Hello hello~!
Greetings from Edinburgh!! Man this past week has been AMAZING! I used COUCHSURFING for the first time and it was a GREAT experience (more on this soon) and I discovered EDINBURGH which I am realizing more and more that I absolutely LOVE! (Seriously though, considering possibly living here for at least a few years after graduation!! I’m not kidding! This is crazy. I never would’ve expected to like this city this much.)
Basically, Edinburgh is old and beautiful just like Oxford (which heretofore had been my favorite city in Europe) BUT it also has a huge castle on a hill RIGHT smack in the middle of the city AND it has the Salisbury Crags WHICH YOU CAN CLIMB ON which are ALSO RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CITY and also on a hill, so like, you have a GREAT view while climbing!! Insane!!! AND there are old buildings everywhere and huge green spaces everywhere (think, Princess Gardens and also a Royal Botanical Garden) and also old cathedrals and churches everywhere and also an awesome free museum (though granted, not as great as the awesome free Ashmolean museum in Ox–but that really is a phenomenal museum, both in content and in architectural design/layout of the building and exhibits).
But seriously, I am mind blown at how much I love Edinburgh. Mind blown at how amazing this city is. There’s also a walk along a river, called the Leith Waterway Walk or something. Which is AMAZING. And there’s also Leith Walk itself, which is a super culturally diverse (and also full of independent shops and businesses) main road in Edinburgh (well technically it’s in Leith, which used to be a completely separate city from Edinburgh but is now more like a neighborhood or area or subpart of Edinburgh…) and I LOVE walking down it.
Ah! Just so many things I love about Edinburgh. 🙂
Oh and let me TELL you about how WONDERFUL couchsurfing is!!! Basically my host, Jonas, and I are good friends now and apparently the whole couchsurfing community is full of awesome people like him, chill people who will invite you to hang out with them and their friends so you don’t feel like such an outsider in this foreign city, and who will also cook meals and hang out with you at home after they come home from work, and who will also invite you to the dance classes and socials they go to….ah just such a good time in Edinburgh overall! Jonas is awesome and I’m about to write him and awesome review on Couchsurfing (though it’s not like he needs it–he already had 100 positive reviews when I first requested to book with him)!
And I met two of Jonas’ friends who are road tripping through the UK right now and I am actually joining them tomorrow for a leg of their road trip! They passed through Edinburgh on Sunday (which is how I met them) and are now currently in Glasgow, but are going to head back tomorrow, scoop me up from Edinburgh, and head on to Newcastle, and then Durham, and then drop be back in Oxford on their way down to London. Yes!!! This is the kind of spontaneous adventure I LIVE FOR. I am so excited. Can’t wait to tell you all about it next week.
I would update some pictures except I’m too lazy and there’s too many to sift through, I’ve just taken so many pictures these past few days. So I apologize, you’re going to have to go without my usual barrage of photos this week!
Anyway, I look forward to updating you on my adventures next week! Stay tuned!
~Emily