Thursday, June 21
One of the greatest parts about studying abroad in Worcester is that we only go to school three days a week. On Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, we have normal class and on Wednesdays, we take field trips. This leaves Friday, Saturday and Sunday for us to do whatever we want, whether that be exploring Worcester or traveling to different parts of Europe. It’s the best.
This week, twelve of us girls decided to go to Edinburgh, Scotland. After dinner and saying goodbye to the boys (who went on a man trip to Amsterdam), we were ready to leave and headed to the train station.
We hop on a train to Birmingham and, when we arrive, we are lost. Immediately. And, it’s obvious. The twelve of us are just trekking around with giant backpacks in the city, wandering aimlessly while we try to find our hostel. Most of this wandering is up hills. And in circles. But, after crossing bridges, walking through the pouring rain and pointing out every beautiful building, we finally find our hostel.
I love our hostel. More specifically, I love the guy working the front desk at our hostel. Like, I think I am in love with him. But, also, the building itself was adorable. There were picture frames drawn in sharpie on the walls and chalk boards filled with great illustrations. The posters were retro and hip and the typography was beautiful. Downstairs, there were four giant rooms where people were just hanging out. Everyone was playing video games or watching movies or just hanging out. Also, there was free tea. So, obviously, I loved it.
As soon as we walked downstairs to check everything out, a man popped his head out of the computer room and asked if we were American. When we said yes, he looked super relieved. Apparently, he was a Sigma Chi from Michigan studying in Oxford and we were the first Americans he had run into. We bonded over Greek life and he actually knew people that went to Ball State, which is pretty cool and really demonstrates how small the world is.
Chels, Anna, Katelyn, Miranda and I decided to explore Birmingham because there was supposed to be some giant Olympic show happening. But, when we got there, it was cancelled because of the rain. (It rains a lot here. Like, all the time). Chelsea was probably the most disappointed out of all of us, especially when the security man told us that it was supposed to be a musical adaptation of Titanic complete with acrobatics. We’re all devastated, but the security man offers to let us cry on his shoulder. Everyone is so nice. I like it here.
We walk around the city, trying to look like we know what we’re doing and just taking in the beautiful sites. We kind of pull it off. In reality, we’re frantically searching for food.
That’s another difference between here and Muncie. When I’m home, the only time I ever go to the Village is after 1 a.m. During the day, it’s virtually empty, but after midnight, it’s like an expedition trying to navigate between all the drunk people standing in line for Carter’s and Greeks and, if you’re like my roommate, going back and forth between Pita Pit and Jimmy John’s. I have been known to carry animal crackers in my pockets and feed the people in line at Carter’s so I can make my way around them (you’re welcome). Here, I think I’m going to need to start carrying around animal crackers for myself. Literally nothing is open late at night that we could get into because you have to be dressed super fancy. I was in my pajamas. After almost an hour of searching, we finally found ourselves in a pub.
This pub is awesome. We absolutely love it. They have the best cider, there was a live American band raging hard upstairs and downstairs, they were only playing Bob Dylan. Hello, heaven. The five of us grab a booth and two guys come and sit with us. One is British, the other is Australian. Just the two hottest accents in the world. It’s fine. I am in love. (Like, seriously. In LOVE).
We hang out with these two guys for awhile, just laughing and talking about everything. Their impressions of Americans are basically on par with every other British person we’ve talked to. Apparently, everyone in Britain thinks we only talk about white bread and shopping, throwing in the occasional swear word. All while sounding like a valley girl. No wonder the guys at Tramps asked us if our high school is like One Tree Hill.
We say goodbye to the guys and plan on meeting up with them on one of our day trips to Birmingham. As we walk home to our hostel, we realize that this is going to be difficult, considering we never learned their names. Already, this is a great weekend.
Friday, June 22
This is the thing about our hostel: eight of us are in one room all together; four other girls are in a room with strangers. For most of us, this is our first time staying the night in a hostel and for me, it was better than I could have ever imagined. I think it’s the greatest. I feel super safe. I want to stay here again. (They have free tea!) I love it.
Clearly, I was in the eight person room.
We meet the other group downstairs for breakfast at 5:30 a.m. All of them are wide-eyed and not speaking. I’m confused as to why they aren’t as happy as me. I love hostels! There’s free tea! And corn flakes! And bagels!
And, as it would turn out, cocaine.
Apparently, two of the guys that shared their room spent most of the night doing lines of coke off the bedspread. Then, right before my group arrived for breakfast, the nice, middle-aged business man in the corner did a line off our breakfast table. We literally got out of there as fast as possible. So fast that I did not get time to partake in the free tea, corn flakes and bagels. This was disapppointing.
Four hours later, we arrive in Edinburgh. We get off the train and it is beautiful. Breathtakingly beautiful. The buildings, the hills: everything. There is a man playing bagpipes on the bridge. My life is complete. I can’t even describe how gorgeous it is, but I already know I won’t want to leave.
Due to the cocaine situation robbing us of our breakfast, we made our way to an adorable cafe that somehow leads us to an art museum. We walk around for a couple hours. Anna buys $60 worth of children’s books. Chelsea says “OOOOOKAYYYY” multiple times. We decide that we love Scotland.
Again, because of last night’s situation, we were pretty hesitant about staying at another hostel. For all we know, people in Scotland prefer bath salts to cocaine and we would all like to come back to England with our faces in tact.
Luckily, we are twelve girls and have the ability to charm the pants off people. Specifically, the man at the hotel reservations desk. I’ve never seen someone so flustered. It was perfect. Even though it was obvious we were cheating the system, he completely looked the other way and even gave us a discounted rate. He loved us.
At dinner, we find out that we still have to pay for the hostel, even though we aren’t staying there. This sucks, but I’d rather pay twenty extra pounds than get my face eaten by a bath salt zombie. And this hostel didn’t have tea. Not worth it. Plus, the hotel had a bar with free wi-fi. Clearly, that is where we ended up.
At the bar, Annie, Anna, Val and I completely convince Chelsea of the existence of the Illuminati. This is how we end up popcorn reading off an iPad in a bar in Scotland. Imagine it, because it is really funny. We uncover the Illuminati’s plan for New World Order at the London Olympics. Chelsea texts Ryan to tell him about it so we can come up with a safety plan.
Ryan asks us to make a graphic about it.
Saturday, June 23
We wake up early and eat at another really cute cafe. Some of us decide to just explore the city again and we stumble upon the most adorable store. The entire place is filled with incredibly designed cards, fantastic wrapping paper and unique knick-nacks. I literally thought Chelsea was going to die. Annie, Anna and I spend a lot of time taking pictures with masks on. We love this place.
Val casually mentions that she wants to walk up to the top of a hill to take pictures of Scotland. All of us agree to go with her. Turns out, Val never learned the definition of a hill. It is not a hill in any sense. It’s a gigantic mountain. More specifically, it’s a volcano. A super, super high volcano. I am in a dress. Anna is wearing flats. Miranda is in flip flops. We decide to go off the path and basically free climb the entire thing.
We make it to the top and the wind is ridiculous. Multiple times, I think I am about to be blown away. (I’m not saying that as a description. I literally thought I was going to fly off the mountain. I’m very short). It was cold and had started raining, but the view was absolutely gorgeous and completely worth it. It was an incredible experience and one of my favorite memories from the trip. Not many people can say they’ve rock climbed to the top of Scotland wearing a dress. This may be one of my proudest moments.
We make the mistake of going to a Mexican restaurant in Scotland. We’re really dumb. Do not do this. Margs are not margs. They are ice and juice and you only get six chips. The only part that was worth it was the tequila board.
It’s no secret that Anna and I love tequila. The night during my sophomore year when we made Drew be our bartender and had tequila sunrises is one of my favorite memories. I still have my marg from St. Patrick’s Day sitting in Anna and Erin’s house and I fully intend on finishing it when I get back to Muncie. Plus, as Sam says “YOYO (you’re only young once).”
A tequila board consists of four shots, each a different brand of tequila, and they get better as the shots go on. Anna and I split it. It was great. Just an awesome experience; I loved all three minutes of it.
We walk to a Scottish pub. It’s a long walk. Anna and I are clearly loving the walk more than everyone else. I think everyone else is jealous that they didn’t do a tequila board. We get to the pub and it is awesome. (I think all pubs here are awesome). There’s a live band and people are doing the jig. Seriously. I was dying. It was fantastic.
The bathrooms at this pub are much more on par with Docs and Dill. The only difference was that they kind of looked like space ships and when the toilet flushed, the whole room would shake. I’m not sure if this was on purpose for ambience or just a giant flaw. Needless to say, they did not have straighteners.
There’s a band playing on the stage and they are fantastic. So many Scottish boys were dancing. Again, this is much different than in America. There wasn’t any grinding or dropping it low. It reminded me more of the street dance Sandpoint puts on during Lost in the 50′s. I loved it.
Anna and I made friends with two Scottish guys and they taught us how to dance. During this, the guitar player jumps off the stage and starts doing his big solo right next to me. It was incredible: just such a fun experience. Also, while we were dancing, apparently the Scottish guy made the Illuminati symbol above my head. Chelsea freaked out. I think she believes the Illuminati is after BSU journalists. Also, I got my first kiss from a Scottish boy. Anna and I named him Louis because I forgot to ask his name.
Sunday, June 24
We ate breakfast at the cafe where J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter. Not to be lame, but it was magical. The table where she usually sat looks out at the Edinburgh Castle and it looks just like Hogwarts. I’m not sure how my blog posts always end up talking about bathrooms, but the bathrooms here were filled with inspiring messages to Rowling. I thought that was neat. (Drew thinks everything is “neat”).
We walk around and soak up our last few hours in Ediburgh. Anna, Annie and I try on more hats and masks. Actually, most of our pictures involve us wearing masks. All of us meet up in a coffee shop, talk about how much we love Scotland, then get on the train back to Worcester.
Two weeks ago, I didn’t even know most of these girls, but now, I’ve shared so many life experiences with them. They are incredible and I feel lucky that I’ve been given the chance to get to know them. Studying abroad has given me so many experiences already; I can’t wait for what the rest of the summer has in store.