(lots of rain poured from the) SKYE!!!

Hello blog readers!

I am slightly ecstatic that I will be done with exams in 2 days!!! It's actually got me to thinking though... I guarantee that I will miss not only Glasgow, but college. This definitely includes the people, but I think I will come to miss studying for classes as well. If I could be a professional student, I would.

Speaking of things I will miss, I'm gonna miss the people here! (In case I haven't told you enough the last couple of blog posts)

Anyways, to further my procrastination in revising for exams, I've decided to tell you about Skye.

The Isle of Skye was probably at the top of my list of places to visit in Scotland. Fortunately for me, the GU International Society organized a trip there that included transport and hostel stay for a weekend. So, I rounded up a couple of my flat mates (Shawn from France and Jorge from Spain) and convinced them to go on this trip.

Now, to describe the weekend... Wet. Very wet. Lots of rain. Rain in Scotland no longer has any surprise factor, but it's a shame that it had to rain while I was visiting Skye.

The Isle of Skye is an island (isle!) off of the west coast of Scotland. It's probably the most popular island in Scotland for tourists (me!).

Once again, on the bus ride there wee stopped at Glen Coe. This time the colors of the glen were different, due to it being closer to winter.

We stopped for some food in Fort Williams. Fort Williams has nothing in it. Like... If I wanted to go see the city as a tourist, I have no idea what I would do. We did spot an old graveyard, so naturally I wanted to go for a walk through it. Shawn took it a bit further and decided to lay on top of one of the stone slab things... 

Luckily, we got to visit the Eilean Donan Castle two days before it closed! The castle is gorgeous... Stunning backdrop with a bridge that leads to it. It would have been much nicer if it wasn't... you guessed it! raining.

Next stop was the Isle of Skye! We stayed in the second largest town on the island, in a generic youth hostel.   Apparently I snore. That's the first thing Jorge and Shawn told me when I woke up. Anyways, it was of course, raining the next day. This day, Sunday, was the primary island-seeing day. The first place we stopped involved a little hike to a beautiful overlook. Hypothetically, if it wasn't such low visibility, we would also be able to see some standing stones.... But I could appreciate the view nonetheless. I spent half of the time trying to get the hair out of my face... I have some really attractive photos cause of this, such as the one of me below. It was really, really windy.

The next stop was a little closer to the coast... okay right on the coast. We were supposed to be looking at some tiny waterfall. I was much more impressed with the scenery of the coast line. Interestingly enough, there was a Scottish man going for a hike, in the rain, and incredibly bad weather. The only funny part was... HE WAS WEARING A KILT. Jorge told me that he must be a real man to be hiking in the bad weather wearing a kilt. I thought it would be funny if his kilt flew up due to the wind.

Next stop, we saw some beautiful cliffs by the sea. At this point, it was pouring rain and half the bus decided not even to get out. But Jorge and I braved the weather, and got soaked in the process.

Then we headed to the largest town on the island, Portree. There I had some fish and chips for lunch, and walked down to the harbour for a picture by the colorful buildings. Then, it was back in the bus and time to head home!

All in all, it was a good weekend. I wish I had the opportunity to go when it was better weather. I also wish I had more time to explore the island.


Adios for now! Can't believe my stay in Scotland is just about over.... :(

the Grey city

So, instead of revising (in American english: studying) for exams, I am writing a blog post about my trip to Aberdeen. It's long overdue, as I ventured to Aberdeen on October 22nd and headed back to Glasgow on the 23rd. I figured since before long I will be heading off to all kinds of exciting places around Europe, I had better update the blog before my small brain cannot hold all of the wonderful memories of the places I have visited.

I took off on a little trip to Aberdeen to visit a friend who goes to uni there... but I met her in Oklahoma! Jenny was on a study abroad/exchange program in Oklahoma last year, and when I decided that I'd be studying in Glasgow, I knew that I'd have to visit her.

Jenny and her friend Michelle (? sorry, my memory's fuzzy), picked me up and we drove to stunning Dunnottar castle. It was not the best weather, but hey, it's Scotland. Dunnotar is essentially in ruins, and I really loved this aspect of it. Perhaps even cooler, it is literally surrounded by ocean on three sides. None of my pictures quite capture the beauty, so I'm linking another here.

Dunnottar Castle

I think this is my favorite castle to date. After, we drove back to Aberdeen. 

A quick note about Aberdeen: as my blog title implies, Aberdeen is quite grey. This is primarily because of the granite that many of Aberdeen's buildings are made out of. Also, the oil industry has played a large part in Aberdeen's more recent history. I noticed, almost immediately, the many (large) ships that were in the harbour. 

Anywho, I told Jenny about how Glasgow Uni looks like Hogwarts, and she told me that she thought the University of Aberdeen looks a lot like Hogwarts!! (Do all universities in Scotland look like Hogwarts?) I got a campus tour from Jenny. She's a campus tour guide and told me that I got the condensed version without all the boring bits. 

Hogwarts?

Interesting note about the library: it's new, and apparently students either love it or hate it. It doesn't quite fit in with the architecture of the older part of campus, but I liked it nonetheless. I think my architecturally inclined brother might have had more insight into the building itself, but nonetheless, it looked cool to me. I loved the way the floors were done. See the photos below to know what I mean.

Library!

7th (?) floor and looking down. Love it!

We also visited the student halls. I loved them. They seem so much nicer than where I am staying in Glasgow. For one, they have a bar pretty much on site. Jenny was friends with the guys who worked there, and I had a pint before heading back to Jenny's flat for dinner and then a night out. I really also was glad I got to meet Jenny's South African flat mate, Amy. She was so nice, and I enjoyed talking to her.

I was late to rise the next day, but once I was up, we went to a little seaside town who's name I can't remember and had some ice cream. It was so quaint, and I enjoyed pretending that it was actually summer and not cold/drizzly.

Jenny gave me a car tour of Aberdeen, which unfortunately I didn't get good pictures of....

All in all, a wonderful weekend spent with a wonderful person. Thanks so much for being such a great host Jenny! I'll have to see what I can do about getting some Sweet Tea to Aberdeen. :)

Real time update: Next week I have exams. :( But the good news is there is snow on the ground in Glasgow! And I love snow. The most perfect, beautiful snowflakes were falling earlier. I am so sad I am spending my last couple of weeks in Glasgow studying for stupid exams. I just need to pass, but I think if I go in with that mentality, I won't pass. I am going to miss so many people here...

Oh, and I almost forgot. I haven't really written about it yet.... but I'm kinda obsessed with old graveyards. I think they're really cool and I just like them. I can't exactly put my thumb on why. I would love to know more about the people buried in all of these places, and the history behind them... And of course, I visited the graveyard surrounding a church in Aberdeen.

On that happy thought, here's what's to come: blog about Isle of Skye, a Santa Dash!, and then travelling around Europe with the fam bam