June 25-Kat DeWeese

I began the day wondering what the specifics were from the night before; a group of six of us went out and truly experienced the culture here, drinking. We went to many different pubs last night and actually got a lot of drinks bought for us, even our one guy did! Class came way to early this morning and lasted for three hours today. After class we all took long naps in our beds with fresh linens, amazing! This evening Dr. Long treated the winning scavenger hunt to dinner at a place right in our neighborhood called the Orchard. Everything was fresh and local and very good.

After dinner we made our way to the Grass Market bar district for the Pub Tour. This happened to be where we were last night so we were hoping we did not run into to anyone who remembered us! Once there we went up stairs, because everything here is up 4 flights of stairs or a mile up hill to meet with our tour guides. They were both actors and quite charming. As we sat in this room and drank our half pints they gave us some background of the bar’s name and filled us in with who they would be talking about. We walked from pub to pub in both old town and new town hearing these great stories being told by some even better entertainers. They really made the stories come to life about Robert Burns, Walter Scott, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and many other famous Scottish writers and philosophers.

Walter Scott has a huge monument in the middle of the center of down town because he gave Scotland a lot of pride through his many poems and novels. When he started writing his novels he did not use his name because he did not care about the fame. This goes along with the Scottish culture because they are known to be very humble people. He also apparently loved to drink and be out at night just like all the other writers. It is said that the pubs were major inspiration for them. Another main part of the tour was describing the good and bad sides of Edinburgh that have always caused some turmoil for the city. It seems like almost every story we have heard or read about has involved the person having 2 very clear sides. This also goes along with the personality part of this course that we are learning about.

Since being here we have already done and tried so many things. Dr. Long luckily wants us to be independent and venture out on our own. That makes it so much more of a learning experience. So far my favorite thing here ha been the chips (fries) with brown sauce on them that you can get in a little cone to walk around with. The food is so great and fresh here that anytime you order and you are not sure what you just ordered you still know it has to be good. They love their cider beers here too which are amazing! What is better than spiked apple juice?! Today Alicia and I are making our way to Paris; we have no plans and no maps, just backpacks. I can not believe I’m getting this opportunity and hope to take full advantage of it. Who knows what awaits us around the next corner in this trip.