Jessica and Isaac visit

Jessica and Isaac came to visit Edinburgh a couple of weeks ago. They certainly got a taste of Scottish weather with days of sun, rain, snow, and even hail. I wish it could have been a week of better weather but you can't control everything. It is weird though, since they have left it has been sunny and warm for a week straight! Today I even went outside with no coat. Crazy.
Isaac came at the start of the week and stayed for the whole week. It was really good to see a familiar face and catch up on everything back in the States. I showed Isaac around the town his first day and we went to sleep early to go to Stirling the next morning. Stirling is about a fifty minute train ride outside Edinburgh and is home to the Stirling Castle. The castle has a long past of being violence, trading of power, and Kings and Queens. The castle is located at the top of a hill in Stirling and overlooks the Scottish country side with the highlands in the background. Just to the west of the castle is a field were the battle of Stirling Bridge occurred. The Scots were lead by William Wallace and they were fighting to take the castle back from the English. This is what the movie Braveheart is based on. We joined a free tour that was led by a true Scot who described the different rooms, statues, and historical significance of the castle. I thought the tour was very funny, informative and gave a lot of information about the castle.  We headed back to Edinburgh to head to Reuben's loose member party haha. It was a fun night and Isaac seemed to have a fun day and night. The rest of the week I took Isaac to the sights of the city like Calton Hill, The Royal Mile, Prince Street, and the Grassmarkets. We spent Tuesday and Wednesday night watching the Champions League (Barcelona vs Arsenal then Tottenham vs AC Milan). We had a good time watching and talking about football while downing a couple pints. On Thursday we went to the Camera Obscure which is located on The Royal Mile. Camera Obscure has a video camera that looks out onto the whole city and then projects it down on to a table while people sit around the table and look at the video. A guide takes you through the city and describes the history and the different sites of Edinburgh. It was a fun tour and I think Isaac really enjoyed it. Jessica arrived Friday night from Madrid. We all went to a restaurant to eat haggis, neeps, and tatties (haggis, turnips, and mash potatoes). They all enjoyed the national dish of Scotland and also enjoyed washing it down with a couple pints from various pubs and bars. The next morning we toured the Edinburgh Castle, ate in the Elephant House, and went on a literary pub tour that night. The literary pub tour was very fun. Being me I thought it might be a little wack but the two guys who lead it were very entertaining and informational. They told the story of some of Edinburgh's poets and authors and how they got inspiration from the upper class New Town and the drunken, dirty, and day to day life of the Old Town. We stopped in to many small pubs on the Royal Mile for pints and went in close's (small alleyways) were the acted out poetry. Isaac left the next morning and I was sad to see him leave because he had basically become one of the flatmates. I hope he had a fun time and I can't wait to see him when I get back. I took Jessica all around the city the next day...up too Calton Hill, The Royal Mile, Prince's Street, and Holyrood Park. We got to see the whole city and had pretty good weather as well. Jessica was leaving the next morning so we went to sleep early. It was nice to see family again and to show Jessica my city because last year she showed me around Madrid. I had a great time with Jessica and really enjoyed her stay here...maybe I will see you again in Madrid haha!

Hearts Football Game/Scotland Rugby Game

First off sorry for not blogging in a while...I have been pretty busy the past couple of weeks with Isaac and Jessica visiting.

A couple of weeks ago Ricardo and I decided to go to a local football match in Edinburgh. Edinburgh has two major football teams in the Scottish Premiership, Heart of Midlothian and Hibernian (Hearts and Hibs). In the past Protestants pulled for Hearts and Catholics cheered for Hibs. I am sure this is still the case for some supporters in Edinburgh, but for me I go for Hearts because their stadium is located on our side of town and they third in the Scottish Premiership table.  That day the Hearts were playing Kilmarnock, who were fourth in the table.  Ricardo and I set off for the game around two. It was a three o clock kick off and I had just woken up at one because I went to the Pete Tong/Afrojack concert the night before with my friend Craig (ask me about it later if you are interested), so I was a little tired but pumped to watch my first football match here. The stadium (Tynecastle Stadium) is about a twenty minute walk from our flat. When we started to get close to the stadium, we saw lots of Hearts pubs filled with supporters. Since it was near game time, the pubs started to empty out with all the fans who took over the sidewalks and parts of the streets. They were chanting with Hearts cheers while headed towards the stadium. If you have ever witnessed Green Street Hooligans it reminded me of the supporters walking to West Ham's stadium. Our seats in the stadium were in the second row from the field! They were in the corner of the stadium which didn't allow for the best views when play was on the other side of the field but it was pretty awesome when action was right near us and when they were corner kicks near our seats. Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera to the game so I did not get any pictures but I there is another Hearts game while I am hear so I can get some pics at that game. Also the Hearts ended up losing the game 2-0. The Hearts dominated the first half (which was on our side!) but failed to score. Kilmarnock scored twice in the second half which was also on our side. In the end it was a very fun game to attend and I got a taste of what a football game is like in the UK.

This past Saturday Caleb, Andrew and I all went to the Scotland vs Italy six nations rugby game.  Six Nations is a rugby tournament involving France, Italy, Wales, Ireland, England, and Scotland. This was the last game of the tournament and up to now Scotland had lost every game. Even though they had virtually been in every game of the tournament they just seemed to lack the finishing quality that was need for winning. However, Italy was not a very good team either. They had only won against France in the tournament. So Scotland definitely had a chance of beating Italy and not loosing every game in the tournament. Kick off was at 2:30, but Caleb, Andrew and I all decided to wake up around ten and grab a couple pints before the game. We went to Murryfield Pub (Murryfield is the the name of the stadium) which is only 50 yards away from the stadium. The atmosphere was pretty incredible in the pub. It was packed with Scottish supporters and made for a very fun couple of pints. As the start of the game neared, we left the pub and joined the massive crowed that was walking through the streets to the stadium. At the stadium there was almost a small state fair outside. It had live music and plenty of food and drink stands. It added to the environment as there were many Scottish people standing outside drinking and listening to music. We headed for our seats which were on the second row from the field (weird how that happened twice) and near the right side of the stadium. There was many Scottish flags in the stadium and even a small group of people with bagpipes playing in the stands. Surprisingly there was also a lot of Italian fans who started many cheers through out the game. However those cheers did not seem to help as Scotland beat Italy 21-8 for their first win of the tournament. It was a awesome game and I glad that I have played rugby before and could understand the rules and game flow.