March 25- March 28
For the extended weekend this semester, I went to Edinburgh, Scotland with two other girls on the trip with me. On Friday we took the bus to Dublin and hung out in St. Stevens Green and read for the afternoon, shopped at Pennys and went out to dinner with a few of the guys on the trip who were staying in Dublin for the break. Our flight left at 6:00am which meant we had to be at the airport at 4:00am but we decided to save money and not get a hostel, so at 2:30 we took a cab to the airport and spent the night there. When we arrived in Scotland we checked into our hostel and took a nap until 1:30. When we woke up, we walked down Princes Street and went to Arthurs Seat, a dormant volcano located in Edinburgh. We hiked on the hills around Arthurs Seat and eventually made it to the top, where once again we had a fabulous view of the city. On our way back home, we passed by Holyroodhouse, the official residence of the queen in Scotland. We all were so tired from our lack of sleep the night before that we called it a night pretty early and got some sleep.
On Sunday we took the bus to St. Andrews to see the Old Course. Since it was Sunday, the Old Course was closed, but the reason it is closed is so that the public can walk around the course, unrestricted! When I found that out I almost had a heart attack. Going to St. Andrews is something that I have always wanted to do ever since I watched a British Open there and to not only get to see it but to walk the course was an amazing experience. I went with two girls who are not that into golf, but were so awesome to come along with me and walk the course. We took our sweet time walking around, soaking up every last moment on the course. Even though Hell Bunker on #14 was filled with water, I took off my shoes and climbed in, I was not going to have any regrets on the trip. Then the day culminated as I walked across the bridge on #18. I then went to the Old Course Golf Shop where I dropped pounds of pounds on souvenirs. After that, we walked to St. Andrews University and walked around the town for a bit before heading back to Edinburgh.
When we arrived at our hostel, we had seen an advertisement for a free walking tour of Edinburgh so on Monday, we went on the tour at 11 and spent three hours walking around the historic part of Edinburgh with a tour guide who has lived in Edinburgh his entire life and knew so much about the city! On the tour we walked by the castle, old churches, we went to a graveyard where JK Rowling would walk around looking for names to use in Harry Potter and saw the tombstone of a man named Tom Riddle! We also saw St. Giles Cathedral, Mercat Cross, Greyfriars Bobby, Princes Street Gardens and the witch burning sites, to name a few! The tour was great and helped us learn a lot about Edinburgh. After the tour, we went to the cafe where JK Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter books and had hot chocolate and wrote on our own napkins! We then went to Princes Street Gardens where we had a picnic dinner and then played on the playground. After dinner we went home and packed to head back to Tully Cross. I had such a wonderful time in Scotland and it is a place I definitely want to go back to someday!
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