The First Week, Part One

Right, so I know that we've been here for a week and a half and it has taken me this long to make a blog and post something to it, but whatever.

Sept. 11 - Sept. 12th
Andrew, Stacy, and Allen... leaving on a jet plane.
The plane ride was actually not that bad. Stacy and I sat together and there was a decent amount of room, so we weren't too upset about it. Arriving in Heathrow, we figured out why it's known as a wretched airport. We were new to it, of course, but we waited for almost an hour to get through Immigration. We got through alright, picked up our luggage, and wandered out to the "Meeting Point" to wait for Andrew, whose plane was landing two hours later. I had developed a cold a few days before, so I was generally miserable sitting there for three hours. We were hungry, tired, and I was all stuffed up. Eventually Andrew showed up and we started making plans. Originally we were just going to stay in a hostel for three weeks until school started, but wanted to contact some of the people we knew here first. Andrew called his roommate's friend Bob, and thankfully the kid answered. We explained our situation, and he gave us directions on how to get to his house, hoping to just drop off our bigger bags and then find a hostel or look for trains to go right to Edinburgh (pronounced "Edd-in-borrah"). Our bus trips took two hours and lots of hassle (we got off at the wrong stop, they only take exact change, which we didn't have, we were lugging around three huge bags each), we finally arrived at... KFC. Yes, KFC. Bob knew we would recognize that, so he met us there. From that point, we were saved. Bob took us to his house, insisted that we stay for dinner if not overnight, and helped us figure out what the heck we were doing. We talked, shared stories, smoked a few cigarettes, and generally had time to relax.

Bob's mom and sister got home and it was even better. Their family is from India, and we had Indian food for dinner, and it was ridiculously amazing.
The three of us were completely dead on our feet, and so at 9pm we crashed in Bob's family's living room, which was surprisingly comfortable. We slept for almost 14 hours, we were so tired.

Sept. 13
We spent the rest of the day with Bob, going for a walk, making plans for Scotland. Bob's mom made us more Indian food, which was again amazing. We're so ridiculously spoiled on Indian food now, Americanized Indian food will never again suffice. Ever.

We left late Thursday night for Edinburgh, taking a night train. We almost weren't able to get on, we got the last three seats. There were four guys from Notre Dame sitting near us, but they weren't very talkative, so we all just tried to sleep all night. The train ended up an hour late into Edinburgh, which didn't bother us since we had no plans, but the Notre Dame kids were pissed off about it.

Sept. 14th
Edinburgh is gorgeous. Absolutely beautiful. We spent that Friday wandering about. The only thing of real importance we did was go to the National Gallery of Scotland. There we saw several pieces by Raphael, Botticelli, Degas, Van Gogh, Monet, and others.

Later in the day we looked around for hostels, but not having made a reservation, we weren't able to find a place, all the hostels were full. So, what to do? Change of plans, go north.

We found a train to Inverness, which is in Northern Scotland. On the train we got kicked out of our seats by a group of middle-aged Scottish women, who nearly ruined our love of the accent by how rude they were. They got drunk on the train and were completely obnoxious, and since we were already tired, I was still sick, and a little stressed about having to change our plans, we were pissed off most of the train ride.

But the view of the Scottish Highlands up north was amazing. The Fife of Forth, a large bay on the east of Scotland, was alongside us for much of the first part of the trip. We got into Inverness late, found our hostel, and found some food and beer as quickly as possible. We made plans for a two-hour hike up to Loch Ness the next day, and went to sleep after a long day.

Sept. 15

Inverness was an important city to Scotland, hundreds of years ago. A sort of crossroads from Edinburgh to the south, and then Urquhart Castle to the west. That morning it started raining, and after picking up some supplies (Stacy and I did not bring warm enough jackets, and Stacy forgot socks... oops), we decided to take a bus instead of hike. Urquhart Castle was an important strategic outpost on Loch Ness, and we spent the day there. It's in ruins now, but the castle on the lake is still breathtaking.

After spending the day there, we took a bus back again to Inverness. Across the loch was a rainbow, and Stacy and I took several picture of it. It's not surprising that the folk culture in Scotland is similar to Ireland, with stories of fairies, ghosts, and witches and folk supernatural experiences. The forests are thick and wild, and haunting in their own way. There is something raw and real about the Scottish Highlands that is strange for kids from Nebraska.

Getting back to Inverness, we ate dinner at the Blackfriar Highlands Pub to get some traditional Scottish food. It was delicious, and I accidentally ate sheep. (I thought haggis was a vegetable product, I have no idea why, shut up). Then we wandered back to our hostel and hung out practically the entire night with the night porter, Evan. Evan is an Aussie who travels around, finds a place to stop, works for awhile to get money, and then travels some more. We've made plans for him to come visit us in Nebraska in April, when he travels through the States.


The First Week, Part Two will come soon.