Thursday, February 2, 2017

Glasgow Week 4: Edinburgh and the Horrible Hostel

Photo by Linnea Sandbakk on Unsplash

I usually posts these on Tuesdays, but today is special since I've been away from home for exactly a month!

Wednesday of last week was one of those nights that make me wish I wan an anonymous confessional blogger.  As much as I pride myself on being honest, there are just some things you can't write with your real name and face attached!

Friday I tried getting work done in the library.  Afterwards, me and two of my friends walked 47 minutes to get to Five Guys, but once we got there we realized it was SUPER expensive compared to other places. It was 8 pounds for one burger.  Which doesn't seem like a lot, but compare that to an entire meal at McDonald's for under 5 pounds.

We ended up at KFC.

On Saturday we woke up at the buttcrack of dawn and took the train to Edinburgh.  It was super rainy and cloudy so the walking tour was miserable.  After we had lunch we went to the Royal Scottish Academy and the Scottish National Gallery.  I actually met the artists of one of the paintings!  I was taking pictures of my favorite paintings (as you do), and I had to reach up really tall to get a good picture.  Immediately after a lady started talking to me about the painting so I was afraid of getting in trouble for taking pictures.

"Oh no!" she said. "Please take pictures.  I'm the artist.  It's nice to know that people like my work."
!!!!! She was just chilling in the gallery!  I then thanked her for sharing her talent.

A few minutes prior to that my friends were making fun of me for looking like a tourist, since I had this big backpack on and was taking lots of pictures.  But if I wasn't doing any of that, then I never would've met that painter! Just goes to show you that you have to do what you want and not care what other people think.

2pm came around so it was time to check into our hostel.  The location was great and the reviews were decent, so I was excited.  My first hostel experience, after all.

Sadly, it wasn't a great first experience.  I'm not extremely picky, but I do like my sleeping arrangements to be mildly clean and safe.  The dynamics of this hostel (Princes Street Backpackers) was really off.  All the girls were young college students (like me), but all the men were in their 30's or older and a few gave off predatory vibes. (Always trust your instincts, they don't lie, okay?)  As far as the cleanliness goes, I only have to tell you one thing.  There was a dead animal in the wall of one of the bathrooms.
Let's move on to more pleasant things.  Like Arthur's Seat!

I've been dying to hike Arthur's Seat for years.  It was a missed opportunity back when I was 18 and since then I've become more obsessed with it.  It even plays a minor role in the movie One Day with Anne Hathaway, which I watch way too often to be considered normal.

Sunday felt like the first day we had seen the sun in awhile.  Even though climbing a big hill is tiring, being able to stretch my legs like that felt so good.  I'm definitely going back again because there's not one defined path to hike.

I went to the Writer's Museum while my friends took a nap on Saturday.  It was tiny but had a lot of history and memorabilia from Scottish writers.  It was a rather niche museum, so if you're not really into writing and authors it'll probably be boring.  (I enjoyed it, of course!)  The museum also has surprisingly strong wifi and a place to sit and read, so this is a nice place to escape from the rain and cold without being charged for a coffee.

Tip: from Glasgow to Edinburgh, the bus may be cheaper BUT if you have a group of 3 then you can get a group train ticket that will costs the same amount as a bus.

This entire week has been pretty gloomy since I've had a cold the ENTIRE TIME.  As of this moment I thankfully no longer have a sore throat (I had to reschedule a presentation on Monday because I couldn't talk), but my nose is still stuffy.  I take my multivitamin every day I should be immune to all things.


Let me know about your past week!