My mom wired me around $1000 today, which turned into about half of that with the pound conversion. I got the money in cash from a convenience store, and I walked a few blocks to the bus stop. I was really worried that someone was going to mug me, even though there were a lot of people around, probably because I had 440 pounds in my purse. So I ( Read more... )

We went to the castle with our Scottish Culture class this week. It was pretty boring and I didn't even take any pictures. But the crown jewels are there, and they were pretty cool. There's a weekend in April with free admission, and I might go back then when it's not so windy. The wind almost knocked me off the castle walls about 10 times ( Read more... )

Elizabeth left this morning. I dropped her off at the train station then went to church. I didn't think I was going to be able to go and I told my friends. But I got on a bus near the train station after I dropped Elizabeth off. Then about 5 stops later, Nikki and Lindsay got on! It was crazyness. Then we went to the Chandler's and they made ( Read more... )

My friend Elizabeth came to visit me this weekend. We had such a busy day today. We did the regular tourist stuff like seeing the castle and the Elephant House, but we also did Mary King's Close. Closes are narrow streets that used to make up Edinburgh around 400 years ago. The city decided to build over them. Then (I think in the 1990's) they ( Read more... )

Sam and I climbed all the way to the top of Arthur's Peak (the dormant volcano) yesterday. I'm really sore. On the way down we thought we found a good path but it turned out to be a water drainage chute. It was slippery and there were some parts where you could sit and stand at the same time because it was so steep. Sam started whining about ( Read more... )

Sam has come to visit me from his study abroad in London. We didn't really do much today because I had class, but we walked around and saw my campus ( Read more... )

You can see some pictures here:

http://pics.livejournal.com/maddietales/gallery/00001s14

It's so exciting that the Vineyard is here. I went this morning with 3 other kids from my building. Everyone is really nice and they all invite us places and stuff ( Read more... )

I had my second class yesterday. It's weird being the only American, and I can't figure out what the Scottish people think about it. They really hate our politics and George Bush. A lot of them know where Arkansas is because it's where Bill Clinton is from. The classes seem like they will be fun though ( Read more... )

Today we hiked up a dormant volcano, Arthur's Seat. There were some really good views, and it was really grassy and flat in some parts so it was like the Sound of Music. We frolicked for a second. We didn't get to the top today, because it's quite a hike. I really want to go back though. You almost have to forage your own path to get to the ( Read more... )