Recap

So, I went to Scotland and Ireland for 10 days. I'm back in the swing of school and my aunt Shauna is in town. Busy, much?

Ireland was gorgeous. The countryside is intoxicating. At one point we stopped at a beach and I'm not quite sure I've been happier than I was in that moment during my time abroad. The water seems to calm me and excite me in ways that no other scenery can. Dublin was a dirty city. We stayed right in Temple Bar area which is notorious for being a tourist area where they only drink, drink and drink some more. So, it was gross. There were people throwing up on the side of the road and everyone was so loud. Definitely interesting. I had tons more fun on our 3 day tour of Ireland. The tour group was amazing (made so many Australian friends!) and the guide, Kev, told many Irish folk stories and that was a lot of fun. We stopped in a faerie ring and we got to go in to some caves that are hundreds of thousands of years old. They were gorgeous! We stopped one night in a town with only 4 pubs and some amazing live music. We bumped in to some fellow Pacific Northwesters (in a tiny town in Ireland...) and they bought us a round of drinks! They were probably my parents age and one of them has a kid at UPS! Crazy, right? She's a freshman and I had to keep reminding them that because we're abroad we haven't met her yet! We went to the Guinness storehouse where I learned to pour the perfect pint (and then enjoy it) and it was a lot of fun. I was sick by this time, but we made the most of what we had. It was definitely good times in Ireland.

Scotland felt like going home. I feel such a familial connection there that I was overwhelmed with my love for Caledonia! Our hostel ended up being quite sketchy and we tried to stay out of it for as much time as possible... BUT! Edinburgh was a fantastically haunted city. (Even if my mom is skeptical). We did another 3 day tour, but this time of Scotland. We saw so many castles and Loch Ness, the Isle of Skye, Glencoe, and so many other sites. We went to the castle that Made of Honor was filmed at! And we saw the castle that Monty Python and the Holy Grail was filmed at! We went to the William Wallace monument which was really cool! We saw Hamish the hairy cow. (they call them coo's though) Our tour guide told terrible (but AMAZING) jokes! The tour group was a bit different this time. They were younger (more our age) and had their hopes mainly set on getting drunk, but I was sick and didn't really feel like wasting my time and money on alcohol. Edinburgh was fantastic as well. We did a ghost tour late at night where we got to go into the vaults of Edinburgh. We also did a free walking tour and I fell in love with our guide. We even went to the cafe where JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter! We were sitting at a table that had drawers and hundreds of notes in them. We contributed our own notes as well. It was so much fun. The last day there Melissa and I went to the Edinburgh Castle and it was really cool. We got to see the honors and the stone of destiny!

Overall our time was fantastic! There were some ups and downs that come with being with the same people for 10 days straight, but we had fun. I'm still a bit sick, but recovering. I just need some good sleep and rest.

Shauna, like I said, is in town and we went to dinner and a musical last night. We saw Avenue Q and it was absolutely hilarious! Exactly what we both needed, a good laugh. I'm seeing her again tonight and I have no idea what we're doing. But I know it will be entertaining.

I'm missing my family more than ever. I love these experiences, but I will be ready to be home when I go.


Cheers!
Kaitlin