Scotland

Scotland was amazing! If you saw my pictures, I'm sure you would think so too. It's easily the most gorgeous place I've ever been and probably will be in a loooong time. I'm definitely a beach girl, but the snow covered mountains, lakes (or lochs), and hills of Scotland were absolutely beautiful. 

Me and two other girls, Lisa and Teresa booked this trip with a travel agent in January. It was a little pricy, but we got what we paid for. We flew out of the main airport, Heathrow, so we had to take the tube. It may sound annoying carrying luggage (and it is, a little) to the tube station, on the tube, then through the airport. However, flying out of Heathrow is way easier. Instead of a hostel, we stayed in a triple hotel room. Granted, the hotel isn't anything compared to what we would get in the states, but it was a nice change from the hostel in Wales or my double room in London. And the day trip, was absolutely worth it.

On Friday night we got dinner at the restaurant/pub/bar/club attached to our hotel, and then went on a mini pub crawl on The Royal Mile (basically their Market St or Main St). The live music in the pubs was awesome.. especially the second place. Two Scottish boys with acoustic guitars singing rock songs (sorrrrrrry Joe!). But they were so good and everyone was singing along. It felt like the way movies portrayed it: small town, swinging beers, live music and a good time. For me, minus the beer, I just got waters.. honestly. 

Saturday our day trip was from 8am-8pm, which was a surprise to us. We traveled northwards halfway through Scotland to Fort Augustus where Loch Ness is. We paid 10 extra pounds for a Loch Ness cruise trip, but it was worth it. The bus driver was informative so we got to learn along the way. For example, the jerk in Braveheart, Robert the Bruce, didn't actually betray the king. And he himself, actually became the king. And he's my relative. Sooo basically, I'm Scottish royalty. 

That night we went to the pub/bar/club (it's called Three Sisters) next to our hotel for drinks. It's so funny the music that they play. I fell in love with a song called Galway Girl, which is in PS I Love You. Once you know it and love it, you feel like you belong in Scotland.. or Ireland since it's Celtic. But it was actually written in America. Anyway, after that song they played The Cotton Eyed Joe. I'm pretty sure they also played S Club 7. 

Sunday we checked out of the hostel, but left our bags there. We walked around the city, got souvenirs, and went up to the castle to see the view of the city. At this point we were running low on money, especially after I spent too much money on gifts.. so we didn't actually go inside the castle. However, it was just as gorgeous from the outside and the views were amazing. Our flight on the way home got delayed about half an hour, and we didn't get home to Metrogate until midnight. Monday I had an 8:30am class, field trip, then had to write a paper that was due at 5pm. I was exhausted, but the weekend was worth it.

I'm done classes (other than the last one) in two hours, and Joe (hopefully) gets here tomorrow, snowicane pending. Only 23 more days.

Wales

Last weekend four other girls and myself ventured to Cardiff, Wales. I had found cheap bus tickets and a really neat (and also cheap) hostel to/in the city, about $100 for the weekend, so we decided to go. The bus took around 3 and a half hours but it felt like an eternity. Amanda, one of the girls who came, had printed out directions to the hostel from the bus station. But we all know what happens when you are somewhere strange at night.. you get lost. We ended up lugging our bags around the city for a while until we found the hostel. 

The Riverhouse Backpackers was the first hostel I have ever stayed at, which is unfortunate because it spoiled me. The hostel was SO nice. It is run by a brother and a sister and they are so welcoming and nice. Since there were five of us, we had a six person room, so there was one other girl with us. That part was pretty awkward. In the mornings, the hostel had a continential breakfast which was great. They had toast with peanut butter, jellies, nutella, cereals with different kinds of milk, 3 different kinds of juices, croissants, yogurts, granola, and apples. One day we even premade PB & J for lunch later that day. Saturday night Charlie (one of the owners) made "soup" which was tomato soup with pasta with bread & butter.. for FREE. Awesome.

There was a day trip on Saturday that unfortunately we didn't end up doing, but this did give us a chance to explore the city in the daylight. We went to Cardiff Castle, which was in walking distance from our hostel. I have a feeling this castle is smaller compared to other ones, so I want to check out another one before I leave (the UK, not Cardiff). We tried to learn the history of it, but the introductory video was RIDICULOUS and completely non-educational. We basically laughed the whole way through. Cardiff was a big dock city, so we went down to the bay after the castle tour. The bay was gorgeous and there are shops and museums all around it. The plaza area is called the Roald Dahl Plass, which is obviously named after Roald Dahl, the author of the BFG, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory and James & the Giant Peach. Dahl was born in Cardiff.. hence the memorium. We got to take an aqua bus back which was awesome.. not quite as cool or exciting as I hope the Philadelphia Ducks will be, but still pretty cool. 

That night, as we were getting ready to go out, we met these Irish guys and ended up just hanging out with them at the hostel. I'm kind of glad we didn't go out because the Cardiff nightlife is surprisingly crazy. People are just wasted/high walking around the streets. The streets basically shut down and the cars don't even attempt to drive on them. Girls were dressed up in crazy outfits; neon leggings, short skirts and dresses even though it was freezing, matching tshirts, etc. I have read/heard about hostels and how friendly people are there, but I didn't realize it until I actually experienced it. In addition to the guys we hung out with on Saturday, we met a boy traveling by himself from Alaska, and three girls who were also studying abroad in London. 

Sunday was our last day in Cardiff and we wanted to see the coast, so we took a bus to Penarth Pier/Beach. The beach is different from our beaches- instead of sand, they have pebbles. We were lucky to get gorgeous weather both days. The rest of the day, we hung out at a microbrewery until our bus came. We had a great time just sitting around, drinking, and talking. Unfortunately, there isn't TOO much to do in the city of Cardiff, so the day trip to other sights would have been a good thing to do. Just to give you a taste of Cardiff-- their main attraction is a sports stadium, Millennium Stadium, which was right across the street from our hostel. 

Check.

Trips.

From going on zero trips, to now five trips, boy am I surprised (and broke). Here’s a breakdown for those of you who care about the dates:

 

Cardiff, Wales: February 5- 7^th

Edinburg, Scotland: February 19^th- 21^st

Paris, France: March 1^st- 3^rd

Dublin, Ireland: March 18^th- 20^th

 

And also, I’m going to York, England to go visit my friend Sara who is going to Calvary Chapel Bible College. That will be the first or second weekend of March.

 

Joe will be here from February 27^th- March 5^th, so that is who I am going to Paris with! The other trips is a different group every time, which I kind of like.

 

One of the girls is looking into doing a day trip to Brussels on one of the Tuesdays in March that we have off, so I may be doing that, but probably not. We’ll see how I’m doing moneywise then. 

So that means Wales is this weekend!