Scotland, and its superlatives!

So, I apologize if this is uninteligible. I Just woke up, and I'm writing in Word pad which has no spell check. Lovely thinking there on my part. But its too late now and I'm too lazy to open word, and you are intellegent, so I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out!

Anyway, so Scotland! Yay! Scotland was fun and beautiful. I don't think it was my favorite trip, but there were a lot of little things which contributed to that. Mostly I think it was that I really just didn't want to travel anymore. I kind of consider London a home now and its nice to get to spend time in a familiar place. Also, about the last 6 weekends prior I had been travelling. Paris, Germany, Italy, Wales...the list goes on and the night before it was probably 11oclock and I was sitting in my room trying to decide if I even wanted to pack...lol It was a 3 day trip and in my unamused mind I was considering wearing the same thing for 3 days. Ultimately though, I did pack. And I did wake up at 4 or 5 ish the next morning to get to the train station, even though while walking there I really thought about turning around and going back to bed. (Just so you know, this weekend I stayed in London and it was lovely.)

Then we made it to the train station and found some train station take away breakfast...mmm...not. I think we got cinnamon rolls which actually weren't terrible. After checking in, we had to wait a bit as our train didn't leave until 8. They wanted us there really early since the people on this trip have a habit of showing up about an hour late for things.So we got on the train and I tried to sleep, but since it was 8, the sun was already up and I couldn't pass up the beautiful scenery that I kept seeing. (At this point in my life even trees and grass make me really happy because all I ever see in London is concrete. They have parks and stuff, but you go there and it feels very artificial. The grass is mowed, the ponds all have concrete edges and the trees are clearly landscaped. Its nice for a break, but it just doesn't feel natural. Scotland helped with that a lot. It was gorgeous there.

The further north we went, we started to see coast. I'm not sure if it was an ocean or a sea or a lake, though it was definitely very massive and surrounded by these beautiful cliffs. Every so often there would be a cute little light house. It wasn't actually a bad train ride. It was 4 hours long though.

So, we finally arrived in Edinburgh (Edinboro for pronounciations sake). There we met our tour guide who did wear a kilt the whole time. He was a pretty nice guy most of the time, though he didn't like it when people talked over him or would listen to their ipods while he was talking and he would occasionally tell us to shut up. He did it in a funny way, but after a while I got tired of listening to the other kids complain about him. They really didn't like him. I thought he was interesting, though he was a bit long winded. He would occassionally talk for an hour about what could have been said in 10 minutes or so. That really seemed to bother everyone else. But what started out as a curiousity for us, became very hysterical, and then evetually got quite annoying was his Scottish pride. He was very Scottish. His accent was very Scottish, and he had the pride to go with it. Everything came from Scotland. Everything originated in Scotland. Everything is the best in Scotland. The ones that stick in my mind the most are that Scotland has the best bridge in the world, and Scotland has the biggest dolphins in the world. Somehow, I don't think either are true, but I do think he absolutely believed they were.

So, we went to our hostel in Edinburgh and then got a short quick walking tour of the city. We learned about old Edinburgh and new Edinburgh and why they made the new city, and then we got the change to explore around. We mostly walked through old Edinburgh and saw the castle, the palace, the pub where JK started writing Harry Potter. It was all in a really cute little town. We went to a pub for dinner and had been told to try a local ale that is actually pumped from the tap. What I mean is that beers in America you pull the handle down and stuff pours out. All the local ones have to be pumped and aren't carbonated. Anyway, so Alan decided to be adventurous and try some and it actually turned out to be green, which we think was left over from St. Patricks day the tuesday before. It wasn't very good, but it was pretty cool. The food was amazing though.

I forgot to mention that before our dinner and after walking around we climbed this mountain. It was awesome. Not the climbing, but the views. We didn't climb to the very top, but we made it to the top of a ridge that was high enough up that when I sat down and dangled my feet off the edge Alan about had a heartattack because he was so scared for me. :-)

So yeah, explored, climbed, ate some food, the we got some ice cream, and went back to the hostel because we were tired from getting up at 4 in the morning. The next morning we were up pretty early again. We got some breakfast and were off to the bus. Once there we drove for a bit through some really pretty scenery in Scotland and made our way to the William Wallace memorial momument thinger. It was another hike up another mountain, but it was pretty cool once we got up there. After that we made our way to the Scottish highlands (according to the tour guide, the ONLY wilderness left if Europe. Its that pride thing again. By the end of the trip we figured the Scottish kids probably have a class in primary school on how to be proud). It was beautiful though. We stopped a bit in to pet and feed a scottish highland cow (hairy coo, if your a scotsman) His name was Hamish which translates to James and he was cute! If you put the carrot in your mouth he would give you a kiss, but I wasn't quite that daring. He was pretty slobbery.

So then we ate lunch at this tiny little rest stop thing which kind of operated highschool cafeteria style. I didn't realize how far removed I was from that until I got there and forgot how cafeteria things like that work...yeah...But the food was good. It took me agood ten minutes at the rest stop t o find a store that sold water. I was thirsty pretty much the whole trip and I eventually had to go to this camp like store place thing. They sold firewood and stuff because nearby there is a trail that takes about a week to hike and they sell supplies for the campers. But as a result, they didn't sell anything in sizes under a liter. I felt like I was in America for a bit and proudly carried my liter of water with me...till I drank it about 2 hours later. :-)

In the highlands we passed about 60 different lochs and they were all really beautiful. It really is unspoiled nature out there. There were little streams from the melting snow that made waterfalls at the cliffs, every mountain had a name. It was really just a nice place. We made a photo stop at a place called the 3 sisters, which were 3 mountains with this gorge thing running up the center. It was really quite lovely and everyone took a pipcture of themselves pretending to jump off the cliff that was there. And we saw some deer! Yay! lol I mean it really isn't that exciting because they are everywhere in PA...but I haven't seen one in oh...forever.

Then back on the bus and off to Loch Ness, where I saw Urquart Castle Ruins and Nessie (jk, I didn't see her, but we do have a prettyfunny joke about it). Loch Ness was beautiful. The water is so deep, and it was this dark blue color. It was surrounded by trees and hills and other lovely things and the ruins were really picturesque. I told Alan to take a picture of me with Nessie, but when we looked at the picture, Nessie just wasn't smiling. So, we had to delete it obviosly. Josh said we should have had some keys or a little yellow bird to jingle at her...but she just wasn't cooperating. According to the tourguide there is overwhelming amounts of scientific evidence that point at some rather large fish creature in the loch, but because it is so deep and so dark no one really knows what. He seemed to think it was an extraordinarily large carp. I think it is definitely a prehistoric dinosaur fish monster. And, it probably eats people.

I stuck my hand in Loch Ness though and then it was back on the bus to Inverness, where we spent the night. We went out to a Weatherspoons while we were there. They serve really cheap food and 99 p drinks. The food was actually pretty decent as far as 6 pounds was concerned. By 6 pounds I mean 6.99 ish for both Alan and me. Afterwards we headed to a more expensive bar, club, pub place, where there were so many people you acutally couldn't move. But we went because they were supposed to have some good folk music and such. We hung out there for a while, until I got hiccups which lasted for about an hour and made me miserable. So, we left and headed in for the night. We were up early again the next morning, and off the to bus again.

The first stop of the day was a giant battle feild where the Scots fought the English...and lost pretty terrible. We watched and made fun of this ridiculous 3d video thingy of the battle and then I went to the gift shop and Alan went to play with the replica muskets.

Most of the rest of the day was spent on the bus. We made a stop at a tiny little town for lunch and no one had any time and we were all late. After that we stopped at a whiskey distillery, and got a tour which was a fiasco because apparaently once the people had a group of french students steal a bunch of stuff and put pebbles in the toilets so now they don't like students and didn't want to honor our reservations. Our tour guide ended up arguing with the lady for like 20 minutes, and we did eventually get the tour and a free sample, but they weren't exactly pleasant people and we didn't get a chance to visit the gift shop because they sent us away. They really didn't like us...whatever.

Well, because of all the delays, we ended up getting a late start on the road to the train, and had to sprint to catch the train. I actually mean sprint. I'm not exaggerating. Our tour guide ran ahead to find out which train we had to get on, and then we sprinted. We made it though, with like 30 seconds to spare.

The train ride back was ridiculous. What was a 4 hour ride there, was a 7 hour ride back with a bus transfer in the middle. That was the train ride where my roommate told everyone how I had ruined her life, so I ended up getting really angry and moody and just refused to talk to any one or look at any one and our school accompany person really pissed me off and eventually left Alan and I behind at the one train station. We had our tickets, but still, as the group leader your supposed to keep everyone together though. She tends to be very much like a teenager though still, and is really good friends with our roommates who hate us. She was walking around telling everyone that she really wanted people to try to stay together, and even though she thought 45 people was too much for the one car we should all try to squeeze on. But when she got to Alan and I who were standing a bit further away from the group, but close enough to hear everything, she said "I think 45 people is a but much for one train, you can try to squeeze on if you want, but I don't think we will all fit." She then proceeded to tell us all the times that the trains came through going to London for the half hour or so...basically, what she was saying is we aren't all going to fit. You guys should catch a later train. She told everyone else that she would wait if there were people left behind, but when the next train came she jumped right on despite the fact that we were still standing there. We got an email the next day asking if we made it home ok, saying she would have stayed but thought we wanted some privacy. Which I only wanted because I was about ready to punch someone. They would have deserved it.

So yeah, that was my Scotland trip. Despite the ending, it really wasn't bad. It was nice to get out of the city for a bit, and the landscape was quite beautiful. I could have done without the rest of the kids on the trip, but it was still nice. I had a good time. I would really like to go back without the rest of the people, but then again I have said that about every place I have been.

The week after we got back was just class again. Then Saturday, Alan, Brittany, and I went to a Football Match. The game ended in a disappointing tie, but it was fun to watch. I don't understand football. Its very much like soccer, which I also don't understand, but there is a lot more pushing, shoving, pulling, and tripping involved. It was pretty rough and a couple guys got hurt. One got carried out on a stretcher. American soccer isn't that rough. I enjoyed myself though, and got some pretty cool pictures. Afterwards we went home and made Stromboli and it was delicious.

The next morning was daylight svaings time, and I forgot. I ended up over sleeping for an hour. It sucked. But we met up with Brittany again and went to speakers corner. We listened to some really crazy religious nuts up on their step ladders ranting about everything. The audiance was just as fun to listen to. It was free though, and considering the number on my bank statement, that was nice. I had a great time just listening to them. After that, we had planned to get some starbucks and then go see the Oxford, Cambridge crew race on the Thames. It has been a long standing tradition and Cambridge was going to see if they could maintain their victory status. Unfortunately, we got talking in Starbucks and ended up losing track of time, and missed the race. We made it down to the river, and there was a pretty happening party going on, but there were no boats and no rowers. I was sad, but not a lot. It was still an experience. When we went home, we made left overs for dinner, and I cleaned my room. Then Alan did some applications for jobs, and then we went to bed. Now, it is today, and I have class in about an hour and shouldn't be sitting here writing this, but I am. Oh well.

Later!