roughin it

Today was full of surprises. I was looking forward to a lazy Sunday afternoon; maybe a nap, some Ramen for lunch, a Skype chat or two, hit the sack early, you know.

Instead I climbed a mountain. Literally.

After church, everyone (literally the entire church) went to Kyle's house for some homemade chili, relaxation, and good conversation. After a few hours of fellowship, Jillian (my flatmate) and I left to go grocery shopping before the stores closed. We wandered to a bus stop and attempted to wait for what we thought was the bus to Asda (the European Wal-Mart). While we were waiting, some friends from the chili lunch came walking around the corner: Luke, Sarah, Steph, Frasier, and Osama. They said they were headed to Arthur's Seat and invited us to join. We agreed and began the long walk to the base of this famous landmark. (See pictures below.)

On the way to the Seat, I acknowledged that I was wearing flip flops, but they assured me the trek to the top was an easy one. They lied to me. The entire hike took about an hour and a half, and it was FAR from easy. Most of it was climbing, literal rock climbing, up ridiculously steep slopes of jagged rocks and boulders. Every few minutes, we'd make it to an area of flat ground and take a break. Everytime I'd tell the others that I was done and couldn't go any further, but everytime they picked me up and helped me go one more leg, until finally, I looked up and we were standing on the top of Arthur's Seat looking out over all of Edinburgh, miles in every direction. The sun was setting over the steeples of ancient abbeys and castles, boats were coming into the harbor, the Highlands were visible off to the north, and the air was crisp and clear. Too bad I left my camera at home :( These photos will have to do from Google:

Arthur's Seat from the southeast. If you look closely, you can see climbers along the top, which shows how tall the cliffs are. We hiked up the larger mound on the right, then through the "valley" and over to Arthur's actual Seat, the smaller mound on the right. About 823 feet above the city!
The view to the west, city of Edinburgh. See those jagged rocks going down the steep cliff at the bottom of the photo? Yeah, that's what I conquered in flip flops and church clothes.

When we finally reached the top of the seat, I almost broke into tears I was so happy to have made it so far. From the base, I really didn't think I was going to go all the way to the top, especially in my inappropriate climbing gear. I felt so overwhelmed with accomplishment and acheiving, what I felt, was the impossible at the moment. Cheesy, but so true.

The climb back down was another story. I pretty much held Luke and Osama's hands the whole way back down, it was so steep and rocky. But so much fun. There were moments on the way back down that I literally had to put all my weight on either Luke or Osama in order to make it down a steep bank safely. I couldn't make it on my own in certain parts. It felt strange, but at the same time very cool, to put all my trust in someone I hardly even knew. And it worked. I made it down alive and in one piece.

After the hike, we went to Osama's flat where he fixed us a delicious meal of spaghetti noodles with ginormous chicken wings swimming in his "special sauce." Sunday is my new favorite day of the week :)