Nessie and Shortbreads

Hello everyone!

So, Inverness and Loch Ness. Saturday morning comes with apprehension and smiles! The bus brings heaters that seem to be powered by the heat of the sun and a driver which is apparently very short sighted.  We lurched and sweated our way to Inverness to do a little exploring before we headed to Loch Ness.  Inverness is a quite city, complete with a quaint Victorian Market, inner city river, and free shortbreads.  Wait what, free shortbreads! Not really, Tucker and I bought some beautiful Scotland prints from a tourist information store, and with our purchase came a pack of 20 shortbreads.  What do you do when you have free shortbreads and a hungry day ahead of you? Have a contest.  A remarkably uncomfortable, ridiculous contest in which no one wins, except those darn shortbreads.

We continued onto a remarkably touristy Loch Ness. The gift shop was complete with "I love haggis" shirts, fuzzy Nessie hats, and boxers with Scottish flags. We had some fun w/ the gimmicky gifts, then left for a boat tour, which started beside a giant purple recreation of a cartoon Nessie complete with floats, maybe this accounts for the myth?! The Loch and vistas from atop the boat were beautiful, but it was crowded and extremely windy.  The boat ride took us to the "remarkably unremarkable" (thanks Heather) Urquhart Castle, which we explored and headed back on the dreaded 3 hour bus ride. The trip as a whole was a bit of a disappointment as it was very scheduled and a little rushed because of the size of the group and bus ride, but lesson learned.  Planning your own trips is definitely worth it. Although it wasn't perfect, collectively we had a lot of fun, the first 10 shortbreads were delicious and if I had come back from Scotland without seeing Loch Ness I'm sure there would have been quite a few confused faces.

I have developed a bit of a cold, had some more struggles with scheduling earlier this week, and am finding it a little annoying that I haven't been able to train properly because of this cold, scheduling, trips, nutrition etc.  The past few days there has been a definite spike in, wow I really miss ---- (big bed, big fridge, big stove etc.) coming from the exchangers and I. As we all know, this is part of it. When you apply for exchange, you must go through orientation, and from what I've heard, most orientations spend some time talking about the W curve of cultural adaptation.  It's one of those things that you kind of shrug off, saying, ya I could see that happening, but who really cares. Well, past self, you care. It is very obviously apparent and it is nice to be able to know that it is common and it takes a little time for everyone.  Soon it will feel like home.

I don't think this rut will last too long though. This weekend I am heading to Munich, then down to AUSTRIA TO SKI THE ALPS OOHHHHHH MY GOODNESS...sorry this is actually a life long dream that is being lived within the week.  This cold best disappear! My friend Jakub from rowing in first year lives in Rosenheim just south of Munich, and just outside the Alps, so I will be there for the weekend, and then am thinking of going to Salzburg, and potentially getting up to Prague before I return to Munich to fly home on Wednesday. VERY EXCITING. I will also be getting my camera back when I head to Edinburgh Thursday night to fly out! So there will be a few more pictures up very soon.

Miss everyone back home more all the time! Actually, that reminds me.  If you want to send me anything, and I know you do, my address is:

George Payne

Unit 287 B

Hector Boece Court #26

Don Street

Aberdeen
AB24 1WU

Happy Valentines Day!

George