Friday, June 19-Tamara Stimatze

We arrived in Edinburgh yesterday, exhausted. Today is the first day we can mildly function, so Dr. Long planned a photo scavenger hunt. For the record, I’d just like to mention that I hate scavenger hunts.

After dividing into three teams we split up and headed to three different areas of Edinburgh. My group began in “New Town” which is also the area in which we are staying as a group. We began searching for our locations. First was the Royal Botanical Gardens. They were around the corner from our house, easy to find, and beautiful! Unfortunately, we had no time to stay, so we began seeking our other two locations out. The other two were harder to find, so we hopped a bus and headed to “Old Town.” Here we found Edinburgh castle, which I cannot wait to tour, and a famous pub dedicated to a woman who survived being hung. My group then found two historical monuments, visited the Princes Street Gardens, then caught another bus and headed back to the housing, hoping we hadn’t missed the deadline. We arrived on time, but, unfortunately, did not win. As stated before, I don’t particularly like scavenger hunts, so I was only mildly disappointed.

Editor’s Note: This group found five of the required sites and subsequently learned the value of not waiting for the bus and just walking; the other groups found 13 and 16 sites, I’m just saying….

The scavenger hunt was good because it was an activity that I never would have done on my own and it helped us to get to know the city we’ll be staying in for two weeks. The scavenger hunt also provided support for our class as I spent time with students I didn’t know very well and visited a few places I’d read about only a few hours earlier in textbooks for the class! The castle and royalty were discussed in the reading and also executions were discussed in the reading. What’s really amazing is that I’d read a not-so-exciting history book about a man being hung in Edinburgh in 1697 and hours later was standing in the same place he was executed in.
In our wander around New Town with my scavenger hunt mates we found some great places. First we found a store with everything we still needed. We stumbled into this tiny amazing pub afterwards. Great place! I ordered an Irn Bru and vodka while others had beer. It was an amazing experience. Afterwards, we chatted with some locals in the pub and in an Italian restaurant which we’d dined at before returning home for the night. This town is great! The stores are great. The people are great.