The end of a chapter

How I felt at the end of the trip and how I thought I would feel were not the same. Maybe it hasn't fully hit me that I may not see some of these people ever again and those I will see again, it won't be the same. I don't know if we'll really be friends when we get back or if we'll just nod at each other as the only form of acknowledging our time together. I haven't given it to much thought to be honest. Normally I would but I think that so many things in my life haven't gone as planned that I've stopped imagining how things will go. I'm tired of unnecessary pain that I inflict upon myself. I know this isn't what is expected as a wrap up for the trip but the group made the trip. Trying to imagine the trip without Evan or either of the Jakes is impossible. There are moments when the knowledge that I probably won't see Jake Hanley again is just another fact of life, like the grass is green and the sky is blue. But there are other moments when it's a horribly sad thought because he is so different from the world, and I am so much apart of it when I know I shouldn't be. This is the problem with being home and having nothing to do, I think too much. Maybe I should have done my wrap up while there with everyone still; maybe then I would be more focused on Scotland and her people.

I loved the land. The rolling hills, the green grass, the water were all amazing. I understand a little the pull the land had for Chris in Sunset song. It's the same Michigan has for me. On the drive home from the airport I was just happy to see all our trees again and the familiar landscape. I can't honestly imagine living anywhere except for Michigan. It's how she felt about Scotland and the mearns. I guess that's more in line with what's expected, but I so rarely do what's exactly expected of me that I just don't know if I can continue in that line of thinking. I love weird moods, they produce some of the most bizarre things.

There are still things that happened on the trip that I may never understand. Things happen for a reason I've been told many a times but I just wish I could know the reasons. Can a person you only know for 3.5 weeks change you? I don't know, and if they do, would you be able to trace the change back to them? Would you know they are the reason you aren't the same anymore? This is considerable out of line with what's excepted and I'm enjoying it a little. Cartrite may read this and think I'm on something but I'm not. The most interesting things come when we're sober and honest.

I'll end now because I don't know how much longer I can write vaguely without giving the whole thing away and maybe I have given it all away without knowing it. People are always surprising with what they notice. I enjoyed the trip, the land, and the people. I also plan to go back someday because it may be my favorite place I've visited over seas yet. Which means it beats Frace, Italy, and Spain. And thus the chapter of my trip ends.

EDIT:

I just thought of this while writing my paper. I would put into my paper but it doesn't fit. For Glasgow being the city in Scotland with the highest crime rate, no one spoke ill of the city. Multiple times people told us that we should have gone to Glasgow, it was a shame we weren't going there, and was worth the trip.

Black hawks 5 games to 2? What is he thinking?

5/17 Another free day in Edinburgh, needed or no? I’m in a weird mood so please bear with me. It may be because we leave tomorrow or because of family things, I’m not sure but this is where we are and it must be endured. At least Sunday was a nice day outside. It would have been sad if it had been another rainy gross day. I realize I sound juvenile when I write these type of things but so be it. I ate my normal breakfast of two pieces of toast with peanut butter, talked with Katelynd, figured out our shower didn‘t work, ate lunch at the Mall with Mara, Dave, Evan, Nicole, Jess, Jake R., and Courtney. I had over priced Chinese food, my favorite really. I love paying to much money for food, makes my day. Moving on, after finishing lunch Dave, Jake R., and I had to go look for Evan because he ran off. That was also a good time. Once we found him the boys went to the other mall for gummies and I headed back to the hostel to go on a walk with Katelynd around Edinburgh. Jake and Craig were in the room when I got there. Jake didn’t believe that the shower didn’t work so he had to see for himself before Katelynd and I went on our walk. He soon figured out that it was the shower, and not me that was messed up. Katelynd and I walked around the city for an hour or so. We talked about random thing. On our walk we went by the National Museum and by Parliament. Following our walk we sat in the room listening to Craig’s iPod until it was time to go to Mary King’s Cross. Mary Queen’s cross really cool, it’s a tour of the old city which was built on top of. There are old houses and streets preserved you can walk through. I think our tour guide liked us because we were just having fun with each other. At one point, he started to play with a squeaky mouse and Sam freaked out. I jumped a little but she like grabbed me and spun around so she was behind me. Then at another point we were listening to a story and I have Kyle next to me jumping, Katelynd holding my hand while she sits on my lap, and Emma on the other side holding my other hand while she leans her head on my side. I keep telling her she was safe and that Mountain Man (Jake) wouldn’t let anything happen because he was on her other side. After the tour was finished some of us went to the restaurant where we were having dinner. It was a nice little place. This was the time we were explaining to Cartrite why no one talked in class and how he is intimidating. At dinner the girls sat at a booth by themselves and ordered two booths of wine. I had two glasses of wine because our waitress accidentally brought us the wrong bottle and not many of the other girls liked red. Once we finished our wonderful meal, a group of us returned to the hostel to watch the wings game. A random guy said he thought the black hawks would take the red wings 5-2 games and Chris actually got really upset by this. I don’t know why, the wings won the game 4-2. After the game was a lot of weirdness I guess. I don’t know if Cartrite really wants to know, he already thinks I’m weird enough, he doesn’t need any reason to think I’m even more weird. I did have to take a shower in the boy’s room because our was broken. There is so much I would write if I didn’t know Cartrite was going to read this but there are still things I’ll keep amongst just the students, course I’ll include the things in the stories I tell my friends and that’s all that really matters. I did have a man in his 50s-60s call me gorgeous as he said good bye while I was talking with Jake. He was a cute little man looking for the bathroom in the hostel.

Nap Time

I couldn't give up my habit of doing two journal entries at once. It's such a common practice I had to do it at least once before I left.
5/15 Our free day in Edinburgh was a crappy crappy day. It was rainy, windy, and gloomy looking. I also felt like crap so that really helped. We're all getting sick and I LOVE it. Ugg. The biggest thing I did was to travel to the Royal Mile again and got into some of the little shops with Mara, Jessica, Katelynd, and Dave. I didn't buy anything nor have the need to buy anything. After about an hour or so we went to the Princess Mall and I got Subway. The man in front of my took my sub by mistake. I got meatball and he got tuna, but I like tuna so it could have been a lot worse to say the least. Following lunch Mara, and I went upstairs and took a nap. That lasted until about 5:30ish. Once Katelynd went back we went to a little convince store and got some sandwiches. On the way I think I momentarily found a kindred spirit. There was a girl working in a store that was closing with her nose pressed against the glass watching people pass in the rain. We made eye contact and I smiled so she smiled back. After dinner we just hung around the hostel in different room and at the bar.
5/16 Yesterday had more going on to be honest, ok jk. Theoretically we did more but really we rode on a bus between England and Scotland. Most the the stops we made seemed to be in England, which is odd since we're taking a class about Scotland. Anyway, on the train ride there I finished my Jane Austen book, and will probably start the other one today. I also read most of the article for the day. On the bus ride we had a sweet, little elderly Englishman as our tour guide for about half of the trip. It's not really a good combo for me staying awake to have an elderly man talking while I'm riding on a bus after a night of less than a normal amount of sleep. Just saying. We stopped at a place for lunch but didn't stay. It was in England. It was amazing how different it was from Scotland. I got soup with a roll and on the butter I was informed it was 'Scottish Butter.' What? Is there a point to putting that on the wrapper? Does it matter? After lunch back on the bus. It had started to rain on our way out. Later we stopped in a little town, in Scotland I think, for a stretching break and a pint because that's what we do. Mara, Danny and I walked around for a little bit. I was sick of sitting and didn't feel like drinking. Our last stop was at a battle field in England. There was just a stone cross erected there but the surrounding area was beautiful. The clouds rolling in looking a little gloomy and forelorn was really nice. After our 'busy' tour back on the train we went. The ride wasn't bad as usual. I don't think I've had really a bad train ride before to be honest. We got off the train at 7:30ish and had to find some dinner. After a 1/2 hour of checking with different places if they could hold us, we ended up at Pizza Hut for our last meal with Ken. Part way through Ken had to leave to catch his train home. It was sad watching Ken leave and knowing I wasn't going to see him tomorrow. I may never see him again really and I liked him. It made me think how hard the goodbyes at the airport maybe. Following dinner, Mara, Katelynd, Nicole, Jake R., and I took the long way back to the hostel to take some night shots. My camera is not really made for night shots at all. Then the bar, smoking a Cuban, and a night club followed that. The cuban wasn't that bad but I didn't like the taste in mouth after I was done. That will probably be the one and only thing I smoke in my life but I can say I did it so hey. The bar and club were fun until about 2 when I was just tired of being pushed up on by strangers. After a while I just don't want to be touched. It didn't help that some guy in plaid kissed my cheeck and then sorta tried to drag me off. I just don't like other people really. But a Scottish club is a lot like what I imagine an American one would be like. Mara and I left at about 2:30 and went back to the hostel. I haven't showered yet so I'll go do that now but I had a weird dream last night, but this probably isnt' the place to talk of that.

Royal Mile

The first activity of the day was suppose to be visiting the Castle in Edinburgh but it was postponed while we waited for Cartrite. He was running late because the kids are both a little sick. At the castle we saw the Stone of Scone or the Stone of Destiny and the Royal Jewels. That was probably the highlight of the castle. The way they set up the museum where the jewels are housed was really cool. Unfortunately you couldn't take pictures of the exhibits, which always makes me a little sad. Mara and I also saw the prisons of war. After the castle we had to hurry back to the hostel to get changed for our trip to Parliament and then head back to the Royal Mile to view the museum. I wore the new dress I bought at H&M. It's a pretty dress but ya get a bit cold if you have no jacket to wear with it. The museum was really cool. They had little discovery zones through out where they have period dress that you could try out that matched the time period of the surrounding exhibit. There was also a room full of interactive exhibit like the driving game. I am not good at driving games at all, just to say. I realize that the entries may be including less details of what we're doing but I don't really care so much anymore. At 2 most of the class meet at the balcony to have lecture. I didn't put any sunblock on so I sat in the shade where I had goose bumps for most of the time. Sometimes you have to make choices and I chose to be cold for a little while over being sun burnt for weeks.

Once lecture was over and we were inside again I did cling to some people to use them for their body heat. We didn't talk much during lecture as usual. We soon left for Parliament to meet with John Swinney and to watch a session of Parliament. We had to go through security but that didn't take very long, not as long as we had thought anyway. At 4 we entered the gallery to watch a debate in Parliament. I was really geeked when we entered I'm not even going to lie. I just thought it was so cool. The room isn't what you would expect it to look like. It was a bit to modern for me, I feel like the room should have been done in a dark mahogany or something. We spent an hour listening to the debate. I didn't understand the point of some of the speeches but there was one member who I liked. She was the voice of reason it seemed, and she was very clear with what she was saying. She didn't have any flowery language which I appreciated. After an hour we met with John Swinney, the finance minister. We had a q&a with him for about a half hour and then he showed us around the building. It's a beautiful building but still a little to modern for what I think a Parliament building should be. Dinner soon followed. Not taking my fleece was not a good idea last night, even if it doesn't go with the dress at all. I had to sit on this bench at a raised table. It was not that comfortable when I had to lean forward to eat my meal and the fact I had to slide across the bench in a dress. I got a chicken and mushroom pasta dish that was good. I also sat across from Jake and Ken's wife. It was nice to get to talk to her. She seemed like a very nice woman.

The rest of the night was spent in bars. One was the bar on the ground floor of our hostel and the other was a karaoke bar that we found. There were two grease songs sung, which Kyle did not like at all. The girls sang You're so Vain, dedicated to Danny. I don't know what it was but people liked touching my hair last night at it was kinda weird to say the least. I'm debating if I want to braid my hair again on this trip for fear of being told again my hair feels fun. At midnight we returned to the hostle to watch the wings game. After the first period Mara and I went to bed.

Monty Python

Might as well keep going since I love this SO much. During our first day in Edinburgh, we traveled to Stirling. The train ride there was spent reading about the William Wallace monument. It was not that fun of a read but oh well, it happens. That was followed by traveling to a castle. I don't remember the name but I liked it more than some of the others. There wasn't a ton to look at, so an hour sufficed to say the least. The museum about one regiment was really interesting. It shows how their uniforms and weapons have changed over time. Following the castle we trekked up a hill to the William Wallace monument. There was a free shuttle service but that would be to simple, we would miss the "experience" of walking up the hill. I was the first girl to reach the top and while I was stretching to make my calves feel better I got made fun of for it. My legs just were not happy. Once everyone had reached the top of the hill we all walked up the 246 stairs to the top of the monument. In my opinion, it wasn't worth the trip up. The view was similar to the one at the top of the hill and it was so windy, I couldn't stand it much. On the way down I stopped in all the exhibits off to the side of the staircase. One was really creepy with a talking William Wallace hologram. I did not like it. Once everyone was down from climbing the stairs we had class outside. The wind wasn't as bad as it was at the top of the monument but it was a solid second. Danny and I had been assigned to talk about chap. 7 but class was cut short so we could fit everything in. On the way down the hill I followed the boys in jogging down side paths, while on the somewhat steep main road Danny thought he would help me down by giving me a little push. As usual, I yelled a little. Boys are fun.
In order to visit the castle of Doune (the castle in Monty Python) we had to take a long bus ride out into the country. I felt bad for the people originally on the bus because our group takes over everything. We can't help it very much but I still feel a little sorry for them. The castle was very small and didn't have a lot of rooms to look at but we did get some coconuts and reenact some of the movie. When we were ready to leave we realized we had lost Evan. It turned out he thought we had left him and he just went to the bus stop where we eventually found him. I am amazed at other people but nothing bad happened, which is what matters. Before the next bus we had about a 1/2 hour to kill. Nothing special was completed. The bus ride was followed by a train ride back to Edinburgh. On the ride I read some more of my book, I'm almost done that I think I might finish it tomorrow if I can get my way. All the girls had dinner at Pizza Hut. We are just that cool, I promise. The food wasn't bad and we were all so hungry we ate our food in like 15 minutes. Yay being an American. The rest of the night was spent at the hostel doing random things. Craig slept on our extra bed because he couldn't sleep in his room. That's about it for now.

I love 7:50 flights

Yesterday was a fairly uneventful day. I woke at the wonderful hour of 6 because I love the morning so much! Right. The most eventful part of flying was that I tried to take a little thing of jelly on the plane. It wasn't above the limit but it wasn't in a plastic bag so the security guy just placed the jelly in a bad for me. On the flight I got to sit next to Jake R. so that was nice. He's a fun guy to be around, I'm not going to lie. We landed at around 9 and then hopped on a bus into town. The ticket lady wasn't so particularly nice. I was like the 3rd person from our group to go up to her, I handed her my money expecting her to put the fact we all had backpacks together with the fact I would want the same thing as everyone else, but no. She held it for a few moments and then asked what I wanted. I don't function early in the morning, I don't know if other people fully grasp this point. Whatever, if they want to take their own lives in their own hands so be it. Departing the bus we walked to the hostel where Ken abandoned us to our own devices. Checking into our rooms was quickly followed by nap time. I do enjoy nap time very much. After a wonderful nap, Craig, Mara, Dave, Lee, Jessica, and I walked around town. We went through two malls. On our way back to the hostel Mara, Lee, Jessica, and I stopped at H & M. After trying on some WONDERFUL outfits, I bought a dress and sunglasses while Jessica bought a jacket I talked her into, and a skirt. When a girl is trying a piece of clothing on and her face lights up when she sees it, then she should buy it, it's simple.
Once the other part of our group arrived from Kirkwall, I went out to dinner with Danny, Kyle, Courtney, Jake. R, and Jeff to the Black Rose, a little goth pub. The food was good and even though I was in a pink shirt and we stuck out horribly, no one stared so that was nice. It was kinda nice actually, I'd never eatten with Kyle or Danny and it wasn't bad which is surprising. The rest of the night was pretty uneventful, I guess. I don't really remember and I didn't drink so it must not have been really important. I remember doing some reading and talking with Danny about the chapter we were suppose to discuss today that we never did. We had a lot of boys express a desire to sleep in our room because it doesn't smell or have someone that snores, but that's about it.

How many shades of red can Andrea get?

The first interesting thing of our day yesterday was having lunch with the SMP for Orkney. I was a few seats away from him but I didn't really talk with him much. I enjoy politics I guess but this was a wonderful opportunity for the pol. sci majors like Chris and Nicole. I feel like Chris got a lot from the experience, which is wonderful. I listened to some of their conversation, but he was such a soft spoken man it was hard to always hear him with everyone at one long table. I also got distracted by Luke and some of the guys at the end of the table nearest to me. Luke is an interesting little boy with quiet the imagination to say the least. I felt a little bit bad for him because he was across from Jake and Jake can ask some interesting questions. The ones he was asking Luke probably weren't as bad as the ones he asked Ken. I felt horrible for Ken but he's a grown man and not an 8 yr old boy. Following lunch we visited the Orkney museum. It was set up very oddly. It's set up in an old house so after a few of the exhibits you hit a dead end and have to turn around. The lay out was just annoying really. Some of the stuff was really interesting but there was a lot to say the least. They had an exhibit about the 20th century and had the trashy looking Barbie I have seen in a long time. Probably the most interesting thing in the museum was the old game pieces made out of animal bones.

Next of the agenda was having lecture in the lounge bar again over stone voices. The discussion was lead mostly by Evan. Most of the talking was done by Cartrite but I think that's because most of us don't know what to say or what is expected of us. It's hard to apply what we've read to the current situation we're surrounded by because the book is focused mostly on the devolution in 97'. I had a hard time staying awake during the lecture to be fully honest. But I was just really tired I guess because after lecture, Mara and I went up to our room. I quickly fell asleep while watching the weakest link. Some of the Scottish accents are so hard to understand, it sounds like they are just mumbling. I can't pick out a word what so ever. I did wake up just in time for dinner which was good. Dinner was a very good meal and would have pasted as a very uneventful meal if Jake and Craig hadn't decided that staring at me would be really fun. I tried to ignore them but I wasn't completely successful since I could see them out of the corner of my eye. I turned so red it was awful. I mean it was like I had spent hours on end in the sun without any sunblock while wearing complete black. This continued for like 20 minutes until dinner was done. I just didn't understand why they were staring but they enjoyed themselves to no end, I can tell you that much. Once things quieted down, the rest of the night was spent talking in the room and packing. I can pack most of my stuff up in about 10-15 minutes when needed.