Camping in the Scottish Highlands! (August 31)

Before I begin, I must give Fiona, James, and Mhairi the credit they deserve for being the FIRST ONES to ever take me camping! Plenty of people have promised it, but in 21 years it just never happened. Crazy, I know. So when I mentioned camping and Fiona said it's really fun up in the Highlands, we planned it right away! So YAY, THANK YOU guys! :) :)

So, after my hospital meeting, I hurried home and packed up my stuff. We were off to go camping in the Highlands! We stopped at the supermarket to get way more food than necessary, and headed on our way. BY the way, Scottish people have never had or heard of s'mores. SO, you can imagine my shock when I asked about them and Fiona gave me a blank look. And my shock when I couldn't even find graham crackers, and when the supermarket employee couldn't comprehend what I was talking about. WELL, ladies and gentlemen, it was about time THIS girl introduced my new lovely Scots to s'mores! :) After spending about 20 minutes in the "biscuit" aisle, I settled on biscuits covered in chocolate on one side. Just add marshmallows (which they DO have, and regularly roast over campfires) and we had ourselves some makeshift s'mores! 

Anyway, after making the drive up to the Highlands, we picked a spot on a quiet, calm loch in basically the middle of nowhere. SIDENOTE: There were sheep all over...like ON THE ROAD! They are free to roam, and for every sheep that gets hit by a car the shepherd gets money. So, they just let those sheep roam. The highlight of the drive up was having to stop for sheep as they congregated in the middle of the road ahead of us, then dodged left and right while panicking and figuring out what to do. Seriously, sheep are extremely stupid. ANYWAY, as we walked down to the spot we wanted right by the water, we noticed lots of "cow pats" as they call them, along with plenty of cow tracks in the sand. Oh well, maybe we'd get cow company sometime during camping! We set up our tent right on the sand by the water, and being from California I of course asked (without thinking) - "wait, will the water come up though?" I mean, the last thing I wanted was waking up in water! Well, I of course got laughed at because "lochs don't have tides, crazy!" Well no, they DON'T have tides, but the next morning when we woke up ALMOST in the water, I had won that! I knew we should worry about the water! The wind must have changed, and I'm sure the massive amounts of rain contributed to it as well. 

Oh, you're wondering about that rain? YES. I'll get to that in a bit. So anyway, we set up our tent and decided to start our fire while it was still a bit light out. James had to go pick up Fiona's sister Mhairi from the ferry, so it was just Fiona and I. She wasn't too fond of our camping, and we all know I haven't been camping before. At least, not legitimately! We had a circle of rocks we gathered (had to make sure we didn't mistake them with cow pats...), got our logs, twigs, and newspapers, and went on our way. We got it going pretty fast, but then the wind and rain began. Then it got dark. THEN we had to remake our fire in the dark, wind, and rain. And by the time James got back, we had half the fire going while the other half was just drenched (along with us!!!). So we set out to make some food. Fiona roasted some sausages, and I just threw a can of soup in. Within minutes, my soup was boiling! And since it was too hot to touch, I just took spoonfuls out of the fire to eat. :) And it was yummy! Then it was time for marshmallows, so we had some makeshift s'mores and got marshmallow...well, everywhere. But hey, they were yummy! We broke out some pear cider and all gathered around the campfire for the rest of the night. 

OH, and I forgot to mention something regarding the drive up. Has anyone ever seen P.S. I Love You? (I know it's in Ireland, but Scotland and Ireland have really similar landscapes.) Or has anyone seen those typical green, green pictures of Scotland's landscape with narrow little winding roads and stone walls on the sides covered in moss? IT EXISTS!!! I felt like I was in a moving with all the gorgeous scenery, all the green, all the moss, all the stone walls, all the sheep. I loved it! 

Check out some pictures. :)

Just some sheep getting out of our way! 

Here is our campground. Notice the distance between the water and tent. Take note of it....

Still smiling by the campfire, despite the crazy wind and downpouring rain! :)

S'MORES!!!! I love s'mores.

Hunterian Museum (August 30)

Today after work I visited the Hunterian Museum! This museum is in the University buildings, and I've been meaning to go. It is primarily an anatomy museum, but it also has a ton of other things. Check out the pictures!

 Lunch outside on a sunny day! :)

Hunterian Museum - those are all body parts... 

Beautiful walk home :)

CELTIC Football! (August 29)

I love sports. And I love US sports. Games in the US usually consist of lots of food, alcohol, and lots of cheering when things get exciting. I really do enjoy our sports. 

But there is nothing like a 'football' game in the UK! I think because it is really their only big sport to watch and support, EVERYONE watches and supports it. It's very cut-and-dry who your team is in Glasgow, and it's all based on religion/where you were raised. I happened to tag along as a Celtic fan. :)

So as I was saying, it's really their only sport. AND IT'S HUGE. The night of a game, there is a city-wide migration to the huge stadium that is nearly sold out. People have to go to bars beforehand if they want to drink, because there is no alcohol served at games. And food is minimal. That means that everyone is in their seats virtually the whole time...cheering, the whole time. THE WHOLE TIME. There was not a second I was at that game that I didn't hear cheering. I think that's the biggest difference I noticed. All eyes were on the game. One guy dribbles around another guy and THE CROWD GOES WILD. I'm talking wilder than our crowds would after a goal or touchdown. WILD. It was amazing. Not a single person wasn't decked out in green and white stripes (except for the tiny, tiny section of Swedish fans squished into one little section). Striped shirts, beanies, and everyone had a scarf. As I mentioned, there was cheering nonstop. They had SO many songs and chants and it was tons of fun. Sometimes I had no idea what was being said so I made up my own words. Other times, the ritual was obvious and I joined as we all stood up to face away from the field, put our arms around each other, and jump up and down and yell until whatever was going on ended. The ENTIRE stadium with their backs turned. It's just one of their things. And it was fun. Then for another song, everyone took off their scarves and held them above their heads, stretched out as they sang. I'm telling you, it was a blast. I have never been at a game where I felt like there was more of a community. And DO NOT even think about saying a word about the teams I support. DO NOT. Just enjoy the pretty pictures. :)

Ouch.

FIGHT, FIGHT, FIGHT

YAY! Goal #2 :) 

Well he's excited

VICTORY!

Stopped at the Squinty Bridge on the way home! :)

Isn't it PRETTY?!

 Oh, and just a picture from earlier in the day that didn't fit in with the football pictures! I LOVE the moss all over Scotland!