The Adventures of Studying Abroad: The Highlands

April 21^st – April 24^th Jacob and I took a house trip to the Highlands of Scotland which is the northern part of Scotland. This region of Scotland is very mountainous and has a very gorgeous landscape. We left early in the morning and of course we had issues. We didn’t have enough seats on the bus for everyone who was going and there was no bathroom on the bus like there was supposed to be. The extra people who couldn’t fit on the bus rode along in our Supervisor’s car for the trip. We stopped to look at the Firth of Forth Bridge which we also saw on our Hairy Coo tour, and took many pictures. We stopped at Scone Palace next which is where every King of Scotland has been crowned. On the grounds of the Scone Palace they had tons of peacocks. This was cool because at the Palace we have a peacock named Charlie and he gets fed by us. There were probably four regular peacocks and one white peacock which I have never seen before. I thought the white peacock was stunning and not to mention the fact that every peacock had its fan out while we were there. Jacob and I even fed the peacocks grass out of our hands which was entertaining. They had a hedge maze as well which was fun and would have been much more beautiful if the hedges were green and not a crusty brown from the cold weather. I actually think that Jacob and I cheated our way through this maze by taking a path that looked like a made path but at the same time looked a little sketchy and not necessarily part of the maze. Oh well, we finished it and that’s all that mattered.

As for food let’s just say that I am sick of sandwiches and do not plan on eating one until at least two months after I return to the U.S. Ham sandwiches, turkey sandwiches, chicken tikka sandwiches, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches…I’m over sandwiches. Trying to eat cheap isn’t as easy as it seems when we have nowhere to keep food cold. We probably ate 10 sandwiches between the two of us over our 4 day trip. Yuck.

Our next stop was Culloden Battlefield where the Jacobites and the Government forces fought for… (Actually I’m not sure what they were fighting for. I obviously didn’t get that out of the tour.) It was nice to see but looking at a field is something I can do for free in Wisconsin. Stick some red and blue flags in the ground and call it a battlefield. Maybe I’m being a little harsh, of course I enjoyed it but some things are just not as interesting to me as it is to others.

Next we went to Cairngorms Fernicular which is a train that scales up the side of a mountain and drops people off at the top. There was still snow at the top of the mountain and people were snowboarding in t-shirts down the mountain. We were 2,083 feet above sea level half way up the mountain. Jacob also decided that the water coming off of the mountain must be fresh so he decided to drink a handful of it. I told him that if he got sick or any diseases from that water that I was not going to help him out. I begged him not to drink it but he still did. Luckily he’s been fine since drinking it and following in his footsteps my roommate Nikki and friend Rachel also drank the water.

We went to the beach as well which was meant to be a trip for “Dolphin Watching”. I was all excited to dolphin watch, until we got there and didn’t see any dolphins. I originally thought this was going to be a big tourist attraction where they lied and claimed to see dolphins just to rake in the money from those “stupid Americans” who will sit for hours just to see one dolphin. There actually weren’t any attractions around, not even a bathroom which I really could’ve used at the time. We didn’t see any dolphins that day but oh well.

We went to Fort William which is still an active Army base but other than that there wasn’t much to see. We actually did see dolphins when we were at the top of Fort William so that was sort of cool and ironic at the same time because we could see the place where we “Dolphin Watched” the day before. Maybe the other place wasn’t lying about their dolphins then!

We then went to Urquhart Castle (On Loch Ness) which attracts 300,000 visitors per year. The Castle was beautiful but it was more of the ruins of the Castle. I love seeing all of the attractions but I am kind of bored with all of the Castles and history. All the Castles are starting to blend together and the same with the history of the Castles. After the Castle some of the house got into their swimsuits and jumped into Loch Ness. (Notorious for the story of the Loch Ness Monster aka Nessie.) I decided to keep my sanity and stay warm by taking pictures of the people jumping into Loch Ness. Jacob also declined the offer and stood on the side and videotaped the event. Everyone who jumped in was freezing and at least 2 people came out bleeding. I think I made the right decision.

We then saw Ben Nevis which is the highest point in Scotland. It was gorgeous and still had snow at the top. Usually the top of the mountain wasn’t visible because of the clouds and people who climb Ben Nevis usually can’t find their way back down because of the clouds. That night we played Pictionary at the hostel our friends John, Amber and Brian.

We also saw the bridge where the Harry Potter train passes over in the 1^st and 2^nd movies. It was cool but since I’ve never been a huge Harry Potter fan it was just another bridge to me. Overall the trip was great, just not as interesting as I would’ve hoped. We spent a lot of time on the bus getting from place to place which felt kind of like a waste of time.

Aside from the trip there was an incident that happened about 2 weeks ago at the house. People were having a bonfire outside the house when the cops showed up and asked them if they had seen a 19 year old girl walking around? They said no and the cops said she had been missing for about 24 hours and she was last seen in the park where we live. The next morning they pulled her body out of the river literally right behind the Palace. She either fell or jumped off the bridge (which Jacob can see from his room) after taking a large amount of drugs. Jacob can see the flowers placed where she was found from his window. It’s crazy to think that our backyard is a crime scene. What a sad story and prayers to the family of the girl.

Tomorrow Jacob and I are leaving for a 4 day trip to Ireland and Northern Ireland. It should be a great time and hopefully it goes on without a hitch since Jacob did all the planning. It took a lot for me not to step in and print out all my sheets and maps for this trip but I let him completely take the lead since him and my family surprised me with this trip for my early birthday present. After Ireland we have a couple days and then we return to the U.S. on May 6^th!