Rockin' North Wales

So I am really enjoying my time in Wales and it has recently hit me how little time I have left here! You would think five months would feel like a long time but it is already half way over and it feels like I have only been here for a couple weeks. There is just so much left to do! But anyways... recap on the past two weeks.

Thursday, March 3rd was a trip to Mt. Tryfan with outdoor pursuits class for a little bit of mountain scrambling. That did not start off so well but it ended up being a really great day. In the beginning I felt really nauseous and really just did not want to be there. I had to stop a few times and then I felt bad for holding the group back. But I really wanted to do this activity so I pushed through it and I'm so glad I did. I felt better after about an hour and when we got to the rocky part of the mountain the fun really began. It was a blast scrambling up that mountain side and the further up we went the steeper, and more fun and dangerous, it became. There were parts that we probably should have used equipment for, but instead Llion just stood on the ledges helping us around making sure we wouldn't fall. I've always loved climbing things and I think that if I lived in a mountainous area I would definitely be doing this often. When we got to the summit of the mountain (3010 ft.) we took a break and ate our lunches. Then after lunch we had the option of jumping between the Adam and Eve rocks. These rocks at the top of the mountain are about 7-8 ft tall and 5 ft apart. Doesn't sound so scary, right? Well it wouldn't be if there wasn't sudden death/ maiming on 3 of the 4 sides surround the jump. Luckily the rocks are big and flat so it wasn't that hard. Then after that began my least favorite part of mountain hikes... going down. You would think that most people would hate going up and welcome coming down but I am completely the other way around. I am so clumsy, the mountains are steep, and gravity is not working in your favor. When I was coming down I took my sweet time and I am not ashamed. When we were coming down we saw a rescue helicopter but it was just going up in down in the same place over the mountain. Then our instructor told us that his friend was actually training Prince William in the helicopter so that was pretty cool. All in all awesome day.

Then that weekend was a double birthday weekend for two of the guys in the program. They got plastered for their 21st birthdays and then we all went out for karaoke and that was a riot. Screaming "Poker Face" and "All the Small Things" into a microphone is just pure entertainment in my opinion. Then we headed off to a pub and I called it a night soon after we got there.

That next week we had phenomenal weather and I took the sunshine-filled opportunity to do a lot of walking and jogging with Amy. More walking than jogging because of all of the different forms of exercise, running would have to be my least favorite. I like dancing, swimming, biking.. heck through me on the elliptical machine for a couple hours.. but I hate running. I really enjoy walking here, though, especially when the weather is nice.

Then this past Thursday was another outdoor pursuits class. It was bad weather so we did indoor rock climbing which was fun. It was like a jungle gym for adults... with ropes and harnesses. It was probably the most chill of the the outdoor pursuits activities we've had so far but I enjoyed it. Lauren (another girl in the program) and I were being so incredibly goofy the entire time, bursting out into song (theme song of the day was "Free Fallin'"... you have to love the irony. It was a blast.

Saturday I revisited Llandudno with some of the girls and it was ok. There was not a whole bunch to do, just walking around. However, at the end of April the town apparently turns into a giant Victorian fair and I will definitely be going. It looks like so much fun from the pictures! I wonder if I can find a costume anywhere...

Chillin' on Llandudno Pier 

Sunday was another field trip. This time we went to Harlech Castle and ended up playing an epic game of hide and seek. Me and one of the guys found a hole in the wall that actually led to a tunnel and we hid in there. Pretty awesome hiding spot but we were found. After the castle we went to a town called Portmerion which is an Italian style village on the coast of North Wales. The architect had the idea that architecture could actually enhance the beauty of the natural landscape of done properly and I think he might have accomplished his goal because it was absolutely gorgeous and I am not one for buildings usually. The buildings were all different colors and there were a lot of arches. The buildings were very artfully placed too so that the village looked like it belonged there. It was beautiful and I took far too many pictures. On the way back to Bangor we stopped by the folk-tale site of Gelert's grave. Gelert was the dog of a Prince who was left to watch the baby. When the lord returned there was blood all over the house and he did not see his baby so he rushed to conclusions and slew the dog on site. Then he heard the baby cry and when he went to the baby he saw a dead wolf on the ground. The prince was filled with remorse and gave the dog an honored burial. Poor Gelert. Then after that we stopped by the Snowdon Horseshoe, which is the range surrounding Snowdon, just to see it and then it was back to Bangor.

Monday night I planned my Easter break trip with one of the other girls and we will be going to the Greek Island of Corfu! I can't believe the great deals I was able to find! The whole trip is going to cost around 230 pounds. Not bad for a week on a Greek Island if I say so myself. I can't wait! Our hostel is right on the beach and they give us breakfast and a traditional Greek dinner every day. We are going to have an amazing time and I might even get to wear shorts! The weather says it will be round 65 degrees Fahrenheit which is 20 degrees warmer than Wales so bring it! Shorts, the beach, sun shine! AHHH!

This weekend we are heading to Cardiff, the capital of Wales, for 3 days and it is sure to be fun. We will be staying in a hostile and I will be eating a lot of peanut butter sandwiches. There will also be shopping as souvenirs should be able to find in a big city and one of my best friend's birthday is coming up. So excited for real stores! Bangor is cute in its quaintness but the shopping is severely lacking so this is great! But this trip could not come at a worse time because I have a major assignment due next week. The one downside to the UK system is their assignments. Yes, you have no homework and very few tests but it also means that each of those things are weighted very heavily. I have an essay due next week worth half of my grade in the class. If you know me then you know that the fact I started this essay more than a week before it is due shows how much it scares me. But I will prevail if I have to live in this library for the next week! I actually quite like the library. The windows are huge so there is a lot of natural light which I absolutely love. Well, until next time!

<3 Melissa

Conquering the Elements

You can even see one of the guys standing on the board in the background!

It's been two weeks since my last post and I have a lot to share! First of all, Thursday February 17th I did something I never thought I would do. I went surfing! And when I say surfing I mean I got to my knees on a nice, non-threatening sized wave... but hey! Standing is next! And yes, the water is exactly how you expect it to be in the middle of February in North Wales. Lucky for me they have these things called winter wet suits that kept me from getting hypothermia. The way they work is that they actually trap water in the fabric of the suit and use your body heat to warm it up, so I was actually very comfortable in the icy ocean. Well, except for my feet and hands. The hands weren't covered and the boots were no help. I could not feel my feet for a good while after we were done and it took a 15 minute hot shower to regain full feeling. But I would do it all again in a heart beat. It was exhilarating! We were in the water for about two hours, took a break for lunch, and then attempted to head back out but the waves died so we left. Changing out of the wet suits on the side of the road was fun... or something. The girls ended up changing in the trailer taking turns holding towels over the opening and the guys changed in the van. Wet suits are tight and there was much clumsiness. I was sad to leave and believe you me, had we had more time I think I could have stood on the board! Two of the guys in my outdoor pursuits class actually managed to stand on the boards so kudos to them! It is definitely something I am going to try again some day because it was a blast.

Long Way Down...

Then that Saturday, February 19th, I climbed to the summit of two mountains (Pen yr Ole Wen & Carnedd Dafydd) with Bangor University's mountain walking club. How cool of a club is that?! Started off the day pretty light with just walking around the edge of the lake but if you're gonna climb to the top of the mountain you do eventually have to go up. So we started up the marshy mountain side. Walking up the marshy part was honestly more difficult than climbing up the steep, rocky part. Climbing up the rocky part was actually my favorite part of the climb! I was so glad I decided to go because it was just beautiful. There were small streams and waterfalls everywhere. As we got closer to the top we were actually in the clouds! It was amazing. I mean, obviously it blocked the view.. but we were INSIDE a cloud. I thought it was cool. Also as we climbed higher we came upon snow. Not so bad. I feel I dealt with the snow pretty well for a Texan... at least climbing up. We spent some time at the top of the mountain before beginning our descent which was.. interesting. If you ever want to work on your balance and reflexes just try to walk down the snowy side of a mountain. I think I fell a total of five times and slid down some of the way on my imaginary skate board. Note to self- wear gloves. My hands in the snow felt like daggers! But it was so worth it! As we walked along the river back to the bus the sun was setting and we were in this absolutely gorgeous field in the valley. Towards the end we even got close to some sheep and a really friendly horse who I took a few minutes to say hello to. I cannot imagine a more beautiful place. After we got back I and two of the other Central Abroad students, Molly and Shawn, made tacos and called it a night. It was an awesome day.

So as of late I've decided I should get out a bit more because I realized I did not actually know that many people outside of our American group so I decided to check out dance society. I used to do some dance in high school and loved it so I thought this would be fun. On Tuesday February 22nd I tried out the jazz class and was not too crazy about it. On Wednesday, however, I tried out the contemporary dance class and absolutely loved it and will definitely be doing it again. I also tried out street, just for giggles, and let's just say it's not my thing. It was fun to try though! We did not have Outdoor Pursuits that week because Anglesey, the island that the class is taught on, had some kind of school holiday.

Yes, it is possible to pronounce.

Speaking of Anglesey, this past Saturday (February 26th) was our tour of Anglesey field trip. We started out at the place with the longest name in the UK and one of the longest in the world. This town has nothing really special about it except it's name and it's name was in fact created to attract tourists in the 19th century.

Foyl and the lighthouse

Next was the Anglesey lighthouse. From the beach you can also see Puffin Island which used to be covered with puffins until rats were introduced to the island. But the rat population has been decreased and the puffins reintroduced so here's hoping they make their comeback! Tecwyn brought his dog Foyl on the trip and that made the trip so much more awesome. I absolutely love dogs and Foyl is adorable and so playful! Then we stopped by a Holy well and an old dove coup. There were some wild daffodils popping up all around and it made me smile. Spring is coming! And then after that was Beaumaris Castle. It has a moat! That was exciting. I had a lot of fun wandering around inside the castle. The way they built it is actually very clever in that you enter the courtyard on one end but you have to go all the way around the castle to actually get inside. Good protection strategy I think. So that was fun. We wandered around the town after that, heading down to the pier and into a souvenir shop and then it was back on the bus to the Marquess of Anglesey's Column. We climbed 115 spiral steps to get to the top and boy was the view worth the disorientation! Everything was so green and I could see the Menai straight. It was just gorgeous. But the best was yet to come.

View from the Marquess' Column

Wild Daffodils :-)

Llanddwyn Beach

Next was Llanddwyn beach and that place just simply filled my heart with joy. I had missed the beach so incredibly much and I was so happy to be there. We walked along the entire beach to see two light houses at the end and a giant Celtic cross. On the way we encountered some wild ponies! They were just standing there completely oblivious and apathetic towards our existence, but they still made me smile. When we reached the light houses I ended up climbing around on the rocks down by the beach and that was a lot of fun. I could feel the mist from the ocean and it was sheer bliss. I did not want to leave and fully intend on taking a bus back sometime soon. On the way back to the bus some of us picked up some sea shells. There were a ton of these really pretty blue ones and I grabbed a couple. Then when we were waiting for the rest of the group we saw this family making giant bubbles with two sticks and a piece of string called "dragon bubbles". I don't know if I was just really tired or something by then or if they were just that awesome but I thought it was incredibly cool and really wanted to try. Oh yay for the inner child and may mine never die. All in all it was one of my favorite days since I've been in Wales.

Wild Ponies!

Today (March 2nd) I had my first exam which marked the completion of my 5-week Brain and Mind course. The test was not as bad as I thought but leading up to it was a little terrifying as it is worth our entire grade for the class and I had no idea what to expect. But I survived and got free pizza from Domino's (yes we have a Domino's here. Weird, right?) with some of the other girls in the class. Woo hoo for free dinner! Tomorrow I am supposed to be climbing another mountain with my Outdoor Pursuits class and I'm super excited to get back into the mountains! Well, until next time!

<3 Melissa

Mountain Biking, Liverpool, and the 90's

Sorry that it's always like a week between posts... I told you I wasn't so good at keeping up journals. But anyways...

The group (minus 2): Team Thursday!

The poisonous lake we stopped by for lunch- it's filled with lead

Pictures does not even remotely do the place justice... 

Last Thursday (Feb. 10th) my outdoor pursuits class went mountain biking and let me just say... holy crap that was fun. I mean I could deal without the steep uphill parts... (my bike seat was bent back and making things a bit more difficult than usual).. but going down the biking trails was awesome. We went down a lot of really narrow, windy, steep paths over rocks and logs and mud... it was a blast! We were in Gwydr Forest (gwydr= glass in Welsh) in Snowdonia national park. The day started off pretty easy. Our instructor, Sally, taught us some necessary stances on the bikes for going down steep hills so that we would not fly over our handle bars... always a good thing. We practiced on some wider, less rocky, track. Then we really got started. It was 4 and half hours of mountain biking and I highly advise seat cushions for future reference... ow. And of course there were a lot of falls with the speeds we were going and the terrain. One girl fell off a 20 ft. cliff, leaving her bike at the top, and landed on her feet! It was pretty epic. The rest of the falls were not so graceful... On one of the last trails there were some bumps that our director said we could try and get some air if we wanted to and five of us tried. Three of us, myself included, fell and I think it's safe to say that I won for best battle wound. I fell on some rocks coming off my jump and it left a good bump and some cuts on my leg. Another fall was actually an almost fall and it was pretty awesome. One girl was coming down the hill on the single track, lost control of the bike and almost went over another cliff but the instructor was standing there and grabbed her back wheel as her bike was doing an almost hand stand. It was pretty epic. But the best thing about the experience, I have to say, was just being there in the park. It just smelled of life and the air was so clean. There was moss on the trees and the ground was spongy and soft. There were little bubbling streams and waterfalls everywhere, you could always hear water. And everything is so green here! I cannot wait to see this place in spring! It was an amazing day.

battle wound

Then Saturday was a trip to Liverpool to visit the largest Anglican cathedral in Britain, a funky Roman Catholic cathedral, the docks, and the Beatles Experience. It was an hour and a half bus ride from Bangor... and I fell asleep. While I was asleep we drove through tunnel that went under a river... kind of wish I had been awake for that. Anyways, so our first stop is the Anglican Cathedral and the thing was huge. Definitely the biggest church I've ever seen. This building was designed by Sir. Gilbert Scott in 1901, building started in 1904, took 75 years to build, and stands 500 feet tall, towering over the buildings of Liverpool. The architect had said "Don't look at my arches... look at my spaces" and they are indeed impressive. The central area of the cathedral can hold a few thousand people. It was really a beautiful building. I know that Sir Gilbert Scott said to look at his spaces, but I thought the arches were beautiful too. It really was just a gorgeous building. 

After the Anglican Cathedral we stopped for a peak at the entrance to Liverpool's Chinatown and then it was off to the Catholic cathedral. It was extremely modern, built sometime in the 1980's, and sort of resembled something out of a sci-fi movie. The inside showed some beautiful stained glass, though, and I really loved that the building was a circle. Also, from the top of the stairs to the cathedral you could see a good chunk of Liverpool and tower of the Anglican Cathedral. It was a really cool sight. Then we rushed off to the dock to the Beatles Experience. It was an audio tour about their history. It honestly was not as good as I was expecting but it was still interesting. After that we had some free time and a couple of other girls and myself decided to go on the ferris wheel by the river. The Anglican Cathedral was taller than Liverpool's "sky scrapers".. the thing is huge! We also saw some kids in plastic bubbles on the water and it was hysterical. Then after the ride it was dinner and the bus ride back home.

That night I went with some friends down to the Menai bar for karaoke and we did some Britney and Gaga. It was a lot of fun. When we did Britney some guys came up to the front and started doing the dance to 'Oops I Did it Again' and it pretty much made my night... until I went to my friend's flat. There we just hung out and listened to music and it turned into a nostalgic Backstreet Boys dance party and, I have to say, it was pretty amazing and quite hysterical. Good friends, beautiful place, goofy music, all make a great week!

* amendment*
Oh! I forgot to mention that last Wednesday for my brain and mind class I got to hold a real human brain! (gloves on, of course...). It was gross.. but fascinating at the same time. Apparently we are the only undergraduate students that get to do this. What an experience!

Until next time!
<3 Melissa

Scotland!- Days three and four (January 29th and 30th)

My third day in Scotland was filled with seeing some of the local landmarks, such as Calton Hill and the Scot Monument. But first, the farmer's market! After getting up and eating some cereal, Molly, Swede, and I set off for the farmer's market at the end of Prince's street. It was really fun to look at all of the little booths. There was even a chocolateer there who had all sorts of different chocolates that he makes himself. He even had chocolate shoes. I wish I had gotten a picture because I was rather impressed... I don't know how he did it! The only things that really disturbed me were the butcher shops that had pictures of the animals alive and happy right next to their stands. I don't know... maybe it's just me and how I separate things in my head, but it bothered me.

Scottish-Ameican Soldier memorial

the unfinished monument on top of Calton Hill

After the farmer's market we started towards Calton Hill. We made a couple of stops along the way, one of which was a graveyard. I wanted to go in because it had a statue of Abraham Lincoln peaking out of the top which I thought was bizarre. Apparently the statue was in memory of all of the Scottish-American soldiers who had fought in the civil war. I was not even aware that they had fought in the civil war, but you learn something new every day! Just was not expecting to learn some of my country's history in Scotland. We looked around at some of the graves and we found one that was older than the United States of America. I couldn't read the words as the gravestone had eroded so much that they were illegible, but the date was still clear. It was just amazing to me. Then on to Calton Hill! There were a lot of monuments on that hill, one of which was an enormous, Colosseum-type thing that was never finished because the government ran out of money. Molly and I climbed (with Swede's help..) onto what was there of the monument for some epic pictures and it was a lot of fun posing like goofs... actually we didn't really know how to pose and just kind of stood there as Swede took pictures. The view from the hill was great. You could almost see the entire city! A pink balloon went up into the air and all three of us had our eyes glued to it, trying to see how high it would go. Eventually we gave up and walked around the hill a bit more.

Arthur's Seat off in the distance

Molly and I on the Monument

A shot of Prince's street from the top of the Scott Monument

The Scott Monument

Next was the Scott monument...and that thing is deceptively tall. Also, I think the stairwells were made for really tiny people.. or at least the ones on the top tier. The other tiers were okay. There were four levels on the monument and we climbed up all of those spiral stairs! The more twisting there was the more anxious I became, especially on the way down.... but anyways. The view, of course, was awesome. I snapped a picture of Prince's street with a ton of buses on it. There is seriously no need for cars in that city because there are so many buses and bus stops. Yay public transportation! Can we get some of that in Texas, please? :-) After that the sun started going down and we headed back for the flat for some chill time and to watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail while eating banana sundaes! It was pretty awesome.

My last day in Scotland, Molly and I tried to do some shopping. I wanted to find some winter boots, just because I was getting tired of my tennis shoes, and Molly was on a mission for jeans. Molly won her mission. Me? Not so much. But that's okay! We walked back to her flat so I could pack up my stuff and we began our walk to the train station. On the way we stopped in a discount electronics store because I had been in desperate search of a cheap fan (the noise helps me sleep) because the cheapest one in Bangor was 14 pounds (roughly $25) and I did not want to pay that much for a little desk fan. So I found a used desk fan for 5 pounds! I was so excited! But oh, this fan. I carried that thing on 2 trains, a bus, and then another train. And what do I do? Of COURSE I left it on the last train! Go me. But c'est la vie, at least it was cheap... though soon I may break down and go buy the 14 pound fan. Anyways! So after the shop we pop in a couple of Scotland shops- I wanted to find a couple of post cards... mainly one for Collin because he always makes fun of me about thinking cows are cute. So I got him a post card with a hairy coo on it... licking its nose. I thought it was appropriate.

We then headed to the train station. There were hugs and sad faces as I was leaving my friends, but I know I'll see them again soon. Then I boarded the train back to Bangor to start my journey home. When I got off my first train to switch I found two of the other Central study abroad students from Bangor who had also gone to Edinburgh for the long weekend and I was super relieved because there were a lot of train changes and, having very little experience with trains, it was nice to have people with me. So we stuck together for the rest of the trip. For our third "train" the lines were down so they put all of us on a bus. I met a guy named Ben who lived on Anglesey who looked freakishly like my Dad in his 20's... but he was cool so we talked the rest of the way back. Hannah, Meghan (the two other Central students) and I flew off the train and hailed a taxi back to the dorm site. Had it not been 11:30 at night and I hadn't been on a train for 6 hours I probably would have walked, but right then I really was not in the mood to walk up hill in the dark with a heavy bag. So we were back at the dorms by 11:40 and I was in bed shortly there after. All in all it was a very successful trip! I absolutely loved it!

<3 Melissa

Scotland- Day Two : The Day of the Hairy Coo! (January 28th)

My second day in Scotland was filled with The Hairy Coo highlands tour and I have to say it was probably my favorite part of the trip. It is a free, alternative highlands tour and it just takes donations at the end. I wish I could have given them more because they really deserved it, but anyways...We met up with the tour bus at 8:45 Friday morning to see a man in a kilt named Donald standing next to a burnt orange bus with two horns on the top and a smiley face with a tongue sticking out on the bottom... they had painted their bus like a hairy coo! (by the way, coo=cow in Scotland). We hop on the bus and Donald introduces himself. He asks if everyone speaks English, to which we all reply yes, and he says "Oh, well that's fine but I speak Scottish!". He was a hoot the whole tour. We had people from so many different countries on the bus (a "mini League of Nations" as Donald called us). It was a very odd feeling to be the only Americans, because here in Bangor the Americans all came in a group and we kind of stick together a bit, but it was very cool. We drove through some of the less-traveled streets of Edinburgh and Donald gave us some history. One big thing that stuck in my mind was this school that is in town that is now one of the most expensive private schools in Scotland was originally built to teach orphans. Oh, how things change! I think it was called Fettes college. *Side note- "college" in the UK is actually the last two years of high school in which students can either choose not to participate and leave school or continue on focusing on only a couple of subjects of their choosing and then they proceed onto university.* He also asks if anyone has any Scottish ancestry and, if so, what clans. I spoke up and said "McAlpine" and he looked surprised and said "I should have known! We have royalty on the bus! McAlpine was the first king of Scotland". So that's right folks, your reading the words of Scottish royalty right here ;-) It was amusing.

The Forth rail bridge

From the hill of the Wallace Monument

Our first stop on the tour was the two bridges- the Forth road bridge and the Forth rail bridge. The rail bridge was built in the 19th century and is still standing strong. The road bridge, however, was built in the 1960's and has to be replaced soon. Just an interesting tidbit... Then we drove up to Sterling and saw one of the Wallace monuments, dedicated to William Wallace- the "braveheart" of Scotland. It was on a hill and the view from the hill was amazing. Donald gave us the history of William Wallace on the bus ride which was a good story and, shocker, different from the Hollywood version. 

The Wallace Monument

Clacking Coconuts at Doune Castle!

And what was our next stop? Doune Castle..a.k.a the castle used in the filming of MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL. I was probably the most excited person on that bus.. especially when Donald pulled out the coconuts for us to play with if we so desired. And yes.. I skipped around clacking coconuts in front of the castle like an idiot and I loved every single minute of it. I even got Molly to clack behind me like Patsy so I could be King Arthur for a picture.. because we are just that cool. (Side note: "doune" actually means castle... so the castle's name is Castle Castle...) Then we stopped in this cute little town called Callander in the highlands for lunch and ate at a bakery called "Mhor Bread". I had steak and haggis pie with mashed potatoes. That's right people; I ate haggis. And it was actually pretty good... the spices were a little strong for my taste but it was still pretty good. Also.. when I was eating it I couldn't help but think about Sweeny Todd... lovely mental image when you're eating, I know.

Molly as the Patsy with coconuts and me as King Arthur :-D

steak and haggis pie with mashed potatoes

Hamish

Next up? Hairy coo! We stopped and paid a visit to the most famous hairy coo in the world, Hamish, and his expecting girlfriend, Heather. We fed him parsnips. Hamish was actually personally saved by the queen. There was a disease going around all of the highland cattle a few years ago but they could  not vaccinate all of them so they decided that they would only vaccinate coos 7 years old or younger and the others would be killed. Hamish was ten at the time. The lady who owned Hamish started a petition and with all of the people who visit Hamish on a daily basis she received thousands of signatures. The petition landed on the queen's desk and the queen, being a Hamish fan and a lover the hairy coos (she has her own herd of them), granted Hamish a royal pardon. Hooray for Hamish! Then we stopped by a couple of lakes (or "lochs") and they were gorgeous. One of them was frozen solid and I was oh so tempted to try and walk on one. But then I decided that would probably be a bad idea and refrained. 

Loch Katrine

Me with a mommy and baby coo :-)

Last main stop? More hairy coo. SO excited! (I think they are beyond adorable...) We found some right along the road behind a fence and I was beyond thrilled because there were two baby coo too! There was also one that Donald designated as the "Justin Beiber" coo (see the picture and you'll see why...). The coo's real name is Kyle. So we fed them some carrots and a flock of sheep came running over. They quickly gave up when they realized they were not going to be able to get past the coo. Then we hopped back on the bus and began our journey back to Edinburgh. We made a couple of scenic stops along the way and he told us the story of Mary Queen of Scots. Something about driving though, especially when it's dark out, makes me sleepy and I woke up just in time to hear "and that's the story of Mary the Queen of Scots"... sad because I actually wanted to hear the story. We met up with Swede after that and got dinner at a place called "Garfunkle's" and then headed back to the flat around 9:00 that evening. We were going to watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail, but Molly and I were really tired and we just called it an early night. 

Justin Beiber Coo

Justin Coo with his flock..

Some earmuffs I found in a gift shop :-p

So that was my second day in Scotland and it was probably my favorite. Don't get me wrong, I liked the city too.. but I'll always be more of a nature girl. I loved the landscapes I saw in the highlands and, of course, gotta love those hairy coo :-) I'll post days three and four tomorrow!




<3 Melissa