land of the scots

scotland for christmas and new years.

let's go to the uk again and get screwed over by the pound -_-

ok but in all reality i do like the uk and it might be because they speak english (even though sometimes i think they're speaking a foreign language with their accents and little words) but it's a good time. so i went to scotland for christmas with my friend jillian and her family. fun diddly dum! and the fun started when i entered the uk...

but first i took an airplane selfie and this guy behind me wanted to get in on the action i guess.

so when you enter the uk you have to fill out a landing card that basically asks you how long will you be here, what are you doing here, where are you staying, etc. well once problem...i didn't know jillian's address.

so i got grilled.

I'M JUST A LITTLE AMERICAN GIRL TRYING TO GO TO SCOTLAND FOR CHRISTMAS!!!! 

i got asked SO. MANY. QUESTIONS. including, how long have you known your friend? what do you do in france? how much money do you have on you right now? oh, only that much? (yes. i'm an au pair what do you expect?) how do you plan to pay for things? how much money do you have in your bank account? on and on and on with these questions, extremely personal also, until i showed her my return ticket to france and she let me go. why she had to know how much money i had and everything, i do not know. i could've shown her my return ticket sooner and been free. geez. 

and to make my welcome to the uk even better, security felt me up. i'm apparently a real threat. -_-

anyways i finally made it to scotland. wooooo hoooooo! christmas BREAK!

first view of scotland!

one of the first days we went to tesco where they had...AN AMERICAN AISLE. HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE. and it wasn't extremely overpriced!!! i was seriously almost on the floor crying tears of joy.

soooo..i made my famous chocolate pie, and you have to whip the cream. they didn't have a whisk or a hand held mixer so we became the mixers.

one day i had irn bru! it's the leading soda in scotland, before coke even! (it was ok. i'll still have my mountain dew over this)

Ardrossan (where jillian and her family live) (right by the ocean)

 Christmas Eve we went to Glasgow to do some shopping. there was this ferris wheel and the clouds/sunset was too pretty not to take a picture of. so christmas eve was a good day. got to see some of glasgow and shopping which of course i always love. :D

there was a solemn mood because on the day i arrived a "bin lorry" (garbage truck as us americans say) crashed into George Square and killed 6 people. it was really sad, especially since it was right before christmas. so people were leaving flowers and candles and little things out in memory of those who were killed.

i love these lights. i want them in my room.

everyone puts a cone on this guys head on Glasgow
so now the cone is a permanent fixture...on his head...
idk.

train station! largest single pane glass window.

then it was CHRISTMAS DAYYYYY!!!! :D :D :D i missed my annual night before christmas stories, but waking up at 3 in the morning wasn't in the stars for me because santa would've already come and i couldn't go down and peek. next year i'll appreciate it a million times more.

santa found me all the way in scotland! jillians parents were so nice and got me some gifts. :) 

then it was dinner time...

OM NOM NOM NOM

i was so beyond stuffed. i sure was a happy camper though! oh and there's this fun tradition...so they have these things called poppers and one person takes one side and the other person takes the other then you pull and it pops and whoever has the bigger side wins the prizes in it. and in it there's a crown, a joke, and a little toy thingy. i was excited. i think i want to start doing that every year.

me and jillian in our christmas crowns on christmas day in front of the christmas tree. :)

also of course i facetimed my family! as soon as they woke up i was ready to talk to them and i was able to read (with much difficulty) my french night before christmas. it's a good thing the boys aren't older or else they would've been yelling at me that they wanted to open presents and not listen to aunt cori struggle through this story they aren't following along with. so i read to them then i facetimed them later to see what they got, this is the only picture i grabbed from it, brycey got a dino hoodie that kaila made and i have never seen anything greater. that kid loves dinosaurs. now he is one.

now if someone could make me a hoodie so i can be a puppy that'd be great thanks.

so christmas was successful. i missed my family though. especially since it was the first christmas my nephews were together for christmas day.

then it was boxing day! so on the 26th there used to be boxing matches so that's why it's boxing days. well now it's when stores have sales so we went shopping again. :) then we went out to eat at a cool restaurant and it was a good boxing day. i didn't see any boxing though but idk if they still do that on boxing day...anyways moving on.

the 27th we hit up glasgow again to see more of the sites, so i saw glasgow university...we may or may not have gotten locked/fenced in and had to find an escape route and considered hopping over fences and even tried to a couple times...other than that it was good!

the next couple days we hopped over to jillians aunt and uncles house and watched her cousins perform in an open mic night and then the next day we were off to aberdeen to visit her sister and nieces! and the dog. :):):)

I LOVE DOGS MORE THAN 97% OF THE HUMAN POPULATION.

a little (ok big) black labradoodle and he was so cute and funny and i love him so much. he was a great dancer. and my dad asked if he had a scottish accent...he doesn't. but just look at how cute!!! 

and they have WESTIE COOKIES! reminds me of my little nugget at home. just too cute.

so in aberdeen we played a murder mystery game (wasn't me i swear) and had a delishhhh dinner and it was a jolly good time. :)

the next day i ventured to edinburgh! the birthplace of harry potter! oh and the capital of scotland. but more importantly birthplace of harry potter. ;)

it's quite a pretty place if i do say so myself.

balmoral hotel. where j.k rowling finished the series in one of their rooms. and carved about it on the bottom of a statue which is now encased in glass and you can stay in that room for a cheap price of about 1000 pounds a night. :)

edinburgh castle!

it's quite literally on a cliff. 

tartan weaving

st. giles cathedral!

half pizza and chips. *heart eyes here* (except it made me feel a little icky afterwards...but initially it was fantastic.)

i ordered it and the guy went "it's deep fried you know." well yeah that's why i want it hello.

greyfriars bobby! cutest story ever. i hope to one day have a dog this loyal. it almost made me tear up to be honest.

so me, being the ultimate harry potter nerd i am (see london post for further proof you may need) i took a harry potter walking tour. i thought i'd be the only one but there were lots of people! yahoo! it took us to the graveyard where jk rowling got some of her inspiration for names, and coincidentally there's a grave for a tom riddle and his father tom riddle. coincidence? I THINK NOT! that's where voldy is. (rip) i guess people leave notes and stuff at this grave. hahaha poor tom riddle's in heaven (or hell) watching are probs like omg everyone loves us! ...nope sorry guys it's for voldemort. but she took us around to where she wrote the books, got inspiration for hogwarts, and told us all about jk rowling and her history with edinburgh. it was very exciting stuff.

TOM RIDDLE'S GRAVEEEEE. just summoning the dark lord at his grave. >:) wahahaha. the tour guide gave wands to the "younger kids" of course i had to ask how young is younger kids...i got a wand. (but then she made us give them back at the end. how rude.)

my little heart. greyfriar bobby.

victoria street! they say this is the inspiration for diagon alley because there's a magic shop, christmas shop, and it's colorful and twisty. ok sure.

jk rowlings hands. the hands that created the best book series and movie series in the whole wide world.

so now i've been to where to movies were created, where the book was created, i'm gonna go ahead and say i'm a super harry potter nerd...(although this isn't exactly where she wrote the books. she had eaten here before but she didn't write them here it was at another cafe.)

rubbing the greyfriar bobbys nose for luck. and hoping i'll one day get a puppy as cute as this and loyal. 

edinburgh at night. the balmoral hotel. one day i'll stay there. one day.

anyways, scotland was really nice and pretty. just driving along and riding the train there's so many open fields with sheep just chilling. and rolling hills. and it's so green. and then there's the ocean just chillin. 

exhibit a.

but now i'm back in france. 6 1/2 months then back to AMERICA. holla for a dolla. but i gotta get on planning my next trip.

i'll just leave you with this because dogs and corinne just get it.

puppies in paris

after living in france for three months i finally made it to the place that france is known for, PAREEEEE (that's how the french say it)
it was nice, it was pretty, it was cool, it was fun.
i met up with rachel (remember her? london? same girl different country. WHAT?) and some of her friends and it was so fun! she told me she was doing a weekend trip to paris so i hopped on this website that's a carpooling website where people who are venturing off to far off lands post their journeys and you can catch a ride with them and pay them. so a pretty good deal if i say so myself. cheaper than the train. so i did that, i actually knew the guy i got a ride with which was funny and convenient because he spoke english. so i got there and met up with them (after getting mcdonalds. a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do.) and i got there friday evening so we didn't do anything just went to bed. then saturday we did it all! they already had a day head start so they went in the louvre (fun fact, if you're a student and have your student visa then it's FO FREE! i didn't take my passport cause i didn't know so booooooooo. but it's ok i'm sure i'll venture to paris again.) so while they did the louvre i went about and tried to find the notre dame. let me just say i am so bad at directions. i had my phone telling me where to go and everything and a map! and rick steves! geez lois. so i ended up walking towards the eiffel tower instead of the notre dame and they're in opposite directions of each other. -_- but the eiffel tower was nice to stumble upon! true story...when i first saw it i thought "i think that's the eiffel tower. but it could be a phone tower." but then i thought lol this is paris it's the eiffel tower.

so on i went, paris has so many bridges including...

the lock bridge! the one everyone fantasizes about going to to buy a lock and write their name and their significant lovers name and throw the key in the river and lock their love forever! so tender. i don't have a significant other so i didn't have to spend money on a lock or pollute the seine river. *thumbs up*

this girl saw me struggling taking a picture of myself in front of the lock bridge so offered. how sweet. 

fun fact: they're starting to take panels of the lock bridge down and replacing it with clear plastic/glass kind of panel so that people can't lock their love anymore. i guess it is polluting the river and becoming an eye sore.

then i finally got to the notre dame! i didn't see the hunchback. if i had my backpack i would've been the hunchback.

here's the inside. they had a service going on, i feel like that'd be so hard to concentrate with a constant flow of people coming in. but props to them they weren't fazed at all.

it's quite pretty.

montmartre! this place is really cool. i actually didn't even know about it. but there are so many steps. so mom and dad get in shape for montmarte ;) i need to get in shape to do it again too...but it's so pretty and the views are great. 

rick steves helped me out, told me the history and everything. thanks rick.

the view from montmartre!

friendly friends!

elephant love medley was stuck in my head as soon as i saw this. also, it's on their red light district and you don't want to make the mistake we made walking the wrong direction looking for it just to find out it's the other way. -_- 

then....THE EIFFEL TOWER! we got out of the metro stop that's for the eiffel tower and we seriously walked out expecting to see it in all its glory...we couldn't find it. true story. they're doing construction which was blocking it at first then we saw it and it's not a dissappointment!

HIGHLIGHT OF MY WHOLE TRIP/TIME IN FRANCE

so this little guys name is Theo. Theo and his owner are working on a book called Adventures of Theo. so this guy goes around, takes this little doggie and takes pictures of him in different iconic places. WAS IT FATE OR WHAT THAT I MET A DOGGIE IN PARIS IN FRONT OF THE EIFFEL TOWER. the guy was so sweet letting us take pictures of the dog and with him. oh he was so adorable and that's my life goal to travel with my future doggie but i think i pittie is a little more difficult to take around...

he said he got him into the louvre. impressive. but let's be honest who could say no to that face?!

he could say no to my face though. 

gorgeous.

the eiffel tower was built for a world fair, and everyone thought it was stupid and they were going to take it down after the world fair then decided mmm i guess we'll keep it. good thing they did!!! oh and another fun fact: they almost made a giant guillotine instead hahahahahaha.

GLITTERY SHIMMERY MOST BEAUTIFUL SIGHT I'VE SEEN.

i got my ravioli. i love ravioli. i've been craving ravioli since i got to france and i got it. 

sunday! (can you believe all that before was just saturday?! we get stuff done.) rachel and her friend rachel went back to england and me and their other friend alyssa who's studying about 30 minutes away from nantes weren't leaving until later but she was going to a museum and i had some more site (sight? i still don't know the right one) seeing to do. so i went to..........arc de triomphe!

and champs elysses *HEART EYES HEART EYES HEART EYES*

i was told to stop by laduree for macaroons...holy macarooni (see what i did there) this is what i imagine they sell in heaven. i've never had macaroons (macarons?) before and geez louise best thing ever.

paris!

i was going to find this cathedral my dearest mother told me about...ended up here again. so i thought ok i'll take another picture.

then i got to this cathedral. these stained glass windows...AMAZING. a lot of it was under construction but still. so pretty. and as an added bonus i got in fo free cause i'm a student! kinda...! visa wise i am. and i didn't even need my visa to get in here. my french is just that good i guess.

rainy paris streets. it's pretty.

so yeah that's paris. a quick weekend trip but it was so fun. we stayed in this airbnb place, basically people rent out extra rooms they have in their apartments/house/whatever and it's super nice. also paris is extremely well connected with their metro system. and it was only 3.75 for an unlimited day because...under 26! :D it was great, grand, amazing. i can't wait until my parents come or until i go again. this girl in my class, her host family has an apartment in paris and they said she could go whenever she wants...so i think we'll be planning some trips. so yes. that was paris. it's a little late. ok a lot late. but what matters is that it happened! new years resolution: don't wait forever to post a post. ok cool well au revoir. :)