Edin-BRO, How Do You Even Pronounce This? | Scotland, Part I

Edinburgh. Oh, where do I even begin? Firstly, you have to understand that I have never known much about Edinburgh - or Scotland at all, actually. I've heard that it's "viciously cold," the men wear kilts, and that it's where JK Rowling started and finished the Harry Potter novels. Pretty cool, but it was never a city that I NEEDED to see, like Paris or Rome or even Barcelona.

So when our program announced that we were off to Edinburgh (not Edin-burg or Edin-borough/burrow, but more like Edin-bruh with a rolling r), I was excited but not exactly over-the-moon dying to go. And then I went, had the grandest time, and this cheeky city sneakily found a way to burgh-ow into my heart. I didn't even see it coming.

 { Balmoral Hotel, where JK Rowling finished the Harry Potter books }

After a long bus ride and a short flight, all 35+ of us made it into the city, dropped off our bags, and ventured off to find something to fill our stomachs. Upon first sight, Edinburgh is breathtakingly beautiful - a castle and much of its city center is across a bridge and sunken garden and so there are dozens of statuesque, centuries-old buildings raised high on a sort of platform. Very majestic.

A few of us decided on this well-known vegetarian cafe. I picked a spinach and pepper lasagna with lentils, and ... yum! Interestingly enough, Edinburgh has stellar vegetarian food - half of our meals were at vegetarian restaurants. The other half involved haggis. (Just kidding, I didn't go near the stuff.)

 { John Knox House }

Afterwards, we met up with the big group and were taken on a walking tour of the city. It was over two hours long. I don't do two hours of physical activity, I think that's an atrocity. But it was led by a hilarious man in a kilt who referred to flatulence, so all was good.

He took us up and down the Royal Mile, pointed out areas of historical interest, famous sites, and told us about the Scots {they are a prideful bunch, they are!}. 

Two and a half hours later (did I mention I don't believe in extended periods of physical activity?), he dropped us off at Edinburgh Castle. Glorious and wondrous as it was - it was like walking around in the Tangled village! - it started raining and freezing and hailing a little bit. So we hid out in the castle cafe, which offered us great panoramic views of the city, until we couldn't hide anymore. We checked out the Crown Jewels and then started our journey home.

Like I said, it was hailing and torrential downpouring and suuuuuuuper windy, so we turned our backs to the wind, tried our hardest not to get blown away, and laughed and painfully and merrily made our way back to the hotel.

 Beautiful, no? I thought so too.

We were technically allowed an hour or so's worth of rest before we had to meet up in the lobby to go to our mandatory program dinner.
Can you guess what happened?
Lauren and I overslept, woke up twenty minutes late to find our phones buzzing with messages. We speedily pulled on clothes, downloaded Google directions to the restaurant (Ghillie Dhu - it's really fun, you should go), and booked it out of there. It was dark, it was rainy, we were alone. The two of us SOMEHOW, I still don't know how, managed to find our way to the restaurant, our heads hung in shame, but our tummies ready for fuel.
We were forgiven for our tardiness and reprimanded with lots and lots and lots of calories. Now, that's a punishment I don't mind. I had an insane portobello mushroom with some kind of fried cheese that I'm still thinking about to this day, a standard haddock (I passed on the haggis), and a heartstoppingly creamy cheesecake. Oh, and G&Ts, but that's another story for another day.
AND, all of this took place in a room that I described as "what the Hogwarts Great Hall would be like if it was a club." You guys know that I was wholeheartedly loving it to the n'th degree. After dinner, there was a ceileidh/Scottish dancing, which was a complete cluster, but a fun cluster.
Of course, after all the adventures of the first day, everyone was dead exhausted and decided to skip any and all ragers and instead have a long, delicious night's snooze instead.
......and then the next day was one of my favorite days in Europe so far. CLIFFHANGER.