A Very Lucky Girl

Just last night I returned from the most magical weekend of my life to date. I started doing research on Highland excursions at the beginning of the semester, determined to make it to the legendary Isle of Skye, but most I found left from Edinburgh or Glasgow. However, at an international Dundee University event, I discovered Heartland Travel, the relatively new company that picks students up from their universities before making the drive to the Highlands! I found a weekend that worked with my schedule and booked it immediately. None of my other international friends chose this weekend until the trip was full and it was too late for them. So I arrived at the meeting point on Friday morning and met 15 new friends. There were two girls from St. Andrew's, three of us from Dundee, and the rest were from Stirling.  Nori, our faithful leader, gave us a run-down of the weekend as he drove us North. We passed countless sheep and precious lambs as the Glen Coe mountains slowly came into

I know that it looks like I don't do any schoolwork at all. Even my friends here in the exchange program scoff at the four hours of class I attended each week. But today was the culmination of weeks of preparation for a Shakespeare performance. I chose a Shakespeare module in Dundee because I thought it would be really awesome to learn Shakespeare in depth near the country of his birth. One thing I've come away with is that I don't believe Shakespeare was written to be said in an American accent. I felt so inferior among the proper accents in my tutorial! A requirement of the course instructed each tutorial group (there were three) to choose a scene from any of the plays we read, perfect it over the course of the term, and perform it on March 26. My group was on the smaller side and had only eight people in it. We finally settled on an abridged version of the final scene in "A Midsummer Night's Dream." The scene has loads of characters in it so we had to get c

I played hostess over the past two weeks and, let me tell you, I slept like a rock on the first night that my room was empty. Not because they were gone, but because I ran them (and myself) into the ground with a rigid itinerary. I wasn't about to let them come visit me and then us sit around looking at each other wondering what to do. Nope, every single day had a schedule. We may have strayed a time or two, but for the most part we stayed true to the plan. Plans are bliss, y'all. Hannah arrived on Tuesday evening, March 11th. We dragged her suitcase from the bus station back to my flat before heading to Dr. Noodles, a delicious Asian food joint, for some pasta in a box. Then, after scavenging for appropriate Carnival costumes in my closet, I brought her to the flat party of the evening. This particular Tuesday was also the start of the Dundee Hunger Games so I was armed with a blue water gun to match my Kevin Durant Thunder get up. I also lent Vanessa, my flatmate, one of my

AKA--the Dundee Hunger Games.  Renan, one of the what seems like thousands brazilian exchange students, suggested we have a competition complete with water guns. I heard the word gun so obviously this American was up in arms about participating!   I needed a tutorial to fully understand the game, but after an intensive learning session with Zee, Renan, and Nat, coupled with Macca's fries and a trip to the 24-hour bakery, I think I've got it figured out.  Basically, everyone who wants in on the game chooses the name of another person, secretly in a folded sheet of paper. I've selected my target, and I was just relieved to actually know who they were! My next order of business was to purchase a water gun, both for defense and offense, which I did today at Poundland.  You see, I am obviously after a particular target, the name I chose, but if he or she knows I am coming for them (which they won't because I'm sneaky) and they spray me with water before I can attack?

I haven't been on any big trips since going to Dublin, but a lot of exciting things are coming up in the next few weeks and I can't wait to share them with you all! I've been saving my cash for my upcoming adventures and writing my final essays. I will be done with all things academic related on March 31st! Which means I'll have almost two full months to travel and just soak up Europe without the drag of having to go to 4 hours of class a week. Like ugh. My goal is to complete all of my assignments before Hannah and Megan arrive next week! I've finished one essay and am 1,000 words into my Shakespeare one. It's slow going, but I only have four days until Hannah gets here!! She arrives in Dundee on Tuesday and I am so excited, considering I haven't seen her since August. Megan arrives a couple of days after her and then we have a few days as a trio, recreating our SB12 vacation in NYC. I cannot wait to show them around my home. Being the obnoxious planner th