DUPS @ Edinburgh

If you happen to be at Edinburgh last weekend and spotted a bunch of adults roaming endlessly around town with backpacks, cameras, selfie sticks and tripods, it must have definitely been us. We were CAPTURING everyone's attention (get it? capture. get it? i will excuse myself now).

Okay, I know some of you may be wondering what the hell 'DUPS' is. No, it's not a cult (lol), its Dundee University Photography Society. Truth be told, I may not be the most actively involved member of this society (#guilty) but I can tell you that DUPS has an awesome committee and their workshops are pretty engaging & informative. Unfortunately my work schedule almost always clashes with their workshop/event timing, so I cant make it for every single one of em (sad life).

Anyways, last weekend DUPS organized a trip to Edinburgh. As exciting as it sounded, I was actually so fickle minded about going considering I had tons of uni work to complete (ugh sucha nerd) and I had to work on weekends. So I did what I do best; I ran away from all my responsibilities by going on this trip with my friend, Raveena (YAS!). I am so glad I did though!

EDINBURGH STOLE MY HEART.

(scroll down for my vlog)

Edinburgh castle

It wasn't the bus ride to Edinburgh but the walk from the bus station to our hostel that exhausted us. Not complaining though cos we were basically surrounded by picturesque views and buildings that made a good excuse to stop and take a photo. Throughout the "long" walk to our hostel, I got to know a other fellow DUPS members (shout-out to Mandaar, MO, Eloise, Salome & Isabela!) and we became instant friends.

Our first stop after checking in into our hostel was Dean Village. It's a relatively small, quaint village with beautiful houses and well cared gardens & flowers. We wandered around the village and over the bridge. It was really pretty but I honestly thought there was more to it but there wasn't.

Dean Village

Want your house to stand out? Paint it yellow! (lol)

We were supposed to hike up Arthur's seat that evening to catch the sunset but unfortunately the delay in our bus departure sent a ripple effect through the entire itinerary and we had to postpone the plan to the next day. Which meant that we had two hills to hike up the following day!

Arthur's seat. The hiking bug in me couldn't wait to reach the top.

So Raveena, Mandar, MO, Eloise and I decided to go hunting for some good ol' Fish n Chips (cause all that walking made us ravenous!) and do our very own exploring around Edinburgh. Eloise led us to Castle Rock, a place known for its delicious fish n chips and fried mars bars (Lawwdd!). I swear It was one of the best fish n chips I have had so far!

I'm sorry Tailend but Castle Rock took your spot in my heart

I passed The Elephant House, the "birthplace" of Harry Potter cos it seems this was where JK Rowling had sat and written the HP book. I was actually surprised by how busy it was (c'mon guys, it's not like she's living in there lol). Or probably their food is good. Will give it a go during my next visit (hoping it would be the "birthplace" of a good thesis topic for me...hahaha i'm lame).

Rub Greyfriars Bobby's nose for good luck. But do it gently though as the statue has undergone restoration many times.

Instead of making our way back to the hostel, we went to Princes Street to give long exposure photography a shot. As much as I love photography, I am a total noob when it came to the settings and it took me a while until I kinda got the hang of it. So there we were, sitting & standing in the middle of the street, to get dem Insta-worthy shots.

My first ever long exposure shot. See I wasn't kidding when i said I was a noob. But nevertheless, it was cool learning to play around with the settings.

We were up by 6.30am the next day to catch the sunrise at Calton Hill and followed by the hike up Arthur's seat. I was up by 6am as I was way too excited that I finally get to hike ( you guys have no idea how much I missed hiking!). Thank God we were blessed with an amazing weather!

Calton Hill

Hiking up Calton Hill and Arthur's seat was definitely the highlight of this entire trip. Both were relatively short hikes and wasn't as intense or as high as the hikes I have done back home, BUT the view was breathtakingly beautiful. I am just going to let the pictures do the talking now.

Arthur's seat hiking views

We made it to Arthur's seat feat. blustery wind. I swear if I was skinnier, I would be blown away from the top lol.

Beautiful ain't it? Honestly cant wait to go on more hikes around Scotland (hit me up with suggestions!)

We were free to roam around after our hikes and naturally, the first thing we do is hunt for food. We found ourselves in a fancy Italian restaurant called Amarone and I don't know if I was really hungry or it was just the food that was delicious. Giving em a 10/10!

Sucker for pasta. CARBS FOR LYFE!

We had a few more hours to spare before our bus arrives. Being Harry Potter fans, we explored a few "Harry Potter sites" in Edinburgh. Our first stop was the Greyfriar’s Kirkyard cemetery where JK Rowling got inspiration for Tom Riddle’s graveyard a.k.a Lord Voldemort.

*squeals in excitement*

Next stop: Diagon House. It's a shop selling all things Harry Potter! I completely lost my cool as I entered in. (Imagine how crazy I would be in the actual Harry Potter studios lol)

From wands, broomsticks, t-shirts and even the wizard chess set!

A cup of froyo and a cupcake later, it was time to get back to Dundee a.k.a reality. Edinburgh was truly beautiful, I found myself wanting to take a picture of everything I was standing in front of. I am already thinking about when I could plan my next visit! Thanks for having me Edinburgh, you were amazing.