Fourteen

June 14th, 2010

Day 14


As most people know waking up early isn't my favorite thing, but it was all worth it when we went to Edinburgh. This is a city built on a hilll; an extremely steep one. When climping up 95 steps and doing a massive hill climp we reached to top of the city at the world famous Edinburgh Castle. Most people know it as home of Mary Queen of Scots and also because it holds the Royal Jewels. After climbing the down the hill we decided to climb back to the top to reach an art gallery on the other side. Well to make a long story short, on the way back we made a wrong turn and had to go up 95 steps, down 95 steps, up 130 steps, hill climb, down 95 steps, and sprint to the bus station. I was not a happy camper; I got the last seat on the bus.


The last of the epicness of that day what when we arrive back home here at hospital field. The chefs decided to trick us and serve a very traditional dish of Haggis. This is Haggis: a sheep's heart, liver, and lungs minced and then cooked inside of the sheep's stomach. It was served with mashed potatoes, and neeps(turnips) and luckily we were served creme brule for dessert. The boys in the group loved the haggis, while me and the girls only tried a few bites. The smell is that of meat and cow manure and I just couldn't get over that. Although, when it was mixed with a whole lot of mashed potatoes it masked the flavor and smell.


Traci

Photos for my parents:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2038641&id=1281030034&ref=pb

Thirteen

June 13th, 2010

Day 13

Something epic happened today. I'm sure many more of my colleagues were more overjoyed about it than I was, but we were served chunky soup today! This may not sound like anything exciting, but since we are served pureed soup each day for lunch(which is absolutely amazing), many of us have been craving a chunky soup! Also, just to add to the awesomeness we also had pizza with the soup! It was epic.

The highland games were also today which were quite cool! I definitely got my fare share of kilts and bagpipes, running, log throwing, shot-put, and so on. Oh, and you can't forget the photos of castles, trees, gardens, and highland cows(the long haired cows).

After supper about 7 of us girls and our male professors decided to get out of the house and went to the movie theatre to see Sex and the City 2. Decent movie. Well I'm cutting it short. Goodnight!


Traci

This is one of Sarah's photos since I havn't uploaded mine yet

Nine to Twelve

June 9-12th, 2010

Day 9-12

I'm going to combine all of these days into one since it was one trip. It all started on a whim, when we were given two free days to do whatever we wanted. Five of us wanted to take a flight somewhere like Norway or Rome, but we found the best price for Dublin Ireland! So off we headed on the train, plane and finished with the bus. So the bus dropped us off in the middle of the city where it was our mission to find a place to stay for the next two nights. Luckily after an hour or so of searching we found the Avalon House! Unable to check in we still had 5 hours to spare to carry around our backpacks filled with camera equipment, clothes, and etc. I have never had so much back pain in my life! Well check-in was fine and we found ourselves in a room with twelve beds, bachelor party next door, and co-ed bathrooms. It was an interesting two nights to say the least.

Our first destination was the tour of the Guinness factory which was so amazing and was most likely the highlight of my trip. It was the most interesting architecture and design that I have seen in quite some time! I have some amazing pictures from the 7 story plant which even included a waterfall!

We all took a city sightseeing tour bus around the central area of Dublin where we learned all about St. Patricks day, their president, their citizens, and much more. Through the adventures, we ate some of the most amazing food while trying to be really cheap. The whole 'being cheap' thing really wasn't working since the best deals that we found were 13 Euro for a meal($15) which is a little out of my day-to-day budget. Other than that I couldn't end my trip without a bang so i splurged and ordered myself one Jameson Coke(respectfully so since I missed the tour of the Jameson Whisky Distillery).

Travels back to Arbroath, Scotland went extremely smoothly and arrived to an empty castle which was perfect for a much needed nap!

Traci

Justin(in plaid), Amber(blonde), and Sarah(far right)

Seven & Eight

Day Seven - June 7th, 2010

Today the crew ventured out to visit the Fettercairn Scotch Whiskey Distilery. It was super interesting to see how everything is made and see the where the 40year old spirits are kept in the gorgeous oak barrels. After leaving, the entire group found a heard of cows along the fence and took advantage taking photos of them. I'm pretty proud of a few of the shots I got that are only centimeters from it's nose. Mom, do you want some cow photos in the bedroom because it seems that I see more cows than sheep so far?

Immediately after we drove to Edzell Castle which was home to some gorgeous peacocks and beautiful gardens. Mom, I did get one good photo of some sheep, but they are quite far away. After our first horrific supper(a refried bean like concoction) We headed to The Corn Exchange(restaurant/pub) to get our favorite nachos and have a few colas.


Day Eight - June 8th, 2010

Laundry day(and our first day without the obnoxious Illinois kids)! I never thought I would be so excited to do some laundry(and not have those creepy kids around). The whole idea of wearing the same exact plain clothing everyday is getting somewhat monotonous; shopping may be on the agenda one day. Lunch was corn pancakes with guacamole and another pureed potato soup. Since it was raining the teachers canceled our adventures for the day and instead we visited the art installation of Chicks on Speed at the Dundee Contemporary Arts. This definitely was not my style of art since it was a lot of videos of nude women who seemed to be on some crazy drugs. The only good part was visiting the AMAZING gallery store which had everything from kitchen products to jewlery to the best books ever! Two hours spent reading the books and we came back home and enjoyed the rainy day. Naps, Skyping, Supper(pasta and garlic bread), card games with the professors, and booking my next trip! I'll be in Dublin, Ireland in two days! Talk about a spur of the moment trip, but since we have two free days this week the professors encouraged us to take advantage of the cheap European flights so within an hour of talking about it Sarah, Amber, Christina, Justin, and I booked our flights! Well it is past 1:00am so I'm out. Goodnight family and friends!


Traci

Six

June 6, 2010


Day Six


We got to sleep in until 10AM this morning, had an amazing lunch in the Jazz Club here at Hospitalfield, and were off for the day. The entire MSUM and Illinois crew headed to the Cortachy Castle which was the most beautiful Castle that I have seen so far. It's only open for visitors one day a year so we were really lucky to have been able to attend such an amazing thing. There were hundreds of acres of gardens and ponds that spread throughout the entire place. We were serenaded by bagpipes and greeted by royalty. One of my favorite things about Scotland is none of the trees and plant life are anything similar to what we see in America. The colors are far more vibrant the the plants are extremely diverse. The rain slowly came in so we had to put our cameras away and head home.


Supper tonight was porkchop, tatties(potatoes), and grilled vegetable; Desert was a lemon tart with blueberry ice cream. Rod, our cook has been making us some of the most amazing food!


The rain has kept us all inside so we pulled out music and cards and have just been hanging out which is so much fun for a change! Goodnight, I love you all!


Traci

Five.

June 5th, 2010

Day 5

Today started out with a fast and quick run out the door to catch the vans before they ditched me. We took an hour drive to Aberdeen Scotland which is the largest granite city. Nearly every building is made of granite and the city is covered in gray. Other than that I didn't find a whole lot to photograph but I did have a wonderful time when I found a park deep in the city. It was a huge drop off where huinderds of people lined the grass to hang out. There were families, children, singles, couples, and college kids hanging out playing instruments, reading, having lunch, or snuggling. It really made me wish that Fargo had this sort of area.

Once we got back to the castle we ate chili and rice(served on a plate) with some of the Illinois kids. The was followed by playing kickball with the dogs and going for a long walk with the crew. Ahh, we have been blessed with the most amazing weather; it wasn't until late tonight that we have seen the first rain since we have arrived in Arbroath. Well I need to get some sleep! Goodnight, I love you all! :)

Traci Adamson

Three + Four

June 3rd - Day 3

Today we took the vans into town were free to roam and take photos for 5 whole hours. A group of us visited the old Arbroath Abbey which was demolished some time ago. It was still gorgeous. I walked through the cemetery and on the second gravestone that I read It read  these names: Mrs. Susan Adamson, Charles Adamson, and Agnes Adamson. I thought that was kinda ironic. Well, after checking out the shops and somewhat lame harbour we chilled at the castle and called it an early night.

June 4th - Day 4

We went to the town called Dundee which was only a 20 minute drive away. Amber and I were tired of photographing so we parked our butts along a bike path and sketched away. I have some amazing ideas for the next year of Graphic Design! Soon here I should be doing some model photo shoots too! I'm so pumped to see what all this trip has to offer! Well after a Strongbow at the pub we came back home and chatted it up with the professors. For the rest of the weekend the castle is double booked so there are 17 students from illinois along with the 24 of us. It's a full house but should be quite fun. This makes me happy that I'm staying a short courtyard walk in the cottage with 6 others. I feels just like home there since right when I walk through the front door it smells just like the cabin(the toilet squeals the same, too). I need to leave the crew on the stairs and head to bed. I wish I could upload one photo but the internet is way too slow and can take up to 30 minutes for one photo, but tomorrow I should have time. Goodnight, sleep tight! I love you all!