The Edimburgh Royal Mile to Scotland

It’s not always easy to choose a place. Best places are strictly connected with our memories and special seasons of our life. It recently happened to remember a very dated travel, I was only 16, never travelled abroad alone before. That summer I asked my parents to pay me a vacancy in the Uk to better my english. I was supposed to go with other classmates, and so I did. Our teacher found a very interesting and safe situation in Edimburgh, with a good school and good families to stay with. It was my first adventure: our parents drove us to Milan Airport. The emotion of the take off is still there and also the arrive in London, very late in the night, and the room, really dirty! A very confortable train lead us from Londo to Edinburgh. It was quite a good way to see english countryside, green and peaceful, with weird houses made by brown bricks, each one with their own little garden. The arrival was thrilling: me and a friend were in the same family, a very nice man with 2 kids, 3 dogs and a wife.

I found very soon he was really very happy to have us in the family, not the same for the rest of people. Anyway, I spent wonderful days strolling around the town and you know what? Everyone was ready to help me finding places or street or whatever! The problem was that I was not always able to understand the strict language that scottish people use. But I found interesting spots there! Everyday, after the school, I went around, leaving my scary classmates by themeselves.

In the weekends we had always something interesting to do. I had the chance to visit Lochness and also the Highlands game, one of the most thrilling things I ever did see! Big man taking a caber and tossing it from one end round to the other, very, very far away. It is almost impossible to explain with words and unfortunately the photos are somewhere in a box at my house. New people, a new language (not even the one I was taught in school), a very cold wind, new colours (for the hair in particular, it was 1984) and new flavour (the one of vinegar chips!)! That was my Scotland!

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