December 30, day 9

splendid

savory pies

Today we slept in and took it really easy. Our one planned thing to do today was to go to Sapporo Teppanyaki which is sooo good. We went to go get some brunch and found our landlord upstairs, she was getting the room across from us ready for a new tenant but also the front door had been strangely locked. She had to wait at the front door to see if anyone was coming in or going out to let people through and said she hadn't had any food yet today other than a banana hours and hours ago. We got her a sandwich while we were getting food - cereal and fries. After eating and watching some TV, we practiced some Ceilidh dancing. Darren is a good dancing teacher! There are a ton of different dances and a lot of them involve spinning. I'm excited for tomorrow night, our ceilidh dance / hogmanay / new years party! After we practiced dancing, I worked out and then we got ready for dinner.

delayed trains

At the restaurant, we were seated with a family that was ginger and celebrating Christmas still. We both ordered chicken teriyaki and it was so good. I've been wanting sushi for so long and Darren likes it too, so we ordered a roll that had a variety of them but they all had "flying fish roe" on them and we're pretty sure that's fish eggs. I wasn't really happy with the sushi and neither was Darren so we're planning on getting sushi from a shop around the corner before everything closes tomorrow for New Year's Eve! I can't wait for NYE!

model boy

December 29, day 8

Scott Monument with the fair 

We decided that today would be Edinburgh day, with the main goals of eating at Mary's Milk Bar and walking through Christmas markets. We meant to get up at 915 but ended up sleeping through it until about 950. We stayed up late last night watching a movie called The Scandalous Lady W. It's a tough movie to watch at times but also so good - the main character is Natalie Dormer. Anyway we ended up getting to Edinburgh and started walking through the markets. There were big amusement park rides scattered through the market and it was a lot of fun. We got a cheeseburger and chips for lunch and the guy didn't charge us... So later we also got mulled cider (way too sickly sweet) and sort of disappointing fudge.

After eating and getting cider (we were charged £2 extra to be served it in a little Edinburgh markets mug, we were refunded £2 when we returned the mug) we went into the Scottish National Galleries. Not sure if that's the actual name but it was fun to walk through. Lots of different styles of art, and the Scottish art they had was sort of impressionistic with muted colors. I'm glad that Darren enjoys going through museums too.

I got a polish brat after the museum and we went up the Scott Monument. The stairs are incredibly narrow and steep. If you came across someone going the other way in the stairs, you had to squeeze by them or wait until they did. It was scary since I don't like small enclosed spaces or heights but I still enjoyed it. The views were fabulous and it was sort of fun to struggle in the stairs haha. 

disappointing fudge

Since I was still full from the sausage I'd eaten, we didn't go to the ice cream place yet. We went to another Christmas market and I bought two red rings. One is sort of tear drop shaped with a ruby and the other has a thinner band with dyed red turquoise. I loved both and couldn't decide which I wanted so I just got both, they were a good price. After walking around there for a bit more, we sought out Marys Milk Bar. It always seems like it's in a weird part of town and we ALWAYS get lost trying to find it AND leaving from it. Mary's must be cursed but it's SO worth it. Darren got milk flavored along with tea and crumpets (he said his tastebuds were confused because of how much it tasted like hot tea) and I got peanut & cinnamon with dark chocolate. I love Mary's and would get it so often if it was by me. Such a cute little indie retro place. 

We searched for a bar Darren found online after Mary's but after looking for maybe an hour or hour and a half we gave up and went down another street closer to the station. Every single pub was completely full. Eventually we went back to the start of the street and found one table open so we sat and both had some strongbow before going to the train. While waiting for the train, a woman pushed in front of us and ran in the car before us. We still got the best seats. 

got somebody to take a photo of us in the monument

We are about to go to dinner at Tony Macaroni's with Darren's family to celebrate his moms birthday, which was the 26th. We didn't go out that first night because it didn't work out with everyone's schedule but now it seems like they're all catching something! I'm glad that we're not staying with them because of that but otherwise it would have been fun to see them more. Can't wait to eat some Italian food!

Day 4, 5, 6, 7!

Christmas at the Campbell's!

deer friends

We had a really chill Christmas and basically slept in really late, opened presents, went over to Darren's, opened more presents, ate, and watched TV. I also got to Skype my parents! Such a good Christmas!

The day after was Boxing Day and it was pretty much the same as Christmas, everything goes on sale though so we went out and looked around at shops. Boxing Day is also Darren's mom's birthday so we went back to their house for dinner. Christine opened presents, we had chinese food, and watched a TV quiz gameshow. It's been great to get to hang out with Darren's family more, I really like them.

The 27th we walked to town for the first time and it took about 15 minutes. We got some donuts from Gregg's and walked around city center until lunch at Topolobamba. We decided to go there because they had margaritas and it was a good choice! They forgot Darren's food so they gave it to us for free. YAaaaa free food! We both got burritos, but I got a veggie and he got chicken. Since mine came first I shared it with him, we decided that would've been enough to eat for the both of us...but we had the other free burrito coming too so we ate way too much. We also had to order chips and queso (gasp) but they were worth it! We walked around town more afterwards. That night we went to an American place for dinner and had burgers. The waiter was from North Carolina so we talked a little bit about America. His mom is Scottish so he could get a UK passport and now he's just decided to live here. Darren's sister said something like "you guys like your restaurants" and I was like yeah I guess, but actually we really do just plan our day around eating.

Today was completely a lazy day. We slept in (jetlag is so tough seriously), looked around our neighborhood, walked to town, got fries for lunch at Whetherspoon's, looked at more shops, came back on the train, and made pasta for dinner. There are a few cats here and as Darren was taking the pasta dishes back up, he told me that they were outside our room. I went out and accidentally shut the door...the door locked behind me. I was only wearing a hoodie and shorts because I was doing laundry, Darren texted our landlord and she said that she had a bucket of keys in the living room. I went up and got the bucket of keys and another guy came out of the kitchen to tell us that he had gotten locked out of his room, too. I split the keys with him and went downstairs to try to find ours. It only took a few minutes but the cat tried to play with the keys a few times and knocked the modem down. Whoops. I brought the keys back up to the other guy and he kept struggling with them. I'm sure he got in to his room by now, haha.

Christmas Eve (Day 3)

eatin' cereal caught offguard

Today we woke up again at 11. I'm thinking this is going to be a normal thing, to sleep in. I mentioned to Darren that we should wake up earlier and he goes, why?! it's break! Haha teacher life. We have been having trouble locking our door so today when we left we locked it and couldn't open it. The woman who is renting the rooms came down and asked us if we had a window open that she could go through to open our door... Nope. We were about to go get some breakfast from the grocery store anyway so we just left in hopes that they'd figure out our door by the time we came back. 

pup loves butt scratches

werkin'

At Tesco we bought cereal & cookie ingredients! I wanted to make cookies for Darren's moms birthday, which is the 26th. We decided on chocolate chip cookies but while we were shopping we couldn't find any chocolate chips. I found some buttons, which are fairly big discs of chocolate, and decided we'll just chop up those for chips. Another thing that we couldn't find at Tesco or Sainburys was baking soda! Instead we found something called bicarbonate of soda which I made Darren Google. Google said that's the same thing so we went ahead with it and went back to eat our cereal. While we were at Sainsburys we got a call that our door was opened finally and that they had actually given us the wrong key for our door. When we got back to the flat we found out they hadn't given us the house key to hold on to, so we were locked out. Thankfully we knocked and the landlord was in, she let us in and apologized profusely. We ate our cereal and then I worked out while Darren worked. After my shower I came out and Darren was still working so I fell asleep for a while. After a while it was an acceptable time for dinner so we went upstairs to make cheese quesadillas. There were new people staying at our place, an older couple with a service dog. The dog was panting so hard and the guy who owned it wasn't quite sure what to say to us other than they'd just come from West Jersey and up from Liverpool that day. We wondered if it was USA Jersey or UK Jersey... We'll never know.

quesadillas and tattoo shows

penne and paper crowns

We started watching a show about coverup tattoos and then went out to a Christmas market that was from 11 am - 6 pm. It was about 5 when we walked in and everything was shut down already. Whoops. We hung out in the area and decided to get Italian for dinner. After dinner we walked around and decided to come back after the weather started getting worse. James and the Giant Peach was an option for movies on our TV so we watched that and went to sleep.

breathing heavy

Day2 Scotland

wrapping diligently

square selfie

Today we slept in until about 11 (whoops) since I couldn't sleep during the night. We went to a place called Old Salty's that said it was a traditional chippy shop that serves breakfast all day. We both got full Scottish breakfasts, but Darren got the traditional one and I got the veggie one. I don't like black pudding and the traditional one has it.

After we ate, we went back to the Campbell's house and wrapped presents for a while, generally just chilled out. I could have definitely fallen asleep... Darren's dad drove us back to our flat so we could drop some stuff off and then we went to the Merchant Square area to look for a Christmas market that was advertised online. After going where the map told us and walking all around the area without seeing it, we decided to just go to George Square. George Square has a ton of decorations and fair rides up like a ferris wheel, a merry-go-round, and one of those swing things that fling you around. They also set up an ice rink! The perimeter of the square was lined from above with lines of lights shaped as bells and mistletoe and there were loads of strings of lights everywhere. It was so festive and we were glad to see something after not finding the first market. We got some selfies by a huge tree - I saw a family struggling to take a selfie so I offered to take one for them if they'd take a photo for us and they said no...hahaha awkward. They kept struggling for a few minutes after I'd asked. Later a younger couple asked us if we'd take a photo of them so we switched with them.

After walking around the fair, we were on the search for food. We walked down a street as it was raining, saw a mall, and decided to see if there was a food court (also to just get out of the rain. ugh). After not finding a food court we emerged from the mall, still hungry but a bit more dry and warm than before. We saw a sign for a buffet that was 12 pounds per person and just down the street so we decided to go there. Both of us ate way too much and almost immediately regretted it. We came back to the flat afterwards and I've done some work but we've mostly been vegging because of our food babies. It's 9 pm so we won't go out again today but we have a HUGE tv in our room, a living room upstairs, and a few shelves of books...plus wifi (hallelujah for wifi).

skating rink in Georges Square

Non-selfie

Day One in Scotland & Travelling

Love you guys!

This trip started out with my parents driving me to Chicago, which saved me a bunch of money. I'm so thankful for that, and that they could both be there to see me off. At my Chicago gate there were a lot of redheads waiting to board the plane to Dublin. One was a woman next to me who was flipping through a book about Australia. I asked her about it and she was very excited to tell me that it was her destination and how hot it was going to be there. Aer Lingus called the first 20 rows to board, and I was 14H. I struggled to pull all my stuff together and once I did I found that the hallway was packed with people waiting to board. The line didn't seem to be moving so I asked the people in front of me if they were in the first boarding group and they said no, so I went ahead. One thing about traveling alone that I really like is that you only have to account for yourself and there is only one decision maker. 

fancy charger!

The plane interior was green and the chairs seemed like they were tighter together than other planes I'd been on, but it was comforting somehow. The stewardesses greeted everyone with, "you are very welcome," and then told you where your seat was after looking at each boarding pass. I dragged my suitcase over to where they'd told me to go and found that my seat mate for the trip was already sitting and plugged in. He was wearing all black and had a clear, tan complexion with dark curly hair. #SoItalian. I smiled at him and put my stuff down on my seat while I tried to put my suitcase above. I realized that my spot was taken by somebody closer to the front, so I did the same thing they did and put my suitcase in someone else's spot. Whoops.

Walking to my gate in Dublin

I sat down in my seat and pushed my backpack under the seat in front of me. I had packed my purse into my backpack so they'd both count as one personal item, so at this point I took it out and got my phone, headset, gum, and charger cables out. The charger was in the tv screen which I thought was so cool. I offered gym to the guy sitting next to me and he was like yes thanks and brought out m&ms and chips ahoy cookies. He said in sort of broken English that I could have as many as I wanted and then that he'd put it down between us so I could get it at any point. I thought that was so funny and kind, one point later while we were flying he offered me a cookie and I took it, but that was all I took during the flight. He told me he was flying to Rome and that he was from Naples. Later I found out that he was in the US to do some research with a university in Madison, Wisconsin for 5 months. He told me that it was a "very tiny town" and when I asked if he'd ever go back he laughed and said no, that the people there were too close-minded. He seemed like a really polite, nice guy so I wondered what could have happened while he was in Madison, it made me feel sad but I didn't want to pry to find out what happened. He did say that he learned a lot about life while he was there. We navigated through the Dublin airport together when we landed and stood in front of a screen waiting for our gates to be called. His gate was announced first (he was flying into Fiumicino airport!), so we wished each other well and he left. It's so strange how you can know so much about someone and not know their name and know that you won't see them again. How strange would it be if I did?! He was a great seat mate for my first ever solo international flight. 

Chicken curry with rice, Caprese salad, bun,
plastic tub of water (??), and cream with chocolate and berries.

Backtracking a little to during the international flight: the food was great, I watched movies the entire time, and I had a fantastic wifi connection the entire time. I was happy to be in the front part of the plane as the back half's TVs were frozen. Yikes. The stewardesses all seemed stressed and angry about one thing or another. I didn't sleep on the plane due to nerves / excitement and all the entertainment. I saw a woman in front of me listening to a Billy Joel album for a while, she later switched it for a Kenny (oh gosh I can't remember that saxophone players last name right now) album. (Now I remember, Kenny G!!) I met a girl who's traveling with her military family from Utah to Europe for Christmas and the new year, she is a vegetarian trying to become vegan and the flight food was not veg friendly. We talked about dogs, my design company, and veganism while she waited to buy water and Pringles. When I landed, I went through immigration and the Irish guy there asked how long I would be visiting and if it was a vacation. After I answered he gave me a green stamp in my passport and I went on to find the departures with my Italian pal. The Dublin airport was pretty poppin' for it being so early - we landed at 5 am and my gate for my connection was announced at 6. When I made it to my gate there were already people there waiting. I was weirdly comforted to see a family I recognized from the Chicago airport. We'd been on the same planes the whole way through! I ended up sitting next to one of the daughters in their family on my connection. 

waiting for the flight in Dublin

The connection flight was pretty rough. First of all, I have never flown in a propeller plane before and was feeling cautious about that. My seat was right next to the propeller too so it was in sight the entire flight...yikers. Second off, it was rainy and windy which made for an awfully turbulent flight. I started the flight off reading a magazine and listening to music but as we were going I was scared so I took my headphones off and talked to the girl next to me. We had talked before because one of her family members shouted something about the propellers at her from a few rows behind us and I told her I was nervous about it too. During the flight I found out that she just graduated grad school in Nashville to be a Physicians Assistant, her boyfriend had gone as well and graduated with her (he was hired in a small town for a job that has to do with surgery but she wants to live in a city, she's looking for a job), that her parents were Scottish and moved to Tennessee for work, that she's extremely anxious about flying, and that her boyfriend is coming over on the 26th to spend time with her and her family in Scotland. They're staying mostly in Ayr and Kilmarnock but taking a few side trips to London and Ireland before they go back. The flight got so bumpy at multiple points that we held hands a few times as a knee jerk reaction. It was comforting and I was glad to sit next to her. The landing was really rough and I don't know what was happening in my body but everything went numb, I was really hot, and then I started shaking and everything tingled (like pins and needles, but somehow duller and more throbby) including my teeth. If we had taken another minute to land I'm sure I would have thrown up. But I didn't! 

A place called Soba where we met some of Darren's
friends, looks jUST like Target.

Darren's parents are awesome and picked me up from the Glasgow airport at 8 am (!!!!!!!). So thankful! They brought me back to the house and I fell asleep until about 4, when Darren came in. It's so so nice to be reunited. After we talked for a bit I realized I needed a shower and after I did that he gave me some birthday presents, the cutie. One of them was dark chocolate Tunnock tea cakes. They're Scottish and I l o v e them. We went out to meet some of his coworkers and walked around city center. When we got back (before 10 pm ha), we both went to sleep immediately. I woke up after two hours and have been awake for 5 more, aaaaah. I've listened to more than a few meditation tracks and TED talks to try to get back to sleep and I started reading The Great Gatsby. It's 11:30 pm at home but 5:30 am here, I am going to try to not nap today so I can sleep well tonight. ️️