Development Week

I apologize for the lack of posts recently. Nothing that exciting was happening and writing about my normal day didn't seem worth your while.

However, last week was our Development week, or reading week as other Uni students call it. Basically, it is one week each term that lectures are paused so students can get their reading for lectures done and maybe do some job searching or training. Being international students, this week was our travel week. The second or third week here, Erica and I booked our trip to Scotland for this past week, thanks to a killer recommendation from a fellow WSU student and friend, Dillon, who studied in Chester a year ago. Thanks Dillon!

SCOTLAND
It is official. I love Scotland more than England. But then again, I say that about every place I go. But seriously, this past week was magical and wonderful and spectacular. We took a 5 day tour with a company called MacBackpackers. We started off in Edinburgh, hit Inverness, Isle of Skye, and Oban, among many other villages and stops along the way.

There were a total of 24 people on our tour. Friends from Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, South Africa, the US, and Scotland accompanied us on the bus. Which happened to be a Mercedes Benz. Casual.

Our tour guide was named Neil. He was fabulous and hilarious. Super Scottish and vulgar, but told the most amazing stories and kept the journey exciting. The night before the trip, in the hostel in Edinburgh, we were charging our phones. In the same room, two Aussie guys were talking. I thought my ears were bleeding when I hear the f word 22+ times in one minute. When we started to tally how often they used the word, we got ourselves giggling so much that we had to leave the room. It was hysterical and horrifying at the same time. Well, morning of the tour, Neil hops on the bus and starts blabbering, saying the f word a bunch. But after our previous night, it was not too bad. We would be driving past a beautiful snow capped mountain, and in his very Scottish accent he'd say, "Bloody f*^*. That is f#!*ing brilliant." 

On this trip, I had a change of heart about hostels. If you haven't heard my London story, read about my hostel experience here! Let's just say I could only go up from there. When we arrived in Edinburgh Sunday the night before our tour, I fell in love. Our hostel, Castle Rock Hostel, was located right smack next to the castle. 

The entire place was filled with decorations, complete with two full suits of armor. There were like 4 huge sitting rooms (one named the Posh lounge...which obvi we hung out in) with a pool table, piano, guitars, free hot chocolate, tea, or coffee at all hours of the day, free room to store luggage, a massive kitchen with every cooking utensil necessary, and bedrooms themed like The Beatles or Scottish Pubs. Each bed in the rooms were named to match the theme and to help people not sleep in the wrong beds. The staff was so helpful and friendly. The three other hostels we stayed in were amazing as well. In Inverness, our hostel was just as community friendly, and we all sat around and played Taboo for a couple hours. The beds, of course, were more comfortable than my bed here in Chester. Which, if you didn't know, has springs poking up all over and feels like I am practicing my David Blaine trick of laying on a bed of nails when I go to bed. But, its a bed, so I shan't complain anymore. 

I honestly wish I could articulate the incredible week we had. There was so much we did and each day felt so new, exciting, and different than the others. My most favorite thing we did all week was attend a Scottish Ceilidh the last night of the tour. We were met by a smokin' hot Scottish guy in a kilt playing the bagpipes, who piped the whole group through town to the location of the dance. We learned traditional Scottish line dances and listened to authentic music played by the live band. It was seriously the most fun thing I have done since being abroad. I smiled and laughed all night, dancing with some of the sweetest girls I could ask for. They played some pop music at midnight so the dance party kept going. My legs, after all the hiking we did, were exhausted. 

Instead of a million words to read, following will be pictures so you can properly visualize my week.  Remember, you can click on the picture to enlarge it!

The Hermitage Forest