But when checking into our hostel, I was not a happy camper. Usually when I stay in hostels I book private rooms for me and my friends so I don't have to worry about getting anything stolen. But because I was not in charge of booking the hostel this time, it was a whole different story. Not only was it not an individual room for the two of us, but the room consisted of 14 beds...which meant 12 other strangers were in the room and capable of stealing my most prized possessions. Now, I don't mean to brag or sound obnoxious in anyway, but I happen to think of myself as stylish with a one of a kind wardrobe. A little side note to my year in England: I have been told well over twenty times by the Brits, that I remind them of Cher from Clueless. At first I was offended because I thought that somehow my American accents made me sound less intelligent (I'm sure that it actually does). But then, after thinking about it for a while, I decided that being compared to Cher is nothing but a compliment. She's fun, stylish, and pretty and if that is who I remind people of, well, then I cannot be complaining by any means. Although, I do not have a revolving closet as Cher does, and quite frankly, I don't think it's too much to ask...
But staying in a 14 bed hostel with some of my favorite outfits and just one little locker to ensure its safety, not all of my clothes fit in the safety box because first things first, I needed to lock away my laptop for safe keeping. I know that bringing my laptop to a hostel for two nights wasn't the smartest thing, but with homework, a paper due that week, and an eight hour train ride, I needed to get work done (and watch some movies on the way to Edinburgh to keep the board-em of work from getting to me). After jamming as much as possible into the locker with my computer, I got into bed and quickly fell into a full nights sleep. Except NOT.
Now the one thing that really bothers me when I am trying to sleep is hearing another person snore. Now, I don't mind if you are personally a snorer (everyone else in my family is except for me so things get very interesting on family vacations), but if you are a snorer and know that you are a snorer, DO NOT BOOK A 14 BED HOSTEL ROOM! It's rude. Plain and simple. I'm sorry that you have nasal problems and can't breathe correctly when you sleep, but at the same time, DO NOT make me pay the price for your stuffy nose.
The thing is, I own a pair of earplugs (I had to buy them on my trip to Paris...and if you don't understand this reference, go read my blog post about my weekend in Paris and then you will understand why...), but I left my earplugs in Exeter, not even thinking that I would be staying in a 14 person room with snorers surrounding my bed. So with my earplugs in England and snorers in every direction, I can clearly state that I did not have a good night's sleep, but rather Logan number two aka 'angry Logan' emerged within the night.
Desperate for sleep and the snorer not showing any sign of clearing her nasal-way, I had nothing else to do but try and 'shush' her from across the room. Not only was this pointless, but it also turned out to be pretty funny because unknowingly, my friend was still awake and heard me trying to 'shush' the snorer from across the room. But I wasn't even embarrassed about it. After my friend had suspected that I was the 'shusher' I owned up to it although it was the actions of Logan number two, and when I am in a sleepy mood, I have no control over Logan number two's temper...just ask my Dad.
Even with a terrible night's sleep, we woke up early the next morning to catch a walking tour of the city. And the city was beautiful! Take a look:
Here I am ruining my friend's picture of a beautiful street in Edinburgh.
Although the walking tour turned out to be around three hours, my sore feet and tired legs were happy that I walked around the city to see everything there was possibly to see. There are so many stories to Edinburgh, a famous one consisting within the Edinburgh graveyard, which of course, I loved. Apparently the Edinburgh graveyard holds the most visited grave in the entire world, this being the grave of John Gray.
The myth behind this grave is a touching one. In the olden days, all of the men of Edinburgh had pet dogs that travelled around with them. But I'm not talking cute little Lucy dogs (that's my Cavalier King Charles). I'm talking big mountain dogs to help protect their property and such. So while everyone man in Edinburgh had big and scary dogs, John Gray decided to be accompanied by none other than a tiny, little, black terrier. Now a days that seems totally normal and so cute, but back when John Gray was alive, a tiny dog to use as protection was unheard of. But John Gray did as he pleased and loved his little, black terrier until the day he died. And that was the problem. Only two years after getting Bobby, his little, black terrier, John Gray died suddenly and was buried in the Catholic graveyard as seen above. With John gone, Bobby was now left orphaned at the age of two. But because John showed Bobby such love, legend has it that every single day, Bobby would go back to John's grave and sit there from sunrise to sunset. Bobby loved John and rather than find a new owner, he stayed loyal to John even after he was buried. Bobby went back to John's grave everyday for fourteen years until the day he died at age sixteen. Many people admired Bobby's love and loyalty for John and wanted Bobby to be buried next to John in the graveyard because after all, they were each other's family. However, the church wouldn't allow it because it was a Catholic graveyard and they said that since Bobby was not a proclaimed Catholic, he could not be buried within the gates. Now, if you ask me, that dog was a Catholic. After fourteen years of loyalty and visiting his Catholic owner, I believe that it is fair to say that the dog holds the same religious beliefs as John Gray, and after fourteen years of grieving over his owner, I say that they should have buried the dog next to him. But no. Bobby's body was buried somewhere else in Edinburgh, far away from John Gray. However, the townspeople of Edinburgh were outraged that this little terrier couldn't be put to rest with John, so rather than start a war with the church, the city of Edinburgh made a statue of Bobby, (sculpted to real life size), and placed it right outside the graveyard near John Gray's grave so that the two could still be together.
There is the statue of Bobby! There is also a pub donated to Bobby as well which you can see in the background.
Skipping out on the tour a little early so that I could see all that there was to see in Edinburgh, I headed to the National Museum of Scotland.
The museum was huge, so unfortunately I didn't make it through the entire thing. However, there was an exhibit on the Scottish Royalty which I couldn't resist, because after all, anything having to do with royalty makes me feel right at home. After visiting the different exhibits and learning more about Scottish history, I met up with my friend and together, we went to Edinburgh Castle.
The castle was beautiful and so much bigger than I had ever pictured it to be. Although the tickets were a bit pricey, the castle was well worth the money and was filled with different exhibits.
We saw some amazing views from the top of the castle.
In the castle, we visited the Crown Jewels and the Stone of Destiny. I guess the Stone of Destiny is really important because the legend states that whoever holds the Stone of Destiny has the power. So for now, it is Scotland. But for a while, the Stone of Destiny was in England, but only because three students and their University Professor stole the Stone of Destiny out of Scotland. Upon stealing the Stone of Destiny, the four grown size men didn't realized how heavy the stone was going to be and they accidentally dropped it breaking it in two. But eventually, people found out that these guys had stolen the stone and Scotland stole it back, fused the two pieces back together, and now it sits guarded in Edinburgh Castle next to the Crown Jewels. I wasn't allowed to take pictures, but once you get up close to the rock, it is shiny and glistens from all over, and in fact, so shiny that I had the urge to break the glass encasement and seize all power for myself with this giant stone. But then I remembered that four grown men couldn't even carry this stone to their car so I decided that maybe I should just leave it there and stay out of trouble. So for now, Scotland has the power. But in the future, I will hold the rock and therefore hold all power that comes with it!
While walking around the castle, I saw a bagpiper and decided that I couldn't pass up an opportunity like this without getting a picture with him, so I did. Minor detail: the bagpiper is not real...
After walking around the castle some more and admiring all that it had to offer, I realized that after watching a little kid with his parents that I had missed a great photo-op. So quickly, when one of the security guards turned his back, I jumped on a historic cannon and did as the little boy had done with his parents. Although I am not a little kid anymore, (I am 21, but who's counting?), I jumped at the opportunity for cute photos...so here ya go:
And just before leaving the castle, we managed to take some more touristy pictures.
When walking back to our hostel, we crossed paths with a real, life bagpiper! And he was wearing a kilt! That's the other thing about Scotland...lots of guys walking around in skirts. I know that they are Scottish kilts, but still, I've never before seen so many guys walking around a city in ankle length skirts...let alone skirts above the knee...
Earlier that day when my friend and I stopped in some souvenir shops, I came across the perfect gift for my older brother. I know that gifts are usually supposed to be a secret, but I doubt that my brother checks my weekly blog (he has better things to do in life such as Rock Band...), so I probably won't be ruining the surprise of his gift by posting it on my blog.
If you look closely, those are in fact the smallest bottles of whisky in the ENTIRE WORLD! And the cool thing about them is, they are only made in Scotland. Because I didn't have enough time to go into the Whisky Factory and look around at Scotland's homemade liquor, I snagged these two little bottles at the gift store. One for me, and one for my brother.
Later that night, my friend and I decided that we would check out what Edinburgh's nightlife had to offer. So after spending time doing our hair and makeup, we ended up coming back to our snoring, 14 person hostel room sooner than later. Lesson learned from this experience: the day time in Edinburgh = amazing, beautiful, refreshing, and historic. Night time in Edinburgh: Strange...very, very strange.
I've always imagined that every city's nightlife is filled with young people, not people older than my parents. Maybe we went to the wrong areas in Edinburgh, but the places that we went had people partying who were old enough to be my mom's older sister. Now that's weird. I mean, I guess older people can party too, I just hope by the time I am fifty or so, I have settled in with my life and I am not out on the town dancing in a dress that should be worn by a twenty-year-old. I'm not saying that old people shouldn't wear cute dresses, I'm just saying it's not for me and even though I'm still young, partying with the old, drunk ladies is not my scene either. When we were out on the town, there were two different instances when old, drunk ladies fell on us, so after the second time that happened, we called it quits and sped walked back to our snory hostel.
And not to my surprise, I had to deal with the snorer again. But this time I kept the 'shushing' to a minimum because I didn't want my friend to hear any signs that Logan number two had emerged.
The next day we got up and decided to eat brunch at the birthplace of Harry Potter, the Elephant Cafe. Well, I guess I shouldn't say that it is the birthplace of Harry Potter, but it is in fact the cafe where J.K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book! At the time she was living in Edinburgh, but couldn't even afford to heat her own flat so every day during the winter, she would order the cheapest thing on the menu at the Elephant Cafe so that she could stay all day to write there and be in a heated room. The view from the Elephant Cafe is what actually inspired J.K. Rowling's Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This is the view from the window in the cafe:
After staring at that school everyday, she came up with Harry Potter and Hogwarts and with the release of her novels, she was able to buy a house, (not just a flat), and heat the entire thing (no more writing in the Elephant cafe). Our tour guide actually told us that with the release of her last book, she has a higher net worth than the Queen of England, earning over 70 million pounds (equivalent to over 100 million dollars) for just her latest book. I guess it just shows you that anything can happen and as an English major and aspiring writer/author, I decided that eating in the Elephant cafe would be somewhat inspiration (but I was really hoping that a lightbulb would go off and I would suddenly have the idea for the next big thing and become as big (or bigger) than J.K. Rowling). But that didn't happen. Instead I just left with a bit of a stomachache....the coffee did not agree with me.
Here we are in front of Hogwarts School!!! (I don't know the actual name of it.)
After brunch, we headed straight to the city center in order to complete the ultimate Edinburgh act: spit in the middle of the cobblestone heart. Now I know what you're thinking...not very lady like at all. But just so you all know, I am very girly and I am definitely NOT a spitter, but I do believe that spitting has its time and its place and for a good myth, I would spit any day. So, here's the story: In the city center of Edinburgh, there is a cobblestone heart. Apparently when American tourists vacation in Edinburgh, some go to propose in the middle of the heart, kneeling in its center. Little do Americans know that the center of the heart is covered in spit. The legend has it that if you spit in the middle of the heart, you will return to Edinburgh one day. And because I loved Edinburgh so much and definitely want to go back to spend more than just one weekend there, I collected all the phlegm I had and spit the biggest wad I had in me. And good news, I hit the center of the heart! So if the myth is correct, I will return to Edinburgh one day. And if I have another good trip there my second time, I'll make sure to leave another spitball so I can go back there once more.
There I am spitting! You can actually see the spit in the air in front of my boot!
I LOVE Scotland!
I know that it's March now, but looking back on my month of February, I couldn't have wished for a better time. After looking back on all of my trips this past month, I realized that in the month of February alone, I have traveled around four different countries! The Netherlands/Holland (Amsterdam), England (London and Exeter), Spain (Madrid), and now Scotland (Edinburgh). I definitely consider myself very lucky and I couldn't be anymore appreciative of being able to study for a full year abroad. Just a few hours ago, I got back from traveling around England. I just got back from Glastonbury and Stonehenge! And of course I loved Stonehenge not only because it is beautiful and incredible, but also because it is out of this world...literally. Some believe that aliens built it which of course, with all of my weird ghost stories and such, I want to believe. And although ghosts are different from aliens, I do love to listen to a good alien story as well. February was a great month for me, as is the start of March! Expect a blog post this week about Stonehenge!
