just got back from a weekend in SCOTLAND! :) so i wasn't sure how great scotland was going to be because it's this small, remote country that's not that exotic. but guess what...i loved it! i went to edinburgh (and don't say it edin-burg like a burger. its said edin-burah) ... or something like that. i got corrected a lot. but anyways. i went friday with the school trip. i kinda stayed out late with amanda witt the night before (thursday) so i was super knackered but i got to sleep a little bit on the train. sleeping on the train was a bit of a challenge, but i was tired enough that i could do it. we got there and kinda got lost cuz our leaders werent sure exactly where the hostel was. it was raining/slushing and i was freezing, but eventually we got there. because i went with the school the hostel we stayed in was super nice. kinda fake first hostel experience, but oh well :) haha i liked it. i roomed with victoria, jessica, and jen. the beds were amazing! so much more comfortable than our beds back home in atlantic. ugh, i wanted to steal one of the beds. so first thing we did was find a pub cuz we were hungray!! we walked up the street and went to the 1st one we saw that looked scottish, haha. it was great! right when we walked in i felt like i was truly in scotland. the carpet was plaid, the pub had like an old victorian home feel. and the food was super good. the scottish def know how to make cheesy garlic bread. then we were gonna go to a place we had seen that said student pub, but turns out...to the scottish student means old people...like over the age of 60, haha. so we ended up going to the place next door to where we ate. that place was really cute too. a little smaller, but the rugby game was on so we stayed and watched that. it was a good time.

saturday we woke up and went to the castle. oh, i loved the castle. it was amazing and gorgeous and i took a thousand pictures :) haha. then we did a little bit of shopping, which of course i enjoyed. :) then we went on a walking tour with one of leaders from our group. since scotland is known for its whiskie (ever heard of scotch?) me, victoria, jessica, and jen decided to do the whiskie tour. it was really cool. it was only £8 for students and we got a souvenir whiskie glass. they took us on this ride type thing that gave us the whole history of how you make whiskie and all the different types. whiskie itself is disgusting (there was a whiskie tasting as part of the tour) but it was cool to learn about it, haha

we had dinner at a different pub and it the food was just as good. seriously, scottish pubs are so cute and the food is awesome. love it! so the other girls wanted to go on a ghost tour, but i heard they were rubbish. instead i went on a pub crawl with a couple other girls, emily & kristin. it was really fun! we went to 4 different pubs and ended at a club. we met a bunch of irish people at one of the pubs. it was super random cuz one of the guys said he wasnt drinking cuz he was a christian. he started naming all these christian singers (i dont really know who they are) but emily knew them, so they hit it off. turns out the entire group of irish students (about 30 or more of them) were all social sciences majors! haha, it was great. i ended up hanging out with them the rest of the night cuz emily and kristin headed back to the hostel. it was loads of fun. :) loved it! and of all the irish ppl i met, not one single one of them had red hair and freckles. they all actually had really dark hair and their skin was def not fair. so there goes all irish stereotypes. next time i see a redhead with freckles i'll assume their scottish, haha.

sunday was our last day in edinburgh (i was really sad). we went on a tour of mary king's close. apparently edinburgh was built on top of itself, so there's old streets and houses that are still intact underground. it was super interesting. a little pricey, but a cool experience. never knew the little city had so much history. lunch at a cute scottish cafe and then packed and ready to take the train back to london. oh, almost forgot. we went to this place called chocolate soup for dessert and it was sooo good. seriously, i was like in a sugar coma from all the chocolate and carmel i had. probably not the smartest/healthiest choice, but hey. i was on holiday and ur only in scotland once right. :) well it was delicious and i loved it, so no regrets. the trian ride back was long and miserable cuz they overbooked and it was way too crowded, the outlets didnt work, and it was freezing. but eventually we made it home :) good 'ol london. no matter how much i love the places i visit it's always wonderful coming home to london. :) so glad i chose to study here and not somewhere else.

i watched canada vs the usa!!! i have few words for the game except for wow. such good hockey. i obviously had to cheer for usa cuz its my country, but there are a lot of players on the canada team that i love and have watched for years. like brodeur. such an amazing goalie. he didnt play though because he really botched the 1st game against the US. haha...he's such a cocky pighead he'll probably try and spin this as discrimination or something. great goalie, crappy person. crosby of all people scored the winning goal. not only does he get the stanley cup last year, but now he gets the gold. such a good player. i love watching crosby in the NHL, but the olympics are at such a different level. the play is swifter and its about the game, not the money. i liked seeing the players in a different setting. hockey is such a beautiful sport.

i had to finish my journal after that. got a page into it and fell asleep, haha. woke up early today to finish. oh, and i skyped with bailey and brittany!!!! ah!!!! how i love them!!!!! don't get me wrong, i love to skype /w each one of them individually (lil bit of one on one time) but to skype /w both of them was almost as if i was living with them again!!! agh! it was so good :) def the best end to the best weekend: scotland, hockey, and my roommates :) ... and i talked to my parents a lil too...only thing that would've made it perfect would've been talking to laura and matt :) hehe...but i'm talking to laura tonight, so im not complaining :)

ok...i should probably do work now. im at oxford house, haha (i love how i always blog here) ... reception this morning. baz is training in new students, so i feel like the expert...even though im not at all.

going to go make an itinerary for when mom comes! :) :) hehe...and go through my finances...that gets no smiley faces. i hate looking at my finances. ugh.

ok...over and out