Walk Walk Fashion Baby

Hello rabid readers!

I have officially settled back in here in Edinburgh.  Classes started last week and I am getting pumped up for a new trimester of learning.  I'm taking Strategic Brand Management, Global Marketing and International Festival and Event Management this year and so far they are all excellent!  Now that I know what my assessments will be for this spring I'm trying to get an early start on them.  Also, I got my results from last trimester back and you all will be happy to know that my formula for balancing nose-to-the-grindstone time and adventuring time has payed off.  Though the grading system is different here, I've managed to get top marks on everything (still waiting on the results of my last exam, but I feel confident enough to brag about things in advance - signed, Hopefully Not Jinxing Myself).  Thus, with good grades and a good attitude, I'm ready for this new trimester and hoping to repeat the performance.  However, there is one terrifying blight on this upcoming trimester and it takes the form of my dissertation!  Let's say it all together - "We're so scarreeedddd!"  Don't worry, I don't have to write it right now, but I DO have to prepare by putting together a 4,000 word (12 inches of parchment for my Harry Potter fans?) research proposal, so if any of you have tips, now is the time to share them!

 

Now, on to the adventuring!  Another great thing about this trimester is my schedule - I have class all day on Monday and Thursday, but don't have anything on Tuesday or Wednesday and only have one hour of class on Fridays.  So far, this has meant more walking adventures than usual in the past couple weeks as I can now go gallivanting on those mid-week days, too!  Last week, I walked around the neighborhood and stumbled upon an old cemetery for veterans which was stunningly beautiful and only a little bit creepy.  On Wednesday of last week, I went to check out Inverleith Park which has a delightful pond and an inordinate amount of adorable dogs!  Then Marianthi (a fellow program member) and I walked up to what we assumed was a castle but turned out to be a college (which can sometimes mean high school here)!  We definitely tried to sneak in, but the security was pretty tight and we didn't want to get arrested.

 

 

This week, Marianthi and I went to the little village of Duddingston to explore.  Now, I had heard there was a cool garden to check out and an old kirk, which I'm very fond of, but I had no idea there was also a pseudo-mountain and a loch!  Needless to stay, the scenery struck me dumb (or dumber, I suppose. lol)  So we walked halfway up the mountain to get a better view of the loch, but were also just enjoying some amazing weather here!  The sun was shining, the lake was frozen, the mountain was green - it was all just lining up beautifully.  Plus, as soon as we arrived I saw this store:

So...enough said.  As a bonus, we stopped into the Sheep's Heid for lunch and discovered that it is actually the oldest existing public house in the whole of Scotland.  And we got more fancy hot cocoa.  I'm going to start a fireside chat called Fancy Hot Chocolates with a Hot Chocolate (aka yours truly).

One Long Hiatus Later...

Sorry for the lengthy silence, ravenous fans!  Between writing reports, studying for final exams, packing and then being at home for Christmas I haven't had time to write.  But, I'm back now.  Back in Edinburgh and back to writing on everything you need to know about my life here!

Let's play a bit of catch-up first, though.  So, between all the studying (wink wink), I was able to do a FEW fun things, too.  All work and no play makes Liz a dull girl.  First on the list way back in November was Thanksgiving dinner. Some of my flatmates had never had a proper Thanksgiving feast, so my American flatmate Alyssa and I cooked up some traditional fare with help from her parents and old family recipes from my family.  We had turkey, stuffing, cranberry glaze, rolls, homemade mac and cheese, mixed veggies, and sweet potatoes!

In early December we went for a stroll through the Christmas Market which is hard to miss as it is in the Princes Street Garden, right below the castle and across from all of the shopping.  There were rides, delicious food from all over, hot alcoholic drinks and holiday bobs and bits like ornaments, nutcrackers and wooden ties.  I don't know why there were wooden ties, but there were. It was weird.

 
 

After my big exam on the 12th, my program pals threw a major party and invited what felt like half of Edinburgh!  We went to a place that was, fittingly, called the Kasbar - and of course we rocked it.  That was a great way to spend my last evening in Edinburgh before getting on the plane the next day and flying home.  (Or at least that's what I thought at the time - I ended up having a nightmare flight scenario and got stranded in London after a day of delays and cancellations, but, I digress, I did end up making it home safe and sound).

While most the people who read this will have seen me over the holidays, I'll just say that I was welcomed back to Chicago with open arms from both friends and family and I couldn't be more appreciative of the lasting friendships I've made and maintained in that city.  I hung out for a week and half in Chicago, enjoying Christmas Cocktails Parties, Book Club sleepovers and two notable nights on the town - one near six corners and one at Cesars for killer margaritas - and, most importantly, catching up with all my dearest kitties!

 

 

At home, I hung out with the family for another week and got to play with the niece and nephew (not to mention teaching them the fine art of dance-offs), talk books with my sister-in-law, do crosswords with my dad and watch  movies with my mom!  It was a relaxing time and it felt so nice to be home.  Leaving there and saying goodbye to my dear dog Hades again was the worst!

 



I returned to Edinburgh for New Years Eve - or Hogmanay as they call it here - and partook of the amazing street party they threw.  There were fireworks every hour leading up to midnight, culminating in an amazing display with the castle as the backdrop!  There was also a cool stage that I spent my time at called Hot Tub Time Machine where a deejay spun tunes from every year starting in 1954 and heading up to 2014!

I've mostly been laying low since New Years and have just been preparing for school to start up again, but I did go on a fun day trip today to the Royal Botanic Gardens!  More photos will be on Facebook, but here are a few, as well.  Lovely long walk and I couldn't believe how gorgeous it looked during winter! Plus, best of all, it was free!

 

Wizards Used to Live Here

This week's Saturday Adventure took place on Sunday instead!  After last weekend's inter-city trip to Glasgow, we thought we'd do something a little closer to home.  Thus, we headed off to Lauriston Castle which was a rather recent addition to my master To-Do List for Edinburgh. It took us awhile to figure out how to get out to Lauriston, as it is quite a ways away from the city center.  But, an hour later, we ended up close enough to at least walk to our destination!  I've mentioned before how crazy it is to me that I can board a city bus, be on it for half an hour, and feel like I'm in the middle of nowhere.  For those of you who know me well, and assume that I am using hyperbole to make my point about the city feeling small, I challenge you to look one of the sheep we saw upon getting off the bus in the eye and say that!!!  Seriously...field of sheep.

So, after we walk around that, we find the entrance to the castle, which is, appropriately, guarded by two Sphinx statues.  Well, more accurately, just one because the other's head was off, but thanks to Alyssa, we remedied that grievous error.

 
Before and After

The castle grounds were spectacular and I get frustrated trying to describe how strong the sense of history is in the places I go.  Once you step foot into the grounds of Lauriston, you are immediately swept up in the fantasy of living hundreds of years ago.  The house (because it's actually a fortified house and not a castle - though the pictures beg to differ. I mean...turrets. Nuff said) was built in the 16th century and has had over 30 different owners over the years.  The original owners, however, were my favorites immediately because they were brave astrologers and astronomers.  They loved the stars and math and all that stuff which just SCREAMS witchcraft.  So the townspeople thought they were wizards.  The little plaques shown below prove as much.  The darker one was a horoscope stone, showing what the constellations would've looked like at the time of the birth of the eldest son.  The lighter beige plaque was added by the new owners to affirm their belief in god and is actually an annagram of their names rearranged to say something akin to "Whoop Whoop! We love the lord. There ain't no wizards here!" Or something more elegant...but you get the point.

 
 

What makes Lauriston rather unique in terms of other "castles" we've been to so far, is that the inside has been preserved and is actually a museum now.  The last owners, who passed away in 1926, left the house and grounds to Scotland, ensuring that it would continue on and teach us commoners of the future what it was like to live back then.  So, the interior is all done in Edwardian style and the Reid's, the final owners, appear to be total ballers.  The husband was an interior designer and furniture maker while the wife came from a family of sanitation engineers, resulting in some super weird decorating choices.  However, they were one of the first homes in the area to have central heating and electricity.  Plus, the heating that was installed in the 1920's is still going strong today!  Quick shout-outs to the hidden door in Mr. Reid's office and in the library (classic Wizard shiz) and to the random-ass gong in the hallway.  They were big collectors and had a number of super weird things in their place - making me only like them more, naturally!  My favorite interior thing was the chair pictured below in the library. It's a "reading chair" - only for men, of course - and they sit on it backwards, using the attachment for their book or for writing. Hidden compartments contain space for an inkwell on the right arm, glasses in the left arm, and a book in the seat.

 

 

Another kick-ass thing about Lauriston is the Edinburgh-Kyoto Friendship Garden which was built in 2002 by a Japanese designer named Takashi Sawano.  From both the garden and the larger grounds you can see the Firth and, to all of our surprise, Cramond Island!  What?  Yeah, we were SUPER close to this castle when we came to visit Cramond and had no idea!  So that was cool.  As you can see, we had a good deal of fun roaming the grounds and being outrageous.  Hope you enjoyed the pics!