My mood is directly linked to how much sunshine I get.

I am very annoyed right now. The Internet is not working, the sun is not shining, the mall is closed, and my room has no food in it. Gabby is not a happy person at the moment. I don’t think I like Glasgow…

Well as long as I have nothing else to do at the moment (what with the internet being spaztastic) I figured I may as well attempt to go through a few of the things we’ve been doing. Unfortunately, my descriptions of them may be tainted by my adverse mood…but I will try not to sound too cranky. I’ll try…I cannot guarantee anything though.

So… where to start. As you know, I went to Sweden last weekend. It was a lot of fun. It was really really great to see Nina and Emma and hang out where they live and see how things work at a Swedish school. It was very cool—the little city we were in (Lund) is basically a college town built around an ancient cathedral. It was an extremely cute little place with cobblestone roads and old style houses. We almost didn’t make it there though. Melissa and I had a final on Thursday that did not end until 4 and our flight was at 5:30. We convinced our professor to let us leave early so we could take the tube to the train, which would take us to the airport. The train was supposed to take exactly 30 minutes, but for some unknown reason it kept stopping and it took almost 50 mins to get to the airport. We then got stuck in a giant line to go through security (which is much less efficient than in the US…and somehow almost EVERY single person set of the alarm). At that point it was about 4:58 and our flight stopped boarding at 5:10. It was baad. I didn’t think we were going to make it. We SPRINTED through entire airport and as we were running heard over the speakers that it was last call for our flight. Ours was the last flight to Sweden for the day so if we missed it, it would have been crappy crappy crappy. Fortunately we made it just as they were closing the gates. The two of us were ready to pass out or have a heart attack when we finally got on board. It was very stressful. Hehe anyways, the weekend turned out really great other than that slight hiccup.

We returned to London Sunday night at about 11 and had to unpack…just to repack our stuff right back up again to leave at 8:30 the next morning. Not very much sleep was had that night.

Monday morning we all took the train to Newcastle. And yes, Newcastle is in England. We were there for three nights (three nights I might add, that I had my own room!). The day we got there we pretty much just checked into the hotel, went out to dinner, and then went to bed. Day two, we took a walking tour of the city—going around to look at all of their cool bridges and buildings. It was interesting…but not overly exciting. We had a free evening so the 8 of us went out to dinner and watched a Football match at a sports bar.

Wednesday we took the train to Durham, which is a really pretty little town that is famous for its University and its Cathedral. The architecture there was amazing. The university looked like a castle, and the Cathedral was massive and beautiful! It was a very cool little place.

Wednesday night was the Newcastle vs Manchester United football match. I am not generally much of a soccer fan…but I have to say that it was an awesome experience. People are sooooo into soccer here, it is insane. We had really good seats too so we could pretty much see everything that was going on. The people around us cheered like mad the entire match. I recorded the reaction when Newcastle scored its first goal—it’s pretty loud!

Thursday morning we checked out of the hotel to meet our second group leader at the train station to take the train to Edinburgh, Scotland. I have to say that Edinburgh is probably one of the coolest/prettiest places I’ve been so far. Everything is so green and the castle is amazing! I mean what kind of place can you say you went for a walk after dinner and strolled through a massive castle?! It was cool. We stayed in this very cozy and cute bed and breakfast that was owned by a family who all worked there. Right after we checked in, we took an open bus tour of the city, driving all around the city learning all the historical details behind it all. After that, we went out to dinner to a place called “The Dogs” which was basically a very hip, fancy, yet laid back restaurant. James, our professor/team leader/really-really-funny-Scottish-man-who-acts-like-he-is-only-25, insisted that we all order what ever we wanted, including a starter, main courses, wine, dessert, and dessert wine. It was so much fun! After dinner we went on a ghost tour. It was hilarious because the woman was hard core trying to be creepy, while the boys were all trying to scare us, yet at the same time nobody could stop laughing—including the professor. After the walk we trekked up a hill to walk by the front of the castle, which was all lit up and AWESOME looking. It was super cool. We got a good group shot while we were there—I’ll post a copy when I get one (it’s not on my camera because this was still at the time when my camera was having issues with life).

Friday morning, we hiked up to the castle again—this time going in and paying for headsets that took you all around telling what each thing was. It was very interesting and entertaining. The views were amazing! After that we got food and coffee (which was necessary…I’m seriously surprised I have not yet died of sleep deprivation at this point. I amaze myself sometimes!) and then kept on walking. We went into the Parliament building and then went on a hike. We trekked up a hill to check out a few of the monuments they had at the top, which gave stunning views of the entire city. Even though we were all exhausted, it was still amazing. Some of the pictures turned out really good. After that we were free for the rest of the day and all day Saturday. It was nice to have some free time—which was definitely used for napping and sleeping.

Saturday, we went to all of the little shops along the Royal Mile (a street leading down from the castle), got lunch, and pretty much just wandered around the city exploring. Melissa, Josh, and I went to church Saturday night at St. Mary’s Cathedral (one of the ONLY Catholic churches I could find within walking distance. I was slightly disappointed that we did not have a Scottish priest =( haha but it was cool. The church was very pretty. Saturday night we went out to dinner at a very good Chinese place. There was tons of food and it was good too, so we were all in pretty good moods when we went to bed.

Sunday morning we had to pack up again to catch the train to Glasgow. The train took about 45 minutes, so that wasn’t too bad. Unfortunately I do not have very many good things to say about Glasgow… it is cold, dark, and wet—not a good combination. Last night we went to a pro-basketball game, which was entertaining. It was like watching a high school game! Hehe but people were still very very into it. After that we went out to another fancy dinner, this time at a place called “The Left Bank”. The food was amazing! I ordered duck. Haha it was good. I’ve been attempting to branch out in my food ordering habits while here—some items of interest include rabbit, lamb, and duck. Yes, I am making my way down the list of furry and cute animals…its sad. All I need to add to my list of Thumper, Lambsy and Donald is Bambi and I’ll be set. Anyway, the dinner was great—and James kept the wine and food coming the entire night. I think we were at the restaurant for about 3 and a half hours!

This morning, after stumbling down to breakfast at the horrifying hour of 8 am… we went on an open roof bus tour of Glasgow. All I can say is it was FREEEZING and RAINING. Not that much fun was had… We all pretty much just wanted to go inside the entire time. We did get off the bus at one point to look around the University of Glasgow. The most interesting thing there was the Kelvin Museum. It had all of Kelvin’s experiments and discoveries—some of which were interactive, so it was entertaining.

After that, we got back on the bus, finished the tour, and then got lunch. The rest of the day was free. Naps were taken. We did attempt to go shopping, but unfortunately, everything seems to close at exactly six o’clock, so pretty much there is nothing to do right now. And the Internet is not even working. Yes, I am not a happy camper at the moment. I am sure once I get some food things will seem a little bit better…but the weather is really not helping. It is yucky outside.

I hope this post was not too boring. I pretty much was just listing things in an uninteresting way…but I do not seem to be mentally capable of doing more than that at the moment! Tomorrow we leave James to meet the next professor in Manchester. If anything interesting goes on, I’ll be sure to let you know =) I hope you liked the pictures I posted yesterday!