Full Packed Day: Monday 5/22

Grudgingly woke up at 8am. I was mad we had to wake up early to go see places when our schedule said our first thing is at 3:25 pm: Scottish Parliament. Our professors changed it the day before. I just want to sleeeeeep... so all 8 of us (in the room) got ready to be downstairs by 9 am. I of course was late, was there by 9:20 am. I mean 8 girls all getting ready at the same time in 2 bathrooms in a room about twice the size of a dorm is just difficult. So, Mary and I ate breakfast~ nasty grapefruit, banana and hashbrown- tried the "brown sauce" but will never again... They had beans, mushrooms, tomatoes, eggs, ham, sausage, bacon... what's with the beans for breakfast? No thanks. I'll stick to fruit. Next we walked to where we will be having class tomorrow morning (The Quaker House)- it's about a 7-10 min. walk. Of course up hill because that all Edinburgh is. Then we went to The Writers Museum. It was nice- 400 yrs old. I kind of zoned out while I was in there-- still jet lagged.



We also saw St. Giles Cathedral (Episcopal Church) - extremely interesting design.
The chairs were made out of wood that was so detailed and exquisitely hand-crafted. Unbelievable. And every design had a meaning to it.

One part had an angel holding a crest with an Anchor in it-- which means Hope.

We got a break to eat lunch so Mary and I stumbled upon a little deli and cafe shop right beside our hostel. It's called Larder- LOTS of vegetarian, vegan things like sandwiches, salads, soup, etc... You can also make your own item! One barrier is the word "salad"- when they say salad it mean like a potato or egg salad- even quinoa salad NOT lettuce salad... Got to be specific here.


Later, we walked down hill to Children's Museum, Holyrood, The Queens Picture Gallery, and the Scottish Parliament.

What stood out to me in the Children's Museum was the Milk Chocolate Cigarette candy's... and tobacco pipes... so weird. Apparently these were available when I was a kid but I guess my parents never bought any for me (makes sense since they don't smoke). But some of the people in my group ate them when they were little! What does that teach little kids!??? Yet, none of them smoke today...

We went into the Queen's Gallery and walked around the exhibit with an audio guide= headphones and a radio type thing where the art pieces had #'s by them and you could type in the # and a person would speak about the painting. It was nice to have or else I would not have known much about the painting. One stood out to me- it was of a little black boy that was holding onto the cattle. Then there were 2 Scottish men talking. Was was interesting was that the black boy was dressed in a nice Scottish coat and capris & you could tell he was proud to be working for such great men by his hint of a smile on his face. Afterwards, we went into the gift shop where I wanted everything that had a crown on it :) (key chain, soap, t shirt, lotion, chocolate).





Us girls debated which of Queen Elizabeth's sons was cuter-- Harry or Charles? We decided Harry was with his red hair and freckles! We saw Scottish guards that were dressed in uniform - kilts with white boots and hats. Nicole and I got a DG picture with them !!! He was adorable trying to do the "G" !!!

Next, was the tour of the Scottish Parliament! --My favorite place so far.


I learned:

• 100 women were surveyed to write something about other women who have inspired them in their lives. It was done in porcelin because Scottish women were supposed to be fragile and unique even though their quotes weren't.

• The Main Hall- had architecture ceiling that looked like 2 ships for Scotland or 2 eyes to represent the public looking in and public access to the Parliament. It could basically represent whatever you wanted it to be!
• The building is very open with lots and lots of windows so the public knows everything and can see inside. All debates and meetings are open to the public. We can sit in and listen to the debates. If someone has something to say they are cued by a speaker to talk but when their time is up their speaker is shut off -- not but's about it.
• There was a display of a fabric of colors:
  

Brown/Grey= Beginning of Time (Stone Age)
Blue= Sailing and ships
Green= Agriculture and Environment
Orange/Red= Catastrophe and Conflict
Gold= Enlightenment
Silver= Future

• Stones from original house of parliament that they gave back to them to put in this place- mounted above a door.
• The outside of the Parliament has these shapes across the windows. They represent curtains (look it up online- since I can't upload my pics right this second) being drawn back to let the parliament people look into it. It is supposed to mean they are very publicly accessible.

• The Debate Room: The most interesting thing was there were shapes of People on the wall that look like bottles. They were to remind the workers in there while debating that they are representing the "Scottish People" and they are constantly being watched. Every debate is videoed and can be viewed online
• *** BBC was recording as we took our tour! We were on TV!

After the Parliament, I passed out at 4:30 pm and woke up at 10:30 pm... Then I chilled out for an hour, facebooked on someone else's computer (2 people bought internet for 15 pounds for the week- but it was pointless for me to do that because I didn't have plug by my bed which I would need to charge my computer). Later I went back to sleep at midnight and woke up and 8:15 am for class at 9. Class consisted of talking in a group discussion about all the cool places we've seen so far and what was special about them to us. I like these kind of classes ;) After, we walked around and finally found converters!!! -- Since I happened to forget mine. I found a delicious lunch spot "Every day Sunday" on our walk to class which was also in the tourist book my Dad gave me. Then Restaurant labels if it is Vegan, Dairy Free, Wheat free == PERF!

Our our walk to the Edinburgh castle we got stopped by this magician that claims that he has been on Jay Leno twice and on SNL! I took a video!

At the castle, we saw the Crown Jewels, Prisoners of War, Military and War Museum... etc. Gorgeous view from the top.


[ crown jewels- one of the swords and the crown; not the real thing because the real one's i couldn't take pictures of ]

The castle felt a like it was re-done with all the different houses for each exhibit. It is the most visited place for tourists.

[portrait in Queen's house]
On the walk back, we stopped at some traders on the side of the road. I bought a ring that has a green Scottish marble and a Scottish/ Celtic band. I payed 26 pounds for it... A bit much but I love it :) Also I bought some other Celtic souvenirs for my family! Later on in the night we went to a Karaoke bar!!
We legit made that bar happenin'. haha The 4 boys started out the singing "Happy Birthday" to Rosalie! Then he did "Stacie's Mom" has got it goin onnnnn! :) SOOO FUNNY! I have lots of videos and pictures. Yiseol broke out her dance moves while Mia and Trevor sang "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga! hahaha But Trevor did NOT know the words so Yiseol took over at the end ! I would have never thought Yiseol would have done that!
Tanner picked out a song for Nicole and I to sing-- "Everybody" by Backstreet Boys and apparently all the Scott's knew it and were singing along!! It was a hit! Who knew!?! Lastly, Paige rapped Ice Ice Baby with Tom and Trevor ! That whole night I could not stop laughing!