Castle and University of Edinburgh

Yesterday was our first full day of touring around and getting used to using our flat, our keys and navigating Scottish streets. I think we did pretty well! We found our way to the Castle of Edinburgh and down the streets through the Royal Mile which is where the original town sprouted up down the hill alongside the "driveway" to the castle. There are tons of tourist shops and little tours to take and all. It's all very busy and crowded but strangely I kind of felt a little more at home there because I knew everyone else was probably a tourist too. Especially because it is in the middle of the Fringe Festival. The Fringe Festival, for those who don't know ( I didn't until yesterday!) is a huge week long festival of theatre, dance, musical and pretty much any other performance you could imagine put on by anyone and everyone. But the sweet thing is that there are a ton of legit plays and question-answer things to go to! Some are comedy, some are drama, others...well use your imagination. When you walk down the street everyone is dressed in costumes and sometimes performing in the street and sidewalks and courtyards. Everyone is trying their hardest to get you to come to their performance and to pay their entrance fee or even just to get their name and face out there that you get bombarded by pamphlets and people with really weird face paint and costumes. There was even a guy with bat/dracula-like wing walking around on stilts and a guy dressed up in a wizard's clothes singing a song he dedicated to "Sabrina the Teenage Witch". His CDs were selling for £2, and people were buying them. 

And before all this my roommates and I and a few other girls went up to the Edinburgh Castle. It was huge! I think I was still a little out of it from traveling because I kind of felt removed from the experience but I still enjoyed it immensely. There was a gorgeous view from the top in which there was also this shear-ish sort of drop. My favorite parts were visiting the dungeons and seeing the prisoner of war parts of the castle. It was so neat! It was dank and dark, but clean because of all the tourists who pass through daily. Admission was £13. They also had the crown jewels on display as well as the crown and a ceremonial sward and a TON of massive shiny objects we commonly call "diamonds and other precious stones". In the gift shop they had these little bookmark things of all the different Scottish clans and their family crest along with a plaid pattern. Reminded me of Brigadoon :) But of course it would...because I'm in Scotland!

Today, we had two short classes in a room at the University of Edinburgh. One on travel writing, which is not at all what I thought it was. It's more of learning to write articles on how to get around places, what to do in certain cities if you want to make the best of your stay, or where the good places are to visit or even exploring local shops and culture. I thought it was just a fancy way of saying we'd have essays and papers to write on the trip. PSH. We have those due too, as well as journals about our experiences. 

The other class was on some of the reading we had to finish by today. Mainly history of Scotland and some works of John Knox and an article out of Christianity Today about protestants making pilgrimages of sorts. I really liked that one, it was interesting because the author pointed out that we can find something spiritual about everywhere we go and learn and grow from every trip. There was more to it but that was the general gist.  

More to come! Thanks for reading!