Holiday! Scotland and Ireland

i am finally back from my holiday, which i dont know why people call them holidays becasue really they arent all that relaxing. we have had a bit of a rough start to our holiday is why that i say that. carissa and i started on our journey a little bit of a rush. Chapman, who is ususally is as promt as anyone ever could be ran late on his lecture and we had to run to the bus station to make the bus, which be did. we got on the bus to gatwick (remember this it is important) we settle in for the long bus rideto gatwick, which is a half hour south of london and takes about 2 1/2 hours to get to. we have our music on and are already for everything. we disembark at the terminal and head to our check in line. we look around and dont see it yet and we still had an hour till it opened so we sat down and ate a pb sandwich and girl scout thin mint cookies. we are all relaxed and ready to enjoy the wait in the queue (line). we get a little worried though because our flight was still not showing up, so carissa and i go up to the line and ask about it. it turns out that we are in the WRONG airport. yes in fact we went to gatwick when we were to be in STANSTED. oh god. we were going to miss our flight and our whole trip. we ask if we can change to a flight leaving out of there and they saids they were all full so our only hope was toget to standsted and make one of theirs. we have to run to the bus depot, which was on the other end and then find the bus. £54 pounds later and very lucky the bus was running late we got on and made our way to stansted. the drive was very nice and we chated with him for a bit along with another passenger who was from a small island off thewest coast of africa. the driver teasingly told us that if he was 20 years younger and not married that he would have joined us. we had our first stop at hethrow and sadly our two friends left us and a new driver got on . our old one wished us luck and was on his way then so were we! ....sort of...heres the funny thing it was rush our and rush our in london is hell. you really dont get to move at all. the ride to stansted took over 3 hours and we cried a little inside as we saw that oxford was closer than stansted at one point and for mere moments thought of going back and cancelling everyting and just break down crying in our rooms in wycliffe. however, we sallied forth and made it to stansted and booked a flight.....right after the bus driver forgot his turn and drove us 20 minutes out of the way and wasting more precisous minutes that we had to book the flight and make it to our plane, which was goingto leave in 40 minutes. we got there though safe and sound ready to battle whatever we had to to make it to edinburgh (oh yeah that was our first destination and i my dream place...well along with a dozen other places...). i should also mention that carissa and i had been praying the whole bus ride to god asking him to let there be 2 seats availble and waiting for us. cuase here was another thing we went there out of blind hopfullness because everywhere else was booked. we get to the ticket counter and a fine young english boy helped us by transfering our tickets to the flight in 20 mintues (well afterthe£35) fee. we get in line for our tickets and guesswhat we have to check our baggage.....one carry on only and our purses counted as that one thing. so another £20 later we check the luggage cause guess what easyjet makes you pay for checked luggage. we literally have to run to our gate in full home alone style and make it there for the final call. we get on the crowded packed and a little smelly plane and take our seats. we dont getto sit by each other of course and i end up seated next to this spanish man who tried to talk to me in spanish but i had to reply with my terrble spanish no comprenda. (i dont think that i even spelled it right). the captian comes on and i melt...full blown scottish accent and on top of that his name is stewie! the flight lasted a little over an hour and land safely in edinburgh scotland. now the bus, well that was rather easy we asked and found the airlink bus that dropped us off right in front of the main street that would lead us to our hostel. the bus ride, plane and second bus ride we were not in a good mood. we had just spent each about another 150 dollars that neither of us could really afford, but needed to in orderto make this trip work and not lose even more $. we get let off on Prince's street which ishte main streeet in new town. we look up and everything is gone. the worry, the stress and it all falls away as well gaze up at this fantastic sight: the castle.right there inthe heart of thecity glowing like a beacon. it was amazing. a true sight tobehold. we walked along the street reading the crude map that we got from the bus and looked on in amazment. all worth it. just that view was worth it. we wonder along and carissa gettting a little scared of where we were, and i sallying ahead trying to get us there. she was strong atthe airport taking charge of the flight stuff as i am aboutto break down, and only wanting to call my mom and cry, so i felt that ihad to takethe reins and not let her down. we asked 2 people for directions and they gave us 2 different ways.....but we knew we had to climb up the giant hill leading to the castle. i guess this would be a good time to discribe the castle and edinburgh. the city is focused around this giant castle and fortification that had been there since 1000 ad. (or so) it sits on a cliff side almost on a plateau. steep drop off all around excpet forhte entrance side. a formidable sight to behold. i would have hatedto besige that castel. we walk up the side of hte cliff and walk some more until we see the front gates of the castle. not knowing where our street is that we are looking for of course we ask again for directions finding out our road is right on the other side ofhte block. walking around and this huge church (which is now an events gathering place after it was abandonded) and at the end ofthe street was our hostel: castel rock hostel. and right in front was the castel. perfect name and a perfect view. you couldnt have asked for a better spot to stay. it was right at the heart of everything that we would want to do and see while we were there. we walk in to our hostel, a little worried that we may not have a place to stay since we were late and may have given up our spots. but we check in and everything is all right! let me tell you about this hostel. it was amazing. it was like living in a dorm but more like a home then dorms. everything was so relaxed and fun and very whimsical. it did not take itself too seriously at all. knights guard the stairs up to our rooms and paintings surround you in the halls all very modern and edgy. each room had its own theme and ours was plant biology. i got the bunk called root and carissa nice pear. other rooms were called underware, virgin, scottish bands and so things like that. we open our door and find that people are already sleeping so we tip toe around to find our beds and the first thing we do is hit the bed. we dont stay like that for long wanting to get out on the town mostly to find food and a drink to relax us even more. we start walking down the street and wonder around a bit more wondering if anything is open (it being after 1130) we see a group of people down the street and decied to follow them and then we hear music! so we naturally go furhter. it was coming outside of a pub called Flannery's Funneral. a good irish pub. ok were in scotland but a drink is a drink. we shared a pint (neither one us had much money on us and all we had enough for was that pint) it tasted amazing though. we sat and listened to the music and wondered around looking at all the stuff on the walls. we finished the pint and left (not having $ for another and second being too tiredto want a second one). we moozed our way back and tore thourgh my pack to find our saviour: peanut butter. we ate the rest of our bread and pb and cookies and chated it up with another girl staying at the hostel. her name was sophie and she had been there a month already and wasnt sure when she was going to leave. we offred her some pb and she ate it up. we washed out knife and headedfor bed......i grabed my clothes changed in bed and hit the pillow without washing up at all. i am feeling similarly tired so i think that i am going to head off to bed and write the rest of the tale tomorrow! later!

here is a link to my photos that i have up so far.
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/alyssa.gunstrom/EnglandScotlandIreland