6 September- Girl's Night Out!

Saturday was one of the best days I have had since arriving in Scotland. The whole day was just really, really fun. In the morning, a group of us went shopping in Edinburgh. Leah, D and I kind of broke off and did our own thing, though, because we were the only girls. It was really cool, because we got a great look at the city. We stayed on the Royal Mile for the first couple hours, which is the tourist trap area of the city, but also went down some closes (alleys) and found some great shops. We also went to Princes Mall, which is a mall on Princes Street, one of the largest streets in Edinburgh. That shows how "Americanised" different places are getting. A local told us that until this opened a couple years ago, they never would have called something a "mall." Anyway, in there I found a really cute dress that I ended up wearing out that night.

After we finished shopping, we met up with our friend Dave, and the four of us ate at a small Italian restaurant on Leith Street called Guilianos. I had a three course dinner. It was really good, although you could tell the workers were not too impressed with us. I had a bruschetta-style appatiser and pesto chicken for my main. I had delicious tiramisu for dessert. After we were done eating, we just sat there for a wee bit because we did not know we were supposesd to ask for the bill. Apparently, the Scottish think it is rude to drop it off, like they are rushing people out. There is a sense of that in a lot of places here.

After dinner, we went home and got ready. We left about 22:30, because people go out late here. We were so lucky, because at the bus stop, we ran into four Scottish girls that were also going out. They told us they would bring us around with them, which was just brilliant.

We stopped at a pub called The Tron just to use the toilets, because it was close to us. After that, we went to a pub called Rush that had great student drink specials. One thing that is different here in Scotland vs. the States is tipping and ordering drinks. Waiters and barmen are paid a living wage, so tipping is not at all like at home. For a full service meal, 5-15% is the normal range. At the pubs, instead of tipping for every drink, you would offer to buy the barman a drink at the end of the night and he will add another drink to your tab. You also buy in rounds, so since there were the three of us drinking, I would buy three, then Leah, then D. It was different, but it actually works out really well.

So for a round of drinks after showing student ID, it was like 6 quid, which was great because they were doubles. (We had a double vodka lemonade with black currant night. Oh, and lemonade here is actually lemon lime soda, like 7up) Oh, and I know it says girls night out, but our friend Dave came too. He isn't much of a drinker though, so I don't know how his night went. He says he had fun, so I'll have to believe him.

Rush closed down at one, so after that we went to Espionage, which is a 5 floor dance club. Each level plays different music. It was so much fun! We actually ended up closing it down, which was 4am! After that, we made our way back to the bus station to catch the night bus home. We walked in at about 5:30. It was a really crazy night, but we had so much fun!

Here are the pictures: First, just a picture of my desert from dinner. It was great!


Then, a picture of us girls before we went out: Me, Leah, D.


Then it is the four girls we met at the bus stop: Nat is on the left, Lisa is squeezed in there, Danielle is in the middle and Sam is on the right. They were really nice, and so much fun. They invited us out for a birthday party for Sam and Lisa's younger sister, but we were in the Highlands :-( But the Highlands were very fun, so that was a good thing to do as well. More on that later.

Next, this is a picture of a guy we met at the bus stop on the way home. He was really nice, but kinda weird, and wearing a jacket with all these American classic rock bands on it. He said his mum is Scottish, and his dad is from the States, so he picked his dad's taste in music.






Then it is another picture of the three of us, just later in the night. I have no idea what kind of face Leah is making, but we were having a good time.

Last, this is another person we met at the bus stop. He and his friend are members of the British Army, who were actually on leave from Iraq where they were fighting alongside US Marines. They were nice, but they also where very weird. One of them, not the one pictured, actually started crying on the bus, I think from a combination of lager and post traumatic stress disorder. We didn't really know how to deal with that. Then they followed us off the bus, and D and I kind of ran off to the palace and left Leah and Dave to sort that out. Luckily, nothing more came of it. We definately have Dave to thank for that.

The only casualty of the night was my North Face fleece, which I wore because it was cold, but took off in the clubs, and it got drinks spilt on it, and covered in dirt. Luckily I was able to get it clean, even the white, and now it is as good as new!

Once we were home, we made some noodles and went to bed. We slept most of Sunday, and really only woke up to eat. No matter what, though, it was a great night!