My 30-Hour Day (Day 1)

Let me start by saying I can't believe it's already September - except I can because in Edinburgh it's freezing compared to Denver.  Going from 90 degree weather to 60s and below is a little bit of a transition, so thank goodness I packed warm clothes.  Yesterday I spent my time walking around Edinburg and familiarizing myself with the city.  By the end of the day my West had once again become a West instead of a North or East (directions in a new city are always challenging). And I eventually figured out that street names are put on the corners of buildings, not on signs, which is why for a while in the morning I had absolutely no idea where I was.

After I checked into my room in my hotel and cleaned up from my plane rides I met up with my friend Alec. We went to a Halberian football match, which ended up being a draw.  I don't think I've hear more f-words ever said in my life. Europeans in general are extremely passionate about their football, and Alec and I experienced it first hand.  If one of their players made a bad move it was f-word worthy, if one of the other players tripped one of their players it was f-word combined with other words worthy, and god forbid if the ref make a bad call... every Scottish man would be on his feet swearing in a combination of f-words and everything else he could dream up. Me? I think I just watched and laughed at the whole spectacle, while I tried not to fall asleep at 4 o'clock in the afternoon.

We walked back into town after the match and found a pub called "The World's End" for dinner.  I had Scottish Black Pudding... after Alec told me what's in it I nearly didn't order it (the main ingredient is actually blood). But I decided to try it anyway and it was delicious! I also ordered a half pint of beer... and I'm glad I only ordered that much because any more would not have been a good combination with the jet-lagged state. By that time it was almost 8 o'clock and I had been awake for 30 hours. The turbulence on the plane had been so bad I probably slept less than two hours of it, so my day in general had been way too long.  I now understand why people go crazy after they don't sleep for days because I was starting to feel it after only one.

I went back to my hotel and slept for about 11 hours straight, woke up at 9 and checked out by 10. And now I'm sitting in Starbucks (because wifi is always available) and in an hour I'll be meeting up with the rest of my group. That's all for now! I've posted photos of beautiful Edinburgh below - more will be coming soon!