After 8 days of being in London, I left in the early morning to catch a train, then a plane, then another train to hop onto a bus to get onto a boat for the rest of May 9th. Because work didn’t want me to travel from London to Edinburgh straight away I had to make a major detour to join the study trip to Edinburgh.
Before I left I was actually quite nervous. The only people on the trip who I really knew were the two girls who organized the trip as they are in one of my second year groups. Everyone else though, I didn’t even know. Luckily, the group turned out to be a great bunch of people and I had tons of fun and being with a group of 50 people didn’t turn out to be as challenging as I expected. They were always on time, didn’t cause any havoc and were just a great group to hang out with.
We arrived in Edinburgh on Tuesday the 10th of May. By the time we arrived at the hostel I had been traveling for nearly 36 hours. We took a bit of a detour though so we could pass by the castle which they used to turn into Hogwarts for the Harry Potter movies. The castles and the surroundings were super pretty!
After freshening up a little bit, we split the group into three and went our own ways. One group went to Edinburgh Castle, another to the National Gallery and the last group went to visit Napier University. I went to the university (I already saw the other two spots on a previous trip to Edinburgh almost 5 years ago) and I think it was very interesting what they had to say. Later that evening the entire group went clubbing and did some Karaoke. Since I had promised a student I would partake in our very own rendition of a Spice Girls song I was very quickly turned into Baby Spice (including pigtails) and with 3 other students we performed Wanna Be.
The next day was an early start and we visited St. Andrews. Can you say pretty? We were very lucky as it was bright and sunny while we were there, but right after we got back into the bus it started pouring. The man who gave a presentation and showed us round was extremely nice and to me this was one of the more interesting stops during the trip.
St. Andrews is the world’s oldest golf course and is right by the ocean. All the big names in Golf have played there and the surroundings are insanely pretty. Look at those skies! In the afternoon we went back to Edinburgh and went to the Story Telling Center. Another highlight of the trip. It was great to hear some Scottish folk tales and to hear how someone remembers and tells stories.
On Day three we went to Glasgow. Before heading to the School of Art and Braehead Shopping Mall, there was some spare time which I spent walking all the way to Glasgow Cathedral. I just felt like I had been in that bus for too long so it was great to stretch my legs and take a good walk. Unfortunately I ended up being a tad late because all the traffic lights weren’t cooperating but I literally made it just in time. The School of Art was interesting as the entire building was designed by Mackintosh and built at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century.
That evening I went for dinner with a good part of the group of the students and our bus driver and went for a bit of a walk through Edinburgh at Twilight all by myself. That also made for some pretty pictures:
After that it was time for a Ghost Tour of the city with plenty of humor and scares. On Friday, the final day we went to a Leisure Centre in Edinburgh and headed home again. We made it to the boat just in time and arrived in Breda the next day.
All in all it was a great study trip. I can’t compare this trip to any others, but all I know is that it was a great trip. The students were great. The two girls who organized the trip were amazing and had everything under control rendering me and my colleague almost unnecessary. Now, I only have today left and then I have to get back to work again.