Ahh, so much to do, so little time.

The playfield Institute was in Fife, and it was a beautiful drive.  Our bus driver, Graham, said being a bus driver was his side job, he was a tour guide (yes, this means he was not the best driver).  But he was awesome.  On the way he pointed out the park in which golf was invented, the birthplace of Sean Connery and Alexander Graham Bell, the bridge that was voted best in the world, oh and the best place to hit tourists as you round a corner.

At the Playfield Institute we had a talk about interventions that are being conducted to try and make the Scottish people more happy.  We then learned Chi Quong and did a few other things.  After that we had another half hour or so drive to Elie for kayaking in the North Sea! Elie was BEAUTIFUL.  Just like a small town out of an old British movie or something.

We were given wet suits so even though it started pouring while we were out there, I barely felt a thing (besides the fact that I couldn't see due to the whole glasses thing).  I got stuck in a 2-person kayak, but the other kid had been canoeing before so it worked out well. 

Thursday morning we went to Edinburgh Castle! It was really foggy, but the view was still amazing.

The inside of the castle had mostly been renovated to re-enactments of the royal family with creepy wax people so I didn't take too many pictures of that, but it was still amazing.

After the castle, we went to the National Museum of Scotland.  I could get lost in there, actually, I did get lost in there.  It starts on the basement floor with beginnings and early people.  Old bones and artifacts, and theories about how Scotland came to be where it is. Up on the 6th floor, is from about the 1950's to now.  Each floor has multiple wings for technology, animals, and everything in between.  The 7th floor is a rooftop overlook.  I don't even like museums, but I was in there for almost two hours.  Mommy could wander through for a week and not see everything and fill up 6 memory cards with pictures.

For lunch we went to the Elephant House! It's a big deal because that's the cafe where JK Rowling used to go to write Harry Potter! Also exciting because I had a bacon, brie and mango chutney sandwich and it was one of the most delicious things I've ever had.

After a few hours of wandering and shopping (and a run in with 2 scottish girls who rubbed self-tanning lotion on a girl in my class's face and yelled at us) we had the Scotch Whisky tour! It was awesome learning about the 4 different areas that make different kinds of Whisky.  We got to see the largest collection of Whisky ever.  Unfortunately, it didn't make me like whisky any more than I already hadn't.  After our last dinner together as a class, I stayed in because I was exhausted and had to be up at 6:30 on Friday.

Friday! We got up and it was beautiful and sunny.  We ate breakfast and then were about to begin our hike up to Arthur's seat.  Of course, it started raining.  The weather changes in the blink of an eye in Scotland.  Most of our class hiked it anyway and it was well worth it.  It was beautiful.

 On the way up.

 At the top.

Cold and wet, but having a great time!

And that means it was very slippery on the way down, but no worries I had my knee brace on!
After that we went to the airport. Oh, funny story. I didn't take my knee brace off before I walked through the metal detector so obviously it went off.  I thought they would just be like oh, take the brace off and walk through again. BUT NO. they were all, excuse me we need to pat you down, don't mind me I'm just going to stick my hands down your pants and wave you over with a little mini metal detector.  Then they like scanned my knees? It was weird. And my class was just standing there laughing at me.  After that whole ordeal, I went to get my carry on and there's a worker standing there holding my laptop, out of its case, being like who's is this? I was like uh, mine? And she told me it had been selected for a random scan.  Um, isn't that what you do when it goes through the machine that the carry-ons go through? Obviously it was fine, but still, Edinburgh airport, you are annoying.

Finally, back to Copenhagen! I was gone for 5 days and I missed it so much.  The people in Scotland were mean, honked as soon as their lights changed if you were still crossing the street, and were not as pretty as the Danes (sorry if anyone's Scottish).

The first new thing when we got to Copenhagen was the open top truckish type cars driving through the streets at random intervals, with screaming teenagers, boys and girls, hanging out the top with blasting music and lots of honking.  Apparently, that is how they celebrate high school graduation.  And it lasts for days.  I still heard them this morning (Sunday) carrying on through the streets.

Saturday we went to Sweden for the day! Malmo was adorable.  We didn't go into much of the modern area, so the areas we were in were quaint and beautiful.  We walked through the town and the Lilla Torg, through a park, saw a windmill and the twisted torso, and found the beach.

It was a full day and then we came back and went out to celebrate our last Saturday here!

This morning was another full day.  We finally did the walking tour of Copenhagen! This took us by Rosenborg castle, the Gelfion fountain, a few churches, and the Little Mermaid! As it was a beautiful Sunday afternoon it was very crowded, but I managed to get a few good pictures!

 We ended up cutting the tour a little short because it took us down to a different area of the city, but there weren't many big attractions there.  I would like to get to go down to explore, but think the week is going to be very busy!
We went up the round tower (I don't know what it used to be used for) but it has a beautiful overlook of the city when you get to the top!

Brittany, Jill, and I at the top.

Finally, we came back and made dinner.  But that was not the end of the day! Tonight was the Finals of the Euro Cup and although Denmark was eliminated the first day I was here, they obviously still have huge gatherings in the park with flat screens showing the game.  Interestingly, the first game they were all wearing red and had their faces painted.  They stood and jumped and cheered.  For this game, they brought blankets and wore their normal clothes (we termed their fashion chicemo for chic but black and emo) and sat down and watched the game in a more calm setting.  Espana won woohoo!

Plans for this week: art museums, the church of our savior, souvenir shopping, the harbor jump, tour of the carlsberg brewery, clubbing, oh and class and homework. So much to do, so little time!

So that's why I haven't posted in so long.  It's been crazy and I'm so sad that it's ending soon. And now I'm exhausted and going to bed.