Hi-Kick and Tattoo Festival!!!

Saturday:

A great, eventful day! But what's new?? We headed to the Edinburgh Castle took a lovely tour then had free time to enjoy the festival!

At the Castle!

Walking down the streets of Edinburgh, right below the castle.

My friends and I probably picked the best/worst show to watch. It was called "Hi-Kick"... Asians dancing with soccer balls...a little seductively. Need I say more?? I felt like I was on drugs, watching those weird Asian game shows that only come on at 3 in the morning on the Game Show Network. And to answer your question that is probably running through your head... YES. I have watched those. You can sometimes get desperate for entertainment in Logan.

Fondue with my dear Abbie!

About to go see Hi-Kick!

It was a memorable experience. My favorite part of the day was when I went to the Tattoo Festival. No, it's not some ink art festival, I don't have a "tramp stamp" (Don't worry Mom and Dad...). It's actually a military band festival! Bagpipes, kilts, and all of the UK military forces doing a spectacular performance?? Don't mind if I do! I don't know what it is... but I love the bagpipes and a good ol' kilt. Gives me goosebumps!

My families street!!! Kind of... they forgot a T, but close enough!

At The Elephant House, home of Harry Potter. Yes. I just made another HP reference. Deal with it!

It was amazing. So amazing I cried in it. I was just sitting there, right next to the Edinburgh Castle, with all of this amazing music, and it just hit me how blessed I've been. My time here is running out, and it's bitter sweet. I've loved every minute of my time here, and don't want this great experience to end. And yet, I think it will be good to see my family and friends. Perhaps have some Taco Bell too. That would be nice.

Panoramic view of Tattoo!!!

Sunday:

 The longest, most miserable bus ride, ever. I don't even want to talk about it. We all hit a state of pure insanity. But I'm back in London. Safely. Emotionally scarred, but safe.

We did stop in Kibworth (a place we have been studying in class) and had dinner at the pub!

Olympic Football (Soccer) and the Crazy Homeless Woman

There’s nothing like an intense/rigorous hike in the morning right? Well, that how I feel! I decided to hike up Arthur’s Seat, a mountain in Scotland this morning. And… IT WAS TOUGH! I realized I’m extremely out of shape! The view was totally work the sweat though because I got to see all of Edinburgh! It was so perfect!

My camera does these cool panoramic pictures... This is the view from the top of Arthur's Seat!

Sarah and I LOVING the blue skies.

USA!!!

My day just continued to get better because I got to go to a Women’s Olympic Soccer event right after. It was the quarter finals, Sweden vs France game and it was intense! Everyone was decked out in Olympic gear, and cheering like mad! I still can’t believe I got tickets to go see soccer!!! I’m so lucky! However, they don’t have your typical sporting events food. They had mince pies and something called “beefy drink”. I wasn’t too interested in finding out what it was. I was almost tempted to ask for it and say, “May I have the beefy drink? Be extra generous with the beef.” Just to see what they would do. But alas, I held back. Especially since I’d had to drink it afterwards!

Striking a pose at the stadium! (I know the US didn't even play, but someone asked me to hold their flag)

Outside the stadium with my favorite bunk mate KIM!!!

We headed back Edinburgh and thought we’d do some touring….

Commence the CRAZY HOMELESS WOMAN. I was walking to St. Giles Cathedral with my friend Sarah. While walking, there was this woman that offered us a red pill taped to a sheet of paper. She said, “Try the red one not the blue!” It was… very random. We said “No thanks” and continued walking. It was so bizarre that we started to chuckle and walk away. About 3 minutes later, half a block up the street, there was this homeless woman. Rotting teeth, grocery bags, crazed look in her eyes, truly the whole shebang. Apparently our joy and carefree manner upset her deeply because she started to attack us. Yes. I was attacked by a homeless woman.

I don’t know what it is about me, but I attract… danger? Crazy people? Anyways… She grabbed my sweatshirt, started hitting Sarah and I, grabbed Sarah’s hair, and just started beating down on us!!! We were just trying to grab our stuff and get outta there! The whole time she was swearing and yelling at us asking, “You think it’s funny? You think that’s (super explicit word) funny??”

Uh… no. We don’t think it’s funny. We just wish you would stop attacking us! I was all ready to fight back, but she seemed crazier than what I like to associate with. So I just called it what it was, and skedaddled! The best part was after running away, a man that had watched the whole fiasco go down said, “Welcome to Edinburgh!!!” Well… thanks good sir! What a lovely and interesting place!

Dinner!!! I had Haggis (sheep stomach, a Scottish specialty)

We finally gathered our thoughts, calmed down a bit, checked ourselves for bruises, and decided to move on and check out the city some more! It was very fun, and we had a fairly nice hostel.

We were in Edinburgh during the famous “Edinburgh Fringe Festival”, it’s an event that goes on for about a month where some of the “best” performers from around the world come and do comedy skits, plays, etc. I would probably describe it as a meeting place of all of those weird theater people that I use to hang out with that partied under the stairs and played games like Pokémon and Dungeons and Dragons during lunch. Well all of those people congregated and decided to put on a bunch of shows. It was weird.

This show was called "No Pants Thursdays", just to give you an idea of some of the shows that were offered. Here are some of the stars!

We went to a comedy show though that was pretty good. The guy oddly enough made a joke about Mormons (can’t get away from it can I??) Anyways, after the show my friends and I introduced ourselves and said that we were oddly enough Mormons. His response? “Oh I’ve never met one before (as he gently pats our arm) I thought you would have chops or something… well you are just so cute I want to put you on a keychain and carry you around!” It was pretty funny actually!

It was an insane day; I’m lovin’ Scotland!

Fountains Abbey, Hadrian’s Wall, and Edinburgh!!!

On our way to Edinburgh we made some pretty neat stops! We headed to Fountains Abbey; monks who were kicked out of the region around Tintern Abbey started this abbey up North. They had a few different ideals and viewpoints; of course it was destroyed during Henry VIII’s reign, yet the ruins are still standing. This abbey is about 3x as big as Tintern! And it’s LOVELY!

Just a section of Fountains Abbey! It's huge! And gorgeous!

We then headed to Hadrian’s Wall at Housesteads Fort. This is a preserved Roman fort next to Hadrian’s Wall (the Roman barrier separating Scotland and England). It was so gorgeous!

Standing in England, over the wall is Scotland! Cool huh!

Scotland’s landscape was different than I pictured. True, there are rolling green hills, but there is also a fair amount of trees, an evergreen forest even. I loved being right on the border of Scotland and England and getting the chance to be in “two places at once”! I was really excited to be in Scotland because the Burnett surname originates from Scotland! While walking around the town I saw street names with my last name, and saw a lot of my family crest around the shops. It was neat J It was fun to see where my family perhaps lived, and to walk the streets that they might have walked themselves.

Finally arrived!!!

I'm in two places at once!

We arrived in Edinburgh in time for dinner and to walk around the city, and oriented ourselves.

Edinburgh got ready for the Olympics as well!

So this is a crappy picture... but everyone was in line and it's the only one I could get in front of The Elephant House! This is where J.K. Rowling started writing Harry Potter on a napkin! (It's sad that I include a HP reference in almost every blog post....but I'm obsessed.)

Cheers! I love Scotland!

The Day I found Marks & Spencer in York

We unfortunately had to leave the Lake District (an excellent place to retire, in my personal opinion) and we headed to York for the night! York, or Jorvik, was settled by the Vikings; my people! We headed to the Jorvik Viking Center… it was a scary place. Why was it scary you ask? It was scary because they had this “It’s a Small World” type ride, Viking style. They had wax figures. Never a good idea. I did see some fossilized Viking feces… which was unfortunately the highlight of that Center. Pretty grim I know.

Walking down the streets of York

After being scarred by the wax Vikings, we headed down some tiny fun streets to York Minster (their Cathedral) and had a cool tour!

The street that inspire J.K. Rowling for Diagon Alley. Yes folks, that was another HP reference.

We then had free time in York! Aaaannnnddd commence my Marks & Spencer experience. This. Is. My. New. Favorite. Store. It is similar to Target, but classier, and 1000 times better. Heaven knows I adore Target. It’s Heaven in version of a store. Well. I think Marks & Spencer is the best thing that could have ever happened to this Earth. (I may be being a little dramatic, but it’s freaking awesome!)

They have everything! Food, furniture, clothes, truly everything! I want to register there for my wedding (I’m getting a little ahead of myself…). But if they ever got one in the U.S., I would most likely shed tears of joy! Anyways… It was an awesome place. If you ever get the chance to visit, make a day of it.

FAVORITE PLACE!

That was a quick version of my day in York! Cheers!

The Day I Became a Museum Curator!

Today I had one of my favorite experiences while on this study abroad. I got to be a museum curator for the afternoon! Since we were in the Lake District, we were able to talk our way into seeing and handling Wordsworth’s journals, letters, and pieces. You usually have to be a professor, with an extremely good reason to see his original documents! And I was lucky enough to see them! Not only that, but they filmed our group because they are redoing their museum and wanted ideas from the public. So basically we got to come up with an exhibit that they are considering using! I loved every minute of it! It was such a great way to apply our readings from class, and experience what we had only read copies of.

Actual manuscript!!!

We then went on a hike through the countryside of the Lake District (Ambleside to Skelwith Bridge and Loughrigg Tarn)! We explored caves…. reenacted scenes from HP with Dumbledore and Harry and the Horcrux (don’t judge me), and just had a grand old time! We hung around the lake and sat on the beach, skipping rocks, playing in the water, etc. Of course, this is England and we eventually got rained out and headed home to the hostel.

The Lake District!

Wouldn't that be a great place to live??

I think I saw Gollum from Lord of the Rings in there, and Dumbledore with the Horcrux, and Peeta waiting for Katniss to come back from the cornucopia. Yeah, I'm a nerd! Whatcha gonna do about it?!?

Cheers!

Cambridge and the Lake District

Today was the beginning of my NORTH TRIP!!!! We started it off with a bang by visiting Cambridge and then heading out to the Lake District.

When we arrived at Cambridge we visited one of the colleges and had a short lecture from one of the professors that teaches there. Let's just say I don't think I'll be transferring over anytime soon... they have a rigorous schedule! After a short while my brain started to hurt so I thought it would be fun to go Punting down the river.

"What in the world is Punting??"

Well, it's the British version of a Gondola. You know those little boats they ride in Italy, with the guys in the striped shirts singing, there are candles, and it's extremely romantic? Well. It's that, but not romantic, difficult, and British. A group of us decided that it sounded like an extremely promising idea, and loaded in our boats. I can't steer to save my life, it was a challenging experience. We got desperate enough that we headed to the shore and pulled our boat along. Yeah. It was grim. People stopped and watched. And yet, I loved every second of it! My new goal is to become an expert punter! Just give me couple years.

I accidentally steered us into a tree...

They made me sit down because I was a failure at punting. But it's okay! I got to sit by Abbie and Karley :)

We all had a rough time punting so we made Karley get out and pull us down the river...

We finally got back to shore. Tough ride folks!

We loaded back into the dreadful Coach/Bus and headed towards the LAKE DISTRICT! Our hostel was about 30 feet from the water, a spectacular view and we got here just in time for the sunset. Did you know that the Lake District was home to William Wordsworth? The famous poet! He resided there with his sister and family at Dove Cottage. And we were lucky enough to go the the cottage and have one of his favorite meals, in his little dining room, while reading his poetry out loud. It was such a cool experience because we all got to see what life would be like at that time and experience it firsthand!

Just a view on my walk to Dove Cottage. Yeah. That's real life.

We settled into our hostel, (as settled as you'll ever be in a hostel) and fell fast asleep after a good, authentic meal! Cheers!

Look what I found! A boat with Matt's last name on it, I'm a nerd I know.

Sitting outside my hostel. This is my view. Didn't photoshop it or steal it off the internet. It was THAT epic!

The Discovery Section: V&A Edition

 "What adventures did you have today Megan??" Well folks! I visited Portebello Road. It's a market with lots of shops, good food, street performers, and antiques! A great way to spend the morning, afterwards I ventured to the Victoria & Albert Museum. Many people recommended this museum to me! And I LOVED IT!!! Perhaps for different reasons though...

At the market with Becca!!!

I'm a kid at heart. Always have been, always will be. I don't know what it is, but I love a good kids "Discovery Area". And guess what! They V&A Museum had a kickin' one! Before my Discovery section however, I started my journey just looking at their time period clothing and some of their exhibits concerning Victorian Era living. I found it all very fascinating!

Then I found the dress up section... and it went downhill from there.

You are NEVER too old for dress ups :)

I also learned how to build a chair. Basically it was a Victorian style glorified version of IKEA. And yet it seemed like much more fun than assembling a desk for school!

Oh, I forgot that I hate assembling things...

Em and I trying to figure the darn thing out!

BOOM! It just took me FOREVER. No big deal.

 
Next they had these AMAZING chairs that supposedly defy gravity. Well. I found a way to prove that was a false statement! They are these spiny chairs, and you can practically be horizontal in them (if that makes any sense) without falling out. Little did they realize I can find a way through any loophole. Aka.... I fell. Everyone stared and looked at me.... a little embarrassing. But I just laughed it off. Here is a pictured tale of my accident. Lucky for me, Jace was documenting all of this.

Rocky start...

Aannnddd she makes contact folks.

Clearly I was bummed about the whole ordeal.

But it's okay! I got back on it with Emilee!

And had a grand ol' time :)

Here's a random picture of me at the museum dancing with Jace Face. It was this huge empty room... it was just asking to be danced in!!!

Those were the highlights of my day! Cheers!

Olympics in London :)

Today was quite the fun filled day! I headed over to Greenwich and checked out the Olympic Park! It was crazy busy and quite the adventure getting over there! There was this ski-lift over the Thames to get to the park! They called it a "gondola"... but that just didn't make any sense to me. It was not a boat from Italy. So go figure.

Riding down the Thames to the Park, look what I ran into!

On the Gondola!!!

After looking around the park for a bit, we headed over to Hyde Park where they were showing the Opening Ceremonies! We hung around there, but it was way too crowded and we didn't have the tickets to get into all of the extra cool stuff... so we headed home and watched the ceremonies as a big group! Eating, laughing, singing, enjoying the Queen jump from a helicopter, and Mr. Beans rock out to Chariot's of Fire! It was such a great night! It's been so great to be here during the Olympics! And it's only just begun!!!

Opening Ceremonies!

Us at the Maritime Museum, we popped in before the Park!

At the Olympic Park!!!

Eating at Nando's on the river!

Cheers!