Monday

Today at work we filled in our official schedule for the playscheme. I had to call a few places to confirm visits and all that fun business. Then after work I met Hayley at Starbucks and we walked around The Meadows because it was a gorgeous day. There were lots of people running and laying out. Everyone is just happy that it isn't raining. We windowed shopped but every thing closes at SIX everyday, expect Thursdays(??) so we just wondered. Hayley and I stopped by the boys flat and bugged them for a while. They were pretty tired from their 12 hour day at the vet school. Since they live two feet from The Clam Shell we couldn't resist so we picked up dinner. So unhealthy but oh-so-good. Mmm. Going to bed early because getting up at 7:30 AM is killing me.
Cheers!

Window Watching

So the view from our flat is so great. We are in the middle of everything, including the Royal Bank of Scotland, where there are several ATMS. Just today I have seen a group of sexy cops (@ 9 in the morning), two cows, a ballerina, and peter pan getting cash. I wish I could say that this isn't unusual but it happens. Oh Edinburgh, I love you!!

bus tour pics

Bus Tour

The night before we went to The Malt Shovel and some other bar where we met up with Gordo. Hayley and Taylor two-stepped in front of the live band and even though Hayley was leading the whole time the crowd was pretty impressed with their dancing. We didn't stay out too late but it was still rough to get up and catch the 7:45 bus in the morning. We got coffee and got on to the Scotland Experience tour bus. There were 18 people on the bus, including Meghan, Haley, and myself and the tour guide. We sat in the very back of the bus. At first we liked our tour guide because he made jokes for us and told us that “Sex and the City II” was filmed where we were going. Oh course we screamed but then he told us that he was just kidding. Not a funny joke! Our first stop was in a little town called Pitlockery. The tour guide told us that the town was a popular vacation spot in Victorian days. It was raining when we stopped so went into a little cafe for breakfast. We only had 30 minutes until we had to report back on the bus, so when the waiter came Meghan told him that and he responded with “ We don't do hurry food, go next door to McDonald that sounds like what you need”. RUDEEE. The service was terrible but we got egg biscuits that were really good. Our tour guide ended up eating at the same cafe and we asked him to sit with us and he awkwardly said “no”. Then a little later he came back and made more awkward conversation. I did make a request to see a highland cow and the tour guide promised we could if everyone reported back to the bus on time after each stop. We got back on the bus and traveled north for about an hour and took a 15 minute break at some war memorial in the hills. There were sheep EVERYWHERE. Soooo cute! Then we drove for awhile and the tour guide started talking about the whiskey in Scotland. Well, since roomsie # 2 knows all about that we paid lots of attention. His information was soo wrong. For example, there are 108 distillarys in Scotland, not 92. While he was rambling about this, in the back of the bus Meghan's head was fuming because he had no idea what he was talking about. This is when our hatred for the bald man began. For the next stop we took a break in Kilgorn National Park. It was a very forresty and there was a tiny water fall. Our tour guide smoked 3 cigarettes and I'm pretty sure he took a bathroom break in the forest because he gave us the keys and told us to open the bus and he disappeared. When the guide got back on the bus I asked him to tell the story of loch ness and he said he wasn't too sure and that he didn't know a whole lot about it. Yet, a few minutes later he was rambling on about it. He probably just needed time to make it up. One of the facts he mentioned was that “if you took all the people in the world and put them together it still wouldn't reach the bottom”. ???? Not exactly factual. This is when we started calling the charter bus “the bus of lies”. We stopped at a few more locations to stretch our feet AKA the tour guide needed a cigarette. It started to get colder the more we drove and we even saw some snow. We learned that there are 4 ski resorts in Scotland. When we finally got to Port Augusta we went to this quaint little grocery store and got lunch to go. We met up with Sally, who had been with us on the bus and we got boat tickets. Sally was originally from Indiana but was doing research in England and took a day trip to Edinburgh. We got on the boat and ate our lunch while cruising on Loch Ness ( Loch=Lake. Ness=Large or Great). Apparently Loch Ness is bigger than all the lochs in England, Scotland, and Whales combined and 27 feet long. I didn't have any previous knowledge and thought the Loch Ness Monster was just a fable. But there is actually a reptile that lives in the loch. A long time ago people would set out fish traps and in the morning all fish would be gone. More evidence of the “monster” was traced back to 9000 years ago with similar cave drawings They couldn't explain it but there had been citings of a “big creature” thus, began the myth. The reptile lives very deep and very rarely comes to the surface. When I was talking to the captain of the boat he showed me pictures of the few times he had actually seen the reptile in his 30 years of working on the loch. He was very passionate about protecting the animal and not letting the myth get in the way of its safety. The picture was basically just a huge fin on the surface and one skeleton found on the bottom. The reptile weighs about 3 tons and is about 37 feet along!! Sadly he didn't make an appearance on our trip. Stupid 11€ !! Just kidding, it was a nice boat ride. There are 600 “nessies” in the world and 18 of them live in the loch. The lake was beautiful. After an hour we got back to the dock and got back on “the bus of lies”. Hayley and I fell asleep and when we woke up we were in the magical land of Glencoe. It was one of those “we aren't in Kansas anymore” moments. It was amazing. Huge luscious green hills, so high there was tons of mist on the top. So pretty! Definitely one of my favorite parts of the trip. We saw some of the places where Harry Potter (!!!), Monty Python & the Holy Grail, and Brave heart were filmed. We also passed through the town where Rob Roy lived. The tour guide talked a lot about battles, but we were too busy talking. . Haha. He had a little rant about how Scotland was so great because there were no laws about trespassing or camping. So basically you could walk or pitch a tent where ever your heart desired. I thought this information was really cool until, the next place we stopped had a “no camping here” sign.... Just before we got to Stirling we pulled to the side of the road where there were two highland cows!!! Hamish was the most famous highland cow because he was saved 15 years ago from being slaughtered. He has been on TV, has a children s book on Amazon, and has a beanie baby created after him. And Heather , the other highland cow had been brought in recently to keep him company. They were so adorable. They are have a ginger color and have shaggy hair with horns. Kind of like the creatures from Where the Wild Things Are. For the past 2 days every time I'm bored at work I Google images them. Not productive but they are so cute!The tour guide told us that the highland cows were originally black with a few ginger colored ones. But on one of Queen Victoria's visits to Scotland she mentioned how much she liked the ginger color. When the farmers learned this they only breed that color. We fed Hamish an apple and had to say “goodbye”. We should totally get some in Arkansas. Although the tour guide wasn't great we still had a good time seeing the highlands and other important parts of Scotland. Since we got back around 8pm Hayley and I ate beef stroganoff and watched “Man of the House” and went to bed. Go JTT and Chevy Chase!

the scotch whiskey experience

Ron Burgundy: I love scotch. Scotchy, scotch, scotch. Here it goes down, down into my belly...


So, today I got off work really early because next week training starts and there wasn't that much to do. I met the roomsies at the flat and we headed down the street to the Scotch Whiskey Experience. I was in a hurry to get ready so I didn't really know where they were taking me except that since Megan is interning at a distillary and she knows A LOT of about the whiskey makin' business. The tour started off with a ride in a whiskey barrel lead by the ghost of the first master brewer. It was very Disney World like. The ride described the process beginning with the barley to bottling. I had no idea how serious it was. After the "thrilling" ride we went into a room where our tour guide Chris described whiskey from the four regions of Scotland. He described the smells and how each different taste was made. From the four regions of Scotland we got to pick one that we liked the best and we got to taste it. Chris taught the proper way to drink whiskey. Look at the color in the light, swirl, watch the ring the swirl made, sniff, sip! I am not a huge fan of whiskey but I tried it... We went into this huge room and it was the biggest collection of whiskey in the WORLD. The temperature in the room was always regulated to preserve the whiskey, the glass was bullet proof, and there was a swarovski crystal chandelier. Pretty cool. We met a couple from Atlanta, they were big SEC fans, woo! After the tasting we sat at the bar and talked to the tour guides and looked out the window at the school that the Hogwarts was inspired by!!!

keds, keys, and jager bombs oh my!

Last night we went on a blind date with Megan's bosses son who is the same age as us and has a golf scholarship to Michigan State. We met him outside of Pizza Express but the wait was awhile so we went to a bar down the street and waited for his friends. I can't remember the name of the bar but it was an old Polish church turned into a posh wine bar. James ordered us all cider. At first it was bitter but after awhile it was good. After the first cider Gordon & Stuart joined. Soon to be know as James Potter, Little Stuart, and Rufus. We went to Pizza Express which was an upperscale pizza joint. Hayley and I split a salad and pizza with olives (cut in thirds because Hayley like them that way haha), mushrooms and pepperoni, spicy but very tasty. We got to know each other pretty well through dinner. Since I was drinking I could not understand anything the boys were saying so the conversation consisted of "what", "huh", "can you repeat that". Kind of funny. We made fun of the Scottish boys because they wear Keds and tried to explain in America that you don't wear Keds unless you are 65 years old, not 21... Apparently they are cool here and I can vouch that I have seen a lot of them. One trend I refuse to do. But then they made fun of us because we abreviate everything i.e. OMG, JK, profile pic... Anywho, after dinner we headed to Edwards, did a Jager train and then to Standard Order .. Standard Order is a chain of bars and they play no music. The architecture was really cool and we meet up with lil Stuart's friends, two guys named Roo & a short jockey also named Stuart. We sat with them for awhile and they made us laugh until we cried. Hilarious guys. After a few drinks we headed down the road to Shanghai. Which was a bumpin' club, a step up from the Hive. We danced for awhile and took ridiculous pictures.
Clubs are really different in the states, people here just sort of jump around doing Frankenstein-ish dances while Hayley and Meghan are little Beyonces'. I try to dance but it just looks like I have Tourettes syndrome, so I fit in perfectly here. haha! We had to leave a little early because we had a far walk and we were bad little girls drinking on a work night anyway. James and Meghan really hit it off...HAHAH really... And she had to spend all day working with his dad in the distillery, awkward! Great night!

keds, keys, and jager bombs continued...

Bucket List

The other night my roommies, Taylor, and I made a "Edinburgh Bucket List"....

• Visit the penguins at the zoo
• Edinburgh Castle
• National Gallery
• Pub Crawl
• Eat Haggis
• Have dinner with Jake ( Meghans' bosses (hopefully hot) son)
• The Tron
• Hike up to Arthur's Seat for sunrise over the city
• Palace of Holy Rood
• Portabella Beach
• Frankenstein Bar
• Picnic at The Meadows
• Loch Ness

Hopefully we will get through all of these things, if not, I will still be happy! Edinburgh is amazing. So fresh and green!

Sunday Funday!

hey!
The girls woke me up this morning(early,grrr) and we met up with the others at the bus stop. We headed to the Edinburgh Zoo. It still hasn't rained! Very hot! At 2:30 everyday the penguins walk around the path. We sat on the hill but a lot of the penguins were nesting and it was extremely hot so none came out :( They were super cute though. We also saw zebras, hippos, leopards, and sea lions. It was fun. We went to The Filling Station for dinner and had pizza. Then went across the street to get dessert at a place called ChocolateSoup. It was AMAZING. Plus we saw the pierced lady there. P.s No elephants there :(

TGIF

Half day of work today. More profiles and letters to employees. Just getting employee details organized for the playscheme. Wasn't bad. After I walked home from work met up with Megan, Hayley, and Taylor and we went to "The Museum of Childhood". I was looking forward to it because it's pretty much my major and it was free. We walked down the street about 4 blocks and walked around in the museum. Major letdown! Was entertaining for about 3 minutes. Under the comments in the guest book we wrote "creepy" , it was. After the museum we walked around, got some free fudge samples and window shopped. Had to stop in our new favorite place around the corner " Yum, Yum" because Hayley was craving a burger. Its one of the only places open really late and has a variety of fast food. Last night we sadly discovered that american dvd's don't work here so we are stuck with the 5 old movies that came with the apartment, which include 'Sherlock Bones' and 'Drowning Mona'... Just chillin for now until we hit up the town later tonight :D

Thats legit

Today headed to work around 8:30, stopped for coffee (no coffee maker here AHHH!) and got to Kidzcare around 9. I called more people for references, wrote letters for the employees, worked on profiles for each student coming into the playscheme this summer. The playscheme is like an after school summer camp. I will be working with Kirstin and Marc and we will develop/organize each playscheme for the kids at The Royal Blind School.When I was reviewing evaluations from last years playscheme a lot parents expressed their gratitude because there aren't a lot of programs that specifically cater to special needs kids in the area. The kids will come for two weeks at a time and the theme this year is "You and Your Environment". Today as I was putting together the profiles (which took about 2 hours) some of the kids had disabilities ranging from down sydrome to myotonic dystrophy. Each kid had very specific needs so we have to group them accordingly. Also, we have to plan a trip every few days so I called a few places to get information. In two weeks we will be doing training which includes: child protection and health and safety, epilepsy awareness, moving and handling, challenging behaviour and communication and creative play and team planning. We won't actually get to see or play with the kids until the playscheme starts in July. Walking home from work it was so hot, I couldn't wait to put shorts and a tanktop on. Everyone says this weather is unusual because it's been so warm and sunny. It's because I'm here duh. Anyway, Hayley the 'topchef' cooked chicken, salad and potatoes. Delish! We got the boys and headed to the REAL Tesco not the express store. Tesco is the grocery we use which isn't bad it's just really tiny. We spent about an hour in the regular looking at all the crazy foods. After we bought too many grocery we walked home and watched Uncle Buck like one big family. Anywho gotta go to bed Cheers!

Kidzcare

Today was my first day at Kidzcare. I decided to walk there instead of taking the bus. It took less than 20 minutes and the walk is really pretty. The route goes through the little shops and the Uni. Edinburgh. The girl who I am going to be working with wasn't there today so I worked in the office. They had just finished doing interviews and I had to go through and call and check references. It was kind of difficult because I could barely understand the accents. Then I reviewed the plans for the play scheme for the kids at the blind school. The main theme is "You and Your Environment". We will be developing a curriculum based on this theme including activities and trips. I didn't work a full day today but will start officially on Monday.

lesson from a local

Last night at the pub, I asked a man to take a group picture of all the 'hogs'. As we were smiling he said " on three everyone say Edinburgh!" SNAP, then he laughed and told us we all pronounced Edinburgh wrong...
EdinBURROW=wrong
EdinBURG=REALLY wrong
EdinberA=wrong
EdinBRA(with emphasis on rraa)=ding, ding, correct!

day 1

Arrival

Little Rock-->Dallas-->London-->Edinburgh

So, after delays with each flight,I finally made it to my destination! I had some problems in Heathrow, finally discovered I was in the wrong terminal after taking a bus, going through a security check point and waiting in a wrong line. But everything worked out because I had about 3 hours to wander around the airport. I met my arranged taxi at the airport and took less than 15 minutes to get to my "flat". The driver wasn't sure of the exact location but I was able to recognize it by the pictures from google maps. Also, I was welcomed by Hayley and Meghan screaming out the windows so I knew I was at the right place :) The apartment is beautiful!! It's on the Royal Mile and we have great 2ND floor window seats looking down on the busy cobblestone streets. The flat is completely furnished: two rooms, one bathroom w/ shower ( apparently, not a lot of places have showers, only bathtubs), HEATED TOWEL rack,washer/dryer,etc. For the first time in 4 years I will have my own double bed, ahhh. I got settled in and the roomies and I headed about 3 blocks away to a tiny grocery store to get some essentials. There was lots of people walking around, a mixture of tourists and locals, street venders and bikers. When we got home Meghan cooked some yummy spicy spagetti and I unpacked. I was exhausted from my flights so I went to bed pretty early and now it's almost six in the morning. I don't start my internship until Wednesday so today I plan to get so more sleep and explore the surrounding area. bye!
P.S. everyone talks like 'Arry Potta', it's so cute!

Begining of the Journey

Hey! Not off to a great start. Delayed in LR due to a "gash in the tire". At least the LR airport has free internet. Hopefully will get to Dallas quickly so I won't miss my connecting flights. Not sure what to expect....