5 ways to make the most of and enjoy the Edinburgh Fringe Festival

Stay in a hostel

 

This is what hotels have over airbnb. People may know the city, but staff know the places to go and you get a wide range of information depending on who you speak to. They are cheap and cheerful. You will meet interesting people and anything can happen. Keep an open mind and bad experiences can be very funny in hindsight.

I stayed at the Hostel during my stay. Reviews for the place can be found on booking.com. It is located where there are good transport links around the city. It is very close to Haymarket train station and not too far from the Fringe, local stores and places to eat. I enjoyed my stay there. I met a few interesting people from different parts of the world. The staff were super helpful and friendly. They get to know you by face and name and on my first night one of the girls gave me a map of the city and the highlighted the area of the Fringe and other places and that I should definitely go and see. She highlighted areas on another map for another visit highlighting cultural places.

Get in touch with Art and Culture

Edinburgh has a lot of rich history and I did not realise that this is the city that inspired JK Rowling’s Harry Potter.

I went to the Writers museum, the National museum the National library. There were different exhibitions on display at the Library and  the museum is home to many aspect of Scottish life from historical to modern day. Other places I did not get a chance to visit were the Scottish Parliament and a proper visit to The Surgery and Dentistry museum (Pay to enter but NHS staff count as a concession).

Be open to people giving you flyers. You never know, something interesting might catch your eye. Someone handed me a flyer for a contemporary dance called Trip the light. A collaboration between Junebug Company and Wave from Switzerland. Contemporary I appreciate, but sometimes can be too abstract for my taste. But I went to it. It was beautiful and a bit intense, but what made it more worth it was the final piece (there was three). It was improv and the process of creating a piece.

If you go, have a favourite movie in mind and a good song on your playlist.

 

Pack lunch or be prepared to buy food

 

I would scout out cheap places to eat for lunch and dinner. There is a lunchroom in the National gallery. Reason is when you go back to where you are staying, you don't wanna go back out, especially if it’s raining and it looks dark when it’s just 8pm summer time.

I write this because I went back to the hostel home. I missed some specific free fringe events that I wanted to see. There was spoken word that I was quite keen on seeing but it was only showing in the evenings.

By the time I had gone back to the hostel, to cook something, have a shower and a change of clothes, I felt too cold to leave. There are plenty of cafe’s, take away places, restaurants and pubs catering to different price range. I will definitely recommend this because It just adds to the experience

 

Bring wellies

This only applies if there is a forecast of rain. It rained throughout my second day in Edinburgh. This may apply to any British festival as a matter of fact if you hate cold feet. It limited my day because I kept looking for shelter, every time I was outside and dreaded going back out to find my next destination.

 

If wellies are too bulky, possibly a change of socks, if you are wearing walking shoes, or a small towel, if you wear rubber flip flops or sandals. However I wouldn’t recommend this. There is always something about cold feet that increases your risk of catching a cold.

Enjoy the free Fringe

I started my experience with the free fringe. I don’t mind comedy but I am not a fan of cringe comedy. It’s not because they are not funny. Rude things can be funny...but they shouldn’t be the foundation of jokes. I see it as cheating and morally ambiguous. It’s like making fun of the war without actively showing that something's wrong. It’s not informative, educational and doesn't leave you with a sense of there is something we need to think about. Some jokes were genuinely funny, but the audience didn’t help. I decided to add more tourist activities to my itinerary as I thought the free fringe might not be for me.

 

However I made the most of my raining evening in to study the free fringe guide and actually decide events to go to. My last day I planned more specifically and  I found that I enjoyed the free fringe a lot more. I went to a theatre performance at the free sisters called the girl with the hurricane hands and other short tales of woe. I loved it. The were simple stories, but came alive in different exciting ways through each actor's personality.  I thought it was brilliant for children and adult alike. I went to a spoken word event  ‘The heart of the Country’. I was the only one there, no complaints. The last event was 101 clean jokes in 30min by Masai graham. It was actually alright. Audience involvement was beneficial in this case, not like my first night. Some people in the audience landed physics jokes. He has won a few awards. Here is a recent article on his work.

 

 All in all it was a good experience. Would I recommend it yes. I was lucky I spent time in a hostel, especially as a first timer in Edinburgh. I got a lot of information regarding what to do and I felt like I hadn’t wasted my time. The fringe still continues till the end of August and I kept loose coins within reach, because there is a lot of concert worthy street performance that I absolutely enjoyed. Means you can give money without digging out your purse. If you ask will I go again...not definitely yes, but more than likely.

The ghost of a city

I am here but do not exist,
So why do I persist to insist on my presence,
When the closest i'll ever be to being alive is a ghost in this city.
Why do I insist on living when my existence depends on the dying.
I feel the exhaustion behind my eyes and treat them like lies I tell myself are true.
The night is for sleeping ,yet I find my eyes wide open,
Thinking as if it was day dreaming of soft wispy clouds,
Wishing for the comfort of night.
If I could die I would, if I can wake, grab me by both arms
And shake the vagueness from my senses,
The haziness from my gaze and the fog from my night.
Leave me cold and crisp or hot and alive.

Mudguards

I didn’t know mudguards could be so revealing. So I needed a set of mudguards for my bicycle. They prevent dirt and mud and water from spraying your back and front when cycling, particularly when the ground is wet or when cycling in the rain. I wanted to get some on eBay. The cheapest and most decent looking ones were from East Asia and therefore, would take approximately three to four weeks to arrive. By then, I would have finished my exams and undergoing preparations to go back to my hometown. So what would be the point? So I decided if you want it so cheap suck it up and go to the pound stores. I think part of me thought I wouldn’t find one and if I did the colour would be so awkward, I wouldn’t want to get one. The first store I went to sold them in blue, the second had them in black. I should have been ecstatic right? No, I wasn’t. I didn’t want these mudguards from these shops. I am happy to buy a lot of things from ‘these shops’ as long as people do not know it is from there. This mudguard will stick out proudly behind my bicycle and advertise itself. I know my fellow cyclists will know where I got it from. Shocking! Yes I shocked myself. So I decided I’d rather have nothing at all, than having to compensate with a cheap quality something. If something is worth investing in, it should make you feel good and proud. PRIDE

I also have an obsession about having too much things, because I can be rather disorganised, messy and clumsy but also I have a traveller’s mentality. I try to avoid having too much clutter. I don’t like the idea of baggage and things slowing me down. And the idea of moving my bike and its mudguard sticking at a funny angle or, my mudguard slowing me down whilst cycling put me off. SIMPLICITY

Then I also thought why do I need to cycle in the rain when I actually only cycle to save time.

I remember a Business Studies lecturer constantly saying, time is a commodity, time is money, you won’t get your time back and I would quote him as well. But one of my friends kept replying, it’s your time, how do you want to spend it? I read a story once about a man and his colleague waiting for a train. His colleague mentioned that there was an earlier train that would allow them to save 20 minutes. So he agreed and got on the train. When they got to their destination he saw a bench and sat down. His colleague asked why he did such a thing. He said what did they save the time for?

When I was coming to university, I didn’t want to bring my bike with me. There was a reason. When I use my bike, I rush. I want to fit more into my day than is necessary. I wanted to use walking as a tool to slow me down. So I rationalised that when the ground was wet or when it rains I should not use my bike, hence no need for mudguards. I should be more organised so that when it rains, I allow enough time to get too my destination, just like I wanted in my first year at University. It didn’t last by the way. TIME AND ORGANISATION

Wow! So trying to buy some mudguards for a bargain price shows that, I care what people think of me and that I need to slow down. 

We have a valuable lesson her. When it rains maybe we need to spend a bit more time doing fewer things.

I bought the mudguard even though the argument for was a ratio of 1:2.

Bible Study: Revelations

Good old bible study has started yesterday evening and I can't say I'm not happy. It's been difficult with all the busyness, to find a time to get together, but we did!

We didn't have a plan, praise the Lord and Katherine decided we should read Revelations. We read the first chapter and about the first 2 churches out of the seven. It is beautiful to see descriptions Jesus uses which have been used also in the gospels or old testament. They include references to churches as lamp-stands, producing light for the world to see; the word which is referred to as a double edged sword and God saying I am the Alpha and Omega and Jesus saying , I am the First and the Last.

It was shocking, reading about the the first church and how they did well, but needed to go back to their first love, which is Jesus and his people and we discussed how we can let distractions move us further away from God and how suffering brings us closer to God shown by the second church. More exciting, were references to the tree of life which was mentioned in Genesis after the sin of Adam and Eve and the crown of life which we are yet to find out about. We were undecided about the differences between soul and spirit, so we need to do our research. Nevertheless, a lovely evening all in all. It is good to read the bible.

Another poem...

If I could be anything in the world

I would be a taster

Someone who tries everything

Till they find their coaster

Of course not everything would be rosy

Nor always full of laughter

But at the end of the day I can put my feet up and say

I am a part and a player

In the game of life

Summer Vacation Student Pharmacy Post at the General Hospital...Poem

We love our drugs
And we love our robot
But most of all we love each other

A Pharmacy can be an intense environment....I can also be an intense person as I do not make conversation easily with new people...but I am writing poems to lighten my heart!

Iya (Suffering) Asa (Asha) ft Kezia Jones lyrics

This is as close as I can get it, if you find something wrong please correct. If you want to add the chords…please comment.

We just dey die for nothing, too much disease for this land

Every day we go dey pray, God help us, save us

Too much money pass my eyes, all natures do na smell am

Man mus  work and just (get) survive but illusions, plenty

Chorus

Ko mo de ma sheru lojo iya ni iya ni oh oh

Ke mi ma lubata fe gbe mi oh oh o iya ni, iya ti o da

Ai mon iye yan lati she gbe iya ni, iya ni oh oh

Ai mon iye yan tio rishe she iya ni, iya ti o da oh oh, I ya ni, iya ti o da

Vs 2

Brothers they kill each other, hatred dey fly out of people

Coz the justice flow like water, in the now distrustful nation

Brother Sisters make a way come, and see the way this worl an turn around

Wagin war nobe watin we want, coz peace na watin we need

Brother Sisters make a way come, and see the way this worl an turn around

Wagin war nobe watin we want, coz peace na watin we need

Chorus

Ko mo de ma sheru lojo iya ni iya ni oh oh

Ke mi ma lubata fe gbe mi oh oh o iya ni, iya ti o da

Ai mon iye yan lanti  she gbe iya ni, iya ni oh oh

Ai mon iye yan ti o rishe she iya ni, iya ni oh oh oh oh

Make them see you now, make them see you now

Ade hear, Ade hear oh, Asa Ade here oh

I say Ade hear

Sister ade hear, ade hear, everybody say yeah, yeah,

Brother, waitin na dey talk for now, na serious business, you know

Serious business dey for town, serious business it pass my power

I say it pass my power, eh, eh, it pass my power, kezia tell them make them hear oh

To ba she bo she fe si mi orun a wo 2x

Ko le ya ko ya, ko le ya ko ya

Ko le do guun, ko do gun 2x

Ojo pa ewe igoko 4x

Ko le yak o ya, to ba leke yak o ya

(Ojo pa ewe igoko)

People, people hurry, you hear what I’m saying to you now

(Ojo pa ewe igoko)