I get so busy with life that I tend to forget to update about what is going on. I need to be better at this.
Well, this past weekend I went to Scotland with the school. Scotland is beautiful and absolutely exceeded my expectations in every way possible. The Scottish countryside is breath taking. Our hotel was on Princes Street, where a large majority of the action is, and everything was within walking distance.
Our first night there we had some dinner at the Standing Order, which was good and cheap. Just the way I like it. I also had my first beer in the Scottish land. Strongbow to be exact. It was pretty good. We walked up the Scott Monument and it was an incredible view. Lots of spiraling staircases that continued to get narrower as we got to the top. It was the best 3 pounds I have yet to spend. Eventually we walked around and found our way to The Elephant House Café, which is where J.K Rowling started writing Harry Potter. We took pictures and chatted with one of the girls that worked there. Needless to say, one of the boys took a liking to her. He wouldn't shut up about her for the rest of the trip even though she told him she was seventeen and he was filling every American stereotype, we were embarrassed but I found it hilarious.
Next we found a pub/club called Frankenstein. This place turned out to be a blast. Had a few drinks and danced for a bit, Americans dance much better than the Scottish and English at that. It is quite funny. Ended up meeting a bunch of Scottish guys who fancied me because I was American and Texan. We all ended up having a dance circle and they said our dancing overwhelmed them because we shake our hips. I laughed a lot that night.
We were then off to meet up with some more friends. While waiting for them a drunk, possibly homeless, man approached two members of our group who were across the street. They sent him our way and he asked for Collin and Sarah. Collin fessed up to being himself while I said, "Um it's actually Sierra and Collin and I are engaged!" and took the rap for Sarah. Literally. This man proceeded to "freestyle" about Collin and "Sierra" and the only word we could understand was "reality" which he said over and over. We ran away pretty quickly and we were all laughing so hard. One of the top things that night. After this we went clubbing. Ran into a bunch of people from the school who were traveling independently and it was a blast. It was a 5 level club. It was my first official "clubbing" experience since I have been here and it was pretty fun. I'm glad I enjoyed myself; the boys I traveled with all bought me drinks since I continued to navigate the group and would find the correct locations of things. Thank you very much.
The next day we climbed a volcano called "Arthur's Seat" and the view was AMAZING and crazy windy! On our way up we came upon a green patch where people had written messages out of stones so we decided that since it was September 11th we would write USA 9-11. It turned out pretty neat. I can't really say much about this because I can't really put it into words. What I can say is that I am still feeling the soreness today!
Then we grabbed sandwiches for lunch went to Edinburgh Castle and The National Gallery of Scotland. Both were great experiences. I talked to many locals this past weekend and they continued to tell me that we lucked out on the weather. The weather was rainy and cold on the drive up North but once we arrived it was sunny and gorgeous! More friendships were made, more conversations were held with the natives, it was just a wonderful time all together.
Later on Saturday we hopped a train to North Berwick to see the North Sea. It was freezing but we went in a bit anyways. This place was beautiful and I wish we could have spent more time there. I am proud to say that this excursion was my idea!
Sunday morning we headed home with stops at Hadrian's Wall, which isn't much of a wall anymore being 1900 years old, and Durham. Hadrian's wall was a great experience. I can't tell you enough how beautiful this country is. I am still in shock by the beauty that fills the land.
Today I had my first art history final, last night we stayed up pretty late trying to prepare for it. There were 5 of us studying and I think we laughed more than we concentrated. We all where retainers to sleep, so we had a retainer party and all talked with a lisp. Then we talked with a lisp with a british accent. It was quite hilarious. But maybe one of those "had to be there moments"
Until next time,
Brittany
