Hello new adventure...it was bright and early in the morning that I had my final breakfast with my family and Alex as we made the most of our time together before my departure to Scotland. I am the first in my family to go abroad and into Europe (technically my sister ,Kirsten, did it first with her trip to the Bahamas but this is actually leaving the U.S. to new territories, sorry sis). I was starting to feel the emotions of leaving my family for a while and being uncertain of the journey ahead. I definitely was quite for a while as I had nothing to say because I knew saying goodbye would be hard, and I didn't want to say it just quite yet. I just knew all the worries and concerns I pushed back or didn't even think of till now all hit me at once in the past few days and it was a lot for me, or anyone to handle if you've ever done something like this.
There is something about it though that excited me. The joy of being able to travel and encounter new people and sights, the freedom of being me in a new country. The unknown of what weird, surreal, beautiful, or brilliant things I can experience. I had an open mind coming into it and was telling myself to keep this mindset throughout to have the best experience, in my opinion. I mean I have only been dreaming of doing something like this since the fifth grade. I guess you can say all my dreams have been coming true.
I knew once it got time to packing my bags in the car is when the worries would hit me all at once. I wanted final pictures with them to remember this moment of pure thankfulness and happiness that my family and Alex gave me. My mom even made a cute hitch hiking sign saying 'Scotland or Bust'! I thought it was special and knew it would be cute for the blog.
In the car I just played some classic rock and talked with my loved ones trying to not think about the next big step. We crept to the terminal landing for United Airlines and there it was, the pit in my stomach I was scared of. Leaving family, friends, home. We quickly shared our hugs and kisses goodbye and they wished me good and safe travels. My mom told me she was proud of me and to make the most of every moment I am away. This was a once in a lifetime experience and I was ready for it. Inside the terminal I met up with Kallie and her sisters Jaseena, Katie and Sarah. They would be joining us for the first two weeks of traveling before our module started.
Our first country on the list was to be Northern Ireland. It was a brisk shuffle through security and an even quicker flight to Chicago. We had a few hour layover in Chicago and spent our time to get some food and relax for the seven hour flight to Edinburgh. This would be my first flight abroad, across the ocean and I knew it would be a long one. It wasn't as bad as I expected it to be because we thankfully had screens on the back of every seat to watch movies to make the time go by faster. This flight only had Kallie, Katie, Sarah and I on it as Jaseena would take a later one and meet up with us in Edinburgh the next day. We are six hours ahead of you guys in the states so flying out Tuesday would mean arriving in Edinburgh early Wednesday morning.
A total of three movies got me through the flight, with occasional napping and a lovely Scottish woman who told Kallie and I many stops to take on our journey and also shared stories of her own travels. Upon arriving in Edinburgh, it was eight o'clock in the morning and needless to say we were exhausted from traveling and being crammed in a plane for so lone. Plus it was always a changing feeling of being super cold to super warm wherever we were so I had a great need for a shower. We had to wait for Jaseena's flight to arrive around noon so that meant lounging around the airport and sleeping on uncomfortable chairs. I can safely say I really do not like Edinburgh airport that much anymore after that first morning.
Finally we met up with her and went to hail a taxi to get to Dalkeith. This is where Kallie and I will eventually end up and call home for a month and take a class. Rolling up to the house was about a twenty five minute drive from Edinburgh and a 35 pound taxi fare. The first greeters at the house was Patti (director of Wisconsin in Scotland Experience) and her dog Angus. Instantly I knew I was going to love this place because of the dogs that would be visiting the palace. It was centrally located in a park which many of the locals would come walk and play with their dogs. So I got my dog fill for a month and made missing my dog Jett back at home a little easier.
Patti showed us to our rooms in the house and showed us where everything was located and encouraged us to go outside and explore the grounds as we still had the afternoon of our day left and a very rare warm day. We ventured down to the Restoration Park and surrounding farm lands that was on the estate. The Restoration park had a cute coffee shop, restaurant, park and boutique to experience. Otherwise as it got to be dinner time we decided to go into Dalkeith and find a restaurant. We ended up at the Blacksmith's Forge where most of us dined on fish and chips while I accompanied my meal with my first ever Guinness, which is a dark Irish dry stout. Let me tell you, I have a new favorite beer...BODEN! And for anyone unaware of the drinking age in Europe, most places are ages eighteen for legal drinking age. It was very weird ordering at the bar as I knew back at home I wasn't legal but here I was and they didn't even card me. I felt like I passed a test or something. Just let me have my little bad ass moment.
It was getting to be late in the evening and we needed to unpack and shower still, as we had a very early morning ahead of us. We were making our final arrangement plans for Belfast, Northern Ireland and spent the last couple hours of the day exploring the castle and playing games before splitting up in our rooms and calling it a night. Before I knew it I was dozing off after FaceTiming with Alex and my family dreaming about what lies ahead. A big world with endless experiences.
There it is guys, day one COMPLETE! It won't be often that I take time in my blog writing about what to expect in the upcoming posts but it's just something I am trying to add something new and make it a bit more personal. In the days and weeks ahead there will be times I combine days together or not write at all about a day because it could've just been a class day and nothing else big might've happened. Throughout the posts though I will tell you funny stories that happened and made the experience that much more memorable. I hope you look forward to reading about my journey as I live it! Till next time...