Easter Break: Edinburgh

It was still snowing when I left Aberdeen this morning.

The important part of that sentence was I left Aberdeen.

That's right. I have left behind the perpetually grey, cold, snowy city limits and have embarked on my two week journey/vacation.

First stop: Edinburgh! It turns out that traveling from Aberdeen to Iona via public transport is impossible to do in one day, so I've stopped to see Sarah again, to breathe, make sure all of my train tickets are in order, and enjoy this beautiful city for one night. Bright and early tomorrow morning, I'll be on a train to Glasgow, a second train to Oban, a ferry to the Isle of Mull, a bus across Mull, and another ferry to the Isle of Iona.

What is the magical place that I am so determined to travel to? When my thoughts of spending a semester in Turkey began to seem less and less likely, I settled on Scotland almost exclusively because I would be close to Iona. That is how cool these people are. Check back in after Easter when I have pictures, stories, etc. For now, the simple explanation is that there is an Abbey, an absolutely amazing community of people, and a lot of jealous Presbyterians involved in this trip.

For those of you who have spent any time with me at all (which is hopefully all of you), you know that I'm not the world's greatest traveler, but I'm not the worst. I don't mind connections in airports. Well-planned road trips are delightful. Train trips through the countryside are among my favorite things in the world.

But two days, three trains, two ferries and a bus? That is straight up insane.

Journeying across a country I've lived in for two months? Crazier.

Traveling long distances to stay in monasteries is becoming a common occurrence in my life.

Stay tuned!

Until then, may all of you have a blessed Holy Week journey, and a joyful Easter morning!

Snow and Southern Sun

It's been a cold, dreary, wintery week. 

The snow that started last Sunday hasn't really stopped. Now though, instead of sticking like it was at the beginning of the week, it's falling, melting and freezing. Or just falling and melting. I will not lie to you. The weather lead to some serious reconsideration of where I want to do my M.Div. I also know that I will never live in or near Canada. Seattle would be my single exception. 

I haven't fallen once on the icy paths or wet cobblestones. Impressed? I consider it to be my greatest accomplishment of the semester so far. 

The tiny flowers that braved late-February temperatures to peek at the sunshine are frozen, the sparrows have stopped singing (though the enormous seagulls haven't), and there are snowflakes falling...again... Aberdeen is a nice city. But most of the buildings are some variety of grey. In the winter months, when all of the trees (most of which are grey as well) are without leaves and the ground is covered in ice or snow, grey buildings are a little depressing to look at. 

I've taken a couple pictures, looked at them and thought, "I didn't know my camera had a black and white filter..." Incidentally, it doesn't. It was just grey in real life. 

This week is our last week of classes before our 3 week Easter break, and the promise of trains through the Scottish and English countryside, warm Southern sun (upper 40s now falls in my description of warmth), and long days hiking around an island with no internet access, is keeping me going through this nasty second week of March snow.

I bought my train tickets last week, and stopped by the little natural foods store downtown for some organic peanut butter and some expensive, but awesome granola for the trip. 

Now, I just have a book review on Martin Luther due Tuesday and a 500 word "paper" on the Trinity due Friday. 

And then I'm out of here. 

21

I'm 21!

And not much has changed. I'm still sitting in crazy classes, learning, mumbling, and writing.

I decided last month that the best way to celebrate my birthday would be a quiet train ride down the east coast of Scotland and time with a sweet friend...I hadn't done any traveling yet and I was needing to see a familiar face.

The train ride was beautiful - way less chaotic than train travel in the states. All of the trains were fast and on time. Here are a couple pictures from the ride there:

And the ride back:

It was a sweet, sweet weekend spent wandering through museum and art gallery exhibits, eating good food, catching up on each other's lives, and dreaming of sweet tea, Mexican food, and Huey's cheese fries.

The snow all day on Sunday and the ice that welcomed me back to the already grey city of Aberdeen were redeemed throughout the day today with a high mark on a doctrine paper, a successful trip to the grocery store (making cilantro-lime rice this week!), and the long-anticipated return of John Stewart to my daily routine thanks to a birthday iTunes card from Mom.

All in all, even though it was snowing, it was the perfect birthday, and with Edinburgh just two and a half hours away, I will definitely be back soon!

A few more photo highlights...

Edinburgh Castle from the roof of the National Museum

Church!

Birthday cake in Waverley Station

It's March!

It's March!

When the heck did that happen?

I've been doing a lot of writing in the last couple of weeks - journaling, school writing, research writing, reflections. I must have started ten different blog posts, and even finished a few, but for some reason, I never posted any of them.

So here's an update.

The average temperature has risen a few degrees...which means we're regularly in the mid to upper-40s! Woohoo! The sun is out more often and I've put away my heavy, lined and waterproof coats in favor of the still heavy, but lighter wool/polyester blend ones.

I've been spending lots of time at the River Don.

And some time in the school's botanical gardens.

It's not spring yet, but the ground is showing signs of new life. The little white flowers (snow drops) are popping up everywhere, and birds are singing as they build nests.

(Many thanks to my superstar sister for giving me her old camera.)

More soon...