This last weekend I went to Edinburgh, Scotland and I’m so glad that I did. It was the more beautiful country I’ve visited since being here, though no one could have prepared me for how cold it was. It even started to snow  

The city was small, but gorgeous. It was also freezing! I thought Ireland was cold, but coming back to Ireland from Scotland felt like summer-I was ready to put my flip-flops on! I don’t feel like I saw a lot of Scotland, it was more of a realizing trip than anything. I spent both my days there going into the city walking along the streets, and soaking up the beautiful architecture. There was also an adorable Christmas market going on with ice-skating, street food, and vendors/booths. It was magical experience.  On our first morning there my friends and I tried haggis for the first time…NEVER AGAIN. It was awful, but a good experience for sure. We also met two guys one from Portland and one from Salem. I’ve been in Europe for 3 months and aside from one other girl studying at DCU from Western, I haven’t met anyone from Oregon let alone the small city of Salem! It was nice to talk to people from my state.. I didn’t realize just how much I missed Oregon until then. 

I feel like I’ve emotionally checked out a little bit since I’ve been here. There’s so much going on back home. I have an apartment, two cats, a job, and a boyfriend that I’m just really ready to get back to. Though I certainly will miss this beautiful place. After visiting Scotland, I’m seriously regretting my decision to not study there.. Seriously, if anyone gets the chance to visit GO! It was a great experience. 

In other news, there’s a student from Western who I connected with who’s studying in London and she’s coming to visit next week. I’m excited to connect with someone back home and share with her some of the great things about Ireland. 

I’m not so much looking forward to going back to school back home. I registered for classes coming in at 20 credits and I’m dreading it. Classes here are very easy. There’s no continuous assessment. You’re given one or two projects at the beginning of the term that will account for your entire grade and you then have all term to work on it. In other words, I never have to go to class. Unfortunately, that’s not how classes work back home and I actually have to attend them. I’m a little bit nervous just because of how relaxed I’ve gotten when it comes to my studies and I wont be able to “slack off” as much as I can here.

That’s all for now. Here are a few pictures of my trip.

Cheers!