Tuesday

I have no idea how people in this country get ready in the morning. We woke up today and the sun was shining and there was no wind and it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day. We went in for class and came back out 2 hours later and there was complete cloud cover and it was raining again.
After we finished with class, we had plans to go to Mary King's Close, which is this mediaeval period tour through a 'close' in downtown Edinburgh. A close is pretty much a tiny alley way that was once a street but because of buildings going up and stuff the spaces are really small now. This close in particular is basically underground and has a wild history based on things that happened mostly during the plague. The people that lived there were very poor and the tour guides are people dressed in period clothing discussing the life of the people that lived there during the time. We didn't actually make it to the Close because we stopped to make reservations for our trip to Loch Ness on Saturday!! The line in the visitors center was ridiculous so we didn't have time for much else afterward. We also got tickets to the Highland games which is part of this "Homecoming 2009" that Edinburgh is putting on this summer. The games will include a fair like atmosphere with field events somewhat like the traditional olympic events going on. Lots of Scottish heritage stuff going on, including some whiskey tasting which I plan to do a little of. That was Aaron's 1 request was some authentic Scottish whiskey, so i figure I should atleast try some out before i bring it home!
The trip to Loch Ness will head out at 8:00am which means we are leaving the university at 6:30 to make sure we get to the pick-up site on time. We could have done a tour that picked us up at the University but it was on a large Charter style bus and the tour we chose is on a 'luxury minibus' which means we'll be in a smaller group. We'll visit a little villiage on our way to the Loch and have lunch when we get there with an optional boat tour on the water, which costs extra of course. Then a lot of the other time is spent driving through the Highlands and stopping to take pictures and things. We'll see Stirling Castle from a distance and some other really popular stuff I'll explain when we get back from the tour. The price is actually really reasonable. $60ish for a 12 hour tour. It sounds better at 36pounds. We have been getting student discounts just about everywhere, including the movie theatre. I was kind of surprised by that. I don't notice student discounts, if we get them, in the US. Even just in San Angelo. Maybe it is just here in Edinburgh because of the large tourist destination.
Oh I almost forgot. We had Haggis tonight!!! It wasn't nearly as creepy and disgusting as I thought it was goign to be. It had the texture of ground deer meat, kind of dry, but it had a brown gravy kind of sauce on it that carried most of the flavor. it was definately edible, but I don't think I'd ever order it for myself as a meal.

I am off to bed. We have a midterm in the morning... yes we are actually doing school work! Have a great Wednesday!
kait