SCOTLAND: Part 2

OK, so maybe I've been putting this off. It's just been so busy and I was so wiped out from Scotland! But I definitely need to at least record everything we did before I start forgetting things. So here it goes...scotland part 2

After Edinburgh our group split in half. 6 of us went on to northern Scotland and the rest of them flew up to Dublin. I was one of the Scotland people. We hopped on a train that went through country and seaside up to Inverness where we got on ANOTHER train and continued up to Thurso. All in all it was about a 7 or 8 hour train ride. Beautiful, but a little long considering how short we were on time.



So we got into Thurso at 10 pm and the streets were EMPTY. There was this really funny moment where we all kind of looked at each other and said, where the heck are we?! It was such a random little town, it almost seemed like our friend had blindfolded herself and thrown a dart at the map and that's where we ended up. We went to thurso specifically just to catch the ferry to Orkney but still. Totally random. NOT a tourist spot. Lucky for us it was still completely light outside so we didn't have to find our hostel in the dark. Our hostel was pretty funny. We new it was called "Sandra's Hostel" so we were looking for that and not finding it. There was a little Italian cafe called Sandra's so we thought what the heck! and went in. Lucky guess. After we ordered some greasy disgusting food for dinner we went up to our rooms above the restaurant and went to sleep. Such an adventure!

We woke up early the next day to catch our ferry to Orkney. Let me just tell you, this was probably our biggest walking day. It was a two mile walk to the docks, another mile or two just walking through town, then about a 7 mile hike. So a little more than 10 miles? Not usually a big deal except for the fact I was wearing a flimsy pair of convers knock-offs that I was in the process of breaking in. My feet were KILLING ME. Oh my goodness. I could feel every single rock. Good grief. Never again.
But sooooo WORTH IT. haha
Another funny little tidbit. Our ferry ride was about an hour long on this super nice mini-cruise ship. We were so excited when we realized how nice it was. But then we got out on the sea and let me tell you, I have never seen such huge waves in my entire life. At least 30 feet, I kid you not. It was really incredible. Lying down and looking out the window in one second you would see the ocean taking up the entire window, then a little glimpse of land, and a huge sky. So cool. If I didn't have such seasickness problems I would have been happy to stare out the window for the entire hour. I felt like I was in "The Perfect Storm" except in sunny Scotland. I was able to lie down fast enough that I didn't vomit but my poor friend kiersten threw up THREE TIMES on that boat ride. Oh dear.



After we got off the boat we checked into our hostel, got some delicious food (an actual meal!), then caught a bus up to Skara Brae. I had never even heard of this place before and it was INCREDIBLE. It's this large neolithic stone village that was uncovered during a storm in 1850. 5000 years old! Older than the great pyramids, or stone henge, or the Parthenon. They call it the Scottish Pompei because of how well everything was preserved. Stone furniture still standing.




After we explored the museum and the ruins we had an interesting choice to make. We knew the bus would be leaving skara brae in a couple hours so we could either hang around and wait for it, or try hiking down the coast to this place called Yesnaby where hopefully we could find a road and wave down the bus that was supposed to pass at quarter past six. Consider: there was only one bus running and if we miss it...? Probably sleeping in the cow fields. It was a gamble. But we only had one day in Orkney! And we needed to make use of our valuable time. So we went for it!









The Broch of Borwick! An old watchtower we stumbled upon. I love that these old ruins aren't gated off or anything. You can climb all over them!



One of the most beautiful hikes I've ever been on. I've never seen coasts like this before! The rocks are stacked on each other in such an interesting way. They're kind of sinister looking. You really feel the ocean as an entity here. It felt almost alive like it was raging against the land and slowly wearing it down. We were the only people on that whole coast. I've never felt so small and isolated. It was as if we were set apart from the rest of the world and taken out of time itself. I could feel the ocean breathing on us and the wind was so strong it almost held you in the air. I know this sounds poetic and cheesy but I love the ocean. We understand each other :-)

So, to make a long story...well...a little less long, we caught our bus! It was 15 minutes late so we had a good amount of time to contemplate worst-case scenarios. We had just decided that hitch-hiking with one of the sweet elderly couples wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, assuming they were heading towards stromness...the only town on the island. But finally we spotted the bus in the distance and were able to wave it down! We all became a little hysterical at one point when it looked like the bus wasnt going to stop. Afterall, we weren't at a bus stop. We were basically in the middle of no where. But we chased it down until the driver finally stopped and got on to find everyone was laughing at us. We must have looked pretty wind-blown, wet, and ridiculous, so I don't blame them. I doubt I'll forget this day :-)

I still need to write about our time in Loch Ness but I'll do that another time.
Too doo loo!

A quick shout out to my one true love...

FOOD. Delicious wonderful food. Is there anything like a good meal? Or two...or three? Honestly, after a long day at school or work or play there is nothing that compares to an excellent meal. So this one's for you food. You've done so much for me and now I want to show you my appreciation. This is what I ate today:

For lunch--A spinach, garlic-cheese, and ham Crepe from The Creperie on Hampstead road



Note my "can you believe this thing" face. It was absolutely delicious. I will definitely be going back.

Afternoon Desert-- we went to Harrod's which is a beautiful huge department store full of things I can't afford. (We like to refer to it as "the fashion museum" just look don't touch). Anyways, Harrod's has a huge food/desert section. For the small price of 15 pounds you can get this little masterpiece.


The mother of all hot fudge sundays. Hazelnut, chocolate, and vanilla gelato with homemade whip-cream and a chocolate cup full of hot fudge and wafers. Pure bliss. Don't worry, I split it with two other girls...for price reasons only. FOR SURE I could have finished this thing off all by myelf :-)


Then for dinner I had chicken tikka masala with warm garlic naan bread. One of my favorite things about London is the prevalence of indian food. They have takeaway or frozen curries at almost every grocery store and it's really affordable! And also surprisingly delicious.

I know I still need to finish blogging about Scotland (I will. I promise I will. My head just hurts when I think about all the things I have to say), but I just couldn't resist. It was such an exceptional food day.

SCOTLAND: planes, trains, and automobiles...

OKAY! Where to begin? This will probably be a long post so bear with me. FIrst of all I guess I'll just say I'm back, safe and sound. London is feeling more like home than EVER which is strange but wonderful.
This past week was travel week for our group. There were students who went to paris, rome, spain, and ireland. I went to scotland! Because it seemed close enough that we wouldn't waste all our money/time traveling and I'd never been there before but always wanted to. In my family, we were raised with a healthy love of Gene Kelly so, having seen Brigadoon I knew exactly what to expect from this trip. heh heh...kind of. It was green everywhere, it rained on and off the whole time, even when it was sunny there would be rain, which meant TONS of rainbows, there was a lot of wind, the whole country kind of smelled like haggis (look it up), and it was basically an entire country occupied by old people. I kid you not. Outside the capital of Edinburgh, there was no one under the age of 50. Actually we only interacted with one guy who was our age and he was french and there for an internship. haha go figure! It was actually kind of great though. We would be riding in a bus and an elderly couple that looked like the farmers from "Babe" would be standing on the side of the road waving at us as we drove past. So cute! I want to retire to scotland and own a sheep farm some day. This is a picture of an authentic Scottish man we saw wandering around in Drumnadrochit.

I had an AMAZING trip. I'm not sure I've ever walked so much in a single week in my entire life! Piece of advise if you ever think about traveling to Scotland. Bring good shoes! Not a pair of rain-boots or flats, but good solid running shoes. You won't regret it. (Mom! I checked the mail before I left but the package hadn't come yet so I had to make do. Hopefully it's not lost in the mail)
Ok, in order to organize myself a little better I think I'll break this up into a few main points starting with Edinburgh...

This is the capital of Scotland! We flew in on Tuesday after class. It has a really old interesting history of war, castles, the plague, and being one of the main places to influence JK Rowling's portrayal of Hogwarts/Hogsmead. Priorities right? Anyways this city has been around since the bronze-age. Sooooo old. One of the interesting things we did there was visit the "city of the dead". There were a ton of different haunted tours that explored this underground system of vaults and tunnels. Apparently, back in the time of the black plague, about 80% of the population was wiped out in these narrow streets so they're supposed to be haunted! I managed to convince our group that 7 pounds was a small price to pay for a haunted tour underneath the city :-) Edinburgh was kind of built layer upon layer so there are weird passageways and staircases everywhere and doors that lead down to what you think is the gutter but instead it's just a city underneath the city! So cool. One of the main things I would love to have my family do with me because they would have really appreciated it. We're all sort of morbid and weird but I thought it was awesome.



Also, this is Edinburgh castle, built on a big hill, kind of looked like a fortress/hogwarts. It was awesome but expensive to get in (side note: I keep on visiting places I went to a couple years ago when I was traveling with my parents and remembering that they were free. FALSE. The only reason I thought they were free is because I was traveling with my parents and living a very charmed life.) I love visiting these historic sights but then I just end up feeling dumb because of how little I know! I want to go home and study study study just because history is so interesting and I feel so ignorant. That's another thing I love about traveling with my dad. Papa Kelley definitely knows his history and I miss his little comments and educational lessons. We'll go back some day dad! You would love Edinburgh.



Last thing from edinburgh (keep in mind we did all these things in less than 24 hours... talk about cramming it in!) We went to bed after the ghost tour at like midnight then woke up at 3:30 am to go on a sunrise hike. In Scotland the sun sets after 10 pm then rises around 4 so we didn't have a lot of time! But I'll sleep when I'm dead and this hike was so worth it. This is Arthur's Chair...






SO THAT WAS EDINBURGH! And only the first day of my trip. After this we got on a train for 8 hours and went up to Northern Scotland: Thurso, the Orkney Islands, Inverness, and Loch Ness. So much to say! But it's also time for desert here meaning it's time for me to go. I'll blog about everything else later!

Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow...

Okay so this is gonna have to be a quickie cause I'm EXHAUSTED. This will be my last post until sunday probably. After class tomorrow I'm getting on a plane and backpacking through scotland for the week with 5 other girls! So exciting! Wish I'd been getting more sleep though because chances are I won't sleep much in our sketchy hostels... I think we're staying in a room with 15 other girls in bunk beds? Yeah, definitely bringing earplugs and sleeping with my backpack on. (I'll be careful mom, I promise. It's actually gotten really good reviews! Don't be worried!)
But the point is, I'm bringing as little as possible meaning no computer. Goodbye modern world! Goodbye civilization! Hello beautiful hikes and abandoned castles and Lochness monster. I will take pictures I promise!

So recently I've had this weird thing happen where instead of getting songs stuck in my head I am getting shakespeare monologues and soliloquies stuck in there. Kind of annoying when I'm trying to focus on something and hamlet is running through my head... Anyways I blame my high school english teacher. He made us memorize all that stuff forever ago and by some miracle it's all still in there! Fully intact! I had no idea until I started reading all these plays again and found I could quote them perfectly. (Difficult to do without sounding pretentious so usually just in my head) Good old useless information... just kidding I secretly love it. Part of me still wishes I were an english major. Shhh don't tell my sociology teachers :-)
Anyways, here's a piece from macbeth that I've been thinking about lately. It's about time, which always seems to be getting away from me...

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing!

Kind of dark. I promise I'm not depressed :-) But I just love it.

Also, we had a tea party today! I can't do a post with no pictures! Especially considering most of you probably don't read what I write. Oh well. This is my substitute for journal writing at the moment so no obligations or anything.


We decided to do a tea party in hyde park for all the people who are having birthdays while we're here! This is the layout. Everyone contributed something. It actually worked out because most of us had food we wanted to get rid of since we're leaving for the week.


This is my contribution. I cut up some carrots and my friend, kristen, made the dip.


Mango mandarin tea...delicious


The party tree!


Kind of an awkward picture of me but it's the only one. Ah well, you work with what you've got.

Until next week!

"It's a dangerous thing, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you'll be swept off to." (Name that quote!)

My Brighton Beach Memoirs...

Oh wonderful delightful sunny goodness! I love the beach! Love love love it. Even without the sand, surfing, and swimming just being near the ocean does something to me. Breathing the salty air and staring out at the water just makes me feel at home for some reason. It's weird! I didn't even grow up all that close to the beach. Manhattan was the closest and that was like 30 minutes away but for some reason the kelley babies were definitely raised as beach bums. It's my Hawaii dad and Laguna mom no doubt :-)

When we first got to London a couple weeks ago I mentioned the idea of a Brighton Beach day trip to a few people and today that idea blossomed into a full-fledged outing with at least half our group. If you go to the train station in the morning after peak-hour you can buy 4 tickets for the price of two (pretty sweet deal if you ask me). So me and about 15 other people took an hour long train ride to Brighton, not really knowing what was there besides some pier and palace thingy. We were just along for the ride.
Here's how the day progressed...


Walking out the tunnel towards the beach...




...and gloriousness. To be honest, I could have done with a little more heat and a little less wind but that's about it. The sun was shining and that's all you really need. So I wasn't sure how I'd feel about a rocky european beach and it's true, I've been spoiled with our beautiful Laguna beaches, but this was such a completely different atmosphere and I loved it.
Here's a brief history of Brighton for those of you who are curious...
It emerged as a health resort in the 18th century. People went there because apparently Brighton water has special properties.
It became the favorite spot of George IV who went there as a teenager and fell in love. He made it a very fashionable place and had his seaside farm torn down and replaced with this.

The Royal Pavilion. A lavish chinese/indian structure where he hosted parties and spared no expense. It was kind of random and out of place in this beach community but that sort of made it all the cooler. As much as it pained me to spend money, I figured, how often am I in Brighton?, and decided to pay for the tour. Excellent decision. I had a little audio set that guided me through the house and told me its history. So worth it. I wish I'd been allowed to take pictures inside so I could show you guys how crazy it was! In the dining hall alone there was this massive 30-foot long chandelier that weighed about a ton. So cool. Made out of gold and hanging from the claws of this huge dragon. These places really intrigue me because it just makes me wonder, who were these people? How crazy that they actually lived here?

Another cool Brighton spot is the pier.






This pier was soooo old and so cool. Apparently it used to be way classier and it's gotten kind of trashy in recent years? That's what people said. I could kind of see that I guess. The arcade was obnoxious. But really? This place had such character and I thought it was awesome. Really fun to get out of the city and go to this environment. This pier was originally built in 1899 along with the West Pier built in 1866 that burned down like 20 years ago. That was also cool. You could see it's skeleton.

So these piers are basically the original gangsters. They are what all the other piers are designed off of including Coney Island and Malibu. I loved how historic and "real" it felt and I loved that it wasn't a museum but was still a theme park and a place people enjoyed.






Here are some pictures of the cool old rides that they had. I wanted to go on all of them but unfortunately funds were limited and most of the rides were things we have in America... but I did allow myself to try the haunted house train. Curiosity got the better of me! You can't look at that building and not wonder what's inside! So me and my friend ashlee decided to do it an I LOVED it. There was cheesy music and ghoulish laughter and little tassels hitting me in the face (I think they were supposed to be spiderwebs) and these bloody looking zombie dolls that kept popping out at you. Some would have gotten off and asked themselves, why did I pay three pounds for that? I got off and wanted to do it again. I thought it was just brilliant.

I also had my first fish and chips today! We've all been looking for the right time and place to partake in this London tradition and today was that time and the pier was that place. It just felt so appropriate to be eating greasy delicious food on the old pier. I thoroughly enjoyed my fish and chips. There are American foods that I definitely prefer more....(In-n-out)...but I'm not opposed to the cod fish and while I'm here I might go try it again :-)

Over all a very successful day. It's always sad leaving these days wondering if you'll ever get to go back to these places again, but that's what pictures are for right?? Don't you love modern technology?