Day 4: July 20

Howdy readers!

 

We kicked off the fourth day in Edinburgh with a now familiar English breakfast and some haggis, before once again heading into the beautiful St. Trinnean’s hall for another lecture with Dr. Crick. Today, his lecture covered the process of dealing with differences between an individual and a group, delving deep while keeping it relatable by encouraging us to bring in popular media examples like Elsa from Disney’s Frozen or the classic Interstellar. We then had a very thorough presentation from Rudolf and Lana regarding how to get involved at Texas A&M, going through the various FLOs (Freshman Leadership Organizations) and other wonderful communities present at Texas A&M, helping us paint a clearer future of what kind of life we want to lead on campus this coming fall. 

After this class time in the morning, we were given the entire afternoon to explore the city and do whatever we liked. Everyone split into various groups and went their separate ways, excited to have time to enrich themselves further into Scottish culture. Brady, Iko, Karthik, John, Aayan, and student leader Eric formed a group and decided to visit St Giles’ Cathedral. We saw magnificent architecture within the cathedral, accompanied with a giant organ that towered over the entire church and beautiful stained glass depictions of various religious scenes.

Afterward, the group went to revisit the National Scottish Museum, in order to have more time exploring the various exhibits considering the fact that the previous tour was very short lived. There were so many interesting things to admire, with exhibits detailing everything from Scottish history to wave generation to color theory.

After this excursion, the group grabbed lunch at Ting Thai Teviot Place, a cozy restaurant that served delicious and vibrant thai noodles and rice bowls.

Following lunch, the group went back to Pollock halls for some rest before getting a quick workout later in the afternoon, which entailed walking to the park to do pull ups in the rain. After student leader Eric impressed the group with his astounding strength and musculature, they finally decided to head to Bonnie Burrito for some Mexican food with a Scottish twist – burrito bowls and burritos with Haggis – before finally heading back to the dorms for some well needed rest. Another group of students attended mass at St. Mary’s Cathedral in the heart of Edinburgh. The group then split in two, with one attending a live music event at a steakhouse, and the other going to a pakistani restaurant. Since Ayaan speaks Urdu, he instantly made friends with the restaurant owner, who gave us a steep discount. The cuisine is widely varied, with amazing restaurants of all specialities and price ranges. In Scotland, one can go to a grocery store and get a large sandwich, chips (or crisps, as they call them), and a drink all for 4.88 USD. Andrew Sorak had us shouting with amusement tonight with some seemingly impossible magic tricks. Mcdonalds was had by the two greatest members of the group.

— Brady and Cadin