Adventures of an Adventurer: Coasteering and Other Crazy Things!

Hiya,

First off, these seagulls are going crazy today!!!!!! And, when I think about it, that is pretty much the only species of bird I have seen here. I guess that makes sense when Aberdeen is considered a fishing city.

This week I felt an outpour of love from those around me, especially from those back home in celebration of my birthday. It's a weird feeling when I took a step back to understand that people care about me so much that they are willing to send something across the ocean (and not cheaply I might add), just to wish me well and give me some extra TLC! Maybe it's because of all of this, but I've really found myself reminiscing about home. I've never actually been homesick, so maybe this is my version. When I think about it, it's crazy, I'm already over 1/3 done here in Scotland- it's flying by :( I still have so many things I want to do and experience!

This past weekend was a pretty crazy one. Saturday was my birthday and my flatmates are particularly awesome so they made me crepes and did my hair. AND because we've been slumming it up (at least according to United Kingdom standards), we decided that it twas a perfect occasion to get dressed up! Mama Moot sent me a red velvet cake mix in the mail (they are quite hard to come by over here) and I baked it up and they sang as I blew out my Bic lighter 'candle.'

The rest of the afternoon was chill, and then a few girls and I went to O'Neill's, shockingly an Irish pub haha. The instant we walked in it was obvious that we didn't belong there- I'm fairly certain the male to female ratio was 30:1 (and by that I really only mean women above 45.) Needless to say, we got a bit of extra attention. When I walked in I wasn't expecting a legitimately Irish crowd (I don't believe I was thinking that Ireland is only a stones throw away from here.) Either way, multiple guys approached our table and we had absolutely NO idea what they were saying, we're still not even sure if it was in English. I did oblige to take part in a dance with a fellow, that was pretty great, and he said he was sure I had to have some Irish blood in me :) After all of that, we left and headed to a bar and then club where we danced the night away, it was a lovely night!

The next morning was not so lovely- for I had to be out of the door by 8:30 AM to depart for my coasteering adventure in Stonehaven. The actual event, however, was phenomenal! You're probably wondering what coasteering is (or maybe you don't care, but I'm going to tell you anyway), it's pretty much a crazy combination of swimming (or attempting) around intense waves, then timing it just right to where you can use the waves' force to try and clamber onto the rocks. Then you climb around for a while hoping not to slip on the uneven, wet surface and then jump back in (while trying to be conscious of the water depth) and do it all over again! That is probably one of the most unique things I have ever done, you really have to interact with nature in that if you time it wrong you can be left dangling on a rock with the water 3 feet below you because the wave disappeared- that is quite freaky. I did that for a couple hours, then headed into town to down a pint and try a deep fried Mars bar. Fun fact: Stonehaven was the originator of this fattening delicacy so it just made it that much more special consuming it :) The rest of the night was filled with tea, sausage, and pancakes (which are more like crepes here) and friends- it was absolutely perfect!

The rest of this week has been filled with paper writing. I found out that in the UK school grades for the first two years are on a pass/fail system...I can't even believe that. Additionally, they don't pay for schooling here...so if you want to be nice to your children, raise them here haha! Speaking of school, right now I'm trying to switch my major back home- this girl is going into geography :) And in continuation (I'm on a roll)- on the topic of geography, people always say 'the states' here, not the US. Shockingly (not at all), people have no idea where Minnesota is...classic.

That's all for now folks! This weekend I'm taking a trip to St. Andrews so for all of you golfers- be jealous :)

Much Love!