Scotland!

Another weekend, another trip, another country.

But boy, am I glad to be back in my room in London, showered, relaxing and watching some Downton Abbey doing homework. ;)

Anyways, this past weekend I went to Scotland with my study abroad group -

So Friday morning we caught a train out of Kings Cross to Edinburgh at 10am and got in around 3pm. Long train ride to say the least, but it went quickly as we were just chatting away. As soon as we got to Edinburgh, we dropped our luggage off at the hostel and went to tour the Royal Castle. We only got about an hour and a half there, but the castle was impressive for just how much was left standing.

Then we were taken to the Elephant Café, the very place where J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter! Some stayed to eat, but a few friends and I went elsewhere to get some dinner and meet up with the group for a Ghost tour!

 They took us down some dark 'closes' which is another word for alleyway in Scotland. Then we went into some underground tunnels which were a bit spooky, but nothing too frightening. The stories, though I wish they were true, were a bit cheesy.

We had an early night because we were expected to leave the hostel at 8am.

SATURDAY

We were off and going on a bus Saturday at 8am. They told us we were going to Loch Ness. I thought, this sounds cool, maybe we will see Nessie! However, none of us bothered to look at a map to see just how far away this Loch was.

Now, I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to go to Edinburgh...but we didn't get to see the city at ALL on Saturday. The bus ride to Loch Ness for over 4 hours each way! We stopped two or three times to take pictures, which was beautiful, but we basically sat on a bus for over 8 hours to go on a boat ride on Loch Ness 'searching for Nessie.' We got back into Edinburgh at 8pm! A lot of us were definitely a little frustrated that we spent alllll day on a bus and barely got to see Scotland. What we did see was from a bus.

We got back at 8pm and I told my friends I needed to go to Hard Rock Café because I like to get a pin from every city I visit that has one. We just decided to eat there because a few girls were craving burgers. We didn't end up eating dinner until 10pm! How European of us.

After dinner, we went to a bar called Frankenstein, which was playing amazing music and I really wanted to dance, but we weren't dressed right (I was wearing jeans, big chunky sweater and a long black coat) and no one else was dancing. We left and headed to some club called Banshee something. The whole bar was underground and looked like the haunted tunnels we explored the previous night. It was a legit place, with multiple rooms/caves, but also a bit stuffy since there were no windows.

Ended up going to bed at 3am...yaaaaa.

Sunday morning they gave us the option of going on a small hike up an extinct volcano or exploring the city. I really wanted to hike because, how cool would it be to say I climbed an extinct volcano in Edinburgh, but A) I didn't bring the right clothes and B) if we didn't go, it was our only opportunity to see the city. I chose to walk around with some girls, buy souvenirs and have some tea at Hotel Missoni!

We then got on a train back to London at 2pm and got back at 645. It felt like the longest ride, it was super hot with no air and I just wanted to be in my bed.

So all in all, I loved seeing the city (as much as I could have anyways) and it was beautiful. If I had my way, I would have liked to do a walking tour of the city, but I guess I will just have to return another time ;)

And for all of you who are actually wondering if I am in school, I am leaving now to go finish a paper and prepare for a huge group presentation tomorrow. =)