Farewell Scotland: My Last Week in Stirling

This past week was my last week in Scotland and it was fun but sad. I'm going to miss all of the new friends I've made as well the beautiful country (not to mention the awesome people with their awesome accents!). I made the most of this past week by spending as much time as I could with friends, going out, and finally seeing Stirling Castle. Although I did catch a cold earlier in the week, I didn't let that stop me from having fun!

Monday- Kyle and decided to finally visit Stirling Castle that morning because I only had my photo class from 4 to 6 that day. This castle was a lot smaller than Edinburgh Castle and only took about an hour and a half to explore. It wasn't raining like it was at the Edinburgh Castle which was such a relief! I actually got to take some good photos of the outside of the castle.

Entrance to Stirling

Castle gardens

Pretty view

Yet another pretty view

The queen's chambers

Another room for the queen

The queen's waiting hall

I'm trapped!

Tuesday: This was a working day for me because I had a marketing presentation due Wednesday and a paper due by the time I left. So I worked my butt off all day and night!

Wednesday: After my presentation/class I went back to my room to continue to work on my paper until night time. At night everyone decided to go to the Corn Exchange, a local bar in Stirling, for karaoke night. It was fun watching everyone sing while having a couple drinks with friends.

Thursday: I continued to work on my paper during the day until I finally finished. After finishing I hung out with friends until the farewell Ceilidh at 7.
 A Ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee) is a traditional Scottish dance/party. It was held in the city center at the Golden Lion Hotel. When we got to the Ceilidh there was a buffet style of Scottish food. I finally tried haggis, it was fried haggis so I thought it would be semi-decent. I was definitely wrong, it was disgusting. I guess I'm just not a fan of that stuff. All the other food was delicious and the event was really fun. Several people got up and tried to learn some Scottish dancing. Being very uncoordinated and shy I decided to save myself the embarrassment and just watch. It was very entertaining watching everyone stumble around trying to learn the complicated dance moves.
After the Ceilidh everyone went out to some local bars and then to Dusk, a club. It was a great way to end the trip, having one last crazy night with all the amazing people I met during this trip.

Richard, Michael, me, Manda, Adrienne, Sam

My friend Morgan and I

And of course, Kyle and I

Friday: This was the day we went on our excursion for marketing. We went to the Glenkinchie Whisky Distillery near Edinburgh. It was really interesting hearing about the process of whisky making. I don't know how people work at that place because every part of the process has a really strong, nasty smell. At the end of the tour we were offered several free samples of whisky. I'm not a big fan of whisky, plus it was only 11 in the morning so I passed on the samples. However, my professor was very excited for the samples and had 2 glasses in his hands at all times.
After the distillery we went to lunch at Ikea in Edinburgh. I'm not exactly sure why my professor decided to go here, something about marketing (although he never actually explained). I sat with 2 of my close friends, Larissa and Caitlin, as well as Kyle. It was nice having some time to talk to my friends one-on-one before I left.
As we were leaving Ikea, Kyle realized he left his backpack containing his passport. Luckily we hadn't left the parking lot yet so Kyle jumped off the bus and bolted off. Thankfully it was still where he left it.
When we got back to the campus our professor offered to take us out for drinks at a local pub if we wanted to. Some people went but I passed since it was only 2 in the afternoon and I still had a lot of packing to do.
It was a sad day knowing that I would be leaving all the people I made good friends with. I said goodbye to some people but it was just really hard to say goodbye to everyone. I ended up staying in my room most of the night and resting since I had to get up early in the morning. I really did not want to leave Scotland and all my new friends.

I'm home now and glad to be with my family and Misty again. I really do miss Scotland though. It was an amazing trip that I will never forget. I had the time of my life and would go back in a heart beat. After being there for so long I feel like Stirling is kind of like home now. I hope to visit again in the future and reminisce on this amazing experience I had.
Farewell Scotland, you were good to me.