(I just spent an hour editing this only to discover that I'd already posted about Scotland. I didn't want to just delete it, so here's an alternative version)
Well everyone. I’m very behind on my entries...and will only fall back further and so I’ll have to summarize.
Three weekends ago, I headed up to Edinburgh on my own. I got a round-trip bus ticket for £12.50 and three nights for the price of two at the best hostel in Edinburgh (The Globetrotter Inn) which ended up being less that £10 a night (around $17). So at that price, I couldn’t afford NOT to go to Scotland.
The ride up was horrendous but you get what you pay for, right? I went through megabus.com and what I had to do was buy tickets from Brighton to London and then London to Glasgow and then Glasgow to Edinburgh...and the opposite to get back home. I left Brighton around 7 and arrived in London just after 9. I had to occupy myself at the London Victoria Rail Station for a couple of hours and we left for Glasgow just before midnight. Turned out 3 girls who are at Sussex from California just happened to be heading to Scotland on the same bus. The bus we rode was the size of the average travel bus, but it was two of them with those accordion connections in the middle. My dumb self sat just behind the bathroom on the left side against the window. There was a short wall which didn’t allow me to stretch the ONE knee (right knee) that acts up if I can’t move it around a bit... and it had already been bothering me because the day before, I’d spent a total of 8 hours on trains going to Bristol and back for my British culture class. So, on this bus over, the AC was on...but so was the heater set to like 80F! I’m super skinny and I get cold easily, but I was going to DIE so I know everyone else was miserable. The heat was blasting out of these floor vents and one girl said her shoes were practically melting!
We stopped around 3am for snacks. I watched a girl smoke a cigarette in the most peculiar way; I was fascinated! I’m upset that I never saw her light it, for that must have been a treat. Were I taking an acting class next semester, I would most certainly recreate her in a scene. Anyway, I must have slept or fainted, but I made it there okay. It was amazing to drive down Princes Street, site of the opening of Trainspotting (yes, I’m a movie nerd).
The hostel rocks. It’s quite far from the City Center, but they run shuttles back and forth every hour. It’s back on the edge of the water and it has a kitchen, restaurant, grocery store and bar with a gorgeous view. Self-contained! And each bunk has it’s own reading light and curtain for privacy. Each room has a locker with a key they give you. It deserves all the awards it has been getting.
After settling at the hostel, I returned to the city and shopped a bit...well, I browsed at clothes and ended up buying books at a music store...including (the best thing a light traveller could hope to buy) that super heavy The Pythons by The Pythons (if you haven’t seen it, it’s the same size as The Beatles Anthology - the hardcover). I went to a Virgin and bought - guess what? That’s right, more books. Actually, one was a novel written by Scottish actor Alan Cumming - Tony-winner Cabaret, Night Crawler in X2. I didn’t know he’d written a novel, so I figured I had to buy it.
I went to a local bar and got a pint and a beef and mushroom pie with mashed potatoes and vegetables (yum). The place was crowded and a group of 7 women came and shared the table with me. I think they weren’t from Edinburgh, but were meeting up before going to some event at half six (Six-thirty! I love the phrases here. “Taking the piss” is my other fave). So...it was interesting... I was listening to them talk and the lady next to me sort of goes over their itinerary... something like “We’ll eat and then we’ll all go...All except the black girl!” Another woman says “Oh no, not the black girl...” I don’t think I was ...okay, I was sort of offended but not to the point that I would confront them, but I had definitely noticed the lack-of-diversity in the population of Scotland. You see the occasional Indian, but very few black people. I dunno, I’ve never been referred to as “the black girl” by someone sitting directly next to me. And I hated that I got all high-and-mighty in my head, as you can tell by their accents that they weren’t well-to-do. But...I didn’t hold it against them. I mean, if they didn’t like me they wouldn’t have sat there and they thanked me for letting them share my table with them. I dunno...it was interesting. I went back to the hostel and slept even though it was about 5.
The next day, I stayed in and studied. Sad but true. I was returning late Monday evening and I had a presentation due on Tuesday and an essay and final PowerPoint presentation due Wednesday. Not to mention, I still had one more interview to conduct and then type up (I’d typed the other two before I left). It was a bad time to travel but...whattayagonnado?
That evening, I got some take-away sandwiches and crisps from the store; grabbed a pint in the bar and sat and ate, occasionally glancing at the TV. I noticed a guy sitting near me drinking Corona and I was immediately fascinated. Someone in the UK drinking Corona?!? Why!?! Well, he and his buds were sitting and talking and I was eavesdropping as that’s my favorite thing to do there. The accents are priceless! I think they were joking and the other two guys sat next to him on the one couch and he got up and sat next to me, which was the perfect excuse for me to ask about the Corona. Apparently it’s like water and it’s what people drink when they already had alot but they still want alcohol (I met an Irish girl in Rome who told me the same thing. Apparently Corona is making a comeback in Australia, though it is ridiculously expensive there since it’s an imported beer. ANYWAY). For the life of me, I can’t remember this guy’s name but he was from Liverpool and he was with his mates for a stag party. We chatted a bit and then the group had to go debauch themselves. I was upset that he had to leave so soon, I was having a nice chat. I think I ended up talking to an American for the rest of the night until I had to go sleep.
The next day I did the whole tourist thing with the California girls from Sussex. They had spent their first night in Glasgow, but when they came to Edinburgh they stayed at the same hostel as me and were on the same floor about 4 rooms away from each other. We went to Edinburgh castle, the Scotch Whisky Heritage Museum (any tour that starts “Come on over and get a whisky” is pretty awesome...especially when they guy has a thick Scottish accent). We went on this night-cemetery tour that takes us to this room that’s supposed to be the world’s best documented poltergeist. Nothing too amazing happened though a girl may or may not have ended up with scratches (they say people sometimes get scratches or bruises after going there). I know a guy who is most likely an inductor of supernatural activity and I’d only believe it if I went in with him. Anyway, we finished pretty late and ended up missing the last shuttle to the hostel - the ONLY thing that sucks about the hostel is the capacity and frequency of shuttles. We had to catch the bus and walk maybe a mile in the dark at midnight. By the way, since we were so far north, the sun didn’t completely set until after 11!
I had to leave early the next morning and they were arriving back Tuesday morning. It was so great walking along the beach outside of the hostel. I picked up a mussel shell, a rock and a tiny pine cone as souvenirs of my time there. My bus to Glasgow left about 9. I arrived in Glasgow and got a coffee and had a nice chat with the manager of a tiny coffee shop (they are in every rail station that I’ve seen). He’d been there since 5 and would be there until 4. I would have loved to interview him, but my bus was due and he had customers to take care of. On the way from Glasgow to London I mostly steamed. While getting on the bus, the driver gestures to my bag and says “No alcohol!” It was somewhere between a question and a warning. I said no and went and had a seat. He didn’t say it to the guy in front of me...or the guy behind me. He singled me out! I think I was even more upset because I didn’t have alcohol, but textbooks as I decided to visit Scotland and spend money instead of staying in Brighton and studying. And what if I had gotten something as a gift? What would he have done? So, I’m steaming that he singled me out as the black passenger...until I heard him say it to someone else. And then I noticed it was a black guy. Oh man! So I’m just furious. And I tried to explain it to myself, like obviously he’s had some issues with blacks and alcohol, but he could have just announced it to everyone instead of singling us out. So off and on I simmer and off and on I think about my interviews. I wanted to go to Scotland to get an interview and now I’m on my way back and I don’t’ have one. And then I heard the guy on the other side of the bus on his cell phone. He was Indian (a Sikh) and he had a Scottish accent. How novel! And so I interviewed him. He was cool. Perhaps I will post that interview as well.
I arrived back to London around 9 or so. I was supposed to catch a bus just before midnight arriving back after 1am, but I was too exhausted. I coughed up £10.50 and caught the train back to Falmer.
It was a nice trip...except I broke one of my rules. I swore I would not go to McDonald’s while in Europe. Not only did I go to McD’s, but to Burger King and KFC’s as well! Luckily, each time was horrible and I’ve since learned that all burgers in Europe are crap, so no more burgers for me! I finished my presentation early the next morning and it went well. After class, I spent hours working on my final presentation...okay, I admit it...it was on UK’s Queer As Folk (even though I’d never actually watched it). That went well. I knocked out my essay and all in all, I’m sure I got an A in that class. Once class was over, I had to get ready... for Roma!