Day 15: Scootin' Around Scotland!

Today we all checked out of our hotel around 10:30 and hopped on a bus back into the city to go to the Edinburgh Castle. This castle is the highest point of Edinburgh and holds Scotland Crown Jewels, a war memorial, many different exhibits and a whole lot of history. We took a tour around the castle and learned a lot from our tour guide. The weather was definitely very cold (okay, it was 63 degrees... but it felt cold!) and it was very windy as well.

On the very top of the castle

After the castle, we headed to The Dogs restaurant for lunch. Most people had fish and chips, but I opted for chicken since I don't eat fish. Lunch was lovely, but you could definitely tell that we were tired from the morning activities! And COLD! We were chilled to the bone, that's for sure.


We scarfed down our desserts because we realized that we had an hour to get back to our hotel, get our luggage, and get back to the train station. 45 minutes down and 2 taxis later... we made it with time to spare!

We got on the train and definitely had interesting company on our carriage. It was a loud and raucous bunch and one person's iPod was so loud that you could hear every word of the song! Regardless, most of us caught up on a nap, our essays, or anything else we wanted to work on :)

Scotland was a very cool experience to have in order to compare it to how England is. I felt Scotland to be much more "simple" in a way and a little bit more laid-back, even though we were in the bustling city of Edinburgh. And yes, there are definitely people who walk around in kilts! It was cool to see that side of the culture and to see people on the streets playing bagpipes as well.


We got back to London at around 8:45PM and headed to Nando's for dinner. It's the second time we've been there and it is so good! It was interesting because it felt like we were on vacation in Scotland, and then when we got back to London we all felt more relaxed and as if we were at "home." Obviously I know it's not home, but it was just funny to have that feeling!

On the way back to the university, I rode in Curtis's (one of our student ambassadors') car and I sat in the left-side seat. It was so bizarre to be in that seat, but to be a passenger! It was totally disorienting to be on the left side of the street too...