Beer and Bonanza in Las SCOTLAND

Three words: Scotland is amazing.

Hey, just because I like Hunter S Thompson DOES NOT make me a hipster, kthnx.

I heard so many stories this past weekend I had to write them all down just so I could keep them all straight.  Instead of boring everyone to death about Clan battles, JK Rowling and Hogwarts histories, five hundred year old castles, and brilliant Scottish architecture, I'll just make write a quick list of all the awesome things I saw and did in three days:

-Edinburgh (including JK Rowling's favorite cafe where she wrote parts of Harry Potter!)

-The Dalwhinnie Whiskey distillery

15 year old whiskey is just as icky as any other whiskey

 -The Highlands (battles, clan stories, murder, deceit, all that fun stuff)

 -The school were James Bond, Tony Blair, and Sean Connery attended
-The castle that imprisoned Mary, Queen of Scots
-Both castles in Monty Python and the Holy Grail (yeah, you're jealous)
-A bone fragment of Robert the Bruce

The bone fragment is hidden by the shadows, but why people gawk at a dead dude's piece of bone is beyond me

-Wallace Monument

Behind me is the town of Stirling

Researches have come to believe that Wallace was well over six feet tall due to where the hilt of his sword hit, therefore Mel Gibson was an inadequate Wallace (but we didn't need research to tell us that)

-The rails that the Hogwarts Express takes
-Loch Ness and Loch Awe

I tend to look like a tool when I'm freezing my butt off

And that's half of my list.  Now, our guide was about a forty year old Scotsman who was determined to wear his kilt and a wool knit sweater despite the freezing rain and cold winds.  He was awesome and even went out to the pubs with all thirty of us Arcadia kids.  Actually, he reminded me so much of an older, Scottish version of my friend Stefano!

What?  Oh, it's just the sunrise over Edinburgh, no big deal.

 Speaking of Wooster, two Wooster study abroad kids were on the trip with me.  I'm beginning to think the world is just as small as the COW!

And now, I will leave you with the coolest video you will see today:

Hee-land Coos!  Or Highland Cows, whichever you prefer.  That is the wife-highland cow and the baby-highland cow of Hamish, a 14 year old hairy beast who became famous when about to be sent to the slaughterhouse but saved by the adoring school children's petition!  Now he has a home and a family, and many travelers stuffing their wooly faces full of radishes and feed.

I have to say, it was my favorite weekend so far.  Also, I'd like to brag and say that not only do I have the Wooster McLeod tartan, but also the Hunter clan tartan too!

Cheers!

WWNPHD?

Let me start off this entry by simply saying, my feet hurt.  I walked the length of two major cities in two days this weekend and it was a-w-e-s-o-m-e.

I was going to indulge in Author-Stalking.  The Brontës lived in Haworth, located in West Yorkshire, aka not too far from me.  However, Mr. Rail Station Man informed me that the Keighley (the nearest station) has very few trains arriving on that particular day, so disappointed, I began to walk away from the small Lancaster Rail Station.

But...  Then I asked myself, WWNPHD? (My friend Rachel has also asked this great question too)

Exactly.

So I said, "screw it," and went to Leeds.  Then I went to Liverpool.  And it was awesome, thanks Neil Patrick Harris!

(Parents, I know you have no idea who Neil Patrick Harris is, please don't start liking him, because if you start liking him then it'll be automatically uncool, okay?)

This is the Corn Exchange Building.  Yeah, I don't know either.

How can I sum up an entire city?  Let's see, if Leeds were a person, he'd be an old man in desperate need of a shower, dressed like a provocative teenager.  I have to say though, Leeds did have some very cool street sculptures:

All hail Freddie Mercury

The (Modern) Myth of Sisyphus Statue, aka why I went to Leeds in the first place

Liverpool was completely different.  The city has a monument problem, meaning there are monuments everywhere.  I spent my day in Liverpool visiting the Walker Art Museum, the Liverpool Museum (where I was held witness to original Beatles costumes and instruments), the great Cathedral (which has the third largest working bell system and largest working organ in the world), and accidentally walking in on a funeral.

Behind the church was the very ornate Royal Liver Building, donned with the famous Liver Birds

Oh...Oops... (And yeah, I took a picture of it, what are you going to do about it?)

Oh, and Liverpool has another weird obsession:

There are 125 Superlambananas in the city

These guys are called Superlambananas.  They look like Pokemon and I can't decide if this city is absolutely crazy or brilliant.  The Superlambanana are everywhere.  I believe the original is named Mandy the Superlambanana and she resides in the Liverpool museum. 

Yeah, I'm not making this up, this stuff is legit.

Superlambananas aside, this weekend I'm heading off for a weekend in Scotland with Arcadia.  I'm really excited, Scotland sounds wonderful, I know this because Lydia has informed me that she doesn't want to leave it!

Cheers!
(And a special thanks to the parents for sending me clothes and Boyfriend and his family for supplying me with endless amounts of candy!)

Exxtreme Traveling

Yesterday, I did my laundry for the first time here.  Now, that may seem like a relatively uninteresting topic of discussion but I can tell you the following facts to make it a much more fascinating post:

1. The laundry room for Furness College is located down the little pathway and down the stairs, next to the student radio station room.  I wouldn't have found it if my friend hadn't pointed it out offhandedly.
2.  There was no way I was about to invest in a real laundry bag for a 10-week term.  Uh uh.  I was using my the bag my bedding pack came in (thanks Dad for raising me as a pence-and-penny-pincher).

Well, if you haven't guessed it...  It was the day that the students I passed to and from the laundry probably now know what my delicates look like.

But was it worth saving the money?  Oh, yeah.  I'm never going to see these people again and besides, all of my clothes are freaking adorable, including the delicates, thanksverymuch.
(Okay, parents, tell me all you want that I'm allowed to splurge on a laundry bag, I'm not going to listen!  I'm saving that money to get a sleeping bag so I can go hang out with the cool backpacking kids and you can't stop me!!)

In more exciting news...  Boyfriend booked his ticket!  He will be arriving, probably looking helpless and confused, at my giant University on the 22nd of November!  We are attempting to cram everything we could possibly do into his eight day visit, including an All-American Drunk Chicken Thanksgiving, which I'm sure will confuse the daylights out of my Chinese flatmates.

Exhibit A: Map decorated by Boyfriend

He's also got a fancy camera (that he's pretty nifty with) so he wants to get a picture of Stonehenge.  Then we gallivant around London and Lancaster, while making Ireland our top priority.

Exhibit B: He's humoring my author-stalking problems

Regardless of how much caffeine I will have to drink to keep up with him, it will be a fun visit.

Before that, is my weekend trip to Scotland with Arcadia, where I have Tour Guide Barbie for a whole two days!

Cheers!

P.S. My blog is lacking some Kate Middleton Fashion Sense (credit to the fashionable Kate in my life)