Did you know that Scottish kids get to go to university for free?  Other British kids get to go for about £2000, and EU kids get to go for about £4000.  And then there's us, who go for a lot more.  Anyways, so EAP has been giving us a lot of perks (because, really, we're paying for it). We've gotten two nice dinners and free drinks, a trip to the castle, a trip to the Falkirk Wheel, and at Thanksgiving they are throwing a big party with catering, live music, and a ceilidh.  Last weekend we went to the Castle.  The castle is pretty interesting.  It is on a giant slab of volcanic rock that was carved by a glacier so that it has three steep impenetrable sides, and only one entrance (a good spot for defense, I suppose).  It was completely destroyed around the 16th century by some Scots. They rescued it from the British invaders by climbing over the walls at night (the Brits thought that the cliff walls were safe, but those people probably grew up climbing that mound as kids, and knew the way up.  Anyways, after they rightfully seized it back, they decided to burn everything so that it couldn't be taken again. Smart.
  They left St. Margaret's Chapel (a native saint of Scotland), a tiny plain chapel. Its beautiful though. Every other building dates from after the last invasion.  It was pretty dismal until the late 1800's when Queen Victoria came during her honeymoon. She thought it wasn't "castley" enough, and added whimsical touches like a giant ball room, shiny cannons (that never were fired because they were made for ships) and the classic castle topping, the square checks on top of the building. Thanks Queen Victoria.



EAP also took us to the Falkirk Wheel, an engineering marvel.  It basically took the place of a series of 11 locks that used to connect two canals. Now, its like a boat elevator. "The world's first rotating boat lift!"  I fell asleep.