it's been awhile.... so anywayy.. SCOTLAND!

Hey guys! I basically just got lazy while abroad and stopped writing!  So here goes...

After Oxford, I went to Scotland for a weekend with JoAnna (Jojie) and Jon.  It was our first weekend traveling experience while abroad and began the journey with a 9-hour bus ride from Victoria station to Edinburgh, Scotland.  Needless to say, that part realllyyyyy sucked.  We got there around 8 in the morning on that Friday and went straight to our hostel.  Scotland in October is pretty chilly and we had heavy bags to carry, but we finally made it to our hostel called Castle Rock Hostel, located conveniently right down the street from the Edinburgh Castle.  It was a beautiful view!  The three of us went on this trip with basically no plan AT ALL.  But we managed.  We were exhausted but we pushed through and went exploring through the beautiful city of Edinburgh.  There were bagpipers on basically every corner, of course! But it felt like a very welcoming city.  We made our way to a quaint little restaurant, where we ate waffles and bacon for breakfast along with some warm cappuccino.  JoAnna, Jon, and I walked up and down "The Royal Mile" learning the streets of Edinburgh and exploring a city busting with history.  

On our second day in Scotland, we were feeling a little adventurous, therefore we decided to climb a mountain!  We woke up at around 5:45am, left the hostel and began our climb up to Arthur's Seat.  We couldn't figure out which was the path up to the mountain, therefore it took us about 2 hours climbing up different smaller mountains until we finally found the right path up to the top.  It was quite the workout to make it up to Arthur;s Seat but it was so worth it!  After climbing for about 4 hours, we had made it.  We sat up there in the cool, damp air and took it all in.  Jon, Jojie, and I sat up there for about 20 minutes and just looked out onto the city of Edinburgh and tried to make of words of what we were seeing.  We were amazed at the opportunities we have been given by studying abroad - we were so proud of ourselves and overjoyed to have the experiences together.  

After our long journey to the top of Arthur's Seat, the three musketeers (Jon, Jojie, and I) decided to chill out with some Starbucks (we can't live without it!)  After that, we relaxed at the hostel, then ventured out once again to cover some more of the city.  We took it easy for the rest of the day and just relaxed in the common room at Castle Rock.  We also went to the Edinburgh Castle because we were told it was something we couldn't miss!!!  It was missable, but it's okay.  No big deal.  We ended our Saturday in Edinburgh at "The Elephant House" restaurant - a little cafe where some woman named... what was her name?  Oh yeah! J.K. Rowling began writing her series, Harry Potter!  

On Sunday, We took the 3 hour free tour around Edinburgh (which we really should have began the weekend with) and learned about the history of the city, along with some added history about England!  Our tour guide sounded like a a pirate but he was quite entertaining.  It was a nice way to end the weekend and it made our trip worth while to have learned something about a new city.  I would say it was a successful trip to Edinburgh, Scotland!!!