Rock 'n Roller Coller Rides

This week has been full of ups and downs; sometimes it seems that even an hour can be full of as many ups and downs as there are waves upon the sea. Thursday I was feeling pretty low because I had a few mishaps with integrating socially; today I feel great because it's been a pretty rocking weekend so far. So on Friday, I pretty much did the same thing I always do - wake up, go to class, go to the library. 

However, in the evening there was a Young Single Adult dance in Glasgow, which I went to. There were fifteen (twenty, actually) of us who piled in four cars and made the hour-long journey across Scotland's waist to Scotland's linty belly button, Glasgow. The dance was lovably awkward in the way that all of the American dances I've ever been to have been awkward. The Jovenes Adultos Solteros dances in Spain were much better, and there were plenty of Latin American men who knew how to dance salsa, meringue, etc. Not so much in Scotland, which is okay. There are and will always be ceilidhs!

What I loved most is that I felt like a part of something, included in the group, a member, which is what I feel I have been missing and what I find hardest to achieve. We stayed out late as a group, went and grabbed McDonalds (they have Rolo McFlurries over here!), I fell asleep in the car on the ride home, and then I made it back to my flat and promptly did my evening rituals and tucked myself into bed.

And today I woke up really early to go to Stirling! Yes, I've already been, but a few friends were going, so I thought I'd tag along. In addition to the Castle (the royal apartments were still closed), we saw the Tolbooth (not that impressive, but has been turned into an intriguing modern art gallery), tried to see Holy Rude kirk (it is spelled poorly and was closed), and the Wallace Monument, all of which I had missed on the first go-around. After dinner and reading for a bit, I went to the Montague and met a few other friends for Halloween. I had my second lemon-and-lime bitters and my first successful bob for apples!

All in all, a successful day. Status: loving Scotland.

The tower is the Wallace Monument, which I climbed.

Cemetery in Stirling.

Great Hall at Stirling Castle

Stirling Castle from the Wallace Monument

Arches at the top of the Wallace Monument

Even abroad, life is not always wonderful. There are highs and lows in Scotland just like there is anywhere else, but when the lows come, they help to make the highs all the better, more meaningful, and more delightful, lest 'shade to shade doth come too easily', to make the fire warmer and give it a deeper glow (some things that Keats said and Stevenson may have said a long time ago).