School: This past week of school has been so relaxing as I only had three classes! Today is officially my last day of classes at UCD… how crazy! This semester has gone by so quickly, and I am thoroughly going to miss all of my classes here. I have learned so much in the last few months, and I cannot wait to take what I have learned and use it in my studies at ISU and in later life. I only have about 2 ½ weeks of school related work left (mostly studying for exams :/), and then I’m off to meet Emma and Sarah in Berlin! I’m super pumped to see them and to go home, but I will sorely miss UCD when I get back.
Tourist Fun: This past weekend, I headed to Edinburgh, Scotland with a few of my friends from UCD. We left Thursday night, since we had Friday and Monday off for Easter. The apartment that we rented was about a 30 minute walk from the center of the Royal Mile, so we were quite close to everything… it was great! On Friday morning, we took a bus tour up to the Highlands. It was such a beautiful tour/ride. Our first stop was in the lovely town of Callander which borders the Lowlands and the Highlands. Then we drove through and by several glens and lochs until we got to Glen Coe. It was extremely beautiful, but a very somber stop as this was the location of the massacre of the MacDonald clan in 1692. After Glencoe, we continued our drive through the Highlands, passing by many castles, lochs, and sheep. We were able to see the top of Ben Nevis as we drove by which was really neat as it is only visible about 20 times of the year according to our guide! Our lunch stop was at Loch Ness, in the quaint little village town of Fort Augustus. I had a cheese and pickle sandwich with some Walker’s Shortbread, an altogether class meal! After enjoying the sunshine and the breeze coming from the loch, we boarded the bus to head back to Edinburgh. On our way back, however, we stopped at a really cool rest stop that had a little Highland cow family! They were so friendly and cute, and I was able pet one of them. So fun! Once we got back into Edinburgh, we ate dinner and enjoyed the pub atmosphere of Edinburgh’s old town. Saturday was a day full of walking, hiking, climbing, and some falling. We met up with our fourth travel companion before we started the morning with Arthur's Seat. Arthur’s Seat is the highest point in Edinburgh, and it is about an hours walk to the top. Such a beautiful hike. The weather was spectacular and the views of the city were amazing. On the way down, we took the path less traveled resulting in a few falls and more of a climbing atmosphere than hiking. Truly an invigorating experience. Then we had lunch in the park before heading to the city centre to walk the Royal Mile until our free Harry Potter tour later that afternoon. The tour was fantastic, and I highly recommend taking it if you can… especially if you are a big fan of Harry Potter! Many of the books were written in Edinburgh and many of the places, buildings and names were based off of people and places in Edinburgh. It was so cool to see the similarities… it makes me want to read Harry Potter again. (I might just have to add that to my summer reading list!) After the tour, we headed home to relax and unwind as Ellen and I made goulash for supper. Such a fun and exciting day with a perfectly relaxing ending. Sunday, as many may know, was Easter! Ellen, Hannah and I went to the Easter Service at St. Giles Cathedral in the middle of the old town. It was such a beautiful service, and I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to worship and celebrate Jesus’ defeat over death while in Scotland. It was such a special day. After lunch, we met up with Suhani for brunch at a lovely pub called The Royal McGregor. I finally tried haggis and black pudding! If I’m bring completely honest, I didn’t think they were that bad which was a pleasant surprise. After brunch, we toured Holyroodhouse Palace which was super cool. I love getting to tour around old estates and palaces such as this, so it was definitely one of my highlights. It also didn’t hurt that the gardens had an excellent view of Arthur’s Seat and the Salisbury Craigs. After the palace, we had a quick stop at the apartment to change before going on a free ghost tour of Edinburgh. The stories were quite interesting, and it was a great way to see more of the city. As we went on the tour at 5pm, it wasn’t too scary with the bright sun shining down on us. For dinner, we went to a Mexican restaurant called El Toro Loco. I finally was able to get a burrito which is something that I have been craving ever since I came to Ireland. Our last stop of the day was at The Real Mary King’s Close. It was a tour that allowed you to go into the closes that are now covered by the Chamber City building. It was so cool because you feel as if you are underground, but you actually are just underneath a building but you are still above ground. It’s kind of hard to imagine/describe, so you’ll just have to trust me when I say it was sweet. On our final day in Edinburgh, we started the day off at Edinburgh Castle. As I stated previously, I love going into old estates and palaces, and Edinburgh Castle was no exception. It was so neat just walking around the historic structure and basking in its former glory. They were actually celebrating the Queen’s birthday that day, so we got to see a Scottish marching band and a 21-gun salute. Way cool. For lunch, we stopped at an Italian restaurant that was close to our next stop, the National Museum of Scotland. The museum was really neat and had some really interesting exhibits. Some of my favorites included the aboriginals section, the fashion section and the discovery section. In the discovery section, they have the taxidermized body of Dolly the Sheep, very random but so cool at the same time! On our way back toward the apartment, we did some window souvenir shopping along the Royal Mile and hiked up Carlton’s Hill to see the National Monument of Scotland. It kind of reminded me of a monument from Greece or Italy. After that, we began the trek back to Dublin. Such a beautiful and fun filled weekend. I will forever treasure these memories.
Something New: My something new for this week is for sure trying haggis! The taste was good, but the smooth texture of the meat made it weird.
What I’ve Learned This Week: I still suck at using toasters. I had ANOTHER incident with a toaster and the fire alarm…. I can never win.
*Weekly Tea Trivia: When making a pot of tea pour hot water into the teapot to warm it before your make your tea.
Cheers,
Anna