A Really, Really Long Family Update Letter

Hey Everyone!!

A lot has happened since the last time I sent out an e-mail. I went to the Falkland Palace in Fife, St. Andrews, and Lindisfarne, England. We were supposed to go to a distillery and some other castle, but something happened to cancel that trip, so instead we headed down over the boarder to England and the Holy Island.

Falkland Palace was absolutely beautiful! I wish we would have taken pictures inside, but apparently the castles and things that are sponsored by the National Trust don’t allow you to take pictures inside. They say its to stop people from stealing things from the inside, but if I’m being honest. . .if I wanted something, I could just remember where it is and then break in, can’t I? I think a more logical explanation would be to stop duplicate forgeries from being produced. But whatever. There’s nothing I can do about it, except recommend that if you make it to Scotland that you go to Falkland Palace because it is the most beautiful castle/palace I have been to so far. Sadly, they didn’t have a book on the place either or pictures on the internet, so I can’t at all share how beautiful the inside is. Me and a few of the people I was with all agreed that it was the most comfortable place we had been. We could all see ourselves living there comfortably.

Mary Queen of Scots grew up at this palace and used to play tennis here while wearing knickers, which was very scandalous. We went up into what was supposedly her bedroom and above the doorway was her death mask (a mould they take of your head after you’ve died). Claudia (a girl from Czech) was commenting on how she found the religious pray nook a little disturbing and we were standing by the bed and all of a sudden we heard a knocking sound from across the room. Somehow, it was only me, Maria, Claudia, and Natsuho in the room and a few of us are convinced it was something supernatural being offended by Claudia’s comments about the prayer nook. Just another strange occurrence to add to the books.

The grounds were beautiful! We went to the oldest tennis court, which was very… old. The landscape was breathtaking, as you can tell from the pictures if you can see them. It was a really great place and the weather got so much better as the day went on. It started out somewhat rainy, but became really nice. On our drive to the palace we passed over the Forth Road bridge and we could see the Forth Rail bridge. They were absolutely awesome!!! I wish I had taken pictures out of the window, but I wasn’t in a good position on the bus.

After the palace, we hopped back on the bus and headed over to St. Andrews. We saw the ruins of the St. Andrews Castle, the Cathedral, the University and the First Golf Course! Maria decided to take a swim in the North Sea at the beach near the castle. Everyone said she was crazy, but I later found out the water wasn’t too bad when I got hit by a wave during a photo-op. St. Andrews was really nice, but really laid back. Definitely a place for golfers!!!

The following Saturday we went to Lindisfarne in England. It is right over the board of England in Northumberland county. Lindisfarne, also known as the Holy Island, is an Island that gets cut off from the mainland when the tide comes in, so you have to time your arrival and departure just right. There is a monastery and a castle there. Roman Polanski (Rosemary’s Baby) filmed Cul-de-Sac there. There were many, many sheep all over the place. We got to see the wonderful Chapel that became a pilgrimage for many people. This was the place where St. Cuthbert was found with his body perfectly preserved after many, many days.

It was very beautiful there. The Priory and the Chapel looked out over the North Sea. The Priory was in ruins, but you could easily visualize life there. The grass was green and the plants were fragrant. It was really a nice place. And after visiting there, we walked back through the tiny town, about a mile, alone the North Sea to the Castle. It was a bit of a way to hike up the hill, but we got there and were let in. Sadly, we couldn’t take any pictures, for the same reasons we couldn’t take pictures of the Falkland Palace. Maria (the Bavarian girl) and I were really disappointed.

The Castle was a bit cluttered and a bit cramped. It was okay. The view was spectacular. Once we walked around the tiny place, we went back out and Maria decided it was time for another dip into the North Sea. She went swimming at St. Andrews and this time she was going to go again. I took more pictures for her and also made a tiny video for her as well. Then we sat on the rocks of the coast and ate our lunch as we looked out over the North Sea.

When we made our way up the shore, we ran into the group of students who we had separated from when we were at the Chapel. Maria and I are picture freaks and the other students didn’t seem to have the patience for us. We all sat around, though, and talked for a little and then made the hike back up to the little town to try to find the mead distillery. Apparently, the distillery was right next to the priory, and we had to walk all the way back there.

Once in the distillery, we got to enjoy a free sample of the local mead. It was a bit dry, but not bad. I bought a bottle for Ray as a surprise when he arrived Monday. Maria bought a few mini-bottles and I got a mini-bottle for Beth & Brian (fellow mead lovers). Mead isn’t beer… it’s a sweet wine made of honey. Ray and I learned that when we were in Ireland. I also got another bottle of a different type of mead. I think it was a stronger honey mead. I can’t quite remember.

After that, we all piled back onto the buses and started to make our way off the island before we were trapped by the tide. I am under the impression two people got left behind. There was a huge argument between the bus drivers and the International Student Center Volunteers about staying a few more minutes. Then the argument turned between the volunteers, because we had a strict policy about being late. Granted, the flier was even a bit misleading about what time to be back. Sadly, if they were left behind, they wouldn’t be able to make it back to Edinburgh until Tuesday! I never did get to find out what happened to the students, but I am under the impression they were in fact left behind. The third bus driver offered to stay as late as possible without getting stuck on the island.

As we drove off the island, we saw horses being loaded into a truck, because people had been riding on the sand. We also saw some swans and one picture Maria took made it look like Nessie on vacation! The bus ride home was quite, though. There, Maria had talked about Harry Potter stuff and music and concerts. She’s very much into the Goth and dark stuff and her dialogue has a tendency to get a bit repetitive, but it’s someone to at least do stuff with even if at times you get a bit frustrated with her dark redundancy.

When we got home, we parted ways and I set off to finish getting ready for Ray’s arrival and upload lots of pictures. On Sunday, I went to Ray’s favorite chocolate store, Thorntons, to get him a box of chocolates as a surprise. I also went to the bookstore to pick up a book, since the library didn’t have it and I was eager to start reading another book. I had finished Stephen King’s Cell the night before. I also stopped at the grocery store to get a few essentials to tide us over until we could go to the grocery store together. I wanted to make him some homemade chicken soup for lunch/dinner.

Ray left Wisconsin fine on Sunday, October 21. His flight was on time. He only had to pay $100 extra for his luggage on Aer Lingus. I was expecting him on Monday around 3:30PM. He called me around 7:30AM to let me know he had arrived in Dublin alright and I was glad to hear things were going well. We didn’t talk too much, since we were going to see each other real soon and I also had to leave for a bit. I went to one of my lecture screenings that morning and then got my tickets for the International Student Center’s Halloween Ghost Tour, but not the party, because they required us to dress up. I knew Ray wouldn’t want to, plus it was at a pub and all that.

After all that, I went home to start cooking. I had woken up really early, excited for his arrival and cleaned up some more and started cutting the veggies for the soup. After I cooked the chicken and did the dishes, I threw everything in the pot to simmer. I did some other busy work and as 3PM rolled around, the soup was ready… I had his little “Welcome Home Sweetie” sign up and his bottle of mead and chocolates propped up on the counter. I thought I had heard something outside, so I ran to the door to look, but I didn’t see anything. A few minutes later, I heard a knock. Ray was standing outside with all four suitcases around him.

We spent the evening talking and unpacking some things. He enjoyed the soup and even had a glass of mead. It’s not as good as the mead we got in Limerick, but it was okay. He told me his trip was wonderful! He said there was hardly anyone on the flight, so he could stretch out and sleep. All of his flights arrived on time. He had no problems with his baggage. Everything went splendidly and he got through customs fine! I then took him on a bus ride around the city, just on the local buses to show him around. He was a bit sleepy, but was fine. It was a nice evening.

The rest of the week went well. I took him around campus with me, showing him around some of the areas. We went and got him a bus pass. I also took him to the grocery store and showed him how shopping works here. Took him to Gregg’s, a delicious and cheap bakery that we both love.

My mom had been calling a lot since Ray arrived and I soon realized why. She was waiting for Ray to share with me some news about the family. On Thursday afternoon, he finally figured it was the right time to tell me what was going on. My grandma was diagnosed with colon cancer. Sometime around the time that Ray left. They were able to remove the colon cancer, but discovered that her liver is covered with tiny cancer spots. He told me that at that point they were looking at 6 months to a year, but they couldn’t be sure until she had healed from her surgery. I was also told that everyone wanted me to stay here and not to come home. They felt it was the best thing to do, but that I should start looking for a flight home to visit. I found that I go through the stages of grief very quickly, but I accept the news, because it is all still very vague and no one really knows anything for sure yet. I wrote my mom and let her know that I knew and she wrote me back and I waited a while before writing her back, because she is worrying more than I am.

Dale’s father (Ray’s step-father’s father) had colon cancer, but he hid it from everyone until it was really too late to handle all the treatments. He, from what I understand, was very avoidant of the doctor, but he fought the cancer and lasted so much longer than the doctors have originally predicted. That’s because he had many strong and loving family members around him to keep him going. It was really hard on Ray’s family, especially Dale and so I am somewhat familiar with some of what will go on. But it seems that they caught it relatively early with grandma and she has always done so well with healing and other medical issues that I know she will weather this well to whatever end God has in store for her. I really don’t know how to talk about this, because I know she’ll be getting this letter, too, but I don’t see the point in fretting over what we don’t know for sure. It doesn’t do anyone any good and you just have to stay positive.

Since there was a lot of night left after hearing this news, Ray and I decided to go see a mindless movie. We walked the 5 minute walk up to Cineworld and got our Unlimited passes. This means that for 11.99 each a month, we can watch as many movies as we want whenever we want! Two movies tickets for Ray or three student tickets for me covers that cost and we have already covered the cost of the passes. The only thing you can’t do with them is come in, like, a week before the movie to get a ticket. You can only buy the ticket for the movie on the day of the movie. So no advanced tickets. That’s fine with us. We saw Resident Evil 3: Extinction. It was okay/

On Saturday, Ray and I went on the Ghost Tour through the ISC. It was led by City of the Dead tours. The girl we had ended up being a real arrogant and obnoxious prat. There are better descriptions, but I don’t think I’ll use them here. She was a horrible guide and even her information was inaccurate. She even seemed to hold a disdain for Americans, large tour groups, picture taking, and translating. She even lost half the tour group at a crosswalk and didn’t remove obvious tour hoppers from the group (two really old, drunk Japanese men). She told us stories about the witch hunts in Edinburgh, took us to Greyfriars Kirk, where Greyfriars Bobby’s grave is, but forgot to show us the dogs grave, but made sure she showed us the cynical American dedication grave. I think she was just being nasty, quite honestly. Then she told us stories about Scots dying and how violent and silly Scots were back in the day. We even got to go into the MacKenzie's Mausoleum, which is supposedly haunted, but there were so many of us and the guide was so jaded that we didn’t really get to see it or experience it. The tour ended with someone jumping out and scaring the group, which was really lame.

Ray and I went back to Greyfriars Kirk the next day to look at everything in the daylight. We looked for some of the graves that she mentioned, but they didn’t exist (i.e. a grave with the name Tom Riddle… from Harry Potter). This is supposedly the grave yard that Mary Shelley visited before she wrote Frankenstein, Charles Dickens visited which inspired A Christmas Carol, Bram Stoker visited when he was writing the arrival of Jonathan Harker at Dracula’s castle, and it is the place where J.K. Rowling was able to look out over from the Elephant Café where she first started penning Harry Potter. I know there’s more than that, but those are the ones that quickly come to mind.

Ray and I took some pictures, saw the original Greyfriars grave and then went on. I took him down to the Grassmarket, which is where tons of Catholics died, but now there are nice little shops and cafes for lunch. We stopped in a Whiskey/Scotch store and a tobacco shop. We even walked down the Royal Mile, in hopes that I could surprise him with a little gelato treat, but the gelato shop mom and I went to in August was closed. It makes me wonder if gelato in Edinburgh is a seasonal thing. They sure do love their ice cream here, though. Ben & Jerry’s EVERYWHERE!!! While at Grassmarket I did stop at a Halloween store and got items to complete two costumes I wanted to wear over the next several days for my Halloween Double-Feature Fest!!!

So on Monday I went to my screening for my lecture and then picked up tickets for me and Ray to go to Loch Katrine that Saturday. I found out that the International Student Center was going to send a complaint e-mail about our tour guide and that made me very happy, because she was really bad. The rest of the afternoon was spent unpacking and then I prepared for my first Halloween Double-Feature at a pub called the Brass Monkey. They have a room in their pub that is a huge lounge (a raised, cushioned platform) with oriental rugs and pillows everywhere and the room is covered in movie posters. Then there is a drop down screen on one side of the room where you can watch movies. It is very cool. So I dressed up at a zombie nun and Ray and I headed off to the pub. Sadly, the movies I selected were unattainable, so we watched Shaun of the Dead and the Ghostbusters. A bunch of my student friends showed up, but pretty much every left when we put in Ghostbusters. Danny (Danish girl) and Eion (Owen) stayed and we had a ball watching the movie.

On Tuesday were my lectures and then hosting the second of the Double-Feature screenings. I got a fellow PhD student to introduce the films and show them. We had a pot-luck get together and everyone brought lots of food and wine and beer. I brought chips (Sun Chips and some really rare regular flavored potato chips) to go with the dip packet mom sent along with me. While everyone started watching the first movie, I ran over to the International Student Café to get tickets for the Highland trip. It was 40pounds a person for a weekend trip into the Highlands which included admission, meals, transportation, and hostel fees. I got a student to lend me his student ID to get Ray a ticket. When I got there, the line was really long and I watched as it got longer and longer. Friends would see friends and then they would hover in line. Those friends would see more friends and those friends would hover in line. I saw over 12 people skip in front of me, because they just slipped into line via a conversation with someone they knew. I started to think I wouldn’t stand a chance at getting a ticket and I hoped that if I didn’t get a ticket, at least the 12 people who were 4 people ahead of me wouldn’t get tickets either. Sadly, my wish came true and none of us got tickets. I was really upset, but I figured I’d have another opportunity another time. Now I know how things work.

Then I went back to hosting my get together. I didn’t dress up, but everyone really had tons of fun and they were looking forward to the films we were showing the next day (Halloween). I had a costume for Halloween. I was going to be a Japanese Ghost (think The Grudge or The Ring… white skin, long black hair). I made a weird raisin, cashew, brown sugar trailmix of sorts and drizzled it with chocolate. I just hoped it went over well, and it did. Sadly, only Teale (a cultural studies PhD student who I share some classes with) and her girlfriend showed up. They wore costumes too and the four of us just had a great time watching movies. Then they left and Ray and I went back to the flat to enjoy the rest of our Halloween evening!

Thursday was our last day for the Halloween Double-Feature Fest, but I wasn’t hosting it. The Filmhouse (a local arthouse cinema) had a double-feature already planned and we were supposed to meet a bunch of students there. The really disappointing part of all this was that I woke up feeling very sick and as the day went on I felt sicker and sicker. I still made the attempt to go out to the film, though, because we had bought our tickets in advance. Ray and I had a small dinner at the cinema café, which was disappointing. Don’t order pies in Scotland, they’re never any good. Then Teale and her girlfriend showed up and Keith (the third year PhD guy) came and we all went into the theatre, but didn’t really sit together, because we all have our own seat preferences. Then the movie stated. It was really funny. It was called Basket Case by Frank Hennenlotter. A really silly film, but fun. Sadly, I wasn’t doing too well, so Ray and I left.

Since we couldn’t find the bus stop we needed, we walked from Tollcross to Angle Park Terrace (about a 20 minute walk) and neither of us were feeling too swell. But we made it home and I took some medicine and went to bed. On Friday, we slept most of the day. Our Vault Vigil was at midnight, so we figured sleeping most of the day would be the best thing for us. Ray was starting to feel a little under the weather too.

At 11PM, we left the flat and took a bus out to Princes Street where we walked to the Royal Mile and the Mercat Cross (market crossing) where we were to meet our tour guides. As we waited, I noticed a girl and her boyfriend arriving. The girl looked really familiar, even though I couldn’t really recognize the boyfriend. She came up to me and it was Donna from the Vault Vigil mom and I went to! Her and her boyfriend were back. We chatted for a while as the Vigil leaders waited for some people to show up. We also decided to try to stay together in a group, because we trusted each other.

Sadly, the Vigil had its max amount of people and was really crowded. Ray was actually really excited, though, and that’s all I was concerned about. He’s never done these before and I looked forward to him playing around and doing what he was comfortable with. Unlike most of the other people, our group was pretty centered. We were able to shut off our flashlights, stop taking pictures and just sit and get a feel for the place. Ray was our question leader and tried to evoke some interaction, but we didn’t get much. Donna and I heard a pretty loud sigh right behind us at one point. Ray and Christopher (the boyfriend) had tons of orb activity around them (and no, not just the dust orbs). I saw something. It was a brown-grey shape about 4 feet tall and it passed in front of me. Froze me for a second. I think Ray said he had something touch his back, but nothing to really concretely sway him one way or the other. The orb pictures we have were much more interesting for him, because they are tangible and able to either explain or hold in question until more proof is revealed. We all had strange feelings and chills, but it was overall a very inactive night for the Vaults.

At 6AM, Ray and I left and made our way out to Princes Street to catch the bus home. It was freezing cold out. We finally got on our bus and as I stepped onto the bus, I slipped and fell forward, hiding my head on the metal box at the ticket station, almost knocking myself out. I had a huge bruise on my forehead, really dark bruises on my knees and my right wrist was darkening as we rode home. The bus driver was really concerned, but it was okay. Once we got home, though, I was just too sore, sick, and tired to even think about going to Loch Katrine with the International Students and Ray and I went to bed to try to sleep off the sickness.

The rest of the weekend Ray and I nursed being sick. It was horrible. We could hardly get anything done. Thank goodness Ray had unpacked all of his suitcases the week before. I spent Monday and Tuesday writing a rough copy of a literature review for my supervisor. Monday, November 5 was Guy Fawkes Day and people were going nuts with fireworks and things here. In Scotland they call it Bonfire day and there are tons of parties. I think it’s just a reason to celebrate! We also went to the computer store on Monday. I thought the 35 would take us out to PCWorld, but I was very wrong. Thank goodness there was a bus driver who would help us. He took us to one of the Airport bus stops, where we waited for the 48x, which dropped us off right in front of PCWorld. Once there, we got the plugs Ray needed for his computer and then went to McDonalds. Don’t lecture me about going. I haven’t had “americanish” food in FOREVER!!! Besides, the menus here are completely different and they’re all into healthy living with no extras added to their food. Ray got a “sub” sandwich from McDonalds and I got a chicken sandwich with salsa. It was delicious. Then we walked forever to find the bus stop for the 1, which takes us right near our house. It was an interesting 2.5 hour excursion to the computer store! Luckily, we learned where many helpful stores are along the bus routes of the 35 and the 1. We did, though, get the wrong cord for his monitor, so on Tuesday Ray returned it and got the right one.

Tuesday I took my paper up to Divinity, but the offices were closed. A professor who was on leave noticed I was a bit lost and confused and offered to take the paper into the office for me and I thanked her. Then I made my way back home. Wednesday I had to go to a lecture on Improving Writing and Ray went to the grocery store all by himself. It was quite an adventure for him, and he’s lucky he took the bus, because he got a lot of groceries. A funny note about Ray, I don’t think he’s safe from the women here in Edinburgh. On our first day out to the grocery store together, I left him alone for a second and I Came back and a girl was hitting on him. She wanted to know if he was from Canada and all that. He was telling her about how “his wife” goes to Edinburgh University, too and when I arrived back from unsuccessfully locating popcorn, she didn’t seem too keen on talking to me. Then when Ray and I went to the movies, I left to go to the bathroom in-between a Double-Feature and I came back and the seats above and in front of Ray were filled with groups of girls. I think there were a few other times, but I forgot them.

Thursday I met with my advisor, Jolyon Mitchell. He’s not my head advisor. My head advisor is on research leave this semester. Jolyon is my secondary advisor. We met at Divinity and went over my progress. He was very excited that I had written anything for Tuesday, let alone 10 pages! He said it was a really great starting point and now we have a good direction to go in. We also specifically came up with a topic I am going to focus on: The Identity of the Nun in European Cinema and I’m going to focus on how her identity is created from a national perspective, a directorial perspective and from a gender perspective. I feel much more motivated now that I did before, because prior to this, I Didn’t really have a set topic, just a general topic. Now I feel more focused and can continue my research in a more directed way. I am to continue work on the Literature Review and add and take out references as needed. This goes into my Year-1 review criteria. So it went really well.

The rest of the week has been dedicated to Ray working on his computer, reading for research, and going to the movies. We’re still recovering from being sick, so we actually went to a pharmacy. They don’t sell medicine in the grocery stores here. We got some medicine that is supposed to help us and we’re hoping to make a full recovery from all this by next week. We also stopped at Woolworths and I got Christmas cards so I can get those sent out in a timely fashion and Ray got an electric drill so we can rehang the coat hanger. It also works as an electric screwdriver.

On Wednesday we had to call our letting agency, because our double bed broke. Our large bedroom is so narrow, you can’t get off the bed on the sides, you have to scoot to the end of the bed and crawl over the footboard and off the bed. There is only a metal bar in the middle holding the mattress us, and some slatted boards that keep moving around. The bed constantly creeks, even if you just think about rolling over. Overall, the bed was cheap, poorly made and a horrible thing to sleep on. But, like I said, it broke. It only cost 55pounds (we looked it up online), plus our contract says that “the Landlord will repair or replace any of the fixtures, fittings, or furnishings supplied by the Landlord in the Subjects, which have become defective and will do so within a reasonable period of time, unless problems with these have arisen from improper use of, or neglect, by the Tenant.” We didn’t misuse the bed, but we’ll have waited almost a week before getting a new bed. We’ve been calling, but they’re closed on the weekend. Ray has been sleeping on the couch and I am sleeping in the single bedroom. The couch isn’t really long enough for Ray, so his legs aren’t doing real well, plus we’ve both still kind of sick, so not having a proper sleeping arrangement for Ray is not helping him. What angers us the most is that we have to disassemble the broken bed and dispose of it ourselves. I don’t see how that is our responsibility. Also, they’re “delivering” the bed and no one has called us about delivery times or anything and that might mean we have to put the bed together! I hope not, because we don’t have any tools!!! We called to find out all these answers, but no one has called us back. If we weren’t pretty happy with the apartment, we would so leave as soon as possible, because the agency is horrible. Really horrible. Worth writing a complaint about when and if we move out.

That afternoon Ray’s glasses also broke. His screw came out and fell down the sink!! Poor guy. But he fixed them, for now, while we try to find a glass repair shop. Our shower head broke almost immediately after Ray arrived and our faucet is still broke. The stupid plumber hired by the Letting Agency won’t call me back. So all sorts of things are breaking, but we’re surviving.

And our most latest update is that on Saturday, November 10, Ray and I went out to Rosslyn Chapel on the 15 bus. I had been out there on an International Student trip, but this time it was for Ray. We both really enjoyed different parts of The Da Vinci Code (book and movie), so to enjoy Rosslyn Chapel together was so much fun. Plus there were fewer people and more chances to actually look around, linger, and enjoy the details of the Chapel. I, once again, took lots of pictures and this time even got to take the picture of the Keystone in the middle of the Chapel, which is where some people believe the Holy Grail is buried!!!

When we were finished looking around inside the Chapel, we went outside and scaled the scaffolding to the roof of the Chapel. I was advised the first time I was there to take advantage of the scaffolding, because it wouldn’t be there for much longer and the view of Roslin and the Glen are amazing! Plus you get to see the detail of the top of the Chapel. I have a mild fear of medium heights, so this was a challenge for me, especially with it being a tad windy and other people shaking the walkway. I made it though and took some beautiful pictures. Ray really enjoyed it too. Going with him here was so much more relaxing, because we just got to relax and enjoy the beauty and wonder of our surroundings. We also lit a candle in the Chapel. I lit one for Grandma.

After the Chapel, we wandered down to the Roslin Castle. I ended up taking Ray the opposite way that I had gone the first time. We went to the ruins and looked around. Then we went through Roslin Glen, stopping at certain places to enjoy the day and nature. Then we tackled the Death-Stairs back up to a path that would take us back to Roslin. We really had a great day out.

We waited for the 15 and headed home around 3:30PM. Our pictures turned out really nice and we were quite exhausted. So after tinkering with his computer and watching a few shows, Ray and I hit the hay, knowing we’d have a full day of catching up on random stuff around the flat on Sunday!

Overall, Ray and I are doing really well. It is getting rather cold out and we’re wondering when we’ll start to see some snow. His computer is back online and he’s still tinkering with his hard drives and other little things. Once his computer is completely done, he’s going to start looking for jobs. I might apply for some part-time hours at a local bookstore. They’re hiring for the holidays. But overall, we’re doing fine money-wise. Not much to spend it on. Our movies are unlimited movies for only 11.99 a month and we mostly cook at home. We’re going to be checking out the student gym maybe this week. I can get Ray a membership there and it’s still pretty reasonable. I think 170pounds for the year. I only pay 75pounds for an entire year. They also have a pool!!! It’s just a bit out of the way, so that’s kind of irritating, considering I’m a spontaneous person when it comes to working out.

It’s a long letter, I know and I’m sorry for that. But so much has been going on and I wanted everyone to know that everything is going well. And here are all the links to my pictures. I hope the links I’ve inserted work okay and I love you all and miss you all very much. I’ll try to write more often from now on, as long as I don’t get some huge assignment again, haha!!!

Random Pictures from October 2007
http://s9.photobucket.com/albums/a74/reelmonkey/Scotland/October%202007/

Falkland Palace
http://s9.photobucket.com/albums/a74/reelmonkey/Scotland/October%202007/Falkland%20Palace/

St. Andrews
http://s9.photobucket.com/albums/a74/reelmonkey/Scotland/October%202007/St%20Andrews/

Lindisfarne, England
http://s9.photobucket.com/albums/a74/reelmonkey/Scotland/October%202007/Lindisfarne/

Greyfriars Kirk
http://s9.photobucket.com/albums/a74/reelmonkey/Scotland/October%202007/Greyfriars%20Kirk/

Random Pictures from November 2007
http://s9.photobucket.com/albums/a74/reelmonkey/Scotland/November%202007/

Vault Vigil 11-2-07
http://s9.photobucket.com/albums/a74/reelmonkey/Scotland/November%202007/Vault%20Vigil%2011-2-07/

Rosslyn Chapel with Ray 11-10-07
http://s9.photobucket.com/albums/a74/reelmonkey/Scotland/November%202007/Rosslyn%20Chapel%2011-10-07/


Love,
Sarah KB.