Sisterhood of the Travelers

And just like that, my time in Edinburgh is coming to a close. I fly out disgustingly early in the morning on November 19th, less a week from now; which is also, sadly, the first day of the Edinburgh Christmas Market. This is the downside of not making an itinerary - it means you sometimes miss out on things.

(For some pictures of and info about the Christmas Market, scroll on back to my post titled, "All I Want For Christmas (For Finals to be Done)".)

Sand won't stop running through the hour glass, and so we're doing our best to make the most of every day. Halloween weekend was the only thing we really planned ahead for: Kat's sisters came up from London, Melis rode in on the train, and we all dressed up for our loosely Disney-themed Halloween party. I went as Yzma, the sorceress from The Emperor's New Groove, and enjoyed the company of Velma, Evil Tinkerbell, Woody, a smurf, a pirate, Milo, a dinosaur, and a cat. We had a great time singing along to Disney songs, playing Halloween games, and eating candy apples.

Since Melis was in for the weekend, she and I got brunch on Saturday at a cute little café near the train station called Rooms & Rumors. They are known for their donuts which, ironically, neither of us tried. We all stayed over at Kat's following the Halloween bash, and got ourselves up and ready the next day to walk to Stockbridge for lunch. Background: Sienna and I lived in Stockbridge with our friend Pim for about 5 months after finishing our master's program. We absolutely had to go see our old flat - the door has a new coat of paint, but through the windows, the bookshelf in the living room looked empty. It's an incredible flat, so hopefully someone will love calling it home as much as we did!

Kat, Sienna, me, and Melis

Brunch was at The Pantry, where we ordered more food than we really needed, and then we walked past all the little shops and restaurants in Stockbridge before Melis and Sienna had to catch their trains. Thanks to Kat, the four of us are now adorned with friendship bracelets!

The weekdays haven't been as busy, but that doesn't mean they've been any less fun. I got to catch up with my friend Rachel and hear all about her doctoral program - I don't think pursuing a PhD is in my future, but Rachel is killing her dissertation! We got brunch at the Treehouse Café, which had plenty of vegan and gluten-free options. That same day, Mira and I boarded a train to Glasgow to see a friend from our grad program - we met up with Garrow and Sienna at a teahouse called Tchai Ovna to eat dinner and listen to a poetry reading. The Thai curry was amazing, but the chai tea was a little too spicy for me.

That evening was my first time visiting Glasgow, and we were only there for a few hours. It's bigger than Edinburgh, and busier and noisier - not bad things, but I think I prefer the smaller, quieter city.

It's been raining a lot, so walks around the city have been postponed. Instead, I meet up with Sienna and Kat in coffee shops, where I look for jobs and try to get back into writing. In a way, we want to be back in our program again - not to do the work over, but to relive all those days we spent together, sitting in cafés and talking about our writing. It's easier when we're together.

And in between, I've spent a few days here and there alone at the hostel. "Alone" is a stretch - there are so many other people there - but I can catch up on sleep or laundry or just have a little introvert time without too much trouble. My first few nights I had a difficult time sleeping; the rooms are so completely silent that every little noise is amplified. Someone shifting in their bed, opening their locker, the drunk group of friends singing loudly outside - everything startled me awake. Thankfully I've gotten used to it, and I can sleep much more soundly now.

This past weekend, Sienna & Kat & I met up in Grassmarket for their Saturday morning market - we ate seafood paella under a tree and took a long walk around the city. On Sunday, Kat and I headed to Slateford for church and brunch. When I lived here, I attended St Paul's & St. George's Church (Ps & Gs). But Kat wanted to try out St Michael's Parish Church, which happens to be next to the university housing I lived in during our program. It also happens to be the church that hosted a zumba class we went to a few times. After the service we went to Tea & Sympathy, a café we frequented during our Uni days.

This was truly the nostalgia tour. I used to cut through the grounds of St Michael's on my way to class; and we actually walked back to our alma mater after lunch. Edinburgh Napier University looks much the same now as it did then, and brought back plenty of memories. A walk through Morningside, ice cream at S Luca, a Sainbury's meal deal for dinner - things we used to do all the time together.

I read back through this blog about a month ago, as I was preparing to cross the pond again. I am so thankful to have all of these pictures and memories documented - there were so many little moments I had already forgotten about!

And coming up: a day trip/whiskey tour, hiking Arthur's Seat, and more! We've only got a week left, but you'd better believe we'll make it count.

Book Recommendation: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. This has become one of my all-time favorite books - set in a world of Bardugo's own creation, six teenagers team up to pull the ultimate heist. Great worldbuilding, brilliant plot twists, and characters I would die for (& some of them would let me). Six of Crows is set after the events of Bardugo's original trilogy, Shadow & Bone - you don't have to have read S&B to read SoC, but if you want to read any books that come after, you'll want to start with S&B. The Grishaverse is a literary universe worth diving into!