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: