Well. It’s been well over two weeks since my last post…time is just flying by here, I don’t know how it’s happening.

I’m settling in nicely to my new life over here, hanging out, having fun, living the good life. I’m still looking for a decent job, but in the mean time I’m just going to do some temp work. I have an interview later today, and will probably be working events and caterings. I guess there could be worse things, but I’m not looking forward to it. Still, it will be nice to have money coming in, instead of having to rely on my quickly diminishing bank account. Hopefully I’ll be able to save some money and replenish it a bit so I have money to travel more in the summer.

Christmas Time is Here…

And has been here since last week. This town goes crazy for Christmas/ New Year’s: they’ve been setting up this whole Christmas compound over the past couple weeks, and last week they opened it up. It’s actually pretty cool; lights in all the trees, a big Ferris wheel, outdoor skating rink (it was free to skate on opening day, so I taught my Aussie roommates to skate, good times), lots of great (but of course, overpriced) hot food and drink stands and a cheesy craft bazaar. They are also having a bunch of events all next month. Two weekends from now is the Great Scottish Santa Run, where participants run/walk 2k in a Santa suit…but they are also trying for the world record of most Santas in one place—last year there were 3500, but apparently that wasn’t enough, so they’re trying to get more people this year. Yes, of course we are doing it. Santa himself will be making a guest appearance, taking time out of his bust schedule to fly (yes, fly) into the town square on his sleigh, here to prove beyond a doubt that he does exist. There are loads of other events too, but those are the two I’m most excited about.

You know you’ve been in Europe too long when…

You actually start to like techno/dance music. Unfortunately it didn’t take me long, and now I not only tolerate it, but also actively seek it out and listen to it—around the house, when I’m walking/running, etc. Goes to show ya, never say never. I swore I would never like techno, but here I am. It’s gotten so bad I actually paid big money to get tickets to a concert this weekend. The group’s name is Faithless, and they are HUGE over here…it gets played it in supermarkets and restaurants, you hear it coming from cars and blasting through headphones, it’s everywhere. Anyway, this concert is supposedly the last ever in Scotland, so we had to go. It’s going to be HUGE, loud, and hopefully really good. I’ll try to take pics, and let ya’ll know.

Well, that’s all the news, the reports will probably become more infrequent now that I’m settling to a more regular life, but I’ll try to keep this updated.

P.S. A note to all who leave comments: I love comments, but if you leave a comment, please know that I don’t get your email address with it, so if you want me to reply, just send me an email. Can’t guarantee how quickly I will reply, but I will get around to it eventually. My address is: will.iamfree@gmail.com

Pictures!!

So this is moment you all have been waiting for...pictures of Edinburgh!! They are in no sort of cronological order at all, but I'll do my best to narrrate...

This is the view from the roof outside my window--I'm so stoked to have a roof to sit out on and read, though with winter coming, I don't think it will last long...

The part of town we are in is called Old Town/ Leith Walk...it's alot more "Euro" than the south part of the town, and it has more of a community vibe to it. I love it for sure.

This is the west end of the Royal Mile, Edinburgh's oldest and historically most busy street, now it's just a tourist trap, but still beautiful.

This is one of Edinburgh's many "Closes" or small alleys that used to make up the streets of the Old City.

This is another picture of the Royal Mile, this time from mid way down the street.


This was taken from the castle that overlooks the whole town, we are looking at the south westen part of town now.

This is Edinburgh's famous Princes street, a shopping Mecca that is packed on weekends.

This is another picture from the castle, this time looking south east.

Another shot from the castle, now we are looking North towards Princes Street and our house. That is the Fith of Forth in the distance, a salt water body that helps mellow out the weather in the winter (or so I'm told).


And last but not least, pictures of the castle itself, not the greatest shots, but you get the idea.


Well, that's all for now, there's more to come later...

Home Sweet Home

Yup that’s right, after a week of searching and I found a place to live! It’s a niiiice, very old, but recently renovated 5 bedroom flat just north of the city center. I made enough friends at the hostel that I’m able to move in with people I know, which is definitely a bonus. I’m happy for sure. Next step will be finding a job, but it’s good time of year to look, so I’m not worried.

Money, money, money…

I had to think about it all week and it was driving me crazy. It’s been quite a process to find a place. It’s my first time looking for a place of my own anyway, so doing it outside of the States made it that much more challenging. We first tried to get a flat through a letting agency, but they were going to make us pay £2100 in cash up front, and were also going to take £90 for their services (which included background checks, bank reference checks, personal references, and work references). I initially thought that we could make it work, and plunked down a £200 deposit, but quickly realized that there was no possible way to get £2100 to the UK in a couple of days. They took pity on us and gave me my £200 back, but it made for a stressful couple of days. The place we’re in now was so much easier to get in to—I explained our situation and he said we could move in the next day. We gave him a month and 2/3 up front and he gave us the keys. We breathed a sigh of relief and moved in. Simple as that.

My Roommates

I made a lot of friends at the hostel; I guess I just got lucky because the past two hostels I stayed at were not too social at all. So it looks like I will be moving in with a two Canadians, two Aussies, two Spaniards, and me. Should be good times—funny thing is after this month, I will be the only guy in the house. I’m either really lucky or doomed—guess we’ll find out! Everyone is really chill and we all get along great together, I’m looking forward to a fun 6 months.

Well that’s all the news for now—next week is Job Search Week; I’ll let you know how it goes…

The search continues...

Looked at two more flats today, one very bad, one ok. The good news is I now have a friend from the hostel that is in the same boat as I am, so we're looking together. Makes it quite a bit more fun, let me tell ya. It also opens up our possibilities abit more as we can expand our search to include real apartments, not just rooms. It would be nice to have someone to live with that I actually like hanging out with as opposed to some random dodgy character (as they say here). So that's the latest. On the job front, I need to follow up on some of the places I applied at but I'm much less concerned about it than I am a flat.

Just checked my bank account and things are looking much less scary now that I'm out of london and in an at least semi permanent living situation. One of the best things about my hostel is they have a kitchen, so I've been able to massivly cut down on costs by using that.

Today is Guy Fawkes day, so we got a group of people together to go out and watch the fireworks. Should be fun. For those of you who don't know about Guy Fawkes, you can check it out here.

Should have posted this yesterday...

Happy Birthday to me!

And what a great birthday it is. My friends from St. Andrews just stopped by on their way to Spain, and had lunch with me, which was super cool. I’ve made friends at the hostel, and we’re hanging out tonight for my birthday. I’m starting to feel like I’m getting to know Edinburgh better. I love this city and life is good.

I’ve been pretty busy actually. I’ve looked at a couple of flats; one was not good at all, and another was alright, except it was very far from town. So the search continues…
I went down to the main shopping district yesterday to look for jobs, and dropped off a bunch of resumes at outdoorsy type stores, most of which seemed very interested.

Speaking of jobs, I quit mine yesterday. It may seem like a bad idea I know, but let me explain. This place was a mess; he had about 20% of the tools needed to operate any sort of bike repair. The “shop” was a 20x20ft area shared with more than 50 bikes. In one corner was a stand and a very small workbench piled with tools. My boss would have work that he’d expect me to do, but would get mad if I couldn’t do it because of missing/ lost/ broken tools. He paid me today and actually tried to negotiate with me about the amount, because I didn’t get that much done. Unbelievable. I explained to him that we agreed on an hourly wage, not a per-job wage and that I needed the full amount of money. He put up a bit of a fight, but eventually I got what I earned. I was super stoked that I stood up for myself; I don’t think I would have before this trip. So there you go, my heart warming coming of age birthday story.


That’s about it. The rest of the day will be looking for flats, following up on jobs, and maybe even a nap if I’m lucky. Cheers.

Edinburgh

Edinburgh is cool

Yeah so this town rocks. It is super laid back, has a great vibe, lots of culture, and the people are very friendly. It’s basically everything I thought London was going to be. It’s also a lot smaller than London, and infinitely easier to get around (I’ve only used my map once) as there was actual planning that went into the making of the city. Last night there was some kind of Halloween/ Fall celebration. I really couldn’t make sense of it, but there was a big performance on a stage in the middle of the town square and about 1000 people in attendance. It was pretty cool, and certainly would have been more so if I had known what was going on.

I’m Kinda Sick
Well, I’ve been fighting off the Crazy Euro Flu sense I got here, and it seems to be catching up with me now. I’m poppin’ vitamins like there’s no tomorrow, so hopefully I’ll stay healthy for a bit longer.

I’m Kinda Employed
I walked into this bike rental place and asked about a job today, and he said that he needs someone, but only for a very limited amount of hours a week. The upside is that the guy who runs it is super chill, the downside being that the shop is VERY unorganized. He has basically given me free reign over the shop though, so that is cool. He’s also going to pay me in cash so it’ll be under the table, which another plus for me. Other good news on the job front is the woman who runs the BUNAC branch up here is friends with the assistant manager at one of the bigger bike shops in town so there is a possible in there as well. We’ll see, could be good.


I Might Have a Place to Live
I’m going to check out a flat right now. It’s really cheap and has two bedrooms, so I’m kinda suspicious, but we’ll see. If I do get it, I could get a flatmate and have VERY cheap rent. Could be good.

So that’s all for now, things are looking good for Will in Edinburgh, so stay posted.

P.S. Here are some pictures from St. Andrews.