There is no sense in traveling all the way to the UK without
finding a way to see the Queen. Luckily
my Fulbright friends and I did just that.
Since I hadn’t been to Scotland in about two weeks another trip was in
order. So once again it was onto the
train to head out. I am now too afraid
of missing a train so I have learned to leave early. Unfortunately this meant leaving my house at
5:30 in the morning because I had a very early train to catch. And the night before just happened to be my
birthday so I had to make sure to be a good girl. The ride was good and I was even able to join
Natalie half way there. We were
definitely entertaining the Scots around us as they mocked our accents and
taught us how to find out if a Scottish man is a true Scotsman! I will let you use your imagination on that
one.
We had some time to kill and were happy to see that our
station was attached to a mall and plenty of shopping. I had to hop into Paperchase to check out all
the stationary and had flash backs of spending hours wandering the store in
London with TOJ. Soon Niki was there to
pick us up so we could go find Stephanie after her long adventure that
day. Driving around that weekend was
absolutely beautiful. I was fairly sure
we were in the middle of a movie scene as we weaved around the bends and saw
endless hills and views that take your breath away.
After a night of catching up and talking about our newest
adventures we got up early to head to the Highland Games. We were there in plenty of time to relax and
walk around and of course to eat some delicious food. In the center of the field multiple areas
were set up for the games. It made me
think of playing Wii with my family and the games that I am pretty awful
at. Watching it in person (with real
people) was quite entertaining. And the fact that they were all in kilts was
even better! My absolute favorite was
the caber toss. I am so amazed at how it
took six men to position the caber, but only one to lift it and fling it across
the field. Ok maybe they didn’t fling
it, but they sure did try to. I learned
that to get the best score you have to have the caber actually flip in the air
and the straighter that it lands the better your score. I was just baffled the entire time.
 |
| Is it going to make it?! |
Since this was the best event of the day it was also the
time the Queen was there. She pulled up
in true style as her car followed by several others rolled up onto the
field. She sat politely and watched for
a bit before heading out again. Our
group had the inside scoop from the driver so we knew when to run out and stand
by the railing to see her leave. We had
an amazing spot as the Queen drove past smiling and waving the whole way. I was seriously within feet of the Queen of
England! She is just adorable. Prince Charles and Camilla were there as
well, but I was not nearly as excited to see them.
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| Doesn't she look happy? |
Oh but the worst part of the day was when I was viciously
attacked! Yes viciously! At this point I am going to say that it was
by a million scorpions, but I am guessing it was actually a wasp. As Stephanie, Natalie, Niki and myself were
leaving the bathroom I felt a pinch on my neck.
Then another and another and soon it felt like knives stabbing me
repeatedly. I ripped my hoodie off in a
slight panic and went to have the girls check it out. Being the tough girl I am I held in my
screams, but was shaking because, well because it really freakin hurt! It didn’t help matters that we found our way
to the pharmacy and the lady behind the counter took a look at my neck and ran
out of the building to find the real pharmacist. My neck had started to swell and the pain was
not going away. I got some meds and then
went and won a small bottle of scotch.
Too bad I don’t drink scotch because I bet that would have eased the
pain a lot faster. For the rest of the
day I was a bit jumpy when anything went toward my neck. Personally I think if something hurts that
much it needs to look REALLY painful because the tiny dots on me were clearly
not enough. The next day they had turned
to bruises and sadly I have no pictures of my vicious attack.
In the end it was a very exciting day and I was really happy
to meet up with other Fulbrighters and talk.
I can now check a few more things off the bucket list. And I even saw a hairy cow. And don’t tell me that all cows are hairy,
but Highland cows are special hairy cows.
I didn’t get a picture, so I guess that means another trip to Scotland
is in order. Bummer…
Two questions to keep in mind:
Are you true?
Are you worthy?
