I have been on so many adventures lately. It’s really been overwhelming and FUN. There’s so much to tell. Let’s see if I can keep it all straight. You know I like organization. Let’s give it a go.
Sunday: Calton Hill
This is one of the most famous views of Edinburgh. Everyone goes up here to take beautiful views of the city.
Things to see:
Dugald Stewart Monument: Can’t actually go in it, sadly. But standing in front and taking a picture is always fun.
Miscellaneous unfinished monument: Funny story, actually. Edinburgh attempted to build a replica of a building in Athens (pretty sure it was the Parthenon, but I’m too lazy to look it up on Wikipedia right this moment). Strangely, they ran out of money in 1829 and the monument was never finished. So it just sits there. Half a frame of a would-be famous building at the top of a hill. Kind of fun.
On the way down: There’s a really cool cemetery across the street on the way back to Princes Street. In it, you’ll find graves dating back to the 1700s. And David Hume is buried there, amongst others. David Hume is cool. You should see it.
Monday: Scott Monument
Anya was back for a day! We had her and her sister until 2pm, so we had to make the most of it. The Scott Monument is on Princes Street and costs only 3 pounds. It’s tall and gothic and has LOTS of stairs. 287, I think. I took lots of pictures. They’re on facebook. Leisurely day so that we could say goodbye to Anya and help her leave all afternoon. So sad!
Tuesday: Glasgow
Spent almost the whole day in Glasgow doing some shopping. Didn’t buy much. Just a few things I fell in love with. It’s okay. No need to panic. The girls also shopped and everyone concurred it was a great success aside from a lunch debacle. The restaurant went missing. Oops.
Wednesday: various?
I think I’ve worn out several people with my adventuring. I’ve worn everyone down. They weren’t properly prepared for an Experience of Edinburgh. Nevertheless, I persevered and managed to accomplish quite a few things today.
National Gallery: James volunteered to go with. Lots of fun. Smallish, but we only did the free section. They did, however, have some of my favorite Degas paintings and impressionist art, so life was good.
Chocolate Soup: A restaurant. Almost on the Royal Mile. Kind of almost on the-magical-road-that-changes-names. Hunter Square, I think? They. Have. So. Much. Chocolate. Everything in the store (almost) has chocolate in it. I had soup, bread, and a very lovely hot chocolate. They even have “shots” of chocolate that are more chocolate than most can handle. Wonderful.
The Scotch Whisky Experience: Lots of fun! They’ve remodeled and created a ride that involved narrated barrel rides. You get to learn, watch, taste, and make funny faces. A couple of girls had a hard time with the whisky, but I think overall it was a success. I’d recommend it. Right next to the Castle.
Arthur’s Seat: It’s about time I went up. I live a whole thirty seconds from Arthur’s Seat and I’ve never been up. I’ve only been up the Crags. We went up to watch the sunset, but it was cloudy and cold. So we stayed for as long as we could, still watched the sunset from the top, and managed to make it back down just before dark. One of the best views of Edinburgh ever. Love.
That’s all the adventuring so far. I don’t think tomorrow will have too much more. The current plan is to sleep in a bit, finish packing in the morning, and maybe do a bus tour in the afternoon. Relatively leisurely. Then stay up all night until a 4am taxi, a bus, and a flight home!
I absolutely cannot believe that tomorrow (today?) is my last day here. I will miss it with every fiber of my being. It’s a beautiful city and a wonderful place to live and I’ve met such wonderful people. Must make a mental note to visit often.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Saturday, May 23, 2009
we've still got time
You know it’s exam time when…
1. My Diet Coke intake increases exponentially. Sometimes you just need the extra boost. Or four.
2. Students have no problem yelling out the window [using all sorts of colorful language] at loud people outside.
3. Breakfast hours polarize. Many begin going to breakfast either earlier [to study] or later [they studied (really?) last night].
4. You are forced to forgo some friendships [Ashley? Who? What? Sorry.] in order to maintain stability and sanity in academic life.
5. If Facebook usage decreases, friends become worried. Either you’re studying too much or too little. Come out of the hole, please.
6. Wrappers. Are. Everywhere. Of all food sorts.
7. Child-like behavior erupts in every corridor. Someone seems to have been using a lot of toilet paper for nefarious purposes. You know who you are.
8. The sun comes out. The cruelty. The horrible sense of weather-humor. Just when you have to be in, the sun decides to come out to play. NOT COOL.
In case you hadn’t noticed, the sun was out for the four days before my very last exam. Cruel, cruel world. With one exception [and it was soooo good], I spent all the sunny days indoors or taking an exam.
Luckily, I finished my exams! Hooray! I can come out and play again. At least a little.
The next week will be spent being as touristy as I possibly can, I think. One doesn’t normally visit the touristy things when living in a place, but I don’t want to leave the touristy things until later this summer when they would be expensive and crowded. And there’s no guarantee I would be able to do them then.
It looks like I’ll be in London for the months of July and August. And home in June!
Now. What to do with all my stuff. The good news is my room became a huge pit when I began the packing process (as you do) but now it is beginning to look like a room once more. One wall is cleared, two suitcases are packed, and the other things are going into bags until their fate is decided. Looks a little sad without decorations and will bags of clothing and miscellany everywhere, but not much more can be done about that.
1. My Diet Coke intake increases exponentially. Sometimes you just need the extra boost. Or four.
2. Students have no problem yelling out the window [using all sorts of colorful language] at loud people outside.
3. Breakfast hours polarize. Many begin going to breakfast either earlier [to study] or later [they studied (really?) last night].
4. You are forced to forgo some friendships [Ashley? Who? What? Sorry.] in order to maintain stability and sanity in academic life.
5. If Facebook usage decreases, friends become worried. Either you’re studying too much or too little. Come out of the hole, please.
6. Wrappers. Are. Everywhere. Of all food sorts.
7. Child-like behavior erupts in every corridor. Someone seems to have been using a lot of toilet paper for nefarious purposes. You know who you are.
8. The sun comes out. The cruelty. The horrible sense of weather-humor. Just when you have to be in, the sun decides to come out to play. NOT COOL.
In case you hadn’t noticed, the sun was out for the four days before my very last exam. Cruel, cruel world. With one exception [and it was soooo good], I spent all the sunny days indoors or taking an exam.
Luckily, I finished my exams! Hooray! I can come out and play again. At least a little.
The next week will be spent being as touristy as I possibly can, I think. One doesn’t normally visit the touristy things when living in a place, but I don’t want to leave the touristy things until later this summer when they would be expensive and crowded. And there’s no guarantee I would be able to do them then.
It looks like I’ll be in London for the months of July and August. And home in June!
Now. What to do with all my stuff. The good news is my room became a huge pit when I began the packing process (as you do) but now it is beginning to look like a room once more. One wall is cleared, two suitcases are packed, and the other things are going into bags until their fate is decided. Looks a little sad without decorations and will bags of clothing and miscellany everywhere, but not much more can be done about that.
Friday, May 8, 2009
Elephants and Bagels and Bacon -- oh my!
There is absolutely no point in carrying an umbrella in Edinburgh. Even if it’s raining. Once you open it, the wind inevitably gusts AGAIN, popping your umbrella inside out and causing embarrassment all the way around. Then, as you try to re-angle your umbrella to face into the wind and make it pop back, the wind dies, of course. So you’re stuck with an inside-out umbrella in the middle of the street with everyone watching.
At least, that’s what I’m told.
Spent the morning studying at Elephants & Bagels, not to be confused with The Elephant House. Both are owned by the same people, so we decided to try out the other one. [We were beginning to feel like creeps in The Elephant House.]
It’s surprisingly nice. In one of the squares along the magicalroadthatchangesnames, the store is very small. Only about 8 tables.
Unfortunately, the tea got disapproving ratings all the way around. A distinct metal flavor was noted. The hot chocolate was not tested, and the filter coffee was reasonably identical to that of The Elephant House.
The bagels, though. GEEZ. They’re incredible. Positive ratings all the way around. They’re not chewy and stale, and they’re toasted just before having the toppings added. If you’re looking for a good bagel in Edinburgh, Elephants & Bagels is the way to go. Or, I mean, if you just feel a particular need to look at LOTS of elephant photos and drawings.
And I would come to terms with curly hair before attempting to live in Edinburgh.
At least, that’s what I’m told.
Spent the morning studying at Elephants & Bagels, not to be confused with The Elephant House. Both are owned by the same people, so we decided to try out the other one. [We were beginning to feel like creeps in The Elephant House.]
It’s surprisingly nice. In one of the squares along the magicalroadthatchangesnames, the store is very small. Only about 8 tables.
Unfortunately, the tea got disapproving ratings all the way around. A distinct metal flavor was noted. The hot chocolate was not tested, and the filter coffee was reasonably identical to that of The Elephant House.
The bagels, though. GEEZ. They’re incredible. Positive ratings all the way around. They’re not chewy and stale, and they’re toasted just before having the toppings added. If you’re looking for a good bagel in Edinburgh, Elephants & Bagels is the way to go. Or, I mean, if you just feel a particular need to look at LOTS of elephant photos and drawings.
And I would come to terms with curly hair before attempting to live in Edinburgh.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
and everyone's just singing along
I am in complete denial about the term ending in less than 30 days. It’s not happening. It’s not. Stop talking about it like that.
Nothing about my summer is set in stone, either. I’ll tell you when I have more info.
After one weekend off, I have taken up studying again. This time it’s for the long haul. The next two and a half weeks will be filled with refreshing the lectures that are hopefully already residing in my brain, and rereading several articles and books that I wish were still residing in my brain.
No real adventures so report, sadly.
Slightly funny story, though:
I went to take my Africa in World Politics exam on Friday. Everything was fine. I found the place, I figured out how to find my own seat and fill out different forms. [Mommy, wow! I’m a big kid now.] During the exam, however, the entire room looked up from their exams upon hearing a few geese outside the building making a raucous. One of the geese was extremely loud and distracting for almost half an hour. [Didn’t affect my exam-taking except to make it more entertaining, don’t worry.]
The goose was either involved in a gang fight in which he was the target of all parties, or he was dying a slow and painful death [could be combined with the first]. Alternately, he was involved in some sort of spring-like activity [whatever geese do in the spring…]. Whichever it was, the exam monitors even started giggling at the evenly-spaced, awfully loud, constant honking of this particular goose just outside the window.
Oh, and we were three floors up. This goose was loud enough to be heard three floors up. Through gym walls. And I was on the other side of the gym. So were the exam monitors.
On that note, it’s time for me to go to bed.
Nothing about my summer is set in stone, either. I’ll tell you when I have more info.
After one weekend off, I have taken up studying again. This time it’s for the long haul. The next two and a half weeks will be filled with refreshing the lectures that are hopefully already residing in my brain, and rereading several articles and books that I wish were still residing in my brain.
No real adventures so report, sadly.
Slightly funny story, though:
I went to take my Africa in World Politics exam on Friday. Everything was fine. I found the place, I figured out how to find my own seat and fill out different forms. [Mommy, wow! I’m a big kid now.] During the exam, however, the entire room looked up from their exams upon hearing a few geese outside the building making a raucous. One of the geese was extremely loud and distracting for almost half an hour. [Didn’t affect my exam-taking except to make it more entertaining, don’t worry.]
The goose was either involved in a gang fight in which he was the target of all parties, or he was dying a slow and painful death [could be combined with the first]. Alternately, he was involved in some sort of spring-like activity [whatever geese do in the spring…]. Whichever it was, the exam monitors even started giggling at the evenly-spaced, awfully loud, constant honking of this particular goose just outside the window.
Oh, and we were three floors up. This goose was loud enough to be heard three floors up. Through gym walls. And I was on the other side of the gym. So were the exam monitors.
On that note, it’s time for me to go to bed.
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