Cooking and climbing.

Edinburgh Castle, as seen from the top of the Scott Memorial. The views were absolutely incredible. 

After a much-needed twelve-hour block of sleeping like a baby, it was back to orientation in the morning. The second day in Edinburgh didn't get very exciting until after the full morning of orientation. The orientation leaders, Anna and Hamish, gave us a scavenger hunt to do in the afternoon before we had to be back at Jury's Inn to head off to a cooking class. I ended up with the same group of people I had gone out exploring Edinburgh with the day before. We started with lunch--I think all of us were starving! I got my first order of fish and chips...and if you, like me, thought 'chips' were essentially french fries, let me tell you, they're not really anything alike. After lunch, my friends got their phones. I didn't get mine, since I'd forgotten to pack my debit card. When everyone else headed to the castle, I decided to just wander through Edinburgh on my own for an hour or so. I'd left my Historic Scotland pass in my hotel room, so it would have cost me over ten pounds to see the castle. Instead, I bought postcards and international stamps, and wandered around downtown until it was time to head back to the hotel for the rest of the day's orientation.

This is where things got interesting for me. The rest of our orientation for the night was to go to a nearby cooking school and learn how to make several Scottish dishes. I was very worried about it because I'm normally not good at all at cooking. I was afraid that I'd mess up whatever we were making, and I really just wanted to cook something successfully for once. We got to the cooking school and one of the chefs explained everything we needed to know to cook everything and then we split into pairs to start cooking. It realized pretty quickly that I didn't have anything to worry about. The chef, who was also named Michelle, explained all the recipes to us step by step, and if anyone started to have trouble with it, she would help them get it right.

By the end of the cooking lesson, we had made shortbread, an apple crumb mix, a smoked salmon tart, bean dip and cheese scones. Everything turned out really well, I was so happy that I didn't burn anything. I only made one small mistake, and that didn't even affect the outcome of the dish. A successful cooking attempt for me!! We got to take everything we made back to the hotel for dinner. I wasn't a big fan of the smoked salmon tart, but everything else was absolutely amazing! I think I might just be able to cook for myself this semester. :)

The Scott Memorial!

The next day was also pretty exciting. This would be my third day in Scotland now, so I'm still getting used to the time difference at this point. It's my last day in Edinburgh, and since I found out that the Scott Memorial has steps inside that you can climb all the way to the top, I really wanted to go up before it was time to leave. Five of us set out from the hotel to go climb to the top of the Scott Memorial.

Pretty soon into the stairwell, I realized that I was not going to enjoy being in the stairs. I am not a fan of tight spaces, and the spiral stairs were incredibly tight. When I got to the first tier, I was thrilled to be out of the stairwell into open air. Even from the first tier, the view was incredible! I could see so much of Edinburgh from high up in the air. It was incredible! I knew that if I went higher up, there would be even more amazing views. I really didn't want to go back into the stairwell, but I figured the views from the top would be well worth it. By the time I got to the second and middle tier, I was practically hyperventilating. It felt like the walls of the stairwell were barely wider than my shoulders and it was seriously freaking me out. By this point, I just wanted to get to the top. I sucked it up and pressed straight from the second tier back to the stairwell.

I don't think this does justice
to how much the stairs freaked
me out. They're so cramped!

I almost lost it at the last few steps. As if I didn't find the stairwell frighteningly small to begin with, on the last handful of steps, the walls literally leaned in towards each other. Thankfully, it was only about ten steps where I felt sure I'd get stuck, and then I was out in the open air, probably at least a hundred feet above the city. As I'd hoped, the views were absolutely incredible. I can't even find the right words to describe it. Imagine being over a hundred feet above the rest of the city, able to see for miles (it's a beautiful, clear day), and able to see a full 360 degrees. It's absolutely breathtaking.

Well, that's it for my adventures in Edinburgh. I'll return soon with stories from Stirling! A tout a l'heure!