Scotland

Last Thursday night was the mandatory meet-a-family reception. Everyone dressed up and we had a very nice meal. When the family’s arrived, they would meet up with their studies and then get their food and eat in the Long Gallery. My family wasn’t there that night, so they sat me with another family whose students weren’t able to make it, because they had left for an independent travel.

Friday, I got up early for a six hour bus ride to Edinburgh, Scotland. We did make one stop to eat our sacked lunches provided by the school, but those consist of butter and cheese sandwiches so we opted for fast food. When we arrived in Edinburgh, we went on a whisky tour. The first part of it is a ride in a plastic barrel were you learned about the making process, and then it was off to a room to learn about different whiskies from different regions of the country. We were able to choose which kind of whisky from various regions we wanted to try. I don’t remember the name of the kind I had, but it was really nasty and I ended up pouring the rest out! Oh, we also received a free whisky glass. After the tour, we stopped to eat at a Mexican food place, which was amazing! Then it was back to the hotel to figure out what we would do that night. A lot of people wanted to go on a ghost tour, and I really wanted to do it, too…but I just felt like I couldn’t put myself in that position to be attacked, or to have anything follow me back. So I stayed behind with a few other girls, and watched TV.

The next morning, we got up early to climb Arthur’s seat which is a really steep hill/mountain. Then, it was off to Edinburgh Castle, which was overpriced. Anyways, Edinburgh Castle is where Queen Mary of Scots lived until the reformation. As the story goes… Mary was forced to leave the country after her one year old son was kidnapped, so he could be raised as protestant instead of Roman Catholic. She fled to England to live with her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I. Mary plotted to kill Queen Elizabeth, so that she could be Queen of England. Elizabeth found out about Mary’s plans had her exiled to a tower in Scotland and then Mary was beheaded.

After a couple hours at the castle we went shopping near our hotel. For dinner we went to Pizza Hut. Yes, they have Pizza Hut in Scotland! After dinner we were going to go on a literary pub tour, but the man selling tickets wouldn’t let one of the girls in because her only form of ID was a student ID. Plan B - we would go to a comedy club, but it was a little pricey. So we went back to the hotel, and ordered a bottle of wine.

The next morning it was back to Harlaxton. On our return trip, we stopped at the border to get a group photo. After that, we went to Hadrian’s Wall, built by the Romans. Our next stop, Durham. By this point in the trip, none of us were too excited about going. We just wanted to get back to the manor. I walked around and got something to eat.

Monday felt like it went really slow. Tuesday a fire alarm went off in the Carriage House, because someone left their curling iron on. Then it was off to volleyball practice, and toward the end of that, the fire alarm went off again.

Today I met with my family and we went to the Belton House. It was really pretty, and parts of the BBC version of Pride & Prejudice were shot there. This weekend I don’t have much of anything planned. The next weekend though is our long weekend to Ireland!!!