BIG NEWS

So, whoever said that Kraft Dinner doesn't exist in the UK didn't know what they were talking about, cause lookee what I found!




The cheese sauce doesn't quite have the same zing to it, but hey, I'll take what I can get. Now I just need to stumble across a Tim Horton's tucked down one of the closes...

Edinburgh from above

We've experienced a semi-miracle here in Edinburgh - two back to back days of clear, sunny skies. The first day was perfectly timed with our residence's hike up to the top of Arthur's Seat (elevation 823 ft above sea level) in Holyrood Park; the second day inspired us to make our own trip up the less-elevated but more central Calton Hill, located at the east end of Princes Street.

At the beginning of our hike - Arthur's Seat is on the left:


The Castle on the left, Salisbury Crags on the right:


Yours truly at the top:


Looking down on the south of the city:



After the hike, walking in Holyrood Park and looking towards Calton Hill:


And now here is the view from Calton Hill this evening; the ragged hill in the background is the castle.


Looking up Princes Street:


The unfinished National Monument is referred to by some as "Edinburgh's disgrace" - I kind of like it.


Arthur's Seat through the columns of the National Monument:


The sun begins to set...


I think this is my favourite shot of the evening:


Gorgeous, no?

Tomorrow I switch from my city-wandering, photo-taking tourist ways back into student mode, as I have my first classes. Luckily my walk to school, and the campus itself, are just as beautiful as the rest of the city, so I won't feel as though I'm missing out!

University life: a preview

After a busy week of welcome meetings and various orientation events, I finally have some time to show off - um, I mean, show you - what my day to day life at the university will be like.

Below is my residence, Mylne's Court, as seen from the inner courtyard:



About 180 postgrad students, mostly international, live in the three halls that make up Mylne's Court. My room doesn't actually face into this courtyard, but looks into the courtyard nextdoor. The view is just as pretty, and often more entertaining. For example:
These guys like to practice and choreograph their swordfighting. The other day they were using spears. I wonder if they work at some sort of historic locale, recreating battle scenes for tourists.

Speaking of tourists, they also wander through on a regular basis, usually led by tour guides:

Kind of funny to become a living breathing part of the tourist attraction that is the Royal Mile.

This is the view from the back of Mylne's Court, looking down towards Princes Street and the New Town:

Everything is so mossy and old - I love it!

Now let's get to the university proper. Below is the interior of McEwan Hall, venue for the International Welcome Day, and apparently where I will graduate should I stick around for convocation next fall. Don't hate me.



These pictures don't even do it justice - the interior was beautifully painted and very ornate, with a huge organ at the front.

While the English Department is not located in some grand old building (it's on the 6th floor of an modern tower - disappointing, considering the fact that our English Department is the oldest in the world), it does have some excellent views. This is looking towards the Salisbury Crags and Arthur's Seat, part of Holyrood Park:




If you look carefully in the background of the second photo, you can see the Firth of Forth!

Much more rubbing in to come - miss everyone lots!

Scottish snapshots

Since I now have internet access in my room, this post will be mainly photos accompanied by a wee bit o' commentary, as they say here.

First up, the all important question of food:


To my slight (ok, great) disappointment, here they don't seem to call baked potatoes "jacket potatoes" as they did in London. Luckily, the lack of an excellent name does not detract from the deliciousness. Appropriately, a big old cheese and bean potato was my first meal in Scotland - as this place is just down the Royal Mile I feel I will be frequenting it on a regular basis. One delicacy on the menu which I am hesitant to try: haggis samosas. Yes, you heard me. Once I finally work up the nerve to give haggis a try, maybe then I will give the samosas a chance... but for now, no thanks!


Speaking of haggis... seeing as this cafe is just up the street (towards the castle), maybe I will make it a requirement that all vistors attend the free tasting? (and yes, there is such a thing as vegetarian haggis, so there's no way of getting out of this one.)

Dinner on night #2 was at the Elephant House cafe, "birthplace" of Harry Potter:


With a view of the castle like that, no wonder J.K. was inspired. Another window faces Heriot's School, apparently the model for Hogwarts. No pictures of my dinner, as all I had was a burger with crisps (I'm catching on!) followed by a cup of tea. While the large sign out front announcing the Elephant House's status as the birthplace of HP screams tourist trap, it was actually quite nice inside. Apparently students come here often, as it's close to the university.

Nothing, however, screams tourist trap quite like a fudge shop:


Despite my deep love for tourist fudge (for those of you who were unaware of this deep love, let me reassure you that I am not being sarcastic, as any member of my family can attest), I did not buy any fudge. Or even go inside, or linger by the window. Temptation is hard to resist, so I imagine I will one day give in. First, I have to find a deep fried mars bar... mmm.

Moving on from food, and carrying on with tourist traps, I revise my earlier statement: if anything screams tourist trap (or more specifically "Touriste Trappe") even more than a fudge shop, its "Ye Olde Christmas Shoppe":


Kind of weird to have shops like this just down the street - especially the ones selling all things Scottish (beach towels which look like kilts when worn around the waist, anyone?). Especially the ones selling all things Scottish which also blare bagpipe music all day long, meaning that whenever I step outside I can hear it. Bets on how long it takes for me to get sick of that?

Amongst all things Scottish, of course, is Nessie:


I should have taken a picture of the left side of this box: it features a bearded man, probably as old as Loch Ness, with arms outstretched towards a question mark, ready and waiting to reveal the monster's deep dark secrets. I am thinking this is one attraction I can skip.



One of many kilt makers on the Royal Mile. Please note: the Bonnie Prince Charlie Jacket and Vest are now available for the low low price of 199 pounds (just under $400 CAD).

Best way to get your photo taken by thousands and thousands of tourists: bagpipe busking.


Thankfully, playing the bagpipes outside on our section of the Royal Mile (called the Lawnmarket) was banned by law last year - the closest pipers are a block away near George IV bridge.

Even if you wear a kilt, you are asking to get your photo taken by complete strangers. Who may ask to pose with you. Even on your wedding day.

(I guess it's a bit hard to see, but the groom is in full Scottish dress.)

Now this final attraction (for now) is one I have been pretty pumped about:


In fact, our residence is partly subsidising a trip this Saturday. Since I've met a bunch of lit people here already, and most are planning to come, it should be quite awesome. Pubs and literature - both soon to become fixtures of my life in Edinburgh.

Of course, there is much more to come - namely photos of actual historical buildings and monuments (I promise you, I paid attention to much more than Nessie keychains). I guess you have to register to make comments, but I would love to hear from any of you who are reading this - if you don't want to register, please email or facebook me. Now that my internet is up and running I will try to do a better job of staying in touch. Until next time, cheers! (hehe)

A brief update

I finally have a free moment to post a short update for y'all. The process of setting up my internet here is quite elaborate (it involves registering my computer make and model and MAC address with the network people, then many long hours of waiting for a confirmation email to arrive in my inbox - it has yet to arrive), so my contact with the non-Scottish world has been limited.

Well... that's not strictly true - I've spent the past 48 hours hanging out with a bunch of Canadians and Americans who live in my residence. I've only met one girl from Britain in our building, and no Scots, which makes sense considering that International Students are guaranteed accomodation here. But, I have met people from further afield than North America - one of my flatmates is from Japan (the other is from Iowa), and I've met people from South Africa, Germany, Brazil etc. Overall a really great crowd of people - we've all come a long way (and spent a lot of money) to get here, so you can tell that people are trying to make the most of their time here - all very open, friendly, and fun. Two nights in residence and already two pub nights... a sign of a good year to come, at least socially! The first night was especially entertaining - we went to a nearby pub following the rez Meet and Greet night, only to spend the whole night listening to Journey, "Cotton-Eyed Joe," Michael Jackson, Britney Spears... not so much an authentic Scottish experience, but a really good time nevertheless! It kind of feels like Douglas Hall all over again, but better - I feel a bit older, wiser, and hopefully less socially awkward as a result, so I've been able to meet friends quite a bit more easily than four years ago. My program is small, so I'm sure I'll be meeting more people later this week at Induction Day and other orientation events.

Lest you think I'm spending all my time here in pubs, I've also spent a fair bit of time in the Scottish equivalents of Dollarama - "Pound Saver," "Pound Stretcher," "The Edinburgh Bargain Store" - stocking up on odds and ends for my residence room. Our flat has three bedrooms, and bathroom, and a full kitchen with a small seating area, all along a long hallway. Though it is a 17th century building, the inside has your standard nineties university residence feeling to it, which is fine by me. My room is probably close to the same size as my room in Doug - and there is definitely floorspace for one or two overnight guests, in case any of you are considering a visit!
Now I'm off for a campus tour before possibly setting up a bank account - keep your fingers crossed that my internet gets sorted out, as then I will be able to post more pictures and get onto Skype. Hope everyone is doing well, and I will try to talk to you soon!

First impressions

Hi everyone! At the suggestion of some of you back in Canada, I will be (trying my hardest) to blog about my time here in Edinburgh. I figured it's a nice mix: the stories of a mass e-mail with the photo-posting possibilities of facebook. Hopefully the content is interesting to more people than my immediate family... I'm a little self-conscious when it comes to this sort of thing. But here goes!

I've been here two days and already I love the city! I've been staying at a hostel because I can't move into my residence until tomorrow (Saturday). Though very tired due to jet lag and such, I've tired to walk around and get a sense of the city, both on my own and as part of a free 3 hour tour that was advertised at my hostel. The city is just as or maybe even more beautiful than I imagined - and definitely more hilly than I realized, though I blame this on the fact that I spent a lot of time looking at two-dimensional maps of the city before I got here.

The hostel itself is pretty sweet, as the photo below kind of shows. It's a few steps off the Royal Mile just below the castle - hence the name "Castle Rock Hostel".



I'm in one of those 5 bunkbed rooms... something I can cope with for 2 nights, especially knowing that I'll have a room all to myself tomorrow.

Speaking of my room... my residence is just up the street from the hostel - way closer than it seemed on the map, which is excellent, especially considering that I maxed out my baggage allowance and will have to roll two 50 lbs suitcases and my computer-and-gadget-filled knapsack over there tomorrow morning. I am slightly worried by the fact that my room is 712 - hopefully that doesn't mean 7th floor... or I could be facing some brutal flights of stairs tomorrow. Either way, I am pumped to move in. I'll show you what it looks like from the street:



You can't see it, but the date about the doorway is 1690 - and the little red shop beside it is "The 'Wee' Whisky Shop" - haven't been in there yet. You go through the entrance way and the residence building encircles the courtyard behind. But more on that once I actually move in...


I am about a 2 min walk down the hill from the Edinburgh Castle. Here's a view of the castle from my hostel:


Right now they have bandstands still set up from the military tattoo that happened in August, so I can't yet put up a shot of the Castle as viewed up the Royal Mile, from in front of my residence. Here is the Royal Mile looking down towards my residence from the Castle esplanade, however:


And looking even further down the Royal Mile from in front of my residence - I am near the top of the Royal Mile, which is actually just over a mile long:


As you can see, there was sunshine yesterday! In fact, it's yet to rain while I've been here (at least while I am awake to observe rain), so I'll take that as a good omen.

I have lots more pictures to post, most of which lend themselves to far more interesting commentary than this, but the hostel wifi connection isn't super fast, and I'm slightly concerned that I am slowing down the internet for everyone else by uploading megasized photo files (there are at least 6 other laptops here in the common room with me). So, I will save them for tomorrow when I have my own internet connection! They're also playing a Nickleback song over the speakers (apparently you can't even escape bad CanCon by hopping across the pond), which is as good a reason as any to get out of here and go to bed. More soon...