Edinburgh (sans hangover), and first days in Aberdeen

Ok. So I'm assuming that you have read the title of this posting, and are asking yourself how long is this post going to be?? I can answer that most pertinent question.

long.

I will attempt to fill you in on what have been, perhaps, the three busiest days of my life. here we go.

In Edinburgh I did several things that can be broken down into two very simple categories- Drinking, and Walking. In the walking category falls two tours of Edinburgh, one of its history during the day, and another of its dark side during the night. The drinking came after the tours. Both of the tours were Excellent! I highly recommend that anyone visiting Edinburgh anytime in the future take the free walking tour, and any other tours done by the same company. they were, simply put, the best I have ever taken. This recommendation comes from a former tour guide who gave tours three times a day five days a week. I know a good tour when I see one. The better of the tours was the free one. It was given by an Irishman named Brendan who knew Edinburgh like the back of his hand, if he were for some reason the type of person who spent hours and hours every day telling stories about his hand. My personal favorite part was hearing him say the year 1313, the year Robert the Bruce recaptured Edinburgh Castle from the English with only 30 men.

30 is also a funny word to hear an Irishman say.

After that I walked around some of the closes (like an alley, but more of a circle and with buildings, kinda like little mini-neighborhoods) and then came back for the nightly Ghost-Tour. While still excellent, this tour was not as good, possibly because of the tour guides distinct lack of an Irish accent. Part of the ticket price of the second tour was a free pint at a local pub after the tour.

At the pub some of us from the tour decided to go to a whiskey bar, because the two of them had never had it before, and I was not about to let that happen. So one of the guys called up a friend from high school who lived in Edinburgh now and had him meet us at a local students pub for some whiskey and a few more pints. That turned into a few more pints, and just that quick we were best friends. After the students bar closed (at one) we decided to go to a karaoke club where the Edinburgh fellow had a few friends. We got there and met another young lady-friend of Connor's (the Edinburgh Fellow) and she went in with us. Connor's friends at the club were amazing. They gave us free drinks, and free songs for almost two hours. That was a lot of drinks and songs, believe me. All in all it was an amazing, whirlwind day and night that I am still trying to recover from. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

After I got back to my hostel at 4am I talked to my girlfriend Brie for an hour over Skype, and then went to bed.

...for a whopping three and a half hours...

I had to get up at 8:30 to make my train to Aberdeen on time. Fuck that. I means seriously, I was still drunk when I woke up! Not very functional. The train was murder, as you could probably tell from my post on it, but I was doing ok. The Scottish countryside was beautiful, even if I was in no condition to be enjoying it.

I got to Aberdeen, anyways, and spent the most hectic and stressful day moving into my room and attempting to feed myself. This, as I found out, is extraordinarily difficult in an unfamiliar city. I didn't know where the grocery store was. I didn't know how to get there. I didn't know where I could buy dishes, or silverware, or even how to turn on the heater in my room. All in all it was the, single, most stressful and trying day of my life. The only way I got through it was by pushing myself outside of my comfort zone, and constantly working on asking people, and pooling our collective ignorances to get some food, or find the store that sells bedding, or where the ATM was. I swear I learned more yesterday about living int he real world than the entire rest of my life combined.

Today, however, was much better. I had the time to take a walk around Campus (which is seriously cool), to get my Internet working (which was a serious expedition) and to finish putting my room together. The only bad part was that it rained, all day. Which means that, just as in Edinburgh, I got no pictures of the outside. I did get a few of my new room though.

Check it.

My Bed. Obviously

This, then, would be my desk/office space

My closet, with only one shelf.

PRIVATE SHOWER!

AND BATHROOM!

My kitchen is Awesome. Like a Possum.

The final picture in our tour of Jon's new Apartment- The Living room.

Th-th-th-th-th-th-thats all for now folks!

Cheers, 

Jon