After my visit to Edinburgh, I reached the "one month abroad" point of my trip! It has been an eventful semester as I have been traveling and exploring while also making amazing friends and learning a lot in my classes.
I went to Edinburgh with my friend Natalie, from High Point University. We get along well together so the trip was even better than expected. We took the train from Aberdeen to Edinburgh which is about a 3 hour train ride. We went on a double-decker bus tour to see all the sights and listen to a tour guide tell us about the town. After the first tour, we used the bus to hop on and off at certain sights in Edinburgh. We stopped at the National Scottish Museum and walked around for a bit. It was a lot like the museums in NYC. Natalie and I stopped at the Holyrood Palace, the Queen's Scottish home. We took an audio and walking tour of the Palace and it was amazing to look at. To the right is a photo of the Palace.
We then made it over to a tea shop for afternoon tea. This is where Natalie had me try English Breakfast tea and now I cannot stop drinking it and have it all the time! We stayed at the Kick Ass Hostel in the Grassmarket, right at the bottom of the hill that the Edinburgh Castle sits on. It was a great hostel in a great location with great staff. The only downside was the poor WiFi at the hostel, as it was hard to stay in touch with people. To the left is the view from our hostel of the market and the castle.
The next day we ate breakfast at the Elephant House, a cafe near Greyfriar's Bobby. J.K. Rowling wrote the Harry Potter books in that cafe. We walked the shops nearby and found cute little Scottish shops. We walked the Royal Mile as well to see the tourist shops and the shortbread bakeries. While walking the Royal Mile, I got to hold an owl! There were a bunch of owls brought from the zoo to raise money to take care of them and they offered to let some people hold the birds. To the right is a photo of me holding the owl, Snowball. After stopping back at the hostel to freshen up, we climbed up the hill to go into the Castle. It was an amazing view of the entire city! The castle has many signs and information about what each place was used for, they even had a dog graveyard. To the left is a photo of me and Natalie at the castle. We also went to the Museum of Childhood a tour through childhood toys throughout the years. The doll section was a little creepy but the rest was very interesting to read and look at.
We ate dinner at an Italian restaurant across from our hostel and then ventured back into town for the "City of the Dead" tour. It was a night tour run by some local history and ghost enthusiasts and they took us into the vaults built into the main bridge of Edinburgh. It was very spooky going into the vaults. Our tour guide, Sam, told us that the vaults were supposed to be used for storage by the stores nearby, but since they built the bridge out of a porous rock, the vaults would flood when it rains. In the early 18th century, many homeless people, criminals, and other black market sellers lived and died in the empty vaults. Our trip through them was very creepy and after hearing all Sam's stories I was spooked. We then followed the tour to the Edinburgh graveyard and went into the restricted area of the graveyard. Overall, the tour was awesome and well orchestrated.
Edinburgh is an amazing city and I plan to return more towards Christmas to see the Christmas markets and the Edinburgh Zoo lights. I loved traveling with my friends here, we all get along so well and have the same interests when visiting places. We all eat together at dinner and hang out after classes during the week as well. I have made an amazing group of friends and I hope that it lasts long after my semester abroad is over.