A wee update of Madeline's life

Hello everyone! It's been awhile...

My adventure abroad has been quite busy and exciting. Here's a wee update of the highlights for you all.

Friday, February 7th everyone in the palace took a trip out to Cramond Island. It was absolutely breathtaking. You have to go there when the tide is low and walk a quarter mile out to the island. It was such a peaceful place to be and felt like a slice of heaven.

On Saturday, February 8th we all met our "host families!" Kelsey and I were paired up with a couple (Morna and Alison). They're both super nice and live right in town. Throughout the semester we are able to ask them questions and do things together. Morna works at a school and said we could visit her at work someday. I think that would be so interesting to see what a school is like here in Scotland!

That night was quite the experience. A group of us went to this nightclub in Edinburgh called Espionage. It was an absolute blast. Edinburgh is definitely a club city. That's all I'll say about that.

For a good chunk of the week it was mostly dedicated to class and homework. I really have to remind myself I'm here for SCHOOL and try to get everything done Monday-Thursday in order for me to really have fun and travel on weekends.

With that being said, on Valentine's Day we all went to LONDON for an extended weekend! I had such an awesome time there. It's really expensive there I found out, so I'm scared to check my bank account. Oh well, money is just money.

Let's see... On Friday when we got there it was raining pretty heavily. That kind of put me in a funk - but no worries I snapped out pretty quickly! That night I went into China Town with some friends and we had dinner. Then we all went to see a play called "The 39 Steps" at The Criterion Theatre. It was pretty funny and a was a great way to spend the night! Thumbs up!

After the play, a bunch of us just hung out at the bar area in the hostel. We all danced and had a good time. I'd say spending Valentine's Day in London with some awesome people is a good enough way to spend it.

Saturday the 15th in London was incredible! We did all the sightseeing stuff. I saw Big Ben, The London Bridge, The London Eye, Buckingham Palace, etc. It was a sunny day and definitely made up for the rainy weather on Friday. I actually got HOT and didn't have to wear a jacket during part of the day. I was so happy to feel the warmth of the sun. It made me realize I'm lacking Vitamin D and I soaked up as much as I could. 

In the afternoon we then took the tube to go to the Freud Museum. The museum is actually his house where he lived. I was a  little excited, but maybe I'm biased since I'm a Psychology major. :) It was cool to learn a little more about his life. 

Went out with friends at night to experience the night life in London. So fun. But no one wants to here about that... so on to Sunday!

Ahhh -- Sunday was fricken AMAZING! We spent the morning at a couple museums - the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum. There are a ton of museums in London and the majority of them are free. If I lived in London, I would never be bored because I could just go to museums all the time and gain all sorts of knowledge. Or just party. Either or. Ha!

Ummm -- the best part of Sunday though was two words -- HARRY POTTER! I went on the Warner Brother's Harry Potter Making Tour. Words can't describe how fantastic the tour was. I took so many pictures. It was animal week at the tour, so they had some of the animals there that were in the films. HEDWIG was there a.k.a. Harry Potter's owl! Of course, I had a glass of Butterbeer. This tour was definitely a highlight of London.

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My last day in London -- Today -- We just walked around the city, bought souvenirs, etc. We all met at King's Cross train station around 3:00 pm to board our train back to Edinburgh, Scotland. The train ride was around four hours long. I had a great time in London, but it's good to be back in the palace to be able to relax for a bit. I have classes the next couple days, and then we all are taking a day trip to Glasgow. It'll be fun to see that city! The next couple weekends I'll be in Dalkeith / Edinburgh. Then in the beginning of March a few of us girls have a weekend trip booked to Dublin, Ireland! :)

I miss so many of you back at home. Sometimes it's really difficult not being able to see a lot of you and not being able to talk whenever with the time difference. I'm so thankful I live in a time with all of this technology to stay in touch. It makes it a lot easier. I love the U.K. though and everyday I wake up and think to myself "Wow...I'm studying abroad...Is this real life?" Yes, this is real life. This is my life. 

Until next time, I hope all of you are enjoying the U.S. I sure don't miss the snow at all. Stay classy my friends. I'll be home before ya know it.

LOVE LOVE LOVE,

Madeline

To all of my wonderful family and friends back in the U.S.,

I’ve officially spent my first week in the wonderful land of Scotland! This week has absolutely been incredible so far. I feel as if I’ve already been here for a month (in a good way). J

On Monday, January 27^th, to start off my study abroad experience, I met two of my lovely friends, Kelsey and Cassie, at the airport in Minneapolis. Of course my bag weighed over 50 pounds, so I gave my dad some of my belongings to take home. I mean I guess I can survive without five bottles of lotion. Ha! We eagerly waited to board our flight and were nervous about our connecting flight due to a slight delay. We flew in to Newark and luckily made our connecting flight which took us to Edinburgh.

Once we landed, we took a Taxi to the Dalkeith Palace, which is where we all are living and taking our classes for the semester. Dalkeith is located just six miles outside of Edinburgh and the estate is absolutely breathtaking. We met the very friendly staff and got situated in our rooms. Although sleep deprived and jet lagged, the three of us explored the grounds and the town. As we were taking pictures, a rainbow formed over the palace. This has got to be a good sign. Pictures don’t serve justice to how beautiful this place really is.

We spent our first night at a pub in town called The Blacksmith’s Forge. It has a laid back atmosphere and is a great place to just hang out and have a few drinks. I tried this berry cider drink called Kopparberg and it was delicious! 

The next few days were filled with various orientation activities. We went into Edinburgh everyday over the weekend. On Friday, we visited the Edinburgh Castle and it was breathtaking. It’s a military castle and there was so much history to be soaked in. The architecture, paintings, memorials, and views of the city were incredible. 

On Saturday I went into Edinburgh again with some friends to do some shopping. I know…really Madeline?! Our bus ride down was an interesting experience. We were on the top level of the bus in the back and a Scottish man got on the bus and sat in front of us. He was a little older than us and reeked of alcohol. He had his dog on the bus with him and started drinking a beer. He was talking with us and being obnoxious, but it was pretty funny. He called my friend Amanda her “bird” which apparently means girlfriend. He told us his nickname is Squiggles and he had it tattooed on his back. Interesting.

On Sunday we all went into Edinburgh again except with our clans we got divided in. My clan’s name is “Stewart”! We participated in the amazing race, which was essentially walking around town finding different places with clues and questions. It was actually a fun experience because we got to see some great places for ideas of where to go in town in the future. One of those places is a cafe called The Elephant House, which is where J.K. Rowling first starting writing her Harry Potter series. I mean HOW COOL!

We stopped at a pub called “The Smallest Pub in Scotland” and as a clan all had a beer. We also went to the National Museum of Scotland and saw a view of the city from the roof. Absolutely stunning. The sky was even blue!

Once all the students were back at the Dalkeith Palace, we had our beginning of the semester celebration. We had a ceilidh, which is a traditional Scottish dance. A woman taught us how to do the dances and we all had a blast. Henry, our chef, also made us Haggis pizza. Not really a fan, but you have to try haggis when in Scotland!

Monday was the first official day of classes. On Monday’s I have my Scottish Globalization class for six hours every other week. It was long, but I’m definitely already learning a lot.

Today, I had two other classes, Developmental Psychology and Interpersonal Communication. They both don’t seem to be too difficult. J I’m super excited that I don’t have classes on Wednesdays, so I can use those days to “get stuff done”.  Also, none of us have classes on Fridays, which allows us to travel elsewhere.

I went out with a bunch of great people tonight to a local pub called Masons and here are some of the people.

I’m so grateful to be on this wonderful journey. I haven’t felt this happy in a long time and it is nothing but an incredible experience so far.

I will post in the near future when I have more to write about.

Sending love to all my family and friends back at home!

Cheers,

Madeline