Week 4

Hello Everyone!
Sorrie this Blog update is a day late, I just got back from Edinburgh last night and I had a midterm today (eek!) to study for!

Anyway, week four has passed and I mostly spent the time studying for my final. We had Module I exams on Wednesday and Friday for me. It was for my economics class and I had in-class essays to write on Wednesday and then problem sets on Friday for my exam. They went okay, although I know I got the last problem wrong on Friday!! My work is all right...I just have a wrong answer...I hope they give partial credit here at Cambridge! Ahh....I don't want to fail...I need this class for my major.

Anyway, besides all the studying, we had a Pub Quiz on Thursday in which our lovely TAs asked us random questions about science, geography, or themselves! Quite fun...especially, when I didn't know any of the answers! That's okay though...we weren't last at least...only, second to last. Whoops..! Oh well, all in good fun. I also got to see Transformers on Friday after my exam at the cinema which is only a 20 minute walk from the college. I left for Edinburgh the next morning, bright and early at 7am. It was a 7 hour coach ride, two stops, and not horribly bad. I guess I'm used to being on a bus for a long time...lots of band trips have toughened me up.

After dropping our stuff of at the hostel, which was really nice...up to the point where we had to take showers, my friends and I went exploring around the Royal Mile, the main street of the old-part of Edinburgh. We found some good Indian food...yum...and then went shopping around for souvenirs. We also went on a ghost tour because, if you didn't know it already, Edinburgh has a very dark history. I didn't know this, so I was surprised at all this focus on ghosts, underground vaults, and gothic shops. It was really fun though...I love to be scared! And we went down underneath into the underground vaults where there were "reported" sightings of ghosts and paranormal activity. We also had a very animated tour guide with an awesome Scottish accent, so that was a bonus. Afterwards, we retired to a bar and then spent 20 minutes trying to figure out how to work our shower in our hostel.

The next morning, we decided to get up early and go the Elephant House which is the same cafe that JK Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book! It was very good...and I tried Haggis (which isn't bad at all!) and then we headed to Edinburgh Castle. The castle was very beautiful and we took many picturesque candid shots. It had a great view as well...and lots of exhibits. After the castle, and a rather interesting meeting with a Pigeon that i have now named Prince Henry the VI, we went to the National Gallery. The Gallery was bigger than I expected and I enjoyed the Renaissance art of the 1500s a lot. They had impressionists like Monet on the top floor and then Scottish painters on the bottom. After seeing all the works and analyzing them to the extent that I fully can, we went shopping in the new town area of Edinburgh. We ate at a reasonably priced pub that turned out to have really good food. Afterward, our group split and I went with three other girls back up the hill to old town Edinburgh. We shopped some more, as us girls tend to do, and I got a cool video of a 12 year old boy playing the bagpipes on the streets. It was so adorable!! And he was really good! I've always wanted to play the bagpipes..and the accordian. Hmm...well, anyway, I decided to go the Jazz Festival that they were having in Edinburgh, so I left to go get stand-by tickets.

The venue was located near Edinburgh University, so I got to see some parts of the buildings. I saw the Ken Mathieson Jazz Band and they were fabulous! Playing a lot of General Morton songs, they delved into the beginnings of Jazz around the 1900s and then played the classics up to the 60's. There was also an amazing clarinet soli! They did a "battle" type duet and it was very intense and musically euphoric. I loved it!

Afterward, I bought a couple things around the area and then went to explore more of the new town Edinburgh. After walking around for a while, I found some food on a stand and went back to my hostel to eat. The rest of my friends met up with me after I finished eating and we went on a mission to find desserts and coffee. After settling down at a chain Italian restuarant which was one of the only places open that late, I shared a massive sundae with my friend Kristen. OMG...soooo good. Vanilla and toffee ice cream, caramel, bananas, chocolate wafers...yummy. And it was enormous too...which made me extremely happy. After our sugar rush, we went back to the hostel.

I woke up early to get coffee with my friend before the bus left and we found a place called Chocolate Soup. After boarding the bus, we headed back to Cambridge, but made a stop to Fountains Abbey on the way. We found a dilapidated old church, dating back from the 12th century. Using my architecture knowledge that I know possess...my friend and I tried to figure out the parts of what now remained and we took many hilarious pictures. Then we boarded the bus again, and went back to Cambridge. We got in around 6pm and ate dinner. I went off to study for my Architecture midterm, chatted wih a friend, and then went to bed. That was my week four...yay!!

Have a wonderful week everyone..! I just realized how much money I've spent already...and my gosh, it is not a pretty picture. I need to get crackin' on Campus Tours when I get home...!

Sherilyn