Stirling: Home of Braveheart

Sorry I haven't been on here! It doesn't help when you have to pay for wifi at your hostel, and it only lasts for 24 hours till you have to pay again! Ridiculous! Anyways here goes!

Yesterday I literally flew out of my hostel in Glasgow. I had met a guy who I just didn't get a good vibe from so I'd been avoiding him the last day and didn't want to risk bumping into him in the lobby. I got into Stirling just before noon, checked my stuff, and went out to explore the town. And what do you think I found? A mall Of course I went shopping! I found a really good second hand book store, and I've been looking for a new book for a couple of days now, and I found like 4!! So I got 2, and one's a really big one, so I'm going to try and read it really fast and pick up another book before I go. They were super cheap too! So I was happy about that. I also got a couple new items of clothing and cute new shoes and.. oh you probably don't care that much! Haha. But I did find the CUTEST shirt that was WAY too big but it was only 5 pounds and is now my new sleeping shirt, check it out:

Cute! I also found some great pre-made vegan food from Marks and Spencer, so I got meals to last me the next 2 days, and it means I get a break from cooking so I was all smiles! I went to an early evening showing of My Sister's Keeper, which was sooo good, I even cried! And if you know me you know I don't cry in movies, but I definitely was tearing up quite a bit. When I got back to the hostel I finally found some guys who spoke English: Wolf from Baltimore, John from New Zealand, Ian from Scotland, and Mike from Aussie, and we ended up going to 2 pubs, checking out some live music, and Ian was showing me some local beers.

Didn't make it a late night though. Today I got up and the sun was shining and all was great! I headed out to the post office to mail some overdue post cards, then made my way up to Stirling Castle. And when I say 'up' I mean WAAAAY up. This friggen town is built on a hill, and man am I out of shape! I passed everyone on the way up, though, so it wasn't just me! Seriously it was quite the hike up the road to the Castle, but it was really cool. Was pretty pricey for what you get though, so I'm not sure I would do it again. It gave beautiful views of the whole city, however, so I guess it was worth it. And the gift shop was awesome! The tour didn't teach me much, and it was pouring rain and crazy-windy by the end, so I headed back to my hostel for a little break from the elements.

OH I did learn something crazy: they are renevating the castle (I think they're always revovating castles) and they are putting in these tapestries that take a team of women 4 years, 5 days a week, 8 hours a day to make 1. And they've only done like 4 of like 20! Kind of crazy, and I don't think I appreciate them as much as some people would, but here's a photo.

After warming up and drying off I caught the bus out to the William Wallace monument. The bus driver dropped me off and was like, in the typical Scottish way, "You just go 'round the corner, up the wee hill, and then right and you're there love!" I'm like ok thanks! RIGHT up a huge ass hill, and like a ten minute walk after that! Anyways, got there, paid the entrance fee, and the ladies like, "It's a ten minute up the wee path, dear, or you can take the courtesy shuttle." I'm like oh I'll just walk up the wee path. 20 MINUTES LATER I'm soaking wet from rain and sweat and I'm at the effing monument. And my calves were burning.

So you get in and you walk up these teeeeny tiny stairs. The monument was built in the late 1800's, and it must have been built by very thin people because you could hardly fit 2 people on the stairs. If someone was coming up, the people going down had to stop and wait. And it was a loooong way up: 264 stairs! With 3 different stopping points on the way up. I couldn't help thinking that if you were a big person, you'd have to make everyone wait at the top so you could go up because there's no way you would fit!

Anyways it was really interesting; it told the story of William Wallace, and a little bit about other noble Scottish men, and about the making of the monument. At the top is supposed to be an amazing view, but the weather and mist proved otherwise, and you had to focus more on not being blown away than how far out you could see.

Tonight I went and saw Harry Potter. I'm really into the movie theater right now apparently! Hey, it's been a while! It was really cool because I'm pretty sure there were shots of some things I've seen over here. Pretty sure, anyways. And it was one of those moments when a) you realize you just saw a movie, for the second night, all by yourself! and b) you walk out of the theater (or, sorry, cinema) and forget you're in Scotland! That second part was really cool. And other than the brattiest little kids I've ever met and apart from me yelling at them halfway through (even though they barely understood my accent) the movie was awesome! I totally have the hugest crush on Ronald Weasley

That's another thing I forget to say in past posts: it's so funny the different words we use. Like chips are crisps and fries are chips, and if you go to get fries and ask for fries, some people won't even serve you until you say chips! And when I ask where the washroom is they look at me like I have four heads. I hate saying 'toilet' it's such an ugly word! Ian taught me that real ladies say 'the ladies' anyways so I'm gonna try and adopt that one. Also, it's a damn good thing I got new shoes before I left because they are saving my life! All I do is walk around, and here all I do is walk up ginormous hills! But I'm off to Edinburgh tomorrow; something I've been waiting for forever! Hope everyone is well and that's in sunny in your part of the world! I'm very jealous!