Cityscapes

Cemetery overlooking New Town

Old North Bridge-- right next to the train station

Old North Bridge during the day...

And at night.

These next couple of photos were taken from Calton Hill, where many accused witches were burned at the stake. Anyone with red hair was questionable, and if they had a birth mark, they were almost certainly guilty of being a witch. Good thing I wasn't around back then...



David Hume's mausoleum

The only monument dedicated to the American Civil War outside of North America. It was surprising to see a statue of Honest Abe in Scotland!

This is my dead-end street, and the view I see every time I return to my flat.

Edinburgh is sometimes called the "Athens of the North," both for its intellectual history and for its architecture.

Here's another photo of the National Monument, taken during the day on Calton Hill.

More views from Calton Hill

Classes are really beginning to pick up, so I'm keeping quite busy reading and writing papers for my literature and history classes. I've had to change my working habits a bit because the university library closes at midnight (which seems quite early for a student library) and books can only be borrowed until 7:50 in the evening! After watching my international friends consistently complete their schoolwork days in advance, I'm starting to think that procrastination is a distinctively American characteristic.

A few days ago, Swahili Club had a movie night at a place a few blocks from campus called "The Brass Monkey." In the back of the pub, there is a room filled with pillows, with a two-foot thick mattress as a floor, that can be rented out by groups specifically for movie-viewing. Watching a movie in Swahili, in such a unique location, was definitely an interesting experience.

Earlier this week, I stood in line with Marjo and Aurore for almost two hours so that we could get tickets for a weekend trip to the Highlands in November. The visit is just for international students, but the bus seats were limited, so we were glad to get our hands on some tickets. It's difficult to get up to the Highlands without a car because trains don't really go through the rural areas that we want to see. The best part of the trip, I think, is that we're going to spend the night in a castle! We're REALLY excited about it.

It's called Carbisdale Castle. Not a bad place to say, huh?