Loch Ness

So, I am sitting here wishing I had tea and biscuits. Well, biscuits at least. I have tea. And then I remember, Oh right! That blog I told people I would catch up on over break/when I got back to school/soon-ish. So, here are some pictures from going up to Loch Ness, which I would say is by far the most touristy thing I did while abroad.

The tour left from Glasgow, which meant catching an early morning train, and getting up even earlier to walk to the train station because buses weren't running yet.

The first place we stopped was Loch Lomond and Drovers Inn:

Then we stopped in Glencoe and about five million other pretty places.

Then we reached Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle, which was just.... One of the most beautiful places I have ever been. Basically, I would give up living in a city to live somewhere like this. Which for those of you who know me, know that there is very little that could make me live in a non-city place!

After which we drove all the way back down to Glasgow, where there was a Christmas Market outside the train station :) Although, I would say I prefer Edinburgh's Christmas Market.

Then I took a train back to Stirling, doing my best not to fall asleep from the long day. 

Anyway, I will post some more catch-ups in the next few days (hopefully) as I procrastinate doing real schoolwork. 

Guy Fawkes Night

NOTE: This is two months late. Erm. Oops!

Alright. So I knew that on November 5th there are those people who like get together and watch V for Vendetta "Remember remember the fifth of November" and all that.

It never occurred to me that in some places, November 5th is an actual holiday. Guy Fawkes Night.

I will be honest. Before last week, I had only heard his name in passing, and knew that he was vaguely associated the the masks. So when everyone here started getting excited for Guy Fawkes Night, I thought I'd better do some Wikipedia research about who this guy (heheh) was.

For those of you who live under the same rock as me, basically he was this Catholic guy (heheheheh) who way back in the day tried to assassinate King James I of England (VI of Scotland) and blow up Parliament, but failed.

And now everyone has a bonfire and fireworks on November 5th.

Let me put some things out there. Mainly, I have never been to a bonfire. They are a little touchy about fires in California (especially by the end of August when it hasn't rained in FOREVER), so it's not a very common thing. So really, I had no idea what to expect. I mean, I knew that a bonfire is basically just a giant fire, but I didn't have a very clear image of it going into this.

Another thing is that usually I watch fireworks from far away. Whether it's New Years or Fourth of July or KFOG Kaboom or the Golden Gate Bridge's anniversary, if you go to the top of a hill in the city you can get a good view and not have to fight for parking/room on a bus/oxygen.

The bonfire and fireworks were about a ten minute walk from campus, which was nice and convenient. Least to say that although it was only ten minutes, it was SO COLD. As it was Scotland. And November.

The bonfire was before the fireworks, and there was a band playing on the other side of the field. The bonfire was.... Wow. So cool! Though in more eloquent words.

Note any pictures in this post were not taken by me. I forgot
to put the chip back in my camera. :(

The best part was the fireworks. As implied above, I had never seem them so close! I could feel the vibrations of the explosions!

Seeing them behind the bonfire made them
look like water

There were also various food trucks, including someone who had a whole coffee making set up in the back of their van. Yum! I got a cookie from one, but it was quite hard and crunchy :(

Overall, it was a lot of good fun!

Last day :(

Guys, I really like making friends. And learning about people. Which is why studying abroad has been so fantastic! I also really liked staying in a hostel because there was pretty much an endless supply of people to talk to.

The downside is that eventually you have to say goodbye and revert to facebook as communication, or in the case of the hostel meet them for about two minutes (slight exaggeration  kind of) and then just never see them again at all. For instance, I met a really nice girl from Australia who made me feel like such a wimp for being nervous about going to Italy by myself, when she's 19 and is travelling the world by herself for EIGHT MONTHS. But also, she was just so nice!

Anyway, the last day was really good because I talked to so many people! And it was just lovely.

In the morning, I ate breakfast with two other Americans and we talked to the hostel owner about the Mafia, how he started his business, and how much he loves Italy and how it is much better than Paris, and he doesn't understand why Parisians think it's so great because they just have "a big metal box". This made me laugh a lot.

After this, I walked to Castello Sforzesco and wandered around the grounds. Everything was so beautiful! And as much as I like the castles in Scotland, this one was a nice change.

They also have a replica of the Arc de Triumph, for reasons that are unknown to me.

Then I went to the aquarium, which was really cool! Although, I must admit I do not like aquariums very much. They freak me out a little bit. I think it's because I saw an episode of Superman when I was little in which Lex Luthor had an aquarium in his house with an orca or shark or something in it and the glass broke, and well...you can imagine what ensued.

However, this aquarium was really nice (And I say this even though I have been to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which should have ruined all other aquariums for me) and good fun!

The hostel owner had pointed out Chinatown to me as a place in case I wanted to by cheap souvenirs for people. And although I had no room for anything in my backpack, I decided to head over because, well.... I miss Chinatown. Mostly because Scotland (And I presume the U.K. in general) is just....full of white people. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but I think the homogeneity has gotten to me. And sometimes it tends to promote less-than-politically-correct thinking. Which has been a definite adjustment, I would say.

I think I had very high expectations going in. I mean, San Francisco's Chinatown is pretty fantastical. And not that it wasn't lovely here as well, it was just.... hard to distinguish it except for the red lanterns.

Anyway, so I wandered around here for a while, then I went back toward a downtown area (I'm not sure if this is their proper downtown, but it seemed like it). Then something very exciting happened.

I saw a food truck.

For Sicilian food.

Being just a bit, erm, umburrassingly obsessed with Italian things I knew this meant cannoli (among other things, but this is the most important). 

Oh my gosh. There were so many pastries to choose from. But I went with a chocolate cannolo, and it was so good.

I mean SO GOOD.

Fo realz though, I made some at camp this summer, and I thought those turned out well. And that the ones Iggy and I ate in North Beach were good. But this was delicious.

I miss this LITTLE goofball! Can't wait to punch, pinch, and
poke him!

Cannolo from North Beach

But fo realz nothing compares to this (until I go to Sicily that is...)

I would say that it is a safe assumption that I had quite the food baby after this, so I started walking back to the hostel.

Unfortunately, it was freezing out.

Well, not really. But I was really chilly. So eventually I stopped somewhere and got a brioche (only adding to the food baby-poor Luigi!) which the man behind the counter was kind enough to warm up!

So fo realz. Such a food baby by the time I made it back to the hostel. And I realised that at that point I had only eaten sugar in the past 24 hours. Umburrassin? A bit. Delicious? Very much. Regrets? Never!

I also decided I should probably pack, since I had to get up early the next  morning. And it also made me start thinking about how unready I am to leave Scotland. Because I will miss people here so much, and everyone is so lovely, and mostly empire biscuits. 

Which people always laugh at me for loving. But fo realz they are delicious.

Anyway. So basically I packed up all of my things, which took a lot longer than expected. Also I lost my shampoo, and even though I am now pretty much all unpacked I still have no idea where it ran off to. Fortunately, someone was nice and lent me theirs.

The next day was pretty uneventful. Although I almost forgot to mail the postcards. I was going to do it at the train station, then I forgot and didn't remember until I was already on the bus to the airport. Luckily there was a post box at the airport.

I think that by now I had gotten pretty used to using Italian. Because when we touched down in Scotland I kept having to remind myself to use English. Umburrassin? A little.

Overall it was a really lovely trip, and I am so happy I was able to go!

~ - ~ - ~

Also guys, I have six days left. As in, this is my last Wednesday in Scotland. It went by too fast! And although, yes, as predicted I still have a long list of things that I want to see before leaving because I kept procrastinating (Although I think I have done more work on it than predicted as well!), I really am not too torn up about it. Because I realise that although sightseeing and doing touristy things is great and all, I have been just as happy to sit in the kitchen with friends until 3:30 in the morning giggling like crazy because we're all so tired but having too much fun. 

Also, it's not as if I will never come back. I mean it will probably be a while, and yes the plane tickets are steep, but if I had to eat just cereal and live in a sketchy neighbourhood for a year, I would do it and make it work!

So yes, I am quite sad to be leaving (as anyone in my kitchen will tell you I am a consistent whiner about this), but more because I will miss people here and certain things about here that I won't have for a while than because I think it's my last time here and I will never ever ever come back.