Edinburgh Didn't Know What Hit It

Last Friday, in a whirlwind of crazied hurriedness, my friends and I ventured on to the train for Edinburgh, Scotland. After about four hours and three train cars later, we arrived in Scotland hungry and tired, but ready for an adventure. So where did our adventure start...? A hostel!

I never thought I would ever stay in a hostel, but with a student budget and a growing list of destination spots, I had to make due. I was with five of my friends in the room full of twelve bunk beds, so I felt relatively safe. The smell of illegal substances filled the air upon entering the hostel, but the other people staying there seemed nice enough. There was even a little team of elderly ladies in Scotland for a weekend getaway. Harmless enough. So, we dropped our bags off in the room, locked-up, and headed out to an Italian restaurant--something rather comforting and familiar to all of us. The tiramisu at the end made the night even better.

On Saturday, my friends and I left the hostel at half eight and marched through wind and rain to Arthur's Seat, an extinct volcano in Edinburgh. Toward the top of the mountainous hill, the conditions were so windy that we practically flew off the side. Our muscles were so sore after climbing anyway that we considered just letting the wind take us away and roll us back down. We didn't, but that would have made for a better story. Maybe next time.

For all of our hard work, we decided we deserved a nice lunch at a local pub. We stopped at Jenny Ha's to rest and eat some local treats. On a sign outside the pub, I saw that they had malts, among other beverages. Thinking malt milkshakes, I was super excited. When my turn came to order my drink, I asked the waitress what kind of malts they had. She said, "Oh a lot. We have £3 malts." I heard "three pound" as in weight. I thought that was a pretty heavy milkshake, so I realized we weren't talking about the same thing. I said, "Do they come with alcohol?" And she said, "Yes, it's malt whiskey." Well, my friends and I had a good laugh about that and I just ordered a Coca-Cola.

Later on in the day, we visited the Edinburgh Castle and went through all the buildings on the premises. The castle was more a collection of small buildings making up a castle village rather than just one big castle to meander through. Both Arthur's Seat and the Castle were great lookout points into Edinburgh and we had fun learning about the history of it all through our good friend, Jared, the history major.

On Saturday night, we went into town seeing what the nightlife was like in the pubs. Well, we saw some fairly party-hardy people and I even got to dance with a Scotsman. People were laid-back and a lot of fun to talk to. Sometimes, their accents are hard to decipher even though the language is the same, but with a few repetition requests, it gets sorted.

The last day there, which was bright, sunny, and without rain, we slept in and left the hostel with all of our belongings. After visiting the Scotland Art Gallery, we watched a comedy show at The Stand. The show was a perfect way to end the weekend before heading back to Ormskirk. We all had been running at full speed and then we finally had the chance to sit and be entertained. The humour thankfully translated over cultures--something we were afraid of before going.

Friends, food, fun. The motto of all of my crew's adventures. We've got it all.

Peace.