Great Scot, This is a Long Post!

Prepare yourselves, friends. I've been gone a while, and done plenty, so this post will be jam packed with adventure. (You should be excited though, I had a lot of fun).

Although I probably should've slept, since I had to leave at three thirty in the morning, I did go dancing with the girls. We all wanted to hang out before I left, so I napped during the day so that we could have some fun and I wouldn't be a cranky little mess later.

Crew

I met up with the other girls at three thirty, and by four we were on the hopper on the way to the airport. I was a little too happy to go outside to board the plane, but I felt very regal climbing the stairs. Flying Ryanair, there are no priority seats, so sitting in the sixth row was pretty great (closest I'll ever get to first class, that's for sure!)

We were able to take off early, and what was supposed to be a forty five minute flight to Glasgow, became a twenty five minute trip. After another hour on a bus, we arrived in Edinburgh, and we were immediately blown away by its beauty. 

Our first sight in Edinburgh

The view before landing

We found our hostel, Boutique Backpackers, and checked in, then headed out to explore the city. We were lucky to have a sunny day, since it was supposed to rain the entire time we were there. 

Edinburgh is pretty cool

Our first stop was at Saint Cuthbert's Burial Ground. It was a beautiful cemetery, with detailed stones and a nice clock tower.

View of the clocktower

Next, we hiked up to Edinburgh Castle. We wanted to walk the Royal Mile and figured we'd rather walk it from there since it was closest. It was a short distance, but all uphill, including a few flights of stairs at the end. But, it was well worth it for the view at the top. We didn't pay to go all the way inside, but we enjoyed its outskirts.

Telephone booth inside the castle walls

The view from the top

Outside the castle

After a while of admiration, the girls and I continued along the mile, stopping at St. Giles Cathedral. It may not have had the nicest chairs, or floor set up, but, man, did it have the most ornate stained glass windows I've ever seen. The one of Jesus calming the storm was my absolute favorite, and I took my time just staring in awe at it. 

Outside St Giles

Like the detail, Dad?

One of the many windows

Calming the sea

This is for Uncle Lee!

Incredible

Emily, who was a HUGE Harry Potter fan, wanted to go to The Elephant House, a cafe where JK Rowling had began writing Harry Potter. So, we broke from The Mile for lunch. I had a tuna melt there (by the way, I did a great job throughout the day not eating meat since it was Friday. High five me, Mom). The walls were lined with elephants and pictures of Rowling, and everything was very different. We sat at a nice table, with a great view of Edinburgh Castle, a place where JK might have sat once or twice herself. For those of you that don't know, the bathrooms in the cafe are dedicated to fans who want to write notes to JK. Letters of appreciation and quotes graffiti everything from the light to the toilet seat. It was amazing to read what people had poured their hearts in to on a bathroom wall, just in the hopes that their hero would see it. 

Outside the cafe

The girl's bathroom

The inside of the toilet seat said, "WATCH OUT FOR MOANING MYRTLE"

The view that inspired JK Rowling 

Great place

After getting full on some great food, we continued on with The Royal Mile. There were many nice shops and old buildings to admire, until we finally reached the end where Holyrood Palace was located. We weren't allowed to take pictures once we were inside, but I was cracking up laughing, because it reminded me of Mom. That sounds weird, I know, but let me explain. In one of the first rooms there was a fire place with blue tiles, and each blue tile had a scene with people in it, just like in Mom's favorite version of A Christmas Carol with Patrick Stewart. Then, in the king's bedroom chambers, his bed looked EXACTLY like Scrooge's! I wish I could show you, but it was incredibly funny for me.

The front 

The Quadrangle 

Holyrood Abbey

God save the queen

On the way home, we looked inside many of the shops, and admired all the architecture. I never got used to looking into expensive jewelry stores or nice shops and seeing the men looking all dressed up and then wearing a kilt. It just made me laugh.

Those fuzzy purses though

For dinner, we went to a place suggested by one of Kayla's friends, called Mums. It only served comfort food, and it was fantastic. I had a very nice cajun salmon, and lots of talk and laughing with the girls. When we went home, we checked out our view, (which was great for the price we paid), and hit the hay.

So yummy

Our view at night

We woke up bright and early to head out to Saint Andrews. On our way, we admired The Scott Memorial that was right by the train station. We wanted to go up into it for the view, but didn't have enough time. 

A train and a bus ride later, we were walking the streets of Saint Andrews, the home of golf. Emily was also a huge golfer, which was why we were taking the trip. To get to the famous Old Course, we had to take a road called Butts Wynd, which I thought Aidan would appreciate. The courses were so green, and there were plenty of kind, elderly men playing and chatting away on the green. Although we probably weren't allowed to, Emily and I ran out on to the course (when no one was playing, don't worry) to get her picture on the bridge where the winners of The Open are photographed. It was definitely a rush!

The middle school boy in me came out

The Old Course

The bridge

Next, we headed to the beach. Luckily, I wore my wellies, so I was able to actually go in the water and experience the large cold waves myself. I was really happy to be by the shore on such a nice day.

I was so happy!

The beautiful shore next to the city

Together on the beach

After a quick lunch, we kept exploring. We ended up finding another shoreline, and I begged the girls to come out on the rocks with me for a view (later, we found out they were actually called Saint Mary's Rocks). There was tons of moss, and in many of the little holes in the rocks we could see lots of seaweed, pretty shells, and even a starfish. 

Saint Mary's Rocks

Kayla caught me being excited

Taking it all in

Loving where I am

There were so many seagulls

While we were out on the water, it started to rain, but we didn't mind. We continued on to Saint Andrews Cathedral, which was also near the shore. There were hand-sewn red flowers decorating the gates around it, but we could never figure out why. It was a beautiful place, with many golfer's graves included in it.

Outside the gates

The cathedral

The rain got worse, so we decided it would be best to head back to Edinburgh. Upon our return, we went out to a nice dinner at a tex-mex, and spent most of the meal laughing at each other's pictures from the day.

We woke up at four, and though there was a bit of confusion as to what bus we were supposed to take, we eventually found it, reached the airport, and made it back to Dublin, where we were greeted by more rain, and then back to Maynooth, where we were welcomed with snow. My roomies were very excited when I returned home, and since Sara and Cassie don't see snow often, we took the time to admire it on campus.

Panorama of the main offices on south campus 

Found on the bridge to south campus

Beautiful in white

When we returned home from our walk, Suze, Cassie, Sara and I made the decision that needed to finally purchase our flights for the trip we'd been trying to plan to spend our Easter break in Italy. So, officially, I will be flying in to Milan on April 2nd and won't be leaving Rome until the 14th. Words can not describe how thrilled I am to be going back to the first country I was abroad in. I'm so glad I'll be able to show my friends around the cities I've been to, and make new memories with them. It's going to be awesome! 

I had a great time, but I'm glad to be back with my roommates in Quilty 3. I know I've been slacking on the updates, but I'll be getting better. Stay tuned for my next post!