August 5-16

Well, a lot has happened over the past few weeks! We went to High Tea, where we enjoyed lots of teas and cakes and of course, scones! We also made a trip over to Blenheim Palace, where Winston Churchill spent a lot of his time. Otherwise, we just made the best out of our last weeks at Oxford! We all passed our finals, enjoyed skits, banquets, friends, and the bars! :) This summer was literally the most amazing, eye-opening, thrilling time of my whole life. I am so thankful that I was able to spend my summer meeting people, experiencing new cultures, and seeing so many amazing, different things. I learned so much. And I have made some wonderful friends! I will never forget the summer of 2009 as long as I live. :)

August 3-4, 2009

These days were so good and bad in many ways. But, they were also very eye-opening for me. I will not bore you with the details, and I will just say that they involve phone conversations, tears, Russian Standard vodka, Billy Elliot, and a letter.

August 2, 2009

We actually slept in this morning before checking out. We first walked down the Royal Mile over to the Palace of Holyrood, where Mary, Queen of Scots lived. We also got to see where she was betrayed by her husband, Lord Darnley. My favorite parts of the palace were the remains of the Abbey and the beautiful gardens! Aunt Courtney and Kelly will enjoy to know that there were ALL 3 types of columns at the Palace of Holyrood! :) We enjoyed a leisurely coffee and quick lunch at a cafe and then headed to Mary King's Close. This is basically an underground town. During the plague, a lot of people were quarantined here, because Edinburgh was SO populated. Along with that, some of the buildings used to be 12 stories tall. They were the first skyscrapers in Europe! Anyways, Edinburgh was basically then rebuilt, but they used these old streets and buildings as the foundation. It was a pretty cool tour, I thought, and fairly well preserved! We than went back to the airport, back to London, and back to Oxford! I got to Skype with my bestie, Caitlin, which, as always, was amazing! Another great weekend...only 2 more weeks, yikes!

August 1, 2009

Wow, it is August already?! 2 months just seem to fly by :). We went on a tour of the highlands today! Our guide was very knowledgeable and Scotland is just b-e-a-utiful! Our first stop was in the small town of Queensferry, where there are 2 huge bridges connecting the lowlands and highlands over the River Forth. We then stopped in the small town of Falkland for tea. We drank tea at a very cute tearoom where, I kid you not, I got a whole pot of tea for 1.75! We then headed over to the famous town of St. Andrews! We, of course, stopped at the Old Course, where the 2010 Open will take place and bought boy gifts :). Then, we explored down on the beach a bit. It was beautiful seeing the waves against the cliffs! We then found our way over to the ruins of this old cathedral that had been destroyed. It was pretty amazing, what was left of it! Some more shopping, and we were off to the small fishing town of Anstruther for the UK's best fish and chips...no really, they won a national competition! And boy were they good!! We headed back into Edinburgh then. When we got back, we watched a few street performers and headed back to the hostel. It was a LONG day, and we were tired. I took the coldest shower of my life as well, which was...exciting?! Haha, but altogether, another great day in Scotland!

July 31, 2009

We woke up early and ate a quick breakfast today before setting off up the Royal Mile! Our first stop was Edinburgh Castle, where we got a guided tour from a local Scott who was missing a front tooth! The view up there was phenominal! We got to see the smallest chapel EVER, the Crown Jewels, and the state apartments where Mary, Queen of Scots, gave birth to James VI and I and was forced to give up her crown. Her son was the king who created the United Kingdom! We also got to see the war memorial and an exhibit on the prison used to house POWs in the castle. After watching a man play the bagpipes, we went over to the Tartan Weaving Mill. Wow, do they have a lot of plaid! Haha, we made a quick stop at St. Giles Cathedral and the Museum of Scotland. Then, we shopped! I met a man who also had a grandmother named Mitchell! However, Mitchell tartan was quite hard to find throughout the city. I also ended up buying a woman's kilt from a nice man who gave me a biscuit and talked to me for a half an hour. Next, we took a quick nap and then went out for a pasta dinner for a change. We went to bed early because we have an early start tomorrow!!

July 30, 2009

Yesterday must've been really tiring, because waking up was real hard this morning! Class was good. Professor Horsewood talked about Cricket for a good portion of his lecture :). We ate lunch and then headed out to Heathrow. This time, we were at Terminal 5, which is so much nicer! We got a quick coffee and then headed to Edinburgh. We took a shuttle and found our hostel, located just off The Royal Mile! It was much nicer out than we expected, so we decided to go walk around town a bit! We saw the Princes Street Monument. Then, we ate dinner at a famous, but very tiny pub. Yes, I tried some of Amy's Haggis. No, it was not bad, but I sure wouldn't pick it for my whole meal! Then, we walked up Calton Hill and saw a huge National Monument! It looked like a really old entrance to a building or something with all the pillars. We watched the sun set over the whole city, which was beautiful. Old Town Edinburgh really has kept it's character! We were tired, so we hit the hay after that.

July 29, 2009

Today started off with class, where we were given a lesson on economics, gambling, and horses. It was raining pretty hard, so I finally gave in and bought an umbrella, which turned out to be a great decision! We got ready and set off to the horse races. We all looked very nice in fancy dresses and big, English hats. The races were quite fun, and I discovered that I just might have Grandma's gambling habit...uh oh! But, I set myself a limit. Also, on the 5th race, I ended up winning 14.80! I still came out negative 5, but still, I won one! One guy on our trip actually came out big on the last race...I think he got, like, 100 pounds! We then headed back to Oxford. I decided to pack for our trip to Edinburgh tomorrow!! Ah! Should be fun!!