Barcelona Day 1

We had a great day! We got up surprisingly early and Alex and I ran into each other in the lobby so we both arrived, thank goodness. The weather is perfect, probably low 70s and sunny. Just gorgeous. We spent a lot of time on the beach, probably the highlight of the day. We also went into a few churches, a few museums, a few plazas, and saw a really cool fountain that is timed to music with a light display. I´ll put a video up when I get back to Edinburgh. Tomorrow we´re taking a cable car up a mountain to go to a castle, then flying to Madrid tomorrow night! I´ll write more detailed posts when I get back to Edinburgh.

Ñ¿?ÇÚü

Well I made it to Spain... barely. I got to the hostel at 4:00 this morning... Apparently there is a big strike going on with the air traffic controllers in France or something so they only let a couple planes go every hour so we sat on the tarmac for 4 hours, then a 2 and 1/2 hour flight, a one hour time difference, a 1 hour bus ride, and a walk. I wasn´t thrilled about walking around Barcelona at 4 in the morning but I made it to the hostel without anything too bad happening. Now hopefully we´ll be able to get home. Easyjet canceled their flights to Spain last night (I took Ryanair here) and I´m taking easyjet back so hopefully the strike will be resolved by then. I didn´t really mind sitting on the plane for 7 hours, I had a new book with me (Tess of the DÚrbervilles) so I stayed busy. I would have been mad if I had missed sight-seeing time in Barcelona because of it, but I can deal with a lack of sleep. I got less than 2 hours last night... Today might be a little rough.

I´m not actually sure if Alex is here or not... He had a scare because he forgot to get his visa stamp so he almost missed his flight here. I got a message saying he wasnt going to make it but he would try to get out the next morning, but then I got a call saying he somehow made it. But I don´t know if his flight actually went because of the strike. Hopefully I´ll find out soon...

Man this keyboard is really difficult to use. Everything is in the wrong place. But I can do cool things like Ñ翺ª.

Quick update

Just a quick update before leaving for Spain tomorrow.

The rest of Sarah and Alex's visit was great. On Sunday we did Calton Hill, 2 museums, and church. They left at 6 am Monday morning and made it back late that night.

This week I spent trying to get work done and planning for Spain. I got 2 papers done so that's good, and I'm going to finish up some reading tonight. On Monday night instead of small group the Christian Union had a thing at Cab Vol, one of the clubs in the city. Basically a ton of people brought dessert and there were 3 bands so we just hung out for a while, which was fun. It was part of the events for their evangelism week.

Arriving in Barcelona tomorrow night, going to Madrid Saturday night, coming back to Edinburgh Monday night!

Sarah and Alex's Visit (so far)

Sarah and Alex's visit (so far) has been great! They got here yesterday (Friday) morning after flying first class the whole way. We met up without too much difficulty, then headed to their hotel to drop off their stuff. The hotel seems really nice, and they said they like it.

After dropping off their stuff, we went to my flat so they could see it, then we went to the castle. I hadn't been yet (I was waiting until visitors came), so that was fun. It's big and picturesque, with a lot of museums and exhibits to see. We took a free guided tour then explored the buildings. We were there for the One O'clock gun, which they fire off everyday at one o'clock.

After the castle we got lunch at a little deli by campus, which was really good. Then they got a campus tour before heading back to my flat for a break (complete with cupcakes from my birthday).

Next we went back up the Royal Mile to the Camera Obscura, which is a building with a lot of optical illusion exhibits, but at the top is a camera obscura which is sort of like a periscope. There are mirrors on top of the building and the image is projected onto a table in a room and you can turn the "periscope" to look around the city, and the image is amazingly clear. So that was cool, and we got a good view from the terrace around the top of the building.

After that we walked around the castle down to Princes Gardens, then up to Princes Street which is a big shopping street so we stopped in a few stores. They went back to their hotel after that for about an hour, then we went to dinner at The Elephant House, which I've written about before. After we had finished eating an American lady that had been sitting near us came over to chat so that was interesting. She was maybe in her early 60s and is living in London for work. She was pretty outspoken and invited us over to her place for tea, but obviously we didn't do that.... Sarah and Alex were pretty tired and jet lagged so they went back to their hotel after that.

The next morning we met at 10, had a quick Starbucks stop, then walked down the Royal Mile towards Holyrood Palace (the Queen's official residence when she's in town). We didn't go in (it's expensive), but after that we hiked Arthur's Seat. We've had great weather this whole weekend so we had good views from the top. Here's a picture of the 3 of us at the top:

When we got down we tried to go back up the Royal Mile but there was a big rally in town today and the police had the streets blocked off. The Scottish Defense League (an apparently anti-muslim, fascist, extreme right group) planned a rally for today so a huge number of people (mostly students) organized a giant protest against that rally. I guess a similar thing happened in Glasgow in November and a lot of people were hurt and arrested, so Edinburgh really prepared for this one. Streets were blocked off to keep the two sides separate and huuuuge numbers of police were around. They were swarming the streets:

and there were vans parked everywhere just full of policemen waiting for something to happen. We ran into a small group of protesters who were trying to join the big group:

The police blocked off the street so they couldn't get through, but that meant we couldn't get through either, so we had to go around using other streets. Here's a BBC article about it: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/8525939.stm

Eventually we did get back and we went to lunch at Elephants and Bagels, which was good. Then we went to Greyfriar's Kirkyard, a big famous graveyard close to my flat. After that we took the bus to Murrayfield Curling Club since Sarah and Alex both curl. They wanted to see some curling in Scotland since that's where it was invented. They got to exchange pins from their curling clubs, which I guess is a big thing, so that was cool. I learned all about curling! Here's a video. If you turn up the sound you can hear Sarah commentating:

We watched a full match, about 2 hours, then took the bus back to the city. They went back to their hotel for about an hour before dinner. We went to dinner at Blonde, a nice restaurant, for my birthday. It was great! We thought the food was great and it was a really nice place. After that we went to a little pub by my flat where they play live music every night so that was fun, then we split up for the night.

On the agenda for tomorrow: meet around 10, Starbucks stop, Calton Hill, souvenir shopping, lunch at Always Sunday, National museum of Scotland, early dinner at Palmyra, church, coffee shop.

Things to do before you die

I've always thought that before I die, I want to gallop a horse on a beach. After today I can check that off my list.

I went riding with some people on the team and it was AWESOME. Seven of us went. We took the train to Longniddry, this town on the coast about 20 minutes from Edinburgh. After about a 10 minute walk from the train station we arrived at the barn, called Harelaw Equestrian Center. It was a very stereotypical British barn- made out of crumbling brick with muddy/cobblestone aisles, horses tied up in the "yard" and long rows of stalls. Completely different set up from an American barn.

But anyway, we were split up into two groups, one novice group with 2 people and one advanced group with 5. The advanced group was the one that went to the beach, and that was the one I was in. We got our horses, and mine was this massive guy named Red. He was huge, at least 17 hh. Here's a picture of me on him (compare this to one of me on the pony from the last pony trek!):

Our ride started off going through some fields and at one point we went through a field with 8 baby cows in it! They were actually really cute, and they were playing like dogs do. You can't really see the calves in this picture but they were there:

The horses were unphased, and we went into the woods. We trotted for most of the time we were in the woods so that was awesome. Then we went out onto a road which is also new for me. The horses were really great.

I guess before I go on I should describe Red. Like I said, he's huge, but really just the perfect horse. He was perfectly behaved but didn't plod along like a lesson horse. He was really responsive and did exactly what I asked him to do and all his gaits (walk, trot, canter, gallop) were perfectly controlled and balanced so I didn't have to worry about anything, he was perfect. It took a little bit to get used to his massive stride but once I did he was quite comfortable and we had a great time.

Anyway, after the road, we got to the beach. It was beautiful, I love the ocean. Here are the pictures I took of the beach:

We walked for a little when we first got to the beach because there were a lot of people out but then we got to let them gallop all out. It was incredible. Just amazing. It took a few seconds to get over your fear that they were going to trip or buck, but once you got used to it, you could relax and just let them go. What an experience. Red was the biggest horse there so he shot to the front and covered huge amounts of ground with his huge stride. It was so cool!

We galloped for a while, then turned around, and galloped back to the road. So amazing. We trotted the whole way back on the road, which was great since we weren't just walking.

We made it back just in time for the next train so that was really nice (we would've had to wait an hour if we'd missed it), and I was back at my flat by about 5:15. It was such a great ride. It's funny because I remember when my friend from the Wash U team studied abroad here 2 springs ago she did this beach ride, and I remember thinking "I'm going to do that", and now two years later I've done it!

Spring break plans are taking shape. Here's the tentative plan:

March 26-30: Dublin/other places in Ireland

March 30-April 1: Brussels and Bruges

April 2-3: Berlin

4-6: Prague

7-9: Budapest

10-12: Vienna

13-15: Munich

16-18: Venice

19-21: Florence

22: Pisa/back to Edinburgh

It's going to be awesome! I'm traveling with different people at different times. I bought the tickets to Dublin and Brussels today!

Oh, also, a new Tesco, the local grocery store, opened up like 2 minutes away from my flat. Yesss.

Loch Ness looks like Megunticook

I'm back from my weekend in the highlands! It was incredible. Really just unbelievable. I took a ton of pictures and videos, but I'll try to only put the highlights on here. There are plenty of pictures on facebook for you to look at if you want!

Saturday started off early. As evidence, here's a picture of the sunrise from my kitchen window:

We all met at 7:45 am at a hostel near where my flat is. 8 of my friends went, and there were 7 others on the tour. Everyone on the tour were girls so our male guide, Graeme, faked disappointment. He was really great though. He's 35 and lives in a town in the highlands (which we passed through) so he was really fun but also really knowledgeable and passionate about everything we saw. He told us great stories and facts and was really just all around great.

But anyway we met at the hostel, took the bus to a different hostel in Edinburgh to pick up the rest of the people, then started on our way. We crossed the Firth of Forth and after a little while ended up in St. Andrews. This is the town famous for its university and for golf. We had about an hour to wander around so we went down to the beach (where that famous scene from Chariots of Fire was filmed) and saw some ruins there (and an AWESOME rainbow. We could see both ends of it and they were really close! I thought it was cool...):

The Rainbow:

Beach:

Ruins on the beach:

Then we wandered over to the old cathedral which is completely in ruins but looks really cool:
Then we went to a cafe in town before getting back on the bus.

After St. Andrews we started heading north. Our next stop was for lunch I think, at a little town (I think the name was Pitlochry? I could be wrong). It was picturesque. We went to a cool little deli where I got a venison and rowanberry jelly sandwich on brown roll. Delicious!

Deli where we ate lunch:

I think the next stop was Culloden Battlefield. There was a huge massacre of the Jacobites here so it's a pretty solemn spot. It's a big field and they have flags that mark where the British line was and where the Jacobites were. There are stones along the walking path that name the different clans that were there, and there's a big memorial to them too. It's pretty intense.
Next we stopped at one end of Loch Ness for some great pictures and... swimming. Yeah some people went swimming (aka running in, dunking their heads, and running out as fast as possible). They were freezing but glad they did it. I have absolutely no regrets whatsoever about not doing it.

One end of Loch Ness:

The obligatory awkward single picture in front of famous places:

I don't think we stopped again until we got to Inverness. Inverness is the only city in the highlands, and it's where we spent the night. First we went to our hostel to check in and drop off our stuff. It was a nice hostel, very cozy. I was in a 6 bunk room with 3 of my friends then 2 girls from Spain (who weren't on the tour). They were really nice and we talked to them for awhile before going out for dinner. We had a really awesome view from our window:

I didn't get any pictures of our actual room but it was pretty standard- 2 bunk beds and 2 single beds. Each bed had a clan name (i.e. MacGregor) and everyone was assigned a room number and a bed so that made sleeping arrangements easy. One weird thing about this hostel (and probably a lot of hostels) is that the bathrooms aren't separated male/female so like this morning I was getting ready and Graeme walked in for a shower. I dont know it was just strange. Also there weren't any electrical outlets so I couldn't dry my hair after my shower in the morning. I think that's going to be a pretty common occurrence in hostels. Oh well.

Our guide recommended a place called Wetherspoons for dinner, which is just a typical pub/bar so we went there and had decent food. It was only like 7:30 by the time we finished dinner so we decided to go looking for ice cream (some people just really wanted ice cream...). We couldn't find any places that were open for dessert so....... we went to McDonald's. I know, it's terrible, but it was just for ice cream. So yeah we sat in McDonald's for awhile, drawing way too much attention to ourselves, then we went to a pub called Hootinannies for drinks and live music. That place was pretty cool because above that pub there are 2 other floors with like live jazz and rock music and bars for younger people which makes up The Mad Hatter. We decided to stay on the bottom floor to listen to traditional music. It was really crowded but we had a good time and it's always fun listening to live folk music in a pub:

We went back to the hostel early, around 10, because we were exhausted. Emily and I didn't go up to our rooms right away and we met some people that were hanging out in the lobby. My Spanish roommates were down there, then we met a group of guys from Quebec who are spending a few months just traveling around Europe so they were interesting to talk to.

We woke up at 7 the next morning, ate breakfast at the hostel (it was like 50p for most stuff so that was really nice), then headed out at 8. I was a tiny bit disappointed by the scenery the first day, but the second day was just incredible.

We drove down the coast of Loch Ness going away from Inverness and it is beautiful. It reminded me of Megunticook as you're driving towards the cottage from Camden because as you're driving along a cliff goes up your right side then some trees on the left just in front of the water, and the lake itself is pretty narrow. It's really long though (23 miles) and incredibly deep. We stopped twice to take photos by Loch Ness, once for pictures with mountains and the loch and once at Urquhart Castle, which is beautiful.

Loch Ness again:

Urquhart Castle, on Loch Ness:

I think we stopped for coffee and stuff somewhere but I don't remember much about that. The highlight of the trip was after that though. We drove through Glen Coe, which is what pictures of "The Highlands" show. It's just incredible. Completely indescribable. The clouds were really low so they sort of hovered around the mountains and it was beautiful. It was really cool because as we were driving towards it we could see all this beautiful scenery and Graeme was playing Scottish music on the speakers so it was really quite something (more on bus music later). We stopped in two places in Glen Coe for pictures; it was so cool. I really encourage you to look at my pictures of that on facebook, they're pretty awesome. As we drove through the area Graeme pointed out the places where scenes from Harry Potter and Braveheart were filmed.

Apparently the Harry Potter scenes with Hagrid's cabin are filmed around here:

Check out how low the clouds were!

Apparently all the brown is purple in the summer because it's heather:

Probably the coolest picture from the trip:

A note about the music on the bus:

The music was really fun. At first we listened to some crazy stuff, some of it was American but there was some Scottish folk music too. Then we listened to some Johnny Cash because we passed through the town where his ancestors are from. Then as we passed into the really scenic stuff we listened to Scottish fusion music which was awesome (traditional Scottish music mixed with everything from Salsa to African drumming), then some other stuff I don't really remember, but it was all timed really well with what we were seeing.

With that in mind, here's a compilation of videos I took approaching, going through, and leaving Glen Coe. I realize that it's pretty long (5 minutes) and most of you won't watch it but if you're at all interested in the highlands it's just incredible scenery (and the music is kind of cool too). It gets especially good towards the end. Sorry about the shaky camera work!

We drove past Ben Nevis, the highest peak in Britain, but there was so much fog that we couldn't see it at all! I've seen pictures of it though, it's nothing especially different from the other mountains.

I think our next stop after that was for lunch, at a little rest stop. Then we went to visit Hamish the Hairy Coo (cow). That kind of cow is like native to the highlands or something so they're kind of a symbol of it. It was huge and very photogenic. There was also a weaving place there so that was kind of cool.

There are sheep everywhere in Scotland:

Our last stop of the trip was at the Wallace Monument in Stirling. There's a little hike up to it then cool views of Stirling, the castle, and Loch Lomond (Dillon and I are going to the castle and Loch Lomond when he comes). The weather got to be really nice and sunny about half way through the day so that was nice (although the highlands just don't look right without a thick layer of mist!).

William Wallace (Braveheart) Monument:

Stirling Castle in the distance:

Then about an hour drive and we were back in Edinburgh! What an incredible trip. If I have any time and money left in May I want to take a trip to the west coast and see that scenery.

Here's a compilation video of a bunch of videos I took of the scenery while we were driving. It's more for my memory, but if you're interested, it's a really cool overview of the highlands. The sound is just what was playing on the bus at the time or Graeme talking.

Tomorrow I really need to get some work done on my papers (after I sleep as late as possible of course), then small group tomorrow night. This should be a pretty easy week class-wise since I don't have Society and Politics, but I do need to write two big papers. My birthday is on Thursday, then Sarah and Alex (my aunt and cousin for those of you who don't know) get here Friday morning!

Scottish words

Not a lot has happened in the last two days. Yesterday I was surprisingly productive and got all my interviews done for my Society and Politics class which is great because now I can transcribe them before my tutorial on Thursday. I also turned in my first paper so that was exciting. Now I'm going to start working on my philosophy paper and my Society and Politics research paper. Last night was small group which was fun as always.

Tomorrow I'm not going to ride since I did the pony trek on Sunday, but I'm looking forward to a beach ride with the equestrian club next Wednesday! Next week should be a pretty good week. It's reading week for some classes so my Society and Politics lecture and tutorial are canceled. That's perfect because usually Thursdays are horrible because I have 4 hours of class and they're all spread out, but next Thursday I'll only have 2 hours, 2-4, which is perfect because it'll be my birthday! Plus Sarah and Alex are coming the next morning!

I realized I haven't done a Scottish/"American" glossary yet... So here are a few words that Scottish people say and their "American" equivalents:

Baggies = work out pants (not zip-loc bags...)

Are you alright? = What's up?

Wee = little

Costume = swim suit

Pants = underwear

Trousers = pants

Trainers = sneakers

Jumper = sweater

Hiya = hi

Cheers = sort of means thanks (most often heard after holding a door open for someone)

Toilet roll = toilet paper

Cannae = cannot

Essay = paper

He took the mickey then got a wee bit cheeky = I have no idea what this means but my riding instructor said it to me...

That's all I can think of right now but there are lots more. Oh, for the record, Edinburgh is pronounced "Edinbra", or "Edinbura", not "Edinburo."

Pony trekking

I went pony trekking today! It was awesome. The vet school owns a herd of Exmoor ponies, and basically they just keep them in a big field and do treks with them for the public. In the winter they only do 3 treks a week (if that), but in the summer they go everyday.

Keri, Emily and I went. We met our driver/guide (a 5th year vet student) and another guide (guide -in-training really, an English student) at 9:30. We drove the half hour out to the field but when we got there our guide realized she'd forgotten the key to the tack room! It was sad because in the 5 years she's been doing treks, that's never happened before, and this was her last trek ever! Ironic. But anyway we drove back to Edinburgh, got the key, then went back to the 'barn' (a huge field with a converted storage trailer for a tack room).

It was reeeeally muddy in the field because of the snow we got recently, and it was really messy walking out to get the ponies (who were, of course, at the far end of the field). We were just covered in mud, as were the tiny ponies. We tacked them up ourselves, which was nice.

Our ponies ready to go:

It was cold but not freezing, and grey but not raining, so that was fine. The good thing was that it wasn't windy. Apparently it's usually really windy which makes it really cold and hard to talk to each other.

The scenery was beautiful:

The guide and I went off by ourselves a few times to trot and canter (since Emily and Keri don't know how to ride), so that was really fun. The ponies are so tiny but they get excited! It was nice to be able to do more than just walk. We did trot a few times as a group so that was cool too.

We stopped for lunch, and here are 2 pictures that Keri took of me then:
Oh, my pony's name was B'elanna.

The actual trekking part was a good 3 hours I think. Not bad for only 20 pounds! Here's a group picture we took at the end:

So yeah, needless to say, it was a pretty awesome day. Lots of pictures on my facebook!

My flat is making dinner tonight and a few people are coming over so I'm going to skip church this week. I really need to get some work done tomorrow...

John Swinney

Yesterday my Society and Politics class had another guest speaker, John Swinney. Currently he's the Finance Minister for Scotland, but he used to be the head of the Scottish National Party (the party that's currently in power) and a Member of Parliament. He's a great speaker, and it was really cool getting to see someone so important. Only like 20 students of 60 or so in the class showed up, but there were tons of faculty and government people there too. Swinney just had his climate change bill passed through parliament on Wednesday and he's the guy responsible for the budget so he had a lot to talk about.

Two days ago and most of yesterday were spent doing work (pretty much for the first time this semester) because I have a couple papers due soon, or when people are visiting, so I'm trying to get them done.

Last night I went to Chocolate Soup with some friends. It's basically just a cafe with a lot of chocolate drinks and coffees and stuff, so that was fun. After that we watched 30 Rock for a bit then went out to a club.

Today I was supposed to go pony trekking with the equestrian team but that was canceled due to weather, so I slept in a little, caught up on TV shows online and basically did nothing all day. It's been a slow week.... I'm definitely going pony trekking tomorrow with some friends though.

Observations:

- No matter where you walk in the city, there are always people trying to hand you pamphlets or talk to you. If I took every one I passed, I would have at least 10 pamphlets (half for the same thing) just on my way to class. It's insane.

- It's not true what people say about the drinking age in America. People always say that if we just lowered the drinking age to 18 then kids would eventually calm down and not be as crazy about alcohol because it's not taboo. As evidence, people site Europe. That's just not true. Kids here are just as crazy if not more so about alcohol than kids in the US. They party way more and drink way more than most people in the US, and no, they don't handle their alcohol better.

2 long days

First, if you're having trouble watching the London videos, I don't know why. I uploaded them again and they still don't always work.

Yesterday was a really long day because I had class til 4 then riding 5-9. Usually I ride on Wednesdays but there was no lesson on Wednesday this week, so I wasn't going to take a lesson (since I'm riding Saturday and Sunday), but I got asked to take a spot in the Tuesday advanced lesson (because the club has to pay for 5 people even if only 4 go). So I said I would go. Big mistake.

We had to get there an hour early because the president drove us and she had to be there for one of the teams' practices. So my long day was made an hour longer by that. We just sat around in the lobby for an hour until it was time for our lesson, then that was a mess. I was on a good horse, named Rocky, but we didn't do anything. There are 2 indoor rings and one of the rings had a dog agility competition going on (apparently happens every Tuesday) so the horses didn't like that at all. A couple had big spooks but mine was ok. Then we had to split the remaining ring with the team, so we only had a little space to ride. The trainer is a different one than on Wednesdays and basically we just walked for the entire lesson. Like we did a little trotting and a little cantering but we really didn't do much at all. Not worth 22 quid.

This is a big transition semester for the club since they just moved to this barn last term so they're still trying to figure out scheduling and stuff, and the barn is under new management so they're trying to figure everything out too, like what to do in each level of lesson and which horses to bring up for each lesson. Pretty much everyone in the club has been complaining about the lessons so they're really trying to fix things, but hopefully it'll be fixed in time for me to have a few good lessons.

They're talking about making the Tuesday advanced lesson into an "advanced" advanced lesson, like a lesson for developing people who want to try out for the teams. That lesson would do more difficult stuff which would be awesome and I'd love to do it, but it's with the trainer I don't like as much, on Tuesdays with the dogs, and at the end of a long day of classes, so I'll probably just stick to Wednesdays. Oh well, I'll see how it pans out though and maybe I will end up switching to Tuesdays if it really does get better.

I was looking forward to sleeping in today since I don't have any classes, but the fire alarm went off at 9. We all stumbled outside and chatted and complained for about 20 minutes until we could go back in. It was weird seeing everyone in the building in the same place. Social worlds colliding...

The rest of the day I spent procrastinating. Instead of doing work, I did laundry, errands, and apartment searching. It was pretty much a waste of a day but oh well.

An observation that I can't remember if I've already written about: In the states, we say "what's up?" as a greeting. Here, a lot of people say "Are you ok?" as a greeting. That really threw me off at first because when someone says "Are you ok" I think that something is wrong. I asked my flatmate about this and she said that when someone says "what's up?" to her she thinks the same thing that I do about "are you ok?". Very interesting...

Back to Edinburgh

This morning I packed up my stuff and left Eva's at about 9. I got to Westminster Abbey just before it opened at 9:30 which was great because there weren't too many people there. Apparently it can get so crowded on some days that you can barely move. What an amazing place! It is such a beautiful building, and I didn't know so many famous people are buried there: all the major kings and queens of England, Robert Burns, Geoffrey Chaucer, Charles Dickens, David Livingstone, Jane Austen, and Rudyard Kipling to name just a very few. I really wish I could have taken pictures in there. It was cool seeing the coronation chair, which has been used in the coronations of every British monarch since 1308. Amazing! There was a free audio tour (narrated by Jeremy Irons) included in the ticket price (12 pounds, yikes) so that was neat.

That took about an hour and a half so I hopped on the tube to go to the place where the bus to the airport was supposed to pick me up. I had a scare when I got to the stop, saw the bus pull up, waited at the door to get on, then saw it drive off without me... I thought maybe I should have said something or been more proactive or something, but too late. I was about to call the company to ask when the next bus was coming but a lady saw me with my ticket and said that the bus to the airport was on the other side of the road (the one where I was standing just dropped people off from the airport). So I crossed the road and the bus came 5 minutes later. Phew.

I got to the airport about an hour and a half early so I just got lunch at Pret and browsed through the shops. It was a quick one hour flight and I was on the bus on my way to the city less than 5 minutes after landing at the Edinburgh Airport! Awesome! It only took about 35 minutes from getting off the plane to getting to my flat.

I went grocery shopping and unpacked when I got back, and since then have been uploading pictures and getting organized for tomorrow. I decided no to go to small group because I'm exhausted and I need to get more stuff done. I'm excited to sleep on a bed instead of the floor tonight! It was a great weekend though, and I can't wait for Spain in a few weeks!

I'm not going to take the time to post pictures on this blog, but I put some on my facebook. Again, if you don't have access to my facebook and you want to see pictures, just let me know. Here are a few videos from the weekend though:

Approaching Stonehenge:

The Tower of London:

Tomorrow is class 10-1 and 3-4, then riding 5-8:30ish.