So I have previously mentioned the visitors that were due. But now I am writing and two of these groups of visitors have already come and gone and I can't believe it. Time is a flighty temptress indeed.
My parents came and I had time with them for about a week and we checked out Scotland's capital city, Edinburgh, and then Ireland's, Dublin. Eddy was quite nice, very different from Aberdeen, and maybe I'm biased and just know the Ab better but, I think I liked Ab better. Now, that's not to say that I don't realize that in certain ways, Edinburgh is probably objectively better: more to do, more to see, cleaner, etc. But it just didn't have a charm that allured me too much.
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| mom and I from Edinburgh Castle |
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| from Edinburgh Castle |
Now, Dublin is a different story. Pretty sure it is my second favorite city in Europe that I've seen so far, after Rome. It was so cool and quaint and friendly and musical and fun. Seriously music in every pub every night, and a thriving little artsy/young person scene goin' on. Plus all the buildings were so varied! Architecturally in style, colors and materials; it was a real treat for the eyes and senses after the grey of Aberdeen. I would really like to go back to Dublin, and Ireland in general, with friends to check out more sights and wreak a little havoc.
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| from the Guinness Storehouse gravity bar, Dublin |
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| Butler's: seriously the best chocolate. |
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| St. Teresa's Carmelite church in downtown Dublin |
Then, without much rest, Taylor P and her boyfrand Charlie D were here and they brought happy weather, so we got to enjoy Aberdeen for a couple days in the relative warmth and sunshine. I tried to take them to some of my fave places in the 'deen and we did quite a bit of walking, but we're young and spry, so it was all good. Charlie even picked out a little tune he wrote on the guitar at an open mic night at a pub we went to on their final night in Aberdeen. Then we three set off for the west coast of the land and checked our Urquhart castle which was pretty neat and had beautiful views of Loch Ness, and from there we bussed to Fort William. We climbed Ben Nevis, no big deal, only the tallest mountain in the UK. We were arguably a few of the highest things on the whole Kingdom of Unity for a few minutes. We were also surrounded by a cloud and freezing our butts off, but it was worth it.. Great time with them doing outdoorsy, adventurous things, and I was sad to say goodbye to them yesterday morning at the train station, but they're off to have more exciting times in England now.
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| view of St Machar's cathedral in Aberdeen. Was my first time within. |
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| Playground amusements will never get old. |
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| Urquhart Castle |
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| looking over Loch Ness from Urquhart Castle |
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| Panorama over Loch Ness from Urquhart Castle's tower, with a mysterious head of hair with no head or body attached. |
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| our lunch stop on the Ben Nevis hike |
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| Little panorama, showing the same lake from the above picture and into the Great Glen. About halfway to the top. |
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| and then all the sudden you're climbing Everest and you're dealing with sub-arctic climates and the visibility is okay in this picture, but it got much worse. |
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| Nothing worth taking a picture of when we first reached the summit as the clouds were covering us completely, but then they began to clear. |
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| and we made it back down! Boom. |
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| Mountains and country from the bus from Fort William to Inverness |
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| The River Ness in Inverness |
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| Inverness Castle (?) don't know its name. |
I enjoy coming home to Aberdeen more than I expect, which is nice. Nice that I can call Aberdeen home and feel comfortable here after more 8 month+ time here. But. really what I'm excited for is tomorrow! I get to go to a ceilidh in the evening!!!!!!!! JK, (well I do) but what's MORE EXCITING IS THAT KATIE HOLLOWAY WILL CROSS THE ATLANTIC, DEBOARD FROM HER PLANE, TOUCH THE GROUND OF ABERDEEN, CROSS THE THRESHOLD INTO THE BAGGAGE CLAIM AREA AND THEN RUN INTO MY ARMS WHERE SHE WILL STAY FOR THREE WEEKS. Well she mightn't stay in my arms, but you get it.
Adventures await!
Life is good. (details: Work has been really enjoyable, really like my workmates; more progression on my dissertation shall begin to happen soon, as all of my second semester coursework is finished and I never have to attend another class in my life if I don't want to; job applications are being thought about..................and I'm about to eat a great ham and cheese sandwich.)
Song of the Day: Fleetwood Mac- Never Going Back Again
