Edinburgh With the Bates Gang!

Welcome back to the penultimate Shenny in Berlin blog post! This week, I'll be chronicling my time in Edinburgh with my friends from Bates (minus Paige :/)! Sarah, Gemma, and Izzyie got to the hostel pretty late on Saturday so we had a late night reunion! We slept in a bit on Sunday morning then headed out to find a brunch place. Our original plan didn't have a table so we found a chocolate cafe with yummy waffles! After brunch, we walked up Arthur's Seat which was a big hill that overlooks the city. It was a bit muddy and slippery and very windy at the top but we had some great views of the city and got to experience a small taste of the scottish highlands. From the seat, we headed back toward the old town and checked out Greyfriar's Kirkyard where many Harry Potter names where inspired from, then headed around to the University of Edinburgh. I was nerding out at the anatomy society building (and the graveyard) because of all the body snatching history! We walked around the old town some more before grabbing dinner and drinks at a pub. We were all pretty tired from our long day so we headed back to the hostel to rest up for another day of exploring! It is so nice to see my friends from Bates again and I'm loving Scotland so far!

We woke up a bit earlier on Monday morning and headed toward Dean Village - the area that inspired Hogsmead village from Harry Potter. We grabbed some yummy breakfast on the way but didn't spend much time in Dean Village since there really wasn't much to see. From there, we walked back to the Royal Mile and did some gift shopping before heading up to the castle. There honestly wasn't much at the castle either - just a few museums and lots of winding paths. The views were awesome from up there though!! After the castle, we headed to a lunch spot for fish and chips then did some more wandering and gift shopping. We finished the Royal Mile then headed back to our hostel for a bit of down time. We then headed out to a christmas market for dinner and rode the Ferris Wheel! It was really interesting to see the differences between the christmas markets here and the ones in Berlin. We were all feeling pretty beat by the end of the day so we went back to our hostel for the night and got comfy. Since Sarah is leaving Tuesday, we did our Secret Santa exchange Monday night and played some cards before going to bed.

Got a quicker breakfast on Tuesday morning then headed up to the top of Colton's Hill to see some views of the city. It was pretty rainy and chilly so we didn't spend a ton of time up there before walking the long way back to our hostel and saying goodbye to Sarah! She's leaving a few days early since she had a different flight booked home. After sending her off, we took some down time before heading out to visit the national museum of Scotland! It was pretty interesting but very huge so we certainly didn't get to see everything. After the museum we grabbed a quick bite to eat then headed to the Real Mary King's Close. This was a guided walking tour through an old street of Edinburgh that got covered up by a government building. It was super interesting and fun! Lots of good and gruesome history which I always enjoy. After the close, we headed out to see some more christmas markets and stopped in a pub on our way back to the hostel for dinner and drinks. I think we're all feeling pretty tired from all the walking around so we had an early and chill night.

Slept in a bit more on Wednesday morning before heading out to see the University of Edinburgh grounds, visit the Kirkyard in the daylight, and see the national portrait gallery. We did things pretty much in that order but paid a visit to the gallery that was at the University as well. We grabbed lunch on the way back to our hostel, then spent the afternoon resting and doing some packing. To be honest, we were all starting to get pretty tired and had already done most of the cheap/free things in the city. That means we spent most of Wednesday afternoon just chilling! For dinner, we went to an italian place then went across the street for drinks at a fun bar (thanks dad for buying us a round)! We finished up packing and said our final goodbyes before calling it a night.

I headed to the airport pretty early Thursday morning - finally going back to the US of A! Thank you all so much for following along on these adventures throughout Europe. It has been an absolute joy and truly life-altering experience. I know I've made so many memories and new friends. I am still planning to post one more blog post with some reflections, favorite moments, and overall takeaways from my program and experience.

P.S. Sorry for the late upload!