Friday, April 27
My flight out of Paris was at 9, so I had to get up pretty early (before anyone else in my host family) and get on the train. I took the 9 to the 4 to Gare du Nord, where I transferred to RER B. I did my sneaky thing so I didn't have to buy an 8-euro real ticket to the airport, mwa ha. First I flew to Frankfurt, then got on another plane to Edinburgh, arriving around 1 p.m. Rebecca was waiting for me outside the gates and we took an awesome double-decker bus to Edinburgh Waverley station, where we checked my bag in and then went sightseeing around Edinburgh (since that's an hour away from St. Andrews, where she actually lives). We walked around, sort of looked into the possibility of a dungeons tour (but they're soooo expensive), checked out all the cool winding pathways, and wound up outside Edinburgh Castle. I almost didn't want to go because it cost so much, but we went in the end. Hooked up with a tour guide group led by a very amusing guy, so we got a little tour of the castle and then wandered around on our own. The wax figures inside one of the buildings illustrating its history were really amusing to me, hahaha. It was pretty cool to be up so high and look down at Edinburgh :)
Cannons!
Really windy... haha.
windyyy
looking back at the castle
After we were done looking around the city we retrieved my bag from the station and then bought tickets to St. Andrews. The train ride there was about an hour, and once we got there we took a bus into St. Andrews itself and then walked to Rebecca's house where she lives with four other girls. That night we went to the grocery store (Tesco, one of the most happening places in St. Andrews apparently) and then over to the house of a friend of hers from Japanese class, where another fellow classmate was. We all geeked out over Gackt and other various nerdy j-music things, it was a lot of fun.
Saturday, April 28
We got up and went to go check out the famous St. Andrews golf course. We went into the shop and I got some souvenirs to give to my dad (a hat, and a towel) and then put on the hat and had Rebecca take some pictures of me in front of the Old Course. Then we walked around the edges of the course a bit before heading down to the beach, where I had her take more pictures of me and I ran around in the cold cold water, but it was a lot of fun. yay beach!
Old Course!
Me in front of the 18th with the hat I bought for my dad.
Clubhouse
You better watch out.
Beaaach!
Me on the beach!
In the water!
After that we went to Rebecca's old dorm on the St. Andrews campus, which is of course more like Hogwarts Castle with its fancy wooden staircases and lounges and TURRETS and TOWERS and all these super cool things that the AC dorms definitely lack (;_;)... though I'm sure schools like Yale etc have dorms like this. We wandered around there for a while, then went outside where the inhabitants of the dorm were having some sort of spring party. Get this: they were serving beer. AT A SCHOOL-SPONSORED FUNCTION. I could not get over it. There is no way there would be alcohol at any AC sponsored event (besides Senior Happy Hour in the pub, but that doesn't count, I mean like an outdoor event!). Really kinda cool. And there was ice cream, and hamburgers (long lines though), and kiddie pools that guys were dumping other guys into... it was pretty great.
At night we made dinner and then Rebecca had to go to work so I worked on my history paper a little bit while she was gone. Bed after that, I think.
Irn-Bru! A delicious Scottish soft drink :)
While we were hanging out, things got silly. She took my camera and began a series of (sometimes frightening) self-portraits.
Poor Stitch
Then she fell off the edge of the bed HAHHAHAHA I mean...
I had to get in on the action. Stitch family!
Sunday, April 29
We had lunch at this awesome little cafe that had two things I had not tasted in months because they are not available in Paris: bagels and bacon. I had an amazing toasted bagel with cream cheese and I just put the bacon right on top of it. ahhhh delicioussss
Then we wandered around St. Andrews and wound up at the ruins of St. Andrews church and castle, which were so cool to explore. They were right on the coast so I messed with some seagulls. But the ruins were so awesome!
Craggy coastline
Church ruins!
At St. Andrews castle.
Pools built into the beach!
This seagull got all mad at me taking pictures over the railing. Deal with it, seagull!
At night we went to the flat of a friend of Rebecca's, who is actually an American who just decided she wanted to go to college abroad (like she isn't a study abroad student, she just goes here for school full-time). That's pretty cool. Apparently there are lots of Americans at St. Andrews, both study-abroad students and full-time students. You can pick them out because of the pajamas/sweatpants and flip-flops they wear around town. ...yeeep, American college students can't dress and think lazy looks best. (NO IT DOESN'T. I don't dress like that!!) Anyway, we hung out there with a bunch of other people watching this crazy movie.
Monday, April 30
My last day! Woowww and this day was like a huge long day of various kinds of public transportation. Let's see... got up at 8 or 9, took the bus from St. Andrews to Leuchars station, 1-hour train ride to Edinburgh (said goodbye to Rebecca before getting on the train), bus to the airport caught from outside Edinburgh Waverley station, plane to Frankfurt, plane to Paris, RER B, line 4, line 9, AHH HOME AT LAST, at 9 pm. It seriously took the entire day just to return home... but it was fun, I didn't mind. Look at me, all independent, doin' all this all on my own!
But yeah, I had a great little visit to Scotland, Rebecca was a great hostess, and I'm glad I finally made it to SOMEWHERE on the British Isles after reading like soooooo many books set there and learning so much information about it and its history. I hope to come back to go to Ireland/England/Wales someday, as well as hit up more of Scotland. :)
I must also gloat about how I've discovered a way to get to and from the airport FOR FREE (as opposed to buying a stupid 8-euro ticket each way). mwa haaaa! See, the line that goes to the airport, RER B, has 2 Charles de Gaulle stops, one for Terminals 1 & 3, and one for Terminal 2. This Terminal 1 & 3 one is hideously under-securitized, and that's where you can totally get away with stuff >:D They have NO outgoing AND incoming ticket gates!!! So you don't need to have a proper ticket to get out, and you don't need one to get in. You can seriously just breeze on through and onto the train, which NEVER happens. Now, at the station you either get on or get off this RER line from (for me, it was Gare du Nord), you will need a proper ticket there to get in and out of the RER area, but if you just have a monthly pass, as I do, you can put that in and since you're still in zones 1 & 2 (which is what the monthly pass covers, and the airport is out in zone 5 so it's not usually covered) it totally works. Then you can just get on the train to the airport and since no conductor ever comes around ticket-checking, and since there's no gate to stop you when you get out--IT'S FREEE. :D :D I am brilliant. So when I got back today, I just hopped on the train, used my monthly pass to get out of the RER area, and bammmm it so worked. Since the monthly pass is already expensive, I don't feel bad at all. I've just saved myself 16 euros :D!
I'm also happy about the delicious doughnuts Rebecca bought me before I left, which were soooo gooood but sadly they are gone now, and I don't live in St Andrews so I can't get any more. D: Butterscotch frosting, cream inside. mmmmm :3
OH YES and my passport was stamped which was AWESOME! It hadn't happened yet. Ever. Seriously. (Except for when I arrived in France, of course.) I don't know what's up, but I didn't have to go through customs, like, AT ALL leaving France for Germany and leaving Italy for France. I seriously just breezed on through and out of there. (It does make sense, it's all EU/continental Europe, but still.) But this time, no! Even at the airport in Frankfurt where I had to get a connecting flight, THEY stamped the passport. Then arriving in Edinburgh, they stamped it again too. I had to go in the special "Non-EU members" line where almost no one was (ha ha ha), and fill out a CARD, and then they stamped it and I can stay in Scotland for 6 months if I want to. Which I can't. But it's nice to know I have the option! However, they didn't stamp it or check it upon my departure, I guess they don't care who leaves the country. They did again at Frankfurt though. Three stamps!!! (full of glee)
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