I could get used to this view. Yep I'm used to it. Guys, I want a castle."

So I know it's been a while since my last update, but after a crazy week this is the first chance I've had to catch up on everything. First thing to know about this week is that it was the month mark for my time in Edinburgh. I can't believe that I've already been here a month.  It has gone by incredibly fast and considering the rate at which my weekends are booking up I'm starting to realize why everyone told me my semester would go by in the blink of the eye.

This week was pretty much dedicated to class and political activities.  Tuesday we got to go to the European Union office in Edinburgh which was very exciting.  Our lecturer was very passionate about the EU and I really enjoyed hearing  the British perspective on EU membership, which isn't exactly positive, especially in Scotland.  On Wednesday we went to the National Museum of Scotland which was incredible.  Admission was free and it was filled with all these really neat artifacts from Scottish history.  I swear I saw the treasure chest from that one Pawn Stars episode.  The museum also has Dolly the cloned sheep in it!! Like seriously, the actual sheep.  I thought it was just a model, but according to my flatmate it is literally the taxidermied corpse of the cloned sheep.  Somewhat disgusting but also super cool.

The big news from classes this week was that I've finally been assigned my Member of Scottish Parliament (MSP)!!!! His name is Robert Brown and he is a Liberal Democrat from Glasgow.  For those of you who don't know the Lib Dems are the biggest third party in the UK and they are currently part of the coalition government with the Conservatives in Westminster.  Because it's a third party the Lib Dems don't have that many MSPs so I'm the only one in my program interning for them.  Despite the fact that they are small and definitely wont ever have a majority in parliament I'm pretty excited to be working with them.  Since we don't have any third parties with a legitimate role in the US I know its going to be a really exciting experience seeing how one works here.  Unfortunately however I'm not  allowed to blog about my internship without the specific approval of my MSP so until I get that I'm sure it will pain you all to hear that I'm gonna have to keep the political talk to a minimum.

This weekend Johnni and Melanie spent the weekend with me in Edinburgh!!!

Friday we spent the day walking around the city managing to make it to the oldest cemetery in Scotland (where we saw Adam Smith's grave), the cafe where J.K. Rowling wrote a lot of Harry Potter (needless to say Mel and I died), the Walter Scott Monument and a local Urban Outfitters.  Unfortunately on the walk back I managed to get us incredibly lost, thank god for friendly Scots otherwise we probably would have ended up at the ocean.  Once we finally got back to my place I embarked on my dangerous mission to make dinner for everyone. 

Amazing prep school we stumbled across while lost in Edinburgh

Setup for my cooking adventure!

Mel basketspinning!!!

My flatmates cook amazing meals all the time and make my daily grilled cheese and soup look pretty bad, so when my flatmate Emily offered to teach me how to make homemade bolognese sauce I couldnt exactly turn her down.  With Emily's careful supervision and Johnni and Melanie's help I managed to put together a rather delicious meal.  And the best part is I now have leftovers I can eat this week! Seriously this cooking thing may not be so bad....After my bolognese adventure we all went to a  Ceilidh, my new favorite activity. Mel and Johnni took to the dancing very well if I do say so myself, Melanie even engaged in the challenging "basketspin" dance thus earning her the champion title of the night.  Between the kilts, the dancing and the drinks I think its safe to say we all greatly enjoyed ourselves.

Saturday we woke up early to head over to Bamburgh castle with the International Student Society.  Bamburgh castle is this amazing medieval castle right on the beach in England.  It is also the largest privately owned castle in England. Seriously, one family owns this gigantic place. We were lucky enough to stumble upon the owners family album, and learned that there are three kids, the oldest of which is a boy my age.  I have made it my sole mission in life to meet this man so that we can get married and I can live in a castle.

great hall of Bamburgh Castle

Bamburgh Castle from the beach

After the castle we took a walk on the beach which was wonderful (I had forgotten how much I missed the water) and then headed over to Melrose Abbey for the afternoon.  Melrose Abbey is a beautiful old church in Scotland parts of which date back to the 11th century!!! It is also the supposed resting place of Robert the Bruce's heart. Once again somewhat disgusting, but still pretty cool.

Top of Arthurs seat!!! Pre-fall.

Me covered in mud.  Post-fall.

Sunday I woke up at five to take Mel to the bus station (that's love right there) and then later in the day Johnni and I hiked Arthur's seat (the giant extinct volcano in the center of Edinburgh).  Although a beautiful place with incredible views, Arthur's Seat was a little more intense physically than I expected and considering the fact that I haven't worked out since I've been in Scotland I was definitely a little out of breath by the end of our trek.  It was also raining during our hike creating a precarious mud situation on the hike down.  Of course I slipped and fell covering myself in mud and severely bruising my upper thighs.  This would be my luck, I've avoided hiking for the past three years and the first time I go I end up lying in a pile of mud at the bottom of a hill.....

Despite the Arthur's seat incident the whole weekend was pretty spectacular. I got to spend time doing a lot of the touristy things I haven't yet done in Edinburgh, and I got to show off the city I love to my friends.  If all my weeks keep going the way this one did I know the rest of my time here will fly by.

Props to all of you for sticking with this post for so long! Talk to you all soon!