Glasvegas and Edinbourgeois

First off, I just realized that I have no idea what people from Edinburgh are called. And according to the Internet, neither do the Edinburgh natives. Is someone from Edinburgh an Edinburger? An Edinburgian? An Edinbourgeois? While I'm only kidding about the Edinbourgeois nickname, it correctly plays on Edinburgh's classy reputation. Glasgow, on the other hand, has a reputation as being less pretty, but more fun. Therefore, for the sake of this blog post, let's call Edinburgh, "Edinbourgeois," and Glasgow, "Glasvegas." 

Edinburgh

Glasgow

I spent my saturday in Glasvegas and my Sunday back in Edinbourgeois. To sum up the two, Glasgow is better for shopping and nightlife, while Edinburgh is better for culture and history. In Glasgow, we headed to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, followed by a walk through the University of Glasgow and its Hunterian Art Gallery and Museum. Kelvingrove and Glasgow Uni are housed in beautiful buildings. Glasgow Uni reminded me of something out of Hogwarts and I couldn't help but feel very studious when wandering the courtyards. Next up, a walk through the Kelvingrove Park on the way to the Glasgow Cathedral. Next to the beautiful Cathedral is the Necropolis cemetery with ancient, towering tombstones. Finally, dinner at a cute, eclectic restaurant where we each ate an entire pizza after having walked for six hours straight.

Glasvegas was definitely worth seeing. I got to experience the thick Glasgow accent and friendly people that the city is famous for. Glasvegas is an appropriate title when considering the sheer amount of nightclubs, pubs, and bars we walked past to get from one place to the next. My roommate's friend, a Glasgow native, spent a good amount of time talking about the Glasgow nightlife, but we had to catch our bus back that night, so I didn't get to experience it. Maybe I'll have to stop by again - it's only an hour and twenty minute bus ride!

Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum

University of Glasgow

Not to say that the nightlife in Edinburgh isn't impressive. After some well-deserved relaxing on the couch, we headed to the Three Sisters Pub and Bar, Malone's Irish Pub, and finally, Espionage. Three Sisters was crowded and HOT. I have been missing the heat of Southern California, but this was the kind of heat from way too many sweaty people in one place. The employees wear kilts and I snapped a few photos to add to my collection of men wearing kilts. At Malone's, the band sang 500 Miles by The Proclaimers (so Scottish), and Espionage was a maze of multiple stories. I'm still not sure how I found my way out. The Scottish party hard, probably harder than Americans, and enjoy laughing, singing, and dancing like fools.

Kilts abound

Today, we headed to the Royal Botanic Gardens. We got a little lost on the way, but it was worth it because we came across a vantage point with a loch (the Scots never say lake) and a view of the entire city, including the castle and Arthur's Seat. After being lost, I was pretty thirsty once we made it to the gardens. We stopped off at the terrace cafe, and the great scenic views and heavily overpriced apple lemonade mango drink concoctions are exactly why Edinbourgeois is a rightful title. Dinner tonight was haggis, neeps, and tatties. I actually enjoyed this concoction of sheep's heart, liver, and lungs minced up with onions, spices, turnips, and mashed potatoes. I'm not sure how to describe it, but it's definitely a must if you're visiting Scotland. After all, it's the national dish.

Haggis, neeps, and tatties

Views of the city

On to the third week of my internship. This week I'm going to start setting up interviews with NHS employees to put together a report on leadership, gender, and structural changes occurring in the NHS Lothian region. I'm looking forward to meeting new people and have definitely enjoyed how my internship has allowed me to talk to people from all over the world. Which reminds me, I've marked my calendar to go get hamburgers and french fries (not calling them chips this time around) on the Fourth of July. Can't wait for a little taste of home!

Wonderful Weekend

I wish the weekend wasn't coming to an end (like always), because it has definitely been a good one. I got off of work a little early on Friday afternoon and took the chance to finally run a few errands. Every type of convenience store here seems to close at 5, and I can't figure out how people ever run their errands if they work until 5. I'll have to ask some locals what the reasoning for this is! My weekend quickly became exciting as soon as my flatmate and I headed off to the pubs in celebration of both completing the first week of our internships and the longest day of the year. The sun wasn't scheduled to set in Edinburgh until after 10, so we headed off with the sun still shining!

First stop: Finnigan's Wake. A quintessential Irish pub with live music and a happy crowd. Ciders in hand, we enjoyed the live band and the rowdy Scots. I couldn't help but laugh when the band started performing "American Idiot" by Green Day. Thankfully, both an Australian and a Scot complimented us on our American accents not too long after, making up for the embarrassing Green Day lyrics.

Next stop: Frankenstein Pub. Frankenstein's is pretty quirky. It's Halloween/monster/scary themed, complete with a Frankenstein monster that suspends from the ceiling at midnight. In Scotland, bachelor parties are called a stag do and bachelorette parties are called a hen do. A bunch of groomsmen were inside for a stag do, dressed as nuns and dancing the night away. I noticed pretty quickly that it's typical for men to dress in silly costumes for bachelor parties. I've seen nuns, nurses, French maids, etc. For the next few hours, we chatted with people from Canada, Poland, Ireland, and of course, Scotland. Scottish people have a more indirect form of communication than Americans and are frankly, hard to understand at times. Whereas Americans come right out and say it, the Scots will try to skirt around a topic. Speaking from personal experience, they use this tactic to their advantage to poke fun at the foreigners. As if hearing people in loud clubs wasn't hard enough, add a Scottish accent to the mix and you're sure to be saying "Sorry, what?" every two seconds. (The Scottish accent will  get its own blog post at some point)

Needless to say, it was a late night, so we slept in on Saturday morning. And finally, I got the real Edinburgh experience. RAIN. Subsequently, it seemed fitting to visit a museum. Off to the National Museum of Scotland we went! What a great museum. Each floor houses a different part of Scottish history, and as I made my way up each floor, I made my way into modern Scotland. The museum was complete with history on whisky, tartan plaid, and Celtic clans. After the museum, we were craving some greasy food and visited a Turkish kebab shop. The lamb kebabs and chips (french fries) were delicious, and a nice way to pass the time during the rain.

"Chips" and brown sauce

On Saturday night, we went on the Literary Pub Tour. This famous tour takes people from pub to pub, with one tour guide telling tales of how Scotland's famous poets and novelists partook in endless drunken nights all across the city's pubs, while the other tour guide told a rosier version of the story. Both recited poems and pieces of literature in the traditional Scots language, which is nearly impossible for a native English speaker to understand, but beautiful nonetheless. Courtenay, our coordinator for our time in Edinburg, joined us on the tour and then took us to the RatPack Piano Bar afterwards where we listened to a man sing the tunes of Frank Sinatra and Michael Bublé. Saturday was a success!

To finish the weekend off, we trekked to the nearest grocery store before heading off to the Royal Mile and Princes Street. On the Royal Mile, we stopped in St. Giles Cathedral, the principle place of worship in Edinburgh. As it contains memorials to over 200 famous Scots, the cathedral is a must see. On Princes Street, we found a store called Americandy where I bought an Arizona Iced Tea and spotted the otherwise hard to find Hershey's Chocolate. The Scots and English don't like Hershey's Chocolate. They think it's far too bitter and prefer much sweeter chocolate. I have yet to try Cadbury's or Galaxy chocolate, but it's definitely on my to do list. In the UK, a Mars Bar is the equivalent of our Milky Way, and if I'm feeling brave, I might also try a deep fried Mars Bar. As for the iced tea, Brits still give iced tea the cold shoulder and it's been the hardest food/drink from home to give up.

The Royal Mile with St. Giles Cathedral in back

Tonight, we are trying to figure out how to operate our washer/dryer and are making a Edinburgh/Scotland Bucket List. Dinner is some veggies and a traditional Scotch pie! Mondays aren't my favorite, but I'm headed to the Edinburgh Royal Infirmary tomorrow, which is sure to be a great experience.

The Bucket List

TGI(almost)F

As I sit here on my couch, looking out the window at a 10:30 p.m. sky that compares to the sky at dusk back home, I find myself reflecting on my first week in Edinburgh almost coming to a close. This past week has definitely flown by, and by no means have I found myself bored.

When I first arrived, the skies were cloudy and gray and I couldn't help but feel myself missing the sunny SoCal weather. But, nothing says, "Welcome to Great Britain" like rain right? Drizzly weather and all, my excitement ran high as we headed towards our flat. On the way to the flat, I encountered the first obvious cultural difference: I was sitting in the passenger seat on the left side of the car. Driving on the opposite side of the road and having to look the opposite direction when I'm crossing the street is something I don't think I could ever get used to. But that's another story. When we arrived, our flat was exactly what I expected. It's quintessentially European with a strange bathroom, small kitchen appliances, and mismatched furniture, but the woodwork and old architecture adds a sense of charm you just don't find in the States. Of course with my luck, the electricity wasn't working, so after a quick (and delicious) dinner at the local pub, we headed to the gym down the street to take a shower. I must say that I do not recommend a gym shower to wash away so many hours of traveling. Eager to sleep but even more eager to feed my Internet needs, I took a look at our fuse boxes and alas, I fixed the electricity! Certainly a good ending to the busy, tiring day.

Sunday morning we went to the local grocery store. First things first, cilantro = coriander, zucchini = courgette, oatmeal = porridge, soda = fizzy juice, shopping cart = trolley, candy = sweets, chips = crisps, french fries = chips, cookies = biscuits, and the list goes on. Sadly, my Arizona Iced Tea addiction will not be fed over the next two months, but I've decided to go the British route and drink hot English Breakfast tea instead. Next up, we explored the city and I got my first feel for just how great and "brilliant" Edinburgh really is. There's so much to see and so much to do over these next few months and I can't wait for what's ahead! Just look at how beautiful it is.

On Monday the 17th (17/6/2013 in the U.K.), my internship with NHS Lothian and Queen Margaret University began. It's been quite a crazy first week of interning and definitely deserves a post of its own, but more on that tomorrow.

For now, I'm off to bed even though the sun hasn't set cause that's the Edinburgh way.