E... is for Edinburgh

What a disaster! I was away yesterday and this post was scheduled. :( Anyway, here it is now.
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Many of you here don't know me personally. Actually, profession-wise, I'm an Engineer. I have a Masters in Electronics engineering, and while I'm not a complete geek, I like to think that I have a decent analytical brain. I also love Literature and pick up new languages fast, maybe something to do with a good left brain. I got my Masters degree from The University of Edinburgh and it was that time I spent in Scotland that my passion for Literature really picked up. It was also during that time that I decided I was going to study Literature properly, and give my passion a voice.

Edinburgh is a very literary city. There are immense resources for writers, some brilliant book/writing clubs, and endless inspiration. Of course, it helps that nature is predominant in Scotland and very motivating to artists, musicians, and poets. It also helps that Edinburgh itself can also be a very dark and brooding city, with its bloodied past, scary haunting history, and intriguing city-upon-city structure.
Organisations like the Scottish Book Trust and the Scottish Poetry Library promote reading, writing, and generally, the culture of staying associated with good book and good authors. Edinburgh has been a massive inspiration to my literary side, and for that I will always be grateful, and I wrote about that here.

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This is the fifth post for the April A-to-Z Blogging Challenge 2014.
Previously, Archaism, British literature, Critical Analysis, Drama

E... is for Edinburgh!

When I got here, I came via London. I had a nightmarish time at Heathrow, didn't have to get out of the airport, and flew on to here. I had no internet, no phone connection. I had a piece of paper with an address on what was going to be my flat. I took a cab.
It was sunny and windy. It was unreal. It was poetry in motion. It was so gorgeous, like nothing I'd seen before. I started Uni, started living my foreign life, got along brilliantly with my lovely foreign flatmates, and stopped converting currency in my head!
I  love this city to bits, love its people, its cobbled streets, its slow moving traffic, architecture, feel. I love the terrible weather, the occasional gorgeous sunshine. If I had my way, I would definitely never leave, or realistically, not leave for a very very long time. Some photos, all from Facebook...

Skyline

Hogmanay 2012 - 13

Old College, Uni of Edinburgh

McEwan Hall, this is where I'll graduate

From Wikipedia "Edinburgh is the world's first UNESCO City of Literature and the city's Old Town and New Town are listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is considered one of the most beautiful cities in the world and regularly polls as one of the best places to live, having won more than 12 UK Best City Awards in 8 years to 2013. Attracting over one million overseas visitors a year, Edinburgh is the second most popular tourist destination in the UK and was voted European Destination of the Year at the World Travel Awards 2012."
I've written some more about my experiences here and here.

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This post is part of the ongoing A-to-Z Challenge. Previously, Aye, Berwick, Cramond, Disability.

E

E is for 'Estella'.
She is a very strange girl. The heroine of 'Great Expectations' is a mightily strange girl. She's the protege of Miss Havisham, who stopped her clocks (and her life) when she was jilted by her fiance on her wedding day. Estella takes care of her and practically runs the house while Miss H sulks in her God-knows-how-old wedding dress.
So, Estella has been part of a mentally abusive and sick household. Understandably, she hates men. But her behaviour towards Pip (the protagonist) is decidedly bizarre! I am a huge Dickens fan, but I truly believe that Estella could've been a bit more normal. Marrying Pip's rival Bentley was seriously a little too much for me to take. She was beautiful and rich, why did she have to be so mean!?
Read more about the book here.

Miss Havisham & Estella