Excursion to St. Andrews

Today was the excursion to St. Andrews hosted by the university. The transportation was free but once we got there we were left to do our own thing. The bus arrived at 7:45 am and I was so exhausted so I just slept the whole ride there, missing out on all of beautiful landscape. When we got there, Kyle and I along with some friends ventured out to explore the city. We had a few hours to kill until our free walking tour of the city which was at 1 pm. The forecast today was supposed to be raining all day, but the past few times it has rained it was just drizzling the whole day and not that cold. So I figured it would be like that today, thus I didn't dress in that warm of clothes. Unfortunately my assumptions were completely wrong, seeing as I didn't take in consideration that this is a coastal city. When we began our walk we started from the coastline which was so windy that my umbrella was useless because it kept flying inside out. The rain wasn't too bad at first though, so I just put my umbrella away. What really made me miserable was the cold. The wind made it sooo much colder than it actually was and it was non-stop! So shortly after we started walking we decided our mission was to find shelter and sweatshirts. We first went to the Museum of St. Andrews University which was really interesting. There were so many artifacts dating back to 1500s and even earlier. After that we went into a few souvenir shops thinking we could find some cheap Scotland sweatshirts, but boy was I wrong! Many items were very expensive! Kyle really wanted a beanie for his head but when he found some at one store it was 70 pounds!! These expensive items discouraged us and we decided to brave the cold without warmer clothes.

At around 11:15 we decided to find somewhere to eat lunch because we didn't want to be late to the walking tour. We went up to this Scottish restaurant that looked good only to realize that it wasn't open until 12 and we didn't have time. One of the workers at the restaurant told us there were only a few restaurants open before 12. We finally found a cute little restaurant that served breakfast and sandwiches. This place looked like someone's home. We had to go upstairs for seating and there were only two tables and the rest of the area was filled with couches, armchairs, and home decor. I ordered the gorgeous panini which had chicken, mozzarella, sun dried tomatoes and pesto. Although it wasn't Scottish food, it was the best panini I have ever had! Apparently everything was homemade and homegrown there which was why it was so good! After lunch we headed over to the walking tour but were early so we hung out at the aquarium right by where we were supposed to meet. We didn't actually go through the aquarium because it cost money, so we just looked at the gift shop and sat in the front area trying to get away from the cold. 

The walking tour was MISERABLE. Of course right before it began the rain started to pick up and the wind started blowing even harder. Also, the woman who was giving the tour talked really softly so I could barely hear a word she said. So basically we just walked around the tour, stopping at various placing, and getting drenched by rain. Since it was raining, I couldn't get any pictures which was also very disappointing. I didn't want my camera to get ruined and my hands were just too cold to even hold it. I'm not sure what we saw for most of the tour since I couldn't hear the tour guide, but one thing we did go to that was memorable was the castle ruins. At one point we stopped by a hole in the ground with a cage on top. Apparently this is where they threw prisoners. It was pretty deep and there would be water and rats at the bottom. The prisoners wouldn't last very long because there was no room to sit or lay. Many of them probably had broken bones from the fall as well.

The trip got a little better after the walking tour because we went to Costa Coffee, which is like Starbucks but better, and got the best hot chocolate ever! We warmed up inside the coffee shop for a while then decided to head down the street and go to H&M. For those of you who don't know, H&M is an amazing, cheap place to buy cute clothes! Since I was so cold I HAD to buy something to warm myself up. I mean it was definitely a necessity. Sooo I bought a cute warm striped sweater that I put it on immediately after buying. And since there were so many sales I also HAD to get a long sleeve shirt. Also the earrings were buy one get one free so of course I HAD to get those as well! Shopping always makes bad days better :)

After H&M the day trip was almost over so we decided to head back over to where the buses were supposed to pick us up. We waited in the St. Andrews Golf Museum's gift shop until the buses arrived. St. Andrew's is known for their golf course world wide. I'm not a big golf fan but it was cool to hear that famous people like Sean Connery have been there to play golf. Apparently he was kicked out for not wearing the right attire.

It was sad that the weather wasn't better for this trip because the architecture of the city was so beautiful and would have made for some great pictures. Maybe I'll be back again someday and the weather will be better!