11 Days Left

Well, well, well – I did it! I have pulled myself away from Netflix long enough to marathon blog my way to victory. I am a little afraid to look back due to awful grammar and punctuation issues that I am sure plague all of the entries, but it feels so nice to be completely caught up – this blog actually takes a LOT more effort and time (especially time) than I ever thought it would, and as getting as behind as I did it could have been so easy to quickly sum up my trips and move on, or just stop completely. But I didn’t! I know in the future I will be able to look back, read these, and be so happy that I took the time to do it. Also, I really would like to thank everyone who has taken the time to read any of my posts, even if this is your first time – while I am doing this for myself, it makes me really happy to know that my efforts are also outwardly appreciated!

With that being said, I have officially 11 days left in Edinburgh. I really can’t believe it. I DON’T WANT TO BELIEVE IT. While I still have an exam left on the 22^nd, I just plan on spending the last few days enjoying the city, being with my friends, tying up any lose ends, and spending lotssss of money. I don’t want to leave with any regrets. 

 

A lot of people have asked if I am sad to leave? Excited to go home? And I would definitely answer both. I know that while I will hopefully come back to Edinburgh in the future, it will never be the same as it is now, nor will I be with the same people. While that is really sad to think about, the only thing I can really say is, as cheesy as it is, would be, “that’s life.” When one chapter ends, another one starts. I know I will probably be sad and disoriented the first few days that I’m home, but I will be happy to be there too! It’s already getting a little weird now that I’m leaving SO soon, and as my mom can tell you too, I have never been a big fan of transitions.

Fear not, I still have one, or two MAJOR blog posts planned for the end of my time here. If it comes out like I am imagining it to, it should be the perfect end to the most amazing few months of my life.

Tracing – John Mayer

Ninjas in Paris

Now, to say I was tired on my way to Paris was an understatement, but I was determined to make my last trip count! Initially, I was a little sad that Paris was going to be my last trip – for a lot of reasons – but now, even days after recovering upon my arrival back to Scotland, I don’t think I have it in me to go anywhere else. I need a break! I absolutely LOVE traveling, and I am not scared to talk to different people to find my way – but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t exhausting. Even in Scotland, where everyone speaks English, it gets really hard to continue to be that foreign person after a while. My quick trip to Paris was super laid back, yet still so exciting (Hi Kelly!), so it was perfect.

Kelly and I got to Paris in the late afternoon, and were staying in the beautiful Montmartre (Moulin Rouge, Sacre-Coeur, Amelie) district. We knew that we didn’t have too much time there, so we dedicated our first afternoon/night to braving the lines of the Eiffel Tower. With delicious crepe in hand, just seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time is indescribable. I know I also said this about Big Ben in London, but now even more so. The Eiffel Tower is the single most recognizable structure in the world. THE WORLD. And to be standing there looking at it, under, and on its massive self is crazy. Now, because there is a lot of construction going on at the moment there are two lines open: the first, with virtually no line at all, for a walk up to the second floor only. The second line, hours long, is to go to the tippity-top. Kelly and I both agreed that when you go to the Eiffel Tower, YOU GO TO THE TOP. Well, after two hours of standing in line, THEY CLOSED THE TOP. Such bullshit. We were SO SO SO pissed. Ugh. It still miffs me a little. Granted I am happy to have been able to go at all, and we were on it while it was sparkling on the hour, which was really amazing. I guess I’m just going to have to go back to Paris now…oh, how horrible! (:

Pretty tired of tours, museums, city-wandering, and because the French hate Americans, Kelly and I dedicated our little excursion to Paris to something a little more American-vacation. We spent a full THIRTEEN hours at the absolutely amazing DISNEYLAND PARIS. Extremely easy to get to from the city, we were in immediate heaven. For anyone who has ever been to Disney, and it doesn’t matter how old you are, you know that there is just a weird feeling of stree-free magic the second you walk in. Disneyland Paris did NOT disappoint – it is where dreams come true (in Europe). Although I have never been to Disneyland California, I guess they bare a lot of resemblance. For instance, the castle in the middle belongs to Sleeping Beauty, Aurora – not Cinderella. Man, Walt Disney, what would the world be without you?! A lot of things were in both French and English, or the first half one language, and the second half the other. While there were people there from all over Europe it was so weird to think that this would be the only Disneyland they would ever see – Orlando just seems like such a staple of childhood.

DP was made up of two parks: the first is just called Disneyland, which is basically the Magic Kingdom. The second park is Walt Disney Studios, which is MGM. It seemed as though a lot of the best rides were plucked out of the other parks and put here. Being in France there were also a lot of obvious French highlights – ie: I don’t think in any other Disney park is Gaston from Beauty and the Beast featured as a main villain. The majority of the rides/attractions we went on were: The Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain, Indiana Jones Coaster, Pirates of the Caribbean, Adventure Isle, Sleeping Beauty’s Castle, It’s A Small World, Pinocchio, Snow White, Alice’s Curious Labrynth, Mad Hatter’s Tea Cups, Star Tours, Space Mountain II, Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast, Animagique, Crush’s Coaster (NEMO!), RC Racer in TOY STORY LAND, The Tower of Terror, and Aerosmith’s Rockin’ Roller Coaster.

I seriously made the most ridiculous faces on all of the photos from roller coasters. I wish I had taken more pictures of them.

The whole day could not have been better!!! Main Street USA was worth the ticket alone – I, of course, wanted to buy everything but restrained myself! At the end of the night our tired feet decided to stay for their 20^th birthday show, DISNEY DREAMS. WOW. It was not what I expected at all. I hope there is a video online or something because I don’t have the words to even explain what was happening. There were of course a lot of fireworks, water works, pyrotechnics, etc – but what really amazed me was the technology. The majority of the 30 minute-plus show consisted of some kind of enormous projection continuously transforming the castle by song and different Disney film (like I said, it was so much more amazing than what I just typed, but I really don’t even know what was happening!). Sigh. I love Disney. I want to go back….right now.

After our thirteen hour plus rendezvous to Disney, Kelly and I returned to rest up for our final day in Paris. It was pretty nice out, so with croissants and crepes in tow we went on a four hour walking tour around the city. Our SCOTTISH (hahahaha, of course – go figure!) tour guide Billy was so easy to listen to and follow. I may be biased because I love Scotland so much, but I still think he was great! In that four hours we heard and saw a ton of what every tourist should, while walking along the Seine: the Latin section, the Notre Dame, the Lourve, the Champs-Elysees, the Arc de Triomph, Ramesses II - Cleopatra Needle, just everything Napoleon related in general, all of the bridges, palaces, museums, etc – and of course views of the Eiffel Tower everywhere.

A perfect last trip, I loved Paris. I wish the French were a little nice, but hey, what can you do? I would love to go back and spend more time there (déjà vu, I say that a lot, don’t I?), but upon leaving, I was SO ready to go home to Edinburgh, celebrate my birthday, and hop in my bed!

This Year's Love - David Gray

Do You Realize - The Flaming Lips

Queen of California - John Mayer

Caldwell Clan (+Kayla)

Dun. Dun. Dun.

It was official the Caldwell Clan, plus Kayla, were now in Scotland. And that is exactly how our tour guide named us! The first day everyone was here we took a lovely tour to St. Andrew’s with The Hairy Coo company, named for the lovely Scottish Highland Cows. Donald, our fantastic driver and guide, took us to the Forth Bridge and up to St. Andrew’s and Loch Lomond where we saw the Old Course on the beaches, the University, and the Castle and Cathedral ruins. The weather was a little…meh…but I am just happy that I got to go, as I missed out when my friends went. We even got a small Highlands preview. Ah. I love the Highlands so much – I really wish we could’ve gone there too, so everyone could see how amazing Scotland really is.

The Old Course and St. Andrew's Castle

The Forth Bridge

Before Conor and Kayla left we made sure to complete our Nana-homework (and make them eat Haggis). Conor, my dad, and myself explored and took pictures of two important closes on the Royal Mile. I am almost positive that I have written about this wayyyy at the beginning of my trip but I’ll provide a little refresher. A “close”, pronounced CLOOS, is basically an alley, where for centuries, huge populations of Scots lived and worked in the cities. Anyway, my great great grandmother Mary Tague lived on both Old Assembly Close and North Gray’s Close. Pretty cool.

HAGGIS EATING

Conor and Kayla then left for home...sad face…but I still had another full week with my Mom and Dad. We ate TONS of delicious food: more Clarinda’s and Deacon Brodie’s cream tea, more MUMS, pies on pies on pies, Conan Doyle’s (near Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s birth place – the writer of Sherlock Holmes), and even a sparkly Harvey Nichols cupcake! In Edinburgh we went to the castle, Holyrood Palace and gardens, Greyfriar's Kirkyard AND haunted tour of the Mackensie Poltergeist, New Town and Princes Street Gardens, the People’s Museum, the Festival Center, the Heritage Center, etc. We took a nice day trip to Glasgow too! The weather was actually really nice so we were able to do a lot of exploring, which is great because if it had stayed as cold as it was with Conor and Kayla I would have probably broke in two.

Glagow Necropolis and St. Mungo's Cathedral

Super amazing Stone Henge bouncy house - FOR ADULTS, TOO!

We went on another outside tour, although unfortunately it was not with Donald and the Hairy Coo. Instead we had this awful man Steve who I don’t even want to write about  - he was such a headache. On this tour we went to Melrose Abbey,  Rosslyn Chapel (Holy Grail?!), and then south of the border to Alnwick Castle in North Umberland, England. Alnwick was really cool because it is the second largest live-in castle. In addition to its traditional decoration it had a lot of family photos and modern pieces (like flat screen TVs). It reminded me quite a lot of work at home and many of the Newport Mansions. The other pretty cool thing about Alnwick is that a lot of Hogwarts in the first and second Harry Potter movies were filmed there – which, without sign, was pretty easy to spot. If you ever find yourself there (surrrre) go to the Tree House restaurant – so cool.

Rosslyn Chapel

Melrose Abbey and Alnwick Castle

Hogwarts, anyone?!

At the risk of sounding like a total cheese ball, I am so happy that my family was able to visit me. It is unfortunate that I was in a weird mood for a lot of it – I think both the result of exhaustion and sadness about leaving Scotland so soon, but I really did have an amazing time while they were here. Annnd I think they did too. I mean, my parents even saw HUGH LAURIE on the Royal Mile! I still can’t believe I missed that one, Dr. House in Edinburgh!

Bill in his element: the haunted Greyfriar's!

My parents left Scotland on May 7^th – we were actually both at the airport that day, as I was going to PARIS.

Dusseldorf – Regina Spektor

Sigh No More – Mumford & Sons

Shadow Days – John Mayer

Touchdown: Booms

Wow. I can’t believe I managed to write all about spring break already – I really thought I would get stuck, go home, and all the effort I’ve put into my blog would result in an endless waste! I guess I am lucky then that all of my friends are studying for finals and I have been watching Netflix for days. To be fair, this is what I planned on doing for the few days after my birthday: Netflix & blogging. After going non-stop, almost literally, for the past month, without a break like this I would’ve died from exhaustion before even making it home. (Disclaimer: the weather has also been awful so it’s not like I’m wasting my last weeks here in my depressing room).

Moving on…

I got home from Prague exhausted, yet unable to rest. The first reason was because I had to revise and hand-in two of my final papers that I had written before my trip. Why this couldn’t wait? The second reason --- Conor and Kayla were getting here the next night! I actually almost totally gaffed up picking them up from the train station (they were coming from their first few days in London)…oops! For whatever reason, in my head, I thought they were getting in around 7, luckily, I checked the confirmation that Conor had emailed me and found that it was actually 17:00 (5PM). As a result, I ran to the station, where it dawned on me again that I had no idea what track they were coming in on, nor did we make a meeting place at all. Double fail. In the end I ran around for 15 minutes and eventually found them. Go team.

Unfortunately it was SO cold while they were here. Conor and I had another miscommunication (haha) which basically lead to Kayla having to wear three sweatshirts the whole time. I still feel bad! It hadn’t been that cold in a while… if only they had stayed a few more days, it was so nice out after they left. Bummer. Because they got here at night there wasn’t much to do but eat. Two very important things happened – I made picky-baby Conor realize his like for Indian Food! Mmmmmm, Mother India Cafe! And afterwards, they experienced the perfection of Deep Fried Mars Bars (well, they had Snickers and Twix, but still…).

The next few days consisted of: a LOT of cream tea at the ever-amazing Clarinda’s Tea Room, the other food perfection that is MUMS COMFORT FOOD, Irn Bru, exploration of the Royal Mile and Edinburgh Castle, climbing to the top of the Scott Monument and almost blowing straight off the top, Princes street tea pot hunt, and Potter tours.

Kayla casting a spell on Conor (haha), and an extremely unhappy Conor on top of the Scott Monument

My favorite part, although, had to be climbing to the top of Arthur’s Seat. Although we almost lost Kayla on the way up (and all of us on the way down), the weather was BEAUTIFUL. It was the perfect morning to go. The cold didn’t even really matter, because it is honestly always freezing up there. One thing that I really love about Arthur’s Seat, other than the views, is that there is always a new way to venture up. So, we took our time, took lots of pictures, and mayyyybeeee almost died on the way down…but, we’re alive now so it’s fine, right?!

Precious

Finally, the third night they were here, mom and dad arrived!

Queen of California – John Mayer

The Age of Worry – John Mayer

Shadow Days – John Mayer

CZECH IT OUT: Prague

I fell in absolute love with Prague! Even more so than Budapest, which is surprising because I went into it with high expectations - it is crazy that they were actually met. Upon leaving I was SO exhausted from the two weeks (and even before that) prior, but I REALLY did not want to leave. Although it was a lot like many of the other European cities I've visited, there was something else about it that I cannot put my finger on. I wish I had the words to describe how amazing it really was. While we were there for at least three nights, there was one (amazing) thing that we did that really took up the whole day outside of the city - but I will get into that later.

We somehow really lucked out on the weather again, because it was completely gorgeous the whole time we were there. Kelly and I decided to try out a bike tour so we could enjoy the weather as well as everything the city had to offer! And I would also like to add that I wore a voluntary bike helmet - in preparation of my mom's repercussions of what I was going to do the next day... The tour was about 3 hours and we saw SO MUCH. The streets alone are amazing in Prague. Everything is beautiful...it's like Paris but not as big, and not as stuck-up. On our tour we saw the new and old town squares, the infamous clock tower and trumpeter, theaters, parks, the Petrin Tower (mini Eiffel), the GORGEOUS Charles Bridge, and the John Lennon wall. Sigh. Everything was so nice. I wish I were there right now!

After a much needed siesta Kelly and I went on a microbrewery tour. Apparently the Czech Republic is  the biggest beer drinking country in the world. And while over the past few months I've heard a LOT about brewing beer, in various countries, it was nice to visit 3 of the city's 17 microbreweries. Kelly and I met some hilarious people and even got nice little "Czech Beer Expert" certificates. We went home and went to bed after, in preparation for the next day's festivities!!!!

The next morning, after meeting in the city, Kelly, Emily, Meredith, and I (along with three others) took an hour ride into the country to go SKY DIVING. I had come to Europe really wanting to do it - a few months ago I looked it up in the UK and found it to be almost the double the price here, which initially  really crushed my dreams! But, upon arriving in Prague, and seeing the brochure in the hostel Kelly and I knew it was fate. And with lovely Eastern European prices, it was only about 200 US Dollars (for the jump and the DVD!). I actually wasn't scared AT ALL. Normally, I either get nervous right away and find myself fine before doing something OR I am fine initially and SUPER nervous before I do something. NEITHER HAPPENED. I think I was still so shook up from the caving that sky diving was a piece of cake. I REALLY want to do it again already, it goes by so unbelievably fast that you really don't have time to think about it.

I wanted to be the first to go, in fear that I would get nervous, and somehow, I actually was. Unfortunately, due to taping needs, I was separated from the rest of my friends and went up in the first plane. It was really cool to see them all in their orange jump suits waving at me on my way down. though! While there was really only 1.5 people that spoke English, I felt completely safe the whole time I was there. The instructions (mostly including "banana") were clear, and they kept everyone at ease in 15min plane ride up in the air. Then, all of the sudden, the door was open and I was sitting on the edge strapped to this guy, thousands of feet in the air hanging out of a plane! Then, we were free falling - 4000 meters to be exact, at 130 miles an hour - and then the parachute shot up and we were flipping and floating back to the ground. SO HAPPY I DID IT. SO HAPPY. I am also really happy I paid the extra for the DVD video and photos - they are probably the absolute UGLIEST pictures of me that have ever existed. But man are they funny! Maybe if you are lucky, I will show you them (some are on Facebook, but I am really talking about the video).

Paradise - Coldplay