2 Months Done, 2 To Go!

Hi family and friends! I can’t believe I’m halfway done with my first semester of college. I haven’t been able to post as much recently because I have been super busy with school. I have had to write so many papers – more in these 2 months than all of high school combined! Part of the reason I have been so busy is because I have to do homework during all my free time during the week because I have been traveling on the weekends.

Two weekends ago I went to Porto, Portugal. I never thought I would go to Portugal during this semester but my friend invited me to go with her because her aunt lives there. Getting to the airport we almost missed our bus because we couldn’t find the stop which was very stressful. The flight was two hours and we got there at midnight. When we got to her aunt’s house, she had snacks and cookies set out for us and it was the most amazing feeling ever! And we slept in a real bed which I forgot what a real mattress felt like! For breakfast her aunt got us traditional Portuguese pastries which were so good! Then her aunt took us around the city. Porto is gorgeous! We saw an amazing view of the city from the top of a hotel. We also climbed the stairs of a church called the Torre de Clerigos and saw another spectacular view. We had some amazing local foods; my favorite was the pastel de nata. Then her aunt left us to explore on our own. Porto is on a river so we went down to the river and saw the sunset. It was perfect. It was such a relaxing day because we did not have to plan anything. We just got to explore a new city. The next day it was raining so we just went to brunch before our flight. It was a really great quick trip!

The weekend after, my school planned a trip for everyone in the program to Edinburgh, Scotland. We took a 4 hour train on Friday afternoon. I did some work and slept on the train. We arrived around 9pm and it was raining. We went straight to the hostel and the hostel was 1000x better than the hostel we stayed at in Amsterdam. It felt clean and all the people in my room were from my school. The next day we had to wake up early for a walking tour of the city. It was really cold. Then we warmed up and got brunch in a traditional Scottish pub. Then we went to the Edinburgh castle. I saw the Scottish Crown Jewels, the Stone of Destiny (used for the coronation of the British monarch), and the room where Mary Queen of Scots gave birth to James IV of Scotland (James I of England). The castle is at the top of the Royal Mile so it has great views of the city. But the best views were from the top of Arthur’s Seat. We hiked to the top of Arthur’s Seat and it was very tiring because it was all uphill. But it was so worth it! We got to the top at golden hour – the sun was setting and the whole sky was gold over the city of Edinburgh. We also got lucky because it was supposed to rain the whole day but it did not rain at all during the hike. Then we had dinner at a pub. Then we went on a ghost tour which we learned about the bloody history of Edinburgh but it did include jump scares and of course I screamed. The next day before leaving, I went to the Elephant House which was the cafe were J.K. Rowling thought of Harry Potter and wrote most of the first book. It was a Harry Potter fan’s dream come true! The cafe had a spectacular view of the castle so I can see where Rowling got her inspiration for Hogwarts. Then we took the train home and I slept the whole time.

Other than school work and traveling I have not been up to much. I rode the London Eye a few days ago. I just need to get through one more week until we have the week off and I am going on a big trip around Europe! I am not too homesick but I am really excited for mom to visit and to see everyone in December!