On Sunday I returned from a three day trip spent adventuring with my bestie/roommate from E&H in Edinburgh, Scotland. Early Friday morning Bailey and I met in Edinburgh at our hostel in the shadow of the stunning Edinburgh Castle. After many hugs we headed off to explore the city, but first we had to grab a bite to eat and have a chance to catch up on everything since we had not seen each other since July.
Then we headed out to learn about Scotland. Part of Bailey's family actually comes from Scotland so it was really great getting to learn about the history and culture of Scotland while we were there. During the first day we were there we visited the National Galleries, Sir Walter Scott Memorial, St. Giles Cathedral, Museum of Edinburgh, Edinburgh People’s Museum, The Museum on the Mound and more. One of my favorite things we did that day was go on the Real Mary King’s Close tour. Edinburgh is filled with little alley ways that are called closes. Centuries ago many people were packed into houses along these downward sloping closes. The poor at the bottom of the buildings lined the closes and the wealthier lived higher up. This tour was incredibly well done and we got to go down into four different closes that are no longer accessible via the main street and learn about what life was like living here and some not so fun facts like how the plague hit the city 11 times. We also learned about the social and economic status of various individuals and families during this time and what that meant for their livelihoods, where they lived and how they lived. It was a fantastic tour! We even got to see the first toilet that existed in Edinburgh!
Then we headed out to learn about Scotland. Part of Bailey's family actually comes from Scotland so it was really great getting to learn about the history and culture of Scotland while we were there. During the first day we were there we visited the National Galleries, Sir Walter Scott Memorial, St. Giles Cathedral, Museum of Edinburgh, Edinburgh People’s Museum, The Museum on the Mound and more. One of my favorite things we did that day was go on the Real Mary King’s Close tour. Edinburgh is filled with little alley ways that are called closes. Centuries ago many people were packed into houses along these downward sloping closes. The poor at the bottom of the buildings lined the closes and the wealthier lived higher up. This tour was incredibly well done and we got to go down into four different closes that are no longer accessible via the main street and learn about what life was like living here and some not so fun facts like how the plague hit the city 11 times. We also learned about the social and economic status of various individuals and families during this time and what that meant for their livelihoods, where they lived and how they lived. It was a fantastic tour! We even got to see the first toilet that existed in Edinburgh!
The next day we got to do more exploring like visit and eat breakfast at The Elephant House cafe, which is where JK Rowling went to write many of the early Harry Potter books. We spent basically four and a half hours in the National Museum of Scotland, which was an amazing museum. It is a natural history and international history museum, but the other half of the museum is an entire history of Scotland, which was incredibly well done. On top of that the museum’s changing exhibit was a professional international wildlife photography showcase, which was incredible. These artists and their photography was absolutely amazing, moving and inspiring. Then we traveled to the rooftop terrace of the museum to see some great views of the city. We then ate lunch at a nice pub and watched the Scottish National Men’s Rugby team play the Australian Men’s National Rugby team. After our late lunch we traveled down the Royal Mile to Holyrood Palace which is the official residence for British Monarchs in Scotland. We also went and toured the Scottish Parliament building. Fun facts: Scotland established it’s own parliament separate from Britain in 1998, the physical building is modern and inspiring. We were able to learn about the history of the Scottish Parliament, see the United States exhibit they had and visit the actual room where parliament is held. So cool!
Our final day in Edinburgh was spent looking at incredible and beautiful views of the city. We hiked up the near peaks and cliffs of Edinburgh in Holyrood Park, but better known as Arthur’s Seat. Despite the fact that it was a cloudy day it was still gorgeous. Then we hiked down, over and up again to Calton Hill, which is known as the Athens of the North. This hill overlooks the city and has many old and unfinished monuments residing on top due to lack of funding back in the 1800s. We concluded our day with a nice long meal in a pub back in city center before we had to part ways and head back to Dublin and Exeter.
Before visiting Edinburgh I did not know much about Scotland or it’s history and culture. Being able to explore the city and learn about these things resulted in me falling in love with Edinburgh and Scotland. The souvenir I got from my time here is Scotland is a scarf with a tartan pattern on it (if you do not know what tartan means google it); however, after really learning about tartan patterns and how they represent families or clans from Scotland (Bailey got one representing her family name) I decided I did not want one with a tartan pattern representing a clan name since I do not have much Scottish ancestry. Instead I got the tartan representing world peace with their partnership with the United Nations. This tartan is light blue representing the UN, has purple and green representing Scotland and the tartan tradition (purple and green our the colors of their national flower), red and black representing the reality of violence and war, and finally white which represents the hope for peace. I think that representing world peace through a tartan is a fantastic idea. I really enjoyed my time in Scotland and learned an immense amount while I was there!
Life is busy and exciting here. I am enjoying my classes and trying to diligently stay on top of all of my assignments. Balancing school, classes, service site, homework, host family, traveling, spending times with friends, speaking with people at home is a lot to do and hard, but totally worth it. Earlier this week at my service site I have been helping prepare for the Let’s Talk Science Festival happening later in the week. This means that I have been getting to try out fun experiments that students will be participating in later this week. This also means that I got to assemble legos for about 45 minutes yesterday, which is always fun. It is less than a month until my program is over. The time has gone by so incredibly fast. I received some great advice from my friend Leah who completed the program I am studying through a year ago. She told me to make sure that during my final weeks here I make sure to take every opportunity I get. I definitely plan on doing this! Thanks for the great advice Leah.
Stay tuned for another blog. I am heading to Norway this weekend.
Life is busy and exciting here. I am enjoying my classes and trying to diligently stay on top of all of my assignments. Balancing school, classes, service site, homework, host family, traveling, spending times with friends, speaking with people at home is a lot to do and hard, but totally worth it. Earlier this week at my service site I have been helping prepare for the Let’s Talk Science Festival happening later in the week. This means that I have been getting to try out fun experiments that students will be participating in later this week. This also means that I got to assemble legos for about 45 minutes yesterday, which is always fun. It is less than a month until my program is over. The time has gone by so incredibly fast. I received some great advice from my friend Leah who completed the program I am studying through a year ago. She told me to make sure that during my final weeks here I make sure to take every opportunity I get. I definitely plan on doing this! Thanks for the great advice Leah.
Stay tuned for another blog. I am heading to Norway this weekend.