Happy Hogmanay!!

Well everyone, I'm back in Glasgow again.  Gearing up for term two (just under two months long)!  We will only have classes through the beginning of March after which we have a one month spring break.  I will be using the first two weeks to go lambing and calving with a friend down in England.  The last two weeks will hopefully be spent visiting a friend in Spain.  After break we have a month of review sessions and study time and then exams in May!  Crazy.

I'm very excited for 2012 to start.  I rang in the New Year at a friends get together here in Glasgow and had a blast.  In the UK, especially Scotland, the New Year celebrations are intense!  So much so that they have their own name for it: Hogmanay.  And they also have January 2nd off as a bank holiday!  There were fireworks set off all over (they are legal here and I'm not talking about the wimpy backyard fireworks) and paper lanterns released.  Think the end of the Hangover 2.

Paper lanterns

Yes, this movie.

Today I went to Edinburgh for the day (just an hour train ride away) with my friends and explored the city.  We walked up the Royal Mile, saw the castle, and looked over the ocean. 

Edinburgh Castle

Royal Mile

We also had a very yummy lunch at a pub called "Dirty Dick's."  No joke.   It was great and the pub had such character.  

Yes, those are pots and tankards on the ceiling.

The inside

Outside.

Afterwards we went on a tour of the Mary King's Close.  A close is essentially a small street or walkway that separated buildings.  About 300 years ago, some buildings adjacent to the Royal Mile were demolished to make room for a trading centre.  However, only the top of the buildings were demolished thus creating an underground city.  This was blocked off during the plague and reopened later allowing people to live underneath the city!  It was quite an interesting tour with some very, well, crazy Scottish facts.  

Well, classes start on Wednesday and we have our rescheduled Biomolec exam next week.  My roommates and I are planning on going to Stirling next weekend to go see the castle and explore the town to celebrate finishing the exam.  I'll post pictures if we go.