The grass is always greener in Scotland

The grass in Scotland really is freakishly bright. And it's always perfect. It looks like a golf course, even in the middle of the woods. Brent said it's because of all the rain, but it's starting to make sense why the Scots invented golf.
I went to Scotland!! I saw 3 rainbows, a black sheep, and highland coo!! I ate so much chicken!! I got to hang out with Brent!! It was such an awesome trip.
Ok, so the plane ride over is worth mentioning. I was only awake for maybe 10 mins total. Seriously, I don't remember switching planes, even though I did in London. I don't remember the second take-off. I don't remember ever landing. I was pretty much just magically in Glasgow. In my defense, I did have to wake up at 2 am and walk to the U-Bahn station. Anyway, for the time I was awake, I got to see an amazing red red red sunrise (I didn't know that color red existed), and I got to see the morning fog over everything, and the city lights glowing through, and my personal favorite, valleys where the fog was hanging out, and the streetlights were glowing, and it made it look like the mouth of hell.
So, I made it to Glasgow. Glasgow is....St. Louis. Pretty much. I mean, the newer parts are newer and nicer, and the older parts are older and more run down, but I could not get over how much that city reminded me of St. Louis. The plan was to look at Glasgow a bit, but I quickly abandoned that idea. Glasgow just didn't seem like a get out and walk around type city. Again, St. Louis. But- I did buy a chicken wrap!! Be excited!!! I haven't had a chicken sandwitch since August.
So, I took the bus out of Glasgow and headed towards Edinburgh. First off, the scenery was just gorgeous. Second, the bus did not take as long as I expected. Apparently I'm really bad at reading Scottish bus schedules. So I got there a little before I was supposed to meet Brent. No problem, I wandered around the general area of the bus station, meaning Princes Street, with all it's stores, and the park in front of the castle.
And then I found Brent!!! Yay!!! It was really exciting to see him. It probably would have been really exciting to see anyone from home, but I also love Brent, so bonus for me. He took me up this hill, where they tried to build an acropolis like in Greece, then ran out of money...I don't know, it was weird. But, the view was amazing. It was sunset (it was 3 in the afternoon!!), and we walked around the hill so I got to see the city, the ocean, and the hills. I didn't take any pictures though. Sorry.
Next we went to a coffee shop, where the next really exciting thing happened to me- I got a mocha!! They don't have mochas in Vienna, too wimpy for them. Man, chicken, Mochas, they speak my language...this trip is already awesome.
We went to Brents flat- which I love. Very cute. I took a nap and then got to meet his roomies, who I love. I'm very happy in this post. Don't worry, the bitterness will come later. We walked down the street and bought a CHICKEN Donner Kebab. Seriously. In love with Scotland. Oh wait, I think I missed the part where we went to a pub. We went to a pub to use the free wireless internet and plan our trip on Sat, and while we were there I drank a Cider and they played Franz Ferdinand the whole time. Perfect. (Franz Ferdinand is a Scottish band, and one of my favorite bands ever) And then we (me, Brent, one of his roomies and a girl who lives upstairs) went out and rented Elf and watched it, while drinking Chai. Brent and I were told that Americans think Christmas is too happy.
The next morning I slept in really late. Brent had school, so we were going to meet up after he was done. I had breakfast, and was given a quick lesson in techno by Brent's roomie (They have names, I'm just pretty sure I'm spelling them wrong, but his name is Vickum, and he's from India). Then I set out on the town. I had one mission: to look up what times and how much this one particular ghost tour costs. I did that. Mission accomplished. I ducked into a Tesco really quickly and bought some OJ, and then into a pharmacey and bought some cough drops, cold medicine, and asprin for under 1.50 pounds. Just in case your wondering, I wasn't sick, it's just really hard to buy medicine in Vienna. Anyway, my point was that Scotland would be super cheap if the conversion rate wasn't so outrageous.
Errands done, I walked up and down the Royal Mile. I went into a Tarten shop. It was kinda rainy and I got cold, so I went into the National Gallery, which was free. I tried to find the Degas paintings but got sidetracked by a Titian painting, and also by easedropping on 2 people disscussing Macs vs. PCs for drafting. Is this a normal topic of conversation in Europe that I'm missing out on by not speaking German? Because if so I'm going to be a little upset.
After the Gallery, I took the scenic route to Brent's School, Edinburgh College of Arts, which I'm very jealous of the view from. Brent took a little longer than expected, so I played around in the park nearby while waiting. It was very pretty, but by the time he got out I was a little cold. We went back to the flat and had some tea and toast, and debated on going on the ghost tour, but we were both a little tired and didn't really feel like going out in the rain again. So instead we took a nap. Then out to the grocery store where we purchased the fixings for some ghetto-janky tacos and nachos. We spent the rest of the night eating and hanging out with Brents roomies and friends, who were taking the overnight bus to London that night. After they all left, Brent, Morgan (his girlfriend) and I watched Grey's Anatomy. It was a good day.
Saturday!! Brent and I catch the earliest bus we can to Perth. In our case, earliest=9:40. Well, we did have to walk to the bus station. The busride to Perth was so beautiful. After getting there and getting directions from the tourist info place, we buy some sandwiches and muffins and head up the hill. What is it with me and hills? Why am I constantly going up hills? Anyway, it was "quite steep" but we make it to the place where it stops being "walking up the side of the road" and starts being "walking up a weird asphalty-trail". The trails are paved in this weird, loose, asphalt-like substance that's actually pretty clever. It kinda abosorbes the water without getting muddy, and makes it much nicer to walk along. Anyway, it goes without saying that the landscape is beautiful. Perth is described as being the "divide between the lowlands and the highlands", so the landscape was different depending on what direction you were looking. And towards the highlands- there was snow!!! Snow!!! We got really excited when we saw that on the busride, and starting pointing and being really loud about it. And the lowlands....they just looked fake. They were so gorgeous. We ate our lunch on top of the hill. It was so much fun!! The signs warn you about dangerous cliffs, but they're only dangerous if you walk off the trail to the edge. And I only did that once. Or twice.
So me and Brent continue wandering around the woods and generally having a great time. I think it was really great for both of us to be out of cities for one afternoon. And we saw sheep up close!! The plan was to head back to Edinburgh and climb up Arther's Seat (this hill on the outskirts of town) while we still had some daylight. But the bus we got on took the scenic route through like 5 villages, and made a ton of stops, so it ended up taking us twice as long to get home, and by the time we did the sun was setting fast, we were tired, and that bus was not comfortable. So we went home, had some tea, watched some Grey's Anatomy, and took a nap.
Morgan was supposed to hang out with us that night, but she had to work a long day on Sat, and more work on Sun, so she couldn't come out, but she did stop by the flat for awhile. Me and Brent cooked a pizza. Very yummy, and again food I haven't had since at least August. A little background infomation. Scotland is known for some foods. There's some fish soup thing, Haggis of course, and Fried Mars Bars. There's a little food place right next to Brent's flat that I'm pretty sure, judgeing by the menu and display case, only sells fried foods, Mars Bars included. If you look at the food they display, you can't tell what anything is through the fried....whatever it is coating it. Brent says they'll fry up anything you want if you bring it in, he knows someone who once fried Skittles even. He also made a good point that they fry fish and sausage moments before they fry your Mars Bar in the same oil. Point being, I had to have a fried Mars Bar. It actually...wasn't bad. I mean, I couldn't have finished it alone, but it wasn't bad. This frying thing isn't such a bad idea. Immediatly following the Mars Bar, me and Brent head out to a club to dance. You may think this story is not going to end well, but you are wrong. We had a wonderful night.
Sunday was pretty uneventful. I had to leave really early thanks to the stupid sunday bus route. It was so sad to leave. If someone would have come up to me on the way to Scotland and asked me if I wanted to transfer to Edinburgh, I would have said yes without any hesitation. We did stop by the building where JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter. Other than that, I bascially said goodbye to Brent (sad!) and left Scotland (sad!). The out-of-the-way busride to Glasgow was super beautiful. And Glasgow still reminded me of St. Louis. And I did get to buy an English magazine to read on the plane.
And now for the bitterness. I arrive back in Vienna where I buy a ticket on the train into the city, only to find out after I buy it that the last train has already left. Thanks for letting me know that. I then try to ask someone for help on where I'm supposed to go, but no one will give me more than a shrug or MAYBE a yes or no. And did I mention I missed the train because they only had one passport line open, so I had to go to the back of the EU line? And then they made me pay for a bus ticket into the city, even though I already pay for a monthly bus pass and I bought that worthless train ticket. After the cheap and easy buslines in Scotland, this is really frustrating that it's costing me more and is more confusing just to get home from the airport. Not to mention, if I asked someone a question in Scotland they would no only give me a one word respone, but actually tell me how to get to where I wanted to go. It was not a good welcome back.
Long story short, I'm really tired as I type this so my weekend may not come off as that eventful but overall, I think it was my favorite trip so far, and I love Scotland so much now.