August 30

Today was an exciting day, it was the first time for us to go into Edinburgh! We had an "Amazing Race" type game planned, and it was a lot of fun. First we were split up into small groups, called "clans." Not only were these our groups for the game, but we also split into them for kitchen duty and other lame things. My clan-mates are Dave, Drew, Jocelyn and Anne. We are the Stewart clan, which historically ruled Scotland for a really long time, so we started out with history on our side.

The game basically was a scavenger hunt, which led us all over Edinburgh and up and down the Royal Mile (a really famous part of Old Town in Edinburgh, with tons of shops and historic sights). On the way out to the city, we asked the couple in front of us for help with our quiz, and they were really nice and gave us lots of answers. They also helped us get off the bus at the right time, which was really helpful because the bus can be really confusing.

The game started off really fun, but kind of stalled when we stopped off for a pint at Belushi's (one of the stops on our list) but then we were able to get it back on track. A really popular drink here is called a Snakebite, or a Black Snakebite. It is half Fosters, half Strongbow (or half lager, half cider). A Black one has a shot of black current in it (which is like grenadine but delicious). They are pretty good, but I prefer cider. It is just so delicious.

Our group ended up winning, probably because we ended up doing all the extra questions, which included climbing up Calton Hill to look at crappy monuments, so we totally deserved it. We found out at the wine and cheese social we had that night. Our prize was traditional, locally made Scottish sweets. I have only had one so far, but it was great.

The social was fun, and after it a group of us went out for Chinese and brought it back to the house and sat around talking. On the way we saw a good old fashioned bar fight, which was kind of weird to actually see. The bouncers called the cops and threw them in the street, but didn't interfere any more than that. Others from our house went to the pubs, but I'm glad I wasn't there because they were being stupid, and someone threw a bottle that hit a cab, and it was all just bad news. Made the Americans look like assholes.

Here are some pics from the day:

So, the dog is Greyfriar's Bobby, who is this dog who followed his master until he died, then stayed at his grave with him. Futurama used a similar storyline for an episode, and is sad.











The next one is a shot of us at the wine and cheese social after winning. From the left, it is Dave, Drew, Jocelyn, Me (duh), and Anne.









Here I am writing down some answers, on a very blunt signpost








This is a view of Old City from the top of Calton Hill, which houses several monuments, including one known as Edinburgh's Shame because they never finished it. It looks like half of the Parthenon.




I can't remember what this is a statue of, but it is neat and really shows how modern life was built right on top of the old, because all over town there are statues just like this in the middle of the street.