Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

Melissa and I were kind of sad today, because Easter is a big deal to both of our families, so we decided to take it easy. Well that and Melissa's feet hate her for walking around so much.

We got up this morning and after the familar hostel breakfast of toast and juice decided to go to church. I googled "church" and "Barcelona" and we picked the first hit. It was the International Church of Bacelona associated with an American protestant denomination. It was wonderful. In the middle of the bustling city we found a congregation full of people from everywhere, every continent, and even a new friend from Phoenix. So wonderful. If I can't be with my family in Phoenix, I may as well be with my other family in Barcelona.

Since I'm leaving in a few days for Chester, I'm also taking today to just sort of catch up on stuff, (like blogging and class registration ha). It's beautiful here right now, sunny skies and about 12 degrees celcius. It rained last night, so the world is new and sparkling. Morning has broken like the first morning.

Church today was about trusting God in times of trial, learning to trust him when plans go wrong or plans don't exist. I was expecting the usual Easter sermon, but this was nice. I'm blessed right now that those closest to me are healthy and happy, but I have been really nervous about this summer and next year. I have lots of plans and ideas of where I want my life to go, but I just don't know yet. It was good to hear a sermon today that basically said wait and listen and when things don't work out or do work out, wait and listen still. Clarity and direction are gifts, but until then patience and trust are good things to live with. Frankly anywhere I am is the right place for one reason or another.

Anyway, I love you and miss you all. I pray for all of you, and hope you feel the unending love and grace of God with you in your lives.

Germany! In depth.

Germany:

So I didn't write about this when I was there, but I took notes, so I'm going to try to go in chronologial order. Also I'm working with a Spanish key board and no spell check so cut me some breaks.

France was great, but not what I planned because I was so sick, so I was ready to get onto the next adventure when the day came. The train ride there was great and kind of funny to me. There were all these kids running around speaking diffferent languages, it was like someone had forgotten to lock up It's A Small World one night. So adorable. And my seating area looked like a joke, I mean if I turned to you and said "A German business man, a French retired man, a Russian priest and an American girl got on a train together heading towards Frankfurt," you'd wait for the punchline. Which maybe you could argue was the train stewardess's peirced and bedazzled tooth. Europe's an interesting place.

I took the train thruogh the Rhineland, and now I understand why there are so many songs about that area. STUNNING. Every town we passed looked like a fairy tale or a theme park, it was so unreal. And funny. Like when every train station we stopped at wished us "gud fahrts" meaning of course, a good journey. I think I'm going to try to bring that one back to the States.

After the train ride I had a rather unpleasant plane ride to Luebeck on Ryanair. Let me tell you about Ryanair. First lie of Ryanair, that they're a "discount" company. A real discount Airline would not more than double the stupid rate with tagged on fares and fees. Second lie of Ryanair, the air in their name. I'm convinced they use discount air with less oxygon, but whatever they use gives everyone this weird headache almost immidiatly after boarding. Third lie of Ryanair, a "safe" trip. The only discount part of their fine practices is their pilates. I fly a lot people. So I've seen a lot of landings and take-offs. None as bad as these people. Everyone first gets more religouis before a landing and then cheers and rejoices when you actually land. That shouldn't happen!! It should be a given that you will land. Not ok.

Anyway, moving on, Johanna picked me up and we went back to her house, which looked just like a PacNorthwest house and made me really happy. Her family was so nice. So nice. I loved being in a house and being with people who weren't students, it was such a great thing. The next day we went around Hamburg doing fun touristy things and (mostly me) learning a lot about German history. Hamburg is a fascinating place. It has a very rich history, from like crazy old kingdoms to being a border town between East and West Germany to modern day Northern united Germany. It was just so interesting. So much of the German history I've learned had to do only with the World Wars or global issues, and it was great to hear another side of all those stories in addition to tons of other things.

In addition to history, I learned a lot about my own heritage. We just don't have a good sense of heritage in the States. We really are a melting pot of everything, which is fantastic, but it also means we lose a lot of pride and knowledge about family history and cultural identity. To be fare, I am an American absolutely, and THAT is my heritage and history now, but there was a time not to long ago when my ancestors had other identities. A giant chunk of that family history for my family is German. Annnnnnnnnd let me tell you, I had no idea how German my family was. For starters, we look like the people in Germany. It was weird and kind of creepy. Tons of people I met I was like "wow, you are my aunt____/uncle______/grandma______" It really was strange to have everyone kind of look like you. But looks aside, culturally we still do all these German things! Johanna and I were talking about traditional German recipies, and tons of them we still make for all the holidays. And we have some of the same decorations, and sayings. It was soo weird. Germany looks like Michigan, (where my relatives live) and Wisconsin (where my other relativeds live). And the And we act like the Germans I met. It was like meeting another branch of my family who all had cooler accents than me.

Ugh, and it is so beautiful. In northern Germany, there are a lot of brick buildings, including giant brick gothic churches. It was such a nice change from all the cold limestone gothic in France and England. Speaking of church, I went to Johanna's church for Palm Sunday. It was Lutheran and all in German, but it was just like a traditional Presbyterian service. German is a great language, and it's funny because it's so similar to English a lot of times I felt like I was just tired or something for not understanding. I think part of it is the tonal accents and speaking rhythms are the same as ours. Like the Lord's Prayer, the Apostle's Creed and advertisements all sound the same as English, just in German. I don't really know how to explain that in print

I was there for a little less than a week, but we did tons of stuff. After sight seeing in Hamburg, we had Turkish food, went to a museum and then went to the Red Light district. That was an experience. I like couldn't get over the fact that prostitution is legal and they're right there! And that they all wear fannypacks. Never thought those could be sexy. The next day I met her extended family and went to a birthday party for her cousin, who was 18. In most European countries, 18 is the biggest birthday, because it's when everything happens, drinking, driving (hopefully not together), adult status, off to uni, etc. Lots of board games and amazing food. (German food is amazing. Weinerschnitzel is like the food of the gods). Then! we had dinner with a friend of Johanna's who's currently doing an apprenticeship with a major German publishing company, which you know, I thought was totally awesome. She gets to travel around and try to get people to buy German Harry Potter. Tough life. I also thought it was cool that they still do apprenticeships. I think sometimes Americans are overeducated and overqualified when we really just need more job training. I also learned a funny German colloquialism. Her friend spoke English fluently, but a lot was translated straight from German, so instead of people breaking up, they "departed". Annnnd things like "the hip hoppers can't smell the goth rockers". I love that.

The day after that we went on a massive car trip around. We started off by visiting a Concentration Camp. Wow. I think it's good to look for beauty and admire what mankind has done well, but it is equally important to remember and learn about atrocities. The camp we went to was a work camp where prisoners were given nine months to live at best. Prisoners were ranked based on race, mental abilities, sexual orientation, and other things. The top prisoners were in charge of the others, and those lowest in rank were given only broth to eat and no tools. The beautiful river we passed on our way in was dug out using only the prisoners' hands. People were tortured and experiemented on. Many people ran into the electic fences or stepped out of line and were shot to get away. One of the saddest parts, was that when this camp was about to be freed, the prisoners were all put on military boats which were bombed. It was horrible.

While we were looking at all this, I also heard about stories from the other side of our text books. About people fleeing Poland after the war. About East Germany. C.S. Lewis said that everyone you meet will either be more beautiful than you could possibly fathom or more terrible and uglier than you could ever picture.

It was a lot to take in.



After that we went to a couple different cities. The first one was this charming riverside village, and the next was a college town that, like everything else here, was super old. It was a great city. We went to the girliest coffee shop ever to start off with. My friend Jesse is convinced every woman has this dream of owning a bakery/coffee shop somewhere exotic, most likely in the Mediterrean, like the end of Bourne movie. Welll.......that's mostly true. But I want this coffee shop, not one in Greece. This city had really cool architecture. Johanna and I at this point both started joking about how every sign started out "this is a typical German _______, with its roots in German________" to the point that we word for word predicted most of the signs in this town. I laughed a lot. The buildings are so mixed age wise, tons of them were bombed in WWII, but they've done a great job of keeping the same style. Unlike London which decided modern architecture was a good idea. Sad London. Anyway, I also got kind of obsessed with these home decoration stores. I feel like every store in Germany is aimed at me. Like I am the target demigraphic for all these stalker German marketing people. Like honestly, how else could they come up with things like giant coffee cup plant pots, or neon drapes, ugh. I want to buy everything in Germany. I had to settle with a cow pitcher.

I left the day after, but not before seeing the first hospital in Europe, (awesome by the way) and the Marzipan Factory. I saw the largest Marzipan sculpture ever. You haven't lived until you've seen 12 life sized famous Germans made out of sugar-butter-cream. This city also has really cool architecture, like these giant towers and cool facades. It was fantastic.

I love Germany. I will be back there as soon as possible. I loved staying with Johanna and her family, they were so warm and amazing hosts. I loveee Germany.

So with a stomach full of yummy food, a head/lungs that were almost over being sick, and a heart full of happiness I braved another Ryanair flight to Girona, Spain.

London

London

So Suvi and I went to London this past weekend. I had been a few years ago and was a little nervous that it was going to be different then I remembered. Wrong. It is the best. Chester is someplace I live, London is like…fill in this space with all cliché about souls and love and home.

We started got there around noon on Saturday after one of my first non-motion sick train rides, (hurray!), and Suvi showed me around the Tube, ending up at our hostel. It wasn’t really a hostel; it was the Finnish Church that had rooms for rent. Nice rooms. Like super clean, had a semi-private bathroom, delicious breakfast, and no bed bugs. It’s the little things in life. Anyway after a lot of Finnish conversations that I understood none of but enjoyed thoroughly, we hopped back on the underground and sped off to the West End.

I love Trafalgar Square. It was so sunny on Saturday, which made everything stunning. I just loved the pigeons, the people, the Bobbies, the behemoths of building, everything. We enjoyed the sun for a bit, and then headed off to find the Novello theatre to collect our tickets. It was so fun traipsing around the West End. I think if I’m ever a resident of a giant city and really posh, I will go to the theatre whenever a new play comes out. After getting our tickets, we had sandwiches at the best café ever. You got to pick out your own fillings, like Subway, but unlike that fine establishment, this place had fillings like sun-dried Italian tomatoes, grilled zucchini, goat cheese, smoked salmon, capers, and cutlets of beef. Listen folks, I live off of soup and toast most days, so this was like Christmas in my mouth. We then hopped on back to the Novello to watch Cat on A Hot Tin Roof. It was fantastic. James Earl Jones starred as Big Daddy, and the rest of the cast absolutely held up their own. I love Tennessee Williams, (really anything out of the Southern Renaissance), but it is so nice to be able to see his work instead of read it. Especially when in the hands of such talent.

After the show we had some pricey but tasty dinner and found out that our seats for Waiting for Godot had been cancelled by Mr. Internet, but the lovely man at the box office upgraded us three balconies down and kept our same price. Someone should beatify him.

I can’t even tell you how good the show was. So I won’t. But I will tell you that Beckett is brilliant. The cast was brilliant. And it was the best production I’ve ever seen. I was speechless at the end.

Thank goodness Beckett’s god isn’t my God.

Afterwards Suvi and I were like, hey let’s go stalk the cast at the stage door. So we did. Which meant we were rewarded by meeting the entire cast, and last not but not least, Sir Ian McKellen. Oh. Em. Gee. When we were waiting in line, Suvi, the guy next to us from Bellingham (weird right?) and I were all talking about how we had no idea what we would say if he came out, and that was accurate. Oh man, he was just the picture of an English gentleman. He was tall and polite (although I was expecting him for some reason to be like 6’11, probably because of Gandalf’s pointy hat…). He went through the entire line in front of me, and got to me and said:

“So we have France, Italy, England, Finland and…”

“Phoenix” (omg omg omg omg)

“Ah, Phoenix. What a lovely place. I’ve been there, so warm. Did you see William Hurst come out earlier?”

“Yes I did, that was neat… I really enjoyed the show, thank you so much…”

“Ah, I am glad, why thank you.”

(Rude-interrupting-French Kid) “Excuse me sir, may I picture?”

“Yes if it’s quick” Walks away after shaking my hand.

So that was like the highlight of you know, my month.

We finally after a lot of wandering and giggling made it back home. The next day was like knowledge overload. After taking our pictures at platform 9 3/4, we went to the British Library where I saw pretty much every famous manuscript ever. Including but not limited to:

Magna Carta, Guttenberg Bible, Beowulf.

Wow.

Then, we made a mad dash to Camden Town. Interesting place. Sort of like if a farmer’s market, punk music, and the Oriental Trading company had a baby. It was fun though. Suvi met a friend from home, so she was really happy. I kind of went off and did my own thing, mostly consisting of eating Mexican food and finding fun hats.

I got burned out pretty fast from all the crowds and selling and yelling, so I left Suvi and Camden to try to squeeze in a few hours at the British Museum. If the British Library has every manuscript ever, then the British Museum has the history of humanity. In four buildings. There is nothing like it in the States, save maybe all the Smithsonian’s put together. How do you even describe artifacts from Nebuchadnezzar, Egyptians, Assyrian, Greeks, Romans, Mayans, Anglos Saxons, the Americas, Chinese explorers, Indian temples, ancient masks from central Africa, ugh. Literally every culture in every epoch. Trying to narrow it down leaves me with, the Rosetta stone, the Sutton Hoo burial artifacts, a jade mask from South America, an Easter Island head, Ramses II stuff, and lots of things from Babylon. It was incredible. I basically ran through it because I only had an hour and a half, but I could have stayed in there for months.

I spent the rest of the day recovering from little sleep and lots of walking in a coffee shop, then met up with Miss Suvi, and headed home. I can’t wait until I live in London someday. Or at least go back this semester.

Here are my pictures.

http://s982.photobucket.com/albums/ae305/sglady11/London/

Scotland and York (also known as THE LONGEST BLOG POST EVERRR!)

Phew. Finally got this all done. Y'all better read this...

February 14^th

Yesterday mom got here and I whisked her all around Chester. I got up super early, well, as in my alarms didn’t go off and Morgan woke me up, and I rushed off to the train station, then to Manchester Piccadilly, then finally to the airport where I rather impatiently waited for my mum to walk through the baggage claim doors. I haven’t cried here yet, but all the families were waiting with flowers and banners for all the people they loved and I am a total softy so I shed a few tears over how much I missed my family and how nice it was that all these people just cared about the people on the other sides of the doors. ANYWAY. My mom finally walked through the doors, and I was so so so happy. We got back to Chester, (I was chattering the whole way, because that’s how I get when I haven’t seen people in a long time), and my mom was a saint and listened even though she was super jet lagged. We then went on a whirlwind three hour tour of everything in Chester from the walls and museum to the pubs and my campus. It was nice to show everything off.

Today, we started our northern adventure. We took train to Warrington, met two nice ladies who were going our way, then a train to Preston on the super nice Virgin Rail long distance, then to Carlisle on bus. The bus ride was lovely. We passed about a bajillion mountains (okay, large hills) with sheep, rock walls mom thought was cool, the edge of Lake district, met two middle school guys who could only talk about New York, food portions, burger king, our new prime minister. Then we get to the train station at Carlisle, and it’s painted like Willy Wonka’s factory, had sandwich with delicious cheese, and took another train ride to Edinburgh. The ride in was different then I was expecting. It was really foggy, and there were tons of pine trees. By the time we got there, we were pretty tired, but as we emerged from the station, we were greeted by the most incredible sky line and bag pipe music. Life. Is. So. good. And it was freezing, just like Spokane.

The rest of our day went something like this. We went to our hotel that looked like a castle with our amazing room, went walking, reflected how everything there looked like Harry Potter, went to St. Giles, and went to dinner.

St. Giles has Scotland’s Thistle Chapel, was John Knox’s church, and also the birth place of Presbyterianism. It was really meaningful to see his church, go where he went, see the actual 1500’s break contract, and reflect on all the history. The whole time we were there, a very talented boys’ choir was performing, and it just sort of perfected the experience.

On a totally different stream of philosophy, we saw the Hume statue, and Forrest Baird was right, he’s not as fat in marble. We then heard this fabulous boys’ choir who sang Loch Lomond and Hakuna Matata, followed by dinner at pub where I had haggis, (which is DELICOUS) and my mom had steak and ale. This perfect day was ended with the longest, best bath ever.

February 15^th

This morning we had a fabulous big breakfast, lovely food, with real bacon and fruit and everything.

We spent the morning on a bus tour learning all about Edinburgh, (including about the guy that RLS based Jekyll and Hyde off of) from a woman that I’m pretty sure was a witch in her spare time. I love the Scots. I can’t wait to come back here. We then went to the castle, through the gate guarded by William Wallace and Robert the Bruce, where we saw the room King James numero uno was born, the Scottish crown jewels, Mons Meg, and just overall cool castleness.

The whole time with the backdrop of Old Edinburgh and The Crags behind us. It is such a spectacular dramatic view, it took my breath away every single time. We learned tons of weird facts, like about how poor people used to put oysters on their roof to scare witches away, things about Sir Walter Scott and so many other authors, like Robert Burns. We had scones and puddings and other yummy things, and I really enjoyed hanging out with my Mom. It’s so nice to have her here.

For you Arizona folks, Scotland looks like Prescott in the winter, tons of brushes and grassland and volcanoes that have been rounded down by time and the Picts and Celts.

I’m so excited for tomorrow. I just go back and forth between being absolutely in love with Scotland and exhausted. It’s stunning. Everything looks like Harry Potter and Brave Heart, and it’s everything that is great about Paris and London, but it is so much better. I adore it here. It’s also really nice being here with my mom, eating well, sleeping well, taking a bath, having clean things, feeling stress free. Back to Edinburgh, I love it; it’s so clean, nice, warm, full of history, people, food, joy, music, faith, and magic. Seriously. I can’t wait for the high lands tomorrow. I want to move here. I also adore haggis and the other food. Still need to try scotch.

Did I mention Scottish guys are really really...good looking. and sounding.

February 16^th.

Today was our Highlands trip. Got up had yet another delicious breakfast. Then we waited outside in the cold, I admired a group of Italian guys walking by and then Bill the Scotsman pulled up in our minibus. First we drove to Glasgow. It was very industrial but had pretty parts. We heard a really interesting story about a holy ring swallowing fish . It was foggy. We drove west for a while through fields and sheep to Loch Lomond. I was very excited. Then we got to a very foggy arena, we found out our cruise was cancelled. No matter, Bill the Scot was determined we still have a good time so on we went. We went to the little village decorated with holly and ivy and tried to get to the shores. I kept thinking about the song, but it wasn’t exactly how I pictured it. My mom and I trekked through this bog that had this beautiful Celtic cross with stain glass and a prayer walk to the shores. It looked very witchy. I could totally see Macbeth’s lady friends hanging out here boiling trouble. We got to the shores and it was pretty but not what I was expecting. It looked a lot like the Salt River in Arizona where my family used to have picnics. Afterwards, we were sort of verbally assaulted by this very spirited Scottish shop owner who wanted to tell us all about his pet lynx and imported deer. Then we stopped at about five hundred cheesy tourist shops. There were lots of beautiful wool and cashmere clothes in Edinburgh, but here it all seems to be sheared off the rare acrylic sheep. So naturally, Mom and I bought more shortbread cookies. After that we drove through this gorgeous mountain pass, which supposedly is called the highlands in miniature. Stunning view of Ben Lomond. It was like a combination of Switzerland and Maine and Central Arizona. The deep brown and burgundy of the sleeping heather covered the hills, just waiting to catch on fire into various shades of pink and purple. It was so so so beautiful. Then we passed through town where last Scottish wild boar was killed like 500 years ago. Then we stopped at this little tartan weaving thing where Hamish, the most photographed highland cow/bull lives (he was in the Rob Roy movie). Then we rolled into wooded area where the Edwards (Longshanks and Son) and Wallace and Bruce all fought and lived. The fog thickened. We came through the woods into the town of Sterling with both the castle and the Wallace monument looming in the clouds in front of us. We passed the King’s knot, an old jousting arena thing, and climbed the steep cliffs up to the castle. The city looked like the old Edinburgh, was stunningly beautiful. I know I keep saying “then we….” and “stunning! Beautiful! Gorgeous!” but I just don’t have enough words to describe what it was like there. We did the castle in an hour. From the walls, we saw the whole valley. It has been interesting to see the old architecture. There is so much beauty, but it absolutely reinforced class differences. It’s so easy to understand why Royalty was considered to be given power from God when you compare all these incredible buildings with the shacks the poor serfs got. Anyway, my mom and I finished our time in Sterling with a walk through this super old cemetery. We were about halfway through when the thickest fog I’ve ever seen rolled in and from somewhere downhill, bagpipes began Amazing Grace. Ugh. You can’t make that kind of stuff up. PS, speaking of fog, Scotland is frigid. I mean like Spokane, punch you in the gut, reminds you you’re alive cold. I love it. We then hopped back on the bus and relaxed all the way back. Back at home, went to Italian food and had the best ice cream, followed by a quick stop at the hotel bar to try Scotch. I had The Highlander and Mom’s had Bonner something or another? Mine was better : p We went back to room, and since the BBC sucks, we continued our Olympic marathon. (I LOVE THE OLYMPICS). And enjoyed another bath and poufy bed.

Feb 17^th

This morning we had breakfast, went into St. Giles to buy things, picked up some last minute souvenirs (namely a kilt, jewelry, and more post cards and scarves) tracked down North Bridge to train station. I loved loved loved Edinburgh. I already miss it. I fell in love. At the train station I bought the student rail card and paid for immaculate bathroom. See Manchester! See England! It’s not that hard to have a clean train station bathroom. The Scots, well they know how things are done. Ugh, the train ride was just wonderful, and SO BEAUTIFUL. The coast was a fairy tale, tons on light houses and cliffs and sheep and green fields and wooded areas. The most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately, our train seats were backwards, which meant very quickly a very ill Sarah. Then we crossed into England and hit Newcastle…interesting. At least the graffiti was lovely. I was really sick at this point, but found some humor in the fact that the toilet, instead of saying “occupied” like it does in the states, said “engaged”. Congratulations toilet! I didn’t even know you were seeing someone! I mean people come visit all the time but…well, send me your address so I can send you and Bidet a nice set of silver.

We got to York, and were a little put off by how huge it was, both Mom and I were expecting a tiny town. I felt less sick and we walked into town, passing the giant racecourse and a place where the highwayman was hung and catholic priests were killed for their faith. This whole continent is drenched with religious history. York is just like Chester, only way bigger. The rest of the day was basically walking by the river, expensive shops, and closed museums. However, we did discover the International food market, and had a dinner of cold quiche, then a Polish cheese and tomato and cabbage dish, Swedish pancakes with Bailey’s and an Italian canolli. So naturally we felt like death. We turned in early and have now spent the rest of the night blogging and watching women’s downhill skiing. It hit me tonight that Mom is leaving soon. I’m kind of frustrated about not going too; I’ve just had such a wonderful time in Scotland and hanging out with her.

Feb 18^th

I’m really sad Mom is leaving.

Today we got up early, then went back to sleep. But we finally got up and walked into town and had a great day. We saw cool antiques, found this street that seriously was Diagon alley, tea shop with cookies and chocolate eggs, and then went to Yorkminster. This cathedral has half of the stain glass in England. Think about that for a second. My favorite parts were: the Jesse window, which showed the entire lineage of Jesus, the 5 sisters window, which paid tribute to all the women who had fallen in combat for the country, the funny archbishop tombs, where they all looked like very seductive dead priests, the rose window in honor of the peace and end of the hundred year’s war (yay Tudors!) the embroidery, the St. Nicholas chapel, and the carvings of all the British kings. After some time, my mom and I realized that it was waaay later than we thought, and so we hurriedly ran to the Viking festival. Everything was sold out but the Jorvik Center (the main museum), but that was okay. Oh man it was cool. The first part was a Lucite floor over the actual dig of the Viking camp. THEN! You got on a ride. It was just like the Peter Pan ride at Disneyland, but instead of Neverland, you went through what life-size reproduction of York when it was a Viking town, full of people and buildings and smells and Old Norse. Man it was cool. Then you enter the museum. It was super interesting; there’s been tons of research on Viking DNA (from the bones and the poo they found) as well as normal archaeological stuff. We saw a lot of artifacts, like weapons, shoes, jewelry, bones with battle wounds, and other stuff. It was really neat. Seeing as I am Norwegian, it was cool to find out all the havoc my ancestors wrought upon England. Bomb guys. Then, after delicious Indian food, we started our late night travels back to Manchester. I got really sad and cried for the first time since I’ve been here. Mom and I called home, and it just sort of sucked. I had such a great week, and it felt so much like vacation that it just feels awful to not be leaving for home, either home actually, Phoenix or Spokane, but anyway. Mom leaves tomorrow. I had a great trip. I am excited for Canterbury next week.

February 19^th

Mom flew back this morning. I took the train back to Chester through Crewe, which was pretty nice actually. It’s really quiet here on campus because no one comes back for a few days. If you want to see my pictures from the trip go here. I’m not exaggerating, there are about 800. Enjoy!

I also forgot to tell you the kilt jokes I heard.

What’s under a kilt?

The Future of Scotland.

What’s worn under a kilt?

Nothing worn madam, everything in fine and working order.