Today was a much better day than yesterday, thankfully, because we were able to see some of the nicer areas of Edinburgh, including the famous Edinburgh Castle that is high above the city. We had class this morning in Edinburgh's large city park... although I admit I didn't learn much because Keith (our professor) planted us down right in front of the playground, which slowly filled up with more children while we sat there learning about the Scottish Reformation. The children here are absolutely adorable, shouting and yelling with their cute little accents, that is definitely a positive side of Edinburgh. I confess that during the lecture I sketched a little Scottish boy playing on a jungle-gym rather than take notes.
When we went up to the castle I was a bit overwhelmed. There were tourists everywhere... thousands of them. It made the Edinburgh castle not quite as pleasant as I hoped, but still beautiful. The rest of the afternoon was much better. I walked down the Royal Mile, which is the main drag of the older part of Edinburgh, and right now it is covered in street performers because of the fringe festival. I watched an African dance group for a while, then walked farther and watched a comedian, then continued on to hear a great guitar player. It was much more enjoyable because I was by myself and able to stop wherever I liked, not worrying about loosing the group among the crowds. They also had street artists displaying their work in one of the squares, and I finally broke down and bought myself something! I bought this awesome unique ring that was made out of a small silver fork. It sounds weird, but it's beautiful, and I will try and put a picture of it up so you don't think I'm crazy for purchasing it. Later on in the afternoon I met up with more girls from our group in a Celtic jewelry shop (yes, I can hear Travis saying..."uh-oh"). We tried on beautiful Celtic rings, and the woman working at the shop even let us try on the diamond rings she had. It was a blast! We felt rich... even though I'm sure the woman could tell we were poor college students just having a little fun.
As for the "learning experience" part of the title... that pertains to our youth hostel. Not only are all 16 girls in our group squished into one small rooms, but we have to share ONE bathroom with all the guests on our floor... that's FEMALE and MALE. Ah yes... I was shocked to hear a man's voice outside of my shower stall this morning, I don't know why I was so stunned... probably because it has never happened to me before, but I should've known since the front of the bathroom door is labeled with just a small pink sticky-note saying "toilet". There's nowhere to change after a shower, so you have to change into your full outfit in the shower stall!! It's awful. Usually Whitworth does better than this, but because of the fringe festival, and all the nicer youth hostel being occupied, we're stuck with the sketchy little Westend Hostel with co-ed shower/toilet rooms. The shower itself was an experience this morning, as it seemed to not be able to make up it's mind whether it wanted to be scalding hot or freezing cold. It's crazy... but makes awesome memories!
Miss you all, more on exciting Edinburgh tomorrow! Love, Giselle
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