The Cavalcade & departure

This morning I slept in a little bit since I’m sure that I won’t be getting much sleep for the next 24 hours or so with all of the traveling to get back home. I finished packing up all of my stuff and got some lunch. After lunch, Brittany and I headed down to Holyrood Park (right by Arthur’s Seat and the Salisbury Crags) for a parade that is part of the festival called The Cavalcade. There were tons of people lining the streets and we got prime standing area right at the curb near the very start of the procession. The parade was really cool and started off with Harley Davidson rides, Farrari cars, a whole variety of bagpipers and bands from around the world, some floats, and lots and lots of groups of actors and dancers passing out flyers and trying to promote their shows. It was very lively and diverse and a great way to spend some of the last few hours here in Scotland!

We came back to the flat to finish getting ready to depart and now I’m just playing the waiting game until it’s time to catch a cab to take the train back to London where we have to try to find a way to get from King’s Cross to the airport for our flight a little after 9 am tomorrow morning. We’re hoping to be able to get the last tube ride to Heathrow Airport but we don’t have much room for error so it might be a bit of an adventure finding alternative transportation. I’m sure we’ll figure something out and I will be back in Michigan by noon-ish tomorrow! I can’t believe that my month overseas is already over! It has flown by and has been packed with great experiences and loads of memories! Goodbye, Europe! I’ll have to make my way back over here sometime soon ☺

Salisbury Crags, The Meadows, & a ghost tour

In the morning we went and bought tickets for a ghost tour tonight. Then we walked over towards Arthur’s Seat to climb the cliffs that are to the left of the volcano. Apparently the cliffs are called the Salisbury Crags. It was another good work out with a great view!

We came back to the flat for a bit and then Thao and I headed out to walk around the park in town called The Meadows because one of the guys we met in line last night before the show told us that there would be performers and artists there for the festival. When we got there we found only a few people practicing for some sort of drum show and a couple of fields of men playing cricket. So that was pretty much a flop but we still enjoyed being able to walk in the park and spend some time outside in the surprisingly sunny, warm weather. Since there wasn’t much to see in The Meadows, we wandered around in the city for a little while. We ended up coming across a small flea market type of thing going on in a street, so we did a little bit of shopping around there before we headed back to the central part of Edinburgh for a free show.

The show was called The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: A Romantic Conflict. We had come across the actors from the show a few nights ago because Brittany was wearing a Michigan State hoodie and the man commented on it because he is from Dearborn. So we talked to them for a little bit and they gave us the flyer for their show and we decided since we didn’t have anything else going on and it was free, that we would check it out. It was a very cute and clever show! There were only two actors (a male and female) and they each played many different roles very well by simply changing character by putting on a jacket, hat, glasses, etc. Quite talented!

After the show we came back to meet up with the rest of our flatmates to go to dinner. We came across a local pub that had an open table so we ate there. I got the All Day Big Breakfast which was a massive amount of food including: toast, eggs, bacon, baked beans, sausage, hash browns, mushrooms, and black pudding (a Scottish dish that tastes decent but mostly just like seasoning but apparently is made from sheep’s blood…).

As a whole, the meal was delicious and incredibly filling! When we were done with dinner, we went back to our flat until it was time to go and we walked over to the Royal Mile where our ghost tour was supposed to start. The tour guide wore a black hooded cape and was very dramatic. She carried around a lit candle that she held under her face as she took us to dark alleyways and streets and told us stories of “villains” and their secret lives. For the second half of the tour we walked down into the underground vaults that are supposedly haunted. It was all stone and very uneven down there and the air was stuffy and humid. Since we were the last tour of the night, we got to blow out the candles behind us as we went. Despite the creepiness of the place, the tour wasn’t really that scary. The stories that our guide told us were mostly about the ghosts that are said to haunt the various vaults and the different sightings and sensations that are often experienced. The stories weren’t very chilling and the fact that we were down there with a large group of about twenty or so people definitely made the experience less frightening. When we left the vaults, our tour was officially over and we walked back to our flat unscared but a little tired. That was the conclusion of our final night in Edinburgh.

More Edinburgh: Fringe fest & Taste of Scotland

Thursday, August 5
We walked to Astley Ainslie Hospital in the morning as a class. There, we had two presentations by SLTs (the Scottish Brain Injury Rehabilitation Service & Edinburgh Community Health Partnership). At the end, we got to hear from a stroke patient who now suffers from expressive aphasia, which was a very insightful and unique experience.

When the presentations and talk were over, we walked back to the flat to get some lunch and take a quick nap and then went to climb Arthur’s Seat, a dormant volcano that is right next to Edinburgh. The views along the way and at the top of the climb were breathtaking! It took us about 45 minutes to climb to the top over rocky “stairs” and dirt trails. On the top of the peak there were two rock monument structures—one was a sort of compass, and the other was a “seat” which was really more of a stone stump. We spent a fair amount of time at the top taking pictures and taking in the scenery all around us. It incredible to see the sea on one side, countryside farms on another, the city of Edinburgh on yet another, and cliffs in yet another direction. Such diverse and beautiful land! It was a great experience and we didn’t want to leave, but it started to rain a little bit so we decided to head down before we got stuck in the middle of a downpour on steep rocky, trails.

We came back and went to dinner at a local pub, although I didn’t eat since I had food back at the flat. We then hung out for a little at the flat before Thao and I went to walk around the Royal Mile. When we were there, we saw a street performer that does magic tricks with a cigarette—incredibly, he was a performer we had seen just a week or so before at Covent Garden! We also saw a group of artists dressed up as nuns with cigarettes and beer that were walking down the middle of the street in slow-motion apparently in an attempt to attract people to go see there show. It didn’t impress or tempt me to pay to go see them but it was entertaining to see their odd antics in the street! We then came across an 18-year-old street performer who juggled fire on two men’s arms.


Next, we did a little shopping and went to Frankenstein, a pub that has been around since the early 19th century. As the name suggests, the pub was decked out in Frankenstein décor with cobwebs, old horror movies playing on a projection screen at the front, and strange, old contraptions on the walls and hanging from the ceiling. Business was slow at first but then it picked up for about an hour or two. Lots of the girls from our trip were there and one of us even won a 300-pound bar tab after entering into a lottery and picking out a key that unlocked the “beast” in the cage (it was a man dressed up in a wolf mask). We stayed later than everyone else and then walked home after getting kicked out at 3 am since the place was closing up. We stopped because some of the girls wanted to get food on the way home. One girl got chips and cheese and then stepped outside to wait for everyone else, but her food was stolen right out of her hands by some guy that sprinted by and grabbed it. I guess that’s life in the city late at night haha. With that as our final event of the day, we headed back and were glad to finally get to sleep in the early hours of the morning.


Friday, August 6
I slept in after our very late night at Frankenstein. After everyone was finally ready, we headed down to the Royal Mile to walk around for a couple of hours to see the hustle and bustle of the Fringe festival. There were lots of street performers, actors and comedians handing out flyers for their shows, and other theatre people and musicians just having fun amongst all of the tourist and festival-goers. We got to see a lot of really strange stuff as well as some very talented people. It’s definitely very exciting and I’m so glad that we get to be here for this huge event!

When we had seen our fill of festival madness for the day, we walked back, stopped at Tesco (a grocery store) and then went back to our flat to pick up a little before the rest of our class came over for our final summary session of the program. We all tightly packed into our little living/dining room here and talked for a couple of hours about what we’ve learned, experienced, etc. It was a nice little wrap-up of the program.

After our meeting was over, we had a little over an hour to nap and get ourselves ready for the Taste of Scotland event. We all took cabs over to Prestonfield which is a complex including a hotel and a large stable that is decorated elaborately inside—this is where we had our Taste of Scotland dinner and show. The Prestonfield grounds are gorgeous and the inside of the hotel is very ornate and beautiful as well! Apparently several celebrities have come to stay there including Catherine Zeta-Jones, Elton John, Sean Connery and Winston Churchill. Pretty cool! Inside of the stable, you would have no idea that it actually was a stable. Everything was covered in red velvet, the walls were covered in sparkling lights that looked like a night sky, and there was a fairly large stage at the front with golden pillars and red curtains. It was much fancier and more elaborate than I expected!


Our dining experience at Prestonfield started off with our choice between a potato and turnip soup or game paté. Unfortunately, I was feeling adventurous so I chose the paté, but upon tasting it I immediately regretted my decision. It had a very smooth texture and it tasted almost like a funny, mushy hot dog but worse haha. Even though I only had a couple of bites and didn’t particularly enjoy it, at least I can say I tried it! Next up was the main course and we had another choice between beef with carrots and potatoes or poached salmon with green beans, potatoes, and Hollandaise sauce. I picked the salmon and it was delicious! It wasn’t anything too exotic to me, but I enjoyed it all the same! The main course was followed by lemon tart with Cranachan for dessert. It was a little bit sweet and tart and very rich, but I really enjoyed it. After that, we were given coffee or tea (I picked tea) with homemade Scottish tablet (a fudge-like, buttery tasting treat that was very sugary and a little gritty but quite yummy).

After tea was served, it was finally time for the show to start. We were provided with over an hour of Scottish entertainment including everything from dancing, singing, accordian, violin, drum, keyboard and bagpipe playing—it was incredible! In the middle of the show we had a break for a haggis ceremony in which a man presented the traditional Scottish dish with an eccentric “Address to the Haggis” and then we were served the odd dish. I was really scared at first since the description of how haggis is made does not exactly make my mouth water (it’s basically all of the leftover insides of a sheep that are ground up and then cooked inside the sheep’s stomach with some seasoning). We all worked up the courage to try the haggis, which was served on top of mashed potatoes and it was surprisingly tasty! It was quite peppery and had a strong seasoning flavor but was very edible and savory! I was pleasantly surprised by how well I like it. After our haggis tasting experience, the show continued on with the second half, ending with a group singing of Auld Lang Syne. And with that, our show was over and our study abroad program was officially over! It was very bittersweet!


After saying our goodbyes to Dr. Cooke, we took cabs back to the flats. Thao and I quickly changed and then walked over to the Assembly at George Street for a show called “Gutted” that was part of the festival. The show started about a half hour late, but luckily we made some friends with a Scottish couple and another couple that was from London and we passed the time talking about everything from NHS to Michigan winters to popular (and not-so-popular) festival performers. It was cool to get to hear their experiences and points of view about a variety of topics. The show eventually got underway and we spent the next hour plus watching a musical comedy about revenge that bore a close resemblance to Sweeney Todd. It was interesting and most of the actors were pretty talented. I thought it was a nice changeup from the two comedians that we had seen already at Fringe. The show finally ended around 1:30 am and we walked back to the flat to crash after another late night on the town. Only two more days left in Edinburgh; I’m having a great time and am going to make the best of my last couple of days in Europe! It’s hard to believe that our month here is almost over!

St. Andrews & Fringe Festival

Today we had an informal class trip to St. Andrews in the morning. It was just over an hour ride from Edinburgh on the train, which was completely bearable because there was such amazing scenery the entire ride! We rode past the coast as well as rolling hills of farmland speckled with sheep and cattle and lined with trees and stone walls. It was all breathtaking! I would have to say that Scotland’s countryside definitely give Ireland a run for its money.

When we arrived in St Andrews we had to take a very short bus ride up to town where we got off and walked down to the coast where the St. Andrews Link golf courses are. We spend a while hanging out on some rocks on the coast and taking in the views and then we finally made our way to the courses where we wandered around for a little bit trying to figure out where the Old Course was. It turns out that we were actually walking past the last couple holes of the course the entire time, but it was so open and didn’t have any obvious fairways, sand traps or greens that we didn’t know it was a course. It is so different from any golf courses that we had ever seen before, but I guess it makes sense that the course wouldn’t be too standard since it was made a long time ago. Once we figured out what it was it was neat to know that we were seeing the “birthplace of golf” and so many famous and talented golfers had been right where we were. Surreal!

We made our way down to the country club where a couple of girls suggested we eat lunch. I thought that the prices would be insanely high at such a prestigious place, but they actually turned out to be very reasonable so I enjoyed an chicken and bacon sandwich while feeling significantly out of place in my blue jeans and tennis shoes among all of the older, well-dressed Scottish golfers.


After lunch we wandered through some of the nearby shops and sat down to enjoy the surprisingly warm and sunny weather. We eventually decided to make our way back to the town centre to walk around for a little bit before we took the train back to Edinburgh. It was another enjoyable ride in the scenic country followed by a little more shopping in Edinburgh. Then, we came back to the flat for dinner and a little break before we went to a couple of comedy shows that were part of the Fringe Festival. One other girl and I went to see Dan Atropolski at the Pleasance Dome. He’s a British comedian who was pretty funny, but we also soon felt a much larger cultural barrier than we ever had before on the trip. It seemed that many of his jokes were about British people or culture that were way over our heads so we had absolutely no idea what was funny. It was still a cool experience and we were able to pick out enough humor for it to be worthwhile. When Dan’s show was done, the other girls then met us at the same place to see Bo Burnham. (For anyone who doesn’t know, Bo is a 19-year-old American who had a big break as a YouTube phenomenon a couple years ago). He was absolutely hilarious! He played the piano and guitar, sang, read “haikus”, and just had a great show! Bo performed for about an hour, and afterwards we walked around in an outdoor hangout area that was set up for the festival for a few minutes and then came back to the flats for the night since we have our last official class tomorrow morning.

Queen Margaret University & around town

We started up a new week of classes today. In the morning we took the train one stop to Musselburgh where we got off and walked to Queen Margaret University. There, we had four lecturers come and talk to us throughout the day; they were pretty interesting and two of them presented material on technology they use for speech assessment (electropalatography and ultrasound tongue imaging). I had never heard of either of these methods before so I thought it was very cool! We were there until a little after three o’clock and they even provided us with a good old British lunch (finger sandwiches, crisps, and mini cupcakes).
After class, we took the quick train ride back in to Edinburgh and spent an hour or so walking and shopping around the Royal Mile (basically like the Main Street here with lots of shops and activity). We then went to Deacon Brodie’s Tavern for dinner (named after the man who inspired the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde). I decided to try something a little different, so I got a Roast Lamb ciabatta sandwich. It came with gravy and roasted potatoes; all of it was a little bit interesting but pretty tasty. When we were done with dinner we headed out into the street and saw an Australian street performer so we decided to stop and watch. He was absolutely insane and really talented! This guy rode a three-meter tall unicycle while blindfolded and he simultaneous juggled three swords/axes. Crazy! Right before he did that stunt, he “swallowed” a sword that was probably a foot and a half long! It was the craziest thing I’ve seen in a long time haha. We found out at the end of the performance that he was in town because of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe that officially starts tomorrow and is a three week long festival with over three thousand shows (comedy, theatre, dance, music, art, etc.). Apparently it is the biggest festival of its type in the whole world; we’re really lucky to happen to be in town while it’s going on and I’m sure it will provide us with lots of entertainment and excitement!
When we were done watching the crazy Australian’s street show we walked back to the flat to rest for a little while.

Edinburgh

This morning started off with our transportation to Edinburgh from London. We had to take taxis as a group from our flats in London to King’s Cross to catch the train. Let me tell you that figuring out how to fit 21 girls with all of their luggage into three taxis early in the morning is not easy or fun haha. But we finally made it to the station and waited around for our train where we then struggled to find storage for all of our bags in the very limited luggage storage space. Well, needless to say it all eventually got sorted out and we took the four and a half hour train ride up to Edinburgh. Even though it was fairly long, the train ride was enjoyable because the scenery is gorgeous!
When we arrived in Edinburgh we took taxis to our flats and got to drop off our stuff in our rooms. I am in another flat of six girls, but this time we all have our own rooms and we have two bathrooms with working showers! I think it is a great upgrade from our crowded flats in London, but some of my roommates disagree for some reason. Oh well, at least I’m happy haha ☺ Not to mention, we have great views out of all of our windows on the fourth floor here; they are much better than the apartment rooftop views we had in London.
After we dropped off our stuff, Dr. Cooke took us down the street to show us where the nearest grocery store is. We then had a little over an hour to do what we wanted before our city bus tour. My roommates and I went to get dinner at a nearby coffee shop. I got a Cajun chicken crepe with a salad. They accidentally forgot to make my dinner though, so the chef brought me a free muffin too to make up for it. They were so friendly and everyone has the greatest Scottish accents! It is so fun to hear the different accents everywhere we go on the trip!
After dinner we came back to walk with the rest of the group to the Edinburgh Waverley Station to get on the tour bus. The tour lasted about an hour and was a great opportunity to orient ourselves within the city and to hear a little bit about the history and main attractions within Edinburgh. It is truly a unique, quaint, and beautiful city! After an hour on the second level of an open-topped double-decker bus, I quickly learned the hard way that Scotland does not have the warmest weather, even in the summer. We were all chilly and wishing we had brought warmer clothes, even though most of us were already wearing jeans, hoodies, and tennis shoes. At least now I have an excuse to buy some warm Edinburgh paraphernalia while I’m here! haha
When we were done with the bus tour we looked around in some of the touristy shops and then (rather blindly) made our way back to the street where our flats our. From there, we went to the University of Edinburgh office (our flats are through that university) to buy vouchers for the internet since we were told it wasn’t going to be provided to us for free. After that we went to the grocery store and came back to the flat to recuperate from our traveling and to test out the internet. Little did we know, apparently we could have gotten on the internet for free without the vouchers we had just purchased. I guess that means we’ll have to try to get our money back tomorrow…Sometimes traveling and all the expenses and unknown factors can really be overwhelming. But we’re all settled in now and happy to have any internet at all ☺ Tomorrow is a day long site visit to a nearby university. I’m not really sure what the visit is going to entail, but I guess I’ll find out soon enough!
Well, we’ve made it to our final week and last country that we are visiting for the trip! It’s all been flying by and it’s sad to think about leaving in a week, but at the same time I’m ready to come home to the familiarity of people, places, food, and transportation. I know I’ll be home soon enough, so it’s time to enjoy my final week here in Edinburgh ☺

Last day in London

One of my roommates and I went to church at All Souls Church in the morning. It was a Christian service and was fairly standard, but complete with a very long sermon. When church was over we tried to make it to the changing of the guard outside of St. James’s Palace but since the service at All Souls was so long, we got to St. James Street right after the guards had come out and as everyone was leaving to follow them down the street to Buckingham Palace. So instead of seeing the ceremony, we walked through Green Park and did some shopping at a street vendor and got sandwiches for lunch at Pret a Manger.
From there we took the tube to Marble Arch and saw Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park. Speaker’s Corner was very unique and worth seeing, but it was more like a bunch of lunatics yelling at each other and to the crowd than anything very insightful. Most speakers had religious talks or songs. Afterwards, I got ice cream that was really thick and kind of like whipped cream but tasted a little bit like yogurt. Very different.
After that, we came back to the flat for awhile to pack and catch up on journaling, emails, and other random stuff. We finally went to eat at the pub across the street called “The Victory”. I got chile con carne with a salad. It was really good and reasonably priced and a great place to eat for our last meal in London. We then rushed over to the London Eye (London’s huge “ferris wheel”) where our whole group had a reservation for a pod for a ride around the Eye. Since we had paid for an entire pod, we also got a free ticket into the London Eye’s 4D experience. It turned out to be a 3D video of the Eye and sights that can be seen while on it along with wind, confetti, bubbles, etc. to provide the “fourth demension”. It was a really cool experience, but probably not worth it if you have to pay for it. We then got into our pod and took a breath-taking ride around the Eye with a complete view of the massive city of London at night. With our entire class and professor there, it was definitely the perfect way to end our stay in London! And now we’re done here in London and ready to head off to Edinburgh for our final week in the UK…

Paris!

Ok, so it's been super busy around here so I'm just going to post a quick summary of our weekend in Paris:


Friday, July 30
We took tube to Heathrow and flew to Paris. From there we took a train from the airport to the city. Right when we got on, there were two men and a little kid who were playing music with an accordian and tamborine on the train. It was really entertaining and a great welcome to Paris. We got a little lost but found hostel with help of Sarah and Marissa who had already arrived. Th hostel was very nice; it was more like a hotel than a hostel because we had small rooms of two and three people with our own bathroom and the lobby and hallways were very clean and modern. We dropped off our stuff and then headed to lunch a nearby cafe. I got a Croque Madmoiselle (at Chelsea's recommendation) which is cheese, ham, and an egg on toast. it was so good! Then we went Notre Dame and took pictures of the outside of the church, but we didn't go in. We got gelato at a small stand in the street. It was very expensive and rich, but we wanted to treat ourselves since you're not in Paris too often haha. After that we went to the Arc the Triomphe from there and paid to go to the top. It was a gorgeous view of the city, including the Eiffel Tower! After that we walked down Avenue des Champs Élysées and saw the original Louis Vuitton shop but it was just closing up when we got there so we didn’t get to go in. We then walked over to the Eiffel Tower to get some daytime pictures. It is such a huge structure and very impressive! How cool to be standing right in front of such a famous monument! We sat around for a little bit and then went to a nearby grocery store to buy some wine, baguettes, and cheese. We took our groceries back to the lawn in front of the Eiffel Tower and spent the rest of the evening under it lit up at night. I didn’t know that it sparkles every hour, so that was an exciting surprise! It was all so beautiful and surreal! We had difficulty finding our way home after midnight because the metro stop we wanted to get on seemed to only be a parking garage. However, we eventually found another stop and headed back to the hostel.
(By the way, the metro smells really bad and is dirty with lots of grafity and many poorly labeled stations. The conditions of teh underground system in Paris made us really appreciate the tube in London.)



Saturday, July 31
We woke up fairly early and got breakfast at the hostel which was really good compared to our Dublin hostel. They gave you the option of getting cereal, juice, coffee (or hot chocolate), milk, yogurt, croissant, baguette, biscuits (basically just packaged toast), with butter, jam, and a French version of Nutella. After breakfast, we left to go to Montmartre to see Sacre Coeur. There was a great view of the city because it is up on a hill overlooking all of Paris. It was a great place to visit, but very exhausting with lots of steps to climb. After taking our fill of pictures, we went to a patisserie and I got an apple filled pastry. We then went to Moulin Rouge which is also in Montmartre. There were lots of scandalous shops and other crazy things to see in the area. Then, we headed to the Louvre where we split up and some of us went inside and others went shopping. We only got to see only a small part of the Louvre because it is so huge and we had a time constraint, but we saw the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo along with lots of other impressive paintings and statues. It was crazy to be standing right in front of artwork that you have seen in books and movies your entire life! Then we headed back to Notre Dame because we wanted to go inside. Someone had heard that the inside was pretty “hollow” and the outside was more impressive, but I disagree. It was incredibly beautiful and ornate inside! We did some souvenir shopping in the area and then got dinner at a quirky restaurant with goofy waiters. I got a vegetarian salad in a bread bowl. It was very unique, but like all the food in Paris, it was delicious! After dinner, we finished our shopping and then took the metro back to the hostel where we got our bags and left for the airport. Between the metro, waiting for the plane, flight, customs, and finally the tube ride home, it took forever to get back to the flats. In the end, we finally got back after 11 and had to start planning for our last day in London. It was exhausting but we all had an amazing time in Paris! It is such a beautiful and unique city with so much character!