Long Study Tour to Scotland

I spent Monday - Saturday of last week in various parts of Scotland (Edinburg, St. Andrews, and Glasgow) with my Positive Psychology class for our Long Study Tour. The long study tours, similar to the shorter trip to Western Denmark that I previously wrote about, allows each core class to travel to a different country in Europe for a week for a mixture of academic and cultural visits. My class was lucky enough to go to Scotland, a country I'd always hoped to visit someday. The cultural aspects were much more fun than the academic visits, and as I suspect that they're also more fun to read about, I'll stick to those for now (if you're absolutely dying to find out what we did in terms of academics, you can ask me separately). 

We began in Edinburgh, a beautiful old city full of history and Harry Potter references (as you'll see below). On our first day, we walked up Calton Hill, home to many historical buildings and monuments, and from which there are great views of the city. 

Arthur's Seat is part of the mountain range in the background (see pictures below)

Some of the historic buildings and monuments on the hill 

Edinburgh at sunset 

That night, we had dinner in the city as a class before going on a Ghost Walk (not sure why my professor loves them so much). Edinburgh is supposed to be haunted city and Ghost Tours seem to be a popular tourist activity, judging from the amount of tour guides I saw handing out flyers during the day.  We got a bit of a tour of Princes Street (the main shopping street) before going into 18th century vaults beneath the city streets which weren't all that scary but interesting to see nonetheless. 

Arthur's Seat from below 

The next day we had a really boring academic visit in the morning before walking over to Arthur's Seat, the main peak at Holyrood Park, a nature preserve of sorts at the edge of the city. Apparently named so because of a rumor that the mythical Camelot was located on the top of the peak, the hike to the top was made nearly impossible by the incredibly strong winds that attempted to blow us off the mountain at any moment. The view from the top, however, was worth the risk. 

Panorama of the city

This picture doesn't really do the view justice, but it was so windy that it wasn't possible to stay long enough to get a better one 

Attempting to not get blown over! 

After making it off of Arthur's Seat alive, we trekked over to Edinburgh Castle, of which I unfortunately didn't get any great pictures because I was too tired! 

On Tuesday night, I met up with my friend Claire, who is studying at the University of Edinburgh. We went out to eat at this great vegetarian restaurant before enjoying chocolate fondue and white wine at a nearby bar. The next day there was an optional hike that I opted out of so I could see more of the city and spend more time with Claire. 

The Balmoral 

 In the morning, Emilia and I walked around the city a bit on our own, and found what I later found out was the Balmoral Hotel, where J.K. Rowling finished writing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as well as Victoria Street, a cute little winding street with lots of cute shops, including multiple that are painted purple, a joke shop, and an old book store. Sound familiar? Apparently this street was Rowling's inspiration for Diagon Ally.

Victoria Street

The Harry Potter tour continued when Claire and I went to lunch at the Elephant House, the cafe where J.K. Rowling wrote the beginnings of the Harry Potter series. 

How often do you see a toilet dedicated to Harry Potter? I didn't think so...

 After lunch, Claire gave me a fantastic tour of the city, including the university campus and her flat, a fantastic second-hand store, a great cupcake shop, a chocolate shop, and an art museum. We even had time to do some shopping at H&M and see a movie!

Here we are near the art museum, just as it was beginning to rain

After my fantastic few days in Edinburg, it was off to St. Andrews and Glasgow! At St. Andrews we met with a Psychology professor and briefly heard a 4th year student talk about her Positive Psychology related project before getting a tour of the university and the town by a very enthusiastic tour guide. 

The ruins of St. Andrew's cathedral 

The ruins of St. Andrews castle and the North Sea 

Our time in Glasgow was mostly spent in academic lectures and as the city itself is much more industrial and less beautiful that either Edinburgh or St. Andrews, I didn't take any pictures. All in all, despite the stress of being with the same group of people for a week and listening to mostly boring academic lectures, my time in Scotland was amazing and I'm so incredibly grateful that I got to go!