007 and my resulting shiner

So Wednesday night was our Football's 007 Cocktail Party. We sold tickets to pretty much everyone, and it was actually really fun. Most of my friends were there, and I met some new and interesting people in the years above me, and good times were had by all. The guys pretty much all wore tuxedos (awesome), and most of the girls wore cocktail dresses. And there was one random guy in a gorilla suit, I'm not quite sure why.

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I forgot to take a picture of my hair, but it looked something like this. My dress is on the wall in the background. It was pretty :)
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Jessica and Me, looking beautious!
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Alan Poon and Me
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My vet mother Carin and Me.
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So besides the fact that the party was held at a bar/club with the least classy name I have ever heard (Vodka Revolution), it was pretty awesome. On the way home, however, I managed to get a nice shiner, a sprained (?) wrist, a bruised shoulder, and a bump the size of a baseball on my knee.

I'm not sure what happened after college, but I guess I became accident prone. Granted, the hayloft thing wasn't really my fault, and this wasn't either. Maybe I am just accident-people prone. Anyhoo, so one of my friends, who shall remain nameless, walked out of the club with me at approximately 2am, and grabbed my arm and began to run. However, she wasn't so steady on her feet, and thus she tripped, and fell, still holding onto my arm. And so down I went. My face hit the cobblestones with a resounding crack, and a cab driver had to stop so as not to run us over, laughing at us all the while. We got up (more cautiously this time), and walked back to her flat, and then I made my way back to mine.

So the next day being Thursday (I don't know why people here party on Wednesday night, but it seems a pretty terrible idea to me), I dragged myself to class, and suffered through the day, pretty convinced that my wrist was fractured at least. I don't think it is, because it feels much better now and the swelling is pretty much gone. I probably just sprained it. My face however, still has a nice abrasion on it and is a bit puffy, but it's already going away.

I think it makes for a fantastic story anyway, so totally worth the pain. :)

Other than that, we had a great couple of practical lessons, involving the oral cavity and the digestive system. We walked into the dissection room, with tables full of things like this:

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I'm not quite sure why this was necessary to our learning, but it was awesome anyway.
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And this:

Tongues and Pharynxes
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We also had a really awesome practical on ventilation, which sadly I didn't take any pictures of, but it involved hooking each other up to ventilation moniters and subjecting each other to experiments. I got to watch how my breathing changed when I was breathing from a bag full of pure oxygen for 4 minutes, and as the CO2 in your blood builds up you start breathing really fast and your tidal volume (the volume of air you inspire and expire) goes up. Then we did the same thing with just plain air, but also hooked up to a thing that absorbs CO2. So that way the CO2 in your blood isn't creating the signal to your brain to breathe faster. Thus you breathe normally until you pass out. I did not pass out, because we weren't allowed to keep the experiment up that long. That's basically what happens in altitude sickness. So that was pretty awesome, especially because we got to do it to each other, haha.

Anyhoo, not much is up for this weekend. Pretty much just hanging out and studying, since exams are beginning to look frighteningly close. (Eek!) Also we are going shopping for our rat babies. Mine is named Scabbers, and it's going to be living with Anik's rat babies, Rattikus and Ezekial Rage.

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My rat baby, Scabbers. He's so cute!
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Anyway, I'm off to begin the day. Bye!

Halloween, Football Socials and an Ikea Christmas

So this week has been fun. It was a bit difficult cause we didn't have Wednesday off, but we have today and tuesday off to make up for it. We had some fun practicals, like our live dog and cat heart practical, where we listened to the hearts of cats and dogs, and looked at some radiographs as well, and learned how to use an ECG. We also had a practical on some diagnostic testing, which realistically we don't need to ever do in practice, but it's the basis of all the "snap" tests we will use, so it's good to know how those work.

Then Friday was Halloween, and so I dressed up for class all day, which was fun. I was Hermione from Harry Potter, and got a few looks from people all day, but it was good fun, and I wish I could wear a robe like that to class all the time. No one else dressed up until later for our friend's party, but their costumes were pretty spectacular. Lydia was a cow, and Jessica was a unicorn.

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Jessica, Lydia and Me!
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So after the party, I went back to my flat. Jessica decided to stay at Lydia's for the night, which led to much hilarity the next morning when she had to walk back from Lydia's in her halloween costume (minus the horn and wig), because everyone honked at her, thinking it was a "walk of shame." Automatic Awesome for Jessica :-P

The next day, Saturday, was the football curry-night social with the boys team. I decided not to quit after all, because I like having the option of going to practice when I'm not exhausted, and now that the paper is done I figure it'll be less of a time issue. The football social was at King Balti, an Indian restaurant, and I got a delicious Lamb Balti Pasanda, which was something to do with almonds. Very yummy. The thing was BYOB, so the rest of the teams brought more alcohol than I have ever seen in my life. I stuck with water, and I have to say I felt bad for the rest of the people in the restaurant, cause our table had to be shushed several times, because 30-some-odd drunk kids in a restaurant makes for much loudness. But apparently that's the restaurant that all the sports teams have socials at, so the manager was used to it, and welcomed the business. He even came and said so, and was very good humoured about the whole thing.

After the social we went to Potterrow, which is sort of the student union. It's got a cafe, pub, bank, dance club, and lots of tables and cushy chairs. It's a very nice place, actually. We hung out downstairs in the pub area for awhile, then we went upstairs to the dance party. It was actually really fun. I got to dance with a guy on the boys team who knew how to swing dance, who I recognized from the ceilidh we had earlier in the year. It was quite fun! I sadly don't have pictures of the social, because I didn't have my camera with me, but I'm sure someone else took pictures that hopefully I'll be able to nick from the internet. We shall see!

Yesterday Jessica, Pookish and I went to Adele's house, out in Dumfermline, where she lives with her husband. We took the train over the Firth of Forth Rail Bridge, it was so pretty! The weather was gorgeous this weekend!

The Forth
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Adele lives in this adorable house with her husband, who is quite nice. We rented two movies and she cooked us dinner. It was fantastic. We also went exploring a bit, first to her mum's house, where her little brother demonstrated his bagpipes for us, and let us try it! It was SO hard! I couldn't even get the bag to inflate all the way, much less make any sort of note come out. Pookish got a few notes, and Jessica got a squeak or two. I was lightheaded after trying. Everyone always makes it look so easy when they play it, but it's actually really hard!

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Jessica & Me in Drumfermline (not sure how to spell that?)
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Pookish attemps the bagpipes. Jessica took a pic of me, so hopefully I'll get that pic from her soon.

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We explored a Loch near Adele's house, which was gorgeous!
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We stayed the night at Adele's, and then this morning went to IKEA, where we had breakfast and picked up a few things, like I got a spatula, a new light (since I accidentally knocked my other one over and broke it), a wok, and a bowl to replace one of mine that got broken. I also indulged in some cheap fairy lights (what they call christmas lights in the US), and strung them up as decoration in my room. I was tempted to get an IKEA Christmas tree, but since I'm not going to be here over Christmas, that'd be silly, so instead I got a string of stars and hung them over my bed.

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Fairy lights!
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That's about all that's been going on. We had today off, and tomorrow we've got off as well, so I think I'm going to try and spend the whole day studying. But I'm glad I took the last few days off because after stressing about that essay I just needed to take a break and not think about school for a bit. But tomorrow the studiousness begins again!

Ah, the life of a vet student!

Blustery Days

Hello again everyone!

I am currently procrastinating finishing my paper, so with any luck this will be short, but, knowing me, it will be another novel.

In the last week or so, it's been quite busy with studying and paper-writing as usual. I've gotten a lot done, but I still constantly feel like I have so much studying to do that I'm not sure how I'm going to learn it all. I'm sure it'll all work out eventually, especially once we hand in our papers on Friday and I can get back to the work at hand.

Earlier today we had a practical on the cardiorespiratory system, and we spent 3 hours looking at hearts and lungs of various animals. It was actually quite cool, and the session was organized in such a way that each little group of students had an instructor helping them, and our instructor (who unfortunately I cannot remember what his name was) walked us through the function of the heart and the reasoning behind the different morphologies of the different sides and such. I actually left the lab feeling like I had learned SO much, which usually isn't the case, because I'm usually so overwhelmed with information. I think that's why this system of practicals is better than what we had the first 5 weeks, where we whizzed through the dissection of the entire dog. We're focusing on one thing and learning it well instead of just briefly glancing over it. So overall a productive day.

The weekend was pretty low-key. Jessica, Lydia and I went over to Lydia's flat on Friday night to have dinner and watch "Lars and the Real Girl," which is a fantastic movie, and on Saturday night we all went to the Brass Monkey to hang out and have a pint or two. Then on Sunday we went to the Metropole cafe and worked on our papers for a few hours, then went back to Lydia's for more studying and then some television. All in all a good weekend that even managed to be somewhat productive.

Other than that, I've put football on hold for the moment, because half the time I just am so exhausted from everything else that the last thing I want to do after it all is go run around. Also it was just becoming a time issue, and becoming more of a hassle than fun, despite the fact that I enjoy hanging out with all the football girls. Oh well, hopefully I'll be able to learn time-management better and get back into it, but until then school takes priority.

The weather has been crazy windy lately, and I've taken to avoiding walking down the path from my flat to school because I'm afraid a tree branch is going to decapitate me. Seriously it's kind of ridiculous.

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A broken baby tree up by my flat
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This is the main reason I am scared to walk on this path. The pic doesn't even include like 3/4 of the branch extending to the right of the picture, and there were about 2 more branches off in the distance that you can't see in the darkness. Crazy!
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I've also sadly not been able to bike as much, partly because class always seems to be up in the center of town in the morning, which means that it's all uphill on the way there, and it requires a bit more biking skill than I have in me. Also with the weather there are wet leaves everywhere that I'm afraid of killing myself on. Blah, hopefully I'll get more chances to bike that don't involve me exhausting myself on the way to class, cause I do enjoy it.

Anyhoo, the week ahead looks crazy busy. We don't get Wednesday off this week, probably because they're making up for the bank holiday next week, or at least I think that's what it is. We get Monday and Tuesday off. I think my friends and I are thinking of going to Stirling for a visit of the castle, or maybe we'll take a trip to Glasgow or something. Either way, I am looking forward to the small break!

And lastly, in other news, I may have a lambing placement for Easter! We're still waiting to hear the final confirmation from the farmer, in the next two weeks, but there is a strong possibility that I will get a week of lambing in over easter! Yay!

Anyway, back to a bit more paper writing, then bed. Night!

Piping Society

I joined the Dick Vet Piping Society today! Every Tuesday evening, Jessica and I will be learning to play the bagpipes! Jessica is borrowing a practice chanter from the school, and she has named it McGregor. I will be purchasing a cheap-ish chanter tomorrow during my break between classes, since the society doesn't own enough chanters for everyone (or have not gotten them back from past members), and it will be named McKracken.

In our first lesson today, we met the other new and old members of the club, and learned how to play a scale! We're not actually playing with real bagpipes yet, because (a) it's way too loud to play inside, much less with 6 people playing at once, and (b) there's no point until you know fingering and have the breath control and whatnot. It's a bit different playing on the practice chanters, which are something like if a recorder and a clarinet had offspring, it would look and sound something like this:

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It comes in two pieces, plus a reed, and you fit the reed in between the two pieces, and blow through the skinny end. Your fingers go over the holes, but must be kept straight, which is slightly awkward and makes my hand hurt after a little while, but I think I'll get the hang of it.

Other than that, I apologize for not updating as often, I'm trying to balance being social with studying, but I'll try and go over a few highlights.

Today we had a urinalysis practical, also known as the "playing with pee" lab. We had lots of different urine to choose from: cat or dog with chronic renal insufficiency (CRI), dog or cat with diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), horse, rabbit, cat with urinary crystals. I never realized pee could come in so many different colors or have so many varieties of smell. So what we did during this practical is we looked at pee under the microscope, and read urine dipsticks, which tell whether urine has things like red or white blood cells, glucose, pH, presence of ketones or proteins. We also learned how to use a refractometer to read specific gravities (which is a measure of the concentration of urine). Things like this are important to know because you can tell if an animal might have CRI (can't concentrate its urine), or perhaps is diabetic (so will have glucose and potentially ketones in there as well).

Now, granted, I already knew how to do both of these things, having worked in a vet hospital since I was 16, but it was cool to do it wearing a white lab coat and in vet school. We also learned about how if you do have an animal with glucose in the urine, it can mess up the specific gravity measurement, which I had not known before.

We also last week had a bunch of lectures on "professional and personal development," which are sort of common sense. I guess it's good to cover all the bases just in case, but it seems like we should already know this stuff already. I will say that it has led to some hilarious lectures, where we get little interactive websites that go through scenarios with horrible actors, and when you click on something that is clearly wrong, like saying to a client: "Well, maybe you shouldn't have gotten the horse if you can't afford to take care of it!" you get to see the fake actress storm offscreen in a huff. We also saw a raunchy advert for men's workwear that featured a woman (who has since become famous because of this), Sara Green, who then decided she wanted to be a teacher, and almost got fired because a video of it surfaced while she was teaching. It was pretty funny (the advert, not her situation).

What else.. We went out to the farm one afternoon to learn the different types of feeds for livestock and horses. I never realized there were so many different things you could feed an animal! You've got your standard maize, oats, barley, wheat, and grass pellets, but then you've also got rolled oats, bruised barley, citrus pulp (byproduct of juice business), sugar beet (coming in either pulp, flakes, or nuts form), dark grains (byproduct of whiskey business), bran (byproduct of flower business), linseed (byproduct of linseed oil), soya meal (byproduct of soy beans), maize gluten (byproduct of cornflour), rapeseed meal (from rapeseed oil), wholecrop wheat silage, and grass silage. Then there's wheat straw, barley straw, and grass hay.

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Some shots of different feeds follow so you know what I'm up against here..
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barley
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wheat
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oats
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bran
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rapeseed meal
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soyabean meal
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grass silage
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wholecrop wheat silage
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THEN we attempted to learn the breeds of sheep and cattle. I'm hoping that by some miracle I develop a photographic memory between now and when I need to know this stuff, because they all look the same to me. A sheep is a sheep is a sheep is a sheep, and the only cows I can differentiate are the Holstein-Fresian (typical black/white dairy cow), and the Highland 'Coo' which is big and hairy and awesome.

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Highland Coo!
(not my picture)
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Holstein-Friesian Cow
(also not my picture)
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Other than classes we've all pretty much been hanging out on the weekends. Dominic and I went walking on the Salisbury Crags last Sunday, which was pretty awesome. Here are some pictures from that.

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And of course, one gratuitous (and awful) tourist shot of me at the top of the crags.
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Well, that's about all I have for my updates. I'll try to be better about uploading more often so I don't have to write novels like this in the future :)

Another week gone by

So another week of classes has passed. This week was pretty good in terms of pace. All the classes we had seemed to go at the right pace, and Wednesday we had pretty much completely off. We had a meeting with our DoS (Director of Studies--kind of like an advisor), and then an address by the president of the BVA (British Veterinary Association). Thursday and Friday we had more classes, and today (Friday) we even started late at 11:10, so we got to sleep in a wee bit!

We also met some amazing teachers this week. We have a wide range of professors at this school, from ones that you just want to hug because they're adorable, to ones that scare you, to ones that have you almost wetting yourself from laughing so hard, and we met at least one teacher from each category this week.

The first was the professor who gave us a lecture on communication skills, and he made the stupidest jokes that only vet students would understand, that were, nonetheless, adorable, and we all agreed that we hope he teaches us more.

The second category I'll not go into, but suffice it to say that professors here like to start lectures 5 minutes early, and yet they will also consistently get angry at people who walk in after they've started, even if technically you are still early by any normal standards. Go figure.

The last category's professor is one David Argyle, who is the funniest professor I think I've ever had. I like him because not only is he funny, but he calls out people who are BSing him in the middle of class. The strategy with him is that if you don't know the answer, don't guess, just say you don't know and he'll move on and pick on someone else. Give a wrong/stupid answer and he'll never leave you alone. This is also good though because it motivates me to actually pay attention learn what he's lecturing us about so that if he does call on me I can answer his questions. He's a little un-PC, but I think we need a bit more of that in this day and age. If you can't laugh at life, what's the point? I think we've got him for a few more lectures, which I am looking forward to!

Also, on Wednesdays in the UK, students typically get out around 1pm in order to pursue extracurriculars, so on Wednesday I went to football (soccer) practice, cause I joined the Dick Vet Ladies Football Club! So far it's very fun and the girls are all quite nice, even though I am complete rubbish at the sport. It is quite fun despite that I don't like running at all. I even went to the meadows with Anik, Adrian, and Alan Poon and kicked the ball back and forth for awhile today. So perhaps it'll motivate me to get at least somewhat in shape. But we'll see.

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Me in my football gear, looking like a total nerd, but that's ok!
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On the way to get our football gear on Princes Street we spotted a Scientology tent.. and I was just starting to like it here too... (apologies to any cult members who happen to read this)
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So despite the fact that this week was low-key in terms of classes, I feel like I've been busier than ever. In between classes we usually have lunch, study, or run errands, and then after classes on Monday and Wednesday Anik and I go to football practice, and then each of our group of friends has a dinner night where we all go over and eat at each other's flats. Jessica's night is Wednesday, Anik's is Thursday, Pookish's is Sunday, and mine is floating between Friday and Saturday, depending on everyone's weekend plans.

So because of all this it is rare that I get back to my flat until dinner or afterwards, because I don't see the point of trekking all the way back to my flat during the short breaks we have between classes. This wouldn't be so much of a problem if it weren't for the hot water situation. In the UK apparently they don't believe in keeping water heaters running all the time, and instead they opperate on timers. Now, while I see this as beneficial in terms of energy saving, the timers are set in such a way that we cannot change the settings. So our flat is stuck forever on hot water in the mornings only. Again, wouldn't be such a bad thing except that I am not a morning person and I refuse to get up any earlier than I have to, to do something so silly as showering.

Now, to counteract this problem, the boiler timer has a button called a 'Boost Button,' that you can press to temporarily boost the water heater. Again, this would be fine and dandy in a flat like Jessica's, where the boost button takes approximately 15 minutes to heat the water. In my flat, however, it takes 1-2 hours. Uncool. I have had 2 hot showers since I've been here. The rest have been ice cold. Again, uncool, because normally I love showering. It's one of the highlights of my day and it relaxes my muscles and is comforting before I go to bed. Ice cold water, on the other hand, does not really make one sleepy, and usually means that I'm not really getting clean because I'm just trying to hurry up so I can spend as little time in the cold water as possible.. Brr.

Anyway, enough ranting. Moving on.

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Dinner at Anik's flat. She made something Cuban that I don't remember, but it was made with pork and beans and rice and olives. Very yummy, despite the olives ;-P
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Other than that not much excitement has been going on. We got our exam results back, and while I passed my oral exam (8/10) with flying colors, I was 1.5 points away from passing the written (you need a 50/100 to pass, you do the math)!

But, on the other hand, I did better than a lot of people who didn't have a family crisis and have to miss a week. And while I didn't really want to have to use that as an excuse, it is a legit one, and I figure if I can get that close without studying and with being an emotional wreck, I'm sure that had I actually put the effort in, I would have been fine.

Fortunately the test didn't count anyway, so come December's exam I should be golden!

That's all really, but I'll end with some pictures highlighting this week's events!

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In other news, our Pegifunticorn has been immortalised in Elephants and Bagels. We have officially taken our place in Edinburgh society.
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Closeup! I also think that of the money I've spent here, most of it has gone to this cafe (not seriously, but it feels like it), so it is only fitting that my name be on the wall.
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We also visited the Elephant House (sister shop to Elephants and Bagels), which is renowned for being the birthplace of Harry Potter. J.K.Rowling actually wrote the first book here!
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Inside of the Elephant House
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Anyway, it's late, and I should go to bed. Goodnight!

More flat pictures!

Here are some more pictures of my flat. It's not all that exciting, except for my room, but here it is anyway!

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Updated pic of Warrender Park Crescent!

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Warrender Park Crescent, which I believe used to be a school for young girls. (Picture not taken by me, I found this one on the internet).
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For reference, my room is to the right on the top level when you're looking at the above picture. So if you look at the pictures in my previous entry of the view out my window, you're looking at the cupola from the right. The gable on the right side (which you can't see in the pic above) is slightly higher than the one on the left, so we are at the highest point in the building. (In the first pic of this entry, we are the gable sticking out of the center/corner of the building.

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Closeup of my bed, with my new sheets and pillows, and my plants!
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The kitchen, with my two herb plants on the right! My cabinets are the
ones with no handles to the left of the cooker.
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The sad little common area of our kitchen.
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The hallway.
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So looking at the last picture of the hallway to get some perspective, there are two entrances, one behind where I was standing to take the picture, and one at the other end where the stairs are. Directly to the right, which you can't see too well, is the small hallway to my room and Hannah's room, as well as the kitchen. The bathroom is the next hallway coming off, and beyond that is the little hallway with the toilet, Lucy's bedroom, which is identical to mine, only opposite, and Miriam's bedroom. Also there's a closet down that hallway. The little alcoves on the left are just windows.

So classes have officially started, and so far the first three days have been great. It's still going super fast, but I feel like I'm actually learning stuff at a fairly reasonable pace. Monday we had two lectures on embryology and a computer practical on embryology, Tuesday we had two lectures on cell biology (mostly about stem cells), and a lecture on farm economics.

Today we had our first lectures combined with the second years, and while the information was a bit of an overload, it was still interesting. My only issue was that the lecture was HUGE! At colby the most people we ever had in a lecture was like 50 students, this was like, maybe a bit over 100! The professor had to wear a microphone so we could all hear him. Craziness. I much prefer small schools.

The second years seem nice enough, but they're SO young it boggles my mind! Some of them look like they're 12! Also, it was a bit of a downer to sit down and hear one of them say "we're surrounded by the enemy now," referring to them being surrounded by a bunch of GEP students. And they wonder why our two groups tend to have animosity between them? Not to say that I wont ever associate with any of them, because a lot of them seem perfectly nice, but if that's their general attitude towards us I'm not going to go out of my way to make friends with them.

Anyway, now back to studying, before I go to our weekly dinner at Jessica's.

Highland Adventures!

So before I tell of my highland adventures, first I'd like to introduce you to my new flat! There are some things different now than when I took the picture a few days ago, mostly that I've moved the pictures that are on the right side of the wall to a different space, and now have two picture frames to hang there (found for a pound each at a bargain store, of cute animals!), and also, there is a big fern on the right side of the window, and a little tray of pots that I've put some wildflower seeds in! I decided that I am going to beat my black thumb, and so Jessica and I went to the HomeBase store (basically a UK Home Depot), and got some plants and seeds and pots and soil and went crazy. No longer will plants come to my house to die!

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My new flat!
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So at first I wasn't too thrilled with the flat, because for one, it is on the TOP floor of the building, meaning that I have to climb exactly 100 steps (yes, I counted) in order to get there. Once I got over that it's not so bad, especially once I furnished it (after a glorious trip to the Edinburgh IKEA). It's a bit weird living with college-age kids (my flatmates are 17, 19, and 20). They are all very nice so far, but it's just like we're at completely different stages of life, and I feel like such an old stuffy woman because they're always going out partying and I'm like "nahh I'm tired, I think I'm going to go to bed at 10pm." Also, I've lived on my own already, for four years of college and then one year almost completely independently, and so it's weird to be back in a situation where I have to share space with people, and have to deal with rules about what I can and can't have in my room.

But whatever, so far it's working out alright. If nothing else, it's just for a year, and I might get in a bit more shape in the process. :) Also, check out my view!

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My view by day!
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My view by night!
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So now, on to my highland adventures with Jessica, Erin, Hyla, and Kirsten! Check out my mobileme gallery for more pics, but here are pics to show the main highlights.

Day 1: Carbisdale Castle!

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'A' on the map is Culrain
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We caught an early train at 6:40am to Culrain, changing trains once at Perth. At Culrain we stepped off the train and walked about 1/2 mile to Carbisdale Castle. This Castle was built by the Dutchess of Sutherland, between 1905 and 1917, and used by her until it was turned into a youth hostel. So it's a very new castle, but it's reputed to be haunted by various ghosts. We unfortunately didn't see any, but what can you do. It was my first experience in a youth hostel, and it was actually pretty good. I still prefer full-service hotels, but how often do you get to stay in an actual castle for something like 17 quid a night?

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Carbisdale Castle
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We couldn't check into the castle until 3:30, and it was only about 11:30, so we left our packs behind and went for a walk around the area. We didn't see too much excitement, the whole of Culrain is basically the train stop, a few houses, and the castle. Everything else is farmland.

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Me and the Highlands!
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Scottish Wildflowers
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We discovered a pretty cool bridge
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So after our long walk, we headed back to the castle to check in and have a cup of tea from the cafe before going up to our rooms. Our room had 4 sets of bunk beds, so with only 5 of us, we were left to share the room with 3 random people. We were there for 3 nights, but the others only stayed for a night each. We ate dinner in the castle, for a whopping 9.50 quid, but it was surprisingly good, and I suppose for the price of 17 quid a night, they have to make money somewhere, right?

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Hyla (middle) and Erin (right) get settled
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Day 2: Dingwall Mart

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Closeup of Culrain (A), and Dingwall (B)
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The next morning, we caught a 9am train to Dingwall, to see the livestock market (which was the reason behind this whole trip. The day we were there was prime stock day, so they were selling all of the prime lambs and prime calves off to the abbattoirs (a nice word for slaughterhouses). It was kind of cool to see how the whole thing works, and how each cow is auctioned separately. I'm pretty sure it is completely different to the mass livestock sales in the US, so it was cool to see it done in such a personal manner. We were so very out of place in this setting, and people were looking at us like "what on earth are 5 blonde girls with cameras and notebooks doing here?!" But regardless, it was a good experience.

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Calf being auctioned
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Also it was funny because the auctioneer was so stereotypical of what you'd see on tv that we could barely understand what he was saying because he was doing it in that sing-songy way and it was going so quickly! We met the auctioneer afterwards, and he's a really nice man, he gave us lots of information and even a floorplan of the market penning system to help us with our EMS forms! I love Scottish people, they're so nice!

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Us at the Livestock Market!
From L-R: Me, Erin, Jessica, Hyla, Kirsten
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After the livestock market we headed into the town of Dingwall to just look around. It was such an adorable little town and had a surprising amount in it for such a small setting. While I was there, I bought a bike! I live a bit away from school walking, so having a bike will make it much easier to get to class. Also, will be easier on my feet! :)

We had dinner in a cute little pub by the traintracks, and ate delicious burgers and fries (which are only called fries when paired with hamburgers, apparently, otherwise they are called 'chips'). Then we boarded the train and headed back!

When we got back to Carbisdale Castle we pretty much just conked out, it was a tiring day!

Day 3: Carbisdale Castle Hiking
When we got up the next morning the weather was gorgeous, so we decided to take a nice hike around the castle. There are a bunch of trails set up, I think mainly for mountainbiking, but they were just as fun to walk!

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Gorgeous weather, finally!
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Us taking a break on an oddly-placed bench!
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A pretty lake we stumbled across!
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After the walk, we pretty much just hung out around the castle until bedtime. We made dinner in the self-service kitchen and sat around chatting until we went to sleep.

Day 4: Inverness, Urquhart Castle, and Loch Ness

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We took the train from Inverness (B) to Urquhart Castle (C),
then walked to Drumnadrochit (A).
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On this last day of our adventure, we took the 9am train home. This train stopped in Inverness, though, and Jessica and I decided that instead of following the others back to Edinburgh, we were going to stay at Inverness and try and make our way to Loch Ness. Our train ticket was open-ended, afterall.

So we parted ways, and took a bus to Urquhart Castle, which is a ruin of a castle that was at one point one of the largest strongholds of Medieval Scotland. It sits right on the Loch, which makes it such a fantasticly mystical setting. No sightings of Nessie yet, but we held out hope.

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Jessica and me in front of the ruins of Urquhart Castle
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Then we decided to walk to Drumnadrochit, since the lady at the bus centre told us it was a 15 minute walk. An hour and a half or so later, we finally found Drumnadrochit. On the way though, we had a lot of fun eating blackberries by the side of the road and taking pictures of the beautiful scenery.

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Thistle with Loch Ness in the Background
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When we made it to Drumnadrochit finally we didn't really have time to do a whole lot, but we did stop in at the Original Loch Ness Monster Center, which was mainly a souvenir shop. But, at last, we had our first Nessie sighting!

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We found Nessie!
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Lastly, we ate a cup of soup and chips in a small cafe/bar, and then went to the bus stop to wait for the bus back to Inverness. Standing there in the rain for 1/2 an hour we realize that the bus is not going to come, and that the lady at the bus center told us the wrong time, and the bus had in fact been scheduled to arrive 5 minutes before we actually got to the bus stop. So we called a private taxi hire, who drove us all the way back to Inverness. She was a very nice Scottish lady, who talked to us about her dogs and Scotland and made the extra cost bearable. Plus, we weren't in the rain anymore.

Back at Inverness we had time for a bit of coffee and then got on the train back to Edinburgh. Despite the trip being amazing, I was quite glad to be sleeping in my own bed in my own space!