Scotland

After just three days of being in Cambridge, we were swept off to Scotland!  And when I say we were swept off, I mean we sat on a bus.  For 9 hours. Thank goodness the drive was so beautiful.  A classic postcard photo: Green rolling hills dotted with little country houses every few miles.  Sheep, horses, cows— Old McDonald's whole gang.  Red wildflowers lining the highway.  It was stunning!  There were a couple of times that I looked out the window to enjoy the view but instead saw cars on the "wrong" side of the road.  I panicked.  It's going to take me a while to get used to that one!

While on the bus, Ellie her research project to us.  It's on changing behavior in healthy ways and how behavioral economics suggests that incentives can lead to a healthier more productive workforce.  Breath!  

I'm still not quite sure how we arrived at the decision, but we three girls have started a Summer of Self-Improvement!  Our man-friend Taylor's idea of a Summer of Self Improvement consists of gaining 20 pounds of muscle and whitening his teeth.  But we're girls.  What's the one thing on our mind 24/7?  Chocolate.  So we decided to go a whole week with out it.  Each week we will set a new goal.  Wish us luck!

When we got to the University of Edinburgh where we were staying, we decided to explore the city centre.  A thick fog covered everything.  It was eerie, romantic, spooky, and calm all at the same time. That town has character!  Fun fact: Scotland makes my hair go crazy!  I could feel it getting curlier (a.k.a frizzier by the minute.  I really got in touch with my inner Merida. 

 We wanted to go see Brave while we were in Scotland. Perfect, right? But it's not in theaters. That was a sad discovery for us 20-going-on-9-year-olds.

Friday morning, we went on a hike called in a town called Killin.  Scary name.  I reassured myself, "Hey self, this won't be too bad," when I saw our tour guide with his red backpack running up the mountain.  Boy, was I wrong.  And out of shape.  There were several times on the hike that I grumbled references, pretty clever ones might I add, to Killin/death/dying.  (I think I am the only person on the planet with exercise-induced asthma.)  We made it to the top 1000 feet up.  We enjoyed the view for a while and made our way down, all the while trying to resist the urge to pet the sheep.

After the hike, we rewarded ourselves with some Cadbury chocolate.  I was going strong on the no chocolate rule for a solid day and a half.  Sorry, Ellie!  A Scottish man walked by us 7 American bums sitting on the side of the road devouring our candy and said, "There's a joke here somewhere, I just don't know what it is." We all laughed.

Later that night, we danced the traditional Scottish Ceilidh (pronounced Kaylee—go figure).  Picture country line dancing, but with kilts instead of Wranglers.  We really struggled to understand the announcer with his strong accent.  Add in the fact that 90% of the kids dancing were a little tipsy.  Madness!  After a few minutes of aimless skipping, with the help of some insanely talented BYU ballroom dancers, it went a little something like this:


Note to self: get video from Averill


Saturday morning we went to the National Gallery where I discovered my new favorite artists, Giovanni Piranesi.  All of the pieces in the exhibit were etchings.  Feast your eyes:

After we explored the Gallery top to bottom, we went to lunch at Whiski's where I had real-life British fish and chips!  On our way back to the university, Averill and I decided to brave the rain with our matching polka-dot umbrellas and take some time to get to know the city a little better.  

:: We stopped in a soap store.  Our favorite was chocolate scented one.  The fact that we stood there and smelled it for a good 5 minutes may or may not be related to chocolate withdrawals.

:: A fudge shop was offering free samples.  Obviously, we went in.  But since we're off chocolate for a week, we tried the Turkish Delight—which tasted like soap.

:: We saw a wedding store that displayed kilts and plaid wedding dresses.  Averill asked if they deliver to the states.  Great news, they do!

:: I learned from the creepy wax people in the Scottish History Museum that the hip-happenin' Scottish dad is a Yankees fan.

:: The Queen's gallery was too expensive for us, so we just swooned over the crown jewels book we found in the gift shop.

:: Averill decided that the Parliament building looks like a modern art museum.

We were having so much fun that we missed the turn to get back to the university.  We asked several places how to get back, but only got the response, "There's a university around here?"  Eventually we found our way, but truly,

we enjoyed the detour.