Before going to London, Brianna, another study abroad student, and I decided to visit Edinburgh, Scotland. I had three flights Wednesday and after 12 hours of travel, we finally made it here! I was mesmerized when I heard people talking in a Scottish accent for the first time. Even though I knew that people talked differently here, I still freaked out a little inside!
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| When I was still in Kentucky, but it's so beautiful! |
After Brianna and I both arrived and found each other, we managed to get an Uber and make it to our hotel. We couldn't check in yet, but we were able to drop off our luggage and start our day! Since it was raining and we were exhausted, we took things slow and walked around the Royal Mile. The Royal Mile is a road in between the Edinburgh Castle and Holyrood Palace. On the Royal Mile there are lots of museums, historical sites, and shops. The first thing we did was we got some coffee and then went into the Edinburgh museum. Then we walked along the Royal Mile and popped into any place that looked interesting.
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| One of the first Cathedrals we walked by and a statue of a famous poet. |
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| I'm not sure what this was, I think it is government buildings. It was one of those pictures that you take because everyone else is taking pictures of it! |
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| The Royal Mile |
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| This is the St. Giles Cathedral. It was one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. The stained glass and vaulted ceilings were magical and the organ was huge! Inside they were having a service so we couldn't walk around too much or take pictures, but we are planning on going back. |
One of my favorite places that we hopped into was a renovated cathedral that was turned into a market place/cafe. The building was beautiful and the stained glass was breathtaking. There were lots of vendors inside making it a great place to pop in for a few minutes to get out of the rain.
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| One of the stained glass pieces in the cathedral. |
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| A bit of the marketplace and more stained glass. |
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| I thought the person sitting up there was fake, but he was real! He was working on a huge painting. |
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Loving his Mad Hatter hat.
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The last thing we did was we went on an underground walking tour of Edinburgh called the Real Mary King's Close tour. It was a tour that took you underground and through old buildings and closes(alleyways) that were built on top of by the government in the 1600s. We learned about how people lived there and learned more about the plague. It was a great tour if you are ever in the area. Unfortunately, no pictures were allowed, so you'll just have to take my word for it!
At they end of the day, we checked in to our hotel, freshened up, took a nap, and got the best take away food ever. Can you guess what it was? Fish and chips! I know, so typical, but it was the best fish and chips I have had by far. We got it from a small takeaway restaurant called Bene's. We both were originally in the mood for pizza but we took a hint from the locals who all got fish and chips and we were not disappointed!
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Our walk to get our food.
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Brianna and I are both exhausted and our feet hurt but today was so worth it. I'm still processing that this is real life and that I'm living my dream. I'm already homesick, but I know that this an opportunity of a life time and I'm so thankful for it. One of my favorite movies called The Secret Life of Walter Mitty has a great quote that I'm basing my trip off of. The main character works at Life magazine who's quote is
"To See the World, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, to draw closer, to find each other and to feel. That is the purpose of life. "
It's talking about courage and facing the world head on, to not do something because you are scared, and to make connections with people. That is my goal. I'll be honest, I'm so scared to be here, but so excited. I don't know what's going to happen, but that's not going to stop me from doing what I want. I want to be adventurous, see and learn about everything I can, and connect with so many different people around the world. I'm finally here and I'm so thankful.
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