Don't Put Off Till Tomorrow...

Well, I've learned a tough lesson when it comes to cameras, laptops, and keeping up with photo uploads and blogging. Somehow, I've managed to delete a whole bunch of fun and fabulous photos from the last three weeks. Basically, my laptop ran out of disk space, so I had to clean it up before I could put any more photos on it. In the shuffle of things, I seem to have deleted a whole load of photos. I guess that will teach me a lesson about keeping up with my blog and not putting off till tomorrow what can be done today! But no use crying over lost photos. Here's a quick recap of the last few weeks.

School has been chugging away as usual. It does seem to get more and more busy with each passing week, but then again, maybe that's just a sign that I'm really "in it" now and the adjustment period is long gone. This last half term was really short--just six weeks! And our next half term is going to be even shorter--four weeks and four days. The good news is that means I'll be seeing my parents in no time at all, as they arrive in London on Good Friday for a nice long visit! The bad news is that means this next half term will be a super rush of pre-assessments and assessments right on top of each other. Thankfully I have my fabulous colleagues to keep things light and entertaining at school, even in the most stressful times. Lately, a group of us have been enjoying what we cheekily call "7th Period" at a nearby pub on a Friday afternoon. It's quickly becoming my favorite "lesson" of the week!

I travelled up to Scotland again for the first weekend of February to visit Christy. Two other Fulbrighters, Niki and Rebecca W., also came for the visit, and we had a nice weekend. Unfortunately, I don't have any photos to share, which is really a shame because it was a gorgeous sunny weekend, and I took some pretty photos.  :(  First we toured Stirling Castle, which we all really enjoyed. It's a cool castle (well, aren't they all?!) and has a nice mix of the restored and the classic. Stirling, which used to be the capital of Scotland, has a very rich history as it is the site of many famous battles led and fought by such Scottish heros as William Wallace and Robert the Bruce. Geographically, Stirling is the "gateway to the highlands," and they even say that "whoever holds Stirling, holds Scotland." I've been interested in Scottish history for some time, and so I enjoyed learning more about Stirling's role in it.

Stirling Castle

After our morning at Stirling, we went on a nice drive to find this Highland cow named Hamish who is basically a local attraction at the Trossachs Woollen Mill. I've been slightly obsessed with highland cows for a while now (I think they remind me of my little doggie back home), so naturally I was VERY excited to see Hamish. Well, after a nice meandering drive through the hills, we finally arrived. My heart was beating quickly at the thought of meeting my first real highland cow! I'd even brought him my apple from Friday's lunch in London and was ready to feed it to him. But when we pulled into the parking lot, Hamish was nowhere to be found. Turns out he was tucked away on holiday for the winter, riding out the yucky weather in a nice, dry barn somewhere. And while I'm happy he is nice and warm and cozy, I was pretty gutted to find out he wasn't around. The nice woman in the woolen mill did give me a sweet poster of him as a consolation prize when she saw my face drop at the news though.

Can you see the similarities between this Highland cow and my dog Pippy?   :)

When the whole Hamish visit didn't work out, we decided to make impromptu stop at another castle that was nearby, Doune Castle, which is actually the castle used for the film "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." I haven't seen the film since high school, and in fact I'm not even sure I ever saw it all the way through, but it was still fun to check it out. Doune is a smaller castle, but still interesting. It hasn't been restored on the inside, so it feels more haunted, cold and creepy when you walk through its ruined corridors and rooms. Niki and Rebecca wanted to gallop around the castle a bit, clanking coconuts like they do on the film, so they borrowed the resident pair of coconuts from the gift shop lady and had a go. I didn't really get it, but decided I needed to join in as well. Before all my photos were deleted, I had a rather humorous video of my reenactment, but now that I'm thinking about it, I'm pretty glad that video is gone!

We rounded out our day with a really nice dinner at a cool restaurant down by Forth Bridge on the river Forth. Because it was such a gorgeous day, the sky was a brilliant blue, and took some pretty photos down by the water. Here's a couple that I took with my iPhone, the only lonely survivors.

Forth Bridge, which connects Edinburgh to Fife.
Fife was my grandma Keagle's maiden name. Wonder if her family was from Fife?

The rest of the weekend was just spent relaxing together and catching up on the latest adventures in each others lives. As always, it is refreshing and reinvigorating to spend time with my Fulbright friends!