Whiskey Society Ceilidh

I am almost officially Scottish (at least as any non-Scottish person can be) I am now a part of the Water of Life aka Whiskey Society. That's right I am learning how to drink Scotch Whiskey and liking it! Yesterday the Whiskey Society held a Ceilidh in honour of Robert Burns Day. As I told you in my New Years post Robert Burns is one of Edinburgh's most famous poets known worldwide for writing Auld Lang Syne. Every year he is celebrated along with everything else Scottish most often with dinner but sometimes with a ceilidh. A Ceilidh for those of you who may not be familiar is a social gathering with dancing similar to square dancing but better. What makes a Burns Ceilidh unique is the toast to the lassies, reply from the lassies, and finally the toast to the haggis...that's right they toast haggis got to love a country that toasts food (in the pic you can see the VP with the haggis getting ready for the toast...and he's wearing a kilt of course)! I went to the Burns Ceilidh with my new flatmate and some of our friends and I swear I could go every night it is so much fun and you get to meet so many people...and it's a great workout I was even thinking about incorporating some of the moves into my group fitness classes! It was a truly Scottish experience along with the tasting of some awesome whiskeys to bad this could be an expensive habit when I return to the States.

Deep Scottish Love

My younger sister Caroline visited for the last couple of weeks of her Christmas break. After her almost 20 hours of traveling she was pretty exhausted the first day she was in Edinburgh but she adjusted well enough. As classes had started back by the time Caroline got here she got to meet all of my flatmates (including our newest addition Alice) and had lots of fun enjoying Edinburgh pubs as she's finally legal on a trip to the UK. We even went on the pop star themed pub crawl with the history society which was lots of fun until we had to wake up the next day for our highlands tour.

Over the weekend we went on a highlands tour with Haggis Adventures which I 100% recommend. With our local tour guide Chris and a bus full of Aussies we ventured around the highlands for the 3 days, including the Isle of Skye, Glencoe, and most importantly Loch Ness!!! If you like to travel (and even if you don't) you have to see the Scottish Highlands they are absolutely one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. I already knew Scotland was incredible but this trip definitely brought out the Deep Scottish Love (DSL)! Besides the beauty of the highlands this trip was great because we got to meet some many interesting people (mostly Aussies) definitely got to experience several different types of culture not just Scottish. While we didn't get to see Nessie this trip I still have hope!

Caroline left yesterday morning, still can't believe she's been and gone but I'm looking forward to all my future visitors so I can share my DSL! x

We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet

A fact I learned during my Christmas in Scotland is that Christmas was officially banned in Scotland until 1953 therefore the Scottish had to look for other ways to celebrate and focused their attention on the New Year or Hogmanay (no one is sure about the origin of the word so don't ask me), the Scots love their traditions so Hogmanay is still a major celebration especially in Edinburgh. As my mom left on the 29th she did not get to celebrate Hogmanay but my flatmate Elina came back from Finland to celebrate with me! We went to the Light Show on High Street on New Years' Eve Eve, however, the organizers didn't expect the snow so they had to shut it early (it had been snowing for 2+ weeks at this point so I thought that was a little bit of an oversight!) but it did get us in early to be well rested for the Prince's Street New Years' Eve Party, which we hit up in style on the 31st. It was incredible- tons of people (many of the men were wearing kilts!), live music, and at midnight fireworks and the singing of Auld Lang Syne-which was written by the Edinburgh poet Robert Burns so it has particular meaning in Edinburgh (and no I did not just leave off the "e" in take that's the Rabbie Burns spelling!) However, possibly my favorite moment of the night was when we came upon one of the security guards drinking a beer with a spare bottle in his back pocket...only in Scotland! <3

New Years' Day everything was of course closed as it is the day everyone spend at home with their family welcoming in the new year but I made sure that we had our black eyed peas for good luck!

Elina left on the 2nd to spend the rest of break in Luxembourg but I wasn't along for long as Sarah arrived that evening to have our own little New Years celebration complete with real champagne she brought!! After traveling around Scandinavia with her mom for the holidays Sarah decided to take a bit of time to visit me before her next adventures around Europe with Morgan. We mostly had a chill visit as both of us were exhausted from our mothers' visits (yes you would think we were old women...we have built our relationship on that fact!) But we also get to use the excuse it was cold and icy so being warm was far superior to being outside. We focused our activities on being inside like eating, shopping, going to the movies and of course going to the pub! As always it was lovely to see Sarah and I can't wait to visit her in Budapest later this semester!!

A Highland Christmas

A very long overdue blog (I was waiting for my mom to send pictures but I'm not sure she will ever get around to it so I gave in!) As many of you know my mom visited over the Christmas holiday, in fact she got to Edinburgh the day before Zara and I returned from the Canaries. Happy Holidays indeed! We did Edinburgh up in major tourist style taking tours of Edinburgh Castle, going to church at St. Giles, walking the German Christmas Market, doing the Scotch Whiskey Experience (I'm actually starting to like Scotch Whiskey!), taking a Christmas on the Closes tour, and of course most importantly shopping Prince's street until we dropped! The weather while Mom was here was a little less nice it snowed A LOT and it would get just above freezing during the day and then the temp would drop overnight so we perfected our ice walking skills (well perfected might be a bit of an over statement...). One night while we were in Edinburgh we took in a screening of It's A Wonderful Life at the Cameo (an old cinema close to my flat...it's got draw curtains and everything!) I always thought I didn't like that movie but now I'm convinced it was just because I was made to watch before I can understand because it is as everyone always says incredible!

In addition to touring around Edinburgh we also took a day trip to St. Andrews which was beautiful and I found the perfect rain jacket that my mom bought as my xmas present woohoo. St. Andrew's was a beautiful University town but as always it was nice to return to Edinburgh and get ready for our Christmas excursion.

For Christmas weekend Mom and I booked a holiday package at a resort in Nairn (just east of Inverness if you know something of Scottish geography) and after a wee mishap with taking the train we made it to the beautiful sea town and Golf View Hotel which was incredible!!! Imagine hot breakfast every morning, afternoon tea, and four course meals every evening (except on Christmas when it was a five course lunch!) I could get used to this treatment. While most of the people there were a little older than us (yes that includes my mom) it just made me think "man am I ready for retirement!" All kidding aside it was a nice break and the town of Nairn was so pleasant we went shopping down the main street and everyone loved that Americans were visiting Nairn over Christmas (really makes you feel appreciated!).

Having mom over the holidays made it better that I wasn't at home with everybody else and we did get to skype with my sisters, dad, and mamaw over christmas so it was the best of both worlds! I certainly could get used to spending Christmas up in the Highlands!!

When I finally get pictures I will share! x

Island in the Sun

Zara and my last trip together was to Las Palmas, Gran Canaria and was a much needed break from the cold and dark of Scotland. We had an early morning flight when we left Edinburgh it was -2°C when we landed in the Canaries it was 27°C...for those of you that only work in Fahrenheit that's ~28°F in Edinburgh to ~83°F in the Canaries so lovely. Not having to wear a jacket, scarf, and hat when you go outside was amazing. It was a nice little respite from the 7 hours of daylight you get in Edinburgh it was actually light outside until almost 8!! Basically our holiday consisted of laying on the beach and eating, celebrating the end of the semester and end of Zara's time in Europe. I did have to brush up a little on my Spanish but we did pretty well for two only English speakers...I was even told they were impressed with my accent! We both got a little color so we once again the tannest people in Scotland. I totally recommend Las Palmas to anyone wanting an island getaway. We flew back on Zara's bday and so we got to celebrate in both the Canaries and Edinburgh to wrap up her time in Scotland. Sad to see Zara go but glad we got to have one last vacay together!

Thanksgiving- Something to Be Grateful For

My dad came to visit for the Thanksgiving holiday, along with Cyndie, Timmy, and Liz. It was so great seeing some faces from home. Dad and Co. flew into London from the states so I joined them there for the first weekend. We got a private tour of parliament (thanks again Malin!) and then hit up a pub and had a wonderful Italian dinner (with entirely too much food which was a trend for the week!). Saturday we did the open top bus tour and Westminster abbey, followed by Dad and my favorite Vietnamese place in London. Sunday we attempted to do other touristy things but nothing seemed to work out. On Monday they met me back in Edinburgh so that I could show them around my new town...we went to Greyfriars Bobby pub where everyone got to try haggis for the first time. We also tried and amazing Indian place close to their B&B for dinner. Tuesday I had a presentation in the morning but met them in the afternoon to walk and shop the royal mile. We had an amazing dinner at a mussels and steak place (my first steak since being in Edinburgh and it was sooo good!) and then tried the Dragonfly cocktail bar delicious cocktails but I still like my regular ole g&t's. Wednesday was quite possibly the worst weather I have experienced in Edinburgh to date but as true tourist we braved the weather and visited the Palace of Holyroodhouse. Holyroodhouse is the Queen's official residence when she comes to Edinburgh and was also were Mary Queen of Scots lived before she was imprisoned in the Tower of London. There is even a blood stain on the floor of Mary chamber from the murder of her confidant Rizzio who her husband believed she was having an affair with. Walking back up the royal mile we attempted a visit to Edinburgh Castle, however, at this point Dad, Cyndie and I were done with the weather and ducked into a pub as Timmy and Liz continued on their way...jokes on them the Castle was closed due to bad weather. The rest of the day we shopped for cashmere (which was founded in Scotland) and called it a night because we had early flights to Paris in the morning. Thursday (aka Thanksgiving) we flew to Paris, after we got settled in our hotel (just a 5 minute walk to the Eiffel Tower!) and took a nap we set out for our several course Thanksgiving dinner at a French bistro. The dinner was absolutely delicious, I now know why the French are renowned for their cooking! Since I started university I have only spent one Thanksgiving in the states but traveling and being with my family is something that I am grateful for so really it's just a celebration of that. Friday we took a tour of France's Champagne region, touring the Mumm and Moet & Chandon cellars. Moet & Chandon is also were the make Dom Perignon. Dom Perignon (the man) was a monk who first produced champagne and what a wonderful discovery it was. When we returned to Paris I had my first sushi since being in Europe, and it won't be my last! Then we went to the top of the Eiffel Tower seeing the lights of Paris at night was incredible, when I was here before we went up during the day which is very impressive but by night it's is truly remarkable. Saturday we spent walking around Champs-Elysee where Paris's Christmas market is in full swing. I love looking at all the stalls and we had some delicious mulled wine. We then visited musee d'Orsay, I have to say I enjoyed it more than I did the Louvre when I visited a couple of years ago. We'll I'm not totally into art I have always loved my impressionist and I got to see some of Manet's (my favs) work, as well as, many Monet, Cezzane, Sisley and even Degas's the Little Dancer. For my last night with Dad and Co. we ate at a cafe and tried many a interesting thing. We started the meal with foie gras and escargot, followed by a goat cheese salad and steak tartare. Finished off with a rabbit tartin and clementines with cinnamon, all of this of course with lots and lots of table wine. It was so nice to see my dad and co. and I even got to skype the rest of the fam from Paris on Thanksgiving, saying goodbye was a hard but it was made a little better knowing my mom is coming in less than 10 days now! I finished up classes on 3 December and because I'm took 3rd year honours courses all my exams are in May so I'm just resting easy until my final trip with Zara to the Canary Islands. I'm going to do much better about blogging through December, somehow November just got away from me.

Why is it when we try to do something cultural we end up doing the kids activities?

Unfortunately Zara and my Wednesday day trips into Scotland had a short lived life but we did start trying to at least venture into Edinburgh and visit museums, etc. Zara and I really only have patience for museums for about 30 minutes and after trying to increase our knowledge of Scottish culture always end up doing the kid activities instead. Why should kids be the only one's to have fun at a museum? The National Museum of Scotland has awesome kids activities from trying on viking costumes, to corsets, to driving an F1 car and testing your reaction time. Also the National Museum of Scotland is the home of the stuffed Dolly, the first cloned sheep. Dolly was cloned just outside of Edinburgh (a fact I learned at the museum before I started playing with the kid stuff). In addition to our museuming we also tried a fried Mars bar (a Scottish delicacy) it was surprisingly delicious although you could feel your arteries clogging as you ate it! Scotland's eating habits are about as good as the South's they like to fry everything here and take it down with a pint, oh the good life.