“Ah, another miserable day in paradise” – Edinburgh cabbie

Looking back on my first week here, I’m quite surprised at how easily we have integrated ourselves into a new city and country. Undoubtedly, some impeccable planning and previous knowledge on my part have helped, but in general, Edinburgh is quite an easy city to live in.

After one full week, I thought I’d reflect and write out all my likes and dislikes, if I can think of any. So here goes!

Food likes:

• The cost of groceries at the supermarket. Fruits and veggies (not that I’m buying any) for under a pound, along with everything else costing not much more than £2.50 a pop. I went to Sainsbury’s recently and filled my cart completely. At the cashier, I heard the employee request £60. I was a bit shocked, but I didn’t look up or question it until had opened my wallet to pay. I had misheard her, she had requested the £16 I owed! £16 for a full week+ of groceries is wonderful.
• The sheer amount of food options available at any given moment. Not only are there 700 pubs in Edinburgh, but squeezed between them are Italian, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Burmese, and even American places galore, let alone places like Greggs and other cheap options for a bite out to eat. We always have more choice than we know what to do with, and often just go for a wander when hungry instead of looking anywhere up.

Singapore noodles with Quentin and Isaac!

Food dislikes:

• The cost of eating out is quite expensive. The downside of a strong currency is that you can’t help but compare currencies. £5 for a basic sushi roll seems like a great deal, until you remember that you cap yourself at $5 for the same roll in theU.S. £5 doesn’t seem much, until you calculate it’s equivalency of almost $7. For this reason, I have yet to get sushi here.
• It’s not the healthiest. I have a pretty poor diet as is, but for the past year in the U.S. I have been really working on expanding my tastes and choosing healthier options. However, green doesn’t feature that much in classic Scottish/British dishes (read: fish & chips and haggis). An easy lunch for me is a sausage roll, packet of crisps, and fanta, but nowhere in there are there any vitamins or nutrients beyond carbs, sugars, and some protein.

City likes:

• I love, love, LOVE how close everything is. Even today, Quentin and I wandered quite far (so we thought) to a distant Uni coffee shop to relax and read in. Because the city is so walkable with all its closes and wynds cutting through buildings, we didn’t use google maps to get there. I look up beforehand where we want to go, and we walk in the general direction until we get there, checking the address as we go to make sure we haven’t walked the wrong way. Upon arrival, I looked to our left, and saw the end of the road we live on. We were in a completely new part of the city to us, and even when we thought we were actually far from home, we were really on the other end of the road we live on.
• The people are so kind. We haven’t met tons of Edinburghers, as we have spent a lot of time right in the city centre in quite touristy areas. However, the ones that we have met have gone out of their way (against normal British etiquette) to explain our queries and take a minute to explain something to us. On the way from the airport, Quentin asked out loud what a building was, and the man sitting behind us told us all about it and many of his recommendations for our time here. This morning, Quentin pointed to a T and wondered aloud what it stood for, and literally a man walking past just shouted “a beer company” while walking past without turning his head!

Beautiful view from the Royal Mile. The blue right above the buildings is the ocean.

City dislikes:

• PEOPLE EVERYWHERE. Yes, yes, I am aware that we live in the city centre. But it is still tiresome nonetheless. You cannot walk anywhere without having to wade through swathes of tourists. The wynds and closes that don’t pop up on google maps have become our escape routes everywhere we go. Does this mean were locals?
• Cobblestones actually really hurt your feet after a while. I’m starting to wish I had a pair of mum’s rolly poly shoes to wear because the uneven footing takes a toll when you walk everywhere! Even my most comfortable walking boots cannot relieve my poor feetsies of the pain.
• Yes, this category has been quite weak. Honestly, I just love it here. I can’t think of anything else that’s bad. It’s great.

University accommodation likes:

• Location, location, location. I could not be happier with my choice of location. We are 5 minutes from the University and the rest of Old Town, and 10 minutes from Waverly station and New Town. As the city is so walkable and beautiful, it often feels like less time and the walks to places are just so enjoyable. I really know my way around quite well and I have been here for 7 days.
• Amenities. I live with 4 other girls, but the flat is split by a set of stairs so there is only one other girl on my floor. I love having my own room, and I really like the way that my room is set up so that my desk is in front of a big window that overlooks theCowgate. I can just sit and people watch, and every morning I plan my outfit based on what other people are wearing! Also, the university was very generous with what they provided us with. Three pots, a kettle, a microwave, an ironing board, vacuum, and broom are essential items that we are all very grateful for.

My view into my courtyard from my apartment.

University accommodation dislikes:

• The noise. I live on the second floor overlooking the Cowgate. Cowgate is student pubs/clubs central, and it can get very loud basically every night. So far, I’ve been able to get to sleep quite easily and not wake up too much from the noise, and I do have earplugs just in case, but it is not ideal. However, I am spoiled for choice for nightlife!
• I paid £25 for university provided bedding, and it is just awful. It is so starchy that I actually think it would give my skin a rash if I didn’t sleep in long sleeves/ pyjama pants. The duvet and pillow are fine, but the duvet, pillow cover, and sheets feel as though they’ve been made from woven plastic. Luckily, I was able to score all new bedding, aside from the duvet and pillow which I’ve kept, for free today from the University’s organisation that focuses on reuse and repurposing.

Quentin’s thoughts when asked, what do you think of Edinburgh after one week?

“Magnificent”. He shrugs, smiles, and says: “it is, approachable in every respect, it is cultured, and it’s beautiful. I can’t wait to try haggis”

Quentin pretending to “shotgun” his first Irn-Bru. Is this multiculturalism?

More tomorrow!

Em xo

 

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” – Neale Donald Walsh

Knowing that we only had one more sunny day in the near future, Quentin and I decided to explore New Town before we would have to be peeping at everything from beneath an umbrella. Quentin needed some cash exchanged so we stopped into the local Natwest, before taking a leisurely stroll along Prince’s Street. We nipped into Rose Street and Quentin bought a Harris Tweed wallet, made from tweed cloth handwoven on the Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides.

We found our way back to Princes Street, with the aim of taking a stroll through the Prince’s Street Gardens. The gardens are adjacent to the beautiful sandstone buildings of the National Galleries of  Scotland, and perched on the entrance plaza was an ice cream van selling 99 flakes! I dragged Quentin over to have one with me, and even though the price was £2.50 instead of 99p, it was still very good and almost worth it. Quentin’s review is as follows:

“Superb combination [of flake and vanilla ice cream]. Much creamier than American soft serve.”

We wandered around for a while with ice cream in tow. The gardens are very beautiful, and although it had clouded over the warmth was very nice. I’m going to  post more pictures here to show how pretty it was.

We began our trek back up to Old Town, but the stairs are so steep that halfway up we saw a little café and decided to take a breather. I got a hot chocolate ( no surprise there, I’ve had at least one per day since we arrived). After a thirty minute rest, we carried on up the steep steps back to the Castle Rock Hostel. Just to emphasize just how far up the walk from New Town back to Old Town is, I will include a picture below. To the left of my head is a large cliff with Edinburgh Castle on top. We are staying at the Castle Rock Hostel, which is across the street. So that is how far up we have to walk, and it is basically a vertical incline!

We arrived back to the hostel, heated up our leftover fish and chips, watched a bit of telly, until 9:30pm. After some quick debate, we nervously agreed to go to the hostel-organized event of the night. Every night, the hostel arranges for the guests to go out together in some capacity. One night it was a pub quiz, tonight is a pub crawl, so on so forth. However, last night’s event took a bit more courage. If you don’t know what a ceilidh is, look it up. We were committing ourselves to a night of Scottish dance, both being terrible dancers and never having done it before. However, despite the initial fears, dancing in the ceilidh was the most fun I’ve had since arriving.

I’m going to link a video of the band that played for us which takes place in the pub we were at while people are dancing a ceilidh! So this is a pretty good representation of what we did last night: Video of Ceilidh

Just in case it doesn’t work, I’ll add a picture below.

The University sponsors many ceilidhs during Welcome Week and I can’t wait to do another.

More tomorrow!

Em xo

I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list – Susan Sontag

Hello!!

While on exchange at Edinburgh, I hope to see and experience as much as I can. I’ve never lived in a big city before, so I really want to explore Edinburgh to the fullest and I think this site would be a pretty good place to dump my pictures and thoughts.

I’ll be in Edinburgh from September to January-ish. I haven’t booked a return flight yet. Quentin and I flew in yesterday morning, on an overnight flight with no fewer than three crying babies on it.

How we looked on the outside:

How we felt on the inside:

After a brief two hours of sleep, we successfully obtained Quentin’s visa, caught the bus to the city centre, and found our friend Isaac to help us with bags and lead us to our hostel.

Until we can move into our uni accomodation this weekend, Quentin and I are staying at the Castle Rock hostel in Old Town. We are staying in an 8-bed dorm, which is actually quite fun. The hostel is one of the best in the U.K, which a massive lounge for everyone to listen to music, drink complementary tea and coffee (and hot chocolate!), read from the bookshelf, and chat with one another.

There is also a “posh” lounge with lavish furniture that can be used for work/study. The kitchen boasts 7 fridges and freezers, massive cupboards for food storage, and two large dining tables for communal dining. There are plates, bowls, cutlery, cookware, and stoves and kettles and toasters and everything you could want really.

Our first port of call upon arrival was some lunch. I was dreaming up some sausage and eggs, maybe some bacon, and definitely some toast. However, our tour guide and dutiful helper Isaac brought us to a French patisserie, and I was too jet lagged to complain. I had a pain au chocolat and a hot chocolate to die for, and we were on our way.

We walked around for a while until we couldn’t hobble around the cobblestone a minute longer, and headed back to the hostel. We visited a tweed shop, Harry Potter shop, kilt shop, and a Sainsbury’s. Quentin and I desperately didn’t want to be jet lagged, so we forced ourselves to stay awake and watch Shark Tale. We then made dinner (toast with jam, cheese and onion crisps, cocktail sausages, and maltesers. A delicacy in Chez Emilie) and watched an episode before falling asleep at 8:30.

More tomorrow!

Em xo