Edinburgh and Carnoustie

So Tuesday we arrived in Edinburgh, got set up in a Hostel, and did a lot of walking. Edinburgh is a rather impressive city, and I was glad I got to spend time there. But now I am in Carnoustie in Angus on the East coast, and I am happier here, I think, away from the bustling (and often confusing) metropolis. As much as I liked and felt comfortable in Berlin, I think a lot of it had to do with the anonymity that comes from not being fluent with the language - a sort of security when you can't eavesdrop on conversations, where you don't understand a lot of the media without considerable thought, where your goal is to blend in with the local culture. In Edinburgh and here in Carnoustie, it has been a hard switch going back to speaking English regularly. I have really been unable to stop myself totally from saying certain phrases in German, naturally leading to somewhat uncomfortable social situations. While in Edinburgh we visited the Scottish National Party headquarters to renew my membership, and along the walls were posters depicting various programs, slogans, and reasons for supporting the SNP; I was significantly reminded of my last Semester at The Indiana Academy where I had an Independent Art study making a series of pro-Independence posters for Scotland. An unrelated but welcome surprise here was the weather; it is definitely much, much warmer here - more temperate - than on the Continent, and I am enjoying the Fall breeze.