Scotland

Back in London after what became a five-day jaunt in Scotland and I am still invigorated by it.

It feels good to be back, see my friends here at the Institute and be able to tell them great stories about my trip. What I should say first is that it seems everyone knew that I was there - including my professors because I missed my train on Sunday - and therefore was forced to miss my Monday class.

Of all the places to be stuck though, Scotland really is quite preferable.

I left immediately after my class on Thursday afternoon to journey up to St. Andrews to visit two friends - one from home and one from DC. The first night was extremely hard to get a feeling of the place other than it was dark and cold - requiring many layers of clothes, blankets, lots of chamomile tea and what I would soon be introduced to as a hot water bottle.

These devices are positively brilliant. It's a large plastic insulator that you fill with boiling water, covered by soft material so that you can clutch it as you are sleeping. Incredible! Suzie let me borrow her's for the weekend: adoringly referred to as Sexy Lady because of it's fuzzy, leapord-print decor.

Friday morning Shawn and I went to Taste - a fabulous and very popular coffee shop that serves delicious lattes and paninis. What more could you want in life? Perhaps a bit of The Doll House - an equally pleasurable dining experience... and two free meals - as a poor grad student - what more could I ask for?

The whole weekend really was quite decadent we all concluded - not because of the enormous amounts of money spent - but the time spent lounging in Taste, making dinner, drinking wine, whiskey (I take mine on the rocks) and pints of great lagers, ales and ciders.

After quite a night Friday complete with live music, Indian food and sampling whiskeys - Saturday we were quite satisfied with dinner, a movie and then climbing fences and running around the graveyard and cathedral ruins at night.

St. Andrews really is a beautiful town that at then end of 5 days I felt extremely comfortable in and almost considered a local. However, Sunday in Edinburgh took my breath away.

Shawn aptly described it as a city that feels as though it is built of the earth - as if it carved itself out of the landscape... I felt silly only providing myself with a day there, though great, I am eager to go back.

So after mis-reading the train schedule and missing a train, I was forced to spend another day in St. Andrews - cold and rainy - but beautiful and mythical in a way that really hit a craving in my soul.