Tuesday brought another early morning. We were used to getting up early and going down to the buffet breakfast at the hotel by now, but I, for one, was starting to feel the time change and crazy schedule creep up on me. I wanted to pack in as much as possible during our time in Scotland, but I was starting to drag a little from lack of sleep. We had a pretty low-key day ahead of us though, so I was hoping I would still be able to function for the rest of the trip.
We had 2 sessions at Stevenson College, both about applying for and getting jobs. These classes were held jointly with some of the students there, so we got to interact with some more Scottish people. We got tea in between the sessions and plenty of time to chat with the students. After the lectures, we grabbed lunch in the canteen, but I was in the majority by grabbing some food and running back up tot he computer lab to work on my blog and upload pictures. (Scotland) Heather offered to give us some Stevenson College shirts, which were super cool. I loved the way mine fit--and I was even more happy to have a clean shirt to add to my wardrobe. I had started to realize that I had cut it a little close when I was packing my suitcase. Note to self: pack more shirts next time.
We went next to the Royal Mail Office for a tour. It was a longer walk than I expected, but that part of town is very suburban. I was worried that it would be boring. How cool can a mail room be? We all had to wait in the lobby for our tour guide, so we all tried to get stamps for mailing our post cards, but it turns out that the mailroom is not a post office. They only had a few stamps on hand; most people ended up having to go to a regular post office anyway. In any case, our tour guide finally got us and took us to a conference room, where we learned a little bit about the history and function of the Royal Mail. Then, they took us down to the mail room in two groups.
The mail room was huge, with tons of cart and machines. Some of the machines were just starting up, processing the mail and sorting it into piles by type, region, town, and postal route. The rhythmic noise from the sorting machines was really relaxing and I could have watched them for hours. There were big machines that would take bundles of mail and send it piece by piece down little chutes, where the computer would read the postal code on each envelope and spit it out into little slots, which were then bundled for the mail carriers. There was even a guy who was in charge of trying to figure out where to send envelopes that were poorly addressed or have illegible writing. He spends the whole day putting addresses and names into his computer, trying to get letters where they belong.
After the mail room, we walked back to the school, where some of us took a tour of the Music Box. Stevenson College has a pretty good music program, and they have devoted a whole building to studios, mixing equipment, and music education classrooms. People can rent out the studios to record songs or rehearse for concerts. We headed back up to the computer lab after that. No one knew for sure, but I was fairly certain this would be our last chance to get online. As we left the college that afternoon, I finally got a picture of this billboard I had been passing all week. "How did my 90 minute flight become a 4 hour trek?" It reminded me of our hours (and hours) in the airport before we left JFK.
The end of the day saw us back at our hotel, where we started packing and then got dinner at the Haymarket Pub. I had been walking by the pub for the whole week, wanting to go in and check it out, but it never worked out, the only time we did go in was on our free day, but it was way too crowded and we were looking for dinner rather than alcohol. This time, there was enough room for us to sit down and eat. I was with a few other people and most of our group ended up there with us. The pub had some really good specials--not dollar-menu cheap, but really good values, and it was good.
Last full day in Scotland! I was missing it and I hadn't even left yet. I realized that Edinburgh was one of the few places where I would want to return. I normally go places, see what I want, and then check it off the list. I can see myself returning to Scotland though.