Scotland & Beyond

I don't really have much to say about my trip to Scotland last weekend. I met up with Siobhan, who I met at the hostel in London, and stayed with her in Clydebank (about a 20-minute train ride from Glasgow's main train station) for the weekend. Her friend Gareth also was visiting last weekend, from Manchester, so I met him and hung out with the both of them. It was a lot of fun. We wandered around downtown a bit, walked along the River Clyde, and even took a drive up to Loch Lomond, which I really wanted to see. We hung around her flat, played with her dog, I cooked dinner one night, and all in all it was a nice, relaxing weekend. And I made a new friend in the process.

Since then, I've just been at the castle packing and doing work. It's been hectic and crazy but I'm just glad to be done with classes and finals now.

Most of my things are packed right now. I've got to leave a few things here, like a towel and some sheets (I hope that's okay mom! It's an old towel and the not-so-great sheets that we just got anyway). Dojna, who works in the Office of Student Activities gives all the things that we donate to her friends in Serbia, where she is originally from. They need it more than we do anyway.

Tonight is our final night in the castle and in about 15 minutes, we have our farewell dinner. The theater majors will sing, the staff will dress up in traditional Dutch clothing for a talent show, and after a last fun night, we'll sleep, for maybe three hours, and wake up at 6:30 tomorrow morning to make it to Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam for our 2pm flight back to Boston.

The past three months have been the most terrifying, insane, and amazing months of my life. I literally cannot believe that I'm almost gone. From the castle, from The Netherlands, from Europe.

I'll never forget these days.

In the past three months I've been to over 12 cities in 11 countries.
In the past three months I've learned more about another culture than I ever have before.
In the past three months I've discovered who my true friends are.
In the past three months I've gotten closer with the people who mean more, and let the ones who don't go.
In the past three months I've gone to the pub in town with not only OSA, but my professors.
In the past three months I've truly come to appreciate my family and my home.
In the past three months I've met Aussies in Berlin, London, and Vienna, an Irish couple and a Portuguese girl in Brussels, Californians in Budapest, and Siobhan and Gaz in Scotland.
In the past three months I've fallen in love with places and people.
In the past three months I've (despite how cliche it sounds) made memories that'll last me a lifetime.

I'm ready to go home, but I'm not. I could stay here forever and hate it and love it all at the same time.

I'm going to miss this place more than I'll ever be able to put into words.

Here are some final nostalgic pictures. I don't have any of Scotland really due to my cameralack, but these are ones I love all the same.