Scotland

A few weekends ago I took at trip to Scotland! It was my one and only through NYU but was a fantastic trip. It was really nice having someone do all the planning for once. Tony Skitt, the man in charge of all travel through NYU London, and a genius in all history was the leader and did a phenomenal job. We started our trip with a scenic train ride to Edinburgh. It took 4 hours and we saw a lot of the English countryside on the way. It was Friday morning, but by the time we got there it was early afternoon. We spent two hours investigating Edinburgh castle, with the silly but helpful audio tour guides and met up to go back to the hostel, which all 40 of us were staying at. We were free to find dinner where we wanted, and earlier I had seen a great menu at this gorgeous restaurant overlooking the castle and convinced Emily and Sabrina to go back.

I started with the scallops, which were on a leek puree, and was topped with fried slices of leeks and fresh herb oil. The scallops were cooked to perfection, just on the top and bottom for less then a minute. My main was a lamb herb burger that was more then I could ever eat, but was melt-in-your-mouth good. The lamb was tender and flavorful with a rosemary herb mix, topped with cheese and onions. This was on a huge fresh bun and a side of fresh cut steak fries. We finished with a scoop of fresh ice cream and a shot of espresso poured over the top. While we consumed this delicious meal we watched one of the most stunning sunsets I’ve ever seen over the Edinburgh castle.

That night we went to a kaylee, a traditional dance done in Scotland in large groups. A local college had daughters and fathers’ teaching groups the dance. For a few hours we danced around in circles following the directions for each song laughing till we cried. It was a fabulous night.

The next day we headed to the Scottish Highlands, taking a bus tour through all of the mountains for the entire day. We finished by spending the night in the new city of Scotland, which is the other side of the city, not where we were staying but equally as beautiful.

Our final day we spent the morning going up the hills of Holyrood Park to King Arthur's Seat. 40 people hiking the same trail is hard, but was worth the walk, since it was a spectacular view of the city, 822ft up.