Birmingham

Tomorrow I go to Birmingham for the day. I'm giving a 5 minute talk about my potential approaches to the project I'm working on at the KIM Meeting. Boy, am I excited about that.

Today I met an American. As in, a not-tourist American. I was paying for this weekend's international students trip to Falkland Palace and St. Andrews at the Chaplaincy, and he was talking to the secretary. We were both sort of surprised. Americans just don't live in Edinburgh (apparently), much less work/study at Heriot Watt University.

Climb

Today, I walked past the castle. Then, I climbed the side of the cliff up to the castle, at which point I proceeded to walk down the other side. To top all this excitement off, I bought 6 pairs of socks and found a yarn supply inside a John Lewis department store.

Yes. I'm that exciting.

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Oh, wait. I lied. I also went to the "Scotch Whisky Experience" which was sort of like a haunted house ride...through the history of whisky. The bonus was a free sample of the cheapest whisky they had on offer. Which is great, because it burns.

I befriended an Indian couple who bought the 4-region whisky sampler, and was obliged to finish off their "Island" whisky. If they could put a BBQ into liquid form, whisky from the islands is it.

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Photos from today's walk about town:

Old Town over Waverley Bridge

Waverley Bridge doesn't cross a body of water. It used to cross swamplands that have since been turned into the Princes Gardens...along with Waverley train station.

New Town from the side of the Castle's cliff. That front row of buildings is Princes Street (I've posted photos of it before...). Behind you see the water. Maybe some weekend I will head out to Ocean Terminal...

Lots of people headed to Edinburgh Castle near the Whisky Experience

Rendez-Vous

A missed meet-up with the other international students, and I end up watching Paris, Je T'aime on my own in a theatre that holds ~80 people. It's like watching a movie in a large living room.

There's nothing like 10 short films about love in a foreign city to remind you that you're watching a movie without any friends...in a foreign city. The last one nearly killed me.

And then. AND THEN. I come home to this:

That's right. My flatmate filled my shelf with Stella! You'd think the other three shelves would be enough? Then again, having a shelf full of beer may not be the end of the world...

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I was walking back from the movie theatre at 11pm, and somehow ended up on the road with all the show bars. I thought I had maneuvered it so I wouldn't cross them (I would've preferred avoiding drunken guys coming out of lap-dance-a-palooza), but no harm done. There were middle-aged American women hanging out of the next building/hotel, taunting each party-goer that exited the neighboring establishment with, "Good evening darlin'" in a light Southern drawl. god. I love being American.

SHARK!

There is a pregnant shark living in the common room.



Although, my animation-major flatmate assures me this plasticine sculpture has a beer belly, and not a baby.

Art majors!

To market, to market

I finally found a good day (rather, a good two hours. It began pouring immediately afterwards) in which to take a photo tour of the city. Or rather, more specifically, a photo tour of my route to the grocery store. As the summer wears on, perhaps I'll actually spend some time in a few of these tourist traps. Or perhaps not.

I've drawn out the grocery route above. It starts at the bus stop along Princes St. (after work)

Royal Scottish Academy and National Gallery

Princes Street

Old Town (I like the way it looks. It's very Edinburgh)

The view of Old Town over Waverely Bridge

Market St., with the Edinburgh Dungeon on the left.

We took an early turn, need to take a side-street/stairway up to Cockburn St. There's usually a restaurant or two tucked away along these "closes".

Cockburn St. Kitschy shopping (a lot more open & full when not on a Sunday).

Cross the Royal Mile which leads to Edinburgh Castle, but I take it the other way. To South Bridge/Nicolson St.

South Bridge/Nicolson St. It gets progressively more residential and city-ish.

Tesco Metro Supermarket!!

A (former?) church, as I walk along the Royal Mile.

Victoria St. has some more small shops, and it leads directly to Grassmarket.

Grassmarket, the place of many pubs and former hangings.

Another angle of Edinburgh Castle, peering over Grassmarket.

And that's it! (Grassmarket is literally a 2 minute walk from my doorstep)

Where has the UK's Summer Gone?

"July is going to be lousy and the rest of it, August and September will not be worth waiting for," said Piers Corbyn, director of Weather Action.

Newton would be proud

Why does my £2 coin have "STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS" engraved into its milled edge?

Progression

	21:00
	21:30
	21:45
	22:00
	22:10
	23:00

"English"

There was a short break in the rain today, so I decided to head out to Dobbie's Garden World out in Lasswade. I just sort of wandered around and looked at the plants. Didn't buy anything. There just isn't a point. Ever since I bought my "poppy mug" at the market on Princes St., my obsession with poppies has died down.

Anyways.

As I was waiting for the bus back, some old man said something to me. I responded and he immdiately said, "You're American." "Yes. The accent's pretty obvious."

Everyone has been pointing out that I'm from America. I guess it never really happened in Turkey because there weren't that many people who could discern amongst accents of English.

The old man continued to talk to me about what I was doing, when I was going back, eating lunch, "Balto", calling me sweety pie, and all sorts of exciting things. So exciting that I didn't really understand anything he said. He took the blank look on my face to mean that I didn't believe him.