I'm overdue for a post about this crazy Edinburgh plan! Obviously this blog is about busking, and everything I have to say about Edinburgh isn't busking, but it all goes along with the adventure.
"What made you decide to come to Edinburgh?" is obviously a question I've gotten a lot in the past week. So here's the answer! Coming to Edinburgh right away wasn't the plan. The plan was to go somewhere in the American South, so the USA part of my adventure would include the East Coast, West Coast, and South. I considered Chattanooga, Savannah, Charleston, and finally St. Augustine. I was going to have more busking adventures and write hard, and have a manuscript of my book ready in the Spring, maybe. Then I was going to stick around the US to go to fancy publisher meetings in New York and stuff. After I got super famous and went on Ellen, I was going to go to Europe to begin research for my book's sequel: Sophie's Smokin' Squeezebox does Europe.
It was not time to go abroad yet, and this was a poorly thought-out plan. By coming here now, I'm missing out on precious American research, opportunities to easily get to Mexico to see Sasha, and likely my family reunion and college a cappella group's 20th reunion in May and my cousin's wedding in June. Also, the time to be in Edinburgh is during the festivals in August, and my six months of tourist visa expires at the end of July. I'm hoping it's as easy as leaving the EU and coming back, but we'll see. Then there's the whole problem of staying afloat this time of year, when the busking is seriously bad due to weather and lack of weekday tourism.
Anyway, what made me decide to come to Edinburgh?
Last summer I talked to a girl who had a friend who had spent a summer in Portugal working at a hostel in exchange for housing. I thought that was a good idea, so I thought about sending a letter to hostels all over Europe. That was part of it. Another part of it was waiting on a guy from Glasgow. He's a personal chef, and he's hired every summer by a family who has a house in Chatham. We talked a bunch, and I mentioned busking. I think he suggested busking in Edinburgh. Somehow I had the idea of busking in Edinburgh. I wanted to go the following summer, get there in May or so and get settled before the tourism rush. But, I have all this stuff in May and June, and going in late June was too late, I thought, to get settled before the tourism rush, and it felt weird leaving in early May and missing everything for so little extra time. Maybe it made more sense to go earlier in the year, so I miss my events by more?
I had a pretty solid plan to go to St. Augustine, Florida. I was in touch with my cousins who live there in addition to a co-worker from the Cape. I had been emailing with a tourism group that hires theatrical people to give tours of the old city in period clothing. I had an interview lined up. I had perused the busking laws, and I was looking at every Craig's List ad that was posted for housing.
Then I heard from my friend Rob, who's English but worked in Wellfleet last summer. We got to know each other there, and bonded over being travelers. He had decided to move to Edinburgh as well, so that was my cue to go. Better to go when I know one person than in a few years! My reasoning was that if things didn't work out down South, I'd have no money to go to Edinburgh. Thus, it's better to blow all my money in a place I've wanted to go for a while. What if I break my leg and go never?
Anyway, I'm here. I hate the idea of missing all the stuff in the Spring, and I'm even toying with the idea of flying home and flying back, but that's kind of expensive and crazy. Here's how it's going so far, after one week:
1. I've made a ton of Spanish friends. We're all at the hostel still, looking for jobs and housing and stuff. In the meantime, we've become friends, people from all over Spain and me. My Spanish is coming back! I've left the hostel thinking Spanish and accidentally speaking it to Scottish store owners and such a few times. Oops.
2. I'm looking for babysitting. So far I've found one family with two little ones that I'd watch a few mornings a week.
3. I've busked once, but it was pretty unmemorable. I made enough to cover my hostel cost for that night, but it was way less than the rate I'm used to. One little girl was into it and played with Flaca, but otherwise nobody stopped to talk or anything. I'll have to keep trying various areas.
4. I've been seeing a ton of apartments, and scored a great setup for February! The person who is signing the lease can't move into until March, so I'm subletting until then. These are people that I sort of fell in love with based on their ad a few weeks ago. They're super artistic and musical. Two of them are in a band together, and there's a flute, saxophone, trumpet, drum set, guitar, bass, ukelele, and, yep, accordion lying around the house! One is getting her Master's in Creative Writing for poetry, and one's a former film student who mans the projector in the living room pointed at a big blank wall. They're all English, and the three girls have been friends forever. We hit it off well when I met them, so I was super happy when I heard that this plan was going ahead. I move in on Wednesday!
5. I've looked for choirs to join so I can find old ladies to make sure I'm fed and introduce me to their eligible grandsons. There are four that I've been emailing with, and I'm trying to check them out this week. I went to the first last night, and loved it. I was in fact way younger than most people, and everyone was super nice. They're singing the Messiah which I know well but haven't formally sung. Best of all, they served tea and cookies at the break! I audition next Sunday. I'd certainly like to sing with them!
Obviously things are super up in the air, but I'm getting to know the city more every day. I reckon I'll stay at least through March, since I bought concert tickets for Pokey Lafarge in March and the Messiah concert is on April 1st. Depending on how things go I'll either go home then and figure out what to do for the summer or I'll seek other accommodations and stay for the summer!
Hopefully next time I busk I'll have more to report!
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