In love..

So, I've officially fallen in love with Scotland.  Here's how it happened....

It all started with a train ride to Glasgow on Friday night and a lovely evening with the relatives:

We started the day off on a trip to see my first castle since I've arrived: Dumbarton Castle 

(this is only the first of many more castles to come - so prepare yourself) 

v The Gunpowder Magazine (building).  As was explained to me: it's surrounded by a wall and built away from the rest of the castle JUST incase it blows up.  Safety first!

Hey mom dad and sa, does this bring back any airport memories?? 

The best picture of the day :)  Glasgow in the distant background

Next on the agenda was tea and scones at The Hill House.  Yum!  

Charles Mackintosh was a famous architect and artist, and we visited one of his beautiful houses.   There was no photography allowed and a member of staff in every room making sure of this, so I couldn't even sneak a picture :(  The rooms were so detailed in every corner - little purple and pink stained glass bits built into every piece of furniture.  

"You'll take the high road and I'll take the low road..." Loch Lomond! Sooo beautiful.

Driving through the Highlands + passing sheep and Highland cows + listening to bagpipe music = the moment I realized I love this place <3

Sunday morning we were off on another adventure... Mission: To locate and conquer Stirling Castle.

"So, where is the castle again?" Off to a bad start..

Aiming for the Wallace monument, oh no!

In the castle kitchen: "Why thank you,  don't mind if I do!"

Canada and Spain ruling Stirling... it was a good few minutes.

 ^ These are 4 of 7 tapestires which tell the story of The Hunt of the Unicorn.  They are being recreated from the originals (from 1500) and we were lucky enough to meet one of the weavers and watch her work on it. Along with a team of other weavers, she is working on a 12 year project and the final tapestry will be done next year.  Each one takes 4 years to complete!

Speaking of unicorns... here's one with a golden horn on top of The Great Hall.  I wonder why they were so obsessed with Unicorns back then. 

Friends in the look-out towers representing Spain, France, and Canada x 2! 

Moral of the story: it was an amazing weekend.  Every time I go to visit somewhere, the weather is always gorgeous which makes for good pictures. 

I know it doesn't look like it... but I'm also making it to all my classes and doing homework in-between, lol, I just don't take pictures of these things..  I've managed to find my way around Stirling, the library, and other buildings on campus.  It got to the point where I was getting used to the fact that I usually had no idea what was going on.  My strategy? 1) Watch what other people are doing and follow along in the most unsuspicious way possible (while also managing to avoid being creepy).  2) Use the "I'm an international student" card for excuses... it works.  With these two tips, anyone can survive here.  

Well, I need some sleep and you need to get back to whatever you were doing before you ended up looking at this post.  Cheers!