Arrival in Edinburgh

After traveling eight hours by bus through the hills of Scotland, with several stops in small towns for fish and chips to hold us over, we finally arrived in Edinburgh, Scotland yesterday afternoon. It is good to be back in a big city. As beautiful as the Isle of Skye was, I definitely couldn't see myself staying there for more than a weekend. It was too lonely. Edinburgh is much bigger than Dublin, but has a similar feel. In my opinion, the architecture here is much more beautiful and extravagant. Everything about the buildings are over done, but it makes so interesting to just take a stroll through the streets. Once we got settled into our hotel, we all got ready and decided to explore Edinburgh's night life. We settled on a pub called the Tron where you can purchase a student discount card. Check. It was a very different feel from many of the other places we'd been. I almost felt like I was having cocktails at Starbucks. We have found that the Scots have not been quite as welcoming or approachable as the Irish. However, the bar we went to was full of local college kids, so they probably did not appreciate Americans coming onto their turf. We're still working on getting James, the bartender from Liverpool to crack a smile. Guess we'll have to return Saturday for round two. We headed home around 1:30 am, and in typical "stupid American" fashion, we sang a rendition of several songs from Greece while dancing in the streets. We were actually pretty well received by the few locals walking home. We actually got one request from an older couple walking home: ABBA Dancing Queen. Haha. If you can sing that, anyone will love you here. It's like the unofficial anthem over here. We may have to test it out at a karaoke bar soon.

Today we had class in a park. In PR class we did a group project coming up with a campaign to promote the Isle of Skye. I presented for our group and we won. Woo Hoo! I think I hooked Danny, our teacher, with the "Adopt a Seal Program" to promote stewardship and interact with people who visit the city. Anyway, tonight we're headed to Old Town for a haunted tour called City of the Dead. Eeeee!!!! I am already getting freaked out. This town is full of old haunted churches and jails. I am going to pee my pants. Once the tour is over, we'll probably head to a bar until 3 a.m., so we can stay awake to climb Arthur's Seat to watch the sunrise, which I am extremely excited about. It's supposed to rise around 4:30 a.m., so we'll see if it's a success.