19 March: EDINBURGH!

Day 1:

Today is the day! We took off from London Kings Cross and started our 4.5 hour journey up to Edinburgh. What's nice about the trains here is that they have WIFI! So I got to work on my papers, etc that were due. The ride was pretty smooth, I watched Gossip Girl and did some homework. As we were about an hour away from Edinburgh, the train pulled up alongside the ocean! The British coast is soooooo beautiful. There are pictures.

We got in around 3:00pm and checked into our hostel. The hostel we stayed in was probably the best place I have ever stayed! All of us girls had one big room to ourselves...and it had its own bathroom! Neato! After that we broke off into groups to get some lunch. Mike, Jimmy, Liz and I went to Subway. No seafood sensation, but my chicken bacon ranch was still mighty tasty. Anywho, we picniked on this park type thing in the middle of the city (in the pictures!) and enjoyed the gorgeous, sunny day.

At around 5:30 we had to meet up as a group for the Whiskey Experience. We learned how to make whiskey as well as how to really appreciate it in five steps:

1. Look at the colo(u)r. The color depends on the region, the barrels it was aged in, etc.
2. Shake it around in the tumbler and look at the 'legs'. The legs are little strands that come down. If they come fast with lots of leggage, BAM you've got a thin whiskey. If they're slow and not very apparent, the whiskey will sit on your pallet longer.
   
3. Sniff it with your nose but have your mouth open. See if you can smell at least two flavors. Apparently, master chemists as they're called, can smell up to ten or fifteen.
   
4. Drink a little bit of it, let it rest on your pallet.
5. Swallow and drink some more. WOO!

After getting a little pink cheeked at the whiskey tasting, Liz and I were determined to find a neat restaurant to eat at. We chose a place called Monster Mash. It was supposed to be 50s diner like, but they totally don't know what a 50s diner looks like. It was pathetic. In the meantime, Mike and I got FATTY burgers and Liz got vegetarian bangers (sausages) and mash and Jimmy got the realy bangers and mash special! Go Scotland. Next, I went to the bathroom and as I was walking down I saw the perfect sign...calling my name to take it. It was a poster for a club called Sneaky Pete's (more to come on that later). Well the sign said, "Sneaky Beats Presents: DJ Tittsworth" LOL! Am I the only one that finds that funny? Eh well.

Next, it was time to go out on the town with Liz, Mike, and Jimmy. We bought some Scrumpy Jack and proceeded to get drunk whilst wondering about Edinburgh. It was decided that we would find as many 'closes' (little alleyways) and hang out in them. There was one particular close that was extra special so we called it Shantytown and it became our hangout. Mike and I did a jig, we laughed, we cried (nah not really, lol) and it was a fun time. But as all good things must come to an end, so must this one so we headed back to the hostel....

Only to run into some of our group mates in the hostel bar! So we had some pints, yada yada. But then...just as an open mic jam band type thing was being set up, we had the great idea to sing "Werewolf Bar Mitzvah" a song about transition. First of all, it was a crazy scene from 30 Rock where Tracy Morgan dreams up this song or something. Anyway, the lyrics go like this:

"Werewolf bar mitzvah, spooky scary.
Boys becoming men, men becoming WOLVES!"

First, Will (plays guitar) and Mike (plays drums) got up and played some Bob Dylan and Stones songs. Then it was time for WBM. We had already pre-decided the chords, etc. so they started playing and Greg, Jahsie and I got up there and got CRAZY! There was a big crowd in the hostel and by the time we were done, they loved us! WOOO! Jahsie has a video...so maybe if I can get it from here I'll put it up.