So here is
the first big
update since school
ended and Erin
arrived in
Europe.
It has been crazy
busy,
and we have fit in a lot of
partying and sightseeing,
which is
always a
healthy combination.
The semester
ended well.
No tears were shed or anything like that,
but I had D
and Leah with me
for a
couple more
days.
When Erin
and I
left for the Highlands trip
it was
the first major
separation since we met,
so that was different.
Leah left on
the 9
th,
and we
saw D
again after the trip
for a
little bit.
She flew out
the 13
th.
Leah called me
when I was in
London,
which was
nice because I
am so used to seeing her
that it is
weird not talking everyday.
Now that I
am done sounding like a
creeper, we
will get on
with it.
Leah, D
and I
spent the last
couple days hanging out
around Dalkeith. On
Wednesday the 3
rd, we
went out
to dinner with one of
our friends from town,
Lisa.
It was
nice,
and then we
did a
farewell pub crawl
across Dalkeith High
Street.
It was a lot of
fun.
Erin
arrived safely on
the 4
th,
although her
plane was a
few hours late. I met her on
Waverly bridge,
and we made
it back
for the going away "toga" party.
This was
totally lame.
No one was
hardly in
togas,
and it was
just really not very fun.
They did give out "
awards."
Leah got "Most
Spunky," D
got "Most Gangster"
and I
got .... (big surprise) "
Biggest Partier."
Not that I party all
that much...
We
went to Mayson's for a
farewell pint,
and then hit
the hay pretty early. We
left right around noon on
the 5
th,
and were (all 4 of
us)
crammed into a
tiny taxi. We
stayed at
St.
Christopher's hostel
for the first four nights. We
did end
up going out,
with John and Peter,
one of
the guys from the program.
It was kind of
an off night for me,
but it was
still fun.
Bright and early Saturday (6
th) Erin
and I
went on
the Edinburgh free walking tour. I
did this in
London,
and it was
great.
Our tour
guide did a
great job,
and I
saw a lot of
Edinburgh that I
hadn't before.
After that we
did a bit of
shopping,
then we
went back
to the hostel
to meet
Leah and D
and got ready
to go out.
Saturday was
an epic night out. We met
up with a stag party
that we had met
the night before,
and had a
great time.
Leah, D
and I have been
attracting stag
parties the last
couple times out,
and they are
always good fun to hang
around with. We
closed down
Espionage,
the dance club, at
three am,
then grabbed some kebabs from Yum Yum, a
chippy by our hostel.
They were fine,
but no Kebab
Mahal.
Leah, Erin
and I
shopped on
Sunday. D was
feeling a bit
under the weather,
so she was out of
commission for our last
few outings. We
went to Ocean Terminal,
which is
where the Royal Yacht Britannia is
docked and it has a
huge mall attatched,
so that was
fun. I
bought a
second suitcase that I
will need going home. I
got it for a
really good deal.
Sunday night, we
went to Winter Wonderland.
It is
right off Princes Street in
Edinburgh,
and they basically have a
little carnival and christmas markets set
up.
John met
us there,
and the 5 of
us took a spin on
the ferris wheel.
Monday the 8
th was
when Erin
and I
left for the highlands.
It was a
really fun trip,
and we met
some good people. We
sat next to Mattius, a
german guy on
the bus.
He was
pretty nice and kinda funny. We
also met
some Aussie
girls that were fun but crazy. Overall
it was a
really good trip.
Our tour
guide,
Matt, was
really good.
We
got back
from the trip on
Wednesday. We had a
low key night of
going to bed
early. On
Thursday, we
got up and went to Glasgow.
There is
not much to do
there but shop,
so we
did that for a
while. We
also had lunch at
Wagamama, a
really good noodle restaurant.
That night, we
came back
and saw D
for the last time,
then went to the cinema
to see Zach and Miri Make a Porno.
It was
funny.
It is
by the same guys who do Superbad
and Knocked Up,
so it was a
way good time.
After the movie we
just crashed.
Friday we kind of
went our separate
ways for a bit. Erin
toured Edinburgh Castle and Holyrood Palace
while I
spent the day with John. We met back at
the hostel
around 6 (I was late)
and started to get ready
for the evening. We had a
really fun night,
and actually ran into a
bunch of
people from the Highlands tour. We
also met
some nice Irish blokes,
and one other guy called "
Herb the Serb."
One of
the guys lives in
Dublin,
so we are
hopefully going to meet
up again and party on
their turf.
On
Saturday the 13
th,
Erin's B-Day, we
hopped on a train
to London.
The ride was
nice and had
free Wi-Fi,
so that was
good.
It was
about 5
hours.
When we
arrived in
London, we
basically dropped our stuff, had
some cold pasta
and hopped on
the pub crawl.
It was
really fun,
and we met
some people from Madison who know one of
my friends from high school,
so that was
ironic.
It was a decent pub crawl,
until the end of
the night when we
got to a
really packed club
and just wanted to escape. I had
checked my coat,
and when I
got it back
the belt was missing.
Luckily we made
friends with the head bouncer outside,
who saw its safe return. We
also did a lot of
roaming around trying to get home.
Luckily, we
eventually succeeded.
Sunday, we
slept in kind of late,
then woke up and went to museums.
First was
the British Museum. I was
there last time,
but did not get to explore as
much as I
wanted to.
This time we
saw most of
it and it was
still sweet.
From there we
went to the National Gallery. I
went there last time
too,
but this time we
did an audio tour,
so that was
really good.
It was
really interesting to have
the paintings explained,
and I
think we hit
up all
the Ninja Turtle greats.
That night we
went to the hostel pub
and met a
nice crowd of
Americans,
and hung out
with them for awhile.
Monday was a big
day.
First we
did the free tour in
the morning,
which was
not nearly as
good as last time I
did it.
That showed us all
the major sites,
and after that we
got lunch at
Wagamama in
London.
Still good.
From here we
decided we
should see a musical,
so we
quickly shopped then got back
and got ready. We
saw Wicked,
which was
really good and we had
pretty dec seats for it. Overall
great show,
I'm really glad we
did that.
After the show, Erin had
some homework to do,
so I wondered
to the hostel bar. We met
some of
the same people as
before,
so I had a
few farewell pints of
John Smiths,
an English beer. Erin
joined us before long,
and pretty soon we
were having a
great time,
but then looked at
the clock and realised we had
to leave for Amsterdam in
like an hour. We
waited until bar close,
called a
cab (
which was a
terrible experience)
and went to the airport, without
sleeping.
We
arrived in Amsterdam 9:00
local time,
and pretty much found our hostel
and went to bed. We
woke up around 5
and walked around a bit.
After enjoying some of
the sights and scenery, we
went back
to bed. Overall,
it was a
pretty low key day.
This morning, we
woke up early and had a
really eventful day. We
went to the Anne Frank house
first,
which really was
amazing.
The layout and how they tell her
story is
really moving.
It literally is
the "
Secret Annex" house
where they were in
hiding. I
am really happy we made
it there.
From there, we
went to the Van
Gogh museum.
It was
epic (I
speak for myself here
because I
am the Van
Gogh nut
between the two of
us. Erin
enjoyed it,
but in a
slightly less OCD way). We
did audio
tours,
and they really do
give good insight of
the different
periods of
his ten
year career,
but stealthily slide over all
the absinth use and hookers.
It was
really great,
though.
After that, we
went to a market,
which was
not nearly as
good as
some in
Barcelona and other places I have been.
It was fine,
but neither of
us bought anything.
After that, we
came back
to the hostel
and started blogging.
Whoo hoo!
Now for the pictures...
Leah D
and I
with locals we met at
ShipWreck, a
Dalkeith pub.
Another local. As Erin puts
it, "
He literally looks like a
troll."
Here is a
nice picture
showcasing my new haircut (
very posh)
and the "
flag" I made
commemerating our stay in
Dalkeith House. I
asked for pieces of
cloth that people then signed and I
sewed together.
It will be hung in
the dining hall. I was
pretty proud of
it, I
worked on
it for like three days during finals (
after studying of
course!).
I'm already to make
some stuff on a
legit machine, Mom!
PS, I
checked all
my grades,
and I
should have a 4.0 semester!
So all of
you who think that I
should have
eased up on
the bottle and focused more on
my studies,
take that!
D, me
and Erin on
the ferris wheel at Winter Wonderland in
Edinburgh. Super
cold.
Erin in front of
The Elephant House
Cafe where J.K.
Rowling wrote Harry Potter.
Pretty neat.
Erin,
Leah and I
with the stag party.
From left:
Ian 2, Erin, me,
Ian 1,
Leah and Chris.
They were really fun guys,
and made
for a
great night out!
Here is
the stag.
His name is
Danny (we
think).
Erin
and Leah on
the way home. We
call this her "
creeper face."
Me dancing
with a
sweet street band
Me
and Greyfriar's Bobby.
That story makes me
so sad.
Erin at
An Lethallt.
This was
one of
the most
beautiful places we
visited in
the Highlands.
It is on
the Isle of
Skye.
Hamish,
the hairy coo.
He is
the one used for most
postcards and stuff.
Us with our Aussie
friends,
Kiera and Jenny.
Sooo... We
got pretty wasted our first night in
the hostel.
Kiera whipped out
this bottle of
Absinth,
which is
apparently illegal. We
now know why that is.
There were no hallucinations, I
don't think we had
enough for that,
but there was
enough cider, whisky
and vodka consumed at
the same time
for us to feel at
least some ill effects the next day.
But yes.
This is me
with the bottle of
illegal absinth we drank in
the Highlands.
Here is Erin
and I at
An Lethallt.
More
An Lethallt.
This one is
cool because if you look
closely,
you can see mainland Scotland in
the background.
Erin
and I
beside the "make me
pretty"
river. Celtic legend
says that if you dip
your face in
the water here,
it will make
you beautiful. We
didn
This is me
using my "
America" tissues. I
found them in a gift shop
and thought they were hilarious. I
also bought tissues
with a
frog wearing a
santa hat on
them.
Our sweet Wellies. I gave Erin her pair
to her as a
birthday present.
Erin
and I in front of
Loch Lomond.
It was
like a
mirror,
it was
so pretty.
Erin in a
stone pile used for ancient Pictish burial ceremonies. It is like stonehenge, but different.
Here I am standing in a small stream that was flowing into Loch Lomond. Good thing I had the Wellies!
Here are my glorious tissues in the pack. Miss you, America. Love you.
Loch Lomond again!
This is from Friday night once we got back to Edinburgh. They have these delicious drinks called Red Square, and they are soo good! Here Erin is trying the combination of Blue (Blue Raspberry) and Green (green apple). Yum-O!
Here I am enjoying the slightly more delicious combo of Blue and Red (cherry... Just like a jolly rancher!)
Here is a bit from the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace in London. It was basically a parade. Not all that interesting.
Here Erin and I mess with a guard in front of Clarence House, where Prince Charles lives.
Erin and I inside the theater to see Wicked.
Erin in front of a hilarious sight. Apparently, 1024 people injured themselves on the escalators last year. How are people this dumb? Note the "walk, don't run" notice.
Erin and I in our hostel in London. It was another St. Christophers.
Trafalger Square, the center of London, at night.
Erin with Hercules (or Herc) at the British Museum.
This is so cool. The UK released new money, and when they are put together they make a sweet shield. Sweet! I'm trying to get all of the new coins. I have like 2.
Erin and I in front of the Apollo Victoria theater. Epic!
Us on the pub crawl/Erin's birthday.
Friendly guys outside Hamley's. Of couse I was going to go there again! I do have to say, it was better the first time, but still really neat.
Here is Amsterdam. They have canals like this all over.
Here is Erin in front of the Van Gogh museum. This is a blowup of Almond Blossom.
More canals with boats.
Here I am, again in front of Van Gogh Museum, with Self Portrait. Again, this was so sweet!!
So that is the Eurotrip so far. I hope everyone is doing well. I will be home on the 24th, so I will see most of you Christmas day. I plan on doing my final blog entry on the way home, unless I have time before then. I wish I could say I am glad to be coming home, but I really hate to leave. I am already planning my return trip after graduation! So thanks to everyone for reading, and I will see you soon!
