Arthur's Seat

This weekend my friend from NC State came to visit. She is studying in France for the year so she was happy to come visit. On Saturday we went to the Christmas market and walked along princes street. We found the cutest little bakery and got these great cupcakes.

The ones we bought

We went inside the Dome to see all of the Christmas decorations, it was really worth it. 

It snowed all evening so on Sunday we went to climb Arthur's Seat because we thought the view would be beautiful. The trek was very long and really hard because not only did we have to walk straight up but walking through the snow is even harder. But it was all totally worth it because it was amazing at the top.

We climbed all the way to the top

We made it!

After our victory hot chocolate

Look at the fog!! We were a little scared we wouldn't be able to see our way down...

It looked like a ski resort!

Just to show you how deep the snow is.

Someone built this funny looking snowman at the top:)

Let it Snow

This whole week my friends and I have been avidly reading the weather forecast and several times it has predicted snow but it wasn't until last night that it came true. At about 7 my flatmate came running into the room screaming that it was snowing and we immediately dropped everything and went running outside. It snowed for the rest of the night, not stopping until after we went to bed. To keep up with the holiday spirit I made some Pepperkakor (Swedish Gingersnaps). We went out in the snow a bit later when we had coats on and it was snowing really hard, course we threw lots of snowballs on the streets and everyone thought we were crazy:)

Christmas Time!

Last night was the annual tree lighting here. A bunch of my friends and I went down to Princes Street to watch them light the tree. What we found was an entire carnival! There were rides, ice skating, and food stands, all right in the center of the city! I smelled like the funnel cakes you get at the state fair (yumm). Unfortunately, I hadn't thought to bring any money but everything will still be up for another week. It was funny to see what kind of food they had though, I'm used to hot dogs and hamburgers. Course they did have hot dog and hamburgers but they also had a crepes stand, mulled wine, haggis and a bunch of other stuff. The tree lighting was supposed to be at 5:15 so we got there around 4:50, and of course they were late in lighting the tree and didn't light it until 6. So we got to stand around in the freezing cold staring at an unlit tree, but it was worth it. I got some great pictures too!

Looks a bit eerie doesn't it?

Can you see the people floating in the air? They are playing the drums, very cool.

There's the tree!

Sorry the picture isn't so great, but there is the tree!

The tree isn't the only thing that was lit.

And of course they had to finish it off with fireworks. Although I have to say, they were not nearly as good as the ones the skydiving club had.

Scottish Rugby!

Today was the Scotland versus New Zealand Rugby game at Murrayfield Stadium. Amazingly a few of my friends and I managed to get 2nd row tickets for 20 pounds! It was awesome! I don't understand rugby at all but it was fun to watch and to listen to all of the Scottish fans yelling at their pathetic team. I know that's a bit harsh but Scotland lost to New Zealand 3 to 49...that's not so great. But apparently New Zealand is very good so I guess it's okay that Scotland lost so badly. The stadium was pretty cool, unfortunately I couldn't really get that many good pictures but I tried! After the game we all went back to one of the girls flat and ate pizza and watched Zombieland, which is a funny but stupid movie. Overall an enjoyable evening.

The stadium

I do not know why there was a reindeer....

Waldo decided to make an appearance

Kilts and Waldos...interesting combination

Headline: Crazy Skydivers Blow Up Bonfire

This morning I went to Strathallan again to jump. Unfortunately, I didn't end up being able to jump, there were tons of tandems who have priority plus one of the planes broke down so there was only one plane running. It was really unfortunate. I did nothing from about 11 in the morning until about 8 at night haha. But one reason I did decide to go to Strathallan for today was because they were going to set off fireworks and have a bonfire in honor of Bonfire Night.
The fireworks were spectacular. I have never seen such amazing fireworks, and they just kept going! I'm sure they spent quite a bit of money on them.

Some pretty amazing fireworks right? 

After fireworks it was time for the bonfire.

They piled tons and tons of wood into this massive bonfire, then they started pouring a ridiculous amount of gasoline all over the thing. Now I've seen people light bonfires that have gasoline on them, it's a really cool affect because everything goes up in massive flames really quickly, so I was excited for this. They told all of us that we needed to stand in the hanger so that nothing bad would happen. Luckily enough I decided I should film it go up in flames because I knew it would look cool. 

They lit a line from the hanger going to the bonfire and everyone is holding their breath when suddenly the loudest boom I have ever heard comes from the bonfire and the entire thing explodes! And I mean really explodes! Everyone immediately starts screaming and rushes towards the back of the hanger because pieces of burning wood went flying everywhere! After a moment of chaos everyone starts yelling and clapping, apparently they had planned to give us a bit of a scare. I've never seen something blow up before and this was a great thing to blow up. I was soo glad I video tapped it because it was really awesome. I've posted the video on YouTube so that you all can have a look http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suxVpizA2ac It's a really short video but that is mainly because I freaked out and ran back like everyone else did hahah, you can hear all the screams.....

Bonfire Night!

So during this week I keep hearing about Bonfire Night (or Guy Fawkes Night) and I don't want to look like the stupid American and ask what it is, but finally when my flatmates were talking about it I asked them. On November 5th, 1605 there was a plot, called the Gunpowder plot, to assassinate the Anglican King James I of England and VI of Scotland and replace them with a Catholic head of State. Guy Fawkes, who was left in charge of the gunpowder, was arrested and the King survived and so on November 5th there is a celebration of his survival. Now how would you celebrate a failed Gunpowder plot? With explosives of course! So everyone tonight ill set off lots of fireworks and make lots of bonfires! Personally I think it's the strangest celebration ever, but I can't complain because I love bonfires and fireworks!
Tonight I'll be going to King Arthur's Seat where there will be tons of great fireworks that I of course will get lots of pictures of!
A great way to start out bonfire night would be having a fire in our building right? I was taking a nice nap a  little earlier and woke up to the sound of our fire alarm going off. So I quickly grabbed a jacket and shoes and ran out the door. There was no real fire of course, but I got to enjoy standing in the freezing cold rain, thinking that there was a fire, what a pleasant afternoon.

Tea!

Today after classes my flatmate and I went walking around to find her a green skirt (which she needed for her running club...don't ask). I of course was on a mission to find a hat, one of those warm ones that come down over your ears and have the little strings attached. Unfortunately, I think I have the wrong shaped head for them because they just never seem to look right. Although, I did get some great gloves for a pound, the kind that are cut off at the finger tips, those are always useful. My flatmate got her green skirt and she also got a belly dancing outfit! hahaha. For some reason she has always wanted one so she got one....
After walking for forever we went into a really cool indian cafe. All of the walls and ceiling were covered in fabric and there were tons and tons of pillows all over these long benches. It was a very cool atmosphere. We got some really good tea there, my flatmate got peppermint and I got lemongrass and ginger tea. It was good but I couldn't really taste any ginger or any lemon for that matter....oh well.