These are the six things all Edinburgh students should have on their summer bucket lists

Now that summer is well and truly in full swing, it once again feels as though the world is our oyster.

Before the debilitating weight of academic expectation returns, it’s crucial we spend this time creating as much lore for our grandchildren as possible, and where better to start than with an Edi summer bucket list?

So gather your friends and pray your bank account can handle it – this summer’s about catching flights, not feelings.

1. A beer garden crawl

Is summer really summer if you haven’t paid £6 for a pint at Pear Tree? Be prepared to sell an organ before you can afford a full blown pub crawl – but hey, it’s all worth it for the giant TV screen.

Plus we’ve had some recent surges of gorgeous weather so perhaps a day of pitchers and sun is an ideal excuse to bring the factor five out of retirement.

Simply excuse away all the spending by reminding yourself you’re only young once; another round never hurt anyone, right? Remember, friends who pub together, stay together x 

2. A day at Portobello

These will literally change your life

Who needs to go abroad when the idyllic waters of Portobello are on your doorstep? An activity that when proposed, is typically followed by the rhetorical question: “Because the weather’s so nice today, isn’t it?” – and by that one means it’s anything above 15°C in Scotland.

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The experience usually includes the eager running into the sea, the instant regret once you hit the water and the pretence you’re not fighting for your life as you feel the blood within your veins freeze over. Just sit back, relax and convince yourself you’re in the Mediterranean.

3. A trip to the Highlands

Time to call up that friend who has their car at uni and summon their services into action. If you’d like to frolic with Highland cattle and find yourself in nature, then this excursion is definitely for you.

You can even track down your camping gear and go full blown Bear Grylls for the weekend. It’s so much fun when the trip finally makes it out of the group chat, that is, if the group chat makes it out of the trip of course.

4. Relaxing in the Meadows

Someone’s in trouble…

Perfect for picnic baskets, tinnies and tunes. When the sun is out, a cheeky meadows trip is virtually impossible to turn down. Especially when it offers the opportunity to look at the library in triumph, knowing you won’t have to step foot in there until September 15th at the earliest.

Fourth floor never seemed like such a distant dream. A word of caution however: Try to avoid the classic blunder of failing to put out your disposable BBQ and thus committing accidental arson. The fire brigade have more important situations to attend to x

5. The Fringe, duh

You really can’t be an Edinburgh student without attending The Fringe at least once during your time here. Tourists pay a bomb for accommodation but we’re laughing all the way to the bank because we can stay in our flats for free – that is if you ignore the crushing rent of course.

It’s an event which offers the potential to stumble across undiscovered genius or waste an hour watching some of the worst stand up comedy of your life. And if you’re not convinced already, why else if not to Hive Till Five; don’t lie, you know you want to x 

6. An emotional farewell  

It’s giving main character

The emotional farewell is an essential feature of summer. It’s the part where you say a heart-felt and dramatic goodbye to your flatmates like you’re in a coming of age film – as though you’re not going to literally see them in September.

Unless you’re graduating of course, in that case cue the Adele and let it all out. There’ll be hugs, summer plans suggested and even sometimes tears (you know who you are).

As the sun sets on the academic year, there’s time to reflect and realise there’s so much to be grateful for, like friends, family and above all, assessment extensions.