Towards the end of last February, I traveled to Scotland with a bus load of fellow study abroad students through my program – CEA. We left on a Friday Morning, very very early. We had to meet at Kings Cross at like 5 A.M. and it was a struggle and a half since half of the students on the trip were out the night before until 2 in the morning…
Sarah woke me up at like 4:30 in the morning telling me we had to pack for the trip, I was so hungover I just took one of my drawers from our flat room and dumped the drawer into a backpack. Ready. We boarded one of the trains out of the station to Scotland and I just tried to sleep the entire ride by tying my scarf around my face. After a HORRIBLE sleep and like 6 hours we were in Edinburgh. Our program took us to our hostel, Smart City Hostel, then on a tour of the city, we saw Edinburgh Castle then Sarah and I went on the Scotch Whiskey Experience Tour with four friends from our program. We picked the scotch tasting where you get to taste all four different types of scotch – I remember one flavor was smokey. You get to keep the little scotch tasting glass. It was a really fun little tour! It included a ride at the beginning then a walking tour and finally you could go drink in the little scotch bar. Afterwards we went for dinner at some little pub where you could eat upstairs. I probably ate a hamburger. Following dinner we went back to the hostel to get ready then went out to a bar that had a band performing, we had a few drinks there then a few more back at the hostel before going to bed. In my personal opinion Scotland is pretty and a nice place but it’s not the most exciting.
The next morning we had to wake up early, pack, and meet downstairs with our bags for breakfast. The hostel offered this awesome breakfast buffet – a friend of mine Scott, and I even tried Haggis! It tastes a bit like wet hamburger meat. We all then boarded another bus which took us to the Scottish Highlands. A majority of my trip in Scotland was spent on a damn bus. Every hour or so the bus driver would play the song I’m gonna be (500 miles) by the proclaimers.. they played it so often that the song is forever associated with my trip to Scotland for me. At first everyone was into it but after the 5th time some people were going crazy from the song. The song was played at least 15 times throughout the weekend while on the bus through Scotland. We then went to visit Stirling Castle, we were offered a guided tour of the castle but we declined and went to explore it ourselves. We then went to some random food court-like place for lunch which was on the way to our next destination. We stopped at a place, Glencoe, and got to take beautiful pictures with the insane mountain scenery. The bus took us through Loch Ness and eventually w
e arrived in and area in the Highlands. 
We stayed at a hostel Morag’s Lodge and got to see a performance about Scotland given by a Scottish man in a kilt. He informed us how he doesn’t wear underwear under the kilt and showed us how in Scotland when they would fight they would basically cut each others balls off. He demonstrated on one of the kid’s in our program, Greg. A group of us went out for pizza or something for dinner then we all met back at the hostel to dress in makeshift kilts and get hammered. This was a great bonding experience for a few of us in the program and is probably the most memorable part of my trip! Afterwards we went to sleep in our rooms.
The next morning we had breakfast, which wasn’t as great as the previous hostels, but I can’t complain! We then got back on the bus (ugh) and went to this battleground. We were given a break for lunch in a small town. We then got to take a walk through a BEAUTIFUL woods area, Hermitage Birnam Wood. The area was filled with waterfalls and trees. I am not the most “nature crazy” girl but this area was so pretty it was the coolest and the most unusual (in a good way!) adventure I have been on to date. Some of the more adventurous students in the program climbed out on rocks and got closer views of the waterfalls. I decided to play it more safe – but I don’t regret it….
We then boarded the bus back to the train station that would take us back to England. We had a lot of time to explore the area – some students went to the Elephant & Castle that J.K. Rowling wrote the Harry Potter book in. I wish I had visited it! Some friends and I headed to the nearby shopping mall to eat something and look around. Eventually we all boarded the train back to London for a very long ride home. We had a few drinks on the train but to be honest the train ride was excruciating! Overall though – I am SO happy I visited Scotland with the program I did and with as many friends as I did because although it was a very beautiful place I do not think I would have had as good of a time had I gone with a smaller group. But that’s just me!
Runaway Blond 