It's all about the story...

This weekend has been especially crazy... literally from start to finish. Jo, Bri, and I have developed the phrase "it's all about the story" because when things really do seem kind of shit you just have to think about how funny they will be in 24 hours lol.

So friday started out like any other normal school day. My Vikings! lecture greatly improved in class mood (probably because of the amount of times the lecturer said "sex"). I felt totally bomb at inorganic chemistry... it was pretty fabulous lol. I love feeling so on the ball with chemistry. During lunch I met up with some friends and while I was attempting to enjoy some well earned subway, the fire alarm went off. For about 5 minutes everyone just sat around looking at each other in a very perplexed way, we would definitely have been quite toasty if there was an actual threat. The entire Hub was evacuated for about 15 minutes, and we all had to stand outside. At least the weather was extremely beautiful and sunny. It really is amazing how wonderful the weather has been, but I'm pretty sure that it will turn very cold and wet soon. After getting back to my flat and packing for the weekend, my Bulgarian flatmates showed me the Bulgarian/English dictionary that they are making for me and Johanne lol. It includes useful phrases such as "food" and "hungover"... it's pretty funny. At least they include pronunciation.

Friday evening Jo, Bri, and I met up to start our excursion. We were all kind of sad about missing a weekend in Aberdeen with our friends, but excited about seeing more of Scotland. After a fair amount of running back from the bus stop for forgotten items, we finally got our bus tickets and everything seemed to be going fine despite the kind of tight time schedule we were on. But, Bri decided that she needed to grab some food from the convenience store, since it seemed like she had 10 minutes before the bus started it's route... however it was more like 3 minutes and the bus started to pull out without her. Jo and I kind of watched as the bus drove from the residence halls, carrying Bri's bookbag, wallet, phone, and everything else useful on it. Fortunately after much pleading with the bus driver on my part, and Bri's little legs moving much quicker than anyone would have thought possible, we were all safely on the bus but running decently behind schedule. We booked it from the bus stop to the train station, arriving at 6:05, buying our tickets, and leaving at 6:16. The train ride was nice and the scenery was beautiful, despite us standing in a corridor for the first hour. We finally arrived in Edinburgh and were quite excited to be back in the city that we knew so well.

We checked in at a nice hostel (there were private bathrooms and shower rooms in the rooms!!!) and met up with some other people that we knew from the Arcadia orientation. After quickly eating some pizza, we headed off to Biddy Mulligans. We had a great time there even though our creepy-ish Scottish middle-aged friend found us... he's quite a character. But we had an early night, but going to bed at a reasonable hour really didn't guarantee any large amount of sleep. There were 8 beds in the room, but only 6 people that we knew. Therefore, the other 2 people were complete strangers. Strangers who snored loudly and walked around naked in the morning. To say the least, it was an interesting night/early morning lol.

After catching the Arcadia provided bus and tour guide, we were off to the North. We stopped at some small towns like Pitlochery and Kingussie, as well as a whisky distillery, Dalwhinnie, and a random place to see a man and his sheepdogs. It was really beautiful seeing all the scenery change and see how fall is setting in. The Highlands are very diverse and unlike anything I've ever seen. The tour guide was absolutely great, full of all sorts of information and funny in the witty way. The small towns we stopped in were very picturesque, with rivers and really pretty trees. The whisky distillery was really interesting, but I really don't think whisky is my favorite drink yet. It's a bit much for more now lol. But I really enjoyed watching the sheep herding demonstration. It was amazing to see how well those dogs listen to every command the herder gave. I'd never seen anything like it. Those dogs were so obedient and smart. Also, very cute too lol.

Before getting to Inverness for the night, we stopped at the Culloden battlegrounds and walked around. The mist was really setting in as Jo, Bri, and i walked around in the fields and it gives such a magical feeling to the area. But while walking around, we definitely figured out that the three of us are the dark horses of the Americans lol. For some reason the other people were the really snobby, annoying Americans who decided not to like us very much. Honestly I really didn't care, I love my friends and we are a perfect group together lol. We definitely made the overnight stay in Inverness (a very quite city that pretty much closes at 9:00) a lot of fun. After a quick dinner in a pub where I actually was the supervising adult since the others forgot their ID, we opened a bottle of whisky that we got at the distillery and greatly enjoyed the weird faces we made while taking swigs from it. We attempted to follow one of the whisky workers suggestion of letting some chocolate melt on your tongue before drinking some of the whisky, but that just ended in us eating a lot of chocolate and still puckering like crazy lol. Despite all this entertainment in the hostel's kitchen, we still ended up in bed by 9:30... lol

The next day involved more bus riding, a boat ride on Loch Ness, sight seeing at Urquhart Castle, some other small towns that I don't remember the name of, and Glencoe. I really enjoyed the boat ride on Loch Ness. The water is so dark because of the high peat level and it is actually deeper than the North Sea, so no wonder people think there might be some sort of monster in it lol. The area around the loch is beautiful, it was all misty and green in the mountains. The Urquhart castle is really cool, too. It sits right on Loch Ness and has all sorts of wonderful little photo opportunities nestled inside the stone. After Loch Ness, everything else seemed kind of boring. I liked seeing For Augustus and Fort William, but there really isn't a fort left only the towns. We were all starting to feel kind of sick of the touristy stuff by that point, I think. But Glencoe whipped away any negative thoughts about the trip. Literally just seeing the welcome center, some outlooks, and walking a few paths in the dark green forests made the trip. Hands down, the was my favorite part. I can't even describe how beautiful and unique the landscape is there. The mountains and valleys run together flawlessly, the rock formations tower high above in amazing shapes, and the forests are dense and feel very full of secrets. Sometimes you just have to stand back and say "I'm in Scotland" and just let the weight of that statement hit you. This was definitely one of those moments for me. I'd love to go back to Glencoe and hike around.

After the stop in Glencoe, we started heading back South. Basically the bus ride back was uneventful, even though we did drive by a castle in Monty Python's Quest for the Holy Grail lol. We arrived back in Edinburgh with just enough time to run onto our train and talk about getting back to Aberdeen and be very excited. Literally the entire train ride consisted of how much we missed our uni friends and home (Aberdeen lol). So of course after we finally arrived, there was much rejoicing and kind of a party at the union bar where our girl and boy gangs met up. It was a nice end to the weekend :)