Missing My First 4th of July Weekend

For me the 4th of July isn't really so much about what the holiday represents (not to say it doesn't have meaning to me at all!) as much as it is spending time with my family at the beach. Every 4th of July as far back as I can remember has been spent at Sandbridge with my parents, sister, cousin, grandparents, aunt and uncle (and dogs). This will be the first 4th that I'll spend it without them. Though, I have to say that if I were missing the 4th for anything it'd be to be here - I have been doing some amazing things.

Amy came from Edinburgh to visit for a while and it was GREAT. I know I already mentioned her but I'm doin it again: turns out Ellie's bed is a trundle bed! She's got an entire spare mattress under there. It was perfect - we pulled it into my room and Amy had a comfy spot on the floor and I didn't have to share my teeny tiny bed with her.

Here's a photo I wanted to upload in a previous post but couldn't:





The first picture is jack white (of the band the White Stripes) and the second is a crazy picture of the set for the dead weather show we went to the other night! Sooo much fun. Lots of dancing.
I'm going to get in such good shape walking all over this city. Glasgow might be the hilliest place I've ever been. Our school is up on a hill, so you have to go down a hill to get away from it but everything else is up on another hill.

Rebecca insists on walking veeeery slow down the hills. We call her a baby mountain goat. Here's amy walking with her for support:


Amy and Ellie walking back to school. You can see the beauuutiful mountains in the distance. Our school is on the corner of the block they're walking towards. Something that I think's very sweet is the street signs. You can see in the street it has a big 20, but what you can't see is there is a sign that has a 20 on it and underneath it says "twentys plenty." All the street signs are like that! It's really cute I think.



When Amy left it was suupah sad, but hopefully I can get to Edinburgh to go see her before she goes back to Richmond. Later the day that Amy left I went on a walk with my new friend Callie - she's super sweet.



She's really silly and easy to be around - we are talking about going to Ireland for a few days coming up here soon. That would be so amazing. I think we are going to book our tickets Monday. Once you're over in the UK/Europe traveling is pretty cheap, it's just a matter of crossing the Atlantic that's so expensive. It's only about 30P to get from Glasgow to Dublin (roughly $50) and then we are taking a train from Dublin to Galway on the coast of Ireland which is apparently beautiful. We're trying to go to the Aran Islands as well. Google those islands - they are amazing.

Something that's really big over here is open mic nights - when people show up and take turns playing songs. We've been to quite a few as a group but there was one open mic night that stood out above the others. There was a group of just around 5 people that were noticeably better than everyone else that went up. Their voices made everyone get quieter and the cheers were nearly deafening when they stopped playing. Callie and I noticed that they all seemed to be sitting together, so after the open mic night was over we asked them if they were in a band or something becuase we'd love to see them all sing together. They told us that every Tuesday night they actually have a sort of invite only open mic night and invited us to come! We got a few other flatmates together (just to be safe) and went to this teeny tiny tea house where I had one of my most favorite nights since I've been here. I only took one picture, but it's three of the greatest singers I've ever heard doing a song together :


Also, as a sidenote, I don't know how people drive here.


One night a few people wanted to go out to drink, but me Andy and Dashiell decided to take it easy and go on a walk. We found this amazing park that is sort of like Maymont. They are such great guys. Andy lives down the hall from me and from the first day we hit it off so well - he's a great friend. Dashiell lives a few floors above us and just started hanging out. He's so hilarious. He isn't as crazy and loud (in a good way!) as Andy is, but they compliment each other well. Probably two of my most favorite guys ever.


So I had been planning a day trip with a few friends to a place called Loch Lomand, and turns out a trip to there was already built into our schedule! The other day we all left at 845 as a group and drove out first to Helensburgh where we saw the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Hill House. Mackintosh is the architect that designed our school and this was the home he built for his family that he lived in for over 50 years. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside of the house and it was raining a bit (typical scotland weather!) so I only took one outside. It was magnificent though! Probably the biggest house I've ever been inside. All of the doors had little panels of stained glass. Apparently the stained glass marked what the room was used for - children's rooms, parent's room, maid's space, kitchen, etc.


After the Hill House we went to Loch Lomand which absolutely blew my mind. At first it was raining a little bit so it was foggy, but then when it cleared up it got beautiful.

When we first walked up to the Loch our friend Mitch had a sandwich with leftover bread so he started feeding the ducks and within MINUTES a family of swans came over. Swans are super, super mean so we kept our distance. At one point Andy in his infinite wisdom tried to pet the biggest one and immediately regretted it. We realized they were just afraid for their babies (which we thought was strange because they came over to us!) and left them alone.


We walked around a little town right outside the Loch and I found a kitty there. Little baby! Scottish child.


I was trying to take a picture of this amazing scenery and Dashiell ran up right in front of me screaming "oh my gosh what's that over there it's lovely" and completely (purposely) ruined my shot. But he's funny so it's okay _ I actually prefer this picture more anyway hah!


These are some cute houses along the town of Luss, where Loch Lomand is located.



As if the day coudln't get any better, after Loch Lomand we took an impromptu trip to a sort of moor. It was breathtakingly beautiful. My camera died as soon as we got there (of course it did, right?) So below are some pictures I stole from friends. I'll put up more pretty ones if I find them!




That's me near the right with the brown sweater. Can you get over that view!?


-- and me on the mountain! Thanks Mari :)


This trip is the most amazing thing I've ever been able to do.