Edinburgh Part Un 13 Sept 2007
22 September 2007
Today was the first full day of orientation. After milking our free Premier Inn breakfast, we met with Peter and Hilary at the University of Edinburgh to go over a bazillion logistics about academics, student life, etc. they were cute: we each got a water bottle and a choice of Scottish cookies, one of which wore a rather comical face [see photo]. After, a few of us managed to find our way to the UC Study Centre for [yes!] internet and then managed to [yes!] find food.
Later, we trekked down to the Palace end of the Royal Mile to the new Scottish Parliament to meet for our walk up to Arthur’s Seat. Let me say, this was no walk. It was a hike; had we dressed up in green and brown cloaks and moppy wigs you’d think we were in Lord of the Rings. The upward battle started immediately, not leaving much hope for the rest of the “walk”. The view from the top, however, made up for all the shortcomings of the “walk” up there. Edinburgh is a quintessential medieval town, complete with a hilltop castle, some crown jewels, and cobblestone streets that randomly change names and/or direction and/or end completely for no reason.
After grabbing [personally] an ordinary but complimentary dinner at Buffet King, the resident Chinese eatery, we all gathered our laptops and plonked down at Bar Alba, this awesome-looking café bar with GET THIS free wi-fi! So about 5 of us walk in first, laptops at hand, and set up shop at a table without ordering a thing. Some of the locals seemed to be staring, who knows whyyyyy. Christine and I finally reached a guilt point where we both bought non-alcoholic drinks, still a little shy about our newfound freedom. Later, the rest of the Crew joined and then we just looked like we rented out Bar Alba for a let’s-all-facebook-each-other-at-the-same-time party.
17:18
TP-EVOLUTION ‚ô•