It’s so hard to believe we’re over halfway through the trip. I’d elaborate on that fact, though I feel so fortunate to feel as sad as I do. Nonetheless, this last week was jam-packed with commentary on “this is making it in the blog post”!!! After a nonstop work week, Madelyn, Cassidy and I’s Scotland trip came out of nowhere. Followed by a shortened work day, I went back to campus, thanked my past self for packing early since I allotted myself no time that afternoon, and headed north. In prep for our Stevie Nicks and Hozier concerts next week (omg!!) I listened to music on the quick flight over. We got in that night and did some exploring.
The next morning I ran around Old Town, following the castles out of the interest in filling my entire camera roll with pictures of them. I think I gasped multiple times because they were randomly scattered and super impressive. We came back to that same area later, though this time it felt claustrophobic with how many tourists there were. We had brunch, walked around and went to a number of museums throughout the afternoon. Later on, we picked a restaurant purely based on aesthetics, and who knew, it was expensive! Ok so we did order an appetizer and dessert but when in Rome right. They were SOO good. After the food coma we hit up a few bars and I ended up having over 47k steps that day. Ouch. On Saturday we ventured off a bit more, heading out of the city to see the highland cows. So cute and totally worth the hike. The scenery was absolutely stunning, reminding me of hikes out west I’ve done. There was also a place to ski there right there?! Crazy. Also saw Edinburgh Castle to check off the bucket list. That night played out similarly to the last. I will mention we had in my somewhat dazed opinion, the best ice cream I’ve ever had. Paprika and peanut sounds weird but somehow it played out?? Went thrifting too and got a sweater, not that I needed one but I justified it based on the colder Dublin weather. Following those stores we popped into a hat store and tried on the classic Irish tweed one. Once we saw the price tag (especially provided it’s in pounds) we set them down. Lastly on Sunday we similarly had brunch, a PERFECT chai tea latte, and went shopping, exploring, etc. like the day before. Looking back I really really liked this city, it felt much more historic and definitely had an English influence. If our flight got cancelled to leave us stranded I would not be upset at all I’ll be real. A few too many jokes about moving here post-grad were made.
On Monday we visited the Guinness Storehouse which was impressive and much more built up than I expected. The engaging tour touched on both history and production practices and ended with the top-floor bar. Later on, we went to the Ramen Bar for dinner, which you’re seriously missing out on if you haven’t been. As for my internship, I’ve definitely adjusted to a pretty well-defined pattern. Over time I’ve been more busy which makes the day luckily roll by. I feel well-traveled after this week, more confident on city-living and excited for the next week to play out. I’m having the best time!! I usually restrain myself to 4 or 5 pictures but this week has to be an exception 😀
