Things I've Learned While in Scotland
-my red trench coat is not actually waterproof in the slightest. This was an unfortunate lesson considering I got off the train in Edinburgh but my umbrella went on to Aberdeen... -what I have been calling the "ye olde telephone pole chucking contest" is actually called the caber toss (but I still like my name better) -people in Scotland are much friendlier to strangers than people in England. Volunteers at the Highland games were wonderfully nice and when I couldn't withdraw cash and had to find a store that took card, these lovely ladies let me into their deli even though it was 20 minutes after they had closed to let me have a sausage patty. -you stop caring about how dingy and sketchy your hostel is when you finally crawl into bed at the end of a long day -Scottish fudge and American fudge do not taste the same -Scottish hamburgers and American hamburgers do not taste the same -bagpipes make me feel more at home than anything else I've encountered so far. I can feel myself back at faire with all my friends and my homesickness goes away for a while -Wells Fargo sucks and I'm moving my accounts to Chase. So done with their information-holding bullshit. -Americans abroad somehow find each other. It's like we can sense each other's presences -Saying "Mother Nature can suck my dick" is the best way to make it pour rain. Thank you, Bryan, for reinforcing my Pagan beliefs. Talk shit, get hit, bro. But not going to lie, it was a sort of magical in a twisted sort of way. -Scotland really is as beautiful as the movies make it seem, and I severely regret choosing Paris as my destination for our break instead of Inverness -I did not pack appropriately for this weather, though, so maybe that wouldn't be the best idea. -Scotland is fucking cold, man! It's July! It's 110 in Phoenix right now and in Stirring it's 68 degrees. I am totally convinced that I am, in fact, a desert rat. -if I could go back in time and pack one extra item from home, it would be my faire cloak. So that's a bit of an update on my highland weekend excursion. Tomorrow I go to Edinburgh castle and do some souvenir shopping for a few special Scotspeople in my life ;-)