A Students Life at Riccarton

Wednesday, October 13, 2004

Tourist trip to Edinburgh

Hiya, tuesday I took a trip to Edinburgh to take go and see all the touristy things to see..
I didn't find Grayfriars and I didn't get time to go to the castle, so I have to do that another day :)
First I saw many people with cameras walking ut some cool stairs with lionsheads on the rails:

I thought that looked like a promising tourist spot so I followed them up.
What I didn't know was that after the rather steep steps, came a very steep climb up a hill:

you might not see excactly how steep it is, because I think I might not hold the camera very straight :)

When I got to the top, I was happy to have made the trip though.. It was a really nice view from up there








Otherwise there was a half started piece of a castle there. I heard that it was started, but that the funding ran out, and they never finished it..


there was a observatorium there too:

a guardhouse or lookout point


and this tower


I just had to take a picture of this :) we don't have those in norway anymore..


Afterwards I went to the Royal Mile. I really really want to go on one of the many trips that is being adverticed there:






If it seems like I don't have a lot of knowledge about the things I've seen, that's very true. Next time, I think I'll go on one of those guided tours, so that I know what I'm seing :)

Tuesday, October 05, 2004

Duckie duck duck

Today I went for a walk around the loch after management class.
I took some pictures of the little duckies and swans, so here they are.


This is the loch in the middle of campus

it's as you can see really beutiful.

this is a strange piece of art right between the loch, student union and the James Watt Centre

and this is the entrance to James Watt Centre with James Watt(one of the founding fathers of Heriot Watt University) sitting infront of it.

The cool thing about this place is that all the buildings have their own name, like my school building is Earl Mountbatten Building, my home is Lord Home Hall, the main building where the bank, cafès and shop is Hugh Nisbet Building a.s.o.

Saturday, October 02, 2004

FIIIIIReeeeee

Today the firealarm went off twice in one hour.
I think it's just overly sensitive or something because it will go off if someone leaves the bathroom door open when showering, or if someone dries their hair near the smokedetector..
Well, atleast I got some fresh air and something to do..

I only have like 4£ left until my bank can transfer my money to my bank over here, so there's not much to do until then.
I think i might die of boredom soon, so I hope my money get her quick..

Monday I start school, I'm really looking forward to it, it will be good to get started on something.

Friday, October 01, 2004

Home sweet huuuuume

Thought I'd put out some pictures with where I'm staying, so here it is.

This is Lord Home Hall pronounced Lord Huuuuuume Hall. I was
in line for help with the internet in my room today and someone in
front of me got asked 'then where are you staying' and the guy
answered 'I'm staying in Lord Home Hall' and the man says 'it's not
Lord Home Hall it's Lord Huuuume Hall, that's important' :)

This is where I live. It's really nice, we've got our own Computer Lab
right down the hall from my room and a tv lounge down stairs.

This is my view from my room

and here you might see how the sky has been most of the time since I
arrived on sunday.

This is my room



it's not big but cozy and I'm not going to stay here a lot anyway

My tour of Scottland

Yesterday i went for a tour of Scotland.
This is some of the pictures from the tour

this is Hamish the 11 year old Highland Cow:


He came running as soon as he saw our tourguide with potatoes and brockoli.
He really liked that :)


This is the Wallace monument.

This monument honours one of the two great heroes of Scottland; William Wallace. William Wallace was a gerrilja warrior and gets credit for starting the rebellion against King Edward 1. He won an important battle at Stirling, but was crushed at fallkirk, and was later captured after he probably was betrayed by a friend.
The other great hero of scotland Robert the Bruce took up William Wallace's fight after his death, and lead the Scots to freedom.
William Wallace wasn't actually Braveheart, that was Robert the Bruce.
When Robert the Bruce lay in his death bed, he asked his friend to take his heart to the holy land, but on the journey to the holy land their ship was shipwrecked and they landed in spain. Spanish soldiers atacked Bruce's friends. Before thay ran towards the soldiers to counter their attack, the one carrying the heart threw it against the soldiers screaming "lead on my brave heart!"

This is the really bad statue of Mel Gibson as William Wallace

I don't think even Mel likes that one :)
The fencing you can see behind it is something that is put around the statue at night, because the local people has vowed to throw it in the nearest loch if they can get their hands on it.

this is a celtic cross from the church in Sterling


Sterling Castle.

it has never been taken by force, and lies on a netural fortress with only one side to defend.

This is a king outside the castle, we didn't get any history on him, so I have no idea who he is, but it was a cool statue