Wednesdays are one of my favourite days of the week.  I only have one lecture at 10 AM and I am totally done for the day at 11 AM.  Wednesdays are also the day that the Mountaineering Club holds their camping trip sign ups.

So after my lecture I walked to a new coffee shop that I discovered the other week – it’s called Procaffination and has Rodin’s ‘Thinker’ holding a coffee mug as it’s logo.  I think it’s an automatic winner.

It’s located on St. Mary’s Street right outside of where the gates of Old Edinburgh would have been in the middle ages.  After the battle of Flodden in 1513, huge walls were constructed to protect the city centre.  I stopped for a bit there and took a break from essay writing to work on a new manuscript inspired by some cool historical/paranormal Edinburgh legends. (Fingers crossed I actually finish this one and don’t get distracted!!)

The other week I discovered that St. Giles (the main cathedral on the Royal Mile) holds a small 15 minute service at noon and because I’m a sucker to for gothic churches and gregorian music I try to go when I can.  This week they actually had an amazing singer perform.  It was a nice break from the day with some really beautiful stained glass to look at.

I met up with friends at 12.30 at the Tron, the pub where the Mountaineering Club holds socials and sign-ups.  I’m all signed up for the Mystery Meet this weekend!  I still don’t know exactly where the meet will be, but I’m sure it’ll be amazing!  And I’m free to enjoy the weekend because I got my essay due for Tuesday done last night!  I’ve just got a bit of reading left to get finished.

There’s been a lot of pressure with essays recently, but that will come to an end soon.  And unlike a lot of times in high school I am really trying to stay on top of everything so I can maximize my time here in Edinburgh!  I will turn in my Celtic Civ Proposal tomorrow and my Archaeology essay on Tuesday.  The next big thing I have due is my British Society Essay due Monday, Nov 2 –  but I have all next week and weekend to write that.

But because I am camping this weekend, I won’t be able to make it to Agincourt.  The 600th anniversary of the battle is this Sunday, but because A) The only person nerdy enough to want to go with me to the middle of nowhere to cry in an empty field is in the States (*cough* Mallory *cough*), B) I don’t have the first idea how to get to the middle of nowhere France, and C) the Mystery Meet!  I will just have to bring my copy of Henry V with me to the meet to read.  And I guess there is always the really neat exhibit opening in the Tower of London that will run through January!

After I signed up for the meet, I went on a quest to find Adam Smith (because I mean, why not?).

He’s buried in Canongate Kirkyard near Holyrood Palace.  I walked toward the general direction of the palace, passing the Scottish Parliament building on the way!

Near the palace I spotted a graveyard and went to check it out.  I walked the entire yard, but the dates on the stones were too late – most were 1810s-1850s.  Which is still really old, but not old enough.  Smith died in 1790.

 So I walked up the hill and somehow ended up on the other side of Waverly Station… which I have no clue how that happened.  I got to see the Robert Burns monument on the way though!

From the monument I could spot the older kirkyard in the distance.  I got there easy enough and headed to where Smith’s tomb was.  It was actually pretty neat – the engravings were a few quotes from ‘Wealth of Nations!’

From the kirkyard, I walked back to my dorm and past by a shop that was holding a contest to win tickets to sights around Edinburgh… and I won tickets to the Royal Yacht Britanna!! That’s the yacht belonging to the Royal Family! It is now docked in Leith, the port of Edinburgh!

Later tonight, I went to the gym for a really great climbing session – it’s a little challenging learning different moves and how to grip different holds but I think that skill will just come with time and practice.  I climbed my first 6A route today!  It was a bit of a stretch, I think my right foot was next to my ear at one point and I really had to brace myself against the walls but it was a lot of fun!