Haggis Is Actually Delicious

hag•gis |ˈhagis|
noun ( pl. same)

A Scottish dish consisting of a sheep's or calf's offal mixed with suet, oatmeal, and seasoning and boiled in a bag, traditionally one made from the animal's stomach.



Feb. 15-21

Not much exciting happened this week in class. I did go back to the doctor on Sunday and got more medicine, which was great. Every time I talk to one of you grown-ups (here's looking at you, Mom), you ask me if I go to class at all.

Of course I do. Attendance is actually mandatory. And not the kinda-sorta-not-really mandatory it is on campus, but legit mandatory. If we miss class, they drop our final grade by a letter. So yeah, I go to class. I just assumed you weren't interested in themes in British philosophy or macroeconomics. Let me know if you are.

On Friday, we got up early to catch our train to Edinburgh. Trains, in case you don't know, are super fun. More leg room than planes, beautiful views, a "quiet carriage" for those of us who want to go back to bed and THERE'S A TROLLEY JUST LIKE HARRY POTTER!!! It was awesome. Joey, Jerry and I got there around 2:30 and walked down to our hostel, which was unfortunately in the new part of town. After that we walked up the hill to a place right by the Castle, on the Royal Mile and did a whiskey tour. It cost £10, but believe me when I say it was so WORTH it. We took a little Disney theme park kinda ride through a museum that explained how scotch whiskey is made and then we did a whiskey tasting and saw the biggest scotch whiskey collection in the world. I'm pretty much an expert now. You should be proud, Mommy.

After that, we met Coleen at the train station (she took a later train because she had class), dropped her stuff off at the hostel and grabbed dinner. Joey ordered haggis and let me try some. It actually was pretty delicious. I thought for sure it was going to be gross for some reason, but it wasn't. It was actually delicious. I highly recommend it.

That night we walked down the Royal Mile and went in a few pubs/clubs that had bands, but we pretty much called it an early night because the next morning we got up early for...

THE HIGHLANDS TOUR!

which was fantastic! Words cannot begin to describe how beautiful it was. One of the guys actually said that the scenery was "breathtaking as sh*t." That's the what the picture at the beginning is from, the breathtaking mountains. It was awesome. And our tour guide/bus driver was hilarious. He would say things like, "There's a history of people climbing the mountain and running back down naked," or "Don't cross the road or you'll die," and "Look happy, like you're having fun, so all the other tour guides will feel like losers." It was a lot of fun and he knew a lot about everything. If you're ever in Scotland, I highly recommend it. We eventually made our way up to Loch Ness, which was pretty cool. The picture is of me about to feed Jerry to the monster.

We got back to Edinburgh at like 8pm on Saturday night and Dan, Cooper and Lauren (I went to Manchester with them) texted me because they were in town, so we met them at the bar in our hostel and then went out to a club. I'm still not sure if it was a gay club or not, but there were a lot of guys dressed like girls and girls dressed like tramps. It was weird. Maybe it was just a lot of stag and hen parties. Either way, we didn't stay very long and got the heck outta there when creepy people started dancing too close to us.

Sunday morning we got up early-ish, checked out of the hostel and went up to Edinburgh Castle. We literally could have spent an entire day there; it was so cool! Inside there were a bunch of different museums, a cafe called "The Redcoat" that we all agreed we couldn't possibly eat at and the Royal jewels of Scotland, which were pretty sweet. We forced ourselves to leave in time to go to the Elephant House though, the "birthplace" of Harry Potter. The service was kinda slow, but it had a good atmosphere, good food and a great view, so it was okay.

We had to leave in a hurry, but we made it to our train on time. Unfortunately, our train didn't have room for us. Lesson learned: don't book unreserved seats. We managed to get on the next train though, so there was only a short delay.

And Mom, I'm really sorry, but I did talk to some strangers in Scotland. But don't worry, I'm fiiiiine. And I promise I won't do it again. Ever.