Snog, Marry, Avoid?

Time seems to be going faster and faster every day that I'm here. Already I've been here for two months and in just about three weeks, we'll start traveling for spring break! It's so hard to believe that I've been here for this long. If it's possible, I feel like I just got here yesterday but also that I've been here for years. It's a difficult feeling to describe in words that make sense, that's for sure. Laura and I were talking today about how, although we're exited to travel and see the rest of Europe, we will be very sad to leave Glasgow and "the family" for such an extended period of time. We can't even begin to think about what will happen when we leave this fabulous place for good -- I will definitely be bawling my eyes out on the plane ride back. (Sorry in advance to whatever stranger has to sit next to me!)

This past week has been pretty stressful. With the deadline for summer internship applications quickly approaching, I was rushing like a crazy person to get my applications finished and sent to the right places. On top of that, my entrepreneurship group and I have been working what seems like day and night on our project so that we can get it done early. Add this to the pressure of booking all of my spring break trips, and you've got an insane week. While it's nice to have everything planned out, it was pretty hectic getting it all done. So far this is what I have booked: London with Mom & Nip; Belfast with Laura to visit her flatmate, Alan; Madrid, where I'll hopefully see David and get to experience the magic that is El Tigre; Barcelona, where I'll get to see my loves Holly, Michael, and Peter; back to London to hang out with my dad; then Paris with Dad and my "girlfriend," Laura. I haven't booked any other trips in case I have to head back to the US for an internship interview, but if I don't need an interview, I'm hoping to head to Rome, Florence, and Amsterdam. It will be a lot of traveling in a short period of time, but I'm ready for it.

To balance out the stress of the week, we started our weekend on Wednesday night. It was a pretty disgusting day with lots of snow and sleet, so Sarah and I told the other girls that we'd meet them at Buddha Bar, a new bar we had decided to try out. Sarah and I hopped in a cab and told him where we wanted to go. Well, the cab driver decided to take us where he wanted to go -- Bar Buddha. Similar names? Yes. Similar places? No. We got out of the cab slightly confused and distraught, but decided to give Bar Buddha a try. We walked in and were the only two girls under thirty there, but we didn't care. We figured we'd have one drink and then meet the other girls at the real Buddha Bar. Then we saw the cute bartender the Pringles vending machine and decided that maybe we'd stay for a few more drinks. Sarah and I stayed for a few hours, just sitting and chatting with the bartender, Euan, who is a student at Strathclyde University in Glasgow. He recently broke his arm playing soccer, so Sarah and I got to help make drinks and also got a few for free! It was an excellent start to the night, to say the least. After our bartending practice, Sarah and I walked to Octopussy, where we spent the rest of the night with our other friends on the bouncy castles and the dancefloor.

The Pringles vending machine at Bar Buddha

On Thursday, the engineering boys came over to my flat to work on the entrepreneurship project. We ended up getting a lot done, but there are still a few things that will have to be tweaked this week. I love spending time with the engineering boys because they always keep me laughing, but I will definitely be thankful to not spend anymore time on this business plan. After reading the same thing over and over and over and over it can get pretty old. Luckily, we'll be finished with the business plan by Thursday and then on Friday I'm off to Galway, Ireland to visit Hannah.

That night, Laura K's roommates from BC came to visit with one of their friends from Cork, Ireland. We started the night off with a delicious family dinner thanks to Sarah's fabulous pasta bake. When that was over, we piled into cabs and headed to the infamous Bamboo. Luckily, we avoided all fights with crazy drunk girls and had a great time dancing and singing.

Friday was a day of gluttony and recovery. We headed to our new favorite coffee shop, S'mug, but were depressed when it was too crowded for us to sit down. Saddened, we headed to Morton's to cheer ourselves up with bagels. I'm sorry to admit that after we feasted on fabulous bagels we stepped out of Morton's and turned right into the ice cream store next door, where we each had a scoop of ice cream. It was pretty disgusting, but definitely delicious. On Friday night, we were supposed to go see Ted's play that he's been practicing for. Unfortunately, by the time we got there, there were only a few seats left so not all of us could watch. Since I'd already seen one of Ted's plays, Liam and I let Sarah and Jess go watch the play and we left the theater to go play around on Buchanan Street. On the way out, we ran into Laura and Briana, who joined us. We walked around in the rain looking for somewhere to sit and have a nice drink. We wound up at Social, a bar near the Museum of Modern Art in Merchant City. It was nice to sit down and actually enjoy a drink with one another. We sat for a while, people watched, and just chatted. When Ted's play was over, we took the underground back to Laura K's flat where we played a few games before Laura C and I decided it was time for us to make our way to the extra-long Mardi Gras edition of cheesy pop. Normally cheesy pop only goes until 2 am, but on Friday it went until 3, so Laura and I were in heaven. We danced and sang for 4.5 hours until I literally could no longer walk in the boots I was wearing. Exhausted, we headed back to Laura's flat for some toast and late night chats.

In the morning, we woke up and headed to S'mug, where this time there was no wait for a seat. We enjoyed some soup before we began our journey to St. Andrews to visit my friend and fellow BCer, Kaelan, and her boyfriend, John, who goes to St. Andrews. When we were done, we walked to the underground so we could catch a train to Edinburgh. From Edinburgh, we took the train to Leuchars Station, which is the train station in St. Andrews. The train ride was beautiful -- we got to see the entire countryside and the sea at the same time. It was absolutely breathtaking. After a few hours, we arrived at St. Andrews and were a little dumbfounded. The train station looks like it is in the middle of nowhere. Eventually we made our way to a cab and headed to our B&B, the Ardgowan Hotel. It was absolutely adorable, just like all of St. Andrews is. We met up with Kaelan and John, who took us to Pizza Express for dinner. While the name sounds like a fast food joint, in reality it was a cute little italian restaurant with incredible pizza. We sat there for at least a few hours, catching up and reminiscing about St. Louis. After dinner, John took us back to his flat so we could see what it looked like, then we headed to a bar to have a few drinks. The night was really low key and relaxed because there was a huge fashion going on at the university, so everything else was pretty dead. I can't say I'm upset about the lack of people everywhere, Laura and I were definitely tired from our Friday night dancing at cheesy pop. After a few drinks and a lot chatting, laughing, and storytelling, Laura and I went back to the hotel room to get some sleep. Before sleeping, however, we decided to take advantage of our television and tried to watch The Olympics. Unfortunately, when we turned on the T.V., curling was on, so we changed the channel to what is now my new favorite show: Snog, Marry, Avoid? This show takes women that are overly fake -- fake tan, fake hair, fake boobs, fake nails, fake everything -- and gives them a makeunder. It was trashy television at its best, and after not watching T.V. for quite some time, it was a lot of fun to watch.

The Ardgowan Hotel

In the morning, Laura and I woke up and checked out of our hotel before heading to breakfast at BeanScene. We lazed around the cafe for a while and then walked over to John's flat to meet up with him and Kaelan. They gave us the grand tour of St. Andrews and took us walking around the school's campus. We got to see where Prince William lived when he went to school there, which was pretty cool. Next we headed to the ruins of St. Andrews Cathedral, once the largest building in Scotland. During the Scottish Reformation, the cathedral was attacked and was never rebuilt. We also saw the ruins of St. Andrews Castle, built in the 12th century. Then we walked down to the North Sea and took in the incredible views. It was a great experience and an unforgettable trip.

St. Andrews Cathedral

Prince William's old dorm

The North Sea and St. Andrews Castle

This week will probably be stressful until Friday, when I get to see Hannah! Hopefully I will be productive and the week will go by fast, but we'll see. As usual, I'll keep you posted.