These are a few of my favorite things :)

     The last full day in Edinburgh was filled with some of my favorite things- free museums, nature, and elephants! Little did I know that Edinburgh's free museums happen to consist of some of my favorite things and correlate perfectly to what I'm studying here. The Museum of Childhood focuses on children's brains and how over time, things like toys, clothing, games, and literature have been shaped to cater to children's needs and how they continue to be resources to them today. The People's Story Museum happens to emphasize women's rights protests, housing crisis issues, and all sorts of marches and social causes throughout history, similar to the social issues I am learning about in my Applied Theatre course. They even had a special exhibition called "Herstory Woven", a participatory piece of art involving interactive weaving in relationship to the struggle of African women in Scotland. I also found myself in the Storytelling Center in Edinburgh which happened to be hosting their annual Storytelling Conference, one I would love to come back and attend someday. Even the National Museum has an exhibit on "Performance and Lives" which focuses on elements of worldwide ceremonies and performances such as music, rhythm, and masks. The mask section was particularly of interest to me, given I had just been in Venice and was able to make connections with the Commedia del Arte masks I had seen there in comparison to those on display.

                     
                                                     Tribute to Peter Pan at the Museum of Childhood 


                         
                  Wishing Machine like in "Greatest Showman"
                                



Herstory Woven Exhibit focusing on African Women in Scotland
                                                                                                      
                                                                                                            Masks at National Museum

     The day was also filled with beautiful weather and nature. I took this opportunity to go to Holyrod Park to climb up to a volcano called Arthur's Seat, 823 feet above the ground. The journey was steep and difficult, much like my trip has been here, but incredibly worth it in the end. It was encouraging to see so many, women in particular, climbing solo and independently. The top was extremely windy and cold; I literally probably could've been blown away with my backpack. There were points when I was holding myself down to the rocks and as strangers, we were all holding on to each other to remain still and take in the views of the city. It was the greatest place to see Edinburgh, the ocean, and all of God's beautiful creation from so high up. 

                                           

                  

                                                                       

                                                               

     The day concluded with another one of my favorite things- elephants! There is a famous cafe in Edinburgh called The Elephant House, and while many go there for Harry Potter, I went for the elephants. Similar to Oxford, Edinburgh is known for being a location that inspired J.K. Rowling to write about specific locations in Harry Potter and the Elephant House Cafe is where she is said to have written some of the story. The bathroom stalls are filled with fan notes to her and there is even a note she wrote about the place in a bookshelf at the cafe. I, however, was much more interested in the fact that the room looked like my own bedroom on steroids. Elephants filled the place with photographs, coffee mugs, chairs, paintings, books, and trinkets of elephants galore everywhere. I was in my element and totally in love! Upon coming here, I didn't bring any elephant trinkets to decorate my room, given limited space, but upon leaving Edinburgh, I now have another elephant for the collection for my flat here in London. It was the perfect way to end such a relaxing trip. 


                                      
                                                                             My excitement when I got to sit in the elephant chair




 

Note from J.K. Rowling 

How I got "reported" for drinking tea in London

     Since a few weeks after I arrived, I have been having some internal sickness and pain, most likely as a result from emotional stress, which has resulted in me drinking more tea than normal. Now I know I am in the tea capital of the world but to be honest, I have never been a huge tea fan and reserve it for sore throats and sickness. So one particular not-so-great morning, on my way to class, I brought my closed mug of tea on the bus to take to class with me. Unknown to me, there is a strict no food or drink policy on the free shuttle bus that takes me from the campus I live on to the campus for class. However, in the past, I have seen several students bring their closed tea mugs on the bus with no problems. So on this particular morning, the bus driver decides to give me a hard time about my tea, making a scene in front of the entire bus about the last person who spilled coffee on the bus and how much of a pain it was. While I of course am understanding of the rule and it's circumstances, anyone who knows me knows I am not one to start up trouble with someone for no reason. I respectfully declined his request for me to take the tea off the bus because my options were to a.) dump it out b.) take it back to my flat and miss my bus to class or c.) take it with me to class with no trouble. The bus driver did not like this option and told me if I didn't take it off he would need to report me. So very much unlike myself, I said "fine" and gave him my ID number to write down to supposedly "report" me. I was in no mood to be messed with that morning and these were unusual circumstances for me to have tea in the first place so I was fully prepared to explain this to anyone who might contact me regarding the "report". Now I don't know if this was just a threat, or the school system is too disorganized to take action, or what but now, 2 weeks later, I am still taking the bus to class with no problems, and others are still taking food and drink on it as well with no problems. 

     If you are someone in authority who has power, such as the bus driver in this situation, consider your circumstances and priorities and where someone else is coming from. Sure, he had no idea what my morning or week had been like and the background of why I desperately needed tea on this particular day, but if I had needed to explain myself, I would hope he would understand and be respectful of my circumstances. So be kind to others, and when someone does something annoying or off-putting, or out of character, take a moment to see it from their perspective before instantly jumping to how it may affect you. Just think for a brief moment what they could be going through or what the cause and effect of the situation might've been that led that person to the action they are currently making. 

Somewhere Unexpected

Sometimes God brings little blessings in the crazy of it all. After Venice, some other study abroad students and I planned a trip to Edinburgh for the weekend around the same time that God was throwing a lot of crazy curve balls at me. To be honest, I just went along with the Edinburgh plan with no real idea of what I wanted to do when I got there and no expectations. We were supposed to spend 4 days and 3 nights there but once again, just like the rest of the crazy happening, plans were changed. When we arrived at the bus stop on Thursday night, one of the girls realized she had booked the wrong tickets for everyone so we couldn't leave for Edinburgh until the next night. While we were disappointed and upset, it could've been much worse so we went back to East London for the night and had a redo the next day.

After an 8 hour overnight Megabus ride, we finally arrived in Scotland on Saturday. We spent the first day wandering the streets, exploring cute thrifty boutique shops, walking through the National Gallery, and taking a hop on-hop off bus tour to get a general overview of the city's sights. Our hostel was an old church converted into a story mural; all around the chapel were pictures of storefronts and each room was a different shop or function of the "city" such as "Bookstore" or "Barber Shop". On the first night, myself and two other girls took a nature trail back from dinner to our adorable hostel. I had been told Edinburgh was beautiful but just walking a simple trail with the river and changing colored leaves crunching beneath my feet was all I needed to remind myself of Wisconsin. This time last year I was in Door County with my family with similar sights; the only difference here in Edinburgh were the old, beautiful buildings surrounded by this gorgeous autumn nature.The feeling of the trail was familiar and comforting. (I later found out the smell of the city, particularly strong on that trail, is the wheat from all of the beer produced in the area. To me, it smelled like soggy Raisin Bran cereal but to each girl on the trip, the very specific smell had a different association.) As we walked back, I got a phone call from a person I admire a lot and hadn’t spoken to in awhile. It was someone I hadn't spoken to about my recent ventures and struggles but who God knew I needed to hear from. He reminded me of what life was like before this pain and was literally the perfect person I needed to hear from in that time and place. We talked for hours that night and as he was currently driving through Wisconsin, he told me it was snowing. I wasn't surprised but more nostalgic for home.

       

Our cozy, childlike converted church hostel

   

                        

    

By the next day it was clear the girls I came with and I had very different travel styles and ideas. They wanted to venture into Glasgow but given we had one less day than anticipated, I couldn't bear to leave beautiful Edinburgh only to get on yet another mode of transportation to another location, so I stayed back. We still had an entire city of Edinburgh to explore! I stayed back with doubts, however, and feelings of loneliness and uncertainty. But staying back ended up being the greatest choice I made on this trip, or rather God made for me. He had something greater in store I could’ve never seen coming.

I got up early with plans to check out some museums and hike up to Arthur’s Seat- though it was supposed to rain. I arrived at the Museum of Childhood earlier than it opened so I decided to find some place for breakfast. Wandering up the Royal Mile, waiting for the museum to open, God was calling me elsewhere. I walked about a block up the hill in front of a Radisson Hotel and God was telling me to go inside. I couldn't imagine why but when I looked down and right in front of me was a sign that said “Hillsong Edinburgh”. I'm not gonna lie, I had been pretty angry with God lately and, due to all the emotional stress, in no real mood for God or any of that on this morning. To be honest, I had forgotten it was Sunday and hadn’t been to church in a few weeks. I had no idea Hillsong had a location in Edinburgh. (The night before, I had just shared some life stuff with a friend at the Hillsong Bible College in Australia and asked her to pray for me, and now here I was outside Hillsong Edinburgh at the Radisson Hotel.) God told me to go inside the place, so I did, and found my way to the welcome table. I saw some people setting up but knew I was an hour and a half early so I told myself I would come back- with no accountability. I walked out of the hotel a few steps and God told me to go back inside. So he spoke and I listened. I figured there would be locals to give me suggestions for a breakfast place. I met three sweet girls who welcomed me and one gave me the suggestion for this cute vegan juice place to check out.

On the way to the juice bar, I walked through Victoria Street, the most photographed street in Edinburgh, known to have inspired J.K. Rowling to create her famous street in Harry Potter. I brought my breakfast back to Hillsong at the Radisson and found the girl I had met before. For you church-goers, you know there is a radical difference between showing up 5 minutes before service and potentially having no one to sit with versus arriving a bit early to find others to sit with. So walking back in there that second time was God’s way of showing me to friends I didn’t have an hour earlier. The next thing I know, one of the girls was sharing her life story with me and I was sharing mine with her. We agreed if we cried during the service, at least we would cry together. The message that Sunday was streamed from Hillsong London with a guest speaker from South Africa and was honestly the perfect message I needed to hear that day. After the service, I found myself ditching my original plans for the day and heading to Nando's with a bunch of the young adults from the church for lunch. Two hours later, we found ourselves chatting away as if we had known each other forever and I suddenly had new friends.

 

       


I eventually carried on with my original plans of seeing the museums I wanted to see. I still had some time to kill before the other girls returned, and the sun was setting, so I decided to climb up to Calton Hill. Right before I began hiking, another girl I met at Hillsong appeared. We had barely spoken two sentences to each other that morning but recognized each one another. Her friend was in town from London that weekend and she happened to be showing her around, so I tagged along and the three of us spent the evening together. So here, in the middle of the city, in a random tourist spot, two people who attended the same service just that morning, were now taking pictures and laughing and talking.

Upon returning to London, I got a message from two of those three friends I met saying they would be in London the following weekend and we ended up meeting up again. I feel like I have a whole other family in Edinburgh just waiting for me now, at the church, and among those people, who, within 5 short hours, managed to take me in and we learned about one another. I always knew Edinburgh was beautiful but the beauty I experienced that weekend went beyond the colors of leaves changing or historic buildings; it lied within the people and their stories and their welcoming arms to me. Just the day before, on that phone call, I had been sharing how I missed fall retreat, escaping the big city Chicago to peaceful Wisconsin, enjoying nature and worshiping the Lord. And here I was, across the ocean, escaping the big city London to peaceful Edinburgh, enjoying nature and worshiping the Lord. It was the retreat I really needed. So even in the midst of this "bad comedy" (as I like to call this chapter of my life with unexpected dilemmas bigger than your typical "homesickness"), God led me somewhere unexpected that day, and for that I am forever grateful. As many loved ones have told me since sharing this story, "maybe you need to go back", I think I will. I know I will come back to Edinburgh. The place that filled me with peace and open arms.
                                      



                                                          

Angel on the Tube

     So for those of you who don't know, I live about 45 minutes east of Central London so you can imagine the commute from Gatwick airport to my flat in East London. After a certain time of night the tube stops running and only buses are available. So when I arrived back from Venice around one in the morning on a Tuesday, it took another 3 hours of public bus rides from the airport back to my flat. Luckily, most of my classes here are in the afternoon so I still had some time to catch some sleep before heading into classes upon return. Venice was the first time I had left London and was returning to my flat in London and there was a sense of "coming home" that was comforting and new. Just like in Chicago when I leave for a weekend and come back, this was the same, except it was a new and surprising feeling. It was the first chance I could say I was "coming home" and I really felt it. From the second I exited Gatwick, two strangers, at two different times, helped me find where I was going at bus stations on the practically deserted streets of London at 2am. There may be this stereotype of cold, rude Londoners but I find it ironic how I spent a weekend in a foreign country with not nearly as friendly strangers helping and the second I arrive back am greeted by helpfulness.

     Throughout the weekend to Venice I had been praying for a stronger Christian community to surround myself with and the day I arrived back, I received a message inviting me to a Bible study. I figured I was too tired from traveling all day but in the middle of class, I decided I would go and give it a shot. After class, I took the tube another 45 minutes into Central London to meet with this group of Cru students I had never met before. I was still having phone issues at this point so I could only use my phone when on WiFi but I had the so-called instructions on which stops to get off at on my phone. However, due to my tiredness, I somehow managed to transfer in the wrong direction and when I realized it, I got off at the next stop to figure out where I was. I overheard this man asking a girl for directions and I sort of chimed in and asked the girl which stop she suggested I take to find this group. I told her "Sorry it's been a really long day and I just got back from the airport so I think my brain is full of too many numbers and names of train stops right now to concentrate". She had also just come from the airport (Heathrow, but still) from Colombia visiting a friend and we began chatting. 

(Now normally the train station is the last place I talk to strangers. I know I should be more open, and I've recently been more observant on public transit due to theater assignments, but having a genuine full on conversation waiting on a train platform is a rarity for me. In my head, it only ever happens in movies or with my overly open and outgoing friends.) 

     So this girl and I get to chatting and have all these little random things in common like her company is based in Copenhagen, she asks me where I've traveled, and she's from the same city my dear friend is studying abroad in. We get to my stop, or what she thought was my stop, and are about to say goodbye and briefly exchange names. I thought this would be the extent of our conversation but it turns out I still had another few stops before I had to leave so we sit down and continue chatting. We share our hopes of where we want to travel next and she gives me suggestions for places to go near Canterbury the next time I visit my friend. She gave me tips on the airports and traveling and we started to bond over silly little things, but it was so nice and made my day. We ended up exchanging information and I got off the train to meet the group of Cru strangers waiting on me but that moment on the train really made me smile. It was as if God wanted me to visit this Bible study just to meet this girl on the train, just to have a small moment that made me smile amongst the anxious night I was anticipating and was yet to come. It really is the little things sometimes. I told my mom this story later on and how unusual it was for me to talk to a stranger on the train. I think in a weird way Venice opened me up in a way I needed, a little too late, but in it's own timing. Here I spent all weekend in a place where I knew no one and should've maybe met more friends but then I return to my own city and meet a stranger on a train within a few hours of returning. Maybe Venice did do it's job of opening me up, even if that meant upon arrival. My mom said maybe she was just an angel sent that day, just for me. I'd like to think of it that way, and someday maybe we will meet again.