Cafe Crepe

So I heard about this little cafe in town. My friend Mike found it his first day here, when he couldn't quite get into his room yet. And he's been talking about it a couple times. So yesterday I decided to go check it out. It's called Cafe Crepe, and it may just be my favorite place in Glasgow haha. Their breakfast is incredible. It costs 4.25 (which is about $6), and you get bacon, sausage, eggs, beans, black pudding, toast, a potato scone, and coffee/tea (don't worry, I got coffee haha...haven't quite gotten used to this idea of hot tea that isn't sweet). First I need to explain some of these things. Bacon over here isn't the bacon we think of. It's like 2 big slabs of ham. Bacon isn't thin and crispy, it's big, thick, and juicy. Sooooo good. Sausage isn't always the same either. Sausage links are the same as we have, but their sausage patties are way different. I don't even know how to explain it. It's really weird to think about having beans with breakfast, because it basically looks like baked beans (and kinda tastes like them too, but the sauce isn't as strong). But they are pretty good. The potato scone might be my new favorite dish here. It isn't what you think of as a typical scone, it's more like a potato cake, very good. Now for the black pudding. When I first ate this, I didn't know what it was, but I kinda knew it was one of those things where I didn't want to know what it was. Well it actually tasted pretty good! Then I got home and looked up what exactly it is. It is also known as blood pudding, if that tells you anything. They make it by cooking blood (usually pig or cow blood) with a filler until it is thick enough to cool into a patty. So it doesn't exactly sound appetizing, but I knew if I just ate it without trying to figure out what it was, I would get a realistic taste of what it was like, and it was pretty good.
Anyways, this Cafe Crepe is so good. Great food, a lot of food, for real cheap. I can't wait to go back and try their sweet crepes. They have tons of fillings, and its basically just like a dessert. Mm, I can't wait to try it. Apparently it's a new place and they're kinda struggling for business. As I was sitting there eating, I thought about how they would definitely get more of my business and how I was going to tell everyone I knew to come try it. They'll have more business soon haha. To prove that, Mike and I woke up early this morning before class and went there for breakfast. Once again, very good. Just a great way to start the day, and a genuine taste of Scotland...

Sudden Change of Plans...

Well this past week was pretty uneventful. Nothing new really going on during the week, except that I actually had to sit down and do a bunch of hw (imagine that, me procrastinating. I know, it's hard to imagine...). But other than that, more of the same. This weekend however was a lot of fun. Keith's uncle works with a man who lives in Glasgow, and this man Rob invited Keith and I to lunch and a soccer game. He's a huge Rangers fan, so we ate lunch and went to the game. There are two big teams in Glasgow...Rangers and Celtics. They don't like each other...HUGE rivals. Well the Rangers weren't playing the Celtics, but Rob warned us that if we wore green to the game there was a legitimate chance of someone doing more than yelling at us. So that was interesting. These people definitely love their soccer, and I know why. The game was intense, the crowd was great, and overall I loved it! We had a great time and I'm so glad Rob invited us to come along.

Sunday was great as well. Mike, Keith, and I had planned on going to Oban for the day. Well we got to the bus station and kinda changed our plans. Nothing like a group of guys trying to plan a trip...we get a lot of sudden changes like this when things are left in our hands. But we decided to go to this little town of Inverary instead. On our way we saw the coolest thing. I actually woke up (we had to leave early, I slept on the bus for a bit), and looked out the window to see this huge rainbow. It was beautiful, but the collest part is that it was touching down right beside us! I never even knew you could see that! But we definitely found the end of a rainbow, and it was soo cool! And whoever says there's gold at the end of a rainbow is a liar! I looked hard but saw none (haha, j/k). Anyways, the town is situated on Loch Fyne, and surrounded by mountains. It was a tiny tiny tiny town, but really pretty. We climbed up to this old watchtower and could see for miles. The lake stretched for miles beneath us, and mountains all around. We just had to sit down and enjoy the views for a while before heading back down. Beautiful area, and we had a great time in the town. You can see the castle in the middle of the picture, and the town is up and to the left...very small.

Last night was a lot of fun as well. Keith and I had heard about the Christian Union which meets on Tuesday nights. We got times mixed up so this week was our first chance to go haha. Well it ends up that they were doing a pancake night. They posted flyers all around campus and people could text in a Christianity-related question, along with the filling for their pancake, and their address. Then we all went out and delivered the pancakes and talked with people. I was a little skeptical at first, because I don't really like the people who come door to door and try to force things on you. But it ended up that this was very well received. People had some interesting questions, and it was actually a lot of fun going around and just talking to people. Me and my partner were only 1-4...3 of our pancake people weren't there haha. But it was great to connect with a group of people like that...we all hung out for a while after our deliveries and discussions were done. Oh, and I finally found some frisbee players!!!

I also learned something new from last night. Over here they have pancakes and pancakes. One is actually a crepe though haha. I was confused as well. Oh, and they call French Toast "Eggy Bread." Makes sense, and it keeps you from acknowledging something good about the French haha. But anyways, the things we had last night were actually crepes...large flat pancakes. You can fill them with jelly, chocolate, lemon juice and sugar (strange combo, but ok), or syrup (among other things...thats just the options we had last night). Then you fold it in half, then fold in half again so it looks like a slice of pizza. Then you eat it like a pizza. We actually ran out of batter, so I didn't get a chance to try one, but I found this restaurant that has them and they look soooooo good. Just wanted to pass that along...their pancakes are different than ours, and they have some interesting fillings. The other pancakes they refer to are "Scottish Pancakes." They are very similar to our pancakes, but very small...definitely no bigger than the palm of your hand. So anyways, that's all for now. Hope ya'll are having as good of a day as I am! (The weather is beautiful right now, and I'm just in a great mood haha). Love ya'll!

P.S.- Aren't you glad I learned how to upload pictures? Makes these things a little more interesting haha. Unless it's like this first one and it's a picture of me. Then you gotta look at me and read my writing...I apologize for that haha

Dublin or bust!

Well as of this morning I have officially booked my flight to Dublin for St. Patricks Day! We have a nice big group of people going so we should have a lot of fun. I'm still amazed at the prices for some of these things. We went through RyanAir...my roundtrip ticket is 20 pounds ($30)!!! They added a nice fee for paying with my debit card which was almost as much as my ticket! But still, less than 30 pounds to fly roundtrip to Dublin is pretty insane. The only bad thing is that there are only 2 flights that day, one at 6:30am and the other at 10pm, so of course we had to book the 6:30am. And the airport is a little ways away, so we have to jump on a bus at 4:30, ride out to the airport, check in, find our flight, and jump on. That will take at least 4 coffees to get me there haha. But it will be a lot of fun. We're coming back the next day at 12:30, then sleeping for a loooooong time. I'm excited for this trip...and I can't wait to see what Dublin will be like on St. Pattys Day!
Well I've been here for a little while now, so I figured I'd give my thoughts so far. Things have definitely settled in and I feel like I've gotten a nice picture of Scotland. To be honest, the city has been a little bit of a letdown. If I could do it again I would try to find a place in Edinburgh or Stirling. Part of it is because I'm just not a big city person, but another thing is the lack of places to go and see around here. The city is great and there's plenty of stuff to do, but there's no castle like in other cities, no monuments, no rolling hills or highlands around us. It's just a huge city. And it's kinda dirty too. Being the big industrial city that Glasgow used to be, you can still see the remnants of coal use. The Royal Infirmary and one of the churches were stained black because of coal, and when they began to clean up the city they decided to leave those buildings as reminders of part of Glasgow's past. But in all the city isn't exactly what I thought it would be, although still fun. Now for the people. The people here are very friendly, but also very different. It is a completely different culture, and it's been fun to be immersed in it. But there are a few things which I know I will leave behind and be glad to leave behind. For one, cussing over here is simply part of their everyday language...I'm not used to that, at least not how it is over here. And specifically, the F word is used a lot. They just don't see it the same way we do, they don't view it as the big bad word that we see it. I think that's also me coming from the South. I'm just not used to these kinds of things, and it bothers me a little bit. But I also understand that it's just different for them. But that is one thing I'll be glad to leave behind. Another is smoking. It seems like everyone and their brother smokes. I've almost gotten used to cigarette smoke simply because it's everywhere. I think if you don't smoke you are very out of the ordinary. And don't worry mom, I never picked up cigarettes back home, and I won't here either haha. And of course the Scots love their drinking. It's different with that too over here, but in a good way. We have put such a negative label on drinking that so many people want to do it before they are legally allowed to. Here it is simply part of the culture, so no one sees it as the thing that they can't have. I personally think it's good that way. People want what they can't have, and with the label we have placed on drinking in America, I think it leads to abuse. Here it's culture, and always has been. So the city is a ton of fun, but overall a little bit of a letdown. The people are awesome, very friendly, very kind, but there are definitely some habits I won't be embracing and will be glad to leave behind.

Ya Know I Like My Chicken Fried...

Today was absolutely beautiful! The weather was nice, and it was a lot warmer than it has been, which isn't really saying much for Scotland. But it means I could walk around without a scarf and a beanie, so that was exciting! I met some friends and we went to this pub where we watched the Celtics/Rangers soccer game. Both these teams are from Glasgow, so it's a pretty big rivalry here. I guess it's kinda like the Clemson/Carolina rivalry...they don't really like each other. So it was interesting to see the pub get pretty heated at times. The game ended in a 0-0 tie, so I guess that was ok for both teams. Apparently I'm supposed to be a Rangers fan because Keith got us tickets to go to a Rangers game next weekend, so that should be fun. Other than that I just had a nice relaxing day, caught up on some things I needed to do (which means I watched last weeks episode of 24 haha). Tonight we had dinner with some friends. A bunch of us got together and had fried chicken, peas, french fries, and veggies. I was a little worried because the girl who was making the fried chicken is actually from Arizona, but it turned out great! We had a great time all hanging out together. And I think we scared off her two French roommates...us bunch of loud rowdy Americans. But we really had a great time. Our conversations were all over the places, and we had a great time getting to know each other and seeing what each person thinks about different things. Everything from relationships to religion to family to sports to school...I think we covered most subjects haha. But we just had a great time together, and it was nice hanging out with friends and talking about things without having to explain the American view of things and without having to explain the American culture. Good food, good times. I think I'm actually going to start having to do schoolwork this week haha. I have a tutorial tomorrow which I need to read for and do some work, and I think I need to start my paper. Keith and I are hoping to confirm our tickets to Dublin for St. Patrick's Day (Happy Birthday that day Mom!). Hope everyone is doing great back at home! Love ya'll!

Been a while...

Well it's been quite a while since my last post. I'm kinda new to this whole blog thing and I'm not sure how often I'm supposed to post haha. But this week was just another week, classes and such. And I'm sure ya'll don't want to hear about my Portfolio Theory class or Treasury Management or Scottish Society, 1830-1914. So I won't bore you with the everyday details of things like that. But this week has gone pretty good...classes are interesting and I still have a desire to go, which I guess is a good thing. I had a friend who has already been here for a semester, and she said that last semester she went to a total of 3 lectures for all her classes combined, and passed all her classes. Don't worry, I'm not following that strategy...I don't want to take my chances. And I'd rather not have scholarships taken away just because I was tired and decided to sleep through more class than I attended.
Well Keith's 21st birthday was this week. Obviously it's not as big of a deal over here since the drinking age is 18, but we Americans still made a big deal of it. And plus it's a birthday, so of course we're gonna have fun. Me, Keith, and our friends Mike and Mark went to this Irish place for dinner. The 3 of us bought Keith dinner. Then some other friends of ours had made cupcakes, so we went to their flat and were hanging out with those girls for a little while. A bunch of other people joined us, then we all went to International Student Pub Night. We had a good time that night...a lot of fun. And of course Keith is proud that he was victorious and will actually remember his 21st birthday. He was proud of that, and I was too.
I decided that I am exhausted from being in a permanent "go" mode, so I stayed in town this weekend. I had a chance to go backpacking with the Mountaineering Club (apparently a ton of international students join that to get connected), but I was tired of spending money and not getting a lot of sleep, so I stayed here. I went to lunch with some friends and we watched the rugby game between England and Wales. There's the 6 Nations rugby tournament going on right now, and everyone's excited about that. Anyone who says that American football is too violent should watch a rugby game. Nothing more would ever be said about football haha. These guys are tough, and very physical. But I still love football.
Well I wanna wish a Happy Valentine's Day to everyone who is reading this! I know you probably won't be reading this on Valentine's Day, but still. It's kinda tough being away on Valentine's Day and not having anything to do. Especially when you actually have a girlfriend but can't be with her. But I guess it's just one day out of the year that people like to pump up. And like Lauren has always said, why do we need one special day out of the year to show those special people in our life how much we love them? Shouldn't that be a constant thing? So I guess it isn't really THAT big of a deal, people just hype it up to be. And it is something special, but I agree with Lauren that it shouldn't be the one day out of the year that people do special things together. Anyways, I'll try to keep things update on here, sorry I've gotten kinda lazy. And I know these posts have been getting long, so I'll try to keep them shorter haha. Hope everyone is doing well back at home! Love ya'll!

Skiing in the Clouds...

So I think I have figured out a few things about Scotland and it's people. First of all, these people are crazy drivers. I would be scared to death to drive on these roads. They are narrow, people come flying by, they pass whenever they feel like it, and they drive very close to the center line. In the few times that I have ridden on the buses, I have been absolutely terrified when we pass other buses or 18 wheelers. I'm surprised side mirrors haven't crashed yet because we have had some very very close calls. I would be scared if I was driving a small car (like my Civic) and another small car was coming in the other lane. That would be too close for me...I can't imagine what it's like driving a huge charter bus. The second thing has to do with drinking over here. At our orientation meeting at the beginning of the semester the international student director warned us that Scottish people have a drinking problem. He said it as a joke and as a warning to watch ourselves in pubs. I think what he meant is that he has a drinking problem, or that he is one of the biggest contributors to Scotland's drinking problem haha. But I think I have figured out why Scottish people drink so much, and why pubs are such a huge part of the culture. First of all, drinking is an entirely different culture here than in the US. And here's my theory about why people drink. In the US, especially in the South, people go to bars/honkytonks/whatever you want to call them, to "drink their problems away." Here people drink to drink the cold away. That has to be it, I'm sure of it. It's so dang cold here, especially at night, so people drink to keep the cold out. It's my theory, and while it's kinda a joke, I think there may be some truth to it haha. Oh, and don't worry Mom, I haven't developed a drinking problem haha.
Well Keith and I went skiing today. We hopped on a bus at 7:00 this morning (which means I got up way too early), and headed up to Fort William. People have asked me why I chose to study in Scotland. Drive through the Highlands of Scotland and you'll see exactly why I chose to come here. The hills and lakes and valleys and snowcapped mountains...it is absolutely incredible and quite possibly the most beautiful landscape I have ever witnessed. Well we had some complications on the way up because we couldn't understand our bus driver and we thought we missed our ski resort, but we ended up making it to a place. We got our tickets and our rentals and we started making our way up the gondola to the where the slopes start. The views from this mountain were incredible. We could see for miles, and all we could see were huge mountains covered in snow. Absolutely beautiful.
Skiing was interesting. I guess I've gotten too used to snowboarding, so getting back into skiing was rough. I'm not comfortable enough yet snowboarding, and I wanted to enjoy my time rather than fall down the mountain, so I decided to ski instead. It took a while to get back into it, and I don't think I ever fully got back to where I used to be. So the first couple runs were a little rough, but it started getting better. Then Keith had this idea that we should go all the way to the top of the mountain and follow this one trail he saw that was supposedly still open. So we went all the way to the top. It was so windy up there, snow and ice were blowing everywhere and stinging our faces, and to top it all off we were so high up that we were in the middle of a cloud and couldn't see a thing. So we had no idea what was down in front of us, and we couldn't see exactly where this trail led. Some snowboarders passed us and took off down this one area, so we decided to try to follow them. Bad idea. We immediately sank into about a foot of pure powder. These places don't make fake snow, they rely totally on what falls naturally. So we immediately knew this was a bad decision, but it was too late to turn back. We soon found ourselves in the middle of huge patches of rocks. Like big rocks. And we constantly found new rocks that had been covered up but we hit them with our skis anyways. And we still couldn't see a thing. So we're in the middle of nowhere, on a trail that isn't supposed to be open, with little to no visibility, and both of us are struggling trying to get back into skiing. Not a good combination. I felt utterly hopeless and desperate...I was getting very frustrated. But we eventually wound our way through all the rocks and finally found the regular slope. It was frustrating and a little scary at the time, but looking back on it we laughed...a lot. We had a great day, an exhausting and very cold day, but a great one. Keith and I had a great time trying to learn how to ski again, winding our way through rocks and trails we weren't supposed to be on, and enjoying the beautiful scenery around us. I love having Tuesdays off school...

Stirling

So the original idea for this weekend was for me and Keith (and whoever else wanted to join) to head up to some mountain and go skiing. We had a friend from Clemson who went last week and she really liked it. Except she was freezing. Well that was going to cost a lot, so the idea fell through and we met up with two new guys, Mark and Ben, and along with Mike we set off for Stirling. We got there and set off for the Stirling Castle. I think I like this castle better than Edinburgh and I think I like Stirling better than Edinburgh overall. It was pretty sweet, and the views were once again amazing. Stirling is kinda seen as the Gateway to the Highlands. The castle was great. There was this one building, the Great Hall, which kinda stuck out from all the others. It seemed like a new building, it wasn't built from stone or anything like the rest of the castle. But apparently this is how it actually looked when King James built it. He had it sprinkled with limestone water, then basically painted in a limestone wash. The color of the building is known as King's Gold. I thought that was pretty cool. And the ceiling and frame of the building is made up of a very elaborate design of wooden beams. There are absolutely no nails holding them together. There is a single wooden peg holding each beam together at the joint...nothing else. It's amazing to think that so long ago people were able to think of architectural designs like this, and that they have held up for this long! The rest of the castle was really cool too.
Next we ate lunch where we met up with a friend of Keith whom he met on the plane ride over here. She is from Montana and was actually just in Stirling for the weekend visiting some friends. I swear Keith has a friend in every city in Scotland. But it was nice meeting up with her because she showed us the quickest way to the William Wallace monument where we went next, and showed us how to get up this mountain we had decided to hike. The Wallace monument was very cool. It's up on top of this hill, and at the bottom of the pathway, near like the visitor's center area, there used to be this statue of William Wallace, but it was actually a statue of Mel Gibson from Braveheart. Apparently Scottish people do NOT like that movie or Mel Gibson. From what I understand, the reason is because it was filmed in Ireland and not in Scotland. Frankly I agree with the Scots...if a story takes place in Scotland, film it in Scotland. I guess they kinda see that as a negative shot against their country. The statue was removed because people were so upset that they actually defaced the statue. Someone broke Mel's nose off, and a lot of other things were done, so they finally just removed it. When we got up the hill, it was actually too late for us to go inside because they were getting ready to close. I hope to go back someday and go up inside, I want to see his sword and everything.
Next we set off to go climb yet another mountain. This was is called Dumyat (pronounced Doo-mie-at). Ben at first didn't really want to hike it because he had worked out the day before and his legs were reallly sore. I was in the same position, because I had worked out on Thursday and my legs were still very sore and stiff. But I had decided to go anyways, and Ben did too. On our way to the mountain we cut across this set of practice fields. We all got so excited because there was a team out there practicing...they were all wearing pads and helmets and doing a fumble drill! We couldn't believe it...they were playing American football! We wanted to grab some pads and join in, but I doubt that was going to happen. So we continued and just went to the mountain. We were running out of sunlight, so we actually ran most of the mountain. Ben and Mark fell a little behind and decided the view from one hilltop was good enough...and it definitely was. The views were amazing all around. Mike and Keith took off, and I tried to keep up but I kept slipping on ice (there was snow and ice all around us), and I was getting tired and the soreness was taking its toll, so I fell a little behind. But I eventually caught up with them at the top and was able to snap a few pictures right as the sun was going down. We didn't stay long at the top. There is a tradition that when you hike Dumyat you have to carry up a rock from the base of the mountain. At the top is a huge pile and you toss your rock into the pile. I had found a rock shaped like South Carolina, so I had to carry that one up. I climbed up this pile of rocks and placed South Carolina on the very top. We got some good pictures up there, but it was way too cold to stay. Our pictures didn't turn out extremely good because our hand were shaking and at times too frozen to move. The wind was terrible. And of course, we had barely made the hike in an hour to beat the sunset, so getting down was completely in the dark. We found Mark and Ben again and began the descent. We each fell multiple times, slipping on ice. Mike and I both fell into little streams. I stepped on some ice, which wasn't actually very thick, and it crumbled beneath me as my foot got soaked, so that wasn't too much fun. Mike did the same thing a minute later. But we eventually made it down, frozen, starving, and exhausted.
We caught a bus into the city where we met up with Devin (Keith's friend) and the friends she was staying with. The 8 of us went out to dinner. It was a lot of fun hanging out with them, they were hilarious. We realized that we didn't have much time to eat, but that time went faster than we thought. The last bus back to Glasgow left at 9:15. We got our food and had to eat fast. Yes, for those questioning me, I can eat fast when I need to. I was actually the 2nd one done, and I had a huge calzone. We got our bill, left our money with the girls, then sprinted to the bus station. Buses definitely leave early, and so we had less than 10 minutes to get there. Dinner almost came back up for all of us, but we made it. It was an amazing day, and we got some great pictures. Mine didn't turn out too great, but that's because of my camera. Hopefully this will be the last time I have to deal with this camera, for I hope to go buy another one soon.
Things are definitely going very well for me. I have settled in, and we're planning all kinds of exciting trips coming up. Keith wants to go to Stonehendge for his birthday this Wednesday. So I think we're going to fly into London or Bristol, since we both have Tuesdays and Wednesdays off, and head to Stonehendge. I think we're going down on Tuesday, and maybe flying back on Wednesday, but I'm not sure yet exactly what the plans are. I hope everyone is doing well back at home. I miss you all and I'm thinking about you all the time! I can't wait to see ya'll again soon!

Quick Thought

One quick thought. I will update things later today. I'm sitting here at my apartment eating lunch getting ready to head to my last class today. I had class this morning. Our professor kicked a kid out of class, it was really funny. He was sleeping and unprepared apparently. But anyways, as I was walking back I had a thought. There has been a lot of construction in this city. I started thinking about why people would want to live here. It's mostly a joke in my mind, but I have a good point. I think it's interesting to see the differences in people and their preferences. It's sunny today, a beautiful day. There are not many days like that here. It was a beautiful day last Wednesday, but it quickly changed to overcast and rainy. Earlier this week it was sunny when I first woke up. By the time I left for class it was snowing. As I walked through the sun I got little tastes of warmth. I started thinking about summer and how that is my favorite time of the year. There is nothing better than warm sunlight beating down all over you. Yes at times it can be too much. Like when you're going somewhere nice or have to go to work and you don't want to get all hot and sweaty. But it's my favorite time of the year. I don't know if I could live in a place where it never gets that hot. I think I would hate it. I love the warmth too much. So it is a joke, but part of me could never live in a place like this. I couldn't voluntarily subject myself to such cold all year long. Strange how different people have different preferences...

Great Weekend!

Well my first official weekend in Scotland was pretty good. If this is a reflection of how the rest of this trip is going to be, I'm gonna be back on a plane before I know it. And that will be good for many reasons. If time flies, then obviously I had fun. Time flies when you're having fun, it's as simple as that. School didn't seem to be too much of a burden if time has flown by...that one is yet to be seen haha. And the other good thing is that I'll be going home to see the people I miss and love so dearly Anyways, I woke up this morning to head to class and it was snowing outside! I thought it was snowing a little on Friday but it was just an occasional flake. Today it's snowing a lot! This is like a blizzard for a Southern boy like me! It's really cold outside, but it's still kinda pretty. Well this weekend was a lot of fun! Me, Keith, and Mike went to Edinbourgh on Saturday. We got up and got breakfast at this little place. They tried the haggis, I still haven't worked up the courage for that yet. We got to Edinbourgh and it was so cool! The city is so old and the buildings all reflect this. We walked around for a little bit looking at different things, then we made our way up to the Edingbourgh Castle. This was my favorite part. There are so many cool things inside the castle, and the views of the city are amazing! The castle is up on this cliff in the middle of the city, and you can see all around you from the castle walls. My favorite part was seeing the Crown Jewels. They have this whole exhibition thing where you walk from room to room and it explains the progressive history of the Crown Jewels. It takes you from the history a long time ago, to the creation and presentation of the Crown Jewels to the king of Scotland from the Pope. It walks you through all the different kings and queens and their roles. Apparently there were many times that they were almost destroyed, but somehow the people managed to save them. Finally at the end you walk into this room after seeing the entire history of these 3 items...a sword, sceptor, and crown, and there they are. They are absolutely beautiful and magnificent. For me it was amazing to stand there in front of these and think about how hundreds of years ago the Pope had these items made, carried them to Scotland, and presented them to a king. They were then passed down through generations of kings for hundreds of years, and now they are sitting right in front of me! That was just really cool to think about. So after the castle we went up to Arthur's Seat. We saw the mountain in the distance and tried to work our way over there. We kinda had to trek through these woods to get there, but we made it. Then Keith had this brilliant idea. We could follow this walking path and then follow the trail up the mountain, or we could just go straight up the mountain. So he takes off, him and his hiking boots. Mike and I are standing there in our slick tennis shoes looking at each other like, well I guess we don't really have a choice. So we started up. Most of the time I was literally on all 4 against the mountainside. I didn't want to lose balance and fall, and I needed my arms as well as my legs to get up the side. It was like a grassy side, not rocky or anything, and there were little footholes, but they were all muddy and some were slippery. I wanted to kill Keith about halfway up. But we made it and even though it sucked in the end it was all worth it. The view here was even better than the castle. But we were just on the trail, so we had to keep walking to get to the actual peak. Turns out that we were on the wrong mountain, so the trail actually led us back down a ways then we jumped on a new trail up to Arthur's Seat. So we did a lot of hiking, a lot of climbing, a lot of pain, and a lot of tiredness. But once we got up there we realized how worth it the whole thing was. The views were incredible! I don't kow if I have ever seen anything this amazing. It was great just to sit up there for a little while and rejoice in the creation of my God. If you can, check out some of the pictures on Facebook. If you can't, let me know and I'll try to post a few online here so you can see. We didn't stay for a very long time because it was very cold that day, and the wind up on the mountain was brutal. We got too cold, so we had to start making our way down. We walked around the city for a little while longer, stopping at a pub for drinks and to rest our tired legs. Then we continued back into the city and started looking for something to eat. We walked around for quite a while until finally around 9:00 we found this little Italian place. Everywhere we had checked was either packed full with no open tables, or it was more expensive than what we were looking for. But we settled on this Italian place. Dinner was good, the wine was good, and we had a great time. We met some friends Keith had met on the plane ride over to Scotland and we spent some time with them before heading home. It was an amazing day, and I was completely exhausted.

Sunday was just a nice relaxing day. I don't have a church to go to yet, so I watched NewSpring online. It wasn't quite the same, and so I'm still looking for a good place to go. I'll find one this week though. I was able to get some little things done like putting pictures up, catching up on a few things, organizing. Then some friends came over and we watched the Superbowl. We get 5 channels through BBC on our little tv in the living room area of my apartment. Apparently one station was airing the Superbowl, so we didn't have to go out anywhere to find it. Of course we were the loud Americans watching the game no one else in the world understands haha. We tried to explain it to my Nigerian roommate but he eventually gave up. We all talked to him for quite a while and learned a lot from him...he's very cool. I feel like a lonely Steelers fan. Everyone picked the Cinderella story team to cheer for, so no one is a Steelers fan. Dad grew up in Pittsburgh so I feel like I have a connection to the city. So after the Panthers, I've kinda been a secondary Steelers fan. We won! It was a great game, a lot better than in years past. But the weird thing was, we didn't have any commercials. That makes sense since American advertisers are paying NBC to show their ads, not BBC. But they would cut to this British announcer and 2 American football analysts and they would talk about the game when we would normally have timeouts. I was somewhat disappointed with that haha. But it was still fun...I'm one of those people who watches the Superbowl for the football, not just the commercials. But it was a great night, and a great finish to a great weekend. I can't wait to see what this week has in store, as well as all these future weekends!