This is my travel journal from my study abroad trip to the UK and France. The names of my teachers and classmates have been changed for privacy reasons.

DAY 12- May 31
            Exam today! I have carpal tunnel now, I wrote so much. Shame we weren't allowed to type them, but we had to maintain some integrity. I think I did pretty well, although I may get points taken off for sarcasm. On an unrelated note, I've been watching a lot of BBC news when I'm in my room. Well, mostly because I like to have the TV on. I hear the voices and I think someone else is in the room. (Kind of like leaving the radio on for the dog.) I keep seeing these people I saw at the Scottish Parliament appearing on the news. Neat.

               Okay, so class happened and then we had to putter away until Pub Tour Time. Did I mention we were going on the Pub Tour? I ended up on a bus with all the guys and was apparently the only one who knew the way to the Beehive. Our tour began on what had to have been the third floor of this pub. This whole place was one of those pubs that felt really old, with lots of dark heavy woods, thick carpets and wood floors. And curtains. And upstairs was a tiny little room, barely big enough to seat twenty or so, with a stage that was almost as big as a floor mod. (3'6" x 3'6")

               This show is how I wish history class could be. I mean, at least once or twice a month as a way to reenforce what we've learned. Little comedy, little drinking...it's very conductive to education. It's two characters, Clart and McBrain, leading the audience from pub to pub while having a hilarious debate about the duality of famous Scottish writers. It was AWESOME. Did you know you can sing one of Robert Fergusson's poems to The Yellow Rose of Texas? Yeah, they asked where everyone was from, and when they found out how many of us were from Texas the guy said "Well, you're gonna love this!"

               This is my travel journal from my study abroad trip to the UK and France. The names of my teachers and classmates have been changed for privacy reasons.

DAY 11- May 30
               So today turned out to be another boring Monday. I was up at the usual time for breakfast and then I started quietly panicking because nobody else was there and I thought that maybe class had started earlier today for some reason. Saw Dr. Owens and it turned out that class was postponed until one because we were trying to allow for anyone who had traveled over the weekend to return.

               Now I'm wide awake and looking for something to do. Everyone else was sleeping or whatever, but it's no good going into town because when you figure the time it takes to get there and back, you wouldn't have much time to do anything. I ended up getting some homework out of the way. Also: screwed around, and turned on CBBC again to see Mr. Sexy-Guy-With-Dog Puppet.

               Class as usual, nothing new to say. (Although I think I will end up writing about what I've learned on this trip at some point, along with rewriting most of this journal to make it more interesting. Bit pressed for time at the moment.) We have an exam in the morning, but Dr. Owens gave us the big essay question today so we would have time to prepare for it. The topic is to explain the evolution of the absolute monarchy to the Parliamentary democracy that they have today. That's gonna take some time.

               So we got out at around five. Bit late to go out, but I think a few might have done. I needed to study, and I borrowed a copy of the textbook I never got because life's full of surprises, and I spent an hour copying the necessary information. And, as per my study habits, I spent an hour taking a break.

               This is my travel journal from my study abroad trip to the UK and France. The names of my teachers and classmates have been changed for privacy reasons.

DAY 10- May 29
               I was so tired that I frittered away most of the morning with sleep. (Made it to breakfast, though, because that's the one free meal of the day.) After that, I spend some time napping and some time doing homework. Really, this isn't a lot of work for two courses but it's all compressed into two weeks, and we're also in freakin' Scotland, so that makes it a bit difficult.

               Anyway, I ended up going to church with some of the others at around four-ish.

               "Can I come to church with you guys?"
               "You know it's a Catholic service, right?"
               "Yeah."
               "Okay."

               We went to St Patrick's. It's been a while since I've been to a Catholic service, but it's not that much different from an Episcopalian one. The cadences were different but beautiful and we didn't sing very many songs. Most of the service was familiar to me and I didn't need to resort to the prayer book very often to know what to say when. I wasn't allowed to take Communion because I'm not Catholic. That felt weird. Once, when I was a kid, I acted up in church and my parents wouldn't let me take Communion. That memory came back to me again today, and while everyone was hitting the Christian Shot Glass, I felt like I was in trouble.

               This is my travel journal from my study abroad trip to the UK and France. The names of my teachers and classmates have been changed for privacy reasons.

DAY 9- May 28
               So some people went up to Inverness, but I wasn't able to find anyone to go with. I did want to go to this museum called Our Dynamic Earth. It looked like a science museum. So I asked Gene if he'd go with me, but he and Sally had plans. And then I asked Joan, and she sounded interested, but she and Clara were going to church. Then suddenly both groups said 'okay', and I was all “Whoa.”. Because now we have to coordinate our schedules, and I felt bad about it because I just wanted to go to a museum, not screw up everyone's plans.

               Well, it turned out all right. It was me, Gene, Sally and Tim, and we were going to meet up with Clara and Joan in town. And we would do stuff. Stuff we'd figure out once we got there.

               This woman on the bus, as she got off, looked directly at Sally and said “Shut up. Just shut up for five minutes.” and stormed off. Sally was surprised. She wasn't being particularly loud and all she was talking about was black pudding. She wasn't even saying anything bad about it, just explaining it to the rest of us. Now, maybe that woman's usually very nice and was just having a bad day at the time. I don't know. But I can't imagine saying something that way to a stranger. Hey, if we're being too loud just ask us to be quiet! Or send us your hatred through a telepathic link like the rest of us!

               A man and woman sitting behind us remarked about the first woman's rudeness and apologized. They assured us that we weren't being too loud and even told us about a few good places to eat nearby. I would have liked to talk to them some more, but our stop came up.

               Anyway, we went to the National Gallery. A few areas were closed, but there was still plenty to look at: lots of nice paintings, sculptures, furniture, other people...half the paintings I looked at seemed to jump right out at me as if they were painted in 3D. It was probably because of my glasses. I wore my contacts all day yesterday and my glasses are a newer prescription. Actually, it was probably the mushrooms I had for breakfast. The ones that the white rabbit gave me.

               This is my travel journal from my study abroad trip to the UK and France. The names of my teachers and classmates have been changed for privacy reasons.

DAY 8- May 27
               Okay, so today started with a lie-in, seeing as we had no classes. At about eleven Liz, Rebecca and I went to Edinburgh Castle. We were there until about four, so clearly this is an all-day trip. We walked up the Royal Mile for the umpteenth time to the gates of the palace. There's a moat in front of it. It has no water, which I think is a strategic advantage. Think about it: if someone tries to swim across, they'll only fall to the bottom and be stuck.

               We were just in time for a guided tour around the outdoor areas, and we followed a man in a kilt. There is no shortage of men in kilts here. Some of them play bagpipes. I've seen so many of them that I've stopped taking pictures because they're freakin' everywhere. I had to shoo one out of my shower the other day. So we saw the outside of the castle. It's a beautiful place, all stone and brick and historical. There's a great view from the top, too.

               The logical next step was to take a look inside. We started with the cafe to get Rebecca something hot to drink because her throat hurt. And then because we're morbid, we looked at the place where they kept prisoners of war. Interesting little place. I don't know what it is with old buildings, but the doors and hallways are always so small. I keep finding doors that are almost too short for me! We're all descended from midgets!

               This is my travel journal from my study abroad trip to the UK and France. The names of my teachers and classmates have been changed for privacy reasons.

DAY 7 - May 26
               So the drug war has been going on for a while now. A memorable example was when the English got the Chinese addicted to opium so they could get silver from China to buy tea from China. I started reading a novella on my Kindle and I was skimming the prologue, when I came to the bit about opium and I thought “Hey, I learned that in class or somewhere!”

               I haven't watched much TV while I've been here. Partly because I haven't spent that much time in my room, and partly because I don't know any of these programs. Well, I've been able to find shows like American Dad, South Park and a few other American shows, and a couple of British programs that I already know. Sometimes I watch the shows I haven't seen. I found cartoons, old stuff, and reality TV.

               There was this one documentary thing about pregnant women with unhealthy habits. I saw another where this guy examined the heads of Apple addicts and found out that Apple products stimulate the same regions of the brain as religion. Also, there's Nanny 911, which makes me question the parenting skills of Americans. (Okay, if you don't want anyone telling your how to raise your kids, then why the hell did you go on Nanny 911 asking for help?!)

              What I've found odd so far is that these channels seem to only broadcast for a portion of the day. When they're not on-air, all you see is a blank screen saying when they'll be back. In the US, channels broadcast at all hours, but they air different shows depending on the day of the week and the time of the day. Time slots in which more people are likely to be watching TV get all the good, high-rated programs. When few people are watching, stations put on crappy filler stuff.

               For instance, some channels will broadcast infomercials from 1am-6am, or do reruns during school/work hours. And there's usually nothing new on Friday nights because lots of people go out then.

               Worked on our group projects today. I'm not entirely sure what we're supposed to be doing. At least I recovered one chapter of the documents I lost. All I need to redo is Chapter One now, and that shouldn't take too long.

               Then we got to go visit the Scottish Parliament to watch them in action! It's a cool-looking building, don't know when it was built, and it's very modern. It's mostly stone, light wood, and glass. Mom would not feel claustrophobic. There was a polar bear outside (probably a robot) and a woman holding a sign, but I never got to see the sign. Going in, we had to send our jackets and bags through an x-ray machine just like at the airport and step through a metal detector. We did not have to take our shoes off, like at Heathrow. (Hint hint, American TSA.)

               I took a few pictures of the visitor's center, but none during the session because it's not allowed. They had some pretty strict rules. Well, not strict exactly, but strictly enforced. The rules were just basic, common sense things: no talking, no breaking stuff, no disrupting the proceedings, and if what you're thinking of doing would get you arrested at the airport, you're to assume you're not allowed to do it in Parliament. My high school graduation had more restrictions than that.

               [Note to all you UK people- keep in mind that this next bit is told from the perspective of an American from the Bible Belt with a cynical view of her own country's politics.]

               This is my travel journal from my study abroad trip to the UK and France. The names of my teachers and classmates have been changed for privacy reasons.

               This is my travel journal from my study abroad trip to the UK and France in 2011. This was originally written as part of our assignments, but it was also posted to a private blog for my parents to read. I wrote it out longhand and typed it up later. I've edited it to make it flow better, and changed the names of my teachers and classmates for privacy reasons.

DAY 1 - May 19, 1:00 pm- Starting City
                I've been up since six this morning because Mom and Dad wanted to have an early lunch with me. Also, we told Dad we needed to leave an hour earlier than we actually had to, because it takes forever to get out of the house if Dad's involved.