The virtue of being based in London for an internship is that when the weekend comes and you want to escape a heatwave, there are many contingencies to choose from. For one of my roommates and me, the obvious choice was to head north and spend a weekend in Scotland.

The cheapest and easiest way to get north was to simply take the train, what this meant for us was heading to King’s Cross and boarding a train that will take us to Edinburgh in a span of 4 hours and 20 minutes. This led to the opportunity to become familiar with English rail, and one thing that stood out was that the train had weak or nonexistent A/C. As we were travelling in a heatwave, the absence of this luxury was felt by all the passengers however staff mitigated the heat by lowering all the seat blinds. This was an example of one of the coping mechanisms to deal with one of many heatwaves throughout the summer in a country where A/C is not a widely implemented device. Upon reaching Edinburgh, the first thing we took in was the fog and the cool temperature getting off the train, which was a welcome relief.

After checking in to the hostel and getting a quick bite, we decided to take a quick walk around the city. We immediately stumbled upon the Royal Mile and noted the different architectural style compared to London. The use of darker stones added intrigue to the buildings, and the style made the area feel more historic. Coincidentally, on this first night, there was also a layer of fog, which gave the city an interesting presence. Overall, on this first night, you can tell how these streets and buildings inspired JK Rowling and influenced her world building.

When going on a trip, surprises can happen. As we tried to make our way around the city the next day, we found that parts of a road had been blocked off and there was an increased security presence. After finishing our planned hike, we found the answer to why there was so much security. As a matter of complete coincidence, not only did our trip overlap with the King of England’s trip to Scotland, but also as we finished our hike, we happened to see the King walk to his helicopter, which was landed near the trailhead. So, as a matter of chance, we saw the King of England fairly close up and in a small group of 15 people rather than a mass of people, which would be the case in London. It is always a privilege to see prominent people, but it also demonstrates that random opportunities can grow from unrelated actions.

Scotland and scotch are as iconic as PB&J. As such, I went to the Johnnie Walker experience to learn about both scotch and one of the largest names in the industry. A key takeaway is that Scotland and scotch are inseparable, with the Scots showing immense pride in their product. The building had a rooftop bar with a great view of Edinburgh Castle, and here you can have a little scotch tasting or simply a meal and drink with a view. I learned that scotch is also a point of both cultural and national pride, where there are dedicated whiskey bars throughout the city where you can do a direct comparison between bourbon and scotch or a single malt and a blended whiskey. All of this goes to show the prevalence of whiskey, but more importantly, scotch in their national identity.