Edinburgh with a little Spanish flair....

So I arrived in Edinburgh Saturday night and checked into my new hostel which, incidentally, had a broken shower, broken locker, broken heater, and broken light. Yeah. So I'm lying on my freezing bed in a room by myself in a country I know nothing about reading the little welcome sheet. I pass five minutes or so in this manner before I hear the door open...in walks three girls giggling in a foreign language-I'm thinking great-on top of being alone, I have to watch three girls being all friendsy and having a great time...in the cold (did I mention it was cold?). So did I stay holed up in my cold, dark room feeling depressed and sorry for myself? False. These sweet Spanish girls instantly introduced themselves and invited me to walk around with them. Seriously, so nice. For the next two days they adopted me as their Texan friend and we explored Edinburgh together. Spanish girls are so fun...they randomly start singing when walking down the street and oh my gosh do they love to take pictures. We went bailar en un disco on Friday night, on a walking tour of Edinburgh Sunday morning, souveneir shopping in the afternoon, and hung out at the hostel bar Saturday night (after eating a little cheap Greek food). The only bummer is that they had to go back to Liverpool this morning where they are studying, but hopefully I'll be able to visit them soon...

So before arriving here, I knew absolutely NOTHING about Edinburgh and ZILCH about Scotland...but I've already had quite an education in the short time I've been here. Here's my new found knowledge that I'm now going to share with you so you too can be enlightened of my new surroundings:

1. Edinburgh is split into two areas. The first is old town- a very medieval like feel with towering buildings sprawled against sloping landscape. Gorgeous. There's Edinburgh castle, The Palace, Parliamentary Houses, St. Giles church, and loads of pubs advertising haggis and beer (still haven't tried haggis, but I promise I will). New town is across the bridge and has 18th century architecture dominating the skyline dotted with the most unbelievable shopping centers. Who woulda thunk Edinburgh was such a fashion center? If you want upscale shopping, they've got it. If you want H&M (which I do), they've got it. Too bad I'm poor...

2. Both Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and JK Rowling are from Scotland, and the actual pub where Rowling started writing Harry Potter on cocktail napkins is here pretty close to the castle like school that inspired Hogwarts. Very cool (and yes, I'm a total Harry Potter freak and not afraid to admit it).

Okay, so the time I've paid for internet use is almost up, but I promise to write more soon. Cheers heaps! (they say that here, still not sure what it means.)