BAT BIRD!
Wednesday, 29 April
Diff Eq was exceedingly easy. The final was held in the Octagon, which was (shockingly) octagonal, and several stories high; the upper stories were all lined by bookcases, and the dome at the top of the room was a skylight- quite the cool room, really. I went through the exam carefully and reasonably quickly, utilizing my well-organized binder. I finished right after they stopped letting people leave the room, so I read the novel I brought in with me. Mwahaha.
I had quite a lot of time to hang out and pack before I met up with Kevin to catch our flight to Edinburgh, which was decently empty, so we were able to get seats in the emergency exit row- comfy! In reference to guessing who says "yup yup yup!" - "bat bird!"
We had to walk up Cockburn Street to get to our hostel on the Royal Mile. Teehee.
Thursday, 30 April
We found out about a free walking tour of Edinburgh so decided to take that. It started at 11 and we finished around 3:30, so it was really long and informative, which was cool, and worth our money (badumdum CH). Doug, our guide, bothered me a little since he was pretending to be Scottish, but is actually from Philadelphia and has only lived in Scotland for two years. That also bothered Kevin, though he was more put off by his sense of comedic timing.
I liked the story about the Stone of Destiny, and how in the fifties four nerdy academic types tried to steal it back from the Brits, who were keeping it in Westminster Abbey; they actually succeeded, breaking it in the process, and fixing it, and leaving it in Scone since the fuzz were trying to track them down. It ended up being turned in to the authorities and ultimately returned to Scotland like fifty years later. We also heard about how they used the ashes of burnt 'witches' to build walls and buildings.
After the tour, we sat in our hostel for a little bit, then wandered down to check out Holyrood Palace and the new parliament building- it was very modern and rather African looking. We went to the cathedral for a bit, though you had to pay to take photos, and it's not really a cathedral since they haven't a bishop and got pissed off when one got sent there, so they took him away after a woman threw a chair at his head in the middle of the service.
After a delicious huge meal at Gourmet Burger Kitchen (we got a two-for-one deal), we went and wandered around Greyfriar's Kirk, a cemetary. There's a memorial to Greyfriars Bobby, a loyal doggie who sat next to his master's grave for fourteen years until he died. There's also a school right next to the cemetary, which used to be for orphans but is now the most expensive primary school in Edinburgh, though a quarter of the students are orphans. Oh yeah, and said school? Inspiration for Hogwarts. Woot. Also, we scavenger hunted all through the graveyard for HP character names, since JK got lots of them there. McGonagall, Thomas Riddle (Sr and Jr) and Scrymgeour were notable successful hits.
We debated going to the Beltane festival, but decided to go to bed instead since we were tired.
Diff Eq was exceedingly easy. The final was held in the Octagon, which was (shockingly) octagonal, and several stories high; the upper stories were all lined by bookcases, and the dome at the top of the room was a skylight- quite the cool room, really. I went through the exam carefully and reasonably quickly, utilizing my well-organized binder. I finished right after they stopped letting people leave the room, so I read the novel I brought in with me. Mwahaha.
I had quite a lot of time to hang out and pack before I met up with Kevin to catch our flight to Edinburgh, which was decently empty, so we were able to get seats in the emergency exit row- comfy! In reference to guessing who says "yup yup yup!" - "bat bird!"
We had to walk up Cockburn Street to get to our hostel on the Royal Mile. Teehee.
Thursday, 30 April
We found out about a free walking tour of Edinburgh so decided to take that. It started at 11 and we finished around 3:30, so it was really long and informative, which was cool, and worth our money (badumdum CH). Doug, our guide, bothered me a little since he was pretending to be Scottish, but is actually from Philadelphia and has only lived in Scotland for two years. That also bothered Kevin, though he was more put off by his sense of comedic timing.
I liked the story about the Stone of Destiny, and how in the fifties four nerdy academic types tried to steal it back from the Brits, who were keeping it in Westminster Abbey; they actually succeeded, breaking it in the process, and fixing it, and leaving it in Scone since the fuzz were trying to track them down. It ended up being turned in to the authorities and ultimately returned to Scotland like fifty years later. We also heard about how they used the ashes of burnt 'witches' to build walls and buildings.
After the tour, we sat in our hostel for a little bit, then wandered down to check out Holyrood Palace and the new parliament building- it was very modern and rather African looking. We went to the cathedral for a bit, though you had to pay to take photos, and it's not really a cathedral since they haven't a bishop and got pissed off when one got sent there, so they took him away after a woman threw a chair at his head in the middle of the service.
After a delicious huge meal at Gourmet Burger Kitchen (we got a two-for-one deal), we went and wandered around Greyfriar's Kirk, a cemetary. There's a memorial to Greyfriars Bobby, a loyal doggie who sat next to his master's grave for fourteen years until he died. There's also a school right next to the cemetary, which used to be for orphans but is now the most expensive primary school in Edinburgh, though a quarter of the students are orphans. Oh yeah, and said school? Inspiration for Hogwarts. Woot. Also, we scavenger hunted all through the graveyard for HP character names, since JK got lots of them there. McGonagall, Thomas Riddle (Sr and Jr) and Scrymgeour were notable successful hits.
We debated going to the Beltane festival, but decided to go to bed instead since we were tired.