Was it worth the wait?

This is going to be the first of a barrage of posts to get you all caught up on my life and trips. Remember a long time ago when I said I was going on my first excursion? Well, here are the pictures from that outing. Better late then never, right? I was contemplating posting all of my photos between then and now all in one ginormungous post, but that was too overwhelming for me, and I like getting comments so I figure if I spread it out over a couple days / week then I'll get more comments, and you'll have more time to enjoy it all! This way everybody wins!

Anyway, on to the pictures. The second weekend of my being in Scotland (two days after starting school for those of you keeping track) everyone studying at Stirling went to Penrith to do our family home-stays. Penrith is actually just across the border in England, in the Lake District and the houses that we were in were actually spread out in a number of tiny little towns around Penrith. We all took a charter bus there and got picked up by our host families in car park in town. Everyone except me that is. My "mother" wasn't showing up. I waited with the coordinating mom and Daniel, her IFSA student, and eventually just ended up going back to her house since we didn't want to wait anymore. That actually worked out nicely because I got to have some delicious soup and see their house a little. (It was very small, and obviously an old building that had just slowly been added to or changed slightly to keep up with the times. A little bit like G&G Schroeders house if it were compressed into 4 rooms with the same amount of furniture.) My "mom" came to pick me up shortly after the soup, and we discovered that she had had a conflict and had asked one of the other parents to get me to her house. Obviously some miscommunication going on.


All was forgiven, and we went back to the house to settle in. (The picture at left is a view out of the front door looking right. Attached to the same building was a second house that looked pretty much identical) That evening I met her daughters, Charlotte (15) and Sarah (12) as well as 2 of Charlotte's friends. I think it was around then that it really hit me that I was going to be in a house full of teenage girls for the entire weekend. Whoo-boy. And it was Sarah's birthday on Sat. Lots and lots and lots of teenage girls. I was a little skeptical to say the least.



After some crackers and cheese, I hit the hay. Sarah was nice enough (read: forced by her mother) to let me use her room, so this is were I slept. In fair compensation for the overuse of fabrics and other hanging paraphernalia, the comforter was electric! I slept quite cozily in that bed, if a little pressed for space.





Oh, I also forgot to mention that they had a black lab named Gia. (Ghea?) I'll just give you a second to soak in how adorable she is and how much she looks like Regan. That made me miss her a lot but it was also awesome to have some quality dog time.

On Saturday everyone doing the homestays (well, not everyone. It was optional, but nearly everyone) went on a hike to a place called Aria Force where there was this awesome waterfall.

The trail went over a bridge at the top of the falls, and then wound back down and went over another bridge lower down. You can see the upper bridge in this photo.

And here we have pretty much the same shot, but with people in it, because that makes it more exciting. From left to right we have Marguerite, Mary, and Tara.

During this hike, I got so excited about the waterfall that I kinda ran on ahead of everyone else and went off the trail a bit to see it. Because the trail split and was somewhat loop-like (which I didn't know until much later) I ended up losing everyone else in my group. However, I did manage to find something crazy that no one else did.

This, my friends, is a log. Now, look closely at this log. Go ahead, I'll wait.




Good. So, did you notice anything weird about it? Kinda looks like there is a bunch of fungi stuff growing on it, huh? Well, that's what it looked like to me at a distance anyways, but when I got up close I discovered that it was in fact covered in coins!!!

I don't know if people did this while it was still standing, or if they just amused themselves with it once it had fallen. Maybe that's what killed the tree. There was also a stump at the end of the log which also had coins pounded into it. I have no idea if this was similar to throwing coins into a fountain, or more like carving your name in a tree, but it was really interesting looking.

But, enough about a log.

After hiking we (everyone again) went to get lunch at this little lakeside place and then got out on the lake on some rowboats!

That's another group paddling fiercely to get away from our boat.

One of the many (okay, okay. 2) islands we docked at and explored. Of course, when I say "docked" I'm using the term loosely. The first island had a nice pebbly area where we could just steer the boat straight into it and not have to slow down or pay attention or anything. The second island just had rocks, so we cleverly thought that one of us would jump out of the boat and pull the boat in with the hand rope that was attached to the prow. Luckily, this person wasn't me, because he ended up first stepping into the water, then slowly sliding down the rock he had just managed to climb onto before falling completely into the lake. He - was - soaked! Also luckily, it was a very nice and warm day, so it was more fun and inconvenient than miserable.

Somewhere during all of these shenanigans, I lost my umbrella. Why did I have it if it was such a nice warm day you may ask? Because somehow I was under the impression that it rained a lot in Scotland, and I didn't know if it happened quickly like in FoCo, or slowly, like. . . . somewhere else. (As I've since found out, it's a mix. Some days it can look like rain for hours and not drip a drop. Other days it can be blue sky and rain anyways. It's dumb.)



Post the boat, wet clothes, and umbrella losing adventure, I went with another family (my mom had to go shopping to get stuff for the birthday barbecue) and we went to an open air market where I bought some tiny delicious doughnuts. I also had the option of buying a (no joke) 2 foot long adjustable wrench. Unfortunately, I left my stash of "money that I don't want" back in my dorm, so I was forced to pass up the amazing offer.



Next: the castle that no one else got to see. The family I was with was pretty awesome and decided to take us to this castle on the way home, which no one else did. The castle was falling apart quite a bit, but the main tower still had sound outer hallways on all the levels, and there was a semi-rebuilt spiral staircase that let you access all of them. Pretty cool. There was also a well with ferns growing all along the wall that was very pretty. There weren't any underground bits though, which I tend to like the most.


That night we had the barbeque, then all the girls (birthday party group and Charlotte'n'company group) took off to do their own thing. We adults stayed and grilled more stuff and ate some delicious food and drank some beer and wine and just hung out. I think this was the first night that I really started noticing that I was getting a cold (which I am still getting over as of writing this). This was also the first night that I got to try a WKD blue, also called Blue Wicked. I would not recommend this drink to anyone. Ever. Even if I hate them.


The next day, we strapped a canoe onto the roof of the car and took off for a little more boat action. Oh, and I forgot to mention this part. You know how the roads in the UK are tiny and really windy? And you know how they drive a lot closer to things, like walls (ahem, Dad!) and people than we do? Well, I thought that in and of itself was scary enough. But imagine doing it with a fricken canoe strapped to the car!!!! It - was -scary. Not life threateningly scary, but I certainly didn't want to be the one driving.

But, back to the fun part. We got in the canoe. Apparently the power for a canoe comes from the front, and you steer from the back. Something I did not know, but it is very true. I was in the front the whole time, and I couldn't affect which way we were going at all! Everyone else steered just fine though, and we made it to a little picnic spot and back without incident.

I've also realized that the above picture is the only one I have of my adopted family, and it's really crappy. That's the mom, Anne at the left, then Sarah, Sarah's friend, and Charlotte.

So, that's my home stay! It was pretty fun, and definitely entertaining to see the similarities in the highschoolers/teenagers. iPods, MSN instant messanger, gross alcohol drinks, too cool for siblings and familes, and all that jazz.

That's it for now, but stay tuned for more exciting adventures! Next up, my personal forest and Stirling Castle!

Oh, and for those of you who don't know, I'm going to PARIS this Sat and I'll be there till Wed. It should be awesome. That will be posted soon to.

I love you all!