Climbing Arthur's Seat

This week has mostly been me doing boring things like adjusting to a new educational system, finding the nearest place to buy cheap housewares, and pressing the "boost" button on my room's heater every 30 minutes like clockwork. However, yesterday I was out the door at an ambitious 12:00 to embark on a slightly adventurous afternoon. First I went to the National Museum of Scotland, an eight-story architecturally stunning behemoth of Scottishness. Which is to say, I loved it. Actually, I only spent a little over an hour there and focused mainly on the sixth floor, an exhibit about 20th century changes in Scotland. But it was still very nice (and free!). After that I met up with a large group of international students who were climbing Arthur's Seat, an extinct volcano which stands 822 feet just about a mile or two from the city center. From here you can see the city just to the northwest, and probably 15 miles in every direction. On a clear day like yesterday, the views are simply stunning. Unfortunately, being January, it was also very cold and very windy. I'll definitely climb it again, but maybe not until May, when it should be much warmer.
Anyway, now might be a good time to divulge my future travels outside of the UK; currently there are only two confirmed. 
April 8-12: Istanbul with Tiz
April 14-20: Belfast and Dublin with brother James
A trip to Sicily may be in the works, but has not been finalized. As always, comments are welcome!

The interior of the National Museum of Scotland (photo credit http://www.edinburgharchitecture.co.uk)

 I took some pictures from Arthur's Seat, but this one is better (photo credit news.bbc.co.uk)

Moved In

So it's been a week since the last post, and unfortunately I have no pictures this time. Hopefully I will find the effort to get photos off my iPod touch by my next post. But first, Brighton! A short 50 minute train ride south of London, Brighton is about as far away as you can get from the seaside I'm used to. No warm, sandy beaches here; the water is too cold to swim year-round and the shoreline is composed of pebbles, not sand. To me, the most interesting part of town was 'The Lanes', an area of narrow pedestrian-dominated streets and walkways, which is lined with restaurants, independent shops and boutiques. It was the kind of place that clothes junkies like my sister Jennifer would love. I just liked the abundance of good food spots, like an inexpensive "street Thai" place that Tiz and I went with my visiting American chum Walker and his friend Maria on Thursday night. Anyway, if you prefer shopping to swimming, ditch Wrightsville Beach and head to Brighton. Views of France not included (the English Channel is too wide here).
On Friday Tiz and I arrived in Edinburgh after a quick plane ride from Gatwick, and after a night in the Hilton and dinner from an American-themed burger joint (pretty tasty, called Wannaburger), I moved in yesterday morning. Edinburgh is a beautiful city, with scenery unlike any other I've ever visited (and that list is getting respectably lengthy). For someone who has never lived in a city, or outside the state of North Carolina, or in a place that gets "properly" cold, there are a lot of adjustments to make. But I'm excited about everything. Classes start tomorrow, and I'll post about classes and other novel things within the week. As always, comments are welcome.

North and South

Tiz and I are finally in Brighton after spending Monday, Tuesday and Saturday nights in London and Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights at her uncle's house in Bradford. We took megabus between London and Leeds each way, and were impressed with the price and punctuality (and I was amused that we drove halfway across the country in like 4 hours). On day 1 in the north, we went to a town called Harrogate, a relatively wealthy settlement in a region that, for the Americans reading this, is somewhat comparable economically to the "Rust Belt". It was windy and cold as hell, so I bought a jacket from Primark to wear as my fourth layer of clothing. The next day we went to Haworth, a village famous for being the hometown of the literary Bronte sisters. As an English lit student, Tiz was very excited to show me Haworth, but to my dismay (not really) the Bronte parsonage and museum was closed for the month. I had fish and chips (and MUSHY PEAS!) twice in Yorkshire, once at Tiz's uncle's house and once at a pub called The White Lion in Haworth.
Last night in London Tiz, our friend and host Sarah and I met up with my American mate Walker who is in the country for a couple of weeks. We had dinner at a Chinese restaurant that had a terrific view of the Tower Bridge (the photo below was taken from just outside). Then we went for a few pints at the Horniman's pub, chosen entirely due to its name, and thought of all our American friends who would love the pub atmosphere and the British legal drinking age. By Thursday I'll report on the British version of the seaside town. As usual, comments are welcome!

                     A fancy tea room in Harrogate. Yes, that is a cake trolley.

                    The pub in Haworth. Two giant Yorkshire puddings and one fish & chips.

                          Walker and I enjoying a few pints of cider. Profpic, Bristol?

                           Me, Walker and Sarah near the Tower Bridge

Tour of the Island

So I had a rather exciting weekend, visiting Tiz's friends and family. Actually right now I'm in South London, having just arrived today; on Wednesday we're doing a 4.5 hour bus journey to Leeds to stay with Tiz's uncle. Anyway, New Year's Eve British style was very fun, since I discovered that London's fireworks show (on TV) is just as entertaining as the Times Square thing we have in the states. We went to Tiz's friend Fiona's house and ordered Domino's. I learned that a UK large is a US medium, a UK medium is a US small, but at least you can get Tandoori chicken as a topping!
New Year's Eve was actually rather tame for me, as I was keen to go light on the alcohol having properly gone to the pub for the first time on the evening of the 30th. It was an interesting experience walking through a seemingly deserted village on a Friday afternoon, only to walk into "The Plough" and see dozens of people waiting around for 11:00 and last rounds. I have never been much of a drinker, but cider in this country is really, really good. On New Year's Day Tiz's mother cooked us a very English meal, complete with a Yorkshire pudding and gravy. I managed to bring some of the South to England with me in the form of my brother's pecan pie recipe that seemed to be a hit with the household.
In contrast to what you have been reading, this is not a food blog, but these past few days have been food-heavy and somewhat slow-paced. Hopefully by about Thursday I will have pictures of London and maybe Leeds/Bradford, where apparently some of the best fish and chips in England can be found. I promise I'll talk about something else in addition. As usual, comments are welcome!

                                       Outside the pub on a rather cold Friday night

              A variation of Yorkshire pudding (toad in the hole) on New Year's Day