Monday May 30th

We went back into Edinburgh yesterday (Sunday) and we got to look around a lot of the city on our own.  One of the most amazing things that I've seen yet was Saint Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh.  It was probably the most beautiful buiding that I have ever seen.  The construction on the building started in the early 1100's and was not complete untill the early 1900's.  Most of the architecture that we saw inside though was done in the 14 and 15th centuries.  I couldn't take pictures inside because I did not want to pay to do so, but my professor did so I have just a couple of the pictures that he took for everyone to see! 

While in Edinbugh, Dr. Wood (my professor) surprised us all with dinne at The Elephant House!  This may not mean anything to any of you, but this is the coffee shop/restaurant where J.K. Rowling sat in while she was writing the Harry Potter series!!! I am a huge Harry Potter nut and this was very neat to me.  The shop has a room that overlooks the Edinburgh Castle and that is what she  looked at and got her inspiration from!  There is also a cemetery behind the shop.  I was told that she used names off of the tombstones for inspiration for the character's names!! I hear that Tom Riddle's grave is there! Which may or may  not mean anything to any of you, but it is amazing to me! Haha

Pictures!

 This is the Falkirk Wheel!  The second picture is a view from the top of it.  We were in a boat and rode the wheel to the top. 

 This is me and a few friends having coffee in Falkirk! :)

 This was the beautiful and historic Callendar House

You can look up more about it if you wish :) 

I know I didn't have much information for you,

but I gave you what I knew!

 Me and my friend Natalie dressed up like Roman Sodiers!

 U.S.A. rugby team playing against Samoa

This was my attempt an an artsy shot of a cool clock we saw in Edinburgh.

(Kellum, this is for you ;) )

Saturday, May 28

Ok everybody I am so sorry there haven't been any posts lately!!  The internet has been really quirky for a few days and everytime I have free time to get online, it doesn't work! Imagine that. Hahaha

On Thursday, we went into the town of Falkirk (about 5 minutes from where we are staying.)  We got to go around town and explore on our own for the first half of the day.  We got to go in several shops and an indoor mall.  The town itself isn't very big, so there weren't any huge culture shocks on that day.  We stopped at a coffee shop to get some drinks and pastries, and discovered that it is cheaper to get your food take away, or "to-go" than it is to eat it in the shop!  That was interesting to me.  After exploring Falkirk, we ate lunch and went to the Falkirk Wheel.  The Falkirk Wheel is the worlds only rotating boatlift.  It was very cool.  We got to get in a boat and ride the wheel up and hear a ton of "interesting" facts and history about the canal and the lift.  I will post pictures after this post (if I can figure out how to do that haha)  I'm the least technology savvy 22 year old you will ever meet! Haha

On Friday, we went to the Callendar house, also in Falkirk.  This was a beautiful old house.  Parts of it are over 600 years old, but it was rennovated and added on to in the 17th century.  It was beautiful on the outside.  I was disappointed in the inside of the house because I was hoping to see some history preserved.  The inside had been moderized though and turned into more of a museum.  At the house, we met with these women that taught us all about the Roman's influence over Scotland in history.  We learned about how the Romans came to Scotland in search of natural resources and in attempt to expand their empire.  We got to dress up like Roman soldiers and march.  It was cheesy, but it was a program that they usually put on for their primary (elementary) age students.  I learned a lot and had a blast! 

Today, we took a train to Edinburgh.  It was about a 30-40 minute train ride.  We went to the rugby Super 7's world series.  I don't know much about rugby, but I had a blast and I learned a lot just from watching.  Unfortunately, it rained off and on the whole day.  That has been a normal occurance throughout our visit though.  Oh well! I'm in Scotland right?! Haha  We cheered for the US team even though they lost both games pretty miserably.  We were sittin on the first row and we had an American flag to show our country support!  After both USA games, we tried to get the team to come over and take picures with us and our American flag, but they refused.  I was very disappointed in them considering we were the only Americans I saw all day and we cheered our little hearts out for them.  Oh well though.  After a whole day of rugby, we went into Edinburgh and I had my first Fish and Chips meal!  I'm not a huge fish fan, but this was delicious!   We walked around and saw some awesome buildings and then headed home.  We will be going back to Edinburgh tomorrow and we will have more time to walk around and explore.  We are also going to visit our first castle tomorrow I think!  Anyways, I know this is long and I'm sorry!! I'm doing my best with the internet situation!  Now I am going to try to load some pictures on here so bear with me if they don't work! haha I hope you are all enjoying this because I sure am! 

Wednesday May 25, 4:35

I made it!  After 9ish hours of flights today, I made it safely to Scotland!  We left New Jersey last night at 8pm eastern time, and we had a 6 and a half hour flight and arrived in Scotland at 7:30 am their time.  Ideally, I would have slept the 6 hours on the flight and woken up bright eyed this morning ready to start a new day (even though I lost 6 hours due to time zones).  That of course is not what happened.  Anyone who's ever been on a plane before knows that it is nearly impossible to get a good nights rest on an airplane.  I did sleep for an hour and a half or so, but that was my night's sleep.  We were told that if we could just hold out until time for bed tonight, that our sleep patterns would get back to normal soon.  It is quite comical though seeing us all walking around like living zombies!
This isn't a very exciting post, but its the first day and all we've done so far is exchange our money and we went to the grocery store.  Not too excting yet, but I know we have a fun filled weekend ahead of us!  We will be going to the Super 7's Rugby tournament.  If I understand correctly it is like the world series of rugby.  I know I have not posted pictures, but I will soon! 

Preparation

Hello all!  As you all know I am going to Scotland for 6 weeks this summer.  I will be leaving on May 24th and I have decided to (try to) keep up with a blog while I am over there!

I am going to be doing some of my student teaching in the Falkirk elementary schools in a second grade class over there!  I absolutely can't wait to meet my kiddos.  I am more of a Kindergarten girl, so second graders make me a little nervous, but I think that it will be good to get out of my comfort zone.  Who knows, I may fall in love with it. :)  Most days I will be like a teacher's aid and I will just be helping her do whatever she needs done, but several times I will be in charge of preparing the lessons for the day. 

While I'm in Scotland, I will be taking 2 classes (one of them will be my teaching in the schools) Monday-Thursdays.  On Thursdays, our group of 12 girls, 2 guys, and our professor Dr. Wood will travel all around Scotland!  I get to go to St. Andrews and stay at the University and tour the golf course, we will go to the Highlands, the Isle of Skye, and the bigger cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow.  I will be staying at the Callendar House in Falkirk, Scotland if anyone wants to look it up.  It is a beautiful and historic mansion in Falkirk, Scotland. (be jealous!) haha 

After my 6 weeks in Scotland are up, I will be backpacking Europe with 2 or my girlfriend's and my boyfriend Seth!  He will be in Italy for the same 6 weeks that I am in Scotland for a school trip as well.  He will fly up to London and we will meet him there on June 28th to start our 2 and a half week trek across Europe.  We will start in London and work our way to Paris, Munich, Prague, and then we will head all the way down to southern Italy and work our way up!  If anyone has any advice or must see places that they've been to I'd love to hear them!