I AM SUCH A BAD BLOGGER!

Sooo.....its been awhile since my last entry. Where shall I begin? How about London?! This year was the University's pilot year for the Innovative Learning Week program. What does that mean? Well it seems like no one really knows...but for us it meant a week to see London and Ireland! And see it we did!

The Lion King Broadway Musical!!!

Buckingham Palace 

Trafalgar Square

What time is it?? Big Ben knows!

Hi Mom!

Me and Emily in the London Eye

Emily, Meredith, and I at the Tower of London

Tower Bridge

St. Paul's Cathedral

St. Paul's Cathedral doors

I'm off to Hogwarts!

Doin' it Beatles style..

Me, Emily, and Audrey on top of the Monument

St. Patrick's Cathedral - largest church in Ireland

At the McCoole family farm...I look like a midget!

The Cliffs of Moher...unfortunately cloudy

Wicklow National Park

Wicklow National Park where they filmed a P.S. I love you scene

Guinness Lake

Glendalough Monastery 

Kiliney Beach (this is Bono's view from his house)

So basically we had a GREAT time. I absolutely loved learning about all of the places and experiencing everything. I am so incredibly blessed! London was so enchanting and Ireland was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. I would definitely want to see both of them again...and I wouldn't mind having a vacation home tucked away in the hills of Wicklow Park either!

It was really weird when we got back to Edinburgh because we had just come back from vacation, and usually you would go home after a vacation, so coming back here was kind of weird. Its fine now but at first I was feeling incredibly restless. We got back on Saturday and on Sunday I set off to explore the Stockbridge area of Edinburgh. I found a farmers market! And an adorable little bookstore. I also had some excellent hot chocolate.

One of the stands at the farmers market had this funny kitten so I took a photo. 

This bronze statue of a man was eerily positioned in the river. It is a little creepy.

With finding the little bookstore came the purchase of this book which I converted into a journal of all my travels!

On the whole it was a very successful and distracting day. It was also good to have some alone time after being constantly surrounded for a week.

I just finished an essay and am about to start the next one so that I can have a stress-free weekend at the Isle of Skye! So excited. Of course, I still have a thousand things to figure out about spring break and summer and classes, but it will all work out. 

I will write again soon, I promise, about my weekend in Paris! But for now, Cheers!

Fact: Brown Sugar is the best thing in the world

  Aside from my fantastic adventures in bonny 'ol scotland, I also have been keeping myself alive off my own cooking. Don't worry...it's not as scary as it sounds. I made banana pancakes yesterday for breakfast (which ended up being brunch because it took me about an hour), and then baked tortellini for dinner! (little italy style, for those arkadelphians out there..)

Mmm.....

2

cups whole wheat pastry flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

2/3 cup milk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

3 large ripe bananas, mashed

2 tablespoons butter, melted

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl. Measure out the milk and add the vanilla extract to it. Whisk together the dry ingredients and add in milk and vanilla, stirring to combine. The mixture will still be dry. Add in mashed bananas and mix. Add in melted butter and stir until batter is somewhat smooth.

Heat a skillet or grilled on medium heat. Using a 1/3 cup measure, spoon batter into rounds and cook until bubbles form on top – about 2-3 minutes. Flip and cook for a minute or two more. Repeat with remaining batter. Serve hot with butter and syrup, or the vanilla maple glaze.

Note: if you don’t have/can’t find whole wheat pastry flour, use 1 cup of regular whole wheat and 1 cup of all purpose. Or 2 cups of all purpose.

I love brown sugar.

It makes everything better.

The finished product!

"Making banana pancakes, pretend like its the weekend now..."

Baked tortellini! I only ate 3/4 of the pan...

  

  Last night I toured the real Mary King's close. Under Ediburgh's Old Town, which is where I live, there are streets and "houses" many stories deep composing blocks called "closes" which are clearly non-functioning but can be toured by entering from various locations around the city. The reason for their existence is they were built over when people moved back into Old Town after the plague. (Most had relocated to New Town, right across the river...the river is now a train station, drained because it had become a cesspool.) Mary King's Close is one such close under buildings in the Old Town area, partially demolished and buried under the Royal Exchange, and later after being closed to the public for many years, the complex became shrouded in myths and urban legends; tales of ghosts and murders, and myths of plague victims being walled up and left to die abounded. 

  It was pretty creepy, and not because I thought there were ghosts, but because people had once lived and died of the plague or other causes right where I was standing. Living conditions were horrible and I could barely imagine how anyone could have survived there. It was however, very interesting and just added to the list of amazing history I have learned, and will continue to learn about this city, the UK, and Europe in general. (Unfortunately photography was prohibited.)

Still haven't hiked Arthur's Seat...hoping to do so tomorrow. Cheers!

Caerlaverock Castle and Dumfries

  I've officially been in Edinburgh for two weeks. I survived Burns Night! And I still haven't tried haggis... I'll get to that eventually. Maybe.

Robert Burns - Scotland's National Poet

  Yesterday, (Saturday the 28th) I went on a trip with the International Student Center to the town of Dumfries and Caerlaverock Castle. Dumfries' claim to fame is that it houses the Robert Burns Center which is basically a museum of Burns life. I learned he was the author of the Auld Lang Syne: a long established feature of New Year celebrations in every corner of the world. The Globe Inn is also in Dumfries where Burns died in 1796. We were in Dumfries for a couple of hours then moved on to tour the ruins of Caerlaverock Castle. It was very beautiful and interesting. The only problem was that I was freezing. As usual. Nevertheless, I managed to snap about 100 photos. I won't post them all...

The town of Dumfries

Statue of Robert Burns in the town center

Famous pub overlooking the sight where its namesake killed his rival in 1306

There were sheep everywhere and they were so tiny and cute!

Entrance to the castle

There were about four swans in the moat surrounding the castle

Over the entrance to the once heavily fortified castle

The courtyard

All over the walls were initials and dates from people who were here

1047

JK Rowling perhaps?

This was the courtyard to the first Caerlaverock Castle...about 300 yards behind the first. It was built in an area that was too wet and so they rebuilt which is the current castle. The first is all but gone.

The trees were all heavily coated in moss because it was so moist in this area

Like stepping into Narnia - SO green!

Back view of the castle, coming from the first castle which is through the woods

Caerlaverock Castle: A brief history


  The present castle was preceded by several fortifications in the area: a Roman fort on Ward Law Hill and a British hill fort that was in use around 950. Around 1220 Alexander II of Scotland granted the lands in the area to Sir John Maxwell, making him Warden of the West March. John Maxwell then proceeded to build the "old" castle, 200 metres (660 ft) to the south of the current one. This castle was square in shape and was one of the earliest stone castles to be built in Scotland. It had a moat with a bridge facing north. Only the foundations and remains of a wooden enclosure around it remain. In the 1270s the "new" castle was built, and Herbert Maxwell, nephew of John Maxwell, occupied it.

  Being very close to the border with England, Caerlaverock castle had to be defended several times against English forces. One such occasion was the Siege of Caerlaverock of 1300 by Edward I of England who had eighty seven of the Barons of England in his host, as well as knights of Brittany and Lorraine. The Maxwells, under their chief, Sir Eustace Maxwell, made a vigorous defense that repelled the English several times. In the end the garrison were compelled to surrender, after which it was found that only sixty men had defied the whole English army for a considerable period.

  Possession of the castle was subsequently restored to Sir Eustace Maxwell, Sir Herbert's son, who at first embraced the cause of John Balliol, and in 1312 received from Edward I an allowance of £20 for the more secure keeping of the castle. He afterwards gave in his adherence to Robert Bruce, and his castle, in consequence, underwent a second siege by the English, in which they were unsuccessful. Fearing that this important stronghold might ultimately fall into the hands of the enemy, and enable them to make good their hold on the district, Sir Eustace dismantled the fortress, a service and sacrifice for which he was liberally rewarded by Robert Bruce.

Anyway...
So thats what I did this weekend. I tried a new church today: St. Catherine's Argyle Presbyterian Church, and it was really good. The pastor said something I really liked. He was talking about the apostles original encounters with Jesus in John 1 and how each one came to believe He was the messiah and follow Him in a different way; and that because Jesus already knew them He knew exactly how to approach them. Depending on where they were in their life he challenged them, changed them, commanded them, or convinced them. And he does the same with people today. He finished in verse 51 when Jesus was saying they would see greater things than this and he said:

  "He bears our hell so we might share in His heaven"

I thought that was a really neat way to think about it. I will write again soon. Cheers!