Week 3 of uni

Another week is over! Time is moving much too fast. Edinburgh is definitely now home, and I feel in the swing of things. On Monday & Tuesday I did a lot of readings to prepare for my debate and a presentation that I had later in the week. As many of you know, I was pretty nervous for the debate… After all, only 3 weeks into class, how much does the Professor really expect us to know? I woke up early Wednesday, a little intimidated, but luckily I was the very first presenter, and it went smooth as silk! I said my piece, sat down, and listened to everyone else argue their bit. After everyone presented, the judges voted for which team won…. and my team won! Professor Lim gave us a big box of Lindor chocolates as a prize. They were so delicious, and we shared with the other team too– don’t worry people are nice like that over here too.

After the debate I felt so relieved and happy– almost on top of the world! When class finished I met my friend Mike who proposed we go climb Calton’s Hill to see the beautiful view of the city. Along the way he taught me lots of fun facts about the city, which was great. We then climbed a bunch of steps to get to the top of Calton Hill… it was a gorgeous day and we saw an excellent view of the city. I only had a my little camera, and it was on some weird setting, but you can still see how pretty it was. Edinburgh is simply a gorgeous city. I constantly look around and feel so blessed to live in such a great place.

After the hill, Mike & I stopped into a graveyard where David Hume is buried… I have most of my classes in David Hume tower on campus, so it was neat to be near the actual person, even if he is deceased. Then we went off to lunch! Mike is good to have around because he’s lived here longer, so he knows all the fun/cool spots to go that I would have no clue about otherwise. We went to this snazzy restaurant called The Dome, and it was really pretty inside. Seems to be a theme that everything in Edinburgh is beautiful!

After lunch, I met Andrea for coffee, or hot chocolate in my case, at the Brew Lab. We are currently planning a trip to Dublin, and I’m so excited to explore Ireland together! She then walked with me to the Edinburgh Bus Station to pick up my friend Ryan, who came up from Leeds, England to stay for a couple days then go to Oktoberfest together. We cooked a stir fry dinner then hit the pubs for a pint, because let’s face it, that’s all anyone ever does in Scotland!

Thursday morning I went to class. Had another pretty quick presentation then picked up Ryan to play tour guide of the city. This was convenient because I was able to tell Ryan all the fun facts that Mike told me the day before! I consider that good planning on my part 😛 We walked through the uni, past Greyfriar’s Bobby, The Elephant Cafe, Victoria Street, to the castle, Royal Mile, Princes Street, then walked back up Calton Hill to see the amazing view. On the way home we stopped at a cafe where J.K. Rowling wrote a lot of Harry Potter and explored some of the nicer university buildings. In the evening we cooked, printed plane tickets, and packed for Oktoberfest!