Talk about atmosphere!
So, first of all, I want to say that there has been a very rapid temperature drop here in Edinburgh recently. The weather forecast said that it was supposed to get up to the mid 40's but it did not get past the low 30's and it was sucky. Although it was sunny, so that was wonderful, except that sunshine is not exactly warm when there are patches of ice on the road and the grass is still covered in frost in the 'hottest' part of the afternoon. And yes, I know that it is much, much colder in other places of the world, but I don't care because that does not affect me. However, the railings and surfaces were all covered in frost as well, so it was very pretty. Everything sparkled in the sunlight, and since there was pretty much literally not a cloud in the sky it was gorgeous to look at. The fact that it was sunny, though, only made this evening even more strange.
I told you all about the eerie fog in the northern parts of Scotland that just sort of appear before you even realize that they are approaching. Well, that has never happened in Edinburgh while I have been here, until this evening. I walked outside to go to dinner, and it was the most surreal atmosphere I have ever been in. It was very quiet outside (I can't imagine why, since it almost never is at other times), and dark, and the fog was so thick that I could not even see Arthur's Seat, which is right behind the dorms and always visible (or at least mostly visible since the top is usually covered in clouds and it is not even very high, it's usually just disgustingly cloudy). I had the strangest feeling of being absolutely alone while I was walking through it, and not in a bad, depressing sort of way. It was more a feeling of there not being anyone for miles and miles, and so it was just me and the mist and the darkness. The air was bitterly cold and the street lights had little halos around them because of the water droplets catching the light. This is going to sound stupid, but I am going to say it anyway. I had the feeling that it was nights like these that sort of gave birth to all the stories of faeries and things in Celtic mythology (not the modern sort of fairies, but the old kind that kidnapped people and drove them mad as often as they acted benevolently toward people). I think that when you have lived in the city all your life, you have very few chances to experience the sense of wonder that nature can evoke (ugh, I feel so new-agey and corny right now), and I know that this is dumb since I am still in the middle of the city, but that moment of walking out into the fog this evening is one of the most powerful I have experienced in terms of realizing how very far from home I am and how different this place is from anything I have been used to before. Even as I write that, though, I realized that I get that same feeling from just being outside in the rain at home. There is something about that that to me makes me feel so isolated from people but at the same time close to something else that I don't think I can really describe. Well, that is about as deep as I get, homies. I am going to stop now before I make a bigger idiot out of myself, or sign up to get my aura read and buy healing crystals to balance my chakras.
I told you all about the eerie fog in the northern parts of Scotland that just sort of appear before you even realize that they are approaching. Well, that has never happened in Edinburgh while I have been here, until this evening. I walked outside to go to dinner, and it was the most surreal atmosphere I have ever been in. It was very quiet outside (I can't imagine why, since it almost never is at other times), and dark, and the fog was so thick that I could not even see Arthur's Seat, which is right behind the dorms and always visible (or at least mostly visible since the top is usually covered in clouds and it is not even very high, it's usually just disgustingly cloudy). I had the strangest feeling of being absolutely alone while I was walking through it, and not in a bad, depressing sort of way. It was more a feeling of there not being anyone for miles and miles, and so it was just me and the mist and the darkness. The air was bitterly cold and the street lights had little halos around them because of the water droplets catching the light. This is going to sound stupid, but I am going to say it anyway. I had the feeling that it was nights like these that sort of gave birth to all the stories of faeries and things in Celtic mythology (not the modern sort of fairies, but the old kind that kidnapped people and drove them mad as often as they acted benevolently toward people). I think that when you have lived in the city all your life, you have very few chances to experience the sense of wonder that nature can evoke (ugh, I feel so new-agey and corny right now), and I know that this is dumb since I am still in the middle of the city, but that moment of walking out into the fog this evening is one of the most powerful I have experienced in terms of realizing how very far from home I am and how different this place is from anything I have been used to before. Even as I write that, though, I realized that I get that same feeling from just being outside in the rain at home. There is something about that that to me makes me feel so isolated from people but at the same time close to something else that I don't think I can really describe. Well, that is about as deep as I get, homies. I am going to stop now before I make a bigger idiot out of myself, or sign up to get my aura read and buy healing crystals to balance my chakras.