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Published: October 9th 2014
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Some highlights since last time:
On Thursday, October 2, the GUU hosted their annual Oktoberfest party. I went with Ashlee, and we were really impressed by the event. They had long tables in the debate room, and a live band that played music and got everyone involved in different movements. There was a lot of swaying back and forth and raising your glass. They were selling beer steins, which I got as a souvenir from the evening. They were supposed to be charging more to fill them, since they hold around 2 pints. However, I got there early enough in the evening so they hadn't figured that out. Basically, I got two pints for the price of one. Always a great start to an evening.
Saturday evening there was a whisky tasting at the QMU that I went to with my flatmate Anna. They served cheeses and crackers, and then they had six half-drams of whisky for us to taste. They walked us through the proper method for tasting whisky, and we talked as a larger group about what we smelled and tasted. There were definitely some that were a lot better than others, but the evening was quite
fun. It was a very cozy, intimate setting that worked really well for the event. At the end of the night, they had a raffle for a bottle of whisky, but one of the organizers ended up winning, and he decided to be generous and serve it to everyone, so we each got to taste another type of whisky which was very exciting.
Sunday morning, I got up early to meet Student Tours Scotland for the day trip to Edinburgh. I had been particularly interested in visiting Edinburgh, and this tour seemed liked the perfect way to see it since it included the cost of admission into the Edinburgh Castle for only a few more pounds than the entrance itself would have been. We got on the bus and drove for about an hour before arriving in Edinburgh. We spent the morning touring the old town in Edinburgh, which was interestingly on many levels, which Gary explained was due to the interactions of the poor and the rich living in close quarters and building up and/or down into the earth. We also got to stop at The Elephant House, which was very exciting since that is considered "the birthplace
of Harry Potter," since J.K. Rowling did a lot of the writing of the series in this coffeehouse. We then went to the castle, where we got our tickets to enter. It was quite different than what I had expected; I was thinking that we would be going inside the castle and it would be similar to the way that Buckingham palace was set up where we could see different staterooms. Instead, the castle was mainly outside and we got to see amazing views of the city from the grounds of the castle. It was very windy and cold from the castle, however, so that made it a bit harder to enjoy. There were some parts that were inside, but they were set up more like museum exhibits than palace rooms. We got to see the crown jewels of Scotland, which were very ornate and gorgeous. After finishing up at the castle, we grabbed a bite to eat before joining Gary again for the tour of the new town, which he explained is where all of the rich people moved when they were tired of living with the poor. This part of town featured much more upscale shopping and dining
centers. We then had some time to explore on our own before heading back on the bus and heading back to Glasgow. By the end of the day, I was pretty ready to head back since I was starting to get sick and it was a lot of walking around so I was quite exhausted. All in all, however, I did enjoy the city and it was a fun experience!
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