Ceilidh

So I didn't get to post to this before I left for Italy so instead of one HUGE update I’ll split it in two.

Last Tuesday the International Society hosted a Ceilidh, which is a traditional Scottish dance. It was held at The Golden Lion Hotel in Stirling. The music was provided by a traditional Scottish band who also taught us several different types of dances. Most of the dances involved lots of partner switching, turns, under the bridge moves, running in circles and lots of others. Some were pretty confusing and others were fairly simple. Nobody was very good at these dances because we were all new at it but everybody had a good time. There are some pictures below of the dancing. The bottom one is of my friend Spencer and I.. & yes he’s wearing a kilt!

LONDON

Hello all... I have lots to update on from a busy weekend in London!

Friday was a LONG day of traveling and after 2 hours by train, hour by plane, another hour by train, then a short London underground trip and a 20 minute walk Katie and I finally made it to our hostel around 1:30am.

Saturday we got started bright and early with a free walking tour. The tour was operated by a company who leads free tours around most of the major cities in Europe, so they really knew their stuff. The tour guide was great and pretty entertaining. They made all of the historical bits really interesting. The tour hit most of the main things in London. We started at Wellington Arch walked through Green Park and headed toward Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guards. It was pretty crowded so I didn't get to see very much but it was still exciting to be there! After Buckingham we paid a visit to St. James Palace, where Prince Charles lives along with William and Harry stay when they are in London! After visiting the royal palaces we walked to Trafalgar's Square, considered to be the heart of London. There was a lot of construction going on and it was very crowded so we didn't spend too much time there. After that we headed towards Westminster Abby and Parliament. Along the way we passed the Horse Guards Parade which will be home to the sand Volleyball tournament of the 2012 London Olympic games. So at least I can say I saw one Olympic venue while in London. :) The highlight of the tour was definitely the end when we was Westminster, Big Ben and Parliament. These things are all so iconic to London and it was so amazing to finally be able to see the real thing!

The pictures below are of Buckingham Palace, me with Parliament, Big Ben and the River Thames & lastly, Westminster Abby

After the tour we grabbed some lunch, bought a map and started walking some more. We planned on going to The Tower of London that afternoon but the underground line that we needed to get there was under construction for the weekend so we just wandered a bit and ended up walking along the River Thames for quite awhile. We made it all the way to see Shakespeare's Globe Theatre and almost all the way to London Bridge, something I couldn't leave London without seeing!

By this time we were just about beat, so we grabbed a tube on the underground (we were pros at navigating the underground by the end of the weekend) and made our way back to where we started. After some dinner and relaxing for a bit we got our tickets for The London Eye, the large Ferris wheel located right on the river. This was by far my FAVORITE part from our weekend in London. We went around 7:30 at night so the whole city was light up and the views were spectacular throughout the whole 30 minute ride. The picture below was taken on the London Eye while on the way down. By now we were both exhausted so we jumped on our first double-decker bus, and made our way back to our hostel. After seeing so much of London in one day we were beat!

Sunday we took it easy and headed up to world famous Camden Market for the day. I couldn't believe how big it was, and how much they had to offer. We walked around the market for about 4 hours and probably didn't even see half of it. The shopping was great though, you could find just about anything you wanted to there. The food was also great, Katie and I decided that we couldn't leave London without having the traditional "Fish & Chips," which was amazing. After shopping for awhile we went and relaxed in Regent's Park for an hour or two. Around 5pm is was already time to leave and head back to Stirling.

London was an amazing city and I'm so glad I got the chance to visit it. I already can't wait to go back to see the rest of it!

The rest of the week will be busy also. Tuesday the International Society is hosting a Ceilidh. Which is a traditional Scottish dance. I hear nobody is particularly good at this dance, but it's more about giving it a shot and having a good time. Wednesday is St. Patty's day which I hear they do celebrate pretty big here even though it's Scotland, so I'm looking forward to that too. Finally on Thursday Katie and I are headed to Sicily, Italy. Katie has very close family friends there so we will be going and staying with them until Tuesday. I have no idea what to expect but I'm very excited! I will try my best to update before I leave on Thursday. Until then, take care all!

Classes & Castles

Sorry I haven't been updating as much as I should have be. I'm new to this blogging thing and will try to get better at updating more frequently. I have been busy in the last two weeks so I have lots to update.

For the most part I have been getting used to the new classes, new school and enjoying getting back into a routine again. I've had two official weeks of class and am enjoying all three of them, a welcomed change from the six I take a semester at home. The three classes I am taking while I'm here are Services Marketing, Sustainable Tourism and History of Tourism. I take them all for the whole semester, which is only 12 weeks. They set their schedules a little differently then back at home. Each class has a lecture once, sometimes twice a week and then an additional seminar or group discussion session once a week. Most seminars have more than one session meeting a week but because you only have to go to one, you can basically choose your own schedule. It has been really nice to choose when I want to go to class and which days I want off.

Last week the international society here on campus had it's first official event, an international dinner. Each person brought a dish from their home country to share with everyone. My friends Katie, Spencer and I represented the US with some Mac & Cheese with hot dogs mixed in! Some of the other American dishes included sloppy joe's, apple pie and peanut butter and banana sandwiches. There was a great turn out so there was LOTS of food to try. My favorites were an orange noodle dish from Korea and hard boiled eggs stuffed with mushrooms and onions from Lithuania. I also got a chance to try Haggis, the national dish of Scotland. To my surprise it was actually pretty good!

Last weekend was mostly uneventful. It gets pretty quiet around here on the weekends and nobody goes out much. Saturday my friend Katie and I went to Glasgow for the day. It was a short 45 minute train ride. We got there and the weather was pretty gross, rainy and cloudy, so we just did some shopping and went home later that afternoon. We plan on going back soon when it's better weather to see the sights.

The most exciting part about the past couple weeks was definitely yesterday when we took a trip up to the Stirling Castle. The Stirling Castle is one of the most famous in Scotland and rivals even the Edinburgh Castle. The picture below shows the castle sitting up on the hill, taken while walking up to it.

The Castle holds tons of history and had incredibly beautiful architecture. The king and queens chambers and the throne room are currently being restored so we weren't able to see that. We did get to explore the Scottish War History Museum, The Great Hall and The Royal Chapel. The views from inside the castle were amazing. Here are just a few pictures I took.

As for this upcoming week, I don't have much planned until the weekend when my friend Katie and I will be heading to London. I'm very excited about the trip as I've wanted to go there since I can remember. So expect another large update next week. That's all for now!