Every head's a different world

So jazzed about everything.

At this moment, right now, I am in love with life. Not that I'm not at most moments, but right now it's particularly apparent to me. I love it here and I have so much to look forward to when I get home. I know I mention this every time I write, but it hasn't stopped getting to me and it probably won't ever. On Tuesday I hit the halfway point of my time in London! That's incredible. I feel like there's so much I still have to do and so little time. There's never enough time. Speaking of time, Burgess Meredith was in a dream I had last night which reminded me of this episode of 'The Twilight Zone'.

Tomorrow marks the beginning of Reading Week, which means I don't have class again until the 15th. A nice break to get caught up on all my reading, relax a bit, and step up tourist mode into high gear. Over the last few weeks I feel like I haven't had much time for touristy outings, which is okay because I've been out and about doing non-touristy things. But, I still have a semi-sizable list of places to go and things to see. To kick the week off my pals and I are going to Edinburgh for the weekend! So exciting.

I started this post and then got interrupted for four days.

Before I tell you about this weekend let's back track a bit farther, it's been more than a week since I last posted. Last I checked in it was Sunday the 30th of October and I was really excited about live music and movies. The music in the park was lovely and the movies were a ton of fun. Ghostbusters is always a classic and The Exorcist is actually laughably bad. I'm not sure how anyone finds it so terrifying. I guess the concept of something like that actually happening is really unsettling, but the film itself just didn't get me.

On Halloween I met up with Kelsey, Aysha, Sumaya, and Jackson for £5 pancakes. Disclaimer; they were definitely crepes and they filled the plates that they came on which were huge. £5 was a good deal. Following that we went to Paranormal Activity 3 which was scary for two reasons; 1. The cinema prices in Leicester Square 2. Toby, silly name, scary demon. I realized that I've seen these films the last three Halloween's, at different theaters, with different people. At the rate they're going maybe the trend will continue next year. Disappointingly, I didn't actually have a costume this year. So I'm already planning for next year.

ALSO big exciting news in my life! Jessica and I have been talking about finding a place together for quite a while now. We've discussed in depth where we want to be and what we're looking for in a place and we found it! Over the past weeks she's been looking for places and sending me links, a few really nice places. But, then I got a link for an apartment in a three story brownstone on the corner of Lagoon Ave. and Knox Ave., this is literally across the street from Lake Calhoun, a block from the Greenway, and pretty much everything in Uptown is within easy walking distance. Perfect. There was a bottom floor and a third floor apartment available. Jessica toured the bottom floor and wasn't too jazzed, but we were so keen on the location that she looked at the third floor as well. We skyped right after she'd toured the third floor and I knew immediately that this was the spot. She was so happy and said how nice it was; hardwood floors, light, open, overlooking the lake. Perfect. She filled out the application on the spot and I returned mine that same night. The next morning we found out that we'd been approved! Jessica's signed the lease and I will when I get home. I can't express how excited I am to live there with my best friend. Just thinking about Spring and Summer across the street from the lake, with friends, swimming, cookouts, biking, rollerblading, running, everything. I can't wait.

Highlights of the rest of the week include;

Epic nostalgia fest with Aysha. We met on Wednesday to work on Shakespeare, which we did do a bit of, but mostly bonded over the shows we watched as children, showed each other hilarious things online (such as this), and watched a ton of movie trailers. This lead into a really involved discussion of how amazing Kevin Spacey. Have you seen 'The Usual Suspects'? So. Good.

We had weekly movie night, which was 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' this week. I really love that film. It's one that I like to leave a good gap between viewings so I can forget it a little bit and then realize how much I appreciate it each time I watch it because it still feels kind of new. I also just really appreciate when Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey are laying on the ice just looking up and being content in that moment. I can hardly stand winter and I think I might be able to deal with it a bit better if I had a special someone to go adventuring with, to lay on the ice and look at the stars with. Who knows what this winter holds.

On Friday I bought a rail card so that the discounted ticket to Edinburgh would be legitimate. I feel so British having a little pouch with my Oyster and my rail card. It's exciting. In usual Tianna fashion I was up a bit later than I wanted to be finishing an assignment. But I got it done and was actually satisfied with the finished product.

And then on Saturday the Scooby Gang got it together and met at 7:45 to take the train to Scotland. From King's Cross to Edinburgh was about four and half hours. Honestly, I would've been okay if it had gone on longer, the ride was beautiful. Although once we started walking around Edinburgh I realized that there was no lack of beauty there.

I was so excited and ready to go!

Some views from the train.

Stevie found the place where the sea meets the sky.

Stevie wins at photography.

This is actually the first thing I saw in Scotland outside of the train station.

These are my friends.

This is the most exciting sweater I've ever purchased. Confession; I'm wearing it right now.

Just on the way to the hostel.

After getting to our hostel and setting our stuff down we were right back out and ready to explore. It was the the 5th of November which means bonfire night and fireworks. The place we were going to watch from had no tickets left and in the end that was great. Before bonfires, we walked around the city a bit more and stopped at a store where I purchased the most comfortable sweater ever...that I should probably stop raving about. For fireworks we hiked part of the way up Arthur's Seat, which was slightly terrifying, but mostly a lot of fun. It was dark and from our prime location we had a panoramic view of the entire city and all the firework displays. It was absolutely beautiful. It was one of those times that will be with me always. Where I was with people I love in one of the most beautiful places I've ever been just feeling it all. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from that night. On the other hand, I don't think any picture could ever adequately convey the beauty of that night. So, I guess it's okay.

The next day we had lunch on the Royal Mile and then saw a bunch of sites on a three hour walking tour.

Sites like Edinburgh Castle

And the café where J.K. Rowling started writing Harry Potter

The tour was pretty good and if you're ever in Edinburgh you should take the three hour tour. It's advertised as free and essentially it is, but they ask for whatever tip you feel they deserve at the end.


After the tour we had dinner at The Elephant House. There are a bunch of messages to J.K. Rowling in the bathroom and list of people who have 'joined Dumbledore's army'. I suppose it's a kind of fitting place to express those sentiments, but I highly doubt J.K. Rowling will ever see them. The café itself was really nice. It was cozy and full of all kinds of elephants. They even had a board where you could draw your own elephant and have it displayed, which some of us did!

We then migrated to the Frankenstein themed pub next door. Sometimes places with a theme can be obnoxious, but this place really went for it and we loved it. It was nice and cozy (are you thinking, 'Wow, Tianna, find another adjective!' Because I am. But, I can't think of anything more apt).

Having not had our fill of hills and beautiful sights we decided climb a hill that is advertised as the portal to the fairy realm. Sounded like fun. It took a while to find the way up, but once we did it was well worth it. Edinburgh is really hilly and my legs loved it as did the rest of me. We got to the top of the hill and again had a perfect panoramic view of the whole city. I alternated between laying down on the ground for a while just looking at the stars and appreciating my own insignificance, sitting close to the edge and seeing the whole city, and talking about what you talk about when you're on a hill looking at the stars. Beautiful.

The view from Edinburgh Castle

The next day was spent largely at Edinburgh Castle. A few weeks ago when we were shopping around the idea of going to Edinburgh, Alex was talking about being sick of castles. How his whole childhood was 'Castle, castle, castle'. To which I responded that I had never been to a castle, which was baffling because of it's commonplace nature in every British childhood. I've been trying to think of an American equivalent without much luck, any ideas?

It was exciting to finally wander around a castle though. The views were incredible and there was a lot to see. Something that I really appreciated was the crown jewels. Not really the jewels themselves, but outside of the exhibit there was a mold of each piece and a description in Braille. How cool is that? So even if you can't see something you can feel exactly what it's like. I've never seen something like that before and it's highly possible that that happens in the US but I wish it happened everywhere.

The train ride home was spent reading and sleeping, which was a nice relaxed way to wind down an incredibly lovely weekend. Edinburgh is an obnoxiously beautiful city and I hope to be back there.

Also, my Minneapolitan friends, I miss you, lots. And I'm really excited to see you in five and a half weeks.