Bagpipes, kilts, One Direction, and good friends.

Because my university here in London absolutely loves me, a week is given to students midway through term called "reading week." It's supposed to be a time for people to catch up with assignments and schedule tutorials with professors. But as an international student, I used the time off to travel. Last week, on Wednesday the 22nd, I went with my friend, Megan, to Edinburgh, Scotland. We took the train there, and our train left from King's Cross, leaving us to daydream that we were going to Hogwarts.
Edinburgh was my first overnight travelling experience since getting to the UK. I stayed in my first hostel. And yes, hostels aren't the nicest places. But I was very impressed with our hostel.

We were also located in a prime location in the city. It was a 2 minute walk to the Royal Mile or Princes Street. Megan and I spent most of Wednesday just walking the city. We would get to an intersection and decide whether to go right or left. We were incredibly lost, but we got to see parts of the city that were off the  beaten path. 

Thursday was spent walking a lot as well. We had a few places that we walked on purpose, like touristy shops, up and down Princes and George Street, and Calton Hill. When we were on top of Calton Hill, we decided that the ocean didn't seem to be far too away, so we decided to walk to it. That failed miserably. After walking an hour and a half, we still hadn't come in sight of the ocean and it was becoming dark, so we had to give up. But I want to go back to Edinburgh and see the ocean from more than a distance.

On Friday, our friend, Shannon, met us in Edinburgh. Then, we took the bus to Glasgow for the day. Glasgow was nice, but it has nothing on the beautiful wonder that I thought Edinburgh was. Even so, I did enjoy myself.

We went back to Edinburgh Friday night and then woke up early on Saturday to enjoy our last day in Edinburgh before having to catch the train back home at 5:30 pm. The highlights of the last day were buying souvenirs, taking a bus tour, exploring Edinburgh Castle, and sitting for two and a half hours in The Elephant House (a cafe made famous as being a place JK Rowling frequently wrote Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in).

Megan also made a fantastic video of our trip to the sounds of One Direction's One Thing. For some reason, we were singing that song the entire trip, so it was perfect. The video is perfect, just like the trip was. I feel so blessed to have been able to Scotland, especially with Megan and Shannon because they are two of my favourite people I've met since being abroad. Check it out here:

Ed Sheeran Concert

One of my favourite things is to go to concerts. I am a massive music lover (isn't everyone, right?). But I considered going into the music industry as a career because I'm so passionate about so many different genres of music, and many of the artists I like are not very popular. Therefore, concerts are pretty close to Heaven on Earth for me. I haven't been to one since this past June. I was itching to go to a concert. A lot of my favourite musicians are British, so I was hoping to be able to see some of them while I was in England. Greg Holden had been the only artists in my price range that I would've been able to see. However, at the beginning of February, Ed Sheeran released tickets to a benefit concert he was doing for War Child here in London. Tickets were 40 pounds, and I bought tickets practically without a second thought. The show was this past Sunday, 19 February at the O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire.
I got to the venue with me and my two friends around 4:45 and stood in line until 8 pm, when the concert started. We were one of the fist ten people in line. They provided us with hot tea and chips (french fries to you Americans) while waiting in line. We were also interviewed by an organisation that gets reactions from fans before and after concerts. (Found the video on their website. So embarrassing.) And a guy was playing guitar for us for the last two hours in line. That was nice.
Since we were so far ahead in line, we were some of the first people in the venue, so we were lucky enough to be at the front of the venue. Literally, it was me, the barrier, the stage. That's it. I'm always close at concerts, but I've never been that close. And all of the opening acts and Ed Sheeran were fantastic. (Ed played Give Me Love, Grade 8, Lego House, The A Team, Little Lady, Let the Sunshine, Earthquake w/ Labrinth, You Need Me I Don't Need You, and a few others I can't remember.)
A lot of musicians I enjoy seeing live, but I still prefer listening to their studio album and think they sound better on those tracks than they do live. Ed Sheeran was the exception to the rule. His album is fantastic, but he is a thousand times better live. Words can't describe. He just sounds so good vocally and he plays around with his songs a lot and is very interactive with his audience. Seeing him live has become my second favourite thing I've done since being in London.

My past three weeks

I might have accidentally neglected this blog for a few weeks. I kept putting off writing on it about what's going on and then I forgot about writing completely. And now I'm getting really busy with life and doing stuff and coursework (oh, the course work appearing out of nowhere). So, this is a quick little catch-up. But I'll include pictures to make up for lost time.
First, I went to Cardiff the weekend of January 28th. It was amazing.

Then I got sick for the entire next week with a horrible cough and I got homesick and it was horrible and let's not talk about it after this long, run-on sentence.
Then, last Wednesday, I went to Windsor and Eton College for a field trip for one of my modules. That was awesome and ridiculous.

Then, last Saturday, I went to a special screening of The Woman In Black with Daniel Radcliffe there. That was crazy. The film was really good as well.

The next day, on Sunday, my friends and I went to the BAFTAs and stood along the red carpet. I saw quite a few celebrities and got some autographs. So that was awesome as well.

I'm going to have a great weekend this upcoming weekend because I'm hanging out with my English friend, Kez, and I'm going to an Ed Sheeran concert. And I'm going to Scotland the following week. So, I'll blog about those things... hopefully.