Edinburgh

Two weekends ago, we went on the first MLF "class trip" to Edinburgh, Scotland. About 14 of us went in all, and it was a great time. Also, Edinburgh was one of the schools that I considered so we were anxious to see the city.

We left Friday after class and took a train from Oxford to the Birmingham airport. Then we took a really short flight to Edinburgh. Plane travel is so much easier here than it is back home. Plus our round-trip flights only cost around 30 pounds each!

Me and Lee (one of the other 3 Americans in the MLF program) at the Birmingham airport

 Edinburgh is the ancient capital of Scotland. Its castle dominates the city's skyline from its position atop the volcanic Castle Rock.  Since it was just a weekend trip, our only day to really see the sites was on Saturday and we spent most of the day at the castle.

A view of the castle from the city

The view from the castle into the city

Me and Arne in the castle's great hall.  Arne is a fellow MLF student from Norway.  Thankfully, he resisted his Viking instinct to storm the castle walls and ransack the place!

Another great part of Edinburgh is the Royal Mile, which is a succession of streets running from the castle through the Old Town.  Although this area was quite "touristy," it was still fun to see the Scottish culture.

Of course, there were bagpipe players in kilts

Leah and Karthi admiring the effects of their Edinburgh crash diet

Since we are good students, we had to take a picture in front of the statute of the famous economist, Adam Smith