August 1st
We (Paige, Nick, and I) woke up at 4 A.M. today. We then tiredly and half asleep navigated our way to kings cross station by 5. Train at 7. So you'd imagine we had some time to waste. I also had this massive 2 liters of water I was lugging around. It was very memorable. We tried Costa Coffee at 6:30. We then departed and honestly, we really overestimated how complicated it would be. I assumed we would need to get there super early--- wrong. We just waited for a really long time, and there was absolutely no one else there. Turns out, the airport is the only international travel space that is running on pure adrenaline, rush hours, and speed walking. We arrived by 11 A.M. then we walked around the underground mall next to the train station for a few hours. I was so exhausted, not too much from the lack of sleep, I mean I went to bed at like 7 P.M. the night before for that reason. No, I was just tired because of the 328 lb back pack on my shoulders with the monstrous water bottle (2 LITERS I have to remind you). We went to some really cool stores and I got this swag Scottish Seaglass handmade necklace from a local vendor table. We explored a bit more on our walk to the Airbnb. Check in was easy, just a key and a couple of doors. Though Paige had the magic touch or something, because neither Me nor Nick could ever open any of them. We hung out and rested for a little and then by dinner we moseyed our way to a place called Fish Market. It was SO pretty and cool. I feel like I use those words so often but I really just don't have a good enough vocabulary to encompass just how pretty and cool it was. We ate the best Fish and Chips dinner I have ever had and then walked to the pier to see the lighthouse! It RAINED on me. Full main character moment. It was so magical. Went to sleep immediately as we went back home.
August 2nd
We woke up at around 7:30 in the morning and did a chocolate making tour. I bought my dad some Guinness Beer flavored Belgian chocolate and my mom some of the new ruby chocolate. I made a dark chocolate salted bar with cacao nibs in it and it was also shaped like Nessie:) Then we walked the Royal Mile and went to Grass Market. This is where we saw the castle and also passed the shop where Harry Potter was partially written in! Super cool. We went to Civerinos for lunch, which was a recommendation by our chocolate tour guide. It was the best pizza I have ever had, along side focaccia bread and truffle aioli. SO good. We travelled like 45 min away to Portobello beach for a couple of hours. This was Nick's first time at a beach so it was fun to walk around for a bit and feel the really cold water. We went back and proceeded to head to Dean Village. This was one of my most important bucket list items in Edinburgh, so to see it in front of my eyes and not on instagram was breathtaking and literally gave me chills. We walked down a trail near by for probably another hour or so and found St. Bernards well and later a Dive Bar called "The Mouse Trap" and ate BBQ Nachos Fries for dinner. We met some cool people and I beat them at Checkers and we also beat them as a team in guess who. Successful day for sure.
August 3rd
We woke up after sleeping in a bit and had to be out by 11 A.M. this day. We then carried our stuff, yet again, through another mall and went to some cool stores like the lego store and some clothing outlets. We ended up at the Starbucks and ran into Ethan here. We worked on posters and projects for 3 hours I think, and then walked to the train station. Cancelled train. It was horrible news. I saw it on my phone and knew it before the others did, which was a bad burden to have. I told Paige and Nick and we were stuck for another day. This wasn't something to complain about nessesarily, but none of us had any plans made or reservations to stay another night. So, thankfully, we all as a class were able to stay another night in one of the Airbnb's and get on the next train in the morning. It was a long night for sure. But I was happy to have made some more memories there, better or worse.
August 4: Back again with a 5 A.M. train to London. Again, haha. We arrived by lunch. I took a nice nap on the train, and then again when we went back to the dorm. Kara was very generous and gave us until that evening to get rested and back to work. So that's what I did for the rest of the day. I genuinely I do not remember what happened for the rest of this day and also the entirety of the next day. Traveling for more than 4 hours multiple times in the wee hours of the morning really messed with my brain.
August 5th
I remember only really doing work this day, and naturally, Tonkostu. Again. At this point in time I began to get pretty stressed about work, but it worked out.
August 6th
We did more lots of work today, finishing up projects. I also did my AR today, which was quite extensive and frustrating. I redid it multiple times. The end product was so worth it, its very cool. We went to a tea during our lunch break! It was delicious. I bought some in the gift shop because I liked it so much. I am not a tea person, so maybe this was my character arch. I don't know. We'll find out. A group of us came back late-ish so we needed to make up for lost time. Dinner was a group meal at “Charlotte’s” where I had some really yummy pizza with a LOT of eggplant. Also some good aioli again. I'm a sucker for it. I began packing this night. That was really sad too.
August 7th
Began my morning bright and early for a meeting for CCSA. We went over the iternterary for the next day and evaluations. Me and Paige went back to the room for some more getting ready and planning for the day. Paige, Nick, Shel, and I went to Black Sheep Coffee for some breakfast and energy. I managed to persuade (I really just paid her U.S. dollars) Shel into giving me her cool Scottish 5 pound bill. Best purchase ever. We bussed over to Abbey Road and laughed super hard at all of the oddly serious tourists pretending to walk on the street. They looked like if Bigfoot was smizing. One of my favorite moments for sure. We then found someone who spoke English and took their photos, and they took ours. After that we walked to the studio which was heavily gated and secured. Shel looked like she was breaking in by climbing on the fence, but you know I'm so proud she did because a cool photo came out of it. I signed my name on the wall and then we went into the gift shop. I could have stayed in there forever. It was so cool. I love music so this spot meant a lot to me. I bought a t-shirt, beanie, guitar pics for my brother, and spent way too much:) I would have spent even more to do it all again. After that we went to Portobello Market and ate some really good street food carbonara. It was made in a cheese wheel! And I only paid 10 pounds for it! We got kicked out of the spot we sat in because it was only for one food truck, and found some really sketchy bench instead. We walked back and I carried my new vinyls home (I got an ELO Record, hence the catchy title of this post, and also a massive vinyl of 40 Frank Sinatra Songs for 25 bucks. Crazy.) I then refreshed with a nap and shower. Felt great. We ate a final Tonkotsu meal, walked on London Bridge at sunset, and tried boba in the most terrifying place in London at night. It was the best last day:( I really genuinely enjoyed this day more than most, it just felt so good.
August 8th
We took a coach back to airport really early. I did some last minute work at the gate, then we arrived home 2.5 airplane meals later (equivalent of 8 hours of plane riding). I got to see my parents after a battle with butterfly flower seeds at customs, and it was so warming.
Despite the hard effort of sharing all of my days on blog posts, there is truly no way I can describe this trip effectively in words. It was so many things at once. I experienced events I couldn't have even thought of. It took me about 1 week to get used to public transit. It took me a couple of days to get used to the left instead of the right. It took me 2 weeks to fall in love with Tonkotsu. And lastly, it took me just three short weeks to have memories that will be with me forever. What a great group and place. Thanks, everyone:) Cheers!
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