As I am sure you have noticed, posts to the blog have become scarce as the semester winds down for me. The past week has been very relaxing considering I don’t have any classes and finals are at least another week and a half away. Things are starting to become very quiet around the flat as people are doing their last bits of traveling and others pack to head home starting the end of this week. The pubs have been frequented since classes have ended as everyone tries to savor their last moments and memories here. Myself, I have been¬†quarantined¬†in my room for the last few days down with a cold passed on from my¬†flat-mates. It has given me a lot of time to do research on topics for my senior research project which starts this fall. As amazing as Scotland has been since January 25th, the general feeling among my friends is we are excited to end the semester on a strong note, say our goodbyes and jump on a plane headed for home. There is a group of people leaving Edinburgh headed for a few more weeks of travel around the world. Me… well I can’t wait to pick my life back up in NH. With the summer full of promising jobs, time with the family and friends, exciting new challenges, and of course those things you take for granted such as driving, smelling the ocean every day,¬†grilling dinner¬†and breathing in the freshly cut hay fields down the street… I cant think of a better place to spend the next four months…. but home.¬†
Archive for the 'Trip Log' Category
Well I am happy to announce that I had my last class Thursday morning as a student at Napier University. Don’t get me wrong, classes have been amazing and I have loved them very much but Im getting very excited to move home to NH for the summer. Its funny. Scotland is amazing and to think, I have been living in a foreign country for four months! But to quote Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz, “There’s no place like home”. Next week is a reading week and then we have two weeks for finals. As luck would have it, my only final is in the middle of the second week on May 28th. I then will head back to my room and start the daunting task of packing my life back up and moving to NH. The hardest part is trying to find things to do to keep busy for the next two weeks… kidding. My goal is to do a little more traveling throughout the UK and experience everything in Edinburgh I said I would three months ago. My time here has flown and I wouldn’t have changed it for the world but now that it is drawing to a close, I look forward to the great summer ahead and the anticipation of my senior and final year as a college student.
Realizing it was two weeks ago since this trip, I figured I should update on it. London was a blast. It was great to be there with my parents and sister. As you may recall I was there back at the beginning of my trip here in the UK so I was familiar enough with the underground and how to get around town. The best part was that we only overlapped a few things that I did the first time. Starting Friday when we got there, we checked into our hotel down the street from Victoria Station in the theater district. First stop was at the 700 year old Westminster Abby. It was huuge! Needless to say it was also quite beautiful and ornate.
Saturday started off with the Tower of London. It is actually not one tower but lots of towers to make up a castle. The main attraction in the center tower is the crown jewels. There are no words for what these look like. To view them you must line up on a big conveyor belt and it gives you a little drive by of the glass case the jewels are in. Lucky for us there weren’t many people so we went around a few times. We then headed for the river where we took a boat tour down the Thames River through the middle of London. We then jumped on an open top, double decker bus and headed to Madam Tussauds wax museum. In two days, it was the first place I repeated anything from my first trip. It was still so neat. Seeing it for the second time gave me the chance to really take all the detail in. I remember the first time there was very overwhelming trying to look at every person… especially with a group of other kids wanting to move on to the next thing! Saturday night we took a ride on the London Eye. Its a giant ferris wheel in that overlooks the town. Each pod is so big it carry up to 20 people in it! Our final stop of the evening was at this very nice, very very good Indian restaurant. I had never had Indian food before so I was in for a great treat. It was so good! Im just glad Im an adventurous eater.
Sunday we got up early and got a place in front of Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guards. What an incredible amount of fanfare. It was extremely crowded but definitely worth sticking around to watch. The music was great and what we could see of the ceremony was very interesting. A lot of people walking around pretty much. Next stop was the Queens Gallery. It was very interesting and most notably extravagantly elegant. Everything was gold this or eight hundred years old that. Although it was neat, my favorite thing we saw was the Royal Mews. This is where all of the horse drawn carriages are kept. We saw the wedding carriage, my favorite, the scottish carriage used when the queen is in edinburgh and the every day carriage…. Ya, she has an everyday carriage! We then headed to St. Pauls cathedral where we went for a early afternoon service then headed for an early dinner as our final hurrah as a family. After dinner was a quick pack job for me and then I said my goodbyes and headed off to catch a train to the airport. It was so great to see them I was sad to leave but in only a few short weeks I knew Id be seeing them again.
At the¬†beginning¬†of this week, I was lucky enough to go meet my family at the Edinburgh airport and invite them to my new stomping grounds. We had a busy week planned filled with lots of things to see and places to go. Starting Monday, I picked them up at the airport and then headed to check in to their hotel. Once settled in, we took off on a walk to go see my flat and have dinner at the ‘golf tavern’ next door where we met a bunch of my friends and had a great meal and of course…a pint! Tuesday turned out be a beautiful day in Scotland so I took them climbing Aruthur’s Seat, the mountain in the middle of town, and then we jumped on a train headed for Glasgow. We did some shopping, walked around and just took it easy the rest of the day. We took the train back in the late afternoon and proceeded to crash after all the walking around we did. Wednesday was just as fun. I took them on a tour of the three different campuses that make up my uni. At the last campus, I had my scottish culture class so I decided to invite my sister along to join me. She loved being able to go to a college level course and what was even better was the topic was right up her alley… Scottish Architecture. After class we headed back downtown to meet my parents and then headed to a pub called ‘Deacon Brodies’ for a early dinner. Today, Thursday, I am just finishing up my class of the day and then Dad and I are planning to play golf at one of the local courses as long as the rain holds off! Tomorrow morning, Friday, we are flying out of Edinburgh bound for London for the weekend.¬†
As in previous posts, I have talked about how as part of our Scottish Culture course we go on field trips. Well yesterday was our last one sadly though it was so much fun! We took a 45 minute bus ride through all these little towns and finally arrived in the middle of nowhere. In the middle of all these fields was a small campus with a great big sign, Glenkinchie Distillery. As soon as we stepped off the bus you could smell the fresh air. It reminded me of being around home with all the fields around and no city smells. Our first stop at the distillery was the museum which took about fifteen minutes and then we were all ready to do the full tour. The first room was where they milled the hops. We went in to each room of the making process; adding the yeast, heating it, storing it, and best part… drinking it. Of course we went to the tasting room where they had bottle after bottle of different malts including at least ten of their own single malts as well as ones from all over Scotland. Now I have been to a few distilleries and none have been more generous with how much you can try. I had a few different kinds. They¬†taught¬†us how to drink it properly and¬†emphasized¬†there is not “right” way to drink whisky. By adding a tiny bit of water released oils from the malt which takes away from of the harshness of the drink… though I was told drinking it with ice is a big no no at least in Scotland. Ooops! It cools the drink too much to be able to taste the full flavors. Well now I know. After our teacher dragged us all out of the tasting room we headed back to the bus for the ride home at which time almost everyone was asleep.¬†
I have added pictures from the little outing. Check them out under Glenkinchie Distillery. 
Last night I was hanging out in one of my buddies’ room and we were chatting and he asked if I had any plans for the night. I said no and he asked if I wanted to hit up the local jazz club. Being the jazz¬†aficionado¬†that I am, I of course said yes. We took off and got there around 10ish. It was in this little basement bar with red lights… typical jazz club. There was a quartet on that consisted of guitar,bass, drums and sax/flute. They were really good. It was more modern jazz and not the swing type that we were looking for but non-the-less we enjoyed it. Around 12:00 they finished and the MC for the night announced that next was a funk band. As soon as they started we new our entrance cover fee had been well worth it. The funk band consisted of a female vocalist, guitar, drum kit, electric bass and a guy on the B3 Hammond Organ. It was great! They played everything from Aretha Franklin’s RESPECT to Cannonball Adderly’s Mercy Mercy Mercy. People were dancing, singing along and just grooving. The atmosphere was perfect. Suddenly we realized it was 3am so we decided to head back to the flat. When we got outside it was pouring so we walked a little ways then took a cab. On the way home my buddy tells the cabby suddenly to pull over. Im thinking what the heck is he doing? He told me that the “chippy” (thats fish and chip shop to you and I) was still open and we were making a “pit chip stop” on the way home. Yes thats right. There was a fish and chip shop open at 3am. Only in Edinburgh.¬†
 
As in true Scottish fashion, it rained like the dickens today. After spending two weeks in nearly perfect weather and then to be welcomed back to this was a little¬†disappointing. The funny part about it… I am so excited to be back even with the rain! It is just such typical UK weather that I feel right back at home wearing my rain coat all day every day just in case that cloud decides to let loose for the next half hour and then make way for the sun again.
As I was walking back from class today while it was pouring mind you, I looked up and over the buildings in front of me I could make out the castle in the middle of town. It hit me… I am still in freaking Scotland! ¬†Not for a moment was I sad to be leaving vacation and coming back. Everything has just become so second nature. Going to class in a castle, having the view of a mountain outside my flat, paying a small fortune every time I buy groceries, running next door to the pub for a pint with the guys on a random Thursday night, riding a double decker bus around the city every day, hearing that oh so fun scottish accent… I could keep going forever. It has all just become second nature and it hit me today that I cant take a moment for granted because as sad as it is I will have to leave one day. Lesson of the day: appreciate everything and everyone around me.
My final destination was a week long visit to one of my favorite places on earth… Florence, Italy. It had been years since I was there yet as soon as I got off the train from Rome I felt right at home and familiar with my surroundings. Other than one day of rain it was seventy-five degrees and sunny. Florence was a bit of a mix of work and play. I was there because I loved the city and because my graphic design artist was doing her semester abroad there. We got a lot accomplished while at the same time enjoying the beautiful weather. There were many days I would go sit in one of the many piazzas and read for hours. Each day was a different piazza. Before I flew out of Edinburgh for spring break, a good friend of mine lent the book “Think Big and Kick Ass” by Donald Trump. It was a great book about never settling for mediocracy and putting your heart into life when it comes to owning your own business. One of my favorite parts of sitting in public places to read was the people watching I could do between chapters. It was so obvious to pick out the American tourists and I know can see why we have a bad reputation for being loud and pushy. In all of the traveling I have done my biggest concern is to try to fit in the best I can and not stand out.¬†
Through the week I did mostly walking around and a little sight seeing. I was most looking forward to my day trip to Venice with a bunch of friends. We left early morning Saturday April 5th on a train bound for Venice. Generally I sleep when Im traveling on a plane or train but this was one ride I did not want to miss out on. The Italian countryside was wonderful. Off in the distance you could see the Italian/Swiss Alps all snow capped. After two hours we crossed the water and arrived in the Venice train station. We took a taxi, in Venice a boat, to Murano where we watched a glass blowing demonstration as well as bought some fun souvenirs. ¬†Next stop was to St. Mark’s Square where I found a nice little cafe on the water and sat for over an hour just chatting with my friend. We waited until the last minute and then ran to the train and finally arrived back in Florence late that night.¬†
The next day one of my other friends and I went to mass in the Florence Duomo. It is a gigantic cathedral church. It is so big that mass was held in one of the corners of the church. As we sat down for mass we realized there weren’t many people around. The priest stood up and welcomed us in Italian. We figured he would then say mass in English. Well we were wrong. The entire thing was in Italian. Even though I didn’t understand half of the words said it was really neat to partake in. ¬†Being a music aficionado I loved listen to the echos of our singing through the building. It was incredible. If only one of my high school music groups could perform in there. The sounds just resonated through the building growing bigger and bigger and then suddenly decaying away slowly into the massive building.¬†
Monday was my return day. The flight was scheduled to leave Florence at 1:00 giving me an arrival time of early afternoon. Well as luck has it, my flight was delayed and delayed and delayed. Each delay was due to “bad weather”. Now my flight was filled with mostly Brits so when the intercom spoke in English they told us that due to bad weather our flight was diverted to some airport way outside of Florence. So we naturally all looked outside to see what the weather was like. It was yet again another perfectly sunny day and approximately seventy degrees. ¬†We all just laughed and wondered what on earth could be casing our flight not to show up. Long story short we had to take a bus out to the middle of nowhere. We all unloaded our own luggage off the busses and had to recheck them in. As we got to the terminal Im looking around and there are only five terminals. Ok so its a small airport. Let me give you a little idea how small. The only planes around were sesnas. Thats right. Single engine planes meant for under ten people. Then off to the right was our jumbo jet. We walked out to the plane and as we are taxing down the runway Im thinking to myself wow this is a really short strip. Sure enough the engines are full throttle and in seconds we are off the ground. We barely made it feet from the end of the runway. As we took off the plane started shaking and all of a sudden the engine noise just died to a light hum and Im thinking to myself we are going down. The nose of the plane started to tip forward and all of a sudden the engines roared back up. In the end it was the scariest flight I’ve ever been on. I landed safely in London and had to buy a new ticket to get to Edinburgh since I had missed my connection. So a mere six hours later than I was supposed to be I was back in my flat in Edinburgh.¬†
Its funny… my mum asked me when I called her how it felt to be back in Edinburgh and to think that spring break was already over so fast. I said to her… are you kidding me? I still have a month and a half left of vacation! Granted I have classes to go back to and tests to take but in the end this semester has been one of the best things I have ever done. I just cant believe where I am in the year already! Time has flown by. In two weeks my family is coming to visit for a week and then the four of us are off to London for the weekend. After that I will have a mere month before I pack my life back up and move home to good old NH. Until then I plan to do a little more traveling and of course a lot more blogging!¬†
For the middle part of my spring break I decided to hit Rome for four days with some of my new friends I met in Edinburgh. I flew in on Wednesday March 27th. It was a long day of travel that included a flight from Prague to Brussels, a layover that was supposed to be two hours turned into three, the flight from Brussels to Rome and then a train from the airport to Termini Train Station. It was the largest station I have ever seen with over twenty-five platforms. Very easy to get lost. My hostel was impossible to find so I ended up taking a taxi there. I arrived that evening, unpacked a few things and headed out to find some true italian pizza. I was not disappointed. The next morning I met up with my friends and we all walked around just exploring the city. The second day of our trip we went to the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel. Both were just outstanding. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to take any pictures so you will just have to trust me. It was breathtaking. The next few days we went to the colosseum, Spanish steps, and the Trevy fountain. The last day we decided to get some food and just sun bathe on one of the grassy hills next to the coloseeum. As we were relaxing, there was a big wedding party taking pictures. Can you imagine have the colosseum in the background of your wedding pictures? So neat! The most important topic to mention in all of this travel was of course the amazing food. I thought I ate my way through Prague. That didn’t even compare to the amount of amazing food my friends and I consumed. From pizza to pasta to paninis to tratorias and right down to going to the local grocery store and buying mozzarella balls, salami, focaccia and olives for dinner. It was all so good. Next stop is Firenza, Italy = Florence!
Be sure to check out the photos in my Rome gallery!
 Rome, Italy
For the first week of my spring vacation, I was lucky enough to get to visit my friend Monica in Prague! It had been so long since we had caught up as we had gone to high school together and both have been busy since. I landed in Prague on Thursday March 26th and hit the ground running. Monica picked me up at the airport with one of her friends. Not ten minutes after saying hello she informed me we were off to an opera! I was stoked. So we checked into my hotel, changed clothes quickly and were off to see “The Magic Flute”. It was in the most beautiful big theater. They had a full pit orchestra and it was amazing. Naturally it was in czech but get this… they have a big projection screen above the top of the stage that translates everything! It was a great start to my first day.
The next day consisted of walking around town and getting oriented as to where everything was. Easter is a big thing in Prague so they have a week long Easter Fair. It was so neat. There was food everywhere, crafts, blacksmiths and so much more. Half way through the morning, Monica handed me a little brown paperback notebook with the title, “Prague Survival Guide 2008″. She had put together all sorts of phrases I needed to know, metro stops, tram lines I needed to take to get places… it literally was my bible for the week I was there. Especially when I was alone. The most important phrase in there was “mlooveteh englesky?” which tanslates to… you can guess… do you speak english? I found that most people were very happy to speak english only if you made an effort to speak a little czech. It was fun! Monica’s boyfriend Jack came over and the three of us gallivanted around town for the next four days doing all sorts of fun things. We went to the most beautiful big cathedral for Easter Sunday, we went to another opera and of course hit the easter fair almost every day.
On my last full day there, Jack and I took a little trip outside the city to one of the concentration camps used during WWII named Terezine. It was one of the most moving things I have ever done in my life. When we were walking through the cell blocks you could almost feel the ghosts of the over 30,000 people that died there. The feeling was even worse when we walked onto the execution grounds. This was the kind of thing that I have read about in text books for years and never truly understood the impact of things. As soon as we saw the area that was once a mass grave that had now been turned into 10,000 proper burials with headstones, I knew it was going to be a very emotional experience. It was very interesting to watch how Jack and I responded to all of it. He and I talked the whole hour and a half bus ride there and as soon as we got to the concentration camp, I don’t think we said ten words to each other until we left. That night we got back to Monica’s apartment and cooked dinner and just relaxed until we met up with a bunch of Monica’s other friends and we all headed out for a night on the town. It was a great last day. The next morning I got up early to catch a flight to Rome where I spent the next four days. Keep your eye out for a post about my trip to Rome!
Prague, Czech Republic
