Scotland

I went to Edinburgh, Scotland with CIEE (the study abroad agency I'm here with) for the weekend. It was beautiful and amazing, but really cold! We left from King's Cross Station (no sign of platform 9 3/4 btw), it was about a 3 1/2hr train ride. We arrived in Edinburgh mid Friday, checked into our hostel, and were pretty much left to our own devices. I went out to dinner with the girls in my room and the boys from Westminster, then we went on a "haunted" tour of Edinburgh, it was pretty cheesy but fun, the guide was very enigmatic. We went down to the pub in the hostel briefly, but most of us went to bed fairly early. Next morning we caught a bus tour, which was absolutely freezing, then met with our guides and the whole group for a tour of Edinburgh castle. It wasn't unbelievably awe inspiring, maybe because I've seen German castles. It was nice though, exactly what you would expect of a Scottish castle, and I got to see the crown jewels and the birthplace of King James VI of Scotland/King James I of England. It was a self guided tour with audio devices, and unfortunately I lost everyone from the group and was completely on my own. I wandered around the shops for a bit, didn't buy too much. I wanted to find the cafe where Harry Potter was written, but couldn't remember where it was. My ankle was killing me, must have messed it up in Greece. I was in a pretty dismal mood and found my way back to the hostel. I ran into some girls from the group as they were leaving to go hike the crags and asked if they'd wait for me to go up and take some painkillers, they did, rather reluctantly I think. Of course once we got to the crags I immediately lost them. I hadn't gotten very far before I debated whether I should go on or not, but I am SO glad I did, it ended up being the highlight of my whole trip. I hadn't been out of the city for almost two months! I have no idea how long I wandered, hours. There weren't that many people there, but enough to feel that you're safe and not alone. I climbed as the sun was setting with Edinburgh spread out below me and couldn't have been more happy. I took the path less chosen, winding through the crags to the top, called Arthur's Seat. I sat for awhile overlooking Edinburgh, then raced the fading daylight down. Somehow I had lost all sense of direction, but luckily had paid attention to where I'd ascended and realized it before I'd gone too far astray. By then time I reached the bottom, it was completely dark out. I made my way back to Parliament then realized that the tour buses I had intended on catching had stopped running. Luckily Edinburgh is small (called the Athens of the north according to the DJ at the hostel pub), and I continued on walking all the way back to the hostel. I got in the room and all the girls were there, and worried about me because they lost me and didn't have my phone number. We went out to dinner with the boys, then went back up to get ready to go out. Of course if you know me I don't take much getting ready, so I just rested from the hike while they got ready. I just wanted to go to a local pub, preferably with a fiddle player, but we had been invited to a house party at Edinburgh University. I was tired and that was the complete opposite of what I had been looking for, so I stayed in and read some Dickens then went to bed. Next morning one of the girls and I got up really early to get pictures of the graveyard that inspired Harry Potter, and the graves that inspired some characters. We also wanted to go to the cafe where it was written, but it was Sunday and didn't open until 9, I at least got a picture though (CIEE does the same exact trip next semester, so I'll go then). It turns out it was remembrance day and there was a parade, but we had to catch a train and couldn't stay, very sad. I did have time to take a walk around the park by the Scotch monument right before we left though, it was very beutiful, especially this time of year.
A 3 1/2hr train ride back to London, then I had to do laundry and write a short essay for Anthropology. And of course listen to the Pats game (couldn't find anywhere that was playing it), definitely a nail biter, wish I could have seen it! Now I am completely wiped and finally done with my essay I can sleep!