But enough excuses. BLOG NOW.
Before my life devolved into the psychotic chaos that was preparing for an exam and a four-day trip (imagine me alternately shoving clothing into my backpack, flipping frantically through mountains of handouts about kings who are ALL NAMED EDWARD, and stress-eating Aero bars while wallowing in self-pity) I went to Edinburgh for the weekend. Woo.
Edinburgh is not what I thought it would be like.
I don't know. Maybe I thought Scotland would be a shit-ton of sheep-covered bluffs, or maybe I thought Edinburgh would be like a mini-London, but neither of those were the case. At all. I was pleasantly surprised.
(I've generally tried to include like a little life-lesson I've gotten from each place I visited, but I don't know if I have one for Edinburgh. It was just cool. Sorry if you were expecting some soul-searching.)
We stepped out of the train station in Edinburgh, only to be greeted by a big-ass castle. You'd think I might be bored with castles by now, but it really never gets old, especially not when it's Edinburgh castle, which is situated on a freaking CLIFF overlooking like a whole block of gardens. Not only was it a beautiful castle, but it also would have been very effective as a military fortress, given its height and impressive size and how close it was located to water. So that was impressive, and I wasn't really expecting a castle in Scotland, probably because I had zero expectations. Everyone talks about London and Ireland, but poor Scotland gets neglected, I feel.
And maybe it was better that I didn't have any expectations, because then it's impossible to be disappointed.
Anyway, there were lots of neat shops in Edinburgh, which we went into and which inevitably left me feeling pretty pathetic because all the beautiful sweaters and bottles of scotch cost more than £10, which is approximately my entire budget for a day of travel (only joking).
But the best part of Edinburgh was the (free!) hike we took up Arthur's Seat. For those of you unfamiliar with the world-renowned geology of Scotland, Arthur's Seat is part of a volcano. It's a little more than 800 feet high and pretty rocky, so, though my Indiana friends are going to find me pretentious for saying this, it's a really tall hill.
View of Edinburgh from the castle!
Well, all my best pictures of Arthur's Seat are trapped on my phone. Maybe I'll add them later.
That's not to undermine its impressiveness, though. It may not reach above tree line, but Arthur's Seat was still incredible. (And I did make fun of my "flatlander" friends, but it was a moderately difficult climb, especially when you make the poor decision of wearing Toms to hike in...not my best plan.) It's amazing to me that we live in a world where people have found a way to settle environments as varied as deserts and rainforests. And looking down from Arthur's Seat and seeing the tops of skyscrapers I'd been walking underneath for two days made me feel separate from it all, like I was able to step back and reflect and not have to worry about assignments or politics overseas or money. But it also made me feel connected. I stood in the same spot as probably millions of people have before and looked out over a city of several hundred thousand and think, "so that's what we all look like down there."
And the music swells. I'm sorry if my earnestness is like eye-rollingly obnoxious or anything. I promise I'm not trying to be an inspirational postcard. But really, I thought I would feel much more isolated overseas, when in reality, I feel weirdly connected to places here. It's just cool to think of all the people who have stood in the same places I have, who lived in these houses and walked on these streets. I like that I've been able to feel that in places where I don't live. And that's a nice note to end on, so I'll stop.
Next post: Encounters with crazy drunken hostel roommates.
Yay! You made it to the end! Enjoy this picture of Totoro from my hostel!
