{The Land of the Scots}

I have returned from the land of the Scots! I guess I’ll just jump right into it and tell you about the last couple of days. So we left early Monday morning for the train station. Which train station you might ask? Well I will tell you! Kings cross! A little bell just rang in everyone’s head, right? Kings cross, home of Platform 9 and ¾! I’m still convinced that Hogwarts lost my letter of acceptance to the school, which is probably why the platform wouldn’t open for me when I tried running through it on Monday morning.—but don’t worry, I will find a way to get in eventually. Anyways, where was I? So we hopped on a train for a little bit…well more like 4 hours, but I really didn’t mind because I found I quite enjoy traveling by train! Anyways, 4 hours of beautiful scenery later, I was in SCOTLAND! Scotland was incredible. It had a completely different feel from London. I don’t really know how to explain it, but the whole atmosphere was just different. The people weren’t as friendly; not that people are particularly warm and fuzzy in London, but in Scotland the people were definitely cold. It seemed pretty dreary too…lots of clouds and a cool breeze…but boy was it beautiful.

We arrived at our hostel that afternoon, dropped our stuff off and made our way up the royal mile towards the Edinburgh Castle. Supposedly this Castle has been in use since the 9^th century, and though it use to be home to kings and queens its primary function today is to present history to its visitors. I really enjoyed seeing this Castle because it was home to Mary Queen of Scots. Have any of you read “The Captive Queen of Scots”? Well if you haven’t, you should…it’s one of my favorite books! When we left the Castle we had dinner and did a little more exploring but called it a night pretty early. Tuesday was the Bomb! The Professors gave us a whole day to do whatever we wanted so me and 4 other people made the journey to St. Andrews! For those of you who don’t know the significance of St. Andrews…can you say Golf? St. Andrews is the oldest Golf course in the world and it is located in Fife Scotland—home to the British open! Fife is a little ways a way from Edinburgh, so we had to take an hour train ride…but but what a cool train ride it was. We had to cross the ocean and the train went on the most beautiful bridge. It was this massive stone bridge with arches stretching about 100 feet. I loved looking out the window and seeing Scotland from a distance with a glittering ocean in between. It was so surreal. After the train ride we hopped on a bus for about 30 minutes and then we finally arrived. The course was beautiful. The greens were so long, and I’m pretty sure the par 5’s would have taken me years to get across, ha ha. There was a tournament going on while we were there so that was fun to watch a little golf, and guess who I saw? The Scottish professional golfer, Colin Montgomerie! Boo yeah. So basically I want to go golfing soooo bad right now…that is one reason to look forward to going home—I can hear my clubs calling my name all the way from over here!

After St. Andrews I spent the rest of the day in Edinburgh exploring the streets. So you know how people will stand on a street corner with a guitar or violin, playing, trying to make a little extra cash? Well in Scotland a similar thing happens, but instead people play the bagpipes! No joke. There wasn’t a second in Scotland where I didn’t hear bagpipes playing in the distances somewhere. Cool. Want to hear something even cooler?! I got to go to the Elephant house, aka the birthplace of Harry Potter! The Elephant House is this little café situated in between hundreds of other little shops. But I can definitely see why JK Rowling was inspired here…you look out the window and are completely overwhelmed with a beautiful view of the Castle. In fact, I picked up my own napkin and began writing a novel of my own…then they brought out my food and I got side tracked, typical…ha ha so much for writing a novel!

On Wednesday we went on neat hike to King Arthur’s Seat. Arthur’s seat is a rocky crag that towers over Edinburgh giving the viewer a sweeping view of the land and it is absolutely beautiful. I especially liked the hike because beforehand we learned all about Orson Pratt and his mission in Scotland. He had a really rough time and on occasion he would climb to the top of Arthur’s seat and contemplate, pray, etc. By the time he left Scotland he had converted over 200 people. It was just cool to be at the top of that hill and picture Orson Pratt at the top of the same hill. After the hike we got to take a tour through the Scottish Parliament building. The Architecture was insane, completely impractical, but incredible none the less.

Scotland was so much fun, but I have to say that my very favorite part was discovering heaven…a little store also known as Thorntons! Oh my CHOCOLATE. I have never tasted anything so divine in my life. The chocolate in the United States just doesn’t compare to the stuff you can get out here. I will definitely go through withdrawals when I leave this place. Thornton’s has everything imaginable. From chocolate ice cream, to clotted cream fudge, to truffles—and every bite is pure bliss. I wish I could share with all of you! Okay I need to stop talking about this…getting drool on my keyboard probably isn’t the best thing right? Welp, homework calls…xoxo