Last few sights in Scotland

This morning my friends and I got up extra early to make sure we could walk around the town of Oban before we left with the bus. It was freezing and very wet, but still walking along the ocean was such a great way to start our day. Since it was early Sunday morning, the streets were empty and nothing was open, so we truly had Oban's lovely seaside atmosphere all to ourselves.

Right across from our hostel - Jacob and I near the freeeeezing ocean!

Oban :)

Alexandra and I

Streets of Oban on an early rainy Sunday morning

If you look hard there's a rainbow :)

Nikk and I in front of the ocean right before getting on the  bus

Next stop: Loch Awe and a 13th century church in St. Conan's Kirk. We drove up to some place that looked like the middle of the forest and came upon a beautiful medieval church/castle sort of thing that was single-handedly built by one man. It looked onto Loch Awe, so basically more pretty bodies of water and foliage. And you can never have enough medieval cathedrals! 

Miriam and I in front of the cathedral

Foggy view of a castle!

One man built this...meaning that people in fact were more productive before facebook was created :)

Afterwards we drive through Rob Roy country and visited the famous Scottish hairy coos...they're like very furry, red-headed cattle, most famous of which is named Hamish. 

Hamish!

 

We kept driving, now southbound back towards Edinborgh to eventually get back on the train to London, and for lunch we were dropped off at the town of Callandar. It's a cute little town with plenty of yummy places to get typically British/Scottish food, and if you walk through the allies in between the buildings if the main road you come out onto this gorgeous, tranquil green space with beautiful views of the town, a lake, and some hills.

Main road in Callander

Alexandra and I in front of the lake behind the city

 Finally we arrived in the city of Stirling, but we didn't have enough time to actually go into Stirling so we did a quick (but very steep) hike up some hill and came upon an incredible view of the entire town. I wish we had enough time to visit the famous Stirling Castle...next time I guess!

cool sky :) don't know how my camera did that..

Stirling!

Part of the scenic road we hiked up

And then it came town to go back to London. :( This trip was so amazing...no blog or pictures could ever do it justice, you just have to see all the nature and little towns for yourselves in person! :)

Typical view from our bus....fields, cattle, and absolutely no people in sight

Halloween tomorrow! Still don't know what to dress up as. Tomorrow we also have advising sessions for signing up for Brandeis classes next week. And I have to finish a huge history essay and probably some sort of creative writing assignment my professor will give us tomorrow - all before I leave for PARIS on Thursday night! Let the middle-of-the-night homework sessions begin!

xoxo,

Sarah

A day in the Scottish Highlands!!

After a lovely evening in Edinburgh we headed North to explore the Scottish highlands. Our first stop was the small village of Dunkeld. Dunkeld seemed like the type of village where everyone knows everyone else. There was a beautiful cathedral and several cute shops and cafes which all had a very cozy feel. 

On our way further north we were taken to a whiskey distillery which was really cool and interesting and unexpected. It was in the middle of nowhere and the scenery around it was gorgeous!

Next stop: Loch Ness, home of the infamous Loch Ness monster!! Despite the rainy day, the views of the lake and the foggy mountains around it were beautiful. Some of my friends decided to do the “Loch Ness challenge” and go into the lake and survive despite the supposed monster and the 7 degrees Celsius water. The lake was so clean and clear (definitely puts Sharon’s Massapoag Lake to shame!:) ). 

As we were driving north the scenery outside the windows of our bus made it seem like we were transported into an entirely different fantasy world...so I guess it makes sense that a lot of Harry Potter scenes were filmed nearby. But more than Harry Potter, the desolate and foggy hills reminded me of how I imaged the settings of novels like Wuthring Heights  or Jane Eyre to be like. And while we were on the bus our tour guide told us a lot about Scottish history and Scotland’s relationship to England. I just can’t get enough of hearing about Mary Queen of Scots and all the Tudors!

And then came my favorite part of the day. As we were driving up even further north to Glencoe (it was getting colder and colder at each stop) our tour guide told us we would be stopping to look at some really nice view. We get off the bus and in front of us was the most breathtaking, overwhelming, beautiful view I had ever seen. It was extremely windy, and  I definitely had not been so cold since my trip to Ukraine a few winters ago. We were standing on the edge of the highway looking out onto the remote highlands and foggy hills and even though it was so freezing that we were only out fro a few minutes, I don’t think I’ll ever forget that view. Even the actual photos just can’t do it justice! (Mostly because I was too freezing to keep my gloves off to take pictures and just wanted to take in the view before we had to rush onto the bus a few minutes later.)

Dunkeld Cathedral 

Dunkeld

Emily, Alisha, Miriam, Sarah and I

More Dunkeld

MEN PLAING BAGPIPES IN DUNKELD...I love Scotland

So many farm animals randomly wandering the highlands...

View of a castle from a bus!

Whiskey distillery...

Loch Ness! The monster's somewhere there, I swear!

Alexandra and I enjoying the view

casual swim in freezing water...in the rain...

beautiful view...

Our last stop today (where we’ll be spending the night) was Oban, a town right on the Atlantic ocean. Oban is very famous for its fresh seafood, so my friends and I went to a nice seafood place for dinner and had the best, freshest salmon ever. Hopefully we’ll get to explore the town a bit more tomorrow morning before we leave for our next destination. 

xoxo,

Sarah

Scotland!! First stop: Edinburgh!

Hello from SCOTLAND! I can't believe I'm finally here! We boarded a train early this morning, passing some beautiful countryside landscapes with a lot of sheep and eventually ending up here, in the city of Edinburgh (pronounced Edin-borough). It's just how I imagined it - rocky, windy streets on hills and very Hogwarts-like. The buildings here are so old and Scottish accents are so lovely to listen to. I barely hear British accents in London but I've heard plenty of Scottish accents today and it made me happy. (And reminded me of the Scottish couple in the film "Four Weddings and a Funeral":) ).
Anyways, our hostel was just a short walk from the train station, in the heart of the old city and right across a two-thousand year old castle. We had a two-hour walking tour (led by a guy in a kilt, of course) and then we had the rest of the evening to ourselves. It's a lot colder here than in London so our first stop was some hot chocolate, what else? Then we walked around and explored as much as we could of this magical city. When you're in Edinburgh you actually feel like you've been transported into a fantasy novel and are completely disconnected with the rest of the world (until you get back to your hostel and check your email and facebook).  Most of the architecture is gothic and medieval-looking, and all the streets are laid out in cobble stone.
For dinner we went to the cafe where J.K. Rowling first began writing Harry Potter. Yes, today I sat in the same restaurant where Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, etc were first thought up. Even as someone who isn't a huge Harry Potter fan this still totally made my day!
Since it's Halloween weekend my friends wanted to do a ghost tour around the city which is something I'd really never do, but I fell into peer pressure this time around, and so we all went on a tour called "City of the Dead" or something like that where we got to see all the supposedly haunted nooks and crannies of Edinburgh and listen to scary stories of supernatural occurrences from the past few centuries. It was actually very fun and entertaining, and definitely a great way to commence the Halloween celebrations!
On a completely different note, I'm very surprised at how much people openly resent the English. I guess it's because the question of Scotland breaking away from the UK is becoming an increasingly relevant topic these days with several new appeals for independence. And not to enforce stereotypes or anything, but when I got off the train today the first thing I saw was a man in a kilt (did you know they don't wear any underwear under those?!) and the first thing I heard was a bagpipe.
Now we're back at the hostel getting ready for bed - long day of touring tomorrow!

Miriam, Alisha, and Alva on the train to Edinburgh!

Castle right across the street from our hostel

 

Our tour guide is wearing a kilt!!
The circular thing is a memorial to Protestant
who were hanged back in the day

yummiest hot chocolate ever

View from the hostel room window

Restaurant where J.K. Rowling began writing Harry Potter!!!

On the ghost tour!

Pathway during the ghost tour

cemetery very late at night...gotta love ghost tours

Melina and I posing with the characters inside the hostel 

xoxo,
Sarah