Hello & Goodbye Edinburgh!

So at the moment I'm sitting in the hotel lobby mooching off WiFi from somewhere... and as my luck will have it, my converter blew. Here I was quietly blogging, and not harming a soul in the world and then *POP*! Having been to L.A. and such and living close enough to it, I don't really notice gun-shot-like sounds until I recall that all electronics have a vengeance against me. Turning my head, I see an orderly and well-behaved little pillar of smoke, my very own smoke signal to get the awaiting sprinklers to do their jobs, unleash their showers and evacuate everyone in the building. Luckily that didn't happen and I don't think Scotland wants me deported... yet. Who knew that my converter isn't for laptops? The guy at the store, I guess.
Good news: I'm electrocution free. Thank God. I've borrowed a converter from the hotel, but it doesn't appear to be working. >.<

I saw Tilda Swinton at Heathrow airport in her silk pj pants, bleach blonde diva hair and crazy-cool glasses. Yay for Hollywood teaching me to spot celebrities... now if only I could make money doing this...

Alongside that event, I went to the wrong terminal, almost missed my connecting flight because they changed gates AND planes and didn't notify anyone (maybe just for fun). Oh, and I can tell that the UK absolutely adores me already. I've been pretty much the loudest person around. Who knew?

The past two days have been facilitated by the lovely EAP people. They've helped arranged meals and tours for us (and of course it's paid by us, but in advance, so it kinda feels like it's free-- it's an illusion like a financial mirage-oasis in a dark, cold desert-- by the way, I love Edinburgh's weather, so not bashing that in the slightest).

On Monday, we took a ghost tour with the Mercat Tours and went into some underground tunnels. A tad cheesy, but still creepy. Edinburgh has a history of body snatching, whether it be exhuming bodies from graves or serial killing. I didn't get to see any ghosts or get beat up by any (the tour guide told us that one of her tourists got slapped over the face by a local angry haunt named "Mr. Boots"). I took a few pictures and caught an orb in one (Google orbs if you're not familiar with this crazy phenom). One of my EAP pals caught one there as well.

On Tuesday we got the pleasure of visiting Edinburgh castle and I caught another orb on camera in the chapel! Me and a couple other gals also watched this street comedian/magician:


Meet Todd Various. Not only is he a great magician and performer, he's also good at convincing people to give donations. He's from Florida, despite the very Scottish or Irish likes of him. I wonder if he was peeved that I gave him American currency...

In terms of the food here, it's not bad. It's not the most amazing stuff, but I'm so suited to American-style food (extra salty, extra sweet, what have you). I've had a panini, lentil soup, chicken tikka kebobs, chicken bhuna, pizza, and various kinds of little deserts. I've also had apple cider. Don't freak out-- I'm not an alcoholic and never will be (in fact, I'm allergic to the stuff: symptoms include the Asian glow, dizziness and a slight itch), but here's something that throws off most tourists: the drinking culture is very, very different and in many ways, these people are more responsible about it. They'll drink any hour of the day, but not to get so wasted they can't see straight or remember the what odd food they had the night before resulting in a horrible sickness (that does happen, but it's not usually the goal). Even after the cider, I still think it smells funny.

My battery is running very very low due to the not working charger, so I will add more later and post some pictures when I get my computer situated! Meanwhile, I'm catching the train to Leeds tomorrow! It's been great Edinburgh, so see you soon!

Cheers!