Blogs from Dalkeith, Midlothian, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe - page 2

I was in Paris this weekend with Jen, Tanya, Kyle, and Brian L. and it was amazing! I got about a half an hour of sleep before leaving, so I had been up for about 36 hours by the time we went to bed Thursday night. That didn't keep us from being busy! Here's a brief rundown of what we did... Thursday: *Serenaded by accordion players on our first train *Dropped luggage off at Aloha Hostel, then went to the Eiffel Tower (20 minute walk or so from our hostel!) *Notre-Dame *Luxembourg (we just sat in the gardens for a short while) *bed at 7:30 pm!! Friday: *Louvre for several hours *Catacombs *L'Arc de Triumph (climbed it too) *Champs Elysees...admiring, no actual shopping :( *Eiffel Tower at night (to the top) Saturday: *Got lost on 3-4 ... read more

This weekend was the backpacking tour in the Highlands...it was amazing. We did a lot of stuff; far too much to write about but I'll list most of what we did in no particular order: *Went IN Loch Ness (yes...I ran in and out of it. FREEZING!!) *Culloden Battlefield (very sad and spiritual place...and I'm not even Scottish) *Eilean Doran Castle *Visited Hamish, Scotland's oldest and most famous Highland coo *Iverness *Isle of Skye *Glencoe (BEAUTIFUL...one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen) *Drovers Inn (a pub that has been around for over 300 years) *Pitlochry *St. Conan's church *Rogie Falls *William Wallace monument *Distillery (smallest legal one in Scotland) I'll be more descriptive and add more later, but we did a lot in a short amount of time. It's hard to remember everything, but ... read more

Friday was our house trip to New Lanark...I was fairly disappointed in it. Gerry (my Brit Civ professor, who is Scottish) took us on a short tour but there wasn't much to see. It was also very cheesily done; like some lame storybook adventureland for kids. The scenery was very beautiful though--waterfalls, a big river, lots of forest--so that was nice. Also, we got to see the loom that made Harry Potter's scarf! That's always exciting :) Other than that, I didn't do much this weekend. A lot of people went out clubbing one night, and I'm not into clubs so I didn't want to waste money (I'm glad I didn't go too, after the stories people told me). So it was a nice quiet night with the palace to me and a few others who ... read more

Our first week of classes are done and I can already tell it will be super busy. I'm going to have a lot of homework this weekend and need to start thinking of a place here in Dalkeith to do my service hours (I'd rather not do it in Edinburgh). Also, I found a group for my first four day weekend...4 October-7 October we are going to Paris. With a couple of the same people and a couple others, we're going to Italy for our 10 day at the end of October-Early November. I'm soooo excited! We'll book those this weekend I hope. I already booked my Highlands backpacking trip for the last weekend of the month...that should be awesome. Other than that, there hasn't been too much going on. I'm going to try to swing ... read more

After a 3 hour delay in Minneapolis, several hours later flight in Boston, lonnnng flight to Amsterdam, a couple hour wait in Amsterdam, and a short hour and a half or so flight to Edinburgh (and that half hour bus to Dalkeith) I am finally all settled in! This palace is amazing...there is so much to see and I've only seen the insides thus far. I can't wait to tour the grounds a bit tomorrow and explore the palace on my own. I've also met some really cool people so far and think that my roomies and I will get along well (I have 5 of them). I'll put up pictures later...I only took a few so far, including our greeter who was a Scotsman in full Scottish garb with bagpipes...I can tell this was a ... read more