So, March is over?! And tomorrow is my last day of lectures?! When did April get here and how did March pass so quickly?! I knew it was coming but it passed even quicker than expected. Besides for going to lectures and seminars, I took a free tour of the BBC Television studio on Wednesday and I spend this past weekend in Edinburgh, Scotland visiting a friend who graduated Stonehill last June and is currently finishing up grad school at the University of Edinburgh.

Getting on an early Friday morning train at King’s Cross, Hannah, another Harrow student, and I began the four and a half hour ride up Great Britain. The weekend had a Harry Potter theme and fittingly so did its London beginning even though we didn’t depart from Platform 9¾. Arriving in Edinburgh at lunch time, Duffy greeted us at the Station and began our walking tour of the city en route to his flat. While walking through New Town to get to Old Town and back to his flat, Duffy showed us some spots off the beaten path. Our first stop was to see Dolly the cloned sheep who is stuffed and unnecessarily rotating in a glass box in a museum. Then he took us though the University of Edinburgh’s campus. In one of the university buildings we saw elephant bones and the largest jaw bone (of a blue whale) I have ever seen! He also brought us into the room he graduates in; completely grandeur is the only way to describe it. It sure isn’t the Stonehill SpoCo! Above one of the university building entrance doors is a relief sculpture that may be influenced JK Rowling’s creation of the Sorting Hat. When Edinburgh students graduate, a piece of extremely old cloth is placed over their heads. Once back at his flat, reminiscing about Peru, and letting Hannah and Duffy get acquainted, we set back out to see more of the city. We walked to the Edinburgh Castle (attempting to get in for free) and minding not to step on the heart in the sidewalk on our way, visited a graveyard and castle that Hogwarts may be based upon, and saw a real pirate working in a shop! After stopping for food, we continued our personal walking tour climbing Calton Hill where the Observatory, Nelson’s Monument, and a Scottish-Greek Parthenon was started to be built then halted due to lack of funds. While walking there, it began to rain but five minutes later, the sun was shinning and a double rainbow crossed the sky. The rainbow ended on a house—I wonder what is hidden in there! Wasting a little time before we were to meet up with some of Duffy’s friends at the Blind Poet, we saw the Queen’s Palace and the horribly designed Parliament building with bamboo and elements looking referential to guns. Duffy’s university friends welcomed us in and invited us to a rugby match at the Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh versus Cardiff Blues. The Welsh team won. Stopping at a Chipper after the match, I tried some authentic Scottish food, haggis. After walking all over in search of somewhere ‘suitable’ to go, we ended up walking back to his flat where we just hung out and talked for a good majority of the night. Even though he and Hannah had just met, nothing was awkward and they were getting along great! A big relief to me, the middle man. Giving up his bed and a lot of blankets (one thing I miss from my Stonehill bed!) for Hannah and I, he slept out in the sitting room on the pull out couch when we had the big bed! I love how I haven’t had to resort to the floor when visiting anyone yet!

Our goal for Saturday was to climb Arthur’s Seat which is in Holyrood Park next to the Salisbury Crags and thankfully the weather held out for us! I guess when I over pack and bring the necessary rain gear, the weather decides I don’t need it! I should have learned that two weeks earlier. So, climbing… we pretty much took the path directly up the side of the mountain/hill/cliff-ish mound. Midway to the flatter top portion I started to freak due to the sheer height and fierce wind. With a lot of reassurance and faith, we kept climbing upwards. 250.5 meters later we had made it to the top of Arthur’s Seat! Holding on for dear life and not getting to close to the edge, I reveled in the accomplishment. It was an adventure because despite the numerous times Duffy climbed it he had never taken that path before. However, we did take the easier, but longer, path down all the while being passed by world class cross country runners and middle aged hikers bounding up and down the hill. Then we meandered, sore feet and all, to the Mosque where we had a good, cheap lunch. After having our fill, we headed for the National Gallery of Scotland. Finally, someone that I could let out my art history dork-ness with. In London when I go to museums and galleries no one really talks when walking though the different rooms. This was a well welcomed change filled with stimulating, interesting, and engaging conversation! Of course, the impressionist rooms were my favorite, but that was a giveaway. After an exhausting morning we had intended to go to The Elephant House but being to busy from all of the Harry Potter hype, we went to another tea house which is rumored to be JK Rowling’s new spot. Upon resting our feet and getting warm, the sky was growing darker by the second. We determined it would be the perfect afternoon for a nap! Ok, you might not expect to go to another country, take an over an hour long group nap, play the ‘who is the most relaxed’ game, and then proceed to sit in the same room for over 10 full hours just talking and listening to music. Oh, but we did. After waking up, that is Hannah, Duffy, his flatmate Dave, and I, after over an hour nap we just sat and talked. While Dave went to the library, we didn’t budge an inch. It was a group where we could say whatever, the topics flowed from one to the other and there was never really a dull moment. At some point, Duffy cooked dinner because we gave all hope of putting our shoes back on to venture out to get food. And of course the clock change provided the time to fly past even more quickly. Next thing we knew it was 5am and we were still in the sitting room, drinking tea, listening to music and the boys playing the guitar, and just talking. It was just one of those comfortable, relaxing evenings.

After too few hours of sleep, we were once again up trying to plan our final day in Edinburgh. Originally, Duffy was supposed to have baseball practice (Yes, Edinburgh has a baseball team. And yes, he is probably the best on the team considering its status as an American sport). But to our advantage, it was cancelled and our tour guide was still around for the early afternoon! It was time for the traditional tourist shopping and in the mean time we took a few more photos while walking on the Royal Mile. After making our purchases, we headed back to The Elephant House. Now, this isn’t any tea house. It is THE place where JK Rowling sat in the back sitting room with a view onto the Edinburgh Castle and a graveyard while she wrote Harry Potter. Due to this little fact, the place is overrun with tourists at certain times of the day and with students and writers at others. We each got a pot of tea, something I have grown to love during my time abroad. Similar to Rowling’s writing, we ‘read’ our tea leaves just like Ron and Harry did! The Elephant House was just very relaxed and chill, very comfortable. Maybe that is why Rowling liked it so much! And it definitely had a great pot of tea! With a couple hours left in the Scottish city, we walked through the Princes Street Garden to see a home that literally is IN the park with a great view of the castle. On our way back to Duffy’s flat we walked up and down a million stairs due to the different ‘layers’ and built in bridges of the city. On minute you will thing you are at ground level then step past a building and notice you are actually on a bridge with another street level below! We stopped en route for another traditional Scottish food. It is no wonder the Scottish have such high heart attack rates—the fry everything from pizza and cheeseburgers to hot dogs and haggis. Those didn’t appeal to us so we had a fried battered Mars bar! It was delicious with all the melted chocolate but I felt like I was slowing digesting my death. Collecting our bags and stopping at Tesco for some train food, we headed to Waverly to say see you later to Duffy (who is coming to London in a few weeks to stay with other Stonehill grads). I love how Stonehill is all over Europe!

What I loved about Edinburgh was the eased pace of life. I’m sure it was a combination of the people I spent the weekend with as well as the city itself. People get where they need to be, but the hustle and bustle is nothing to the extent of London. This isn’t a slight against London as I am extremely thankful for its myriad of activities, but the calmer, more relaxed pace of life in Edinburgh is something I could easily and swiftly adjust too. It is a city, so there are things too do and see, but overall if it is rainy outside you don’t feel bad just staying indoors and hanging out listening to music.