. But food for me didn’t matter. I was too excited to go on our ghost
tour!
Our
ghost tour met at St. Giles Cathedral, near where we ate lunch earlier that day.
The weather was cold and rainy, perfect for a ghost tour. First we went to the
underground part of Scotland, where the lesser off would sometimes hide and
even live. It was humid and cramped in the caves, but I didn’t feel any
supernatural beings. I did get pretty frightened though. Then we went to a
graveyard where a suspected poltergeist is. I didn’t feel anything there
either. However, the tour company did have someone jump out at us while we were
in a tomb and I almost wet myself. I crouched down into a little ball and tried
to shield myself from whatever entity jumped out at us. Thank God no one was
mad at me for my crazy reaction. The tour ended by telling us the story about Greyfriars Bobby. The story goes when his master died, the dog was so loyal that he stayed by
his grave until he died. It was the sweetest story and a comforting way to end
our horrifying tour.
After
the tour we headed back to our hostel and went to bed. I’ve decided that I
probably wouldn’t have minded the hostel if my university rented it out but I
don’t think hostels our for me. I don’t want to sound to “posh”. It’s just that
every time someone moved, all the bunk beds would move and squeak too. The
restrooms were also coed and it wasn’t very pleasant. But it was fine for our
group and the time we spent there.
The
next morning we got up and went to breakfast (because breakfast was not
included in our hostel!) We spent the rest of our time in Edinburgh souvenir
shopping and going to Edinburgh Castle. It was a pretty relaxed morning. Then
Lauren and I had to leave early to catch our bus. We made it back to Glasgow
safe and sound.
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