Almost home time

Alright... so Belfast was awesome. Probably one of my favorite trips so far. It definitely beat out Scotland just because I didn't get to see much.

Belfast- Giants Causeway was pretty cool, but it was raining so much that I couldn't climb around that much. Well, I could have but probably would have cracked my head open. And that would have been uncomfortable. I saw the front of Carrikfurgus castle, which is one of my strongest memories of the last time I was in Belfast. I'd like to go in it if I ever get back to Belfast. Which Liv and I are planning to do in April. I also did a Titanic walking tour, which I almost didn't do but am so glad I did. I learned a lot and it was really cool.
Another highlight was seeing Clonduff drive, specifically the house where my dad (and my aunts & uncles) were born. It felt pretty cool to walk around where I knew they had all walked when they were young. I wish I had gotten a picture of me in front of the house but no one was around, and I would have felt awkward anyway. Maybe I'll go back with Casey some time.
Plus, I did super well on my Celtic Thunder world tour... Which is basically my nerdtastic plan to see anywhere mentioned in a Celtic Thunder song. I saw the Mountains of Mourne on my bus ride back to Dublin. I also saw a foggy, barely visible Mull of Kintyre, Belfast and... Caledonia.

Scotland- So, Liv and I flew in to Glasgow, but after talking to everyone realised there wasn't anything we wanted to see there. So we wandered a little, giggled at West Nile Avenue and then got right on a bus to Edinburgh. Our first day we spent a lot of time in Edinburgh castle which is a pretty impressive place with a lot of history, going right up to WWII. (Side note: It's interesting but people here (Europe in general) mention World War II a lot more than people at home, because it was so much more of a reality for them, even people who weren't remotley alive for it, it had a much bigger impact). Got some pictures there and then just kind of wandered the city. St. Giles Cathedral made me happy (Buffy reference).
Then we checked into our hostel which was really cool. It was like a bunch of apartments with hostel rooms. So you were only sharing the kitchen with a couple bedrooms. The place was freeezzziinnnggg though. But, the first night we had the whole apartment to ourselves.
After checking in and unwinding for a bit we headed off to get dinner (Subway, shocking) and then went to the Elephant House, one of the cafes where J.K. Rowling worked on Harry Potter. Had some realllyy good hot chocolate there. Then back to the hostel to get dressed for a night out. We randomly wandered and just picked a pub. But of course, the one we ended up in was pretty clearly an 'irish pub'. Lots of Shamrocks and count downs to st. patricks day. Woo. Still fun though. Some weiirrdd Scottish men dancing around, but whatcha gunna do. Then we went and danced at a club, Espionage, which was a decent place and really close to our hostel, which was a plus because Scotland is def. colder than Ireland.
So, for day 2 of scotland there was a whole thing with pretty much a tour of the entire country. At first I wasn't going to go because I couldn't afford it. Then Liv, being the awesomest person that she is, offered to pay as my christmas present. So, we woke up super early, walked to the bus stop and found out there was only one seat left. Urggh. So I walked back by myself and went to bed. I spent the day shopping and wandering the city. Beautiful place, hard to find groceries near the royal mile though. But yeah, that was Scotland. I hope to get back at some point and explore a bit more.

Anyways, there is more news but I'm a little bored of writing at the moment and I imagine that was a lot to read so I'll go again later. The next blog involves a trip to Galways hospital (not for me though). Until then.