It's beginning to look a lot like Scotland...

The views are stunning. Every direction you turn it's just one gorgeous building after the next. I felt like Belle today looking out the window of our rehearsal space with the castle and cobblestone outside. After rehearsal we, as promised, hit up the elephant room with our new friend Emily, where we got to draw elephants that were hung on the wall, feel that much closer to JK Rowling, and sip on some hot chocolate with baileys ;) then we went on a free walking tour with our crazy guide Justin, who showed us the funny secrets of Scotland- such as the peeing horse statue (made of copper- so the rain wore a hole in the soldiers copper head, the statue filled up with water, and the only way they could keep it from falling over due to its weight was to cut a hole in the horses junk to let the water out). We even got to spit on the heart of midlothian for good luck! Thankfully the rain held off until the night time (which made for a freezing walk home) but I'm now back in my room warm and cozy ready to get some sleep before a 7 am wake up call!

Rehearsal

After checking out the sweet continental breakfast at the dorm- which even had vegetarian sausage (and if anyone from camp is reading this, they tasted kind of like egg rolls), it was off to rehearsal we went! We stumbled upon the elephant room, where JK Rowling wrote Harry potter (conveniently on his birthday) so naturally we plan on grabbing some Harry potter birthday coffee on our way home. Rehearsal so far is going great- we changed the entire show, but for the better, and everyone is working very hard! Our theatre is very small, hopefully it will be easier to fill- we've already started passing out flyers to waiters!

birthdays, burgers, beers, and rainbows...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRIAN! 

on our walk over to dinner we were lucky enough to spot a rainbow over Arthur's Seat, which was hard to capture on film, but was quite a magnificent sight! 

we checked out Southern for dinner- I had a delicious mushroom/eggplant veggie burger, we all tried our first Scottish beer (some "organic blonde," which was really quite tasty) and even went in for the "kitchen sink" dessert, which was compiled of each dessert off the menu. 

it was a lovely first evening in Edinburgh- but now it's off to bed to beat the jet lag!

ain't lost- just wandering

as i write this post the Scottish army is marching past my bedroom window playing the drums... just to set the mood.

so today we had one simple task: find fringe venue 40, the quaker meeting house, where we will be rehearsing/performing. this simple task turned into hours upon hours of walking and as the title of this post suggests, not getting lost- but instead just wandering... (and getting lost, but who's counting?)

we stumbled upon the cutest little cafe- metropole- where we grabbed a bite to eat (and hot pink tea in my case) and i am officially suffering my first crush (not  gonna lie, these accents make me swoon in a second.)

we found our way to the royal mile- filled with shops and stands and AWESOME architecture, and we even found the fringe information stand and watched previews of other shows outside. the trek to our actual venue was a bit confusing (mimicked by the confusing weather... it literally pours down rain for 2 minutes, and then will be sunny and beautiful the next 5, rinse and repeat.) but we found it finally, and saw our spot in their own venue guide for the fringe. on the way back home we stopped at a bunch of little vintage thrift stores, and i'm sure we will be making our way back there very soon- the deals are just too good to pass up!

looking forward to starting rehearsals tomorrow (granted we can get back to our space) and getting down to work!

oh, and PS- laptop is up and running, for those who were concerned (aka, me)

We are here, we are here, we are here!

Well, after hours of flying we have finally touched down in Edinburgh and arrived at Pollock Hall, where I have moved into my lovely single room! The campus here at the University is stunning- and I have an awesome view of Arthur's Seat, a giant hill, from my bedroom window. The shower proved to be today's biggest challenge so far- it seemed I could only get high powered cold water, or a leaky faucet of hot water. Also, my laptop won't start up and so I'm a bit worried about that (thank goodness for smartphones or this blog would be donezo) but alas I am here in (sunny- momentarily) Scotland! They weren't kidding about bi-polar weather, we arrived to a nice breezy partly sunny airport, lugged our bags to our room in rain, and now it's hot and sunny again! Hoping it stays nice like this for the rest of the day, we're going to explore a bit and find a good restaurant near by for Brian's birthday dinner! It's refreshing to beat the Maryland heat for a bit... And note to mom- I successfully rolled my two giant bags while carrying a super heavy backpack with no complaints ;)

Til next time!

The waiting, the waiting, the waiting!

The gangs all here at Newark (well, most of the gang) waiting to board the plane to Edinburgh! I enjoyed my last somewhat healthy meal (I found out recently that Scotland has the worst national diet of all the UK) of an airport panini and banana, here's to hoping for somewhat decent plane food (too much to ask?) we've all been hanging out in the terminal, downloading apps for international communication (smartphone followers get viber or what'sapp and text me!) and reveling in anxiety for this trip- WE CAN NOT WAIT! The next time I post I'll be in Edinburgh! see you on the other side ;)

Program!

OUR LISTING IN THE FESTIVAL PROGRAM

when the page opens, click to zoom :)

less than 12 hours til the voyage begins- offically packed... hoping nothing is forgotten! (and that my overly-stuffed suitcase makes the weight limit)

Posters and promos

OUR SHOW!!! -link to our page on the fringe site!!

check out our hot poster (slightly misleading for a play all about death and despair?) but still- pretty sexy if i do say so myself.

prepped and prepared?

well, the time is almost upon us. spent the last semester rehearsing each Monday. spent the summer making sure i knew all my lines (well, and okay, traveling to China and- coincidentally- assistant directing Mulan Jr. at summer camp for kids.) spent hours upon hours trying to figure out what in the heck i need to pack/get ready (though let it be known i leave in less than 48 hours and have yet to pack a single sock.) and soon i will spend 4 hours driving to Newark where I will then spend 6 hours flying to Edinburgh, Scotland to perform in the Edinburgh Fringe Fest! I CAN'T WAIT!

i decided to start this blog to document my trip, and to share my adventures with the millions of people checking in on me via the interwebs. (hi mom). i took a journal with me to China and found that it really helped to capture the things that we did while we were over there in a simple way that i can always look back and reflect on. as i advanced in my "worldly travels" this summer, i figured why not advance to a new way of saving those memories to cherish!

now perhaps i should get to packing...