Wild In Scotland Tour

Well... I arrived in Scotland on Monday Sept. 1st and Tessa, Chelsea and I headed right to Edinburgh. It was interesting lugging around two 50lb suitcases plus a huge backpack and laptop! If you don't know already, Scotland has a lot of hills!!! Everyone pretty much knew were American girls right off the bat. Whoops. We stayed at a youth hostel for the first night in Edinburgh and set out early Tuesday for our backpacking trip with Wild In Scotland. I had a wonderful time! We went all over Scotland to the Highlands and the Isle of Skye and Loch Ness of course! Everything was beautiful. I'm so happy I took the trip because I saw a lot of things I otherwise would not have on my own.

Our tour guide was a man named Bruce (pictured). He came off as a disgruntled, potty mouthed Scotsman, but he was a true softy at heart! And no, he didn't wear a kilt, but someone on the tour did! We couldn't have asked for a better guide. He was a history major and loved to tell stories. We got a great combination of historical facts blended with Scottish fairytales. In fact, Fairy Glen was one of my favorite stops along the way! We also took a great boat ride with a local fisherman named Neil. We saw dolphins, ate fresh, raw scallops and pulled up a huge net of crabs. A very cool experience.

After our four day tour sadly came to an end, we headed back to Edinburgh for one last night out with all the people we had met. We went to a couple local pubs and had a great time. Actually, we almost had a little too much fun... we woke up late in the morning and almost missed our bus to Glasgow. But alas, we made it!

I'm almost all settled into my flat. It's been a quiet couple of days since I've been one of the only people in the building since Saturday. Tessa, Chelsea and I have been keeping ourselves busy exploring and getting a feel for the city though. Finally today two of my three flatmates arrived. Borna from Hungary and Betsy, coincidentally from Indiana. They both seem very nice and I'm sure I'll have a great 3rd roommate as well.

That puts everyone just about up to speed. I start my week of orientation tomorrow. I can't wait to see both campuses (University of Glasgow and the School of Art). It should be another very exciting week, as I'm sure all will be this semester! Until later!