Have Fun Storming the Castle!

Hey there,

Sorry it's been a few days since I posted. Things have been busy, and connecting to the internet at Stirling was a little rough. I am finding it easier to write a blog.... It probably helps that everyone else in my group is writing blogs as well. Anyway, 3rd post is a go!
Today is Friday. I think I left off on Wednesday?? Anyway, yesterday was, once again, a very eventful and busy day. We started off with an 8am breakfast up at the restaurant on the 5th floor of the hotel we are staying at (Apex International Hotel). It has the most gorgeous view of the castle EVER. This picture gives you something of an idea. It was made all the better because yesterday was one of the only days we will probably ever see the sun. It was a perfect day!

View of Edinburgh Castle from the restaurant area.

After breakfast, we finally began our IFSA-Butler orientation (With a tea and coffee break included). We even got to meet one of the Edinburgh police officers! Super exciting. He was super embarrassed when he had to talk about dating in Scotland and how it differs from the US. Also, apparently we are to beware of guys wearing sports clothing (like, jogging pants and matching coat) and burberry baseball caps. That was the kicker. Watch out for the burberry baseball caps. He was pretty funny. Anyway, this lasted until around lunch. After we ate, our group of explorers decided to wander out towards a place called Arthur's Seat, in Holyrood Park. Yeah. It threw me off too. Holyrood? I think they mean HOLLYWOOD. Obviously.

Arthur's Seat

When we arrived at the park and started the climb, a few of our members opted out, and soon it was down to Dana and I, traversing the hills of the area. We climbed about 3 "peaks" if you will. There was an absolutely gorgeous sight of the city all around, as you can see :

Edinburgh

While climbing, however, the trails were very poorly marked, and often times we found ourselves literally climbing a few places. It was quite the adventure, but definitely worth it, as the view was spectacular.

Pretty amazing, yes? Oh, I would say "Awesome," but apparently it is weird to say that here. We will get to that later. Moving on. After exploring the hills, Dana and I went back to the old town area (There is the old town and the new town - We've mostly been hanging around old town) where we met up with the other 5 girls at the Elephant House, which is the location where J.K. Rowling began writing the Harry Potter books. It is owned by a new manager and has changed quite a bit since she began writing (it was 15 years ago, after all.). However, they are still quite proud of their history with Harry Potter. There is a photo of JK Rowling writing part of the book hanging in their main dining room, as well as a toilet devoted to HP, as you can see :

HP Toilet

After that, we went back to the hotel to hang out a bit, and then it was off to the night scene, where we wandered the streets with many other bar hunters. It was quite the day, but very fun. I will continue to try and keep everyone updated. That's all for now!

Video from Arthur's Seat :
http://www.facebook.com/video/?encoding#!/video/video.php?v=1394185291765