So behind!

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I didn't post on my last night of Orkney because the internet was so terrible, I spend like 2 hours trying to find a hotspot with no luck. Plus, that was kind of a sick day/ it was too cold to actually go see anything. It was pouring icy rain all morning so I just stayed in and drank hot chocolate. When it cleared up -a little- I went to Skara Brae and the Skail House. More historical sites that display neolithic aged discoveries. I tried to stop at Helgi's again for a tuna sweetcorn cheese sandwich, but they'd finished serving lunch, so I went down the street to The Shore and had a veggie burger. Something that has surprised me here in the UK is how many people have graduate degrees but still work as waiters/hostel workers/tour guides/etc. Listening to BBC in my little rental car, they were talking quite a bit about this and how terrible the job market is right now. My waiter at The Shore has his masters in geophysics and is trying to get into a doctorate program but doesn't think he will even be able to find a job so is holding off. I had to stop at Tesco (a grocery store) for some cold medicine and loved wandering the aisles looking at all of the strange brands and labels. I felt like a local, though, driving to the grocery store all by myself in my very own car like a big girl! I will be honest, Orkney Islands are pretty, but only for so long. There are literally like 4 trees on the whole island, so its basically just grass and popcorn sheep. I call them popcorn sheep because they are every where and it looks like someone just sprinkled them over the hillside like popcorn on the floor of a movie theater. In other news, turns out I have a few pretty tight natural ringlets in my hair when I'm not in the dry Utah air. I got a good nights rest and then filled up my gas tank before flying out. Gas is 1.33 pounds over there! Insane. Then it was a day full of airplanes and airports and quick transfers. Kirkwall to Edinburgh, Edinburgh to Heathrow, and then Heathrow to Dublin. You pretty much have to undergo a full background check to get into Ireland BTW. They have their own terminal for Irish flights and there are like 5 security checks along the way. It took forever and, luckily, my Dublin flight was a little late or else I would have just made it by the skin of my teeth. I decided, during all those flights, that Dublin was going to be my funnest city. So far, I have made some friends at the hostels and along my journey, but its just been short interactions. I needed some friends. So I got to my hostel, locked everything in m locker, put on one of my new shirts and a fresh coat of lipgloss and went down to the common area/bar for a nice Diet Coke. I have to mention, real quick, how insanely awesome my hostel here is... like 5 star hostel, if that's possible. And there are SO MANY CUTE GUYS!! I ordered my Diet Coke and literally as I was walking to a table some guys stopped me and told me I should probably take my Diet Coke slowly, that I looked like a lightweight. Instantly BFF's. Steven, Mike, Kevin, Jose, and Brooks. Yes, please. We had a really good talk about Mormonism and they took it upon themselves to by my "protectors" throughout the night. They did think, however, that I was on my mission haha. They thought that a mission was the only reason Mormons really got out. We also cleared up polygamy and "secret underwear" while we were at it. We hung out at the hostel for a while and then went out on the town. Naturally they all had to stop at about every other bar and get another beer, but they kept my diet cokes coming with each round so I wasn't complaining. They work for a hot air ballooning company in Germany and have been all over the world. We were out until probably 3am and then came back and hung out some more. Needless to say, I did not sleep last night before my kayaking adventure. Not one wink. **Mom cover your eyes for a minute-- Everyone else: remember how I joked that I was going to find/kiss a hot guy at some point on my trip? Well, we can check that one off of the bucket list. Carrying on to my early morning kayaking adventure. Ireland is so beautiful oh my goodness. We started out from Howthe Marina, had a little intro lesson, and then started off around some of the small islands. It wasn't as cold as I was expecting, thank goodness. But it was so hard. Kayakers always look so effortless gliding across the water, but it was a killer workout! We saw lots of birds and tons of seals too. The seals would pop their huge heads out of the water and watch us as we went by. Amazing. We stopped and hiked a bit, and then got back to the marina just in time for a rainstorm. My tennis shoes were soaking wet and I looked like death, so naturally I had to stop at the local mall and refresh my wardrobe for my new friends. BTW did you guys know that they speak Gaelic here? Everything is also in English, but a lot of people speak gaelic and I have no idea what they are saying. Ok, updated I think. Still another few days here, thank goodness, because I am loving it!

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