As disappointing as it was to not be able to spend the weekend in Ireland, we ended up making the most out of it. Friday I had to go to Edinburgh to pick up something I had left at the hotel. It was a beautiful day out so Spencer and I decided to make a day out of it and go to the Edinburgh Zoo. The zoo is known for their penguins, the most of any zoo in the UK. They even hold a penguin parade everyday where the penguins waddle their way through the park everyday at 2pm! We got to the zoo late so we weren't able to see the parade, but just watching all of them was very entertaining, I could have stood there all day!
The rest of the weekend was very relaxing, I mostly just took it easy and recovered from all of the essay writing the week before. Wednesday night I did go to another Ceilidh, this time put on by the University Mountaineering Club. It was much smaller than the one hosted by the international society but still lots of fun. I recognized some of the dances from the first one so I really felt like I was getting the hang of it, as much as you can understand Ceilidh I suppose.
Last week I also took time to do something I have never done before but always wanted to.. feed the birds!! Airthrey Loch on campus is home to TONS of swans and I had been wanting to feed them all semester. Spencer and I grabbed a few slices of bread and headed to a spot where a lot of them like to hang out. They all swarmed us immediately! There were so many and they were all so beautiful, I almost forgot about how annoying they are when they wake me up every morning!
This past weekend I took another trip to St. Andrews with Spencer, Katie and her flatmate Richard. None of them had been there before and there were still a few things I wanted to see there too, so we decided to take a day to see the sights. We started with the golf course. It was cool too see it again and the progress they are making on setting up for The British Open in July. We watched a group on the 18th green and then watched a group tee off at the 1st before making our way to try to get a picture on the famous Swilacian bridge on the 18th hole. It was a risky move because people were out playing the course but we decided it was worth it for the once in a lifetime picture. We waited till there was nobody playing the hole and made a run for it, Katie first and then me. The pictures turned out great, it was totally worth it!
We had worked up an appetite from our little adventure so we grabed some lunch. With full stomachs we headed to St. Andrews University, explored a little but mostly just relaxed in the grass after our big lunch. Next we headed to St. Andrews Cathedral. The cathedral is in ruins and has been since the Reformation. The ruins are now used as a cemetery which was very interesting to explore. There is also a tower on the grounds that you can climb up to see beautiful view of the city of St. Andrews and the ocean. After climbing back down the tower and exploring a bit more we made our way to the castle. We didn't go in because we didn't have enough time but we took some pictures from the outside and explored the beach that it looks over as well. We made our way back to the city center, got some ice cream and headed back to the Old Course to see the beach. We spent some time down there just walking around and hanging out. After about an hour we made our way back to the bus station and headed back to Stirling. St. Andrews is such a beautiful little town with so much history, I am so fortunate to be able to go twice within just a few weeks.
The past few days have been relatively calm. Classes are keeping me busy and all the homework that I have been getting lately too. I've also been busy getting ready for the weekend which I'm very excited about. Tomorrow Spencer and I are going to Vienna, Austria. We have to fly into Bratislava, the capitol of Slovakia first, and then make our way to Vienna from there. The cities are only 40 miles apart but it will be an interesting adventure. Spencer has a friend who is currently studying there which I am very thankful for because neither of us speak German. It is also always nice to have a tour guide. We get back to Stirling on Monday night so I will have an update and pictures up on Tuesday hopefully.
Until then.. take care all, & GO TWINS!
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