"The Tower? The Tower! Rapunzel! Rapunzel"

Stairs down to the Edinburgh train station

First off, a fun fact that Lindsey pointed out to me on the train to Stirling this morning.  Scottish people, unlike Americans, do not give direct answers.  If you ask a Scottish person a question, even one as simple as "hey where is this pub?" or "do you know how to get to the train station?" they tend to keep talking to you until you stop them.  This has been illustrated by the fact that any time I ask for directions (which is often) I somehow end up in a detailed description of why I love California and how I ended up in Edinburgh.  Now usually this is not a problem, like when I went to buy my train tickets to London and I had a lovely conversation with the teller about how much harder American money is than Scottish because in America the sales tax ensures that you never know how much you're paying until you check.  However there are times, such as when I'm sitting in a cafe doing homework or shivering outside in the cold that the Scottish need to make conversation is slightly inconvenient.


Just an observation.

Thursday was our second day in Parliament and this time we got to go to the first minister "question time."  For those of you unfamiliar with question time it is basically a required period once a week when the first minister (the equivalent of the prime minister in the UK) must submit himself to the rest of Parliament to answer questions about the state of the government.  After witnessing this practice in action on Thursday I have to say that question time is by far one of my favorite things any government does.  It's fantastic.  It's basically an excuse for the opposition parties to drill into the first minister and put him on the defensive.  And for those who say that the British are unemotional and detached, seriously go to question time, it's like a football game.  The opposition party will jeer and boo at the things the first minister says and everyone basically just argues their positions for an hour and a half.  Favorite quote of this particular question time: "Well that was just bloody rubbish.  You didn't answer my question at all."  Seriously most fantastic thing ever.

"Build Me Up Buttercup" is now officially my jam

Thursday night a bunch of us ended up at this pub called Biddy Mulligans (so Scottish I know) which may be my new favorite place to go.  The place was really close to my flat and they played the best assortment of music.
If you have never danced to "ABBA's "dancing queen" in a pub you have not lived. They also had karaoke there which was a little intimidating at first but after a few drinks I was convinced to participate.  Luckily I had Daniel and Lindsey with me for support.

On Saturday a bunch of us decided to go to Stirling for the day.  Stirling is the sight of James VI's coronation, Mary Queen of Scots childhood home and the location of one of William Wallace's a.k.a Braveheart's major victories.  We got up early and took the train to Stirling.  Its about an hour away and I have to say that if it was possible to travel by train everywhere I would totally do it.  They're just so fun and easy. Once we got to Stirling we walked around a creepy cemetery for a while (I still don't understand why there are pyramids and obelisks all over medieval British cemeteries but for some reason there are) Then we got tickets to go to the castle which was much more substantial and awesome than I originally thought. Stirling castle had all these really cool tunnels and nooks that you could explore.  I really felt like I was living a scene from Braveheart or Lord of the Rings or something. Pretty epic.

Stirling Castle Great Hall

Us in front of the statue of Sir Robert the Bruce

After walking around the castle for a few hours (in the freezing cold weather I might add-I've really started building up my endurance) we spent the rest of the day just chilling in a pub and then did a little shopping in a local mall (Scottish malls are shockingly similar to American ones, definitely a nice little homesickness cure).

ClamShells amazing fried food display

Our final stop for the night was a restaurant called ClamShells.  ClamShells is basically this incredible place on the royal mile in Edinburgh where all they serve is fried food.  Like seriously, just fried food.  They have fried cheeseburgers, fried apples, fried mars bars (a Scottish specialty and my choice for the evening) and basically anything else you can think of.  And, on top of that, they let you bring in any other type of food you want and they'll fry it for you!!!!