Part 3

Now I’ve been back in Edinburgh since the return from Skye on the 29th of June (moved out before cause I wasn’t sure if we were going to stay longer, better that way anyways, done with and all). I’m having lots of fun, as I mentioned before, and am taking my last weeks to relax and do some things I’ve been meaning to do and basically just hang out with my friends who are still around. I took a trip to St. Andrews, just north of Edinburgh on the east coast, just this last weekend. My friend Malcolm lives there so we were able to stay with his fam. Explored the beautiful town on Saturday and then went for a fun walk along the coast on Sunday.

Went climbing yesterday in Northumberland (northeastern England) on some very nice crags in a little forest area. I started leading (you climb first, placing the gear, set up a belay from the top, then your partner seconds –what I usually do- taking out the gear, this is the usual if a top rope is not set up –fixed belay at the top, both climber and belayer are at the bottom… ok that sounds complicated doesn’t it? Sorry ask me sometime if you’re interested in the details of rock climbing! Or take it up, it’s a great sport!!!!) But anways, leading is quite hard, mainly because you have to think about placing gear and spend the energy placing it mid-climb, and also because of the psychological aspect that you’re not entirely safe, your gear holds you if you fall, but if you haven’t placed gear for a bit you will fall a short way or if you haven’t placed gear yet at all… well you get the picture! Also your gear has to hold… all the reasons you start leading on very easy routes and work your way up, just like climbing in general, and as you gain more experience you get better at knowing where to place gear, gain more confidence, and strength of course ; ) It was a lot of fun, physically and mentally challenging – great day out! However…. As I mentioned it was in a wooded area, and Britain also has the insect bugger of the forest… ticks! We saw some while climbing, and then when we got home I found: one on my bum, one in my hair, and one fell off my trousers when I shook them out! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh I hate ticks! Malcolm found 2 on him but for some surprising reason our friend Ian had none… he also doesn’t get bitten by mosquitos… lucky. So now according to my mum we’re on the watch for the circle rash… eeek cross ur fingers! Also my hair is a bit of an impenetrable mass, so hopefully we searched it well enough…

Ok now we’re nearing to the end, and I’m on 6 pages on word, uh oh – sorry folks! Maybe I’ll break this up a bit when I post them for easier reading sections… I don’t know if I’ll post again before I leave, if not maybe when I get back i'll do a finale post to relate the end days…. I have a bit planned yet. Besides relaxing and reading and seeing bits of Edinburgh I’ve yet to explore, I’m planning on going back up to Inverness to actually see Loch Ness and such (missed the touristy bit last time!) and also I'm going to have a little farewell dinner get together, with the few people still around, sometime next week. Oh and I also have a meeting tomorrow with the program coordinator for a publishing postgraduate program at Napier University here in Edinburgh, hopefully that will go well, I’m very excited about it!

Well, here’s to my last week! I really can’t believe it, it’s gone so fast. It has truly been one of the best years of my life. It will be a sad good bye, but I’m hoping it will not be the last I see of Scotland and all the friends I've made here.

I miss you all and will see you soon I’m sure. Do get in touch, I’ll have my old cell back (608-317-0294) and look forward to catching up with all of you.

xx Rachel

(also, no internet at the moment – I’ve posted this through a friend’s computer – trying to figure out wireless so I can post all the pictures, bear with me!)

Part 2

(get out the maps for this one guys, I have now been from the very south of England – Plymouth on the Gibb trip – to the very north of Scotland!)

Dinner Meet: Gairloch

The end of the year EUMC celebration always takes the form of a trip to a stunning location, Saturday full of outdoor activity, followed by quick showers at the campsite and on to a posh dinner and night of revelry and dancing! Then Sunday… well for those capable of movement various activities ensue. This year the meet went to the small fishing village of Gairloch on the northwest coast. Unfortunately, Saturday was a bit gloomy, but still managed to go for a nice walk out to a waterfall in the hills, then beach rugby for the rest of the afternoon! Everyone polished up nicely for a yummy dinner at a nearby hotel. Various ‘forfeits’ – dares basically – were assigned, I was lucky enough to be assigned to take part in the piggy back race in which I am proud to say my partner Ian and I were the champions (though unfortunately only overtaking once the 1st 2 pairs in the lead took a nasty spill… everyones alright though!) There were many hilarious assignments, though most involved inside jokes that probably were only funny to those in the club! We ended dancing the night away before exhaustedly passing out in our tents. Some brave souls ventured down to the beach for daring dips in the sea, but I opted out of that chilly endeavor! Sunday turned out to be gorgeously sunny, and I, amazingly hangover-free but after quite a bit of lounging about in the warmth (do check out the pics of this morning, my fav of which shows me as the true Scottish girl I have become: laying in the sun looking a bit rough after a late night with irn bru in one hand and an oatcake in the other!), was able to go climbing with a (small) group of other likewise blessed. It was a great day of climbing, apparently others enjoyed more lounging and a day on the sunny beach – quite a good hangover cure if you ask me. After a quick pack up we were back in the mini buses, most for the journey back to Edinburgh, but some, including myself, with a different destination ahead…

Inverness and Clashaidy

My good friend Lyndsey lives in Inverness, and has a summer house way up north – Clashaidy is the exact local, but nearest actual ‘villages’ are Tongue and Bettyhill on the map. We were dropped off at Inverness, spent a nice night with her lovely parents in Inverness before heading off north in the morning. The journey was quite interesting, train to Lairg, then from there it was a post bus trip for me, lyndsey, and sarah, and hitching for rozzy, craig, and tom! And when I say post bus, I mean the little van that delivers the mail… : ) yes yes, we heard all the local highland gossip, mostly consisting of some horse parade or show(?) that was coming to a nearby town and everyone was excited to go see! After about 3 hours we made it to the house, actually at the same exact time as the hitchhikers! They lucked out and happened upon a very nice man who took them up simply because he was exploring and hadn’t been up to the north coast in a while! He dropped them off, had a cup of tea, and was off – amazingly kindhearted! Only in the highlands they say : )
We spent the next 3 days exploring the sea cliffs, doing a bit of amazing climbing, and enjoying the awesome location and comfy house (quite posh after tents!). More of my guy friends arrived later in the week and it turned into quite a fun occasion! I had to return to Edinburgh on Wednesday night, sadly, to move out of my flat before the 1st of June. Luckily I was able to catch a ride with my friend Chris who also had to be back, along with some others who had to work. Moving out was quite a chore (and very sad saying goodbye to my flatmates…), but I was able to accomplish it all in a day and by Thursday night I was comfortably ready for my flat hopping. I’m currently residing in my friend Malcolm’s flat, and let me tell you it is VERY interesting moving from a flat of 12 girls to that of 3 boys… some parts are better, far more laid back and chill, but then that bites you in the bum when laid back turns into lazy – I struggled with not becoming a nagging house mom, but then came to and realized a) I shouldn’t be anal and b)it’s only for a couple weeks! I’m actually having a lot of fun with the boys now, and I just tell myself when I give up and have to clean (just cause I can’t stand it anymore) its just like earning my keep ; ) haha.
But now I’m getting ahead of myself again – after the quick return to Edinburgh for moving out we were off again on Friday for…

Skye Meet

Ok, so I always though before, my favorite place in Scotland was Glencoe. Mind changed after the trip to Skye, most definitely! The blessing of great weather helped quite a bit, but honestly this was the most amazing place I’ve ever been to. It’s an island off the northwest coast of Scotland. It is also the home of the Cuillin Ridge, the best mountaineering ridge in Britain. We stayed in the Glenbrittle campsite just at the base of the ridge. Saturday I went on an awesome walk up a small ridge leading to one of the Cuillin munroes, Sgur Banadich (don’t hold me to that spelling) but it means roughly Smallpox Mountain in gaelic, great name huh? The walk was great, a bit of a chore going up scree to the start of the ridge, then scrambling over and up to the top of the munro. Absolutely fantastic views!!! On the way back down we stopped and went for a swim in a waterfall, a bit chilly but amazingly refreshing! Sunday we drove about an hour to a coastal village called Elgol where we walked a bit to some great sea cliff climbing. Best belay views ever, looking out over the sea to islands beyond, perfectly sunny day! We went for a swim after too, brrrrrr cold sea! The next morning (note morning I mean 3 am) 6 of my guy friends attempted the Cuillin Ridge. This was very scary for me, worry wort extraordinaire! The ridge is the best mountaineering sight in Britain for a reason. It is extremely exposed, worse than the worst bits in the Anoach Eagoch ridge in Glencoe that I did in the fall, and there are also a few bits that you have to climb and many parts you have to abseil. The weather over the ridge is also extremely tricky, as the mountains tend to catch bad weather off the sea. It’s actually quite evil looking. Towering mountain peaks with dark clouds constantly hovering over them even when the rest of the sky is blue! Soooooo my crazy friends had to attempt it. The weather looked alright, so they went for it…. To be continued….
I spent the day being lazy (haha what contrast) laying in the sun in my sleeping bag till 2 in the afternoon before getting an energy burst and going for a nice run along the coast. People did various things and then met back up at the campsite to head to the Sligachan Hotel Pub, near where the ridge ends and where the boys would be – apparently around 9 earliest. We had a very yummy dinner, and I enjoyed a point of Skye Ale and even tried some Islay whiskey, which took my mind off worrying before it was suddenly 11 and I was quite nervous… We decided they might have come down early and just headed back to the campsite…
Which they had. They made it ¾ of the way before the weather moved in and they were too knackered to continue, plus it would have been dangerous if the mist came in as they were getting to a tricky navigational bit. They had come down and managed to hitch a ride back to the campsite and had been there since 9 but had no way of reaching us lol. They were on the ridge for 18 hrs though, quite a feat! I was so proud, I don’t think I could even manage that! Scary!
The next day was our last, and happened to turn to bad weather just then so we packed up quickly in the rain and were back in Edinburgh by 6 pm. Great trip! I definitely want to return to Skye someday.
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Saving the Best for Last

(Funny, last post i was apologizing after 3 weeks... now it has been 3 months! I have written a mega-blog for which reason i am labeling the sections in parts to make them more reader-friendly - aka you dont have to spend an hour reading this whole entry! - here goes nothing)

PART 1

As the dates will show, it has been ages since my last blog – apologies! Though I hope you can all understand the reasoning, between end of the year uni craziness and end of the year eumc craziness I haven’t had much time to spare! I have been making the very most of my last months in Scotland, especially my last weeks now. I do very much want to share my adventures though, so I’ve finally made some time to escape to a coffee shop and write this entry – sure to be a massive one – in attempt to summarize the exciting visits from friends and fam, as well as some of the most amazing adventures of my life!

End of February/Beginning of March:

Last weeks of class. Very exciting… not really, full of finishing essays and final projects woo hoo. Highlights were a visit from my friend Molly (friend I’ve stayed close with since we went on the People to People ambassador trip in 2003!) who came to see me from France. Yet another successful instance of Rachel’s hostess skills, Molly enjoyed Edinburgh, and particularly meeting some of my friends at a birthday fancy dress party as she was convinced my friend tom was harry potter… hehe.

Anyways…March came quickly and saw the end of the Six Nations rugby tournament, which I got caught up in thanks to my guy friends. I almost have the rules down now… confusing game! My friend Malcolm reassured my however that all you really need to know is how to drink pints and shout curses at the tv ; ) Many a good time spent in the student union sports bar. The end culminated in a 3 game succession on March 17th, what a good st paddys day celebration – though I had to join late, and slightly wet, after being drug into the Scottish borders to visit fort remains of ancient Scotland… thank you archaeology of Scotland (and the infamous Scottish weather of course). Never before have I literally been unable to take notes, maybe wind is good for something! The haven of drunken scots in kilts and rugby jerseys was thus quite welcoming, and I was able to witness the last game as France gained a (somewhat controversial) victory over England – the scots were happy about that at least!

Friday, the 23rd, saw the end of my courses here at Edinburgh University. A relief, as always, but somewhat bittersweet. I did actually enjoy my courses, especially my English honors. Also can’t believe it was the end of junior year… but of course I’m getting ahead of myself – still had exams to look forward to at that point!

And then there was…

Sister Visit!!

My wonderful sissy Sarah arrived in sunny Edinburgh (ok it might have been cloudy when she arrived, but it had been sunny for 3 days in a row before that! Of course… ) on Monday, March 26th. My first family member to visit my Scottish home, had lots of fun takin her around my favorite spots. We only had a couple of days though, cause then we were off on our 2 week spring break adventure! We first flew to Copenhagen, Denmark, where we spent a week exploring our heritage – great great grandparents Johann and Anna Anderson came over through Ellis Island over 100 years ago! We had lots of fun seeing the beautiful city, highlights being Sarah’s birthday celebration at a sweet jazz bar, a visit to the commune Christiana – which happened to be protesting a government effort for normalization the day we visited! – and a day trip out to the village Soro where our g.g. grandparents lived for a short while and got engaged : )
Next we were off to Germany, stopping to explore Berlin before continuing on to spend Easter weekend in the small Bavarian village of Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Berlin was an amazing cultural and historical experience, so much to see in just 2 days! Garmisch was mostly a relaxing stay in a charming inn, enjoying scenic Bavaria – though Sarah did humor me with a trip to Neuschwanstein, castle of Ludwig II which I’ve been wanted to visit for a while now! It was gorgeous, but extremely tourist tainted. We had a nice sister Easter, finding chocolate bunnies at a local bakery and even managing to watch Ten Commandments (we’ve seen it so many times it didn’t really matter if it was in german!)
Our final continuation of travel took us all the way to the beaches of southern Croatia. Quite a long journey, but worth it when we reached sunny Split. We stayed in an amazing hostel and quickly bonded with our small community of hostel-mates over trips to the beach and explorations of Croatian night life.
The trip flew by, and we returned to Edinburgh slightly exhausted, but with amazing memories of our sister travels. Sarah unfortunately caught some sort of Australian bug and was a bit ill upon return, but it was just as well – we were both trapped inside: her recovering, me attempting to start my first take home essay exam! It was sad to have to put an end to the incredible visit, but the trip was amazing, I’m so glad that Sarah was able to make it over.
So, as Sarah left me to end her journey with an exploration of London before returning to the states, I began my grueling 5 week exam period…. Yes 5 weeks. (my English courses all had end of the year finals, so I had 3 english, 2 normal exams from this semester courses) I had an English essay exam each week for the first 3, 2 take home and 1 horrid sit down. Then I had a week off – in which I was able to take a short but sweet hiatus from studying for…

Parent visit!!

Mum and Dad made a triumphant 1st trip overseas since Germany to visit me in Scotland. Unfortunately it was right in the middle of exams, but I let them steal me away for the weekend of May 4th. We had lots of fun (despite near death experiences on roundabouts… driving is dangerous in a foreign country!) seeing a bit of Edinburgh before driving up to the beautiful Stirling, where we visited the castle and I introduced the parents to the wonders of afternoon tea and scones! We stayed the night in a nice B&B in the countryside and spent Sunday exploring the Trossachs (national park with lots of woodland, hills, and little lochs). We even made a stop at Doune Castle – made famous as the castle in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. It was a splendid little castle, and we had the place practically to ourselves for exploration and silly photos! The rest of the afternoon proved tricky with dodgy rain clouds following us about, but we managed a quick walk around Loch Katrine before our drive back to Edinburgh. One more yummy meal and fun chat with the parents saw me back to my flat to study for my 2nd to last exam that Thursday. That passed quickly and before I knew it it was Friday, time for...

Gibbs' visit and Wedding!!

Most of you most likely know my best friend Samantha Gibb, and maybe know that a couple summers ago I went with her family on their trip to visit relatives in Spain, England, and Scotland. Her dad Robin is from Strenraer, Scotland, and his sister and mother still live in Kilmarnock on the west coast of Scotland. My initial brief visit to Scotland with the Gibbs is probably what convinced me I wanted to come back to the beautiful country for my study abroad (thanks Gibbs!!!!). Coincidentally, Sam’s cousin Lynn, who I met on the visit, got engaged to her boyfriend Dougie and they set the wedding for this May! They were kind enough to invite me to the ceremony, and provided a great reason for the Gibbs to come over. So that’s how it came about that on Friday, May 11th, Sammy, Jenny, and Carole arrived outside my flat to take me away for another fun study-break weekend! We took a quick walk around Edinburgh to show them some of the sights of my life here, and then had a yummy pub lunch before heading off to Kilmarnock. It was wonderful to see them, so great to have all of my favorite people able to see where I lived and get a taste of the amazing city I’ve come to love. Mom and Dad were still in the midst of highland adventures (ask them all about their whisky tour, and sheep encounters!) but would meet us on Saturday night for the wedding reception. The wedding was absolutely stunning, at a very nice hotel in Ayr on the southwest coast. The reception was lots of fun, mom and dad even got a small taste of some ceilidh dances and traditional Scottish songs – oh and lots of kilts of course! It worked out well actually, since the next day I had to get back to Edinburgh and the parents were flying back early Monday morning. So we had a nice last night in Edinburgh on Sunday before I returned to the last week of study hell… But it was all over soon enough, last exam was on May 17th, a Thursday – just in time to be over for a good pub night celebration! The celebration did not stop there however, the end of exams was the start of my last eumc adventures for the year…and oh what adventures they were!
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