Let me begin by saying sorry! I’ve been sick for the past couple of weeks and completely left the blog hanging. But now I’m back and ready for an intense update. This blog post is about my trip to Scotland, and the next will be about Ireland. While most people were actually reading during “Reading Week”, some of my friends and I went on a short European adventure. Here we go:
We suffered on the most uncomfortable bus ride of my life through the night. Keep in mind that I can fall asleep practically anywhere, and I could not get an ounce of shut eye on this bus. We were thrilled to get to the hostel and take a nap, to then realize that check in was not until 2 pm. It was 9 am. So instead we grabbed breakfast in the hostel’s kitchen and passed out on their couches until 11 am.
That’s when we headed over to the 3 hour walking tour of Edinburgh. One of our first stops was the Heart of Midlothian, which is a heart shape in the street of town that represents an old place of public execution. There are many myths; some say that you do it because you want to do it in disdain of the prisoners that were killed there; some say they do it to show contempt for the tax office that once stood there; some say it is done for good luck. What is ‘it’ you ask? Oh, ‘it’ is spit. People spit on this heart. In the middle of the street. Good luck or not, I wasn’t risking it, so I forced my friends to spit on it with me. Below is a picture of the Midlothian Heart that I took, as well as some ladylike spitting: 
We saw many more things on the tour, such as the grave of Greyfriar’s Bobby [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greyfriars_Bobb], the quick view of the castle in Edinburgh, the “birthplace of Harry Potter” (called The Elephant House), and we saw the building that was J.K. Rowling’s inspiration for Hogwarts.
Before we knew it, the tour was over and we could check in and (more importantly) pass out. We took a nap and then headed out for the evening.
We went to a pub called the Brass Monkey. The cool thing about this pub is that instead of tables, there are mattresses and pillows. We snuggled there and the girls downed some hard cider. Then we headed back to the High Street Hostel to get some sleep for Day 2.
Day 2 we headed over to the National Museum of Scotland. I had the pleasure of dressing up in Viking costumes, hanging out with Dolly the Sheep (who has been discussed in just about every single Biology class I’ve ever taken)[http://www.nms.ac.uk/our_collections/highlights/dolly_the_sheep.aspx], and seeing a breathtaking view of Scotland’s skyline from their viewing tower.
We walked to the castle to get a closer look and then explored the road that runs through the town of Edinburgh, the Royal Mile, until it was time to go out.
Keep in mind, this was a Sunday night. We went to a club and were the only people there that weren’t staff members. The bartender gave us delicious Jam Donut shots and then we headed out to play drinking games and have a quiet night in a pub. Or so we thought. There we are, four young ladies minding our own business, when a man comes stumbling over. Not only is this man drunk, but he has an incredibly thick Scottish accent and we can only understand one third of the words slurring out of his mouth. His friends join him and buy us a drink or two. 
We learn that this man’s name is Craig (pictured to the left with his arms over Marissa and Jess) and it turns out that he made our night, and our trip to Scotland. He gave us each nicknames (mine was a young Rachel Weisz, which I took as a compliment since she’s married to ‘James Bond’, who the Scottish are obsessed with) and convinced us to go to a club. We went to a club and avoided sexual contact with Craig all night long, which included telling him that we were all lesbians. I can’t describe Craig in words and do him justice, because he is actually that ridiculous. Think of what a drunk Scottish child would say, and Craig said it in an even more outrageous way. This is how we learned what craic is (pronounced “crack”). Craig asked Jessica and me if we “wanted to have craic tonight”. We turn to each other and then asked him, “Like cocaine?” He could tell by the surprised look on our faces that we were freaked out by what he said. Thank goodness he explained himself. Turns out that “craic” means fun! And we made sure to have craic the rest of the trip.
The next day we decided to conquer Arthur’s Seat. For those of you who don’t know, Arthur’s seat is an extinct volcano which gives you an indescribable view of Edinburgh once you get up top. We did not know however that when we climbed up, we took some advanced hikers’ trail. We were not in hiking gear, and especially not hiking shoes (Courtney was wearing boots with heels). We struggled and sweat a bit, but we finally got to the top. And this is why it was worth it: 
Make sure you click on these pictures (and all of the ones in the post) too see them full size!
That night we went on a ghost tour. This tour included super-creepy stories and super-creepy secret rooms hidden in one of Edinburgh’s bridges. If I talk about it in any more detail, I may have nightmares.
In conclusion, I had so much craic in Scotland and I hope you enjoyed reading about it. Cheers!
P.S. Coming soon is my trip to Ireland!
From T to Tube 