Chapter 2: Day 13: 3 Feb 2019

Today I slept in – surprise surprise – and it felt wonderful. When I eventually woke up Emme asked if I wanted to get out of the house for a bit and go walk around Edinburgh. We did not have a real destination, so we rode the bus to Prince’s street and walked around before stopping in Primark. I ended up getting a sweatshirt and a sweater. When we were done there we decided to go back to Dalkeith and get dinner at Black Smith Forge. It was nice to get out of the house for a bit and walk around.

Once we got back to the house, I decided to be productive and do some homework for a while before Kyle, Lauren, Sarah and I planned our weekend away. We originally started with looking into Lisbon, Portugal, but the flights there were ridiculous, so we tried to find anywhere else and after A LOT of searching we landed on Copenhagen, Denmark. I am excited to see somewhere new with new people. When we finally got our tickets booked, we watched the Superbowl! Since we are six hours ahead here the game started at 11:30pm and went to just after 3:00am and we somehow managed to stay up through the whole thing. After a sad game we all headed to bed. Even though it was late I Facetimed Travis for a bit before getting a couple hours of sleep.

Chapter 2: Day 14: 4 Feb 2019

Today we started our first week of full classes! Since I was up till about 5am I did not want to get out of bed, but I would not have changed it for the world. At 8 I rolled out of bed, got dressed and popped down to the server (where we get food) and luckily breakfast was still open, so I was able to get some cereal and an apple before class. This module as I have said I have British History. I am nervous for this class solely because I have never been very good at history, but the professor is really nice, so I hope it goes better than expected.

After my morning class I was done will class until I had a meeting at 2. In the mean time I accomplished a lot! I did laundry, completed many of my assignments, researched what Travis and I are going to do when he comes to visit and more. At 2 I had a meeting with Cameron, who is in charge of the estate, to start talking about what my internship will consist of this semester. He is still unsure what he wants me to do, so he said that I would have a meeting with the publicity people next week to see what they want with.

The meeting was nice and quick and once it was over, I worked on more homework before dinner. We had really good chili for dinner which was nice to be able to warm up. When dinner was over we went upstairs and hung out in Kyle and Malachi’s room for a while doing more homework and blogging. After hanging out for a bit Kate snapped our group and asked if anyone wanted to go into the city for shakes and fries. Since I had been sick for a while, I was feeling housebound, so I decided to go! A big group of us headed to catch the bus (Kate, Malachi, Jacob, Lumberjack, James, Jerod and myself). We ended up at Burrito and Shake which I had the last time I was here and it was good, but for some reason they were not as good as last time, but it was still fun to get out and hang out with new people. Once we were done we headed back to the house and met back up with Lauren, Kyle and Sarah for a bit longer before we headed to bed.

Chapter 2: Day 15: 5 February 2019

Today we started the morning with class and I had lunch duty, so it was a busy morning until lunch was done. After lunch duty I hung out in my room doing homework and relaxing since the majority of the class was away on a field trip. I got a lot more homework done than I thought which was nice. Once the rest of the class came back it was just about time for dinner, so we got ready and headed down. For dessert tonight we had sticky toffy pudding which is one of my favorites! After dinner we had about a half an hour before our Career Exploration class.

Chapter 2: Day 16: 6 Feb 2019

Today was a long and fun filled day! We had a field Trip with my British History Class to The Kelpies, Battle of Bannockburn and Stirling Castle. We started the morning with a quick stop at the Kelpies which are giant horse statues over the Falkirk river connecting the East and West of Scotland. They are beautiful and look like they are coming out of the waterway. We were only there for a bit before we head to head to the Battle of Bannockburn site for our tour there. The Battle of Bannockburn is known as one of the greatest fights ever fought by Scotland and England. It was really interesting to learn about because they had a 3D movie that surrounded us when we were watching it, so we felt like we were really experiencing the battle. There were also weapons we could touch and character that would talk to us like holograms. After that we got to go into a battle simulator where we got to make the decisions on reenacting the battle. I did not do too hot, but in the end, we won so that was exciting!

Once we were done there, we headed over to Stirling Castle. The castle is in the middle of the country where you can almost see Glasgow and Edinburgh from it, and you can see the fault line of the highlands. It was built not only smart for battles, but it was one of the most beautiful views. We wandered around while Dan told us about the history of the castle. After a bit we went into the Unicorn Café – the café in the castle – and got something to drink and ate our lunches. It was a very fun trip with good company. We walked for a bit more before packing into the van and heading back to the house. We made it just in time for dinner!

After dinner there was a group of people who wanted to go into the city for a bit of shopping, so I decided to tag along just to get some fresh air. I did end up trying on a cute dress, but I couldn’t commit to it, so I just got a pack of earrings. When we were done there some of the group wanted ice cream, so they found a place, but Malachi, Josie and I did not want any, so we just walked about the street and found a cute theatre and some restaurants. Once they were done, we met back up and everyone wanted to go back to the house, but I wanted to wander some more because it was a beautiful night, so Malachi joined me, and we walked about 7 miles before heading home. We saw a lot of the city what I had yet to see which is always fun! It was really fun to walk and talk and have a relaxing night away from the house. When we got back, he made food and I iced my knee some and talked about show choir before calling it a night.

Chapter 2: Day 17: 7 Feb 2019

Today the British History class got to sleep in a bit because our professor had to teach another class in the morning. We had lunch and then class and then I had dinner duty. After that I tried to plan spring break, but it failed because I have no clue where I want to go, and everyone pretty much has a plan so I may be doing a lot of solo travel. Once I was done, I showered and headed to bed because we have an early morning tomorrow.

Chapter 2: Day 18: 8 Feb 2019

Today was a very early wake up call. Everyone had to be up and ready to leave at 7:15 for our class trip to Glasgow. While I do not really have to go because I am not in the globalization class I wanted to so that I was not the only on in the house all day. We got on the bus while it was still dark so the ride there was not all too exciting, but by the time we got there it was light enough to see everything. We started the day with a tour of Celtic Football stadium. While there, we got to go into the VIP section, the media room (where they host press conferences), the locker rooms, and even got to walk through the entry onto the field! It was very fun to be able to go into the VIP sections and even go onto the field. We also were able to see three of the trophies out of their cases so we could touch them – as long as we did not pick them up. After the Celtic Stadium we headed over to The Peoples Palace, which is a museum of all of the important people in Glasgow. Unfortunately, it was closed for some reason, so we just got some time to walk and get fresh air. A group of us walked over to the park, but that was also closed so we played on the kiddy playground for a bit before going back to the bus and moving onto our next stop.

Our next stop of the day was to a place called SWAMP. I know that it does not sound like a great place, but it is actually a community organization that helps teens stay safe and helps them get on a good path in life. This organization is in the hometown of Pollock that Gerry Mooney (Globalization professor) is from. It was interesting to learn about where he came from and how his town is helping youth. After a bit there we headed to the Riverside Museum. I love this museum I think it is very interesting and fun to walk around. They have old cars, trains and little village set up. I walked around with Emme and Malachi for a while before we got lunch at the café. We ended up sitting with Alisa as well. It was good lunch and even better company. Once we were done there, we piled onto the bus one more time to go down to city center for a chance to walk around a bit. The downtown was bustling with people and many of the alley ways had string lights making it just like a movie. Emme, Malachi and I wandered around a bit looking in stores and down all the alley ways. Then we decided we wanted to go to the train station to look at it, so Emme went off with another group who wanted to get food and Malachi and I went into the train station.

Once we were done there we met back up where the bus dropped us off and got on to head home. When we got back to the Estate we unpacked from the day and then a group of us when to the store to get a few snacks/dinner and then stopped at Franco’s for dinner. After dinner Malachi and I decided to have a movie night and watch Just Go With It and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. There were a group of people in another room who were watching a movie too but they all kept talking so we decided to relax and to our own thing. It was really fun to have a relaxing night. There was a while where the wifi went out and we were not able to watch our movies since they were on Netflix so we went and talked with other people while it threw it’s tantrum.  After a while it did come back on and we were able to finish our movies! By the time Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was over it was about 3:30am..we did not know that the movie was so long! So we went up and I showered and got ready for bed, and hung out with Kyle, Lauren, Sarah and Malachi in our room for a bit while they finished their show. After it was all said and done we all went to bed and I was out like a light.

Chapter 2: Day 19: 9 February 2019

Sleep! Since we were all up until just after 4am we all slept in this morning! I did end up waking up at 10:30 to do some homework and pretend to be productive. At about noon I was getting hungry, so Malachi made us eggs and bacon/sausage. It was declivous and nice to have something other than cereal for breakfast! After dishes were done we went to our own room for a bit and were productive before Malachi said he was in the ballroom singing so I joined him as he sang and danced round the ballroom while we tried to decide what we were going to do today.

After a bit we went into the boy’s room where Kyle, Sarah and Lauren were hanging out. We plopped down with them for a bit..and that bit turned into a few hours. It was really fun to just hang out and laugh and talk like there was no other cares in the world. After probably too long of doing nothing Malachi decided that he had to have microwave popcorn so he, Jacob and I all ended up going to Lidl to find popcorn for Malachi and boxed Mac-n-Cheese for Jacob. Once we were done at the store, we headed back to the house for a movie night with Jacob, Malachi, Jerod, and Emme (for a bit). We attempted to watch a scary move (I am the pretty thing that lives in your house), but it was not all that scary, and the acting was okay at best. After that we watched the first Lord of the Rings, which I actually really liked, then Spy Kid and a bit of the show Friends before heading to bed and calling it a night.

Thank you for reading 🙂