Day Eight – Edinburgh
Today was a semi exciting day. I didn’t set an alarm and slept until about 9 when I got up and showered. I finally found water that was too hot for me. Holy liquid fire. After adjusting it, it was a million times better. And I totally missed the chick shower rush. Awesome.
Breakfast was semi elaborate? Like 5 different kinds of jelly plus nutella(!!!) for toast and yogurt, fruit, 4 different kinds of cereal and milk. “Orange drink,” coffee and tea.
Probably going to have a little coffee tomorrow because I was seriously lacking the necessary energy to function. I got on the bus tour that takes you to the yacht and it stopped at the Royal Botanical Gardens first. There was my mission to find heather, which doesn’t bloom until late summer. Go figure. Either way, the third employee I asked was very helpful.
Got back on the tour bus and took it to the yacht. I don’t understand why its one of the top tourist attractions. Maybe I just don’t care that much about the royalty of Britain? It was nice, but I would’ve rather spent my time somewhere else. Ate lunch at this place called Handmade Burger Co. I was basically bothered from the time I walked up to read the menu to the time I left. The employee kept trying to upsell me.
More bus time and I totally missed the bus stop to Holyrood Palace. Instead I walked back toward the Royal Mile (which is actually 1.2 mi) and browsed. Went to the Scottish Whisky Experience. It was just nice to see it and try some. I found out I don’t like whisky. And as a side note, I’ve picked two not so tasty to me beers for my meals the past two dinners. Shet. Either way, I got to sample some whisky and I got a sweet glass.
Wandered around the Royal Mile more. Found a place that sells the heather ale so I’m totally bringing some back. Everything here closes between 6 and 7, 8 if you’re lucky so that’s naturally when down time happens. I came back to the hostel and browsed the interwebs until deciding I wasn’t going to eat dinner at the same place two nights in a row.
I went to Dirty Dicks Bar for dinner. I finally got haggis. It was a starter portion so it was nice sample of it. It tasted really good actually… The beer I picked wasn’t my kind of taste bud beer anyway. Walked back and have been reading/planning/checking my budget/reorganizing my packing since then. But it’s late and time for bed anyway.
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Tags: Edinburgh, Europe, Scotland
Day Seven – Edinburgh
Woke up in Glasgow. Took my sweet time getting ready and left the hotel around 10:30. The train from Glasgow to Edinburgh is only an hour so I read.
Wasn’t sure what time I could check into the hostel but I figured I could leave my bag there if it was too early. Got off the train and out of the station and almost collapsed! The Edinburgh castle was right there! I’ve been waiting SO long to see it and it was right there! It was about a mile walk to the hostel and there is a lot of construction going on so it was slightly confusing trying to find Caledonian. This hostel beats all other hostels. Hands down. 24 hour desk & key cards and buzz access to get in. Walls are painted. It’s basically like a big over 18 hostel with a bar, bean bag room, pool table and laundry. And wifi everywhere!!!
Anyway, got into my room and then decided to go take a bus tour. The most wallet friendly was the 48 hour tour with access to the Royal Yacht Britannia, Edinburgh Castle, and Holyrood Palace. It also included access to all of their bus tours with hop on and off privileges. The first tour was the best. Live commentary by some Scottish 20-something with a sarcastic sense of humor. It was great.
The rest were slightly varied repeats and not as good, but I ended up spending about 4-5 hours away from the hostel. After I got back, laundry was open so I got to clean my clothes! And I FaceTimed with Michael for a while. Ate dinner at the same place I ate lunch, across the street. Came back and stayed up a little late and then went to bed.
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Tags: Edinburgh, Europe, Glasgow, Scotland
Day Six – Glasgow
Today was ridiculously better. I should’ve been in Scotland like..2 days ago. I slept so well. Woke up for breakfast. Traditional Scottish breakfast. My stomach has been acting weird the entire trip so I barely ate any of it. But..it was: an egg, 2 pieces of toast, baked beans, bacon (which was more like a slice of fried ham), a potato pancake, tea, yogurt, and I think that’s all.
Took my time getting ready because the place that the receptionist told me could exchange currency didn’t open until 11am. Marks & Spencer is like a Super Target. Or Kohls and Walmart had a really nice classy baby.
The exchange rate is stupid. $1.70 to £1. I got about £205 for $350.
First I went to the Glasgow Cathedral. Gorgeous! They’re actually restoring parts of it at the moment. Then I went into St Mungo’s Cathedral which is now a museum. After that, there was some sort of children/preteen military graduation ceremony so it kept me from going on the bridge into the Necropolis. I watched it for a while then they started praying and singing hymns and I no longer blended in. Found a back entrance and got in.
Who forgot to tell me and my legs that Glasgow is like San Fran’s sister city when it comes to hills? Screw you Indiana and your lack of hills. Needless to say, on top of walking at least 2 miles a day, hills have been included. I might as well be running 3 miles a day. I miss it, I really do. But I need to get back into it not training for anything. Back into speed training. I liked getting faster and beating my own times. I’m just that competitive I guess.
Went to find The Barras Market which was listed somewhere in the top things to do. Yeah, no. It’s basically a thrift market. After that I went to the Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art. Hung out in George Square and listened to Scottish people talk. It sounds like gibberish from far away then when they’re closer it’s relatively understandable.
Not sure what’s going on at home, but I’ve been hanging out at a lot of Starbucks to get wifi. They have frapp happy hour so they’re half price. It’s kind of cool I guess. There’s a “style mile” sort for similar to Chicago’s Magnificent Mile and I wandered through there. Went into a LUSH store. Oh, bad idea. They’re famous for their bath balls. I got 2 and a lip scrub. The employee was really nice and helpful. We had a 5 minute conversation about my trip and the city and what to do in Edinburgh.
Went back to the hostel for a break. I can’t wait to do laundry tomorrow. My bra smells..disgusting. And I’ve got 1 shirt left. Went to this Irish pub for dinner and had “steak and Guinness pie” which was basically a pot pie with steak, mushrooms, onions, and gravy. It was okay I guess. Ive never been a huge pot pie fan. But seriously, I can’t wait to get home and eat vegetables again. Like, I want to be vegetarian for a week when I get home. I’m sick of bread and fries and peanuts.
However, TOMORROW IS EDINBURGH!
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Tags: Europe, Glasgow, Scotland
Day Five – Train?
Woke up this morning and felt like I didn’t really sleep at all. Like I closed my eyes and then my alarm went off. It’s okay thought because that was my last night in the semi filthy hostel! Yay!
Got ready, went to Starbucks for wifi and breakfast. Again. I’m glad I did though because I figured out my train stations, sent a couple of messages/emails, got to talk to Michael and the Detroit girls showed up so I could add Lizzie on Facebook!
Spent most of the day on the train from London to Edinburgh. Then transferred in Edinburgh to Glasgow.
There’s a marathon in Edinburgh tomorrow. Go figure. All signs point to “Heather, keep running…after a break.” The amount of people that I’ve seen running in London was insane. And I’m a little jealous. “Oh hey, yeah my running route includes Tower Bridge, London Bridge, Westminster Abbey. No big deal.”
Scottish accents. Yeeeeees. They’re so fun. I need to go find a field or area filled with heather. I’m sure a lot of people are going to have fun with my name…or look at me weird.
Ate at an Indian place for dinner. I guess it was okay? I haven’t eaten a lot of Indian food so I can’t judge.
Explored a little again. There are a lot of party buses and bachelorette buses around.
Planned tomorrow’s sightseeing and my sightseeing in Edinburgh. So pumped to get there tomorrow.
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Tags: Europe, London, Scotland, train
Day Four – London
FYI: Long post ahead. Partly due to adventurous day and partly due to a 4 hour train ride from London to Edinburgh.
I decided the night before that I wanted to come home early. Traveling alone is for a different kind of person that I’m not. Don’t get me wrong, I love my alone time, but not having anyone to talk to when I want or laugh with me at weird UK things sucks. Anyway…
I woke up today (yesterday , actually) and went to Starbucks for breakfast and wifi again. The night before, after I finished my blog post I met some girls in the hostel lobby who are back packing for 2 months and they’re from Detroit. I got along really well with Lizzie, her friend went to bed, and we stayed up until about 1am talking and playing Logo Quiz.
They were going on a 2 1/2 hour walking tour but I ended up missing the group because of the Tube. I think I heard someone say that London has one of the more advanced public transit systems, but damn if there are a lot of problems. The Olympics is going to be INSANE. We all thought Super Bowl was intense… Anyway, got to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard. I think I missed the first 15-20 minutes of it but it’s fine. SO MANY PEOPLE. I hate large crowds anyway but I’m short so i had to push in so I could see. (Why don’t people bathe? It’s not a hard concept and Europe has relatively modern plumbing..) I couldn’t really see much so I used my camera as a viewfinder and took video and pictures.
The military band played “Yesterday” and I didn’t recognize it at first but when I did it was awesome in think I have video of it. 99% sure. It was reminded me of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and I know it’s totally different, but that my best comparison.
After that I had my European Nutella crepe. NOM. Between the Palace and the crepe cafe, I saw a little (midget, vertically challenged, whatever you want to say) Muslim woman in her burka. So random. Then on my way back to the Palace, I saw a pack of British firefighters. I’ll bring one back for all of my single friends. Since that’s basically every woman’s ultimate, unrealistic, unattainable fantasy and if it wasn’t, it is now.
By the way, you can’t take your picture with a Royal Guard anymore. I went to St. James’s Palace, where you were supposed to be able to, and they have them roped off from the public. Sad panda. They’re doing construction all around the city to get ready for the Queens’s Jubilee? Whatever the hell that is…Can you tell I really don’t care that much for this city?
Walked through this massive park and found Alexander McQueen’s store. Ugh. To even go in looked terrifying. There are these beefy security guards at the door. I WAS going to go in, but I basically “don’t belong.”
Figured I should go see the Marble Arch, so I did. Meh. I feel awful because I really didn’t want to spend so many days in the city, but I needed to go see these things while I’m here. Thought I could save some money by walking back to the hostel. Its not far, right? Wrong. I totally had post-long run legs and if I sat for a long period of time and got up to walk, bad idea. When I finally got back to my hostel there was Korean girl in my room unpacking. She kind of has a similar situation and she’s traveling alone.
We went to London and Tower Bridge. Fact: London Bridge is a regular bridge. The fancy big one is Tower Bridge. It was really nice to see. But I hadn’t eaten since the crepe cafe at around 1 and it was pushing 9pm. I still hadn’t had fish and chips so we were on the hunt for a pub. But at this time they start turning into more of a bar than a restaurant so it was hard to find. We were starving and finally found a place. While we were looking at the menu this guy came up and started talking to us.
Drunk Irish Guy: Hey, I work here. What do you want to eat?
Me: Um, you’re really drunk. You can’t work here.
DIG: Are you American? What do you want to eat? Beer is complimentary.
Me: Can’t understand you. Yes. And I don’t believe you work here.
DIG: I’m Irish. *slurred drunken stuff*
Me: I have no idea what you’re saying. I’ve understood all of the British people but not you.
DIG: Are you saying British and Irish are the same!
Me: No. I don’t care either. I go through this crap all the time at home with the entire “Mexican, Latina/o, PR, Spanish, Hispanic” thing and I’m not doing it here.
DIG: I’ll leave you alone now.
Me: Thanks.
DIG: *walking away* Do ya even like men?
Not kidding. Finally found a place to eat after that. Had my fish and chips. Nothing special. But I had a Fuller’s London Pride!
Went back to the hostel and desperately wanted to check my email to see if Michael had gotten my fight changed. Burger King was open until 1am but had no seats. So Juyeoung and I went to Starbucks and sat on their step to “hack” their wifi. He got it changed! Instant happiness.
Side note: All in all, this trip really should have only been 2 weeks and way more simple than I planned. Long story short, I’m choosing to come home for mental health (stress, sanity) and monetary reasons. I’d rather spend money in change fees coming home early and having money left in my bank accounts, than going completely broke and I’m technically unemployed now.
While we were sitting there, this older British fat man came up to me and asked if I spoke English. Yes. Asked if I was American. Yes. Asked if I lived here. No. Asked then if I’d like to come with him. Engaged. (Not really, don’t think I’ve been hiding it or it’s been some sort of secret from you all.) Then he started to ask J to which I told him to leave us alone and she wasn’t going with him either.
After that, a guy yelled to add him on Facebook and that ended in a nicer conversation where I found out he’s a DJ at Ministry of Sound Club in London. Gave me his real first name and said if I ever went that I’d get in free. Uh huh…
Really interesting huh? Either way, I’m REALLY looking forward to Scotland. So much. There are more “miles to go”, but in the future. A week at a time, with a trip buddy. Start saving…*ahem*.
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Day Three – London
Slept better last night, I guess. If having a calve cramp from hell and not being able to actually fall asleep until 2am counts…
Apparently traditional hostel breakfast is toast and cereal. UGH. Came back down to Starbucks and had yogurt and juice. I miss Greek yogurt. On top of the fact that I can’t stand regular yogurt, I haven’t had yogurt since before the Mini Marathon. Sad panda.
I rode my first transportation above ground train today! To Watford Junction to go to Warner Bros Studios and tour the Harry Potter set. Although, getting to Euston Station took way too long. I was on the underground for an hour. It should’ve taken 20 minutes. The two lines I needed to use were down so I had to make a nice awesome circle.
Basically, even though I’m not as hardcore of a fan as some of my friends are…it was really badass to see and be in the actual set and see the props. Including: The Great Hall, Buckbeak, the Gringot’s vault door, the classrooms, Dumbledore’s office, the creepy mermaid things, Hagrid’s size double’s mask, and the list seriously goes on. I don’t think I missed anything. I took pictures of it all. 400 and some videos to be exact-ish.
I tried Butterbeer too. Zero beer. More like cream soda with some sort of weird foam/ice cream topping. It was really really sweet.
But now I’m back in Hyde Park at the Starbucks. Again. Tomorrow’s list includes: Buckingham Palace, an Alexander McQueen store, London Bridge, Harrod’s (maybe?), and I might find one more to do.
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Tags: Europe, Harry potter, Harry potter tour, London, Warner bros studios
Day Two – London
So, I slept terribly last night. I wish I wasn’t bitching about everything, since I’m doing something I’ve wanted to do since I left Greece, but I’m so lonely. I’m really terrible about doing things by myself. It gives me anxiety. Very bad anxiety. Mostly when I’m alone. Surprise.
I had to switch hostels because the one in Camden was booked. Now I’m in Hyde Park. It’s not as nice and I’m in a room with 15 other people. It’s cheaper than a hotel and I didn’t plan on spending money, but when the couch surfing thing doesn’t work out then what the hell are you supposed to do? And my new hostel only allows for an hour of free wifi…So I’ll have to search for caves like the one I’m at now.
Two of the guys from the Camden hostel were going to meet me at Westminster, but the tube took too long and I ended up being an hour late, so go figure. And there are a lot of couples around at the tourist attractions so I’m going to whine about being alone on this trip a little more.
I really didn’t want to be in London this long…I may figure out if it’s cheap to go somewhere else in England for the day tomorrow.
Okay. It’s almost 10pm and I’ve been at this Starbucks since about 7:30 or 8pm. I think I’m just going to keep typing when I can because that’s just easier. Instead of trying to recap throughout the day.
After I typed what was there….I basically was in Westminster from a little before noon to about 5pm. Saw Parliament and the London Eye. Fell asleep sitting up in the park by the London Eye for about 15 minutes. Wandered around the area more and there’s a lot of stuff to see in that area, actually (say that in a British accent because it’s probably my favorite word that I’ve heard repeatedly).
Went and walked around basically the entire Parliament building. Found Victoria Gardens which is right behind Parliament then wandered through the streets and then found more old historic stuff. I found a park bench and sat there and read Born to Run for about a half hour. Walked around more and found St. James’s Park. Buckingham Palace is on the opposite end of the park and the changing of the guard is at 11:30 so I won’t go there until Friday. Walked around Trafalgar Square..I think. I don’t have a map so I was kind of just wandering again.
Realized about the time i got there that I was exhausted and started on my way back to the hostel during rush hour on the underground. On one train back to Bayswater there was a foreign man who I was standing behind who had no idea that there were other people on the train who were near him. Acting like he was drunk or on something else, sweating profusely and scaring the little French children on the seats next to him. Adventures….
Took a short nap and charged the iPad at the hostel and I’ve been at the Starbucks from 7:30 and they’re closing in 15 minutes. Then dinner, then sleep, and Harry Potter tour tomorrow. Pictures are allowed (surprisingly) and I’ll take a TON for you HP freaks. 🙂
PS. Two girls from Denver are in the Starbucks and staying in a nearby hostel. Friended them on Facebook so we can probably hang out tomorrow and Friday night. Yay for no-language barrier human interaction!
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Tags: Europe, London
Day One – London
So I typed this throughout the day and I don’t feel like editing in. Welcome to my brain…
Um, seriously. How else could I describe how exhausted and tired I am? And paranoid I’m going to run out of money by next week.
The girl I was supposed to Couch Surf with basically bailed on me. Its £5 for a one way underground ticket, so I just found a hostel for tonight in Camden.
I haven’t eaten an actual meal since Sunday? Unless you want to count the airplane dinner. I’m too stressed out and scrambling to find a couch surfer for the rest of my days here. Since clearly the girl isn’t getting back to me.
I want to take a nap, but I can’t go into my room until 2pm. At least they’re letting me use the wifi…
The weather is really nice. I took a break from couch surfing finding to going to find something to eat and explore a little where I am. It’s not bad. Really crowded, but who knows. Maybe central London is worse?
After some researching, what I found was Camden Lock. Google that. It’s like a big market with shops and food and people shoving samples in your face.
All day I’ve been going back and forth on whether this trip was a good idea or not. I should probably quit whining and get some sleep and shower.
..And after getting some sleep I magically feel better. I’ve resumed my couch surfing/hostel/hotel/planning efforts. I realized I only have to change currency twice. Yay simplicity. I guess I should’ve known the first day was going to be the most stressful and ridiculous.
Went exploring again…basically where I walked earlier again. I went into a Lidl? It’s a grocery store, similar to a Kroger. Then back down to their canal. If you thought the Indy canal was filthy, think again. This canal had at least 4 full bags of trash just along the walkway AND in the water at one spot.
You know how outrageous Russell Brand looks? Apparently that’s an actual look here. It’s real people and I saw an entire group of them.
Switching hostels again tomorrow and then maybe some legitimate adventuring.
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Tags: Europe, London
Europe 2012
Yay! Britnnie reminded me to blog this trip. I’m at the airport…still. There is bad weather at JFK and instead of circling in the air they decided to de-plane us. I have another 40 minutes until then.
I hope I packed everything…
I only got 3 hours of sleep so I’m probably shocking my body right now. Ridiculous. At least I’ll be THAT tired on the long flight so I can really sleep without taking a Tylenol PM..which was what I did on the way to Greece last time.
Me likes this iPad business. I can still type relatively quickly.
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Tags: Europe, London
Class 2/23/12 Re-Cap
Why did class devolve into chaos?
Mainly because of Beth. However our different personalities, our different strengths, our different goals, and our different interests.
What could you have done to keep that from happening?
Mutiny.
Seriously though, with Beth playing Devil’s Advocate, I don’t think it could’ve been avoided. We would’ve ended up arguing about what to do eventually.
Regurgitating ideas you have read is all well and good, but if you cannot apply them, then what is the point?
There isn’t a point if you can’t apply them. There’s a point when you regurgitate idea and implement them.
What can you do to be more mindful of your team buidling decisions and how to actually implement the techniques we have been learning all semester?
Instead of just jumping into solutions/conclusions, I feel it would be as simple as stepping back from the situation and taking at least 30 seconds to remember at least one technique we’ve discussed. By taking that time, you could go back into the group with a helpful solution.
Is always sticking with people you already know the best solution to forming a good team?
Not always. However, in our particular group, I’ve never worked with Chris or Ryan and so I feel like our team has a balance of knowing each other and not knowing each other. At least in regards to my experience. I’ve been a leader in a group before, but I haven’t been in a leadership role where points will be deducted from me if someone falls through in their area. I’ll need to keep a good balance between a participating team member and leader and not become a dictator/control freak.
What did you learn about yourself and team building as a result of what happened in class today?
I learned that while I am a control freak to a degree, there are other people worse than I am. I felt like Zach got a little too hostile towards everyone and could’ve explained his point regarding “We have to deliver what the client wants no matter what” in a more calm matter. That entire episode rubbed me the wrong way and I immediately didn’t want to be in a group with him.
Team building and forming a group is never easy. To be completely honest, we formed our group before the end of Tuesday’s class.
How should the potential conflict that could erupt based on discussion today be handled in a way that allows for the best teams and personal satisfaction for all people?
I feel like the groups could be based on what individual wants/needs were. Our group wanted to do the cards from the beginning, so we wanted to do that. If there was a group that wanted to do video, let them. And I’m sure another group wanted to do the cards, so let them.
Instead of just backing down and saying, “Whatever…” what might be a better way to incorporate and include all ideas and styles?
I felt like I had a good solution to our video versus the HTML cards debate. Letting the people who want to do video..do video..makes them satisfied. This left two other groups to do the HTML cards. This made multiple people happy, while providing the client with what they originally wanted, but also by going the extra mile to provide them with something else they could use.
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Tags: class re-cap, n250, team building
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