Edinburgh and Other

So it has been a long time since I posted, some would say that I am even sloooow at posting.  

Since we last spoke I have been to Edinburgh twice; once for business, once for pleasure.  I have seen some music around town, attempted my first pub quiz, and had a nice night out with peers from class that did not end in complete drunken buffoonery.  

Edinburgh is quite the town. Ashley and I found time on a day off to try and see some more of the countryside and get out of Glasgow for a bit.  The train ride is only about 45min and very cheap, so this adventure was worth every penny.  Once outside of Glasgow on the train the view of the country side is very nice with large rolling hills, very green, and covered in sheep; lots of sheep.  

Waverley Station is in the heart of Edinburgh and the first thing one must do when leaving the train station is to walk up Princes St.  towards Edinburgh castle. After that, try and get as far into the castle as you can before someone wants money from you. 

The Castle is great for many reasons, other than being a castle.  Once up on top of the hill you can get to see some of the city from above which is pretty much awesome.  

The rest of our time spent in Edinburgh consisted of taking a tour of the Lost Underground City of Edinburgh.  From what I can tell there are lots of Underground Cities in Edinburgh and many people know where they are.  This is not to persuade someone not to go on a tour, the history lesson alone was fascinating to me but once in the underground it is pretty interesting to observe. 

After our terror inducing tour through the underground, a cup of coffee and tea sounded great and what better place to go than the location where JK Rowling penned some early Harry Potter?  The coffee wasn't bad.  I am still not a billionaire.  

My second trip to Edinburgh last week was for a seminar on Originality, led by Dr. Simon Frith.  Interesting talk from an important man in sociology and cultural studies.  He is also the chair for the Mercury Prize (google it, it's real) so I was intrigued to hear what he had to say.  I haven't decided if I will go this week for his talk on Dance Music.   

Class is going very well for me and as things go along I am becoming more and more busy with the events taking place.  Putting together the research festival is a ridiculous amount of work and it has only just begun.  

Through all of our learning here, Ashley and I are still horrid when it comes to British Pop Culture and in our first test of our non-existant knowledge we crashed and burned at what could be our first and last pub quiz.  But I did manage to have myself a couple of pints and together we got the tricky word question correct.  

I shall make an attempt to post again, sooner this time.  

Have a nice day,

Cheerio 

Ryan