A Tourist in Edinburgh

Finished my latest trip to Edinburgh today. In my few days there, I did the usual stuff: rugby, shopping in the usual stores, eating food from the usual restaurants. 

The only new place I went was to Edinburgh Gin, for their Gin Connoisseur tour, which I highly recommend. For £25, and the foresight to book months in advance (they're always full), I got a history of gin, details on what goes into their particular formula, a close-up view of distillation, a tasting of 6 different gins, and a small bottle to take home. What a deal!

But what was really new was the way I was visiting Edinburgh. It was my first time in almost 6 years staying there like a tourist, instead of like I live there -- spending leisure time, staying in a hotel, eating out. Rather than shopping to fill a kitchen and make my own food, being domestic, and working 8 hours a day. But I still felt like I lived there. It will always be some kind of home to me, and it's going to be difficult to adjust to not spending 1/4 of my life being there. 

Recently there was a British Isles dialect quiz going around, and since I pick up words and pronunciation everywhere I go, I took it just for fun. The result was that clearly I'm not from here, but my dialect was similar to people from the areas highlighted in the map... a map with red blobs not in Edinburgh where I spend all my time, but in the areas where my ex-fiancé has lived, and where his family comes from. It was a pretty big reminder that my experiences here since 2013 have been inextricably linked to him, and so the place has been as well.

But my connection to Scotland started long before I met him. My interest in the country started when I was a tiny child, called out as a true McCorkindale by my grandmother's visiting relatives. My relationship with Edinburgh was born a decade ago on my first visit. I've been supporting Scotland rugby since the 90's, going to Highland Games since the 2000s, followed Aberdeen FC for 7 years... and the list goes on. 

So I will continue to love all things Scottish, and miss Edinburgh when I am away from it. I will continue to include it in travels as much as I can, and probably still feel like I'm coming home when I see the Forth bridges from my airplane window. Maybe I will still end up living there one day. 

But for now, I'm working on separating Scotland from the Scotsman, and getting back to knowing Edinburgh on my own terms. I just might need a few more visits...