I actually should start with Saturday evening (day 11) since I ended up doing a lot of stuff that night too.
I went back to the hostel in the early evening and ran into the English blokes we had talked to the night before (the bachelor party). I was hoping to hang out with them since our German friends had left and we needed another group to chill with. They were all going out at 6 though so I figured we wouldn't see too much of them.
Seven of the girls ended up going out and we found out the fellas were headed to Espionage which is a big dance club/bar in the "underbelly" which is pretty much where everything is. We couldn't think of anywhere else to go as everywhere was going to be busy due to it being Saturday night. Our group of girls had grown from two Americans, one Aussie and one Canadian to two Icelandic girls and another girl from Canada (Ottawa) which was great fun. I love connecting with a group of people and just easing into that comfort zone.
Apparently it's tradition for the groom to be to dress up so Paul was dressed as Elvis with black muttochops which is pretty funny since he has red hair. We drank, danced (or tried to), and chatted till pretty late. Clubs don't close till 5am on Saturday nights which was definitely too late for me. A couple of us headed back around 3:30am and everyone else got back around 4:15am and of course everyone ended up in the lounge. There was approximately 15-18 of us, then the other Aussie blokes came in and started playing Twister. Ah, great times in a great hostel!
The next morning I was woken up by the blokes checking out in the hallway so of course I got talked into going out to breakfast down the street. Mark was nice enough to treat Dalia and I to a breakfast meal and the approximate 15 of us watched cricket (which I really don't get) during the meal. It got quite loud when England beat out Australia (we had an Aussie at our table too). The person I connected most with was Mark and he had to go back to London but offered me a place to stay while I was there. Sweet, free lodging! Can't complain with saving $30 a day.
I didn't expect to spend the day with this ragtag crew because I had wanted to see Holyrood where the Scottish Parliament buildings were but it seemed much more interesting to stay with everyone. The Brits were all going in different directions and had different leaving times so us girls (me, Dalia, Alli, Michelle and Shannon) just hung out with them as they left. We sat in the park for awhile as the first official day of the Edinburgh Festival was going down. There was a huge parade with Princes St. closed down, more bagpipes than I've ever heard in my life (and definitely more old men with white legs in kilts) and tons of floats featuring different shows from the Festival.
After much confusion with closes streets and where to go, we decided to head to a pub where we could get away from the crowds. Paul and Ben and Rich were the next to go. Iain kept talking about haggis (the only Scotsman of the group) which is quite the Scottish treat (google it, seriously). I figured I was in Scotland and HAD to try it so we all walked to another restaurant that had great haggis supposedly. It was indeed quite delicious and served with "neeps and tatties" which is mashed turnips and mashed potatos. Oh, those Scottish.
Matt and Iain were the last to go which was sad, the Brits had brought quite a bit of fun with them. But it was probably good for the rest of us to relax after such a fun weekend too. Dalia and I planned to take naps before heading out that night with Alli and Michelle to a comedy show (part of the festival. It's THE festival, I had to catcha show!) but of course that didn't happen and we ended up being EXHAUSTED when we got to the show. The first comic we mostly missed but seemed mediocrely funny. The second guy was SO NOT FUNNY, really loud obnoxious... it was really sad actually. The third guy was hilarious which made sense after we found out he's also doing a solo show in town.
I actually got to bed before 1am that night but was so happy that I'd finally had such a wonderful time. The people you meet definitely have an affect on how much you enjoy a city. And it threw my sightseeing plans into a tailspin meaning that I will have to go back! Who knows, maybe I'll look into trying to find a long term internship there...
The next morning was sad as I checked out and had to leave what I felt had become home again. That's the intense and sometimes fun thing about traveling. You get comfortable and before you know it, it's time to leave again and get used to that new feeling in a new place. I said goodbye to the girls and though I was longing to stay, I knew it was also good to be leaving Edinburgh on a high note as that meant I would definitely be looking back on it with fondness.
DAY 13
I made it to Barcelona with little hassle (although since I was the ONLY American on the plane, they scrutinized my passport when I entered the country. SO RUDE to me because I was an American coming from a European country). Julie had given me detailed description on how to get from the airport. I already felt overwhelmed with the language barrier when I got into the airport but the only real problem I had was in getting a taxi from the station to Julie's. The taxi driver wasn't QUITE sure where the place was but he figured it out and it cost me about what Julie said.
After settling into Julie's GREAT apartment (so grateful she's letting me stay with her), she took me around downtown. We met up with a friend of hers, had a drink and then perused around the streets with schwarma wraps in hand. It was aboyt 11:30pm and the city was just bursting with life and noise. Absolutely beautiful. We checked out a few more bars, one that looked like a forest on the inside and then settled at a skater bar where I had my first sangria. I also fell off a chair off a step. Yep, surprising? No. I didn't notice one of the legs was off the step so when I sat down BOOM, I was down. A few of the locals laughed but when it was apparent I wasn't drunk, apparently it was no longer funny. Ha ha.
We took the night bus home, I couldn't believe it was monday night as there were people everywhere even at 2am. The architecture is completely different here as is the vibe. I'm really happy to be hanging around a local to show me the sights so hopefully I'll have some good stories from here.
Cheers!
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