My Introduction to Edinburgh

Hello out there friends, family, strangers, or whoever you are and however you found me here,

My name is Nick.  I'm currently twenty and two years of age.  I attend the University of Edinburgh's postgraduate Sound Design program.  I am most passionate about music and sound whether I'm listening and (maybe) appreciating, composing or creating, discoursing or arguing, or even just thinking about music/sound and sending my heart all a-flutter.

But enough about me!  I have begun this blog for several purposes.  One is to have a format to stay in touch with my native land of the US of A.  I realize that I'm not the best at "keeping in touch" especially now that I'm doing my masters in the UK, but if there is a way to post photos, short messages or articles and general updates about my life to an easily accessible format then 'Hey! Why not?'  For instance, this first post will detail my arrival and early adventures in finding a place to live, include some beautiful photos of the city of Edinburgh, and give you a hint into a bit of Scottish life.

The second motive for this foray into blogging is the desire to have a food blog.  I am an amateur chef of sorts, but most importantly I have been eating food for most of my life now and consider myself a classy, young man of great tastes - especially for greasy, hangover food!  I have quickly become quite fond of the traditional Scottish breakfast, and have decided to go out (hopefully) once every week to two weeks (or more depending on serendipity) to search for a new restaurant or diner that serves up the Scottish breakfast, take some fashionable foodie photos of the goods, write a short, but thorough review of the food and said restaurant or diner, give directions, prices, and any tips I picked up about the joint I'm reviewing.  Hence the blog name, "The Scottish Breakfast" - I think that it is a pleasant balance between literality and metaphorical bulshit; a wise man once told me, "It is what it is - take it or leave it."  Oh and by the way here are the usual items one will find in a traditional Scottish breakfast: eggs, sausage links, bacon (which is basically just ham), baked beans, black pudding (pork blood congealed and mixed with portions of oatmeal - sound gross until you try it!), potato scone or hash browns (sometimes both if you're lucky), toast or a roll, and a tomato or mushroom - all of which is fried!  I have also tried Haggis, another famous Scottish dish made from sheep's offals with a mixture of onions, oats, stock, and spices, but it is usually a meal on its own.  I will try to review a few haggis' here and there, but it won't be a staple on this blog.


And finally, the tertiary reason for forming a personal blog is to begin tracking my new life in the world of sound designing.  I have been a musician since I was about 12 beginning with guitar and some piano.  I began reading and writing music when I was 19 when I was studying composition at Pitzer/Pomona College.  I have been in bands of all sorts since I was 15, and I have been attracting to audio engineering since then as well.  I started really learning some of that craft by working as a live sound engineer for concerts at the college, but also as the Live Sound Director at 88.7fm KSPC, the local underground college station at Pomona college (kspc.org).  I have chosen a new path down sound design because I think it has the potential for personal growth and gain meaning I can use it as a tool for composition/art installments/conceptions or for working with film and/or theater designing sound for commercial or independent artistic creations.  In other words, it could get me one of those "real jobs" as well as train me to hone my own creative talents for music or what-have-you.  I figure I might as well use this blog to post interesting recordings or samples, Max patches, videos or multimedia, or just some photos of the cool people also studying le sound design!

So let's see here......
Getting to a new country is always pretty scary at first.  If you've done it before then you know that feeling the night before you travel is like, "Holy shit, am I really about to pack up my life and sleep on the other side of the Atlantic tomorrow????"  But in truth, I was more than a little ready to leave.  My hometown of Dallas, Texas doesn't suit me well.  I'd say it's mainly the heat and my general apathetic malaise that forces me into repetitive patterns of thought and actions giving me little inspiration besides thinking about where I need to go to next to not be at home anymore.  However, it's also my comfort zone; I know the city like a past lover - the kind who you keep bumping into and thinking, 'yeah, this time it will be different and we really will love each other,' but then you spend a couple of nights and see your old routines coming into play again thinking that some things just won't change between us.  I do miss my friends and family though and that of course is part of the comfort zone as well.  Nonetheless, it was time to say goodbye again and take on the next adventure to Scotland.

I have seen quite a bit of Europe, but in my youthful backpacking to the other side of the Atlantic, I basically skipped over the UK almost entirely.  Been to London for roughly three or four nights, but other than that the UK is a total mystery to me still.  Therefore, I was quite excited to be accepted in the University of Edinburgh to be able to live there (with a good excuse) for at least a year.  I have found that it takes somewhere in between 3 and 4 months before you start fitting into a new place (even longer if the native language isn't your own).  As I post this, I have been here for a little bit less than four weeks, so I imagine I have some more time before I feel acclimated or really adjusted.

To give you an idea about Scotland, here's a couple photos of my neighborhood:

As you can see, in the residential areas there are nothing but these beautiful, old buildings that are usually all about four floors (dedicating three to tenants) with many small turrets - in fact my bedroom is located in one of those turrets.  We also have many small vendors by us including some very nice fresh fruit markets, a cool internet cafe stylized with a precolonial North American theme, a couple of pubs and many other small businesses, which I find humble and nice compared to America's many strip malls and outlets.  There is also a large park called the Meadows park in between my abode and the university, so I see it everyday usually a few times.  When the weather is nice you'll see the park packed with young people and families playing rugby or football (I'm getting good at not saying "soccer") or ultimate, cooking or drinking on the grass, dogs playing around, generally pleasant things to do in a huge park.  And of course in pure Scottish tradition there is a whole section of the park dedicated to practicing golf!

The majority of my life in Edinburgh takes place between my flat and the university.  It is approximately twenty to twenty five minutes away so I do a lot of walking.  Before school started, I felt I should go be a good tourist and check out the Royal Mile and see if I could take some good pictures.  The Royal Mile is the most touristy place of Edinburgh, which is saying a lot since Edinburgh has more tourists than any other city I have ever been to!  Seriously though...they're everywhere and incredibly easy to spot.  However, on my way there I'm not sure if it was the dreary change in weather from cloudy to more cloudy with a bit of rain (it's not uncommon for it to rain at least once a day here even if it begins as a beautiful sunny day) or my moody ambient music that I was listening to at the time, but I took a look off to the east side of town and saw a pretty clear shot to Holyrood park.  Holyrood is this massive park that is really the highest part of Edinburgh as its main features are 'The Ridge'  and 'Arthur's Seat' which are two crags that jut up sort of out of nowhere on the side of the city.  I actually have a great view of Arthur's seat from my flat's kitchen which I will post soon.  But anyways, there I was still new to the city and just beginning to grasp the layout, and suddenly all I could think of was, "I need to climb that fucker and really take a look at this place!"  I didn't care that it was raining at this point or that I didn't have any shoes besides my beaten up vans (with no soles basically) or that I really didn't know how to get to the top, but I was determined and that was that.  To quote Mike Myers a la 'Wayne's World', "She will be mine...oh yes....she will be mine!"  Once I got past the apartments and the brush, I found the park and begin walking in the direction that seemed to point up.  The hike is actually not bad at all.  Once you get past the slow slope heading up there are two choices: left or right.  The left heads off to the Ridge and the right heads up to Arthur's Seat rather steeply.  I wanted to go as high as I could so I assumed the right way would work best.  You get about half way into the park and see a path made from large stones placed in tall steps.  After about twenty minutes of walking up you begin to see much more.  Then a clearing appears and the wind smacks you so hard that you really have to brace yourself in order to stand up and walk.  The hard part is over, and the whole of the lands displays itself to you in full.  There is the town below you, the country off to the left, and the sea at your back.  It's only another five minute walk (or half-climb at this point with the rocks) up to the top of the hill also known as Arthur's Seat.  I was listening to this band (from Texas) and enjoying the view.  It went something like this:

 

I think I will stop rambling there and pick up another time.  Classes have begun and work is well on its way.  Sorry for going on and on, but I felt that the first post should be a bigger one.

Stay tuned for my first official food reviews of the delicious Scottish breakfast!