In Love with Scotland

Hello from Ireland!! I'm currently using Jenni's computer while she's at class to update my blog about my adventures to Scotland.  I feel as though so much has happened in just a short week!

Hanna and I left for Scotland early Friday morning.  We took a train to Edinburgh which is the capital city in Scotland.  On our way there the train broke down...I'm beginning to think I jinx trains since almost every time I've ridden on one it has broken down.  We stopped in a small town on our way to Edinburgh and cleared the train so it could make it's way back to London to be repaired.  The entire train of people waited for another train to come pick us up and continue on our way to Edinburgh.  We finally made it and I was OVERJOYED when we got out of the train station by the beauty of the city and the bagpipe music I could hear.  I quickly learned that there is always a faint noise of bagpipe music the entire time we were in Scotland which made me so so so happy.

I didn't truly fall in love with Scotland until we went to church on Sunday morning. We found a small church by our hostel and we decided to go to the service.  It seemed like the average church until peace time came.  Then the entire church came alive.  Everyone was greeting each other like friends -- I think we kept giving peace until everyone had a chance to say peace to each other.  During peace, multiple people came up to Hanna and I saying "I'm so glad to see you," "How are you?" or "Are you visiting?" It reminded me so much of St. Stephens! At the end of the service they had a lady giving announcements and similar to St. Stephens people were giving her a hard time and trying to get out of listening to the boring notices.  After the announcements, the congregation went downstairs for coffee and biscuits.  I think we had five people come up to us asking us to please come downstairs.  Shelia, a particularly nice lady, took us under her wing and lead us downstairs.  We got some coffee, a roll and sat down at one of the many tables set up around the gymnasium.  We chatted for almost an hour with Shelia, and other church members who came up wanting to introduce themselves.  This whole entire time I literally did not know whether cry or laugh of happiness the entire time.  It made me realize how important St. Stephen's community is to me and how much my grandma is with me! Every time someone would come up and introduce themselves or ask us to come to coffee I was reminded of her spirit.  I am so blessed.

We did a lot of adventuring throughout the five days we were there but on the last day we went to the Scottish Highlands.  It was a 12 hour ride on a coach bus up and down the rolling hills.  It was the most beautiful place in the world.  We were extremely lucky with blue skies, sun and no clouds! I'll put up pictures once I get back to London.

Two more quick thoughts about Scotland.  First, hostel living is not that bad! It's almost comparable to summer camp.  I was in a 12 bunk room and at first it was really frightening but everyone is so nice and it's a blast to meet new people from a variety of  different places.  AND, I had my first Indian cuisine! It was pretty good but I liked the naan bread the best :)

Right now, we are in Galway, Ireland visiting our friends Maggie and Jenni.  It's so fun to be in a place that my ancestors are from.  It is a beautiful place and everyone is so nice! Tonight we are going to their favorite pub for some Irish music and (maybe) some beer.