Climbing Archer's Seat and walking in Edinburgh

After getting up early to help set up the breakfast I had to go to a couple more orientation lectures with the group. I can't remember what any of them were about though. I went into Dalkeith town with a couple of my roommates for fish and chips at lunch. We got a nice picture one girl took and e-mailed to me but I won't be posting anything with my face in it online.


Afterwards there was a group trip into Edinburgh. We took the bus, a big double decker where we got to sit up top and feel tall. Town was pretty. All the buildings looked so old and neat. We walked past a very nice park with huge green lawns. There was a giant rock that was carved to look like a lion. I got a picture of it as we were walking past.

(The Lion)

(The Queen's Galery in Edinbirgh)

(The veiw from the top of the bus)

We went to this small mountain that used to be called Archer's seat. They've renamed it a few times but I can't remember what it's called now. We all had to hike up the mountain. The writers in the books make it all sound to epic and cool and exciting but really it was boring. My feet hurt so bad and I was so exhausted I thought I might pass out. They kept saying the view would be worth it but two other girls and I agreed that if you were so exhausted from hiking up you wouldn't be able to enjoy the view anyway. We stopped about three-quarters of the way up to rest and then decided to go back down. I did get a few pictures of the view but the batteries in my camera died so I asked another girl to take some of me. I didn't get the chance to give her my e-mail yet though so it may take a while to get those pictures.

(The Veiw from 3/4 up the mountain)

(The View of Edinburgh from 3/4 up the mountain)

We left the rest of the group behind and went into Edinburgh to visit some of the neat shops. There were quite a few really touristy places. The one place we went into sold kilts, dresses, jewlery, kilt knives, real regular bagpipes and junior bagpipes as well as the usual assortment of sweatshirts and knick knacks. I was tempted to get a junior bagpipe for 14 pounds but decided to wait. I only have a limited amount of space to bring stuff back and what if I find something cooler I'd rather have?

The other two gals wanted to go in some of the shops that were more local mall places. A lot of the stuff looked like regular old JCP and depatment store junk. They thought it was cool but I would rather have gone to some of the more touristy places. We did manage to find the cell phone store and get international calling cards for the phones we were issued. I gave on of the other girls my sheet of paper explaining the numbers to dial in front call from the states and haven't gotten it back yet.

We got on the right bus and made it back to Dalkeith where we got a take-away pizza to bring back to the house. We ate in Willie's Cafe and it took me until after the other's left and I was alone to finally get the digi-box on the telly to work. I got to watch a little bit of Britain's got talent. Another girl came down to watch Robin Hood with me. It was a new episode but because BBC America is a year behind I had no clue what was going on and she had to catch me up. She's been watching online and that's what I need to do. I also found out we are both fans of Doctor Who. Finaly, someone other than me who gets a kick out of Time Crash were David Tennant makes fun of the old Doctor and his stick of celery. After that it was shower and blog. Now I'm going to bed. My feet still hurt. Maybe a good night's sleep will help.