Greetings!!
So… I have less than 36 hours before I leave for Italy! There is so much to do in so little time! But this weekend was totally worth it… Scotland was AMAZING!! One of the best trips I have been on so far BY FAR!!! It was a ladies trip, and me and the four other girls had an absolutely wonderful time bonding and exploring Scotland!! Let me go day by day for you:
Friday: Well, we left at 3:45 am. Good times. We caught the bus and headed to Luton airport. We got there in plenty of time for our flight, so we all sat down and ate some breakfast. There were actually about 20 of us that traveled to Scotland together, but we ended up splitting up into groups when we got there (which was soooo nice.. I totally needed a girls weekend!). Anywho, security was interesting. The lady did not like me very much, and I was yelled at several times in the security line. My favorite was when she told me to shut up and “focus now, talk later.” Ok lady, my bad for liking to talk. Ugh, that was the worst security ever!! But once we got through that, we waited for our gate to show up on the screen. We flew a super cheap airline, and they do things different than in the US. Basically you have like 10 min once they put what gate you are up on the screen to get to your gate. It is insane. Well, with some confusion (my bad guys) we thought we were going to miss our plane so we ran (and I do mean RAN) to our plane. Well, we made it fine. Then we began our flight and were on our way to Scotland! The landing was a little crazy, but we made it!! It was raining when we got there, and unfortunately it rained all day, but it was still AWESOME. Upon landing, I saw a fire truck and firemen, so my day was made immediately! We then split off from the other group and headed to our hostel. Our hostel was so cool!! It was an old church that they converted into a hostel, which was pretty legit. We then ate a wonderful lunch at an Italian place around the corner from our hostel. We spent around 2 hours eating and talking, something that never would have happened if we were with boys! After lunch, we went to the grocery store to get some food to make for breakfast and such. Then we went to the Scottish Art Museum and St. Mary’s Cathedral, where we got to go to the even-song service. It was beautiful! I love sitting and looking at the beautiful chapel while listening to music! Then we sat and had a wonderful dinner together chatting about life and our study abroad experience. What a wonderful group of girls God has blessed me with here!! I absolutely love sitting and talking with them about everything, ranging from fashion to our faith. They are so awesome. Then we headed back to our hostel and went to bed after talking for a bit! We were so tired!!!
Saturday: Happy St. Patricks Day/ Megan’s Birthday! What a wonderful day this was!!!! We woke up a little later than planned, but it was worth it! We then made ourselves a wonderful breakfast and had a great time fellowshipping over a wonderful meal. We headed out for the day, and as we were walking, found an awesome book store! We spent about an hour looking at all the books (once again, something that would have never happened if there were boys), and I bought a really cool Scottish Book of Prayer!!! We then continued to walk and we found a tea truck where they were giving us free tea… that’s right, FREE TEA!! It was very exciting!! When they found out it was Megan’s birthday, they videoed us singing happy birthday to her and are going to put it up on their facebook cite! We are going to be famous…haha! We then found a shop where we bought what we refer to as THE PANTS. Now these pants are so legit, and I love them very much (you will have to see a picture, they are hard to describe). We all got a pair, and we look so cool in them haha Anyway, let me tell you that in Scotland, people literally walk around in kilts and its normal. Its hilarious! We then stopped and watched a guy play his bagpipes (again, perfectly normal for Scotland) and then ran into other girls from the other group outside of the church! It is always so nice running into people from our trip, even when we have only been a part for a day! We also did a lot of souvenir shopping! Then we went to the Elephant Café for lunch, which is the birthplace for Harry Potter! Then people ran by us in kilts… again, completely normal haha. At the elephant café, we ran into the other people from our trip! It was awesome!! We laughed and chatted a bit, and decided we would meet at the castle in a few hours. Our lunch was awesome, although it did take forever for us to get it. And they had gluten free cake and brownies… BEST DAY EVER!! Oh, and we saw another fire truck when we were walking around. IT WAS GLORIOUS!! We then met the other group at the castle and then decided we wanted to hike up Arthur’s Seat. This mountain was LEGIT!! Us ladies hiked up to the very top ( I mean the very top) in our skirts and dresses with our purses and shopping bags.. that’s right, we are true wilderwomen!! It was a bit of hike, but totally worth it! The view from the top was BREATHTAKING! One of the best moments of the whole study abroad experience thus far for sure! We spent some time at the top reading scripture and praying as we viewed the beauty of the Lord! It was such an awesome experience that I got to share with the ladies! After a long hike down, we stopped at a pub to watch the huge Rugby game (England vs Ireland). England SMOKED them.. it was awesome! Haha We then went on a 2 hr long free Harry Potter tour. This really didn’t mean much to me because i’m not a Harry Potter fan, but my friends loved it! And I learned a lot about Edinburgh on it. We even met girls from Texas on the tour! They go to school at UNT…I felt a little bit of home and it was so nice! We then ran into the other group again at a restaurant and chatted it up for a while. Then, we made dinner at our hostel and enjoyed ice cream Sundays for Megan’s birthday! Yummy! I cannot accurately describe how amazing this day was…. It sounds so lame in my post, but it was such a wonderful day!! Ps in case you were wondering, Megan and I tripped a total of 14 times today… it was a new record.
Sunday: We woke up and visited a couple of graveyards on our way to walk up Cannon Hill. We took lots of pictures and spent some time up on the hill looking at the beautiful view (again, this would have not happened had there been boys). We decided that morning to have our own church service outside as we looked at the beautiful landscape!! This was such a good decision! We had wonderful fellowship, sang some songs, read some scripture, and simply looked at the beautiful world the Lord had created. I cannot put into words how cool it is to look out at the sea and the mountains when you are reading Psalms about them!! We then ate lunch at a baked potato bar and went to the Museum of Childhood. This is my kind of museum!! We played with cars, had a tea party, tried on little kid clothes from a long time ago, and looked at all the cool exhibits they had in the museum!! We then spent some more time looking at St. Guiles Cathedral and watching a guy play the bagpipes (its normal, I promise! Haha) Then we went to a candy store where I got a huge lollypop. This was a bad decision…I was soooooooo sugared up!! We then stopped at a little kid toy store on the way back to the hostel to get our things, and that was blast. We headed back to the airport and had some time to chill (and look at the cute UK soccer players) before our flight boarded. I didn’t get yelled at in security this time too, which was nice! We got to walk onto the tarmac to get to our plane, so I got to wave again like I was the Mavs after winning the Championship… I still felt cool!
(Sidenote: the mavs beat the Spurs this week!!! Yayayayayyayayayayayayay)
Anyway, we got back to Oxford and I had to turn in some homework and take a shower (cause I smelt BAD) before bed. But I finished these tasks quickly and was asleep really fast!!
Today has been a BUSY day!! When we landed, we had less than 48 hours before we would be leaving for Italy. In the next two days I have a massive research paper and a quiz along with classes, so its super busy! There is also a ton of stuff to pack for Italy (I only get to take a backpack for a week in a half….pray for me!!) and I have to figure out my schedule for next semester (yikes!) Anyway, it has been nice to be home and laughing with my friends! Best part was seeing my friend Cameron wear his kilt that he bought in Scotland to class… so funny.
This weekend has been so real, and one of the best trips thus far!!
“For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth,
and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker; for he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care” Psalm 95: 3-7
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