Saturday, June 19, 2004 (Royal Museum and Museum of Scotland)

It was very cold and rainy this morning. I didn't like it. My plans where to go to the Edinburgh Castle today, but with this weather ... so I didn't hurry to get up and then I enjoyed breakfast. The other family members took a little bit longer to get up. Miguel went today back to Spain so we said goodbye to each other. After that I went with the bus to the centre of Edinburgh.



Royal Museum

First I visited the Royal Museum on Chambers Street. This is a part of the National Museums of Scotland. The entrance is free of charge and the museum dates from 1861. The stolid, grey exterior gives way to a bright and airy, glass-roofed entrance hall – fantastic. It was presenting "the World to Scotland" - which they wrote on the brochure. It’s in a magnificent Victorian building. It is a collection of international Arts, Science and Industry, Archaeology and the Natural World. Some exhibits are millions of years old, others less than a decade. Together they reflect the diversity of life on Earth, and the "ingenuity" of humankind. "Communicate" is the exciting new exhibit. It shows displays with interactive exhibits and shows the diverse ways, people have made contact over the centuries.
Sure I must visit the Museum Shop and yes I bought a book ... ;-)



Museum of Scotland

The weather hadn’t changed by then, so I went to see the golden stone and strikingly modern architecture of the Museum of Scotland. It said "Presenting Scotland to the World". The magnificent building was designed by the architects Benson & Forsyth and was opened in December 1998. The Museum presents the history of Scotland - its land, its people and their achievements – with rich national collections. On the roof Terrace on Level 7, I enjoyed the breathtaking view over Edinburgh. The interior design is an attraction in itself. It would take several visits to do justice to the museum; highlights include the Monymusk Reliquary, a tiny silver casket dating from AD 750, which is said to have been carried into battle with Robert the Bruce at Bannockburn in 1314. At the other end of the cultural spectrum is a 20th-century gallery devoted to objects that were nominated by celebrities and members of the general public as representing their life and times. www.nms.ac.uk

Now I had enough new information for this day and needed a break – I drank a coffee and tried a Sponge Cake with walnuts. Mmmhh. Sure, in another country you have to try the sweets … ;-) Afterwards I walked around the Edinburgh Castle to warm up my feet.



Greyfriars Bobby's Bar

The memorial that draws the biggest crowds is the tiny statue of Greyfriars Bobby, in front of the pub beside the kirkyard gate. Bobby was a Skye terrier who maintained a vigil over the grave of his master, an Edinburgh police officer, from 1858 to 1872. The story was immortalised by Eleanor Atkinson in her 1912 novel and in 1963, it was made into a movie by Walt Disney.

Greyfriars Kirk was built on the site of a Franciscan friary and opened for worship on Christmas Day 1620. In 1638, the National Covenant was signed, rejecting Charles I’s attempts to impose episcopacy and a new English prayer book, and affirming the independence of the Scottish Church. Many who signed were later executed in Grassmarket and, in 1679, 1200 Covenanters were held prisoner under terrible conditions in an enclosure in the kirkyard.
Many famous Edinburgh names are buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard, including poet Allan Ramsay (1686 – 1758), architect William Adam (1889 – 1748) and William Smellie (1740 – 1795), editor of the first edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica.



Pubs on Grassmarket

The site of a market from the 15th century until the start of the 20th, Grassmarket has always been a focal point of Old Town. As well as being a cattle market, this was the main place of execution in the city, and over 100 Covenanters are commemorated by a monument at the eastern end, where the gallows used to stand.
The notorious murderers Burke and Hare operated from a now vanished close off the west end. In 1827, they enticed at least 18 victims to their boarding house, suffocated them and sold the bodies to Edinburgh’s medical schools.

Nowadays, the broad, open square edged by tall tenements and dominated by the looming castle has many lively pubs, including the White Hart Inn, which was once patronised by Robert Burns.
Cowgate, the long dark ravine leading eastwards from Grassmarket – was once the road along which cattle were driven from the pastures around Arthur’s Seat to the safety of the city walls. Today I think it is the heart of Edinburgh’s nightlife.

Now I’m sitting in the easyInternetC@fe in Rose Street. Here I meet Aya and her friend. Soon I will go back to my host family and try another dinner in Scotland.

After dinner – Spaghetti with a very good olive sauce and for dessert pineapple and strawberries – we had home cinema in the living room. Something’s Gotta Give with Diane Keaton and Jack Nickolson. Bills comment was “the film is for women” …

Lecture about Switzerland

©2005 SWITZERLAND TOURISM

Switzerland in general:

The diversity of the landlocked, mountainous country is the essence of Switzerland and gives the country its unique identity. Still, it is best known for its financial institutions, fine cheeses and chocolate, watch making industry, for its scenery and an excellent network of public traffic.

Capital City: Berne

Major Cities: Baden, Basel, Bellinzona, Bern, Biel, Brig, Chur, Fribourg, Genève, La Chaux-de-Fonds, Lausanne, Locarno, Lugano, Luzern, Martigny, Montreux-Vevey, Neuchâtel, Schaffhausen, Sierre, Sion, Solothurn, St. Gallen, Thun, Winterthur, Zug, Zürich

Bordering Countries: Germany, France, Italy, Austria, Liechtenstein

Inhabitants: 7'261'200

Flag:  

Languages: German, French, Italian, Romansch

Climate: Because of its central position, the weather is influenced by the four main European air currents – from the Atlantic, the eastern continent, the northern subpolar region and the Mediterranen south. The climate is temperate on the Central Plateau, otherwise it differs considerably from region to region.

Landforms: Alps and Pre-Alps cover 60%, Central Plateau 30% and Jura 10% of the country.

Land Area: 41,284 km2

Schweizer Mittelland: (where I come from)

Summer: The red of the geraniums in their window boxes is more intense than anywhere else in the world. At Gürben Valley and the Schwarzenburgerland, gentle hills, which mark the end of the pre-Alpine region, blend into the Laupenamt and Seeland plain, bordered in the north by the Jura range, next to Lake Bienne, Solothurn and the Oberaargau region. The prosperity of the villages flows into the cities with their massive protective walls, arcades, romantic alleyways and fountains topped with statues, which stand as silent witnesses to a colourful past. Time seems to stand still. Why hurry? In spite of the TGV, ICE and Pendolino high-speed trains that stop in Bern (UNESCO World Cultural Heritage) daily, that seems to be the city's motto. Take the time for a visit to the central part of the canton of Bern.

Winter: Time seems to stand still in the medieval towns of the surrounding Schweizer Mittelland. The Alpine foothills, the Jura range, the Emmental, the Gurnigel-Gantrisch area and Mount Weissenstein, above Solothurn, are renowned for their winter sports, and Gstaad, the Bernese Oberland and Jungfrau ski regions are close by.

Mountains:

The scent of alpine flowers and spicy herbs is in the air again and the faint ting-a-ling of the cow and the goat bells accompanies hikers from alp to alp. Mountains and valleys are magnificently decked out. The natural experience of Switzerland is unique and so varied that you can hike and experience new things for weeks. Welcome to our mountains!

Friday, June 18, 2004 (Test and My Performance)

In the morning I got up a little bit earlier and wrote in my diary and labelled my photos. When I arrived at school, we had a lot to tell each other. With James we used the computers to open our web blogs on the Internet. It needed a lot of time and sadly, Luise didn't make her own site. After that, we filled in a little bit of text in our blogs …

l have a test in James' class; we hope it isn’t too easy ... :-)

Now we are sitting in the computer room and it was raining outside just a minute ago. But how my host mother says "just wait a minute and the weather will be changing" - and now the sun is shining again.

In the test we had to wrote a composition describing a story how we wished our lives were different, at least 200 words and we were to use combinations with wish and a mixture of conditionals. *ufff
After the test we ate the chocolate from Croatia that was from Suzana and she gave us some information about her country. We exchanged addresses and then Luise and Suzana received their diplomas.

We decided to skip the lessons with Kirsty and visit the National Gallery of Scotland. It was designed by William Playfair.This imposing classical building with its Ionic porticoes dates from the 1850s. It houses an important collection of European art from Renaissance to post-impressionism. There are paintings by Verrocchio (Leonardo da Vinci’s teacher), Tintoretto, Titian, Holbein, Rubens, van Dyck, Vermeer, El Greco, Poussin, Rembrandt, Gainsborough, Turner, Constable, Monet, Pissaro, Gauguin, Cezanne and a lot more.
Another section, dedicated to Scottish art, includes portraits by Allan Ramsay and Sir Henry Reaburn, rural scenes by Sir David Wilkie and impressionistic landscapes by William MacTaggart. For me this was the most interesting part of this beautiful gallery. We laughed that we all would like to have one of these nice pictures at home over the fireside … but the sizes and the very big frames were holding us back. ;-)
www.natgalscot.ac.uk

The weather changed very fast and after the sunshine, we came back to school very wet. I then had my speech about Switzerland in James' class. I hope it wasn’t too bad! But James asked some interesting questions, Krista is also from Switzerland, Suzana from Croatia and Siv from Sweden didn't say anything terrible about it. I learned a lot from the information about Croatia and I think sometimes I would like to visit this land – Suzana invited us to stay with here.

After school I didn't go back home I just walked up and down the High Street. I talked with some technical students and other people on the street; it was very communicative. I sat on a park bench and just watched the people passing by. But the weather changed again and I needed a coffee and a muffin to warm up. In Starbuck's there was a singer with his guitar and his live music was really good.



John Knox House

The John Knox House is the oldest surviving tenement in Edinburgh, dating from around 1490, and the outside staircase, overhanging upper floors and crow-stepped gables are all typical of a 15th-century town house. John Knox is thought to have occupied the 2nd floor from 1561 to 1572. The labyrinthine interior has some beautifully painted timber ceilings and an interesting display on Knox’s life and work.



Telephone cabins and taxi

I liked the red telephone cabins and the taxis – or “fast blacks”, as they are called locally.



The World's End - Pub

The World’s End, so named because this part of High Street once lay next to the Old Town limit – part of the 16th-century Flodden Wall can still be seen in the basement.

We met in the pub by the Bank Hotel. It’s an imposing, neoclassical building dating from 1923, formerly a bank (surprise, surprise). While waiting, the football match Italy against Sweden was on TV and there were some fans from Sweden sitting in this pub. Then we looked for another pub and wandered around. Now, in front of every pub there is a security guard. Before us, some girls under 18 tried to get in but the guards were very rude to them. We found a nice place with enough space for all on the Grassmarket. Like I read “Indulge in Scottish fare and wash it down with a wee dram of whisky at once of Grassmarket’s pubs”.

The address of the blogs from the other students:
Suzana www.suzanabrenko.blogspot.com
Aya www.ayakawai.blogspot.com
Judith www.judith58.blogspot.com
Luisa www.italianluisadiary.blogspot.com
Pekka www.pekkadaukydiary.blogspot.com
David www.d_arias.blogspot.com/
Therese www.thereseedinburgh.blogspot.com
Elsa www.elsa-larreur.blogspot.com
and our teacher James www.rjkewing.blogspot.com

Thursday, June 17, 2004 (Whisky tasting – uisge beatha or water of life)

It was hard to start in the morning but after the rush hour in the bath we met in the kitchen for breakfast. On the bus ride to town I read the free newspaper. Sure at home, there was a TV and the radio, but normally there was also talking between the house members and so it was hard to listen to two channels in a foreign language.

In school we learned more about real conditionals with if and main clauses as well as I wish & unreal conditionals. James required a lot from us, but we appreciated it. I liked the phrase “I wish I lived in Edinburgh for a longer time, so I could learn English better”. :-)

In the break we went to the Fudge House of Edinburgh, close by our school. The owners knew us, I think because we were good customers ;-). It’s on the Royal Mile and it has fudge to die for, including chocolate and peppermint, rum and raisin, hazelnut, tasty Highland cream and much more. Mmmhh.
I thought coffee had recently overtaken tea as Scotland’s most popular beverage and I mean that you needed something to drink, to wash down your shortbread. ;-) Something that you must try when you are in Scotland are scones. This small, round cake – normally you eat it warm – are served with butter and jam or marmalade and it goes deliciously well with tea or coffee.

What do Scotland and Peru have in common? They are the only countries in the world where a locally manufactured soft drink outsells Coca Cola. In Scotland it’s Barr’s Irn-Bru. A Barr's advertising campaign in the 1980s promoted Irn-Bru as “Scotland’s other national drink”. Tasting notes: The colour is a rusty, radioactive orange. Sniffing it reveals a bouquet of bubble gum, barley, sugar and something vaguely citrus, maybe tangerine?

Despite having some of the purest tap water in the world, Scotland has been quick to jump aboard the bottled-water bandwagon, with several brands of Scottish mineral water (notably Highland Spring) available in shops, bars and restaurants.

But back in school we had an interview with Jon Bon Jovi. Sure not really, but in the book and on tape. We also discussed in small groups our own answers to the questions. We then listened to the song “Ugly” from Jon Bon Jovi and put the lyrics of the verses in the song into the correct order. But what is "ugly"? Another discussion started.

David was asking for a different guest family and we hoped that he could quickly change his family. During lunch, Suzane and I looked for a telephone book – we saw it with another student – to write down new words in alphabetical order. But we didn't find what we were looking for. Back with muffins, we had lessons with Lucy. The theme was castles with ghosts. “Buildings with long histories tend to collect legend and stories like the moss on their stonework. There have usually been some dire deeds carried out within their walls which give rise to tales of ghosts and tortured spirits still, occasionally, to be seen walking (or floating) around. Scottish castles are no exception.”

After the lessons with James I went to the easyInternetC@fe in New Town. The first computer was very slow and I had to reboot twice. On another Computer I tried to send my photos, but it was also not possible so I just read my emails and answered them. I didn't go home for dinner, so I sat in a Mc Donald's and did my homework – I had to write a speech about Switzerland. After a burger and fries I went back to school for the Whisky Talk and Tasting.

Whisky Talk and Tasting (Cultural & Social Program):

We tried the follow Whisky`s:
- Glen Moray from Elgin, Speyside
- Old Pulteney from Wick
- Talisker from Skye (10 years old), 44.5%
- A`Bunadh from Aberlour, also Speyside, 60%



and learned the following words:
- brewery, hop, barley, peat, yeast, cask, remoteness, malting
- maturation, casks: plain oak, bourbon, sherry
- cooper e.g. in Craigellachie
- angels` share, non-chill filtered, cask-strength
- aroma, colour, body, texture: overall, fragrance, smoothness, sweetness, colour, complexity, body & texture

Mister McKensey(?) told us also a little bit about the culture of Scotland. Whisky (always spelt without an “e”) is Scotland’s best-known product and biggest export. The spirit has been distilled in Scotland since at least the 15th century. Now I know the difference between malt and grain whiskies, what a single malt is and why single malts are more desirable than blends. The official in charge was a very good singer, so between the tastings we sang a lot – also some lyrics from Robert Burns. But it needed a lot of whisky to understand the text, then it was spoken like Scots. ;-)
A to Z of Scotch Whisky Information www.scotchwhisky.net



Balmoral, Waverley Railway Station by night

On the way home I had a break in a really good pub, The Tass, where there was live music on. I enjoyed the atmosphere and between the songs I talked with other guests, then it was very loud in this small pub. While I was waiting for the bus – in the rain – I talked with some young men from Edinburgh. I wore my raincoat and they had just their t-shirts on, they didn't suffer and laughed the whole time. They asked me a lot about Switzerland and now it was good that I had the information for my speech. :-)

This night was very cold and after the ride back I was wet when I finally got home. The other students were also at home and our host mother dried our clothes. I just did some homework but then I fell asleep.

Pubs & Bars in Edinburgh

This text is from a booklet about Edinburgh.

Edinburgh has always been a drinker’s city. The 18th-century poets Robert Fergusson and Robert Burns spent much of their time in – and drew inspiration from – Edinburgh’s public houses, and rather than attend his law lectures at Edinburgh University, the young Robert Louis Stevenson preferred to haunt the city’s many howffs (drinking dens) – a perpetuated by many Edinburgh students to this day.

Although many city-centre pubs have been “themed” or converted into vast drinking halls catering to office workers unwinding at the end of the day, the local, neighbourhood bar is still a social centre, where you can meet friends, watch the football on TV, listen to live music or take part in the Tuesday night quiz. Edinburgh has over 700 bars that are as varied as the population … everything from Victorian palaces to rough-and-ready drinking dens, and from real-ale howffs to trendy cocktail bars.

The bell for last orders rings about 15 minutes before closing time and you’re allowed 15 minutes’ drinking-up time after the bar closes.

Wednesday, June 16, 2004 (Architectural Trip)

After a cheerful breakfast – we laughed a lot – I went with the bus to school. But suddenly, the bus driver said something like “the bus is broken” and every body went out of the bus. But it seems not to have been a big problem for the people from Edinburgh because nobody was annoyed.
I took a few photos from the North Bridge and made a quick search for a stationer’s shop close to the Royal Mile. But it was too early and the shops were still all closed.

In school again we had a lot to tell each other about our evening program from yesterday. In the lessons we learned a lot about “wishes” and conditionals, as well as describing a human being from “a” like aloof to “z” for zeal. Or which adjectives we could use with chin (droopy, saggy, narrow, broad, …). I like the expression ginger hair what means carrot hair, but also in Scotland there are not as many people as you would think with this colour hair.

After Lunch I came back with my bus pass – yeah I got it back. I was also looking for a good bookshop and “Lochverstärkungsringe”. Ok, Suzanna gave me some hints for the bookshop but what’s the word for the other thing in English? But don’t worry, I found some polypropylene reinforcement washers, a lot of ideas for English reading matter, a delicious Chicken Tikka and for dessert a Chocolate Muffin.

Kirsty didn't like rearrangement of the tables that we had done this morning and so we had to change them back. After the game Pre- and Suffix, with something like Domino stones and a game like "Monday painter" to rewrite some words, we had hard work with James.

After school I did an architectural trip on the east side of the Royal Mile. First I made a glimpse of the outside from the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the Queen’s official residence in Scotland. The palace developed from a guesthouse attached to Holyrood Abbey, which was extended by King James IV in 1501 to create more comfortable living quarters than were possible in the exposed and windy hill-top castle.



New Scottish Parliament - the Bottomless Pit?

The temporary Parliament Building Visitor Centre records the development of the project from initial architectural design competition to the current state of construction. The competition to design the new building was won in July 1998 by the late Catalan architect Enric Miralles, who envisaged a group of elliptical buildings with curved roofs inspired by upturned boats seen on a beach in northern Scotland. www.edinburgharchitecture.co.uk/scottish_parliament.htm and www.scottish.parliament.uk



The Tun - Bar



The University of Edinburgh

Edinburgh has three universities. The oldest, biggest and most prestigious is the University of Edinburgh, with over 15’000 undergraduates. www.ed.ac.uk

During dinner with Wendy and Bill we had a lot to giggle about. I like the TV Show about gardening, which they also prefer. When the owners come back home in the evening, they find a newly designed garden with fountains, new plants, a small summerhouse and it was such a pretty sight for me. I learned also, that the Scots are very proud of their nice yards and I was very surprised, that a lot of filigree flowers are grown in this windy and rainy climate.

On the phone I talked to my husband and I think that only I talked! I had so much to tell and explained that the time went by too fast and I knew that it will give me an expensive phone bill back home. But I hoped also that I could send Roland some photos, so that he could get an idea about my stay here and some ideas for our holidays in August in Scotland.

After dinner, I went back to town to meet the others. We walked to New Town and of course, in a pub we tried a beer. We all ordered different beers, so we could try each kind. Even these pubs were old, but they looked very different to those in Old Town. They looked more cheerful and they had all the same tables and chairs. I mean they were a little bit bigger and there was more difference in age than in the New Town pubs. But it could also just have been my imagination ... Back home I did some homework and labelled more pictures.

Tuesday, June 15, 2004 (Fuel Protest)

Fuel Protest, the lorries drove very slowly through Edinburgh.

During breakfast, I told my host mother Wendy about the idea of going with friends to the Royal Botanical Garden after school. That would be no problem for her, then she had her “women's day”. She liked to meet her girlfriends in Glasgow for cooking and having a fine lunch. She left the house for the bus station at the same time as me.

This time I was a little bit faster (half an hour) in downtown Edinburgh and now I am writing my German diary in the bus. It was also a good time to study the people in the bus or those waiting at the stops. I noticed that the women wore neat blouses with a skirt or trousers. The men were dressed in suits with a tie. I was a little too early and it was nice weather for taking some photos. On the Royal Mile, I met David and he recommended some nice pubs in Edinburgh to me.

During the morning lessons, James gave us some statements on the artists Paul Gauguin and Diego Velázquez and we had to find out to whom this refered. Nice, we could search in the Internet and so I found the teachers answers under www.insideout.net ;-) But sure, we also learned some new words and a lot about the lives of these artists. James drew me a map to find the cheapest Internet Shop in town.

At lunchtime I went to the bus station again and Joe from France accompanied me. I asked about my bus pass, unfortunately it was not at this station but at a bus depot about half an hour away by bus. In “sweet” English I asked about the possibility if they could give it to me at this station the next day. The Scots are really very friendly and helpful. After this hard work we went in a pub and ate a toasted sandwich – mhhh very delicious and with fresh salad. Having gotten a discount for waiting a little bit longer, we sprinted back to school with the sandwich.

Kirsty taught us some expressions (adjective order) like “dark brown eyes”, “long dark hair”, “curly hair” and “has a slim build” which are a source of trouble for foreigners. Then again the lessons with James were tough and he went with us to the library and computer room.



Royal Botanical Garden - with friends

After class we met the others for a walk to the Royal Botanical Garden. It’s a nice, quiet, place to relax. It was founded in 1670 and it moved from near Holyrood to its present location in 1823. It’s the second oldest institution of its kind in Britain (after Oxford) and one of the most respected in the world. Seventy beautifully landscaped acres include splendid Victorian palm houses, colourful swathes of rhododendron and azalea and a world-famous rock garden. www.rbge.org.uk



Back to New Town

New Town lies north of Old Town, on a ridge running parallel to the Royal Mile and is separated from it by the valley of Princes St. Gardens. Its regular grid of elegant, Georgian terraces is in complete contrast to the “chaotic” tangle of tenements and wynds that characterise Old Town. Along with Old Town, it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1995.

Between the end of the 14th century and the start of the 18th, the population of Edinburgh – still confined within the walls of Old Town – increased from 2’000 to 50’000. In 1766 the Lord Provost of Edinburgh announced an architectural competition to design an extension to the city. It was won by the unknown 23-year-old James Craig, a self-taught architect. During the 18th and 19th centuries, New Town continued to sprout circuses, parks and terraces, with some of the finest neoclassical architecture designed by Robert Adam.



Royal Scottish Academy

Two of Edinburgh’s most impressive neoclassical public buildings, the Royal Scottish Academy and the National Gallery of Scotland, both designed by William Playfair between 1822 and 1845 in the style of Greek temples. The older of the two is the Royal Scottish Academy, which presents an annual exhibition by its members. www.royalscottishacademy.org and www.natgalscot.ac.uk



University of Edinburgh - New College

The twin towers of New College – home to Edinburgh University’s Faculty of Divinity. Nip into the courtyard to see the statue of John Knox.

Monday, June 14, 2004 (First Day in School)

Three (or four) students and one bathroom, this would be the ceremony now every morning. We ate breakfast together with our host mother and spoke about the dinner and our plans for the evening program. Our host father left the house, normally earlier in the morning. JoeJoe liked his first training unit in the morning, which was fetching the ball in the garden and so we threw the ball again and again.

After having asked Miguel for a pound – I needed the exact change for the bus to school – I walked to the bus stop. I was telling myself again and again; just wait on the correct side because the traffic drives on the left. After a few minutes of standing in a queue, the red double decker bus arrived. Everywhere, I saw children in their school uniforms. Over and over again, I asked the other passengers where we were and how long it would take me to the station closest to school. After a 45 minutes bus ride and a small walk, I stood before the school building. Wow very special – the building had been a church before and the “gothic” windows gave it a special look.



Edinburgh School of English

A file with the basic information and a warm welcome gave us the first impression of the school. After a test and an interview it was time for the first break. With Jon and Pekka, I looked for a café close to school and we asked each other about the reasons for our stay. Back in school, we met our classemates and the hard work began. James was the name of our morning teacher and the other students in the class come from all over the world - China, Japan, Spain, Italy, Finland, Austria and Croatia. We met in the room called Skye; all rooms are named after an isle from Scotland. Our work book for the next two weeks was Inside Out, Macmillan ISBN 0-333-75764-8.

A strange smell, like fresh bread, was always in the air … it was the hops from the Edinburgh beer brewery. And also very special was the daily “laugh” of a sea gull, close to our school window. For lunch we met us again and I ate my first “wrapper” with chicken salsa. The time flew by and back in school again we met Kirsty, our afternoon teacher. She told us about nice places close to Edinburgh. After another break I met James again, but now in a smaller group. We had some tough lessons with him. First, we heard some criticism about our English … ups, sure but also some nice words about the good things … uff, but at the end a lot of homework … puhh. After school (at 5 pm) Suzanna went with Pekka and me to the bus station and helped us to buy a bus pass.

Now it was the first time, that I walked a part of the famous Royal Mile. It descends the rocky ridge from the castle to Holyrood Palace and it’s a mile long historic street in the Old Town. I took some photos and met some fascinating closes, wynds and courts. The names of some places were: Mercat Cross, Parliament House, Edinburgh City Chamber and the Heart of Midllothian … some people from Edinburgh spat in the centre of it!? This heart-shaped stone set marks the site of the entrance to the Tolbooth that stood here for 400 years. The Tolbooth served as a collection point for tolls and taxes, council chamber and courthouse, prison and place of execution.



St. Giles' Cathedral

The open-crown spire of St. Giles’ Cathedral dominates the Old Town’s skyline. Supporting the spire are four pillars dating from around 1120. These are part of an early church that was under the responsibility of the Lazarites, who cared for lepers, and this may be why the church is dedicated to St. Giles, patron saint of lepers. I tried to take some pictures of the very nice stained glass windows and the gorgeous Thistle Chapel (The Order of the Thistle – Scotland’s highest order of chivalry), but they were too dark without a tripod. www.stgilescathedral.org.uk

In the bus my new bus pass fell into the coin slot and the bus driver and I were very sorry about that. After dinner (with dessert), small talk, a lot of homework, writing in my German diary and labelling the pictures (with help from my host father Bill), I was too tired to look at the news on TV.



Home of my host family in Edinburgh

Sunday, June 13, 2004 (Arriving in Edinburgh)

Today is the big day – I will leave Switzerland for three weeks to study English in Edinburgh.

At the airport in Zurich I said goodbye to my husband. It was with a laughing and crying face, then it would be a long time to be away from each other, but I was also excited about meeting new people, learning a little bit about the Scottish culture and of course improving my English. On the flight from Zurich to Amsterdam I spoke with two men from Aberdeen. They were working for an oil company and they briefly introduced Scotland to me. During the wait for the next flight, I filled out a questionnaire about the airport in Amsterdam. It wasn't a bad start to learn English.
In the next flight I met some people from Hamburg. They were going to make a round-trip through Scotland in eight days. Special circumstances, the woman closest to me, has some relatives who live two villages away from our home!

In Edinburgh the first drive on the left side of the road was a special moment. And I thought that I needed a second look to understand how to drive in a four lane roundabout. After a warm welcome by my host family and their cheeky dog JoeJoe, I had my first cup of tea in Scotland. Then a lot of information followed one after the other. There would be a lot to see and do in Edinburgh. www.edinburgh.org



View from the bedroom window at my host family.

Before dinner I wanted to see a little bit of the neighbourhood. My idea about the short walk to Corstorphine Hill died suddenly, then I was standing on private property and a caretaker was very surprised to see me on “his” guarded plot of land. So I looked for a different way to the tower. But bad luck again, the battery of the digital camera was dead and so I don’t have pictures from the nice view and the tower.



View from Corstorphine Hill in the direction of the Pentland Hills.

Before dinner, I met Miguel (from Spain) and he gave me some tips for the stay. My host mother was a very good cook and I enjoyed the sweets after dinner too. But I think it won't be so good for my figure … :-) That evening the Red Hot Chilli Peppers had their concert. During the evening Rezwald another new fellow occupant, from Kenya. He would work for Edinburgh School of English – if I understood it right – his job seemed like a guard for younger students, but he helped also with the preparation for the start of the summer semester. At 22:30 it still wasn't dark yet and I appreciated this fact for the whole stay.