Days 34-40: 2 Months Left!!

If only time went by slooowly when having fun. Yes, I think that would be most enjoyable. However, if time going by quickly means I'm having the TIME OF MY LIFE... then I'll take it. :)

This week was week 6 of my grand adventure and it included more celebrating Chinese New Year and

SCOTLAND

The greatest place ever!!

MONDAY, February 7th:

no class - went on my 6th walk for walks class -- Fleet Street to St. Paul's. Woot. did homework. woot.

Then the professor's held a group meeting to see how everything's going with the center and the program and everything and if there's anything that needed improvement. This was an interesting meeting because the "be-nice-to-everyone" period is over and people are starting to get comfortable and know their boundaries. And when boundaries are known, boundaries get pushed. Man, you could cut the tension with a knife hahaha! NOW it's becoming apparent that we're living with 32 other girls. oh well!

TUESDAY, February 8th:

We had World Civ and talked about Asian civilizations and since Sunday was Chinese New Year, Prof Durst ordered Thai food for everyone! Yay! This week's trip was British Museum. Then, afternoon class was fun and we talked about Scotland and the King's and their's and England's conflicts and what happened and William Wallace and yeah. Just to get revved up for the trip!

WEDNESDAY, February 9th:

Walked out the door at 6:58 AM, walked to the Tube, took the Tube to King's Cross, took a train 4 hours to EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND! Arrived at 12:30-ish and dropped off our stuff at the hostel we were staying at.

Then we walked up the main street to Edinburgh Castle. It's realy cool, it's like the highest peak in the city and has just the most incredible view of the town at the top.

Aaaah, Scotland

Maggie Dickson was hanged and
died and then came back to life and
lived for 40 more years.

Then we headed back to the hostel to check in and get settled in our rooms and have dinner. Holly, Liz, Me, Jamie, Jaynann, Megan, Brittney, Emily, Brittani, Emily, Michelle, and Taylor went to this supposedly really famous pub called Maggie Dickson's, which has this super creepy story behind it... and really good food!! But by then, I was already starting to feel feverish and sick so dinner got over at like 7:30 and the rest of the group wanted to walk around the town but I just walked home by meself. And promptly went to bed at 8 pm.

THURSDAY, February 10th:

Breakfast was at 8 but the day was free since they cancelled our hike up Arthur's Seat on acount of it being "too cold". So I slept in till 11:30 while everyone else was out seeing the town. Late I found out that I missed out on a lot and I'm still kind of bitter about it. (Cameron! I'm adding Scotland to THE LIST!)

Then some of us tried to find a Ghost Tour to go on but that was a bust, so we went to a cafe called Chocolate Soup instead. They had everything chocolate. You could even buy a Chocolate Shot. It's exactly what you're thinking - just a shot glass full of liquid chocolate. We all got the Chocolate Brownie Sandwich which was a brownie sliced in half with vanilla ice cream in the middle and a chocolate shot on the side to drizzle over. Something like this:

 I also got a blueberry muffin to balance it out.

After the sugar high, we were all hungover and looking for REAL food. We found a little restaurant called the Filling Station and I got a desperately needed chicken caesar salad :) Then, we began to make our way over to see Annie the Musical but got a little "sidetracked" when we all had to use the bathroom really badly! And the only place that was around was a movie theatre but the toilets were IN the theatre! So, of course we had to go see a movie! We ended up seeing "Tangled" and it was THE BEST!! (all of us very happy with our decision after hearing reviews from our friends of Annie) Such a cute movie and I highly recommend it to all :)

FRIDAY, February 11th:

We took a bus to New Lanark where the largest Cotton Mill in United Kingdom is located! Woopie!! It was fun seeing life back in those days. And we took some really great band pictures because the scenery was beautiful!! Then bus to Stirling where we visited Stirling Castle and had dinner at OUTBACK!!

CRIKEY!!

Then we headed back and checked into the SCARIEST hostel in all the land!

Not kidding. We drive up this road and see a sign for "Stirling Town Jail" and all have a good laugh joking how THAT'S our hostel... Little did we know, our hostel was the building in the CEMETARY right NEXT DOOR!!!

It had no soap, no towels, the bathroom looked like a motorhome bathroom, the water was "NOT DRINKING WATER", the blankets on the beds were plastic, no outlets, the shower was gross, and of course, the view out our window was a lovely row of graves. Oh, and the jail wall.

Then, that night, after washing our hair in the sink using the "dead people water", the girls across the hall come screaming into our room "BED BUGS! BED BUGS!! WE HAVE BED BUGS!!!" So, chaos ensues. We're all freaking out and checking our beds and thinking there's bed bugs in all of them because no one ACTUALLY knows what bed bugs look like... We were totally freaked out by everything at this point.

After getting the all clear from Taylor that we were bed bug free, we settled in for the night with our claustrophobic-feeling, plastic-pee-pad-blanket beds and began the worst sleep of our lives. Probably the funnest night of my life. No joke. :)

SATURDAY, February 12th:

The next morning, we got breakfast from the hostel and then jumped on the bus and drove back to Edinburgh to catch a 2:20 pm train back to London. When we got to Edinburgh, we had about an hour to kill and right by the train station was an "All You Can Eat Chinese Buffet!" so, yeah we went and ate our fatty little hearts out. BEST LUNCH I'd had in a very very very long time!! SO WORTH IT!!

I'm so glad I ate as much as I did because it ended up having to last me SEVEN AND A HALF HOURS ON THE TRAIN HOME!!! UUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!! Yes. 7 1/2 hours. Everyone was getting cabin fever and dying to get out. It was hot, we were all bored and hungry, and bugging each other trying to find ways to entertain ourselves. It was a nightmare!! Then the Tube was hotter than heck and by the time we got home everyone just wanted to shower and do laundry.

BUT!! Two of the girls' showers were STILL broken and therefore left 2 showers for 25 stinky, onry, hormonal girls. Yup, EXCELLENT combination. I jumped in that shower as fast as I could and felt one thousand times better. Then I unpacked and went to bed!

Such a wonderful weekend, you guys. And what did I learn? I basically love Scotland as much as I love London. And that's saying a lot.