Chapter 2: Day 6: 27 Jan 2019

Today was our last day of orientation – yay – We started the morning learning about the semester calendar. We got to know more about what classes we had and what house trips we could participate in. Since I have done most of the house trips, I chose a couple that I want to do again, but then got to start planning weekends away.  After learning about the calendar, we were supposed to have an amazing race through the city, but Patty decided to give us the afternoon off. We all went up to the room and decided to just relax for a bit since we had been busy all day, I ended up napping for a bit after working on my blog which was a nice way to enjoy the day. After I woke up Sarah, Jacob and I all went for a walk through the estate. We walked for a couple hours which was nice since Sarah had yet to get out and explore. The weather was perfect during our walk which made it even better.

When we got back from the walk, we found a whole group of people just hanging out, so we decided to join them for a bit. We just talked before deciding that we were hungry and needed to go find food. We did not know where we wanted to go so, we wander Dalkeith until we just decided to go to The Black Smith Forge. This restaurant is always a good choice because it is reasonably priced and has a good variety of food for everyone. Once we were done there we headed back to the house and relax for the rest of the night.

Chapter 2: Day 7: 28 Jan 2019

The first official day of classes…for everyone except me. Today started the Globalization class that everyone is required to take, however, since I was here before I cannot take the class again for credit, so I had the day off. To keep myself busy I did my house chore, booked a room for Travis when he comes to visit, talked to Ashley and Patty about what I will be doing for my internship, applying for jobs and relaxed. It may have seemed like I was not doing anything, but I did keep myself busy. When globalization was finally over, we had dinner and decided to have a relaxing night talking and relaxing.

Chapter 2: Day 8: 29 Jan 2019

Today was another day of Globalization classes, so I hunkered down in the library and began working on my Marketing Project for my Internships. It was nice to have the place to myself while I worked so I could listen to music and think out loud. When class was over, we all had dinner and I hung out in my room for a bit, but haven’t been feeling good so, I was put in a sick room to help me get some extra rest. I gather all I needed and headed upstairs. I got set up and Facetimed Travis for a while – which is always lovely – After that I took a nice steamy shower and crawled into bed. Even though it was hard to fall asleep it was still nice to be able to relax and rest without worrying about keeping anyone else from doing what they wanted.

Chapter 2: Day 9: 30 Jan 2019

Today we got to go into the city and visit the Edinburgh Castle. The view from this is always amazing. It sort of feels like you can see all of Scotland from the top. We got about 3 hours to explore the castle and even though I had been there before I saw new parts which was very exciting. A while into our time there we started to get hungry, so Ellie and I stopped in the Café to get some hot chocolate and eat our bag lunches. While there we met up with Logan, Melissa and Shelby. I was nice to talk to them over lunch and warm up a bit from being outside. After a bit more and more of the program showed up and Apryl – one of the professors – and her son joined us. We all enjoyed lunch before packing up and seeing a bit more of the castle.

When our time at the castle was over, we met up with out clans and did a scavenger hunt through the city. It was fun to be able to find new places that none of us had been yet. We hunted around for a while before having to catch the bus back to Dalkeith for dinner duty. We made it back just in time and got changed and met Henry (the chef) down in the kitchen. Dinner duty consists of Cleaning, Serving, Eating and then Cleaning again. It really is not all that bad, plus it helps keep the cost of the program down! Once dinner duty was over, I headed up to get ready for bed since I was not feeling the best.

Chapter 2: Day 10: 31 Jan 2019

Class. Class. And more class is how this say went. Today started my first day of classes! This semester we are doing modules instead of full semester classes. So, basically, we take one class for three to four weeks and then we are done with it. This first module I am taking British History. We had class in the morning, then lunch, then class, and dinner, and finally only more class only this time it was career exploration. Career exploration is just as it sounds, you explore potential career you want by interviewing, shadowing and completing a project on the topic of your choice. Tonight, we just learned a bit about what the class entailed and what all we were going to be doing through the semester. Once that class was over, I called it a night and headed to bed to Facetime Travis for a bit.

Chapter 2: Day 11: 1 Feb 2019

Friday, I got to sleep in which is always a nice perk! Since the other class this module had class this morning I decided just to relax in the morning until lunch time. After lunch we were trying to come up with a plan on what we wanted to do for the night and decided to try and find a speakeasy in Edinburgh. We were just relaxing for most of the day before getting ready and heading into the city. We were all hungry when we got there so we stopped at Boozy Cow for some food before finding the speakeasy. Luckily, we knew where the speakeasy so that was no problem, the only problem was that we were in a larger group and the whole place was full. So, we decided to go somewhere else for a bit and try back later. We ended up finding a place called The Shack which I know probably does not seem like the place to go, but really it was just a retro club that played 80s music. Since we did not know where else to go, we checked it out. When we got down to the floor there were maybe 7 people total all above the age of 40. That really did not bother us, so we decided to stay for a while before going back to the speakeasy. Since it was only 9:30pm there were not too many other people who showed up, but if we were there later, I bet it would have been a hoot.

After a while there we headed back up to the street to see if we could get into the speakeasy. Unfortunate for us it was even busier than the last time! So, we said we will have to try back another time. We wandered for a bit more but did not know where to go, so we headed back to Dalkeith. A group wanted to stay out at the bars so that’s what they did but, because I was finally starting to feel better, I figured I should head back to the house to see if I can get another good night sleep to try and get all better.

Chapter 2: Day 12: 2 Feb 2019

Today was a fun and busy day! I started the morning with no real plan but ended up seeing more of Scotland than I thought possible in one day! When I woke up, I texted Emme to see what she was doing for the day and she said that she was going to take the bus to a couple towns around the city, so I asked if I could join and we were off!

We started in a very cute town called Portobello. This is a town on the coast up by Edinburgh that has a lot of cute shops and cafés. Like I said we did not really have a plan, so we just hopped off and walked around. We ended up stumbling across ‘the only two surviving bottle kilns in Scotland.’ One seemed to be going through a renovation, but the one that we could see was beautiful and gigantic! They were in an interesting place, however. They were right in the middle of town, by what seemed to be apartment buildings. I am curious to see what the space looked like while the kilns were still in use.

After checking those out for a bit, we walked down to the water! There were so many dogs!! I was very happy to see all the dogs playing and enjoying the beautiful day. While it was a bit breezy it still felt nice in the sun. We walked for a while along the coast before cutting back up to the main street. We were a bit chilly so found a place to eat called, The Cake and Candy Tearoom. I didn’t plan on getting actual food but, when they offer chocolate and banana on pancakes how can I resist? The atmosphere and food was great I would make a day trip to Portobello just for that. When we had recovered from the cold a bit we got back on the bus and went to Musselburgh, another city on the coast. We walked around for a bit, but there was not much we wanted to see, so we caught the bus back to Dalkeith.

As we were walking back we went past Lauren, Kyle, Malachi, Ellie and Sarah and they wanted to do something like we had done so I turned around and met up with them. They did not really have a plan, so we just got on the bus and just road and road and road. We did not really feel like getting out to explore, so we just rode the bus to the end of the track and turned around and came back. It was fun to see parts of the town we had not yet without having to walk everywhere. When we got back to Prince’s Street, we were hungry and they asked for a suggestion and I said Barburrito, so that is what we ate. Once we were done, we were walking for a bit more when someone came up with the idea to go to crispy cream doughnuts which turned into a process and a half.

Since Sarah and Malachi had not had them yet Ellie said needed to find an actual store to make it more authentic, so the adventure began. We found a shop no problem and hopped the bus and all was going great until we got there. We pulled up and got off the bus at a really sketchy mall that appeared to be closed, but we did not worry too much because this was supposed to be a store so, we figured it was an outside shop that would still be open but…we were wrong. Turns out it was inside the mall which was now closed. So, after walking back and forth three or four times we look up a different location that was not too far away, so we headed that way.

After we got to the next location it was no more promising. We got off the bus at a tram stop that was pretty much all dark and across the way there was some shops that were dark as well minus a mass of cars rolling into a parking lot – sounds safe right? – We walked over the tram way and ended up seeing a Crispy Cream sign and it was in fact open, so we walked over and were relieved to have a bathroom and doughnuts.

When we were done with everything and were heading back to the tram station Lauren stopped a photographer and asked why there were so many cars in the lot and he said that it was just a car show, so nothing bad at all! It was crazy to see all of the cars that they were fitting in the lot. Imagine a big Walmart parking lot, now double that and fill every spot with a car. It was a really cool experience even though it was kind of sketchy at first. Once we were done, we got on the tram back to town and then grabbed the bus home. When we got home we made brownies and had brownies, ice cream and bailey. After we all got our snacks we watched Deadpool with the group of us plus, Logan, Shelby and Melissa. It was a long, adventurous and fun day!