We Naively Traveled to Europe and Thought Everything Would Be In English

Well, it has been a whole week since the beginning of our trip to mainland Europe and there is quite a bit to fill you in on. We took the bus to the airport on Wednesday to catch our flight to Amsterdam. The flight was fine and only about an hour long (I was asleep but this is what I was told). When we arrived our initial task was to make it to Amsterdam Central Station via the train from the airport. Once we finally figured out the machine to buy tickets (we went to the tourist information desk twice) we caught the train and actually got off at the right stop... despite the fact that we don't read any Dutch. Then we had to find our hostel. Now that was an adventure. After roughly 40 minutes of confusion and map deciphering we found the Amigo Hotel. Once we dropped our stuff off we left to go out on the town. We indulged in the Amsterdam lifestyle (Red Light District NOT included) and it was quite a lovely evening.

The next morning was rough but we grudgingly roused ourselves from the warm beds - the extremely loud construction outside the window helped - and went to our first "official" tourist location: the Anne Frank Museum/House. It was extremely moving. There were tons of original items (including her diary) from her house and the inside had been restored to look like it was when Anne was there except without the furniture, which is the way Otto Frank had wanted it to be. Then it was off the the Amsterdam History Museum which I really don't remember much about which means it probably wasn't that remarkable. I do remember that the number of canals increased as Amsterdam became a huge port city. After some lunch (and an accidental walk through the Red Light District - the women stand in the windows, scantily clad, displaying what they've got to offer and red lights light their rooms), we were off to the Rijksmuseum which houses some of Amsterdam's greatest artistic treasures including Rembrandt's The Night Watch and some Vermeer. They also had the newest piece by Damien Hirst - an skull covered in 8,601 diamonds and it's called "For the Love of God." Maybe I just don't understand modern art but I feel like this might be just a little bit pretentious. Still it was really cool to see especially because the display was in a room that was completely dark with the only light shining on the diamond speckled skull. Next up was the Van Gogh Museum which houses some 200 paintings of Van Gogh's and also has numerous sketches and other works. We saw one of the famous sunflower pictures, two of his self-portraits and many, many more incredible pieces. After this long haul through four museums we decided we'd do a boat tour through the canals because the little pass card we bought got us a free one (it also got us into all the museums for free. We added it up and discovered we saved nearly 20 Euro or about $28). I'll admit, I fell asleep almost immediately after the boat began moving and got in an hour long nap. I'm kind of sad I missed the canal scenery but I got some much needed rest. We had a hearty dinner and then we went back to the hostel and went to bed. The next morning we went to the Jewish History Museum which had some really great contemporary art about Israel and Palestine and Jews in the modern world (Mollie - this would have been GREAT for Jew class last semester). It also had some really amazing artifacts and objects from Amsterdam Jews over the past hundred years or so. We had some lunch and then made our way to the train station to make our way to Brussels, Belgium! Here are some Amsterdam pictures. None of the museums allowed pictures so all I have are scenic pictures of this great city in the Netherlands.

The outside of Anne Frank's house. Obviously, it didn't look like this when she lived there but the inside has been restored to look more like it was when the Franks were hiding there.

One of many, many canals. This is basically Amsterdam scenery in a nutshell.

The Royal Palace in Dam Square.

Extremely phallic looking National Monument in Dam Square.

The Heineken Brewery. We didn't go in but we passed by!

Amsterdam was all dressed up for Christmas!

The train ride from Brussels was only about three hours so we got a little napping in while we traveled. We opted for a cab to our hostel because it was bitterly cold, snowing a bit and we had no idea where we were on the map. Despite the fact that we spoke no French our cabbie attempted to give us advice about the city and kept saying "Bush out! Yay Obama!" Our hostel was trendy and huge. We had a little dinner and then went back to the hostel and hung out in the bar that was on main level and then got some shut eye. The next day we started probably a bit earlier than we needed. We saw the Congress Column also known as the Monument to the Unknown Soldier. Then we happened upon the St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral. It was beautiful and absolutely huge. Then we walked on and found a little square where we bought our first Belgian waffles! They were so delicious and to top off an already great morning it started to snow! We finally found the main square where the Grand Place (not Grand Palace as I kept calling it), which is basically the town hall, and the Brussels Historical Museum, which was not too terribly exciting, are located. Within an hour of being at the square, we saw two weddings take place! We also watched the construction of a massive nativity set and the set up of an enormous tree. We decided we needed to see the icon of Brussels: Manneken Pis. Yes, its a little statue of a boy peeing and its a fountain. The Belgians are obsessed with him - he has over 700 costumes that they actually dress him in! I think the appeal is in the fact that know one knows exactly where he came from or when he arrived. Since we had basically seen everything we wanted we opted for some shopping and Maggie and Kara went a little crazy and got their noses pierced! We turned in very early after dinner because we had to get up really early to catch our flight (that was almost a disaster which I will not recount because it basically consists of us wandering around Brussels at 6 am not knowing what the heck we were doing). We finally got back to Edinburgh and I must say, I can't believe we did it! I mean, we made it and had a great time without killing one another despite the fact that we probably wanted to a few times. But it's excusable because traveling is so stressful. But we're still friends and love one another, so its wonderful. What follows are the Brussels pictures.

Congress Column/the Monument of the Unknown Soldier.

St. Michel and St. Gudula Cathedral.

Inside the Cathedral.

Stacey, Kara and me in the snow in Brussels, Belgium. Did you know it's the UN's capital? Because it is.

Me and my first Belgian waffle. That look is because I was experiencing deliciousness beyond words.

Manneken Pis. Yep, that's it and yes, he is in one of his 700 costumes.

Kara and Maggie's new nose piercings! I don't know if you can really see them but they're there I swear!

I will write some more later but I'm very tired. Overall, the trip was spectacular and I had a blast... What a trip.

An Impending Invasion

Alright. So for the next few days I will be in mainland Europe. I know - AWESOME! I'm trying to contain my excitement so you should too. The four of us embark on our invasion tomorrow. We are going to Amsterdam, Netherlands first. We're staying there for a few days and then move on to Brussels, Belgium. This trip is going to be incredible. I know this because we are going to make this trip incredible - it has no choice but to succumb to our will. It will be epic and fabulous. Basically, because I'll be gone for nearly five days, I'll be MIA when it comes to my email, facebook, skype and this blog. When I get back I promise to post loads of pictures (perhaps I will devote one post solely to pictures and use the other for the actual entry... sorry that was too much information for you all). Europe better watch out because the Americans are invading very soon. I hope they've braced themselves for what is going to be one crazy adventure.

Harry Potter (NOT Daniel Radcliffe) Shops in York

It has been a week and one day since the presidential election and I still get giddy when I think about it. I think I've watched about 100 youtube videos of Barack Obama and probably about 100 more about him. It is becoming a little bit weird and I feel like I should stop or I will be veering further and further from giddiness and coming closer and closer to an unhealthy obsession. Since I didn't show you exactly what was going on election night for me here in Edinburgh, I decided to post some choice pictures below.

This was the first party, well actually the only party, that we went to. I was trying to capture just how many people were there. It was very warm from all the body heat and pent up emotion. Also, the party actually managed to exceed the capacity of the pub/restaurant. CRAZY!

Maggie and her patriotic hair. I used my former cheerleader skills to tie those stellar bows.

Stacey and the miracle laptop that kept us posted on election results while we were queuing/in line.

This past weekend we went to York, England and it was pretty great. It was sponsored by Butler but we didn't have a set agenda or anything set in stone (except for the free dinners they provided at some really nice restaurants). On Friday Stacey, Kara and I caught the train to York at about 10 am. We got into York around 12:30 pm and soon realized that we had no idea what we were supposed to do because none of us had checked our email for instructions. So we called some other people to: a) find out where our hotel was b) what the name of the hotel was and c) find out where our free dinners were. Once we gathered all the information we decided it was time for a nice lunch. We ate at this little pub called Lendal Cellars. Apparently the cellar is/was on the land of a friary/monastery during the 13th century. I don't know if it was a cellar during that time but it was, at some point, owned by the Lord Mayor and he kept all his booze there. I think it was converted into a bar sometime in the 18th century. We then made our way to the hotel and, of course, we got lost along the way. Once we got there, we settled in and I discovered, to my great delight, that my roommate was not on the trip. After Maggie arrived (she booked her ticket well before us and, therefore, had a totally different travel schedule) we made our way into the city center where we window shopped and then slipped into a pub for some hot cocoa and tourist planning before going to dinner. Dinner was delicious and we thought we might go to the movies afterward (because no one really felt like partying it up). Unfortunately the new James Bond film, Quantum of Solace, was all sold out and we just went back to the hotel and watched a movie on TV. I never realized how truly cheesy Armageddon is.

Saturday we decided to do a whirlwind of touristy stuff. First we went on a boat ride down the Ouse River (pronounced like "ooze") which runs through York. We learned that York often floods meaning that river rises several feet. Did you know it is still legal to shoot a Scotsman with bow and arrow in York if he's within the city walls after dark? Guy Fawkes, the infamous man who plotted to blow up Parliament on November 5, 1604, was from York. After the boat tour (which was grand but quite chilly) we made our way to the Castle Museum which stands in the place where York Castle used to be and has a huge amount of information about the history of York. They even have a life-size replica a main road in York from the mid-19th century! It was fabulous. We ended up spending a lot of time in the Castle Museum even though I don't remember much about it besides the York replica. We decided lunch was necessary and settled on a place we dubbed "The Leaky Cauldron" even though its real names was Gert & Henry's. This house turned restaurant is extremely old. The floor slanted significantly and everything was creaky and magnificent. I loved it. Next we went to an area called The Shambles. It is a very old, narrow street with very old buildings (some dating back from the 1300s!). The bottom floors were/are where the shops were/are and the upper stories as the place where the shop owners lived (I'm not sure if that's the case today). The best thing about York, in my opinion, is that the whole city has an aura of either Harry Potter or Shakespeare - and I LOVE both. Some of the upper stories of the building are so old that the lean in towards the street! No wonder The Shambles is the place where they shot Diagon Alley for the Harry Potter films!!! It practically screams MAGIC!

Next stop was York Minster, though I kept calling it Westminster, which boasts that it is the second largest Gothic cathedral in Northern Europe (apparently the Germans out did the Brits with their cathedral at Cologne). We climbed up the tower, an extremely tiring 300 steps, and got a gorgeous view of York. I walked around the church itself while the other girls went to underneath to the crypt part or something. While I wandered and took an obnoxious amount of photos, a choir began to sing. I saw a lot of people crowding around looking in on the choir. They were even taking pictures. So I decided to go over and see what all the fuss was about. Lo and behold there was a BOYS CHOIR practicing for mass later that night! I got extremely excited and snapped about 10 pictures before settling myself down to listen to their ethereal little voices reverberate off the walls of the cathedral. It was truly amazing and moving. We finally departed and made our way to dinner at this place called ASK. This restaurant used to be assembly rooms for York where big meetings, socials and balls were held! The link gives you a good view of the restaurant - it was great! After a delightful dinner we went on a ghost tour because York is supposedly haunted with hoards of ghosts. Not all of the stories were very scary but they were all allegedly true and it was dark, cold and rainy outside so it really helped set a creepy atmosphere. After our haunting tour we went to the movies and actually got in to see Quantum of Solace. It was good but not as good as Casino Royale. But I'm not complaining. Who doesn't love watching two hours of Daniel Craig?

Sunday was pretty uneventful. We basically just went shopping. Maggie left us pretty early on because her train left at a decent hour (ours didn't leave until 8:30 that night!). So we had a lot of time to kill. We booked our hostels for our trip to Amsterdam and Brussels (we opted not to go to Germany because we thought we might be stretching ourselves too thin) and saw another movie. This time we saw Easy Virtue. Clearly it was a play that had been made into a film because everything was very dramatic and over exaggerated. Also, Jessica Biel was in it and she was not exactly my idea of a forward-thinking 1920s race car driver. We did some homework and then we got on our train back to Edinburgh. It was good to be back. Here are some pictures from York!

The Shambles aka DIAGON ALLEY!!! York is very busy and touristy... in case you couldn't tell from the picture.

Inside Gert & Henry's or The Leaky Cauldron as we kept calling it. The room is actually slanted that's not my shabby photography skills.

Front of York Minster.

View of York Minster from halfway up our tremendously difficult climb up the tower.

Inside York Minster.

Gorgeous stained glass windows of York Minster.

BOYS CHOIR!!! This basically made the entire day worthwhile!

Yay! More boys choir! Their voices were so angelic. I could have listened for hours.

More York Minster.

This week has been pretty uneventful because weeks 7 and 8 in the school year are the when the most essays and assignments are due. Basically its crunch time for a lot of people. I don't have a ton of stuff due but I definitely have some work that needs to be completed. Saturday is our lone night out. We're going to The Tron to see our favorite band in Edinburgh. It will be fabulous. Next week we leave for Amsterdam on Wednesday. I'm so excited! We're going to see Anne Frank's house and we're going to the Red Light District (just to look - no worries) and then Brussels is going to be great. We're banking on our first excursion to mainland Europe as a group being an extremely memorable one... I'm sure it will be.

California Dreamin' On Such A Winter's Day

I don't really have much to update you all on BUT allow me to briefly indulge in some self-promotion. I recently discovered that I made the Dean's List last semester at Scripps! For those who don't know, the Dean's List is the equivalent of High Honor Roll in college. You can click here to see for yourself (I'm listed under Juniors even though it was my sophomore year - something to do with credits). I was/am so thrilled about this! I feel very motivated to do well for the rest of my Scripps career and hopefully beyond that!

The weather has become increasingly colder and windier. I've been told this is only the beginning and it gets much worse. Yikes! I mean, its already around freezing temperatures and its only the middle of October. Its not even winter! Also, the rain is relentless. My friends and I think that Scotland has a daily rain quota that must be kept at all costs. I don't think we've seen a day when it hasn't rained, even if it is only for five minutes while the sun is shining. I think I might have to invest in an actual jacket - I don't think my sweatshirts and pea coat will cut it (plus one of the buttons fell off and its one of the ones I actually use to button the coat). The winds have been really fierce lately. I'm actually surprised my face isn't wind-burnt (you know that sunburn look people tend to get after some skiing... not too cute). The way the wind whips through the trees actually kind of reminds me of the way the ocean sounds when you're on the beach. Sometimes I close my eyes, listen to the wind in the trees and imagine myself on a beautiful beach. And sometimes it works.

Despite the fact that it is quite cold, I am really enjoying it. The air smells crisp and fresh and I'm already prepped for Christmas! I've even busted out my holiday tunes. I know, that's a little excessive but this is the first winter in 2 years that I've been able to fully experience - southern California doesn't really get cold weather and I have always associated the lead-up to Christmas with the cold weather. So I'm actually very excited. Apparently Christmas is huge here too so that is SPECTACULAR.

I've talked with a few of my friends and I think travel to mainland Europe and Ireland is being seriously considered and will happen sometime in the near future. I really want to go to Germany around Christmastime. Its supposed to look like a Christmas card... and we all know how much I LOVE everything even remotely related to Christmas. For now I'm in Edinburgh enduring rain, wind and freezing temperatures but loving every minute of it.

40 Pubs - But Where Can We Go To Dance?

A new week is about to begin and, as usual, I cannot explain how quickly the last few days went by. Thursday was the History Society pub crawl and I definitely had a grand old time. I did find an outfit for the "Summer of '69" which consisted of a long brown, kind of floral print-ish dress with a vest and butterfly belt, very round sunglasses and a lei to go around my head. Most of my other friends went as the spandex-fabulous 80s, though I think the 60s and the 20s came in at a close 2nd. I guess the 80s were probably the easiest because a lot of the styles from the eighties are coming back (that's slightly frightening). We made some new friends as we crawled from pub to pub - I think we went to 6 or 7 in all - and also bonded with some people while we queued (aka stood in a big, long line) for the main event in the student union. The following pictures are not my own because I didn't take any for some reason.

My cute friend Stacey and me in costume (which is called "fancy dress" here) pre-pub crawling.

Kara, Stacey and me at the Potterrow (part of the student union) with a guy who actually painted himself green so he could seem more Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle-like. I think several of the societies and clubs were having pub crawls that night with various themes and everyone assembled at Potterrow for the final bit. That meant EVERYONE was dressed up and looking very fabulous.

On Friday a group of us went to St. Andrews to visit a friend of Kara's who attends there as a regular full-time student (not a just a semester/year abroad). The city is named St. Andrews because St. Rule allegedly brought with him the relics of Saint Andrew himself to the small fishing community when he was washed up onto the shore after his ship wrecked. The relics were placed in St. Andrews Cathedral after its construction but the whereabouts of those relics are not known now. We had a great time that night but St. Andrews just doesn't have the same night scene as Edinburgh. There are a lot of pubs (40 in that one small town) but no clubs... not "real" clubs at least. We mingled and met lots of people but I'm very glad I chose to come to Edinburgh. On Saturday Kara's friend gave us a tour of the city (which you can easily do in a few hours). We saw the ruins of St. Andrew's Cathedral, St. Rule's Tower, the beautiful beaches and North Sea, the first golf course EVER (called the Old Course) and much more. Kara's friend also showed us where Prince William and Emma Watson (Hermione from the Harry Potter films who currently goes to school at St. Andrews) lived during the school year. The University of St. Andrews has a lot of old traditions and history, meaning I loved it! Don't get me wrong, Edinburgh has a massive amount of history too, but the old time traditions are something that I haven't really come across yet, at least not at the University. I guess St. Andrews is the third oldest university in the Britain and the oldest university in Scotland so it is only natural that - being the first - they would have a ton of old, established traditions. After several hours of shameless tourist behavior, we left on the train for Edinburgh.

Ruins of St. Andrews Cathedral. It is enormous and it was a gorgeous day so everything looked spectacular!

St. Rule's Tower (on the left) and the ruins of the Cathedral. The ruins are now used as a graveyard. Most of the tombstones are from the 1800s onwards. They were sad but beautiful.

View of the ruins of St. Andrews Castle from the pier.

The Old Course - the first golf course ever! The wait to play this course can be up to two years! The golf club is very exclusive and only for the extremely wealthy (I believe you have to bring a bank statement confirming your funds in order to even be considered). Golf began when farmers got bored during their commutes from town to their farms. They would hit acorns across the wide fields and predict how many hits it would take them to get that acorn to a certain point in the field (par). From there the sport evolved and gained popularity. I believe there are 5 (maybe 6) golf courses in St. Andrews.

This beach is where that famous "Chariots of Fire" opening scene was filmed (the Old Course is also featured in that opening sequence). This beach is the absolutely enormous, especially at low tide. It is also the view from the Old Course.

This is the exact spot where Patrick Hamilton was burned at the stake as a heretic for his Protestant beliefs. It was raining when they burned him so it took him 7 hours to die. They say that if a student steps on these letters they will fail all their exams and never graduate. This myth is taken very seriously and the letters are intentionally avoided by all students.

I don't know if you can see it but there is a face in the middle stone (the 5th stone up if you're counting from the bottom of the picture). I think if you click the picture you can see a larger image. It is allegedly the face of Patrick Hamilton because the face first appeared after the smoke from Hamilton's burning cleared. It is looming and quite scary.

Last night a group of us went to The Tron to see our new favorite band, "White Heath." After their show we approached them and found out which of them found and commented on my little blog. We introduced ourselves, chatted for a bit and bought their CD (they only charged a pound... I think they should up that to at least 2!). We assured them that we would be back and decided (without the consent of any band members) that we would become their new best friends.

I know I've been here for a little more than a month but I feel like things are just getting started. We've finally met people who actually go to school at the university (and, therefore, are not American) and those people are not freshers! Yay for people who are our age! Time is passing so quickly and I still feel like I have so much I want to do. I'm sure things can only get better (cross your fingers)!

Nessie's Been Avoiding Me

Here I am again blogging for the first time in a week. I feel like I might be slacking a bit - I'll work on that. So this past weekend we went to Inverness and other parts of the Scottish Highlands. Allow me to fill you in on the adventures that ensued.

We departed on Friday at 8am (which I almost missed because I woke up 15 minutes before we were all supposed to meet up). Since it was a trip organized by Butler (the program that is taking care of us while we're abroad) it was only American study abroad students from Butler programs all over Scotland. These programs are at: University of Edinburgh (yay!), Stirling University, University of Glasgow and the Internship at the Scottish Parliament. There were A LOT of us. I mean, they had four buses and I only recognized about a quarter of the people on the trip. Anyway, we began our journey with our lovely bus driver Blair and our slightly annoying and crazy tour guide Jean. Jean liked to give a lot of commentary on, well, everything. She was fond of saying, "Wakey, wakey!" in attempts to get us to listen to random facts that may or may not have been interesting. Our first stop was at Scone Palace (pronounced Skoon) where people actually still live! Apparently they live on the top floors while the main level is kept open for museum/touristy stuff. We saw Boot Hill there were the kings of Scotland were crowned (until Scotland no longer had kings) and also had a falconry display. The next stop was the sheepdog farm. I think the majority of the females (and even some males) began drooling when they brought out the cute little puppies. There was a mad scramble for the baskets with the puppies and I wouldn't be surprised if some people were physically assaulted so that others could nab a puppy first.

Scone Palace where people actually still live!

Replica of the Stone of Scone or the Stone of Destiny on Boot Hill. The Scottish kings were crowned on the stone for 700 years until the English took it and used it when they crowned their kings and queens! The real stone was finally returned to Scotland in 1996 and is displayed at Edinburgh Castle.

Another view of Scone Palace.

We finally arrived at the hostel in Inverness (which, by the way, was WAY nicer than the one in San Francisco). We had a dinner of pizza and then decided to go out on the town. We had a blast playing "never have I ever" and exchanging deep, dark (yet extremely hilarious) secrets. At one of our many pub/bar stops, my friend purchased a inflatable sheep from the naughty vending machine in the bathroom. We dubbed her Dolly and she had a great life filled with many kisses from random strangers until my friend deflated her. We were unable to revive her. During the course of that night we ran into the same 2 (not very cute and somewhat old) guys at least 4 times. It was weird and I was thoroughly creeped out. I should address the fact that the entire population of Inverness seems to be above the age of 35. Seriously, I don't think I saw one person, besides the other America kids I was traveling with, that was around our age. I am going to say its because all the Inverness kids are away at university... Friday was also my brother Gabriel's 9th birthday! Happy late Birthday Gabe!!

Saturday was slightly disappointing. We went to Cairngorm Mountain where we were supposed to take a train up to the top. Unfortunately, the winds were too high and we settled for a short trek up the side of the mountain and a picture slide show/presentation. Our next stop was Glen Grant Distillery where we got a tour and learned how whiskey is made. We also got a free whiskey tasting... I'm not a fan, not even when most of the drink is water. That night we ate dinner at a restaurant in Inverness along with the hoard of other Americans. We went out again but were in bed by 11pm.

View from Cairngorm Mountain (not from the top, but about half-way up).

Glen Grant Distillery where I discovered that whiskey may smell nice when it is being made but it tastes nasty.

Sunday we checked out of the hostel and made our way to Culloden Battlefield. This was the site of the last battle fought on British soil and was also the last standoff between the British and the Jacobites (many of which were Highlanders from various clans). Bonnie Prince Charlie led the Jacobites and the Highlanders into battle on April 16, 1746 where they were swiftly and brutally defeated. Apparently no British regiment will honor the Battle of Culloden in their list battles won because of the atrocities the Highlanders were subjected to. After we left Culloden we came to the highlight of the weekend (for me): Loch Ness! We got to go on a little cruise across the loch and we learned some neat little facts which I will rattle off now. Fact: Loch Ness is 24 miles long and is up to 900 feet deep in some places. Because of its depth and expanse, the myth and study of the Loch Ness monster (often referred to as Nessie) has been more prevalent here than in other lochs/lakes where there are also legends of monsters. Fact: the legend of the Loch Ness monster began in the 6th century with St. Columba who recorded an encounter with a monster (which he drove back into the depths) while traveling around the loch. The myth really exploded and the loch became a place of great international interest in the 1930s when a "photograph" of Nessie emerged. It is now widely known that the photo was a hoax. Fact: Some people have devoted their entire lives to finding Nessie and scientists continue to study the loch for her (like I said in my last post, they will pay you if you capture a real picture of her). Locals are convinced that she exists and they almost all have a story to tell about the monster. I was not fortunate enough to come across Nessie despite several attempts at what I thought was a mating call.

Urquhart Castle is on the banks of Loch Ness and has been home to clan leaders, kings and other important political figures (dukes, earls, etc.). The castle is now in ruins. It was mostly destroyed during the l690s in a last stand against the Jacobite army because the residents of the castle did not want it to become a stronghold for the Jacobites. We departed about an hour later and made our last futile attempts at spotting Nessie. The next stop was Glencoe which is quintessentially Highland-ish meaning it is sparsely populated and full of tall mountains and low valleys (glens). I got really excited when Jean told us that parts of Harry Potter were filmed in Glencoe - mainly Hagrid's hut! Whoa! Sadly, we didn't figure out exactly where that was. Glencoe was breathtakingly beautiful. Words cannot fully describe how amazing it is. On the way back we had a quiz on all the random facts Jean had spewed during the course of the trip. I am happy to report that Team Unicorn (which was comprised of me and my friend Amanda) WON! I got a little key-chain with a furry haggis - complete with eyeballs. Its kind of hilarious. All that was left after that was the final stretch back to Edinburgh.

Culloden Battlefield. Last stand of the Jacobite army and the last battle on British soil.

Memorial at Culloden Battlefield. The plaque reads "The Battle of Culloden was fought on this moor 16 April 1746. The graves of the gallant Highlanders who fought for Scotland & Prince Charlie are marked by the names of their clans."

Loch Ness... is that Nessie making waves?!

Gives you an idea of how huge Loch Ness really is.

View of Urquhart Castle ruins from the loch.

Walking up to the castle.

Some of the castle ruins with view of the loch.

I saw Thomas at the castle! Apparently he's taken up stone-masonry.

At Glencoe - a very pretty view of a loch between the mountains.

One of the three mountains known as the "Three Sisters" at Glencoe. I believe this is Sister #1.

This week has been fine so far. Thursday is the History Society's pub crawl which I plan on attending. And because it is the history pub crawl we are supposed to dress as different time periods. I'm going for the summer of '69 (someone suggested I go naked... I feel like that's not the wisest choice for Edinburgh in October). This weekend a group of us are going to St. Andrews but we will be returning on Saturday so that we can see "White Heath" at the Tron. :)

TO MY FAMILY: I listened to "You Never Even Call Me By My Name" by David Allan Coe today and sang the lyrics really loudly and obnoxiously. I'm pretty sure my entire hall hates me now but it reminded me of you all and made me very happy.

That Cute British Boy In The Corner Distracted Me

Well it has been an entire week and I haven't blogged anything! I know, I'm shocked too. I guess I'll recap using a "day-by-day" approach. So here it goes.

Wednesday: Nothing much really happened during the day besides me going to lecture. That night three girls and myself decided to have a "haggis experience" (this is the term we have dubbed to that epic night). The haggis was surprisingly good and came with traditional tatties and neaps (that is mashed potatoes and turnips). It kind of tasted like meatloaf. We had been informed that if we finished a whole plate of haggis, tatties and neaps we would have Scottish accents. To our dismay, this was not the case. After this epic meal, we decided we could all do with a drink and bought large quantities of cider and wine (which we polished off fairly quickly). Slightly inebriated, we then made our way to Vodka Revolution - a trendy club near my friend's flat. We stayed for a bit but were informed that a better shindig was going on at Lava Ignite (known as "Cav" by the locals). So we caught a cab there and enjoyed the fabulous music, dancing and awkward British people. Finally, we left the club only to discover that we had no idea where we were (because we had taken a cab to get there). Instead of getting a cab, which would have been practical and smart, we walked about a mile trying to figure out what was going on (I should note that shortly after leaving the club I removed my painful new boots and walked in my socks which are now disgustingly dirty). It soon became apparent that we were REALLY far from our respective homes and hailing a cab was a must.

Thursday & Friday: I went to my one lecture Thursday during the day. I also went out these two nights but not a whole lot happened (at least nothing of the proportions from Wednesday night) aside from the fact that I didn't get back to my dorm until almost 4 am. Thank God I didn't have class the next day(s).

Saturday: I slept most of the day and recovered from the previous nights of having very little sleep. Three girls and myself (all the same girls from Wednesday except one) went out to dinner at the famous The World's End (a pub and bar). It is famous because the furthest part of the wall around the city (built sometime in the 1500s I think) reached this bar and, according to the back of the menu, "as far as the people of Edinburgh were concerned, this was the world's end." Hence, the name. Click here for the best pictures and review of this fabulous place. We then made our way to The Tron which is more like a bar than a pub and has 3 levels! There was a spectacular local band playing called "White Heath" but all the band members looked like they were between the ages of 14 and 17. However, they were all drinking so I guess they are all actually 18 or older... hmm. They mostly played "alternative rock" or something along that line. On our way down to the lower bar I completely embarrassed myself. So, I make it through the door and I'm automatically distracted by a cute British boy standing near the bar. Unfortunately, because my attention was entirely directed towards the cute boy, I neglected to see the two steps in front of me (I think you know where this is going). I proceeded to almost face-plant in the middle of the bar and yet another cute boy sees this and asks, "God! Are you alright?!" I tried to look really nonchalant and cool by getting up quickly, leaning against one of the unoccupied tables and sweeping my hair out of my mouth and face. I'm pretty sure I failed miserably. It was another late night because I went back to my friend's flat and we talked until almost 5am.

Sunday: Sleep and homework. I also took a break and went to a screening of the vice presidential debate. How many times can Sarah Palin say "maverick" in one minute? I can't believe she winked (3 times!) and gave a "shout-out" to those third graders. What is this world coming to?

Monday & Tuesday: These are my most jammed packed days academically. On both days I have two classes and one tutorial (which is like a discussion group for the lectures). My tutorials went well and its safe to say that American History is my favorite class. I like all of the people in that discussion group and they all seem quite smart. The same is not that true for my Criminology course but I have feeling a lot of it may have to do with our discussion leader (who, by the way, wore a lime green dress and leopard print leggings today! So fabulous!). Today (Tuesday) we had our Butler Reunion Dinner which was for all the American study abroad kids from the Butler program. We got free, decent Italian food so I loved it. I also got my absentee ballot! I just voted in my first presidential election! So exciting!

Overall, a lot has happened. Well, now that I say that not a lot has happened. I mean, nothing really substantial, life-altering or incredible has happened but its definitely been fun! This weekend I am going to Inverness and the Highlands where Loch Ness is! Did you know that if you get a picture of Nessie (the Loch Ness monster) the scientists studying the loch will give you 250,000 pounds (that's almost half a million dollars)? If I do get that picture I'll give one copy to the scientists for that half a million and then I'll sell another picture to the highest media bidder for 10 times that amount. I leave you with some pictures from the past week.

Haggis, tatties and neaps. They didn't do the haggis in the "traditional" way which would have meant it was served in the stomach of a sheep. I'm not kidding.

My crazy friends, Kara and Noelle.

Maggie and myself.

This couple was really going at it on the dance floor. I saw this as a perfect photo-op.

I ALMOST FORGOT! Grandma - I am so excited that you read my blog! Your comment made my day. I think you and my friend from school (who will remain unnamed) are my most loyal followers! I love and miss you all.