'Cause I'm Scottish!

Why, hello again there lovely followers!

Sorry it has been so long since my last update. We were without internet our time in Edinburgh, and believe me not being able to update facebook/twitter/email/blog was a little interresting in the first few days, but in the end I have to say quite therapeutic. I'm loving that at Cambridge I am not as connected. I spend actual time with friends instead of just texting, I see sites I can only have dreamt of, and my time seems to have doubled with out  television or access to hulu.

Now onto Scotland. Let me start by saying that this trip was amazing. I am seriously in love with Edinburgh, and obsessed officially with the UK/Scoptland. Bear with me on this post, it may be long, but at least that means detailed? Bonus. Plus, this is my first time on intenet in four days, and I am on a definete binge. So the trip: Imsgine this, 8 hours on a bus. And you think the scenery is going to be beautiful, until you realize that the trip up north to Edinburgh from Cambridge is filled with Cornfields and rain. Sounds like Ohio right? Well it totally was. My bus buddy Keith and I  (who is also from the hood) felt right at home. Until we saw this: The Richmond Castle.

Crazy beautiful right? We got a 2 hour break from the bus, which was great. And also, the drinking age here is 18. Which meant that a few of us brought some *ahem* beverages with us for the rest of the bus ride (Don't worry mom, we didn't get in any trouble for it being in a vehicle either). So needless to say the rest of the trip went by pretty quickly.

Upon arriving in Edinburgh, we had one thing on our mind: food. Well we stayed at the University of Edinburgh (back to my bandcamp days but with way better accommodation and food). And I am soooo glad that I have the excuse of being a vegetarian to not having tried haggis. Because let me tell you it did not look appetizing.

So onto Friday morning. What a day. Alexa and I woke up late, and then took to the city. We explored in our own way (hoping in taxis and asking the cabby's to take us different places, book shops, pubs, cafes, statues, what have you). We shopped, ate, and interacted with the city. It was fantastic. And we even got a tour of the Scottish Parliament!! Which was great. It was built in 2004, so it was cool to see some newer political action.

Then, it was Leticia Carter's 20th birthday!!! Which we of course celebrated in true Scottish fashion. With a lot of booze! It was so much fun. We went to a caelidh (old fashioned Scottish dance) and then took our own party to one of our rooms. Later in the night, 3 of us split off and wandered the streets of Edinburgh, finding the greatest pub on the planet. So much fun and dancing and live music (played on an acoustic guitar by an old man, but more on that later).

Saturday was much more of the same, except that we went to the Elephant House Cafe! Which is so exciting because it is where JK wrote the first few Harry Potter books. I was literally in heaven. It overlooks the Edinburgh Castle, which is the inspiration behind Hogwarts. We spent a good deal of time there (partly recovering from the birthday celebrations) before we went and discovered more of Edinburgh in true Scottish fashion... pouring rain. Needless to say it wasn't long before we ended in a cafe, and then an even shorter time after that break until we were at a pub for dinner.

And then it was onto the Ghost tour!! We went on an old-fashioned "ghost" tour of Edinburgh. It was cool, we were in these underground rooms where people used to live (and die). I was, needless to say, scared out of my brains. But we did get a shot of free Scotch afterwards, and once was enough. Scottish Whiskey is just not for me.

Then we went back to the Royal Mile, the pub with live music from before. We had a great time. The guy loved us because we were being crazy Americans, singing and dancing, and having a fantastic time. One of us *cough, cough Travis Triggs* even danced with his shirt off on a barrel in the bar. Oh, and it was this great lady named Eileen's 60th birthday. Let me just say, greatest lady ever. So, naturally we had a great time.

The way home was a LONG 8 hours. But it was broken up by good friends, and a trip to an Abbey... where we climbed a LOT of rocks. It was quite fun. Overall, I have to say that Edinburgh was an incredible experience. We saw the city, the pubs, the nature, and the culture. A+ Trip.

And now, to end this post, I leave you in true Scottish fashion, with this video.

More for later, love for now, Tess