15 and 2/4 (plus 2)

I cannot believe that I only have 17 more days here. In two days, I will have been here for 15 with 15 more to go! Everything speeds up once you get used to it. But to update...

Neat guttering system, huh?

Friday:

We went to Doune Castle as one of my Scotland on the Screen's excursions, and it was really neat! It's in Doune, which is only about 15 minutes away by bus, and it's been pretty well preserved. The tour was one of those walking-with-a-headset ones, where you enter the number corresponding to your location and you are given information. What was especially neat, though, was that if we wanted to hear extra information about which scenes of Monty Python were filmed in those spots, we could push another button and hear excerpts from the movie! I appreciated that. And you know what? Directors and film crews are so sneaky! They can make a small room look like three different places and at least four times the size!

Scary stairs.

Oh - and for those of you who prefer 'live tours' .. that would not have been possible at this castle. At least, I wouldn't want to walk down those tiny, winding stairs trying decide which was more important: hearing what the guide was saying or managing to not topple to my death (taking everyone with me in a domino effect). Yep. The headsets were a good call.

Necessary picture with our
amazing tour guide, Patrick Douglas

Saturday:

Visit to the Highlands! We were gone nearly half the day on this trip. And I can't tell you how may hours we spent on that bus, but man, it was beautiful out there. It was a day trip, however, so we couldn't stay in one place too long, but we got to see the southern portion of Loch Ness (the farthest point up on the map that we went) and Inveraray Castle and all sorts of neat places! The only unfortunate thing about the tour was that during our Nessie hunting, Mother Nature rained on our parade. And yes, she waited until we were the farthest away from the tour bus to commence. How considerate. Needless to say, since it was raining and Nessie didn't want to get wet, there were no sightings. (; Oh well.

Two of the 'Three Sisters' on the Highland Tour.

But if you want to know about one of the many things that Mr. Douglas told us, here is a page on The Massacre of Glencoe. It's sad, but it's very real, and if you know anything about Scottish history, then you would know about this. We also learned about Scotland's National Anthem(s) and some other historical events. I wish I could remember everything that he told us! I tried to write things down.. but half the time he was talking too fast, and the other half I can't spell! Haha.

Sunday:

Recovered from the trip on Saturday. Whew. Who knew that riding on a bus all day and being waterlogged for half would tire you out that much?

And as for Monday and Tuesday, back to business, as usual. Classes went well, and I think if I can just get my sources together, I'll be able to write these essays! Yesterday my group did our presentation on "Critically Appraising Sustainable Development" in Green Politics (GP) class. It's strange to think that we did a presentation after one class, and now we are halfway done, with two classes to go. It is crammed into a three-hour block, yes, but numerically, it's odd to think about.

Today, I am going to work on some of my school stuff and Sophie and I are going to the store later for provisions. Also, just so everyone knows, this is my new goal:

See the hill in the background? I'm going to climb it.