Category International

It was a ball

This past weekend University Hall had its ball and if you hadn’t already guessed, it was Great Gatsby 20’s themed. We had the ball at Fernie Castle (the featured photo is the castle but the picture was from the Fernie Castle website) which, although we didn’t get this view of it at night, was lovely. Jazz band, Ceilidh dancing, and a DJ topped off with a brilliant intermission of fireworks filled our night of classy dresses and tuxedos. The only thing missing from our Gatsby party was Gatsby himself but I guess we can’t have everything!

And found the punniest shop there

Too many fun puns to choose from! Fun fact, the Scottish flower is a thistle, if you didn’t already know. There is also a stretch of street in old town in Edinburgh called the Royal Mile filled with great tourist attractions and shops along the mile walk.

Both puns were too fun not to include along with:

Why the long faces?

Anyway these glorious puns do in fact have a purpose which is to introduce my adventure into Edinburgh with good friends. On Saturday the 24th, two of my good friends and I coordinated the 2 hour bus ride into Edinburgh to spend the day exploring. The city and all its splendor was beautifully swarmed with tourists and selfie sticks. Other than the brisk cold most of the day, I loved every bit of it. I was reminded of San Francisco’s tourism in recognizing the locals from the tourists, moving fast with purpose instead of looking up and wandering. Consequently, I found it difficult to imagine walking by huge, monumental structures everyday and brushing it off as normal but I guess someone might say the same about California.

Along with walking from Holyrood palace (there’s a pun in there somewhere) to the Edinburgh castle, we had the joy of eating sushi and visiting the six floors of optical illusion at World of Illusion and Camera Obscura, shrinking, growing, loosing body parts and confusing others, and overall having a blast.

Although I wish I could say something more witty or thoughtful about the city, traveling with friends seems to have more “in the moment” enjoyments instead of ones that can be described in words.

Really I just lose focus

Stopping in the middle of the pavement (sidewalk) to take pictures of trees or sunsets I do get some weird looks.

Maybe I am acting like a tourist but it makes me think, why can’t I be a tourist where I live? Seems to me all tourists are doing are admiring the place and seeing it brand new and to me, that seems like a pretty great mindset. I don’t see why I shouldn’t appreciate where I’m living and really look around instead of taking it for granted. Before I came here, the idea of coming to Scotland was just kind of a dream idea – some sort of unknown Narnia filled with everything perfect, but then I’m actually here and a lot of people here seem to say that about California. It made me think about why we can’t appreciate the thought that maybe we are already in Narnia or Hogwarts; we just have to realize it. So yes, I am going to act like a tourist and take pictures and enjoy the fact that I’m here, suffering through torrential rains and then being able to appreciate the calms afterwards when this picture was taken.

Although there is always school work to be done and lectures and tutorials to get to, there should always be time to smell the roses, pet the dogs and cats, and appreciate a sunset.