i feel the earth move, under my feet

It's been a while since I last updated, but things have been just as crazy as ever on this side of the pond! Another couple of action-packed weeks have passed, and I keep wondering if things will ever slow down a bit. You know, it's tough living a life like this...traveling every weekend, so many social obligations (sigh).

Anyway, we'll start with two weekends ago. I spent Saturday on a road trip with Emily, Sayaka, and Emily's friend Jeremy up to the famous Loch Ness. We saw the monster herself a few times, and Emily even got in and rode on Nessie's back for a bit. They say you have to watch out though - the monster's famous for stealing American dollars. No, but really, it was a beautiful drive up the coast of the lake to Inverness. The mix of rain and sun could have been terrible weather, but the three rainbows we saw over the course of the trip made up for it! Inverness was right at the top of the loch, and it was a really cute small town with a pink castle as it's focal point. After lunch in Inverness, we headed down the other side of the Loch to the Urquhart Castle which we had heard good things about. It lived up to its reputation and ended up being a really beautiful set of ruins. Apparently, it had been "repeatedly sacked, damaged, and rebuilt over the centuries" according to the Lonely Planet guide - it certainly looked the part!

Now that it gets dark about 4:30pm here, the drive back was quite a long 3.5 hours. It was raining the whole time and we got a wee bit lost coming back through the city of Perth... needless to say, we ended up making it home with only a minor jaunt onto the wrong side of the road. I slept very well that night after such a long day!

Sunday we spent at a football match in Dundee with Ferg and Tom. Really amazing match actually! By the end of the game, we were all huge Dundee United fans! Decked out in all black and tangerine (not orange) scarves and shirts, we had a great time cheering against the Glasgow Rangers. Best part was the old Scottish man behind me shouting ridiculous insults the entire game whilst his 7 year-old grandson next to him repeatedly cried "Dirty wanker!" It seems football is quite the family oriented activity! I posted a video you can check out from when Dundee United scored a goal - really not a high quality film, but it definitely captures the excitement of the moment!



I spent the past weekend in Dublin, which was incredibly fun as well! I know I say that about every place I go, but really it was. Irish boys are absurdly friendly and I went with a group of six American girls... so we got quite a bit of attention, including a marriage proposal and an strange offer to stick my finger up someone's nose. Now that's the sign of a solid weekend right there.

In Dublin, we made sure to hit up the Guinness Storehouse where we saw eight floors of Guinness history in a building the shape of a pint glass. My goodness, My Guinness was ingrained in our heads by the time we reached the chic bar at the top floor with an incredible city view.

We also found a traditional Irish band playing in a pub in Temple Bar, and spent the evening out in the most famous area of Dublin (...also the most expensive!). We went shopping on Grafton street (which is a nice change from tiny St Andrews), visited the Jameson Whiskey distillery, and I even bumped into two friends from Germany while strolling about Trinity College! It is definitely a small world!

Dublin was incredibly fun, and I returned back to St Andrews to put my nose to the grindstone and get some work done for classes. Lucky for me, "Reading Week" is next week, which gives me time to go visit my friend Hannah in Wales and be a tour guide for Jane when she comes to visit St Andrews! Ahem, I mean I'll be studying. All week. All the time.

Cheers for now...