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I really am terrible about updating this.

Anyway, Mom and Dad came to visit me for my birthday. They arrived on Halloween and we had lunch, before they went to sleep off the jet lag. That evening I went out with some of my roommates and friends. There was a parade down a bit of the Royal Mile, so we went to that. It was a pagan parade celebrating Samhain, which was interesting.

There was a stage set up at the end of the route (see photo) where the organization put on a show about the battle between light and dark. There was a lot of drumming and a lot of fire, as well as some really interesting costumes. Definitely unusual.

After that we went to a pub in Grassmarket for a drink or two. I was dressed as Wednesday Addams - this is the only photo I have:

That is a doll's head. Creepy I know, but creepy is more fun that slutty. It wasn't the most exciting of evenings, but it wasn't bad. I did the more traditional Halloween on the Thursday before instead. I took one of my roommates to a big club that night. That was really fun. It was mobbed with people, but we found the dancefloor with good music.

Anyway, moving on. The Sunday after Halloween I got to spend at the spa! Mom and Dad bought me a treatment as a birthday present. It was fantastic - salt scrub, massage, and wrap. So nice. We also had a nice dinner that night down in Leith at this pub/restaurant. Delicious food (mussels, fish, venison, treacle tart!) in a really cozy room, with live music. I like that kind of place.

Monday we went to the Botanical Gardens. They were still beautiful, despite it being quite a bit colder than it had been for my first visit. The new building was also open. It's incredible inside! Totally worth another visit later. We had dinner that night together as well, at one of Dad's favorite restaurants in the city, which was also delicious. They left the next morning.

I was left with a huge amount of schoolwork: three papers! On Thursday one about the Doha Round of trade negotiations at the WTO was due. Friday was about the importance of the UN and collective security to liberal theorists. Monday was about the role of the Security Council in authorizing military humanitarian interventions. So. Much. Writing.

Luckily I finished them the first two Thursday morning/afternoon so I could enjoy my birthday properly! I came back to my flat to find this delivered:


Mom's beautiful cake this year! I had some with my roommates before a few of us headed out to Arthur's Seat.

Edinburgh is a bit weird as a city. It's got giant crags fairly in the city, formed by a volcanic hotspot or something. If you're interested, I'm sure Wikipedia has something to say. It's a bit of a tradition for students to climb them on Bonfire Night, to watch the fireworks and generally mess about.

Just to give you the right idea: Those mountain things are the crags. The really tall one is Arthur's Seat. We climbed that (Not the really tall one) -- in the dark, after some rain. It felt like a deathwish, stumbling up and down various muddy paths (some very steep) with no light except that of a cellphone.

Eventually though we made it to a suitable place to sit, as witnessed by the above photo (my eyes look really creepy and I'm not sure why). As you can see, we are literally on the edge of one of the crags. Maybe four feet from a HUGE drop. The city is all lit up behind us.

We had some snacks and shared some birthday champagne while watching the fireworks. There was a big display at Murryfield, but apart from that there were random explosions all over the city. You could even see across the water into Fife and also South of the city. The two sounds of the night were booms from the explosions and sirens of firetrucks, going to put out whatever fires. People just set off the fireworks everywhere, regardless of buildings and/or people in the way. They were all over the crags too. For a while there was a guy maybe a hundred feet in front of us setting them off -- yelling "Alright Lads!" before running from the firework that exploded above our heads.

Dangerous? Yes. Reckless? Yes. A really fun night? Also yes. It was also freezing up on the crags though. We managed to stay for several hours, but the cold became too much after a time. I wish I had better photos to capture how interesting the night was, but darkness doesn't really work like that.

This is looking towards the city. The black band in the middle of the lights is the Firth of Forth.

The picture below is people playing with sparklers on the end of one of the crags. There was a huge amount of people around - really surprising giving the hike (not exactly easy in the darkness) and the cold. But everyone seemed to be having a good time (some more inebriated than others). Some guys near us started singing "Stand By Your Man" at some point, which is really hilarious in a posh accent.
That weekend I ended up having the flat to myself -- all the roommates were away at various places. It was relaxing to splay out in the kitchen watching silly movies, but at the same time exhausting writing my last paper, which I turned in Monday morning.

Tuesday I took a well-earned shopping day for my various efforts with schoolwork. I bought some beautiful earrings with birthday money from Granny, as well as some clothes from Topshop (too hard to get to at home!). I just got back from Glasgow tonight, but I'll do a separate post about that a bit later.