Demon on the Mountain

Thursday: We went to Edinburgh. I felt so... metropolitan? Does that make sense? (My living, breathing dictionary isn't here right now so I'm at a loss for words.) We rode the subway and train like it was no big deal. That is first time (I remember) I've ridden a train for the purpose of getting somewhere.

On the train

We went up to Edinburgh Castle and explored there. In the rain. I didn't know castles were pretty much a little town instead of one or a couple big buildings. Humans have lived at this site since the 9th century BC. Wow. The castle is built on top of a big volcanic rock called Castle Rock. The Honours of Scotland are kept there and we got to see them! There was the Crown of Scotland, a sword, and a sceptre all dating back to the 15 or 16th century. For more information, check out the Wikipedia page. It's pretty interesting. They have super thick doors, a guard in the room, and no photography is allowed in the room.

Awesome view of Edinburgh. Even more awesome when it's not foggy.

My new Scottish boyfriend. Please.

Jenna, Carolyn, Audrey, Me, and Emilia

After exploring the castle we walked down the Royal Mile. Along that road or close by are quite a few cool things: St. Giles Cathedral, lots of tartan and cashmere stores, the Scottish Whiskey Experience, where J.K. Rowling supposedly got the idea for Harry Potter, the Scottish Parliament, and Holyrood Palace where the Queen stays when she comes to Scotland.

I'm pretty sure this is St. Giles' Cathedral. If I go back, I definitely want to go inside.

Our whole group met up at the bottom of the Royal Mile to hike Arthur's Seat. So. Much. Walking. But it was totally worth it. It was a steep hike and I was lucky to have 3 or 4 people who also hate running up mountains and appreciate taking breaks and enjoy looking at the scenery. It was sooo beautiful the whole way up. In a book we read this week, a character hiked to the top and supposedly saw a demon. Or something. So we pulled out the book and Cat dramatically read that passage from the book at the top of Arthur's Seat. It was pretty poetic. Next, we took the steepest route possible down. I dunno why. It was pretty scary because it was windy and the stability of the ground was questionable. I almost sat down and scooted down on my butt. We saw some ruins of St. Anthony's Church on the way down. It was right on the edge of a cliff. That would have been an awesome picture way back in the day. We did some rock climbing to get down. But we pretty much walked around the whole mountain that day. So, understandably, everyone was pretty tired and things got a little frustrating for some people. We kept joking about the demon at the top of Arthur's Seat following us down.

View on the way up Arthur's Seat. This isn't even at the top!

FUNNIEST PICTURE OF MY LIFE.

Like a boss.

St. Anthony's Chapel

Friday: I met up with a friend I knew from Irish Dance like 7 years ago and her boyfriend! How cool is that? I haven't seen her in years but I saw her while in Scotland. It's funny to me. We went to a super yummy Italian place off Buchanan Street called Roma. It was my first experience at a sit-down restaurant. It was interesting to see the difference between Europe and the US. We sat around for an hour after lunch just talking. That's normal here. People usually order wine, coffee, or tea, but obviously I didn't.

Skylar and I 

After that Emilia and I wandered around stores on Buchanan Street. They have H&M there. I wanted to buy the whole store. There was also another really cute store with the funniest stuff.  There were backpacks, notebooks, pencil sharpeners, etc with cats or fruits and veggies on them. I also found a "So You Think You're a Hipster" book; it had all the different types of hipsters in it. On the way home, we stopped by a co-op called Iceland and I bought MORE chocolate... When I got home I took ANOTHER nap. I swear I've taken a nap pretty much everyday... Cat and some people in our group were going to go to the laser tag YSA activity but they missed the bus. Hopefully we can do other stuff with the YSA. They were so nice  had awesome accents. We talked in the hallway about going to St. Andrews, and I spotted an attractive boy living on our floor. Turns out Cat and I share a kitchen with him so I made friends with him. I was very proud of myself. He is British so he also has an awesome accent. He knows the word sieve and calls dorms accommodations... So I will definitely be keeping that friendship alive. Oh! I almost forgot! Cat and I found Ben & Jerry's for half off at Tesco. It was 2.24 pounds (about $3.41). Best day ever! While there we saw a guy who was, according to Cat, coming off a meth high. It was funny but really freaky at the same time. He was running around the store saying expletives under his breath. After that excitement, I tried to write my mini essays. I forgot how much I hated writing...

Saturday: Most of my group went to either St. Andrews or Loch Lomond (where Nessie is). I was silly and avoided writing my papers so I decided to take a day off, relax, and finish my papers. I will hopefully be going to a Ceilidh dance tonight! I'm excited for that!