Harry Potter Heaven

What does Harry Potter have to do with this next post, might you ask? Well, a lot more than you think.

Day 0: Eh-din-bur-ah
As usual, Megan and I had to wake up fairly early, both because we had 2 flights in addition to the limited selection of buses that went from Biassa to La Spezia. In the morning we took the train from La Spezia to Pisa Airport. I'm sorry to say that I did not see the leaning tower. We realized we had gotten to the airport in plenty of time, so we waited around for our gate to open. The flight was slightly delayed, but everything else went smooth enough. Once we landed in Dublin, we went through security again to get to our second flight. The one to Edinburgh (pronounced like above). It was a long day of travelling to say the least, and it was quite difficult to board that second plane to Edinburgh--I really just wanted to be in Ireland. Once we arrived in Edinburgh we took a bus to the city centre and managed to find our way to our hostel in the dark and rain. I couldn't see very many sights, but I could already tell that Edinburgh was beautiful. We arrived at our hostel to catch up with some other girls from our program: Liz, Abby, Emily and Mayra. It was wonderful to see some familiar faces.

Day 1: Tom the Tour Guide (Why does this sound familiar?)
Since Megan and I were literally doing a crash course of Scotland (namely, we would only be there for 48 hours), we decided to take advantage of seeing the most we could in the shortest amount of time. So we booked a 12-hour Highlands tour for the next day with the other four girls. We headed out of Edinburgh at 8:30 to start our tour. Tom was the name of our tour guide. While he seemed to have some good information, we had a really awkward laugh that we couldn't help but be entertained by. First stop on our tour was seeing Hamish the hairy coo. He was so cute! Google a picture of Highland cattle and you have Hamish, or check out my facebook page. After that we went further up in the Highlands to take a couple of photo ops before stopping at Loch Ness. We took a one-hour boat tour around Loch Ness in hopes of seeing Nessy. I let you decide from my pictures if you think I saw it or not. Regardless, we had lots of fun taking silly pictures and getting out on the water. We ate lunch at what we thought was a fish and chips place, as well, and only ordered chips, to which our waiter promptly informed us (after we ordered I might add) that he was doing us a favor and normally they don't let people just order chips. Those were our major stops along the tour, but we stopped a few other places for photo opportunities. It was a great day catching up with the girls and seeing the Highlands of Scotland. We played cards that evening and prepared ourselves for the journey back to Ireland the next day.

Day 2: Snape, Snape, Severus Snape
Since the other four girls were leaving in the late morning, we decided to wake up early and climb up the highest location in Edinburgh--Arthur's seat. While it was quite the hike, the view was worth it (after the fog cleared). We finished off by treating ourselves to Starbucks for breakfast. After that, we returned to the hostel, where the other girls packed their bags and headed back to Scotland. Megan and I, on the other hand, took advantage of a three-hour long walking tour. We stopped everywhere and heard some great stories! Including the Elephant House, where J.K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book. She could see an old school with four towers (inspiration for the four houses), Greyfriar's Cemetary, and Edinburgh castle from the windows she sat at, which inspired the story. We also heard stories about Maggie Dickson, a woman who survived a hanging, and Brodie Deacon, a criminal mastermind. The buildings around Scotland are just beautiful, and it was fun to hear their history. After we got done with that, we went back to the Elephant House for a smoothie and to soak in some of the awesomeness of J.K. Rowling. We chilled at the hostel for a bit, before finally deciding to go and eat dinner at "The Last Drop," so named because it sits along the square where people used to be hanged. Megan was dying to try haggis, but I couldn't wrap my head around eating that right before I was to get on a plane to Ireland. So she ordered haggis and I ordered soup, and the two of us drank some Hot Toddy's. The pub was absolutely picturesque. There was an old man standing next to us, getting livid at the slot machine he seemed to be losing money on, and the bartenders seemed to be enjoying the whole scene. A Scottish man came up to Megan and complemented her on the wrap she had just bought too! It was a wonderful way to finish out our time in Scotland. We had to leave after that and board the plane for our 9:15 flight back to Ireland. We met a guy from Long Island while waiting in line to board the plane, who had been living in Dublin for a year. We compared stories and talked about returning back to the states. The ride went quick, and sure enough we arrived at our lodging for the night: the Dublin airport. I dislike sleeping in airports, but as we had no choice, I took a few Simply Sleep and conked out. Megan informed me that a police officer had come around to check our passports during the middle of the night, of which I was completely unaware. We bused back to Cork in the morning, and I've been studying ever since for finals!