"Home" Sweet "Home"

Well, my week in Scotland ended up being a lot of fun. I spent most of my time exploring Edinburgh. Edinburgh is a beautiful city. The thing I loved most about it was the way the beautiful Scottish scenery was intermixed with the big buildings. You had a countryside feel- even in the midst of the skyscrapers. It was beautiful. I will try to upload pictures.



My favorite part of the trip, however, would probably have to be taking the train to St. Andrews to visit Anne from UVA. Anne and I were never great friends in college- mainly because she's two years younger than me- but I can't even begin to tell you how refreshing it was to be around another American. I didn't realize how much I missed being around other Americans! It was just nice to be with someone who knew my friends from college and really just knew where I came from (Anne is from Richmond). Also, St. Andrews is gorgeous. It's actually where Prince William went. Apparently he chose St. Andrews because it was an easy city to protect (should any sort of attack arise)- I consider myself lucky for not having to look into that when looking at colleges... It was amazing how Anne and I met up. I sent her a text message from the train, called her when I got on the bus at the train station, but did not get in touch with her either time. I got off at the first St. Andrews stop and wandered aimlessly through the town. After about twenty minutes of walking, I decided to stop in a coffee shop because it was getting dark and I didn't want to get too far away. Eventually Anne called me back (she had been in class) and I had miraculously ended up at the coffee shop right outside her dorm! (divine intervention? I think so..) We had dinner and just caught up that night. I also met her roommate Abigail (who also goes to UVA but I had never met). That night I slept on the couch in their dorm's common room- bad idea. A group came in and turned on the light in the middle of the night and the next morning, I was woken up by the maid asking "Why are you sleeping here?" Oops.

That day we toured the town. St. Andrews is home to the first golf course in the world. We walked around that and also around the beach. It is so pretty there- I can't even begin to describe it! We also toured the castle and the cathedral. The castle was interesting because they had mines that you could explore below the castle. A battle took place in the mines between the Protestants and the Catholics. Anne and I could not even imagine how they fit armies down there. It would have been VERY uncomfortable fighting quarters.









Anyway, its great to be back in the small town of Killavullen. I really missed the kids and Gillian and Kieran. I know, though, that it was nice for them to spend quality time together as a family this week. I'm happy they were able to do that!