Cheers!

Our longest trip yet turned out to be a complete success. I now have a new favorite country. SCOTLAND!

It took 5 hours on a train to get there, but since we left early Wednesday morning, we still had plenty of time to explore Edinburgh once we got there. We checked into our hostel and then all headed straight to the Edinburgh Castle. Considering the troubles with our last castle.. this one was infinitely better. We stayed there for almost 3 hours exploring and taking pictures. And the view over Edinburgh was amazing! I felt very royal just standing on the walls. 

Funny story. We headed back to the hostel before going to dinner, but then decided we would wait even longer to eat. So I went to my room and was supposed to meet everyone downstairs in the Lobby at 6:00. It was only 5:20, so I took a quick nap. Next thing I knew it was 6:45. CRICKEY! Ha I hadn't even taken my boots off, so I literally jumped out of bed and ran out the door. I had no hope that they were still waiting, but I knew where they planned to go for dinner so I ran there. They weren't there. I thought I was going to spend my first night in Scotland completely alone because everyone was already out doing stuff. (And yes, this is how our life is with no cell phones. You have no hope of finding anyone once they've already left.) But I ran into Professor Crowe and his wife and decided to have dinner with them! Just me and the Professors. Boom Baby! And lucky me just as we finished eating, the girls all walked by and saw me. Perf! Apparently they had come to my room and knocked really loud like 3 times.. but i was out cold. 

Thursday was my favorite. We were given the entire day to do whatever we wanted with a list of ideas. We started by going to parliament and watching a debate for a few minutes. It was really boring.. but I still loved hearing their sweet accents. So I enjoyed it. Next we went on a hike to Arthur's seat. What started out as 11 of us ended as 4. Everyone else either didn't want to hike or had bad shoes. I was INSISTENT that we go all the way to the top! It was the one thing I had really wanted to do. I'm proud to say... It was the best thing we did all trip! It was sooo worth it. The countryside is absolutely beautiful. Paige, Carly, Elise and I climbed all over the hills. My favorite was when we stopped at one of the peaks and sang our favorite hymns. 

The rest of the day we went to museums for children, monuments for burned witches, THE CAFE WHERE J.K. ROWLING STARTED HARRY POTTER, creepy cool graveyards, and the production of Annie! It was another day with LOTS of walking around. 

Let's see.. Friday we went to New Lanark to see an Old Cotton Mill Factory and then to Stirling where we slept. The factory was pretty cool, but my favorite part was actually hiking to the waterfalls next to it in our spare time... and then in Stirling we went to the Stirling Castle! Not as cool as Edinburgh, but Carly and I did see the Gents restroom! We had been sitting and talking about flatulations when we realized that a boy was listening to us and laughing. Of course we had to make a quick exit!! We left immediately and looked for the nearest escape. We didn't realize where we'd escaped to until we were staring at 5 urinals. 

And Friday night? We were super cool and went to a movie. Baha we felt so American! Actually.. it made me pretty homesick, but we won't talk about that. I love it here still. Anyway, we went to Gnomeo and Juliet. It's definitely a movie I wanted to see with my family. It's our type of stupid humor. So I loved it, of course. The funniest thing to me was that the dad kept getting his words mixed up. So his enemy called him ILLITERATE and he responded, "I am not! My mother and father were married!" There's a taste of it for ya. 

On Saturday morning we went to the Wallace Monument. He'd the dude that the Braveheart movie is about. Only I've never seen it.. so it wasn't AS cool as it was for those who had. All I know is... they were insanely stoked. But his sword was bigger than me!

I feel like that was such a shallow run down of everything that's happened the past week, but there ya have it! The Scottish people are DEFINITELY the nicest we've come across. They were all so happy and willing to answer questions. Also, they all say cheers at the end of everything! I may or may not start doing that as well.

P.S. If it seems like I'm wearing almost the exact same thing in every single picture... that's because I was.  

Edinburgh from the walls of the Edinburgh Castle. 

I missed my dog when I saw this. Probably because most of the time when I was home I wished she would die... 

Pirates of the Caribbean anyone? 

Elise, Paige and I in front of the Parliament building. 

The hike! Top 10 list of best things I've done on Study Abroad thus far. 

If you're wondering about my puffy marshmallow coat and the shining sun... yes I was very hot. But too lazy to take it off. 

Call me Arthur cause I'm on his seat. 

Another Kaylee moment caught on camera. I'm always just perfectly placed in my surroundings and people can't resist taking pictures. It's a curse. 

I am now a TRUE Harry Potter fan. If all the midnight movies didn't count. 

Yeah.. the waterfalls were kinda yellow.. but it was still pretty?

Stirling castle gate. 

On top of the Wallace Tower Monument

Bring me the head of a pig. And a goblet of something cool and refreshing. 

I couldn't even lift that thing, let alone kill with it.