A week with the parents

Hello all!

So, since last Saturday I've had a few adventures, of course.

Saturday night was an utter bust at this, supposedly, awesome club, Fabric.  Utter, and completely a bust.  Too much money.  Bad DJ.  Boring.  And people just being awful, awful people.

Sunday
Much better since I got to go to Brick Lane again (Chinese food ftw) and then to the Spitalfield market.  I really need to go back and get that shirt/dress thing.  I got a cute hat for only 3 pounds.  Win.

Then I went back to the dorm and suffered through writing part of a paper.  Booooooo

Tuesday

Parents got into town!!  Woah.  I was excited for them to visit, but I didn't realize how nice it is seeing your parents after being abroad for so long.  It's also nice playing tour guide and showing off how much I've learned about this city.  Tuesday was a long day for both of us (flight in and internship for me) and so I just took them to a pub.  Trafalgar, of course, cause I wanted my favorite drink there and it's just a nice pub to have dinner at.

Wednesday

Day of traveling for classes.  British women novelist class we went to the National Portrait Gallery.  Great place since A. it's free and B. it was cool wandering around just seeing the pictures.  Seriously, I'd go to more museums if I didn't feel like I needed to get my money's worth from them.  You can just pop in and out of these for free.  Then, while in class, we all get an alert text from our study abroad center.  There was more student protests going on in Trafalgar Square and Whitehall.

Guess where we were?!  Yessss, National Portrait Gallery is located at Trafalgar square.  So I preferred to get out of there cause I didn't want to get deported for a cause I didn't care about.  So Kori invited me to her family dinner.  Her mom, Grandma and cousin were in town for the day and we had lunch at the Princess Louise.  Great pub cause it has upkept the old architecture properly.  Woo architecture.

So then we met for architecture and was suppose to explore Victoria and Parliament areas.  Well, thanks to some student protests, we had to skip the Westminster Abbey, Parliament, and Whitehall parts of the tour.  Boooooo protests!  So we kind of made up a new route and went up in the Westminster Cathedral tower.  Great views.  And these little kids were practicing their Christmas performance while we were there.  "Babooska......babooska...."  100+ kids singing is awesome.

We also checked out Buckingham Palace.  She kind of took away the appeal of it since it is a rather dull building.  Meh.  But then we got our papers back and I rocked mine!  Woo 78%!  (That's an A here....don't ask me how grading works cause I still don't get it).

So then I headed to the parent's posh hotel and sat around chit chatting until dinner.  Made in Italy.  Great choice.  I'd go back if we decide to splurge for a night while here.

Thursday aka Thanksgiving

Classes.  Wtf.  Odd feeling going to class on Thanksgiving.  Like, it didn't seem strange cause everybody else here was doing things/work, but checking facebook and seeing "Happy Thanksgiving" being written was just odd.  Youth Culture was an meh class.  I'm kind of over that class since the professor is so intense about it at times.  He also accused me of not taking notes.  I have 4 pages from that one class to prove otherwise....

Insert lunch with Easy Mac in cause it was that good

Video production class was good as well.  Finished up our edits for a class exercise.  I love how we all have the exact same footage, but come up with vastly different stuff.  Like Brandy and I used the same audio, but got VERY different videos.  Hers is all intense and awesome while mine is more of a mellow awesome.  It'll be up on my youtube later.

So, then I found my parents and we went to the V&A (Victoria and Albert) to wander around.  I showed them the really cool cast iron room that we saw in architecture.  I kind of wish we had a little more time there, but the museum closed at 5:30.  Meh.  But they had a full day of sight seeing so that was ok.  So then I took them on their first bus ride.

Too bad it was rush hour.  Traffic.  Ugh.  But we made it to Hard Rock (The original Hard Rock fyi) for a very American meal....for them.  We had to wait a long time, but wandering around the shop a few times and then sitting and talking made it go decently fast.  Then the food was so good that I forgot about the wait until now.  Fajitas for Thanksgiving dinner.  Allllll riiigghhhttt.  Sidenote: Bahama Mamas are delicious there.

Friday

So, if you couldn't tell already, London is an expensive city and we are lowly, broke Uni kids (aka college kids).  Since I knew my parents love me and pay for me, I figured I'd save the paying for touristy stuff until they got here.  Good choice.  haha

So we went to Westminster Abbey first.  Last time I got a look at the Abbey was in the rain and miserable.  Today was sunny and beautiful!  So, I got to fully appreciate the architectural beauty.  I'd know about it but the stupid student protests prevented that (I'm not bitter....).  Anyway, we got to go inside and WOW!  Since they don't allow photography, you're just gonna have to go see it yourself.

I saw some many tombs of famous Brits.  My favorite British Queen (Elizabeth I).  I don't like that they buried her and her sister Bloody Mary together.  That just seems wrong if you know their history.  I also saw Mary, Queen of the Scots, plenty of dead King Henrys (Not Henry VIII though.  He's elsewhere), Chaucer.  Plenty of monuments to Shakespere, Brontes, Handel, Lord Byron, etc etc.  If you're British, famous, and dead, you're in there.  Famous isn't always a requirement either.

Other side of Westminister

My photo that I'm pretty sure is a postcard angle

So then, we headed over to St. Pauls.  I've been outside St. Paul numerous times and was dying to get in.  I'm currently working on a paper about Sir Christopher Wren and the city churches he designed, so thus, Wren is on my mind right now.  We walked in and it did NOT disappoint at all.  Gorgeous!!  Utterly amazing.  The inside of the dome is just as impressive as the outside.

We wandered around the crypt area and found the graves/monuments to Lord Nelson, Duke of Wellington, and my favorite, Sir Christopher Wren.  His grave is so simple and inscribed on it is (in latin) "If you want to see my monument, look around you."  This architecture class has been a great addition to my time in London.

So then, I wanted to go up to the very top and look around at the city.  I knew it was all stairs on the way up, but hey, I figured we could all handle it.  Oh.  Dear.  Lord.  I was aching in my 20 something body, I don't know how my parents did it.  Well I do, many, many breaks.  Haha.  Seriously.  It's a trek.

Part of the stairs of doom.  They put Ballentine to shame!

But the view is astounding.  London Eye view type of beautiful and then you think they built this 300+ years BEFORE the London Eye.  Amazing.  And guess who finally go to take pictures!

It was sun set as well.  Just added to the memory.

Artsy Sunglare.  I try

Woah.  It made those 500 steps worth it.  Only then...we had to go back down.   My exact words when I could finally see the floor was "OH THANK GOD!"  Oddly appropriate being in a church.  Haha

I finally got my St. Paul during the blitz photo.  Love it.  I stare at it every video production and now I have it.  Score.  

So, then we went and recuperated at a Pret.  We need food and drink badly.  After regaining life, I took them to the British Museum and then I showed them where I go to classes.

Then I took Mom to Harrods so she could say she went to Harrods.  It was way overpriced and huge.  So we didn't stick around there too long.  I took them over to H&M where you can buy things for cheaper prices and got the PERFECT sweater.  Omg...warmmmmm.  I'm wearing to internship since that's always freezing. (Sidenote: As I add to this blog...I'm still wearing this sweater.  It's that amazing)

The finale of the day was getting My Old Dutch.  I knew they'd miss Monday Madness, so I figured they could have it tonight.  Delicious per usual.  Dad enjoyed his Smoked Duck and Mom liked the Italian.  My Chicken Curry was amazing, of course.

Saturday

Day of shopping.  Cause, when in London, you have to shop.

So, we met up and headed out to Camdentown.  I love Camden for i's randomness and cheap options.  We wandered around stalls...and more stalls...and more stalls.  We bought things.  Including the awesome scarf that I eye'd last time and finally bought.  And tried on boots that didn't fit.  And then we got crepes.  Yay nutella crepe!

Camdentown Lock

So then we headed over to Hyde Park for the Winter Wonderland.  There are carnival type rides up, but seeing as I'm not 10, I didn't really care.  So we wander through those stalls as well.  I got a cool pocket watch necklace.  It's a classic.  It wasn't as big as I hoped it was so we left as the sun set....at 4.

Dinner was in Chinatown.  Went back to the restaurant that I knew was good and didn't go straight through you.  Both VERY important factors for Chinese food.  We got delicious Won Ton soup that finally warmed us up from outside.  It was a balmy 0 today....or 32 degrees.  We then wandered around tourist trap Piccadilly trying to pop into stores and look around to stay warm.  Then, Mom spotted this nice little dessert place.  We got some coffees and shared a strawberry cheesecake.  Delicious, fyi.  

Then we finally went to the theater to see 39 Steps.  Cause when you go to London, you go see a good musical/play.  I snagged some 2nd row seats (limited view mind you) for a decent price so I was pretty pumped.  Then the people in the 1st row didn't show up, so I had an excellent view.  Plus, Dad took the seats after intermission so he had front row for a West End play.  Nice!

The play itself was hysterical!  It has a cast of 4 and they play over 100 roles all together.  Amazing.  The physical comedy was perfect and the actors were superb.  The story was a little....thin I guess, but it was funny so I didn't mind too much.  Ah! So good.  I also thought it was perfect cause I know some musicals can be a bit much for Dad so a comedy play is a good substitute.  (I WILL see Les Mis before leaving though).  

Then, on the bus ride home, there was this French woman.  She started yelling at this man to get out of her seat.  The bus was empty....there were 5 seats open at least on the bottom level alone.  So she's yelling at this man, in French, to get out of her seat and raising a ruckus.  Finally, the man gives up and moves back to where we were.  She glares him down as he loudly complains about the French to us.  It was great!  Apparently seats on public transportation belong to people.  How foolish was I to think otherwise??

Sunday

We started out with the fanciest brunch ever.  I should have expected it cause it was at their hotel in Sloane Square, aka Posh area of London.  It was delicious and I had my own mini pot of tea to myself.  Yay!

So then we headed to the Tower of London.  I've driven by it and knew some of the history, but I still wasn't quite sure what was inside of it.  Besides the crown jewels.  Every girl should know where the jewelry is kept.

Mom and Dad outside the Tower

Thankfully there was no lines, at all, and we walked right.  It was great.  Definitely seemed like every other castle until you started reading the history.  Then....whoops a murder here, beheading there, prisoner for 10 years.  No big deal apparently.

So, we wandered into the armory section.  That was totally cool.  Seeing what kinds of armor they wore starting in King Henry VIII's time onwards.

King Henrys

They had all kinds of weapons like swords that were taller than me.  Guns that were longer than 8 feet (like seriously....what's that purpose?).  Totally cool.  Plus, I got to take pictures and play with the interactive stuff.  I also took a picture in a section you weren't suppose to.  Oops

At least it turned out well.  haha

I'd show you pictures of the royal crowns and stuff, but there was no photography allowed.  But it was cool!  And seeing all the coronation stuff.  I tried to keep picking out Christmas presents, but for some reason, I don't think Dad got me anything from there.  Sad times! :(

I just kept enjoyed being in a castle...then you'd go back out of a section and see the Gherkin.  It's just such a hodgepodge of buildings in this city.  I mean....these two buildings are built about 1000 years apart.  Just weird to think about.

Part of the Tower and the Gherkin

I'm really glad I went to the Tower.  I feel like sometimes it can get forgotten, but it was worth the price.  

So, right next door is the Tower Bridge so we took a walk across that. Yes, this is the Tower Bridge, not the London Bridge.  I thought it was the London Bridge at first....silly me.

"Act like you like each other"

So then, we headed to the South Bank because I thought they might want to go on the London Eye.  Plus, a Christmas carnival is going on so that was worth checking out.  Mom still hadn't got her Santa yet.  We wandered around and Dad couldn't decide whether he wanted a hat or not

He went with no for now.  Anybody vote yes?  

So then we were hungry and cold so we went into a real restaurant on the South Bank.  It was delicious. We were incredibly lucky with food choices this week.  I tried some risotto that was amazing. Very warm and filling.

Back into the cold and I found the Skate park with graffiti that I wanted to see.  Very cool.

Favorite piece that I saw

Mom found herself a Russian doll Santa.  Then they decided no for the London Eye.  I was okay since I had already been on it earlier and they didn't mind calling it an early night.

Carnival and London Eye

Another picture of Ben

I just spent a final hour with them here.  We went to Eat. ("Eat!" Dad quote)  Then we wandered down King's Road killing time before their cab time.  I got me a pair of boots (FINALLY).  I made sure we weren't gouged out of 15 pounds cause it rang up a different price than advertised.  Weird.  Mom found some pretty Christmas London cards to send out.  Overall, yet another successful day.

Less than 3 weeks left here now.  A part of me was ready to get in the cab and go home with them, but there's places I still need to see.  Parts of the city still unexplored.  Clothes and shoes that need to be bought.  It's a lot of work and little time.

And this "study" part of study aboard is just getting annoying.  3 papers due on Wednesday.  Luckily I finished 2 last night.  I'm off to start the third.  Here's to hoping to a great final stretch.  My final trip out of London starts Friday.  Kori and I are going to Amsterdam.  Can't wait.  I'll write more after that.  Cheers!

This week in London

This week has been leading to our sad realization that we will have to return to the real world soon.  Our time in the study abroad bubble is about to end...and it's quite too soon.  Time doesn't make sense in the bubble.  It seems like yesterday I just got here....but at the same time it feels like I've been here for 5 years.

Anyway...highlights of the week:

Wednesday-
 This Wednesday was one of those when I have 3 classes.  It might seem like a lot...but these classes are 2.5 hours long and just so tedious.  British Woman Novelists, Architecture, and then internship.  A paper was due in internship and, let me tell, I kind of hate that class.  I love my internship, but this seminar is just the bane of my semester.  It's all about how the economy sucks, nobody has jobs, and everything is being cut.  Happy times right?

Luckily, I had this little game of England vs. France to look forward to.  It was just a friendly match, but I definitely was excited for it.

Unluckily, this game started at 8 and the seminar ends at 7:30.  Boo.  Plus, we had a quiz so Kori and I couldn't just make up an excuse to leave early unlike some people.  So after making up some nice sounding answers to the quiz, Kori and I booked it for the tube station and were making great time unttilll...the Jubilee line decided to be crappy and took us twice as long as it should have.  So...we got to the game at 8:30.

It was a good game despite the fact that England forgot how to play good football.  Seriously, so many good chances let go.  So the French fans around us were excited while we were meh.

So then in the 2nd half, England substituted in Peter Crouch.  Then within 15 seconds of him being on the field, he scored.  So thus, England had finally scored so it was 1-2.

So then it goes into the extra minutes.  And France is most likely going to win, but its whatever at that point.  So then, the French kept trying to delay the game by falling over.  Seriously, this guy was just standing there....and fell over.

In the end, France won.  Booooooo.  But, the English didn't play well.  So then started our trek out of the stadium.  Worst. Experience.  Ever.  85,000 people trying to leave.  Only 2 tube stations.  Bleh.

Kori, me and Micah

Kori and I really wanted a cute game day scarf.  Fail on that mission.  But then we enjoyed standing around in a crowd.  By enjoy...I mean hated waiting in the huge ass crowd.  So then, we finally got to the tube station.  

So, we finally got on a tube and these boys rushed ahead and stole all the seats.  So since they did not offer us their seats, Kori and I made up our own and had a fashion shot on the tube.  It was long, boring ride so we had to amuse ourself.

Fun times on the tube.  We finally got back and I was insanely tired the next day, but it was worth it.

Thursday

I just would like to mention that I got to go see the Legends of the Guardians in IMAX.  It was paid for by IES so I didn't care that I was seeing some movie about owls.  It was oddly still kind of good.  Randomly.

Quotes from the movie:
I'm singing you to sleeeppppp.  *pause*  I'm still singing you to sleeepppp

Also, Owl City was used on the soundtrack.  Awesomely ironic.

Friday

Daytrip to Hampstead.  Honestly, it was a waste of a field trip since I didn't learn anything really.  Other than the Hertiage society can mess up at times and give a Grade II* listing to a FAKE bridge.  Wtf.

But the teacher bought us all a drink at a pub during lunch so that was awesome.  Score.

Then I saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 in theaters.  Finally.  Warner Brothers decided not to do midnight premieres at all in the UK so I had to wait(!!!) to see Harry Potter until after the field trip.  Luckily, we got to the cinema just in time to get our large sweet popcorn and coke.  Delicious.

Best parts of the movie was seeing them in London...and knowing exactly where they were before it zoomed out.  Plus, the bus that almost ran them over in piccadilly circus is the 19 bus.  That's the usual bus I take so it made me feel special.  

Plus, seeing the steam train for the Hogwarts Express reminded me of Scotland and how awesome that trip was.  

So that was my week.  Look how good I am updating right now!!  I just mainly don't want to write some papers and I'm currently skyping with some people at IU.  Cheers!

Random Adventures in London

So, I figured some of my adventures in London itself should be documented.

First off, let's talk about my internship.  It's at Tigerlily Films.  They are a production company that mainly does documentaries.  I'm learning a lot about the post production process mostly.  I'm apparently excellent at logging/transcribing.  Good to know. I also get sent all over London dropping off and picking up things for them.  I'm an expert on the tube now.

I got sent to the BBC a couple of times.  The guy at reception hates me cause I don't know everything he needs to know.

But more importantly and impressively, I've been inside Abbey Road Studios.  Yes...I did more than gawk outside and take pictures crossing the street.  I got to go inside!  Yeaaahhhhhhh.  But reception is not very cool and I was literally there for only 1 minute.  Boooooo.


Andy was here this past week.

Wednesday
We saw Billy Elliot.  Oh...my...god.  FANTASTIC!!!! If you get a chance to see it, do it! That little boy who played Billy....wow.  His calves were like tree trunks!  Great songs, good plot, etc etc.  Everything you want from a musical.

Saturday - November 6
We saw a real football game.  Fulham vs. Aston Villa.  We sat in a neutral section 5 rows up.  We were basically field level.  Nice views despite being on one end.  Taylor and I joined in cheering for both teams.  *Clap clap clapclapclap clapclapclap* VILLA!  Good times.  It was a good game in the end cause Villa was up 1-0 and then with literally less than 1 minute to go, Fulham scored a goal.  Sadly, both were at the other end.

We made a small dinner of soup and tortillas.  Oddly went very well together.

We went to some Bonfire Night festivities on Saturday night.  GIANT Bonfire in Battersea park.  We were at least 50 feet away and still feeling the heat.  Australian guy quote "I've seen bigger"

Then the fireworks started.  I expected a decent show since we paid to get in....and they delivered.  30 minutes of great fireworks.  Timed to music.  Puts all the shows I've seen previously to shame.

We then got glowing swords to have fights with.  We are mature.
Side note: Sword doubles as a pimp cane. A glowing pimp cane.....awesome.

Sunday
We went to Brick lane for some cheap food.  5 pounds for delicious chinese food and I FINALLY got some eggrolls with my Chinese.  6 mini rolls for 1 pound.  Not bad.

We wandered through a vintage store but didn't see much.  Then we went to Camden.  I always love wandering through there.  You find something new each time.  I need to go back and get that scarf....and book.....and toys.  We ended that part of the trip with a crepe.  Nutella crepe FTW.  Bonus side: Kori's Austrailian friend, Johno, remembered me from the one time we hung out.  Awesome.  Plus, he makes great crepes.

Monday
Let me explain the typical Monday for me.  I get up and go to internship from ~10 am until 6:30 pm.  It's a long ass day.  So, what gets me through the day is looking forward to dinner.  My Old Dutch is a dutch pancake chain.  One of the locations is across the street from the dorm and on mondays...it's 5 pound night.  Heeellllll yeeahhhhhh.  So I get a usually 10ish pound meal for 5 pounds.  Yes please.

So, this Monday started out typical.  Work, work, more work, etc.  So then I get back to the dorm and tell Andy to meet me at the front desk so we can go get these delicious pancakes.  Like, I've talked them up because they are just so ingrained with Mondays to me now.  So we walk around the corner and see My Old Dutch anddd....the lights are out.

Epic. Fail.  Andy doesn't get to experience the magicalness that is My Old Dutch.  Instead we had some delicious Chinese food.  But it's not the same!

So fast forward during the week....put on a poppy while you do that otherwise you stick out, fyi.

Friday, November 12

Daytrip to Brighton dayyyyyy!!!

I had to go on this trip for Youth Culture.  This is due to the mod and rocker riots.  Fun stories.  And if you've seen Quadrophenia, I went down that alley where they had sex.  Did I want to?  No.  Cause that's weird.....

So our tour guide was cool and just told us a little about the beach and pier area.  Then we went into Brighton itself and saw all the cool shops.  I'm considering another trip down for a shopping day.  That good.

I got some little knick knacks for myself and gifts.  I got a great wall sign that says "All you need is love."  It's pretty awesome.  I wish I had gotten the Batman and Robin salt and pepper shakers, but A. why would I need them? and B. Robin was taller than Batman.  There was also a little yellow submarine figurine, but it was in a display case and the price tag was hidden.  That means....a little pricey for me.

After shopping/exploring, we went into the Royal Palace.  Very cool Chinese/Eastern inspired place.  George IV loved it there and expanded it.  Victoria wasn't a fan because it was too small for her an her 9 children (as most places are....) so she sold it to Brighton who now make money off of groups like us wandering through.

Jacque, Izzy and I headed to the beach/pier area afterwards to get some pictures.  The ocean was SOOO rough that day though.  Beautiful....but in a scary way.  Plus, it was raining so it was a bleh day for the sea.  I did get the most perfect postcard to reflect my experience in Brighton.  We wandered down the pier and found the arcade.  Jacque and I played some DDR cause it was only a pound each.  Sweet deal.  Then we got meh chocolate crepes.

Sunday (aka today)
Kori and I decided to do something with our lives and went to Greenwich for the day.  We started out at the markets which was totally worth it.  We ate Nigerian food for lunch and it was FANTASTIC!  It was called Chicken Stew and I figured that was a safer bet than Goat stew.  Great choice.

So while we ate, we wandered around looking at stalls.  On Saturday and Sundays the market has an arts and crafts theme.  So many cute hats, purses, shirts, pictures, etc etc for sale.  We, being book nerds, got 5 books for 10 pounds.  I almost bought a hat, but decided against it.  I'll end up going back probably....  But then I got some more scarfs from this little store.  Great purchases.  Can't wait to read the books since all I've been reading has been 19th century woman's novels.  Shot. Me. Now.  I can only handle so much whining and trips to the pump room.

Then, we decided it was time to travel between hemispheres.  That's right...we visited the prime meridian.   It had an amazing view of the city at night as well.  So many lights and colors.  Beautiful.  Too bad it was so dark at 4:30 pm.....

Then we took pictures hopping across the meridian line.  Pretended to have separation anxiety being on opposite sides.  Good times.  Then we didn't get charged going back on the DLR and tube.  Even better times.

So that's my life right now. Sorry for the lack of pictures but the camera is still hostage in Scotland.  Meh.  I might steal some from Kori soon so check back for that.

Scotland

So, let's add another notch to the side of why my study abroad program (IES) is better than IU currently.  IES gives a fall break.  This is a foreign concept to IU students so I'll explain.  We took our midterms Monday through Wednesday.  Then we got Thursday off (and the rest of weekend per usual) and part of us went to SCOTLAND!

Thursday

So, we got up and headed to King's Cross Station to catch our train to Scotland.  Tube was crazily not busy for it being 7:30 am on a Thursday.  British business hours are weird. We got on our train and I selected a primo location for window gazing and sleeping.  We all felt more refreshed around 11 and had some fun conversations.  English/Scottish countryside is gorgeous so you know.  The train took a coastal path to Edinburgh so we were seeing the channel/North Sea as we chugged along.

"If I could live in a trailer park, I'd live on the coast as well" - Garret

Seriously.  Trailer park....next to the sea.  Nice.  And tons of sheep.  Sooooo many sheep.  And pretty little towns to pass through.

"Oh look!  A blue sheep!" "Of course...how do you think they get blue jumpers?" Myself and then Allison

So finally, we got to Edinburgh.  And then immediately left it on the WILD AND SEXY HAGGIS ADVENTURE!  Seriously.  I can't make that up.

We blended in quite well

So, we set off through Edinburgh to head into the highlands of Scotland.  I didn't expect much from the highlands, but it was beautiful.  I'm not even a huge mountain fan, but everybody was astounded by the views around us.  It really reminded me of the Smokey mountains...minus the trees.  In some parts, it got so windy that trees just could not survive.  And then you'd have the stubborn tree growing out of a rock. Yes, a tree was growing out of a rock.

We stopped at our first Loch (pronounced Law-CHHHHHH.  If you don't sound like you're hawking up a loogie...you're doing it wrong).  Apparently it had been pouring rain the past couple of days cause everything was kind of flooded.

We continued on and saw these random waterfalls due to the amounts of rain they got on all the mountains. Very cool. I would have liked to stay longer, but it was raining at that point.  Like legitimate rain, not this annoying mist stuff that they call rain.  I miss the whole "storm for an hour and done" weather of the midwest.  This "let's mist and be damp all day" kind of stuff is annoying.

Anyway, we eventually made it to our first hostel of the trip in Fort William.  It lacked bathroom space for my liking compared to other hostels but we made due.  We ventured into town to have a meal and went to a nice little pub where I had a very Scottish meal.  Chicken quesadilla.  Yeah...I was in a Mexican food mood and Europeans seem to love it.  Weird.

So after a nice pub outing watching the boys play some pool (and then a woman in a pink tracksuit. lulz), we headed back to the hostel for a nice evening in.

Friday

A group of us got up a bit early to eat and then explore the town a little bit in the daylight.  We went to a bakery where I got a donut that rivals Kinsers.  Yes...it was that good, possibly better due to it's chocolatey nature.  We then played Frogger to get across the street to take pictures of another loch.  Loch Linney if I remember right.  We hiked back up the hills to the hostel and packed up to head out on more adventures.  Only, instead of bus adventures, we walked down to the train station and picked up the Jacobite steam train.  Yes, it's the same type of train used for the Harry Potter films.  Yes, it was epic!

The train was a fun experience.  We all just got to enjoy the views of more mountains and lochs.  Beautiful train ride.  We stopped for a little photo session/at a train station and there was a nice little train car that doubled as a restaurant.  So, of course, I got a chocolate cake and hot chocolate since it was a special.  We then continued on and went over the viaduct that is used in the Harry Potter film.  I think I took like 50 pictures during that part of the trip alone.  That perfect of scenary.

So we got to our destination of Mallaig.  It is a cute little coastal town that has THEE best fish and chips I've had in the UK.  We grabbed those real quick and got back on the Wild and Sexy bus to head to Loch Ness.  All was well until the wheel fell off the bus.

Yeah....the wheel fell off the bus.

So, being the mature adults that we all are, we decided to frolick around the area we got stuck in.  Since it was raining (not the annoying misty rain...it was almost real rain), I cut my frolicking short and headed back to the bus cause the driver put on Trainspotting.  That amused the entire bus until the new bus arrived.

Then the saddest thing that could happen, happened.  In our rush to switch buses, my ever faithful camera got left behind.  I realized this....1 mile down the road after switching buses.  Eff.  Thankfully, Mieke, person in charge of my dorm, has done the trip before and let me use her camera rest of the trip.  So, that cheered me out of my sulking/being angry at myself.

Then they revealed we wouldn't make it to Loch Ness in time for our planned boat tour....so that part of the trip got scrapped.  Booooooooo.

So, we stopped at a rest stop/tourist attraction area and hiked up to a top of a mountain and viewed the viaduct we went over a couple hours earlier.

Totally worth it and I thankfully did not fall going back down since it was, of course, raining.  We got back on the bus and I took a little nap inside of watching the sun set.  At 5 pm.....  We stopped at a castle ruin, but I was not interested cause A. It was still raining and B. ruins of a castle aren't easy to see when it's already dark outside.

We finally made it to our Loch Ness Hostel and it was my favorite of the 3 I believe.  It was run by this family who were all awesome.  The parents were so nice and we planned on kidnapping the youngest boy cause he was so awesome.  So we unloaded the bus and got divided up for our rooms.  Allison, Megan and myself got stuck in the "chicken coop" out back next to the boy's rooms.  It was a fine room, don't get me wrong, but it was weird being in a separate building from the house.

We quickly then gathered for dinner cause we were starving college students and this was our prepaid meal.  Traditional Scottish broth and delicious bread to start with.  Delicious fyi.  Then some Haggis and a potato dish that I don't know the name of.  Haggis was ok on its own but I mixed it with the potatoes and really enjoyed it.  Dessert was some raspberry cream thing was decent as well.

Before dinner we had a rousing game of Uno (not epic like the never ending game of Spring Break '10) and we found out that they had a poker set.  So we set up a little game of Texas Hold 'Em and started to play.....when the Claddagh started.

Ohhhhhh the claddagh.  A bunch of American kids learning traditional Scottish dances.  In a room too small.  Yes, pictures were taken of us dancing.  No, I am not posting them on here.  It was mainly jumping and waltzing around like fools.  Tons of fun though.

After 2 hours of dancing, we got back to our poker game.  I epically lost.  Steve loaned me some chips to get back in....but I never had enough time to get back in the game.  Thankfully, I was spared the agony of defeat again when the game Things was brought up.

Things is a simple game to play.  You make up categories like "Things that remind me of milk" or "Things that remind me of Scotland."  Then, everybody anonymously writes down something.  Likkkee...for the Scotland one you could write men in kilts.  You want to make it not obvious that it's your answer cause then you go around and guess who said what.  My main goal was to make the outrageous ones.

Both of those categories are real ones that we used.  Also included were "Things that remind me of Jacque", "Things I do when I'm naked", and "Things I love about Roy."  About 20 people shoved into this living room and played.  Epic amounts of hilarity ensued.

It soon past midnight and we broke up the game.  Nothing better than a nice game night.

Saturday

We packed up and left the hostel bright at early.  We stopped by Loch Ness (Still saying Looccccchhhhh?) so we could properly see it in the daylight.  And boy...did we need it.

No Nessie sightings unfortunately.  Though we did have a rousing conversation about how easy it would be to hide a body in Loch Ness since only sonar can reach its deepest points.  Yeah....we need to lay off the Bones, Law and Order, CSI, etc.

We then took a nice bus ride to a reindeer center.  Yes, you read that right boys and girls.  A reindeer center.  If you are in that area in Scotland, do it.  First off, it's an amazing hike to where they keep them.

It's not even that long of a hike too so that's even better.

Then....you see this.

Or this

And you get to feed them!!!!  I feed a reindeer.  Very cool.  They don't have top teeth so no worry about biting.  They used their lips mainly and it felt really cool.  You just had to watch out for the antlers.

Best quote of that hour:  "Alec, why are you standing so awkwardly?  We're feeding reindeer!" "I don't want an antler up my ass."  "Good point" - Me and Alec

I headed down a little bit before everybody else cause it was freezing up there.  Breath takeningly beautiful...but freezing.  So we went back to were the bus dropped us off and since we were wearing Wellies, we played in mud puddles.  It was the obvious choice.

After dropping off our Wellies, we went into the town, Aviemore, to have lunch.  For being in Scotland/Europe in general, they like to make Mexican food there.  Really random.  We piled back on the bus and headed to Dalwhinnie Distillery.

So, the Distillery was cool.  We had a nice guessing game of the tour guide's age.  He looked like a guy I work with at IU so that kind of freaked me out.  Only he had less facial hair and a Scottish accent.  So I based my guess on that.  We don't know the answer though sadly.  Kind of interesting to see how they make Whiskey.  The boys were excited cause they had been buying 4 pound bottles from Tesco and then got to try something actually decent for once.

Again, we piled back onto the Wild and Sexy bus and headed into Edinburgh.  We really did ping pong our way around Scotland if you look at a map.  Before I continue on, if you go to Scotland, please go to the Highlands.  They seem like they are from another world.

So, we checked into our hostel which was more like a hotel.  I had to resist collapsing into bed cause all the traveling really gets to you.  So, to avoid this, we went in search of dinner.  The search ended when we discovered the cheap restaurant/bar in the hostel.  haha

So that's how my Halloween night started.  Having an okish meal with some awesome people.  Jacque did one of her blogs and Josh made this great comment about me.  Link to la blog.  Quote is around 4:07 "We have an issue: Stacy and I have no hung out since Dublin.  Dublin was a month ago and I know nobody wants to admit it but it's November on Monday.  It means yes, Dublin was a month ago.  This is an issue cause I quite enjoy Stacy's sense of humor.  Stacy has this odd ability to make me laugh just as much as everyone else does.  I quite enjoy that in a human being.  I think it should also be mentioned that Stacy has an amazing bone structure in her face that makes her more a woman"

Such a compliment right there.  Oh yeah.

So we then changed into our costumes for Halloween.  Seeing as I'm cheap and not wanting to try a lot, I recycled my last year's outfit.  Only, London had NO Santa hats for sale when I went looking.  You know what I see the Monday we get back?  A rack of Santa hats at Tesco.

So, other costumes included a rainbow (people dressed as colors, a leprechaun, and a pot of gold), a cool Cat, Canadian, the InBetweeners, Fancy Dress, Indiana Jones, Dan Brown, and Big Ben.  We're awesome, I know.  However, apparently the Halloween fashion in Edinburgh is more undead than funny.  So...that was kind of weird.  But I did see a Wallace and Gromit costume pair that definitely reminded me that I was in the UK and not the US.

We got all dressed finally and headed for our Ghost Tour of Edinburgh.  So, this tour consisted of us walking around a block and being retold information about how the word shitfaced came into existence. (Drunks would literally get shit on their face cause back in the day when walking home from the pub, people would throw out their bathroom...stuff....and it was land on the drunks.  Gross).  We also wandered through some chambers with former torture devices and other lovely objects.  I don't recommend this tour at all.  There are better ones that are actually tours!  What a novel idea.

So we then got back to the hostel and enjoyed the features of it once again.  Great games of Thumper and Save the Queen were played.  Blah blah blah....you don't want to hear about my night ;)

Sunday

So, some brave souls took the option of climbing up another mountain to watch the sunrise.

I did not cause Stacy needs her sleep.  So I woke up at 9 instead and got a REAL BREAKFAST!! OMG!!!  Gross from a powder scrambled eggs, hash browns, BACON!!!, and more cereal.  Yesssss.

So, we set off for the Edinburgh Castle.  Castles are getting a little tiring.  I never knew that was possible.  I mean...it's a freaking castle.  But they are kind of redundant.  But we enjoyed the views of Edinburgh.  Jacque took me on a personalized tour.  It was very factually based, of course.

We then stopped at the Castle cafe for some water, and dessert to legitimize the water, but it evolved into a whole lunch outing.  Stupid food going by and tempting us.  But it was great just talking with Jacque, Allison, and Kelly.

We went and got our luggage from the hostel and Allison and I went to visit the Gothic Rocket.  Which makes me question what it was called before Rockets were invented....

Anyway, we took some nice pictures and then enjoyed ourselves in this little park area.  It was a nice relaxing way to end our time in Scotland.  We headed back to the train station and started back to London.