Here comes update #2!

At the end of last week I took a quick day-trip to Sevenoaks where I visited Knole Park. Knole is one of Britain's largest and grandest houses. It covers 4 1/2 acres and has 365 rooms, 7 courtyards, and 52 staircases! Its construction was commissioned by the archbishop of Canterbury in 1456. It was amazing to see all of the antique furniture in all of the rooms. All of the furnishings had their original fabrics! Incredible.

This weekend, I had the opportunity to travel to Edinburgh, Scotland!!! I took the 4 1/2 hour train ride there and got to enjoy beautiful views the entire way. While in Edinburgh I had time to visit the Edinburgh Castle, take a whiskey tour as well as a walking tour, and participate in a Scotland pub-crawl! While all of these activities were enjoyable, my favorite part of the trip by far was enjoying a hot chocolate and light lunch in The Elephant House... The Elephant House is the cafe in which JK Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book!!! As a HUGE Harry Potter fan, I found this experience truly remarkable! I got to look through the window at a scene of Scotland including the Edinburgh Castle that inspired the story of Harry Potter. I could feel the magic :)

While in Scotland I also got to experience my first night in a hostel... I got pretty lucky as I had picked a nice, clean hostel to stay in. My friends from Marquette and I stayed in a 8 bedroom dorm. We were lucky the first night and had the room all to ourselves; however, the second night we were joined by two girls from Spain. It was interesting to sleep in a room with a stranger for the first time, but it is all part of the hostel experience!

On my last day in Edinburgh I decided to try the local favorite food: haggis. Haggis is basically the insides of a lamb cooked in the lamb's stomach lining (or so I was told). I wouldn't say it was my favorite food ever, but I was able to have a taste. It kind of tasted like ground-up peppered sausage... a bad description but all I can think of.

Well that's all for now! One final comment, if you ever go to Scotland be aware that although they may speak English there, you made need 'em to slow down for you! Thick accents!

Miss you all!!!