After I left Ghana I headed to London for about two days. The day I arrived I met Nam, who was staying in the same room as me in the hostel. I went around with him and another guy he'd met earlier in the day, Ted. It turns out we were all from Texas and it was everyone's first day in London which is a funny coincidence. They were both really nice and I was super glad to have some other y'all users around. We travelled around quite a bit--from Tower Bridge and along the river Thames over to Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens. And after that of course we had to finish off the day with some fish and chips at a pub. The next day I went off to explore by myself, me and my headphones against the world. I feel like I walked the entire city that day. A few of my favorite things were Trafalgar Square (Allee, Carah, and I got yelled at for climbing the lion statues there senior year of high school. Good times, good times), Guildhall Art Gallery (nothing too extravagant but some really nice pieces and admission was free), and the Museum of London (also free admission). I headed to Kings Cross early the next morning, snapped a quick picture of platform 9 and added my own 3/4 onto the end, and was soon on my way to Edinburgh, Scotland.
I stayed in Edinburgh for the rest of my time in Europe because I was on yet another study abroad--an engineering ethics minimester. Obviously I loved the Germany program more than this one just because I had so much more time to connect with the surroundings as well as my classmates, but I had a great time in Scotland and met a lot of sweet people as well. I'm not sure I ever quite got used to people driving on the left hand side of the roads, but other than that life there was much the same as in Germany anyway, except the locals were definitely nicer.
What I did/takeaways:
- After classes we had the afternoons free so I was able to make my way through most of the museums and sights to see pretty easily. I highly recommend the National Museum of Scotland, and the Scottish National Gallery is home to probably the best collection I've ever seen (and both are free). Also for a good view Arthur's seat is the place to go. It's a short hike and definitely worth it.
- We had a few class excursions to Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Palace, and Real Mary King's Close. The last was definitely my favorite although they were all worth doing. We had one excursion outside of Edinburgh where we went to Aberdeen to visit Halliburton. There we got a look at how concrete is developed and then later how it is used in oil drilling. I thought it was pretty interesting and I liked the workers that were speaking with us.
- I took two day trips through a company called Rabbies. On the first one I saw the Kelpies (giant horse head statues), Loch Lomond, and Stirling Castle. The second took me and some friends to a couple small cities (Kelso and Dunbar), across the border into England, and to Alnwick Castle (aka Harry Potter castle!!). I definitely recommend both of them or if you don't like guided tours you should at least make sure to drive out through the countryside. And seek out some hairy coos!! I never actually saw any myself but that's just about my only regret.
- I also attended my first (non high school) musical ever. A group of us went to see Wicked and I absolutely loved it! (Defying gravity is a true anthem and now my motivational go-to). And the next week I saw the RNSO (Royal National Scottish Orchestra) perform Planets which was super duper good as well! And one of the smaller pieces they played beforehand featured a tuba soloist. A really good tuba soloist!! Backed up by a really good orchestra!! My mind was blown.
- I really enjoyed the class itself, it wasn't an overload of work and it really made you consider how you could handle difficult situations better. We were given a lot of real life scenarios to think about and although it's frustrating that there's never really a correct way to solve any of them, it's interesting to see how everyone has a different take on each issue.
- As for pubs and restaurants and things--Caley Picture House is absolutely gorgeous (converted from a theater), Bread Meats Bread is excellent for satisfying a poutine craving, Elephant house for Harry Potter fans and yummy cake, Hoot the Redeemer definitely worth a hunt, and of course finding a place with a pub quiz is a must do. Also, try IRN BRU. Best selling soda in Scotland!
From Edinburgh I flew to Frankfurt (round trip tickets suck so I couldn't change where I left from) and the next day, I flew back to Houston. So, that's a wrap on both Scotland and the rest of Europe (for now).
May 29
Here I am, sitting outside my gate in Frankfurt, waiting for a flight, again. Only this time it's a much more bitter sweet experience. Despite thoroughly enjoying all of my travels after the program, I've been ready to return home. [Aaand just as I was writing that I was randomly selected for a security check, or should I more accurately say Margaret Chen Smith was? The guy who was looking at my passport saw my Deutschland visa and asked, "Oh, do you speak German?" and he was so disappointed when I said no. You and me both, buddy, you and me both.] But back to the point, I've been ready to go home for a couple of weeks now, but as I sit here about to board I find that I'd very much like to stay. The UK was much easier to live in language barrier wise, but it just didn't feel like home. Coming back to Frankfurt for a short 12 hours, being surrounded by German and being lost when people try to talk to me? Yeah, it's a little stressful, but it's somewhat normalized and just feels... right. I'm going to miss that. I'm going to miss a lot of things. But I know I'll return one day so I'll just give a final see-you-later to all of my favorite German things and be happy I was able to snag one last bag of butterkeks on my way out.
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