Nick Devine vs. The Lady

Well, welcome back to another rousing edition of my blog. Now i know that some of you faithful readers out there have been waiting on this post with held breath and high hopes. I really am going to aspire to make this post all that it can be. So here we we go, off on another adventure.

So as you might already be aware there was someone coming to visit me at the close of my last post. That minor character just happened to be Mikaela and she was coming to visit for a couple days over Halloween. So she flew into Edinburgh airport where I was waiting at the international arrivals. Which brings me to a tad of a tangent I would like to go off on...

So I have decided that if I ever lose faith in humanity or the people around me and decide that we are all barbarians with a fixation for violence and hatred to all other humans, I just need to head to the international arrivals of the nearest airport. The pure anticipation of seeing loved ones again is really something I have never seen before. I arrived a tad early to make sure I made it in time in case of an early arrival by the airplane. There were people pacing and checking their watches every couple of minutes obviously waiting for someone to come through the gate. It was the oddest experience as i watched and waited for Mikaela to come through the gate. Other planes arrived and I witnessed their pure joy and happiness for those that have returned. It really did reaffirm my faith in humanity and people.

Sorry for that tangent, anyway. Mikaela arrived and we toured around Edinburgh for a while. We went to the Royal Mile which is the touristy part of the area. As we walked around we did not want to see too much because she was returning with her family later and they were going to hit the high points then. We took the train back to Stirling to get back to the university and got to see the nice view of all of the castles and sheep and other things that seemed to look like Scottish stereotypes. After arriving at Stirling we had to take a quick detour to the food store to get food for the next couple of weeks. It was quit the endeavor and we had to fill all of our bags, and plus stuff my backpack with the remainder. We then took the bus back to the University. Well we tried to anyway... We got to the bus stop and had to wait for one of the University Link buses to show up and take us back to the campus. We got onto the bus and it never moved. The bus broke down and the bus driver got very angry and started to yell at the bus and engine. So we waited until another bus got there and took it back to the University. After struggling up the hill back to campus we finally got to the campus. Dropping the bread and other food on the way we made it back and got to put all of the food away. After making dinner we decided to just hang out and watch a movie.

The next day we took a miniature tour around the city of Stirling. I took her to the Fish and Chips shop in Bridge of Allen and walked down to the Stirling County rugby match. Mikaela paraphrases this next part aptly,
"
It was a pretty good game, and there were some cool moments, like when Stirling kicked the ball and it hit the corner of the goal post (help me with terminology, Nick!) but still managed to go in. It was sweet =) We also got to see all the little up-and-coming rugby players - all the little boys in their rugby gear! It was very cute. I had some problems with the accents at the game.... I swear that one of the Scottish guys up a few rows from us in the bleachers was saying "Go JayJay!" However, Nick pointed out that there was nobody by the name "JJ" on either team, and that this guy was actually saying "Go County!" (the team was Stirling County). I listened and listened and listened, and it did NOT sound like "County" whatsoever! But I'll trust Nick =)"

So after the match we headed to the food market again and picked up a pumpkin for carving on Halloween. It was pretty exciting. The next day we got up nice and early and hiked up to the top of Dumyat (the hill/mountain overlooking the campus and also the town of Stirling). The weather was beautiful except for the rain that had happened the night before hand. This drizzle had caused the entire surface area of the mountain to be covered with a incredible amount of mud which made the trek up the mountainside very interesting to say the least. there was numerous times when we almost fell down the abyss or splattered mud all over each other. the climb was a long one but after making it to the top Mikaela did decide that it was in fact worth it to make it to the top. The mountain is so majestic and beautiful and I think it will be something that I will really miss. The climb down was easier but then again it always is. After hanging out for the remainder of the day we decided to carve pumpkin our pumpkin. We only had a butter knife so it was simplistic pumpkin but it was cute.

The next morning we got up very early and I took Mikaela back to the airport where she flew off to Spain to go to school again and I got to ride the train back to Stirling to go to class. It was very good to see her and I know I will see her soon again. Back to the harsh reality of papers and projects for a week...

Nick Devine vs. Nessie

Waking up the next day we were to get ready by nine o'clock in order to make it to the bus area so we could continue our trip around Skye. The hostel was deserted by the time we needed to get up so we were able to talk and wander about the room without any issue or concern with making the others in the room wake up. After moving about and getting ready we went down stairs to the kitchen to get some toast before heading back onto the bus once again. We got on the bus and headed for the small town of Harport, with the Loch Harport right next to the Talisker Distillery.

We stopped at the town to take a tour of the distillery and also to walk around and get a nice view of the Cullin mountains. We decided not to go on the whiskey tour because we had already been on one in Edinburgh. This left us with an hour and a half to dink around in this little town without a whole lot to do. we took some pictures of the Loch and walked along the road to get to the top of a hill where some more pictures of the Red Cullins were in order. This took all of 30 minutes and them we had time to kill. We walked around the area, ran into a little cat who looked to be the town pet. It was very approachable and would come to us and just expected to be pet. It was a nice little cat and I really did try to ignore it as best as I could. Naturally this meant that the cat would run right up to me and purr against my leg. Reluctantly I petted the cat but not before visually assessing the situation and confirming that there was no danger involved withe the cat. After the minor cat detour we ended up going into a tiny little store that had all the essentials one could need in a store: candy and fingerless gloves. Both a high necessity in Scotland.

The heavens started to open up and we all ran back into the bus so we could get onto the bus and get out of the pouring rain. In Skye there are three main sections of the country and where we were at the time was in the western most section of Skye. After leaving from the area we went into the middle section to see the countryside and all of the hills in Skye. Skye is supposed to be pretty representative of all of Scotland with its varying landscape and pretty amazing mountainside. So we got to see all sorts of other mountains as well as a ton of sheep that were grazing on the countryside and the hills. The sheep were really brave and eating grass on the hillsides where frankly no one should be going. We toured around for a long while and we seeing all sorts of rock formations as well the constant state of the Pete in the area. We ended up going back to Portree for lunch because it had the most options available in Skye.

Upon returning to Portree we went and got some lunch of Fish and Chips on the docks. It was very good and was relatively cheap. So after our lunch back on the main city we headed around the upper section of Skye doing a big loop from the top down.The way around the island was a only by bus, and by gosh it was one heck of a bus ride. So back on the bus we stated around the island. We would make occasional stops to see the sights around the island, a lot of which involved rock formations as well as cliffs of the water into the Atlantic Ocean and North Sea. After a while all of the area and sights tended to look the same. The Kilt rock formation was kind of cool, and it was supposed to look like folds of a kilt. It did, but the huge wind of the area made it hard to not fall over in the area. There were people in kayaks who were trying to go across a little loch and were having no luck at all. They were trying their hardest but it just was not happening for them. It was funny to watch our leader guy try and mock the other leader it absolutely no success.

Continuing on we head around the island some more rock formations that were surprisingly rock looking. It was a shocker for me too. After a long day of moving around the island we got back into the main city again for another night of sleep. We got to walk around and check out the sights. We ended up just getting food from the local supermarket with all sorts of Scottish delicacy. Scotch pies as well as haggis and other things were options for the night and frankly they all turned out very well. We went back to the hostel and played a trivia game, a British trivia game. It was awful because none of us really would ever use or know any sort of British trivia. This implied that all of our prior knowledge was useless and the game lasted forever and a day. So after embarrassing ourselves we eventually decided to quit and head to bed. The next day was going to be a long one so we wanted to get in the right amount of sleep for people our age.

After another night of sleep we got back on the bus to head back to the mainland of Scotland. We stopped by the Eilean Donan castle in the town of Kyle of Lochalsh. It was a beautiful castle in a strategic section of the Scottish Isles that was used to protect the isles from the vikings who would try to come and loot the area. The castle was able to withstand the force of the vikings but when the British war ships showed up after Scotland and England got into a war, the castle was destroyed with relative ease. The castle was therefore a pile of rubble for a long time. The Macrae Family decided that it would be best to try to rebuild the place. Unfortunately this meant that a lot of money needed to be put into the building and they did not have the money to do that. So Mr. Macrae did what any smart man would ever do, marry a rich women. He married a wealthy noblewomen who had a ton of money lying around her own personal castle and this was used to rebuild the castle in all of its splendor. The castle had a nice little guided tour in which we got to learn about the Macrae family as well as the history of the castle and the surrounding area. The castle did seem a tad creepy and I am still sure it was haunted by something or another but that is a different story in and of itself.

Back on the bus again we got to head to the town of Fort Augustus which lies on the south end of Loch Ness. I was really excited to go to Loch Ness and possibly see the historic monster of Nessie. We arrived and found out we only had one hour to look around the Loch and see what there was in the town. After grabbing a quick bite to eat we started to walk down to the shores in order to get the full view of the area around us. We got the shore, saw a huge ripple in the water! We rushed to the side of the Loch cameras primed and ready to capture the historic moment we were about to have. Right when the edge of the loch was near, we saw what had caused the giant ripple in the water. It was... a duck.

What a major disappointment. We took some pictures of the Loch had a nice little walk around the area and got to look at some odd little trinkets of Nessie around. After leaving Loch Ness we all agreed that it really a big disappointment that we could not go to the castle there and take a boat tour of the area but all in all it was not a huge loss I guess.

We went back to Edinburgh after our brief stay at Loch Ness and finally was able to get off the bus and head on our way. The girls and Derek went back to the University while I headed to the airport. Somebody was coming up, no one really to important but i needed to be at the airport. :) That will be the start of the next blog.

Until next time, this is Nick, signing off.

Nick Devine vs. The Boat

Well, Stirling lasted only 16 hours before we had to head back out on our adventures. We got up for this adventure way too early in order to get into Edinburgh to catch the tour bus. We arrived in Edinburgh at roughly 7:27 AM and walked to the royal mile to kill a half hour before we would get on the boat, err the bus. More on that later. So Derek and I went to Greggs to get some traditional sausage roll ups and it was absolutely delicious. The sausage roll consisted of a delicious pastry that held the contents of a fantastic British sausage. I'm not so sure what it was about but it was positively one of the most delicious breakfast foods I had ever encountered in my life. To top it all off it was only 1 pound 15 pence for two sausage rolls. I mean that is a better deal then all you can eat snow crab legs at a Chinese buffet. After that minor setback we are now back onto the original story.

So now we walk up a bit to the Royal Mile to get to the Timberbush Tours office right next to the castle. We get to the area and we see the greatest vehicle ever invented by men, the short bus. It was gray with seat belts and the only thing missing was the mandatory helmet laws. So we get on the short bus in the hopes that the bus will end up getting us to the Isle of Skye. We strategically placed ourselves on the bus to be right before the emergency exit so that we could relax and recline my seat to sleep efficiently and without pain. So we leave Edinburgh and progress on our way to Glasgow to pick up the rest of our crew for the trip. It was at this point we all realized that the man driving the bus, our tour guide had a voice like nails on a chalkboard, or sandpaper in a really bad sounding instrument. He would drone on about things that made it relatively impossible to listen too. Now don't get me wrong, he did know a lot of information about Scotland and the places we visited but enthusiasm was really at an all time low. I chalked it up to being really early in the morning and he may have had a sore throat for the past month.

On our fantastic trip to Glasgow to pick up the other people and got stuck in traffic for an hour outside of Glasgow and we got to listen to him talk about random stuff for a while. So we eventually picked up the rest of the group from the train station in Glasgow and got off on our way to our first stop, Loch Lomand. We did get to listen to the driver reiterate everything we got on the way there even though everyone who got on the bus at Glasgow was sleeping and not paying any attention to what he was saying. Wooo hoo. So we get to Loch Lomand and the driver has told us about random facts that were pretty cool and we got to listen to the famous Loch Lomand folk song while we pulled up to the little nice town of Luss. It is known as being a pretty little town that operates mostly on the income of tourists passing through the area. We did get a little time to spend in the area and we got to go to the loch side to see the water and take some nice pictures of the area. The pictures were good but the greatest part was the awkward conversations with the bus driver.

After the stop we progressed up along side of the loch and at this point the bus kept rocking back and forth, like a nice boat, but it was not a boat it was a bus. This theme would haunt us for the rest of the trip, the rocking and swaying as the bus rumbled down the road. The outside landscape was very nice to look at, but as the day progressed the rain began falling harder and harder as we went along before the rain abruptly stopped and it cleared up. The bus was really roasting at this point and cool air and hot bus equal steamed up windows. Not just lightly steamed up windows where you brush it off with your hand and you are good to go again, oh no. This window was dripping with water and the windows would steam up right after you would wipe it off.

The next stop was the lunch stop at a little touristy area in the Fort William area. We stopped there and had the local favorite that the bus driver talked to us about, Cullen skink. It sounds funny, yes I realize that. But it is actually really good. It consists of haddock and other vegetables that we had with some bread. The white soup was very good and it was nice to have a Scottish recipe without haggis being involved in one way or another. At this stop I did stumble upon something that may revolutionize food as we know it today. I did find whisky salt. Yes you did hear me correctly, whisky salt. This would be awesome on anything really, but notably soup, potatoes, and the occasional salt on a margarita glass. That was one of the lasting memories of this stop as well as the whisky fudge that really did look appetizing.

So we continued to Skye and would make stops along the way. We stopped at the Three Sisters Mountain range and took some cool pictures as well as looked at the cool country sides. This was the portion where we got to get out of the bus and look around for a bit. It was a long day of traveling and we eventually got to the city of Kyle of Lochalsh which separates the mainland of Scotland from the Isle if Skye. This little port town used to run ferries back and forth all day to get to the isle but they don’t run that any more. Some man with a lot of money came into the area and decided to build his own personal bridge to get there. So he threw a lot of money at the bridge and when it was finished he started to charge individuals 44 pounds to cross the bridge. Now the locals were not really happy about this, as you can imagine, because many of the people on the Isle commute to some of the larger cities on the mainland. So after a bunch of disputes the Scottish government decided that the best course of action would be to take over the bridge from the owner for a lot of money. So moral of the story is if you have a ton of money, and some time to kill, put up a bridge somewhere people need one, charge a bunch to cross, and get the government to buy it off you! Brilliant ideas.

Crossing the bridge we finally get to the Isle of Skye and we get to see the beautiful darkness that has surrounded us at this point. So after rumbling on through the night we got to the biggest city in Skye, Portree. We had to drop the rest of the people off at their respective places to sleep for the night. This included all sorts of random locations dropping all of us off at weird places being hostels and hotels and some other shady locations along the edge of Portree. We got to our hostel and got to our room where were sharing it with 8 other people. It was a nice facility and locks on the lockers were very nice touches. It was only 8 o'clock pm so we decided to go grab some dinner at a local cafe. Portree is right on the water and has a very large fishing industry so naturally I got the fish and chips and it was very delicious. The fish was very fresh and it was a great meal.

After our little dinner we explored the area and took a quick walk along the dock and got a nice view of the Sound of Raasay and the Isle itself. Meandering around the town we stumbled upon a nice pub that was along the way and dived in as it started to pour. We stayed for a bit and got to listen to a local band play some music. It was a fairly small pub with not a whole lot of room to stand and talk to people so we only stayed in there for a half hour. After braving the rain we got back to the hostel and stayed up playing cards for a while. After that we hit the sacks and got ready for the next day of adventure around Skye.

So that is all for now, there is more to come on my trip to the Isle of Skye but I should be working on some of my homework that is due.

So until next time, this is Nick, Signing off.

Nick Devine vs. Gravity

As we continued our trip at Dublin by sleeping in a bit before heading out for another full day of adventuring around the city. We got up on a brisk morning and began our walk to one of Dublin's many parks. We began to cross a bridge over the river Liffey when I spotted out of the corner of my eye what seemed to be a pirate ship in the river. Naturally this halted my progress across the bridge and I needed to go see what that was. We went back onto the shore and went down the river a bit before we ended up in front of a fully fledged pirate ship. One might ask why is there a pirate ship in the middle of Dublin? I might reply, "Because my friend, it is awesome." So after some quick photo opportunities we continued across the bridge and into the south side of Dublin.

The south side of Dublin is home to some famous universities, some cool parks, and a couple of famous pubs. It is home to Trinity University which was the first university in Ireland established by the British government. It is super expensive so you know it has to be good...right? Anyway the parks are famous for having all sorts of wildlife in them as well as being home to many statues of famous people, and things. Temple Pub is right on the south side of the Liffey and is apparently one of, if not the oldest pubs in Dublin. There are t-shirts and touristy memorabilia all over the place around it so it must have been a big deal. We didn't go in because it was 9 am at the time, and not even Ireland is that hardcore. We passed by the statue of Molly Malone which a well is known folk song and legend in Ireland. Unfortunately we did not know it was her statue and we didn't take pictures with it. Sad day.

Any way we continued on our journey to the park to get on a tour we had scheduled. We proceeded to get turned around in the back streets but we eventually got to the park 20 minutes ahead of schedule. We walked around the park and took some pictures of some 'modern art' that was around the park which more or less looked like hunks of metal with no particular purpose in life. At 10:30 AM we headed to the north end of the park to get on our tour. This was not any old regular run of the mill bus tour of Dublin, oh no. This was a full fledge Viking Splash Tour!

The instant I knew this was going to be awesome was when the D.U.K.W. rolled up and it was painted a lovely yellow color with a Viking head along the side. For the sake of background knowledge, a D.U.K.W. (pronounced, duck) is a war vehicle that was used in world war two that could both drive and act as a boat in water. They were produced in Michigan and were used in the battle of Normandy extensively. So back to the bright yellow one in front of me. We proceed to get on the duck and buckle up. It was there we found Viking helmets that we would be wearing for the duration of the trip. Needless to say I was pretty excited for my helmet. The driver then gave us a bit of a history lesson involving how the Vikings settled Dublin and were mean to the Celts, ect, ect. Basically this little lesson gave us the liberty to yell at any of the 'Celt' passersby on the streets of Dublin. He would say, "Left, one, two, THREE!" And we would all use our mighty Viking roar to scare them senseless. It was great fun. 'Celts' on phones and those reading maps were personal favorites of the driver and I do believe we did give one women a huge scare after she looked up to us yelling at her and she dropped her phone. We got to see the main sights of Dublin, the cathedral, the castle, the parliament, the Guinness factory, and all other really cool sights all while our guide was giving us lots of information about them. He was really into his job and was having a ton of fun and you could easily tell that.

After the tour of the city by road we took the show into the water. We pulled up along a dock and the crew there put on the flotation devices (water wings for cars?) and we drove right into the water. Maneuvering our way around the dock/loch thing was fun but slow. Passing some really old boats as well as the proposed sight for the enormous U2 building that the band wants to put together. Unfortunately it has not been worked on because the band still cannot find what they are looking for. But it was a beautiful day and we did get some vertigo from looking up that high. So they continue with or without the building at the local station right next to the water where all of their records have been produced. (Sorry I couldn't resist) Passing the new opera building there was another fantastic display of 'modern art', 15 big red poles stuck in the ground. Apparently they were supposed to represent the 'urban jungle' of the local area. The locals think it just looks funny and they want their 5 million euro back. That concluded our tour and we headed back to the park for the departure point once again. Over all it was one of the most fantastic tours I have been on and would recommend it to anyone who has a day or two to see Dublin.


After the tour we walked to St. Patrick's Cathedral in the heart of Dublin. We got to walk around the inside of the cathedral and it was amazing to see all of the glass work as well as the huge origin and cool looking seats for important people, like myself. After a little stop at the cathedral we walked to the castle of Dublin, known to many as Dublin Castle. You are allowed to tour it as long as you have a tour guide so we had to wait for a bit to get a tour guide so we continued to walk around the area and see the sights of old time Dublin. The tour itself was very good and the man giving it knew quite a bit about the history of Dublin/Ireland leadership. We got to walk around the bedrooms and other fancy dinner areas as well as go into the throne room where I am absolutely positive that the throne there will look exactly like that when I get a house. Beautiful paintings on the ceilings displayed the amount of money that was needed to make these rooms look fantastic and the money was well spent. After the interior niceness of the castle we got to go outside and go down a bit too where the original Viking castle had some of its walls excavated and we got to see some of the moat that once surrounded Dublin Castle. It was very neat to see and I can say that I have been in an authentic 15 century castle.

The tour ended and we walked to what could be considered one of the most important facilities in Dublin and in Ireland in general, the Guinness factory. I knew it was going to be a great time because I did watch some people stumble out of the building and head, swerving, to the taxis; and it was 3 o'clock. So we entered and got a bit of a brief introduction to the place and got to see Arthur Guinness' signature on the lease that he signed for 9000 years at £45 per month.
The tour started with seeing the things that crafted the beer, water, barley, and the hops. I got to smell all of them and watch as they get crafted into the brew. After seeing how the beer was produced we then got to go up and see some of the bottling parts of the operation. The mountains of kegs rolled by a little window and they were heading to be filled with 'the black stuff'. The next section was all of the publication and marketing they have done for the Guinness label. Then it was up to the Gravity bar when you have a 360 degree view of Dublin city with a pint of Guinness. It was great to see the entire city even though the day was not that good. After our pint we headed back down to the bottom and went to the little Guinness store to get some cool collectibles.

After the long day we went back to the main area of Dublin again and walked around the town. We walked along the river Liffey for a bit and just had a great relaxing evening in Dublin. We went back to Pattys Palace for the last night and got up to get on the 5 am shuttle to the airport to get back to Glasgow so we could catch the 930am train back to Stirling. The flight was uneventful and was really the same as the other Ryanair flights we were on. Once back in Stirling, and after a nice long shower and a nap, I attempted to create a thanksgiving turkey. It was successful but the gravy turned out a tad funny looking but it tasted ok. Why did I try to make a turkey? Well it’s good you ask. Being American and all, our little group thought it would be a fantastic idea to put on a little thanksgiving dinner for some of our friends. So naturally the thing has exploded to encompass 20 odd people so I needed to practice making a turkey because I have never done it before. I am in a tad bit of trouble I would say. Anyway that’s my story, more updates on the Isle of Skye soon but I should really go study for my econometrics test.

Until next time, this is Nick, signing off.

Nick Devine vs. The Paddy-wagoners

Well I have returned once again to the University campus after a long week of exploring the local areas around Great Britten in general. I will be having a series of posts that will recap my adventures in both Ireland and Skye and will hopefully get some pictures up soon so people can see some of the amazing sights i have seen in the last week.

So Let’s get started with a good old fashioned trip to the Irish Isles!

Last Friday our crew, Sarah, Tabatha, and I left for Glasgow-Preswick international airport. We had figured out the night before that the airport is not actually in Glasgow (which is only a 45 minute train ride) but is an hour south of it. That was a nice little surprise so we took off and got there rather successfully in less than two hours. After passing through security, we had about 2 hours to kill in a little tiny airport that has 3 gates. Not quite the huge international airport I had in mind but it all worked out in the best. It was an Elvis themed airport though, because Elvis had stopped to fill up his plane there once, and apparently that was a huge deal for the airport and Scotland in general. This event marked the greatest day in Scottish aviation history so they celebrated the only way they knew how, build a pub around it. Elvis themed tables, pictures, chairs, bars, glasses, the works were all about the King of Rock and Roll and let me tell you it looked kind of cool.

So this flight was the first time we were heading on a Ryanair flight. Now Ryanair is the cheapest airfare anywhere in Europe, but they are notorious for not being very good flights where they cram people in and you fear for you existence. It started out where we all got in a huge line and had to give our final tickets to the blue vest wearing brigade who seemed more than happy to rip your ticket in half, 'by accident' of course. So after sanding in these lines for forever we finally got to board the plane. In order to do this we had to go outside into the stormy wet weather (this is still Scotland) and trek our way to the plane and climb the ladder in. Super sketchy. Once we got on the plane it was a total free for all for the seats. We did find three together so that was good and everyone seemed friendly. The seats and planes were nice and large and it was way better than I expected. The flight went smoothly, no big events happened and we were only in the air for 45 minutes which was a big surprise. We then got to Dublin when it was dark and made it into the airport and through customs so we could get into Ireland.

Once in Ireland we were trying to figure out how to get to the youth hostel we were staying at, nicely named Pattys Palace. We took a bus to what is considered the main street in Dublin and we hoped to walk to the hostel which did not appear to be too far away from the map we had looked at. It was not too far away but unfortunately it was pretty dark and we got turned around so it took us a good amount of time to find something that was actually really close to where we started. We made it just in time to get our keys before he locked the place up and we all headed into our room for some nice sleep. The shower room was missing a door handle, lock and wouldn't stay shut so whenever one of us wanted to shower, someone else would stand guard to make sure nothing was taken or no one walked in unsuspecting of the shower occurring.

After getting a good, but relatively short night of sleep we got up at 6:30am to get ready to go on a day tour to the Cliffs of Moher on the other side of Ireland. We get to the meeting point and waiting for us is a large coach bus that was painted green with huge letters spelling out 'Pattywagon tours' and a giant leprechaun on the side. It was quite a sight to behold. We met our driver, Shawnie, who was from Ireland and provided the bus with the humor and singing and surprises of the day. After picking up the remaining people, 50 in total, we headed out to the cliffs. We drove for 2 and a half hours before making a pit stop to see some abbeys and big statues and castles along the way. Shawnie would sing us all sorts of Irish songs; he knew all of the history as well as being a really funny guy to just talk too. He moved the tour bus around with some incredible precision to places I would not want to put my car in. Amazingly, we never hit anything or anyone going down multiple one lane roads around the twisting curves and incredible hills.

We had the perfect day to go exploring in Ireland, clear, sunny, and relatively warm. The country side was amazing but varied ranging from huge wide open fields, rolling forests hills, to barren rock covered mountain sides. I learned a lot about the country of Ireland itself as well as the language that is spoken (in places) Gaelic. I never knew that Ireland had its own language that is considered equal to English in many political circles. Shawnie would tell us about small places that speak only Gaelic and many university students would go live there in the summer to gain knowledge in the language. It is a dying langue though with fewer and fewer people being conversational in it. He did teach us to say some words but I cannot honestly remember any of them, sorry. Our first stop came at a crumbling abbey that was a beautiful place to take some pictures and see some Irish cows roaming around.

Shawnie then told us about things called Fairy Huts that are stone circles in the middle of fields that would appear there over night. There were no entrances, and the fable goes that you could only enter the hut when you heard the music coming from the inside of the circle. You were not allowed to knock down the structure because it would put a curse on your family for 5 generations to come. Shawnie then told us about a man who needed to sell his fields to move to America during the potato famine and the field was devaluing the property, so against his wife and neighbors advice he knocked down the Fairy hut and moved to America. His family name was said to be Kennedy with his decedents including the former president JFK. Believable? Maybe not but its a cool story.

So back to the actual story, we moved along and had a typical pub lunch in Ireland consisting of a beef roast as well as some potatoes, gravy, veggies, and some bread. Overall it was quite good and the pub was situated with a nice view over Galloway that was very picture perfect. After continuing our journey we passed by and stopped at a grave site of some of the vikings which consisted of a bunch of rocks stacked, sort of. It was odd to say the least. Progressing further we climbed hill after mountain after hill to finally reach the Cliffs of Moher, the whole reason we were there.

We pulled up to the cliffs and we had 2 hours to explore the cliffs for ourselves. If I had to simplify the entire experience to one work it would be Phenomenal. The sight was fantastic and the drop look spectacular in the weather as well as the way in which the waves crashed along the rocks. The cliffs look amazing and you can see for miles. We waved across the ocean to America so hopefully someone waved back. There was the designated tourist area with the pavilions and the big ledges that keep you from hurling yourself over the unforgiving cliff, as well as a cool castle to look at. Naturally we climbed over the "do not go past this sign" and went along the cliffs that were a bit more steep and one wrong step and you become a statistic, but hey, life is short right? Anyway we climbed over the barrier (along with seemingly everyone else, it was not just us) and walked along the cliffs in order to get some fantastic pictures. It was an awe inspiring experience that I will not forget for many years to come. After braving the sides on the cliffs we headed back into the visitor part where you can breathe a tad easier.


After 2 wonderful hours on the side of the Cliffs it was time to head back on the bus and head back to Dublin. We got back around 8 PM and went for a night walk around Dublin before retiring to our hostel for a well deserved night sleep. We did eat at a Supermac's which is Ireland's version of the McDonald's. It was good and cheep which is always a nice combo when you are a poor college student in a random country.

Well that is all for now, I hope to update the rest of my trip in Ireland and the Isle of Skye soon, but I should really be studying for this test I have at the end of the week. I will write soon (hopefully tonight but no promises) about the rest of my exploits in Ireland.

Until next time, this is Nick, signing off.

NIck Devine vs. The Travel Plans

So as promised this is going to be a two update week!! Yeah! This (shorter) entry will look to the future and I will be giving you a guided tour into my next couple of weeks up here. So this week is the last week of classes before the fall brake arrives.

On Friday Sarah, Tabatha, and I are headed on a plane to go to Ireland for the weekend. We are base camping in Dublin and going to the Cliffs of Mohr, Guinness Factory, and all of the local sights to see in Dublin. I am looking forward to this because it will be my first venture outside of the UK while I have been over here. We come back to Scotland on Monday and get to come back to Stirling for the day. The next day (Tuesday) we are headed into Edinburgh to go on a three day tour of northern Scotland, Loch Ness, and the Isle of Skye. I am really looking forward to this trip because it will be as far north as we are headed in Scotland, and the views are supposed to be amazing. After returning in Thursday I have a very special visitor coming up and she is staying until the 1st of November. We will be traveling to Loch Lomond while she is up, and it is the largest national park in the UK so that is something to be excited about.

Update on the Kilt, I have decided to go with a quasi-authentic kilt. The truly authentic ones, sheep's wool from Scotland and all of that is really, really expensive and frankly would not be worth it for the amount of wearing I plan to do with this. So I am headed to the middle ground with a Kilt that is 8 Yards and has a tartan with a heritage of Ireland because as far as I know, I am not Scottish. I will be getting that soon hopefully and pictures will be available soon (I Hope).

Looking into the future, we are going to Norway, France, and we hope to get to Italy while we are here as well. So if anyone knows people in these countries who would be willing to put up with a few college kids for a weekend let me know. That would be much appreciated. Well that’s all for now, any questions just add a comment or send me a message somehow.

Until next time, this is Nick, signing off.

Nick Devine vs. The Mines

Yes, I already know what you are going to say. Nick, it’s been forever since you last blogged about the epic adventures known as your life in Scotland. I would reply, yes you are absolutely right and I apologize for that. My goal has been to try to update this thing once a week and last week I dropped the ball.

Frankly last week was all about writing essays and getting school related stuff out of the way, you know the study portion of study abroad and it was a pretty uneventful weekend. I wrote a 2500 word essay for religion and am currently waist deep into another 1500 word essay for my Global Cinema class. They are not super exciting and sometimes demand way too much attention and time but I am learning a ton while I write them so it’s all worth it in the end. Being an outsider here (a.k.a. American) It is very interesting to see the way my views and beliefs stack up with people who are not like me. Often times I am called to 'speak for the American population' in seminars and it’s quite an odd experience to say the least. I really don't feel qualified to 'speak' for everyone in America or frankly even myself sometimes. That has been one 'of the hardest things here to adjust too, and the fact that fries are chips and chips are crisps, but that is a whole different topic aside. I believe it has made me more confident though, and that has helped my presentation and vocal skills when talking to other people and presentations.

So anyway, to the things you actually want to read about.

This Saturday we took a trip to St. Andrews, the home of golf and the Old Course. We took the train there at way too early o'clock and sat on a train for a good amount of time. We got to the station closest to St. Andrews and we thought, "Hey it can't be too far from here, let’s just walk there and save some cash!" Wrong move on our part. Don't get me wrong, it was beautiful countryside, pleasant horses hanging out, a couple of tractors passed by and it was more or less like walking through Wisconsin this time of year. The problem lies at the point where the 2-3 miles walk turns into the 5-6 mile hike up a never ending hill of doom. That whining aside it was a pleasant walk and we did not get rained on once. We went by the Old Course, the famous one, and we got to walk along side of the fairways at some point. We wanted to do a walking tour of the area but we could not because there was a local match going on and they would not let us on. We had to stop and quit talking at one point because someone was lining up a shot on the 18th green, which they promptly missed. I snickered; inside of course because they would have hit me with their club had it been vocal.

St. Andrews is along the coast of Scotland facing east so there was a good deal of beach and rocks that were poking out into the bay. We walked along the beach for a bit and climbed some of the rocks that were there and had some fun taking pictures of the area. Next we climbed into a local pub and had a good lunch with some nice locals we met. After the wonderful soup and sandwiches we went to the ruins of the old St. Andrews castle. It was really neat and only some was left standing. We got to learn about how they tried to siege the castle by building tunnels underneath it and how the occupants of the castle tried to counter mine them and attack when they were not expecting it. We actually climbed down into a mine and it was very dark, wet, and narrow in there. Needless to say I felt like Spider man crawling around on my hands, and singing the theme song of course. We looked at where all of the dungeons and great halls as well as some of the supposed storage containers for the cities namesake, St. Andrew.

Walking uptown we went to the cathedral, which was again ruined (They can never keep anything nice in St. Andrews...) we got to tour around the cemetery and look at a lot of dead people and the stones that now represent them. Inside the cathedral museum they had all of the sarcophagi of famous people in the area with all sorts of really good carvings on them. The Tower of Rule is a huge tower that was built right next to the cathedral and acted as a lighthouse as well as being a really big tower of such. It was unfortunately closed due to unexpected electrical issues with some of the lighting. After the Cathedral we looked at some more grave sites and moved along our marry way.

We decided that we had already had too much fun in the day so we started our journey back home. As we were walking down the main street we happened to pass the world’s best ice cream shop and knowing my group we naturally had to stop. It was actually very good and I ended up getting a Blackcurrant and Raspberry milkshake that was pretty impressive I must say. After walking a bit more we had decided that we were going to take the bus to the train station rather than try to walk the 5-6 miles again. The bus driver we had was very funny and kept us laughing the whole way to the rail station. The rest of the day passed and no rain was had which meant it was a great day all around.

So that was my Saturday all in a nutshell. Now I must continue with my essay and start some econometric homework so I do not get swamped down the line with that. I will be doing another blog post sometime this weekend with some of my upcoming ventures and here is a small preview, 4 new countries, updates on kilts, and of course a lot more castles!

Until next time, this is Nick, signing off.