My Semester In Scotland

The neatest thing happened today. I was walking around Florence after dropping off my laundry at this little laundromat and went towards the river that runs through the middle of town. There were people everywhere just standing. I had no idea what was going on so naturally I picked a spot on one of the bridges and just waited. I figured everyone else seemed to know what they were doing and I had all the time in the world to wait and see what it was. Well let me tell you…. was I in for a great surprise. Out of nowhere over the mountains came nine fighter jets each one trailing different colored smoke. Green, white and red. At first I couldn’t tell what it was and then it hit me… they were making the Italian flag in the air. They swooped down right above us and then took off. Luckily I got a still picture of it and a few minutes later they came around the mountains again and got down even closer. Im so glad I had the foresight to turn my camera into video mode and got the best clip of them flying overhead. Check out the video below!

This morning I got up with a whole list of things to do and I seemed to get distracted (not a surprise) by the beautifully clear warm day outside my window. The sun was so strong and so warm it was just the kind of day you walk outside and you can’t help but smile and realize how great life is regardless of the bad things that have been going on. Across the street is the nicest little pastry shop so I headed over to get two pastries and a juice. Next door to the bakery is a wonderful fruit stand where I bought two plums.¬†I¬†came back to my room, grabbed my iPod and a blanket and headed back out to have breakfast in the park right outside my flat. I spread the blanket out under a big oak and looked up at the clear blue sky with not a cloud in it. Let me tell you, that is a rare experience here in Edinburgh. I slipped on my headphones and just melted into the grass as for the¬†briefest¬†moment, I didn’t have a care in the world. No thoughts of school, the work I had to accomplish, planning the final stages of my spring break trip, relationships… nothing. One of my favorite guitarists in the world is George Benson. He has a song called “Got To Be There”. The title was just so fitting of the moment that I was experiencing. You just had to be there.¬†As I got ready to head back inside and face reality and the pile of papers on my desk, the clouds started to roll in and even now as I’m typing this blog entry, the sun seems to drift in and out from behind the clouds catching my eye every once and a while in its short bursts of warmth. The moment was so perfect that it was if someone had planned it just for me.¬†Of all the fun things I am doing here in Scotland and all the traveling I have done and will be doing, I know this is one of those times that will stick with me forever. So simple, uncomplicated and so effortless, the moments that I enjoyed sitting under that tree.¬†

Thursday Feb 28 I boarded a plane bound for London. The only plans in concrete were where I was staying for the night. For the first time in my life, I planned my own plane tickets, hotel reservations and what I was going to do when I got to my destination. Looking back at it, I wouldn’t have changed a thing.

Day 1

So I landed in London at 22:30 and then proceeded to take a hour long train and then finally a ten minute tube ride to my hostel. It was a beautiful old victorian home that had been turned into a great little place to stay. It was clean, safe and best off it had free breakfast. The next morning I got up and hit the city early. I started at St. James’ Cathedral. I actually found it to be more beautiful than Westminster Abby (later that day). There was a sign outside the building that said there had a been a church at that location since 604A.D. Crazy! Next I took the tube to see London Bridge. As I got closer to the bridge, it was this plain road across the river. Nothing special about it and I was all confused. I looked down the river to see the famous Tower Bridge which was the one I was actually looking for. I walked across it and took all sorts of pictures looking at it and then from it looking down the river. It was beautiful. The hostel I was staying at had all sorts of free maps so I took one. As Im standing on the Tower Bridge, I pulled out my map and said to myself.. what next? I decided to head to Westminster and check out the House of Parliament and Westminster Abby. Again, down into the tube (good thing I bought the day pass) and popped up out of the underground station looking up at Big Ben. Of course I have seen pictures of it in history books but to actually see the clock and the House of Parliament in person was just amazing. As I walked around the outside of the building I came across the fancy entrance where all the important people get to go into. I went up to one of the guards and asked if they did tours of the building. She informed me that unless I had a family member who worked in there I could not get in. Disappointed I started to walk away when she said to me, “We do have a live debate in the House of Commons today if you want to go to it.” My face lit up. She brought me through security where I was practically strip searched and then was lucky enough to stand in line for forty five minutes. Finally I was brought up a winding staircase through one of the towers of the building where I went through another metal detector… just in case they missed my 9mm on the first time through. I then proceeded into the big room known better as the House of Commons. It was the most moving thing I did on my trip. If you know me well, I am very active in my student government at home where I have served as Vice President of the student body and parliamentarian. During that position I had to familiarize myself with parliamentary procedure which I got to see put into action during my trip to London. Even better, the topic was a good one. They were discussing who should be monitoring the internet and movies put out for the public. One side argued that it should be the government while the other side thought it should be a private company. It was so much fun.

I then got in touch with the three girls I knew who were also in London. We met up for lunch in a little cafe and all proceeded to go to Madam Tussaud’s Wax Museum. It was the neatest place. It had statues of so many famous people. I saw everyone from the Beatles to the Pope to Arnold Schwarzenegger to the Queen to Sameuel Jackson and many many more. After the wax museum we went to the British Museum where I saw the Rosetta Stone! There was everything from pieces of the Parthenon to art from Greece to Egyptian mummies. It was overwhelming all the artifacts that was there. I could have spend two days there. Now mind you this was all done Friday. That night I went out for some Thai food and crashed in my hostel. An exhausting day one.

Day 2

Yet another early morning and crazy busy day. I started with the National Gallery which was yet another very overwhelming place. For each artists I mention there was one room full of each of their work; Renoir, Monet, Van Gogh, Seurat, Da Vinci and many more. I saw Sunflowers by Van Gogh, Bathers at Asni√®res by Seurat, Bathers at La Grenouill√®re by Monet, The Virgin of the Rocks by Da Vinci and so many others! It was breathtaking. After spending hours there I had lunch in the middle of St. James park which is situated directly in front of Buckingham Palace. I slipped on my iPod and just relaxed for a while taking in everything. From there I went to the mounted guards house where I took some pictures of the uniformed British guards. It was better than nothing since I missed the changing of the guards that morning. Next I moved on to Harrods where I purchased the most expensive gelato of my life and was looking for a nice wool coat which is popular over here. I found a beautiful one until I looked at the price… it was 999 pounds! Thats $2,000!! I quickly left there and headed to the London Eye where I took the largest ferris wheel ride of my life. Each capsule like room carried up to fifteen people and it went high above the city. I went during sunset and I got some great pictures of the House of Parliament and looking down the river both East and West. It was beautiful. Finally that night I went to Victoria where I saw Wicked. The seats were amazing… fourth from the balcony. All of the actors and actresses did a great job and the pit orchestra sounded wonderful. My only complaint was that the audience didn’t laugh at half of the jokes made in the play. I was the only one laughing and found myself looking like an idiot. Oh well… I had fun!

Sunday morning I woke up early… again… and caught a train from Liverpool St. to Stansted Airport 45 minutes away. Unfortunately the Liverpool station was closed due to construction and I had to take a bus to the next station which put me thirty minutes behind schedule. I squeeked into the flight terminal just in time and was the third to last person to board the plane. It was a close one but the flight was great and as we decsended into Edinburgh I had a flashback of how excited I was when I did the exact same flight pattern one month before when I was flying into Edinburgh to start my four and a half month journey there. It was a great feeling to look back at how much I had done since I had gotten here and it just reminded me how fortunate I was to be experiencing such an amazing time in my life.