BELFAST! and NEW YEARS IN SCOTLAND!!!!!!

Belfast 30^th-31^st!!

            Getting to Belfast was another experience in itself! Ahh isn’t it always!!  We had to take a train and of course a train in front of us broke down and we had to stop in the middle of Scotland and wait for 45 minutes then we arrived at the next stop and had to get off the train and get on another train on another platform because of the train in front of us! Ahhh! It was so frustrating! Still got the neon bag heavy bag!!!  We reached the station and had to hike up 3 flights of stairs and over to get to the other platform… not fun!!! When we finally got on the train I just plopped my stuff next to me and sat, I had no idea where Kate and the other lost Koreans were… all I knew was I was getting to BELFAST! Like 30 minutes later we arrived in Belfast! It is a small town in Scotland famous for building the Titanic.  We didn’t get to make it down to the docks because we arrived so late… but we walked through Botanical Gardens and ran into a cool looking bookstore and just explored the city by foot.  CUTE little town, our hostel was owned by a hippie couple that were the cutest couple I have ever seen! They work together all day everyday and love what they do.  After exploring the town it was getting dark and we ran into this place that has supposedly the best fish n chips in town, so we stopped and had a bite and kept walking. Then ran into a movie theatre, now I don’t know about you, but I have been WAITING to see the movie Avitar!!! And for it in 3-D IMAX and they had it in Belfast!! So we all agreed to see it that night at 8pm, so we bought our tickets and decided to come back. We made it down to city hall, and their huge farris wheel that looks like the London eye, and looked at all the Christmas lights and shopping and people all around.  Found a coffee shop that was called California Coffee, AMAZING! Took a picture! Hahah!

            Went into all these cheap stores with their after Christmas sales… ohh wait… I can’t buy anything because my bag barely holds what I BROUGHT! Ahh!! Walk out!  We made it back to the Movie theater on time and saw one of the GREATEST movies I have seen in a LOOOONG time!  I couldn’t get over the effects and the imagination that went into this movie! I don’t know why I paid for the entire seat because all I needed was the edge of it! It was incredible… and if your reading this and haven’t seen it yet, after you done with this blog GO OUT AND SEE IT!!! Not kidding!!  after the movie was over the WHOLE way back to the hostel that’s all we talked about! How amazing it was!!! The next morning we had to be at the bus station SUPER early and had to catch a bus and a ferry to Edinburgh.  Now when I thought about this ferry ride I am thinking little fisherman’s boat that is in the perfect storm, and I am SCARED!  We take this bus to this shuttle station, and take this shuttle for 20 minutes ON the ferry! This Ferry was titanic, now I am scared of sinking… ahh! But the ferry was SOOO nice. We had breakfast and then slept and I read it was wonderful! As soon as I fell asleep I am being woken up by the cabin crew telling me I have to wake up because we are at the docks… ahh man! NO SLEEP!  Its NEW YEARS EVE!!

            We have arrived in Edinburgh, SCOTLAND!!!  We got to our hostel and it was SUPER awesome, music was playing all day everyday, and the staff was fantastic!! We had a great room that we shared with 3 Australian girls and 2 others but we didn’t talk to them… hahah! Kate and I relaxed because we got in late afternoon, and went grocery shopping and made dinner in the hostel and then up to our rooms to rest and read before going out all night.  The reason we decided to go to Edinburgh for new Years is because they have this festival every year for New Years like we do for the 4^th of July in Newport, but forget the bathing suit and bring on the layers!  It was sooooo cold… that I was literally drinking the entire night because I needed to stay warm! They had LIVE concerts and the fireworks went off behind the Edinburgh Castle.. it was breath taking!  Before Kate and I and the Koreans rang in the New Year I ran into 2 Scottish boys that walked up to me and wanted to kiss me… now I don’t know if you all have heard the Scottish accent… but it was HARD to understand them… I made them repeat a sentence 6 times before I finally got what they were saying… I am NOT KIDDING!  one of them looked like he was 12 but he was really 19 and the other was like 22 I think the younger one was cuter.. hahah! Gave them both a kiss and off I went!  Met some hilarious people that night, and Scottish men wanting a piece of California… NO THANKS! 10...9..8..7..6..5..4..3..2..1 HHAAAPPYY NNEWWW YEEARRS! The Koreans and kate and I all hugged at new years even though the guy standing right next to me didn’t kiss anyone and he was HOTT… with my luck he was probably gay, so I didn’t want to risk it! Hahaha!  After the fireworks went off we started walking back and kate had dared me to kiss someone… and I was like NO way! And then she was like, “girl you are all talk, you say you do crazy stuff but I don’t think you do..!” that made me ANGRY!!! This girl was questioning ME!! Ohh helllll noo! I go ok, next guy you point too, the next thing I knew I was looking at her arm with her finger pointed in the distance to this guy that was GORGEOUS, and I thought to myself… I am NEVER going to see this person again… I walked right up to him and grabbed his face and kissed him.  Very innocent kiss and looked at his face and said, “happy new years!”  he had a catch his breath and blink his eyes a couple times because he was set back by what I did (as was i) and when I started walking away he called after me and then his friend ran up to me, and was like “can I get one of those too?!!?” and I was like nooo but you can kiss one of my Korean friends!  As I walkd away the Koreans were LAUGHING so loud and saying Katherine! Katherine! I cant believe you did that! And the guy yelled out at me and said “okay baby I’ll see you next year!”  I kept walking! …Scottish men! Hahah!

            The next day I was moving alittle slower… kate and I woke up had breakfast and explored the town, praying to god with every corner we didn’t run into anyone that we had seen last night!  Kate had already been to Edinburgh so she knew where a lot of stuff was, but we just walked around had coffee and talked and took pictures of pretty sights, made it up to the castle at night which was BEAUTIFUL and decided to go on a night ghost tour, now I don’t really believe in ghosts, but this one was QUIET entertaining.  The lady that toured us had an AMAZING personality and told the stories SO well! I admit I was scared for most of it, but it was a 2 hour tour all about old Edinburgh, it was very interesting.  We met two girls in our hostel because they had moved in that day and they told us about this tour so after the ghost tour was over we went out and got a drink.  One of the girls was from Venezuela and the other was a Russian girl that moved to London for work.  Super nice girls! We got in late after the pubs and went back to the hostel and had an early night at 1am.  The next day we decided to hike up to the castel again to tour the inside, which was cool but no spectacular… but I did see the stone of Scotland and the sword and jewels, all that made Scotland what it is today.  After touring that the Koreans and I went to Parliament and Kate wanted to go to the Whiskey Factory, now I drank whiskey for new years and I am NOT a fan, so she went by herself. 

            After that we all went to dinner together and called it a night early because we had been sight seeing all day and wanted a break.  I read my book till it was 2am, eclipse will do that to you! Haha! The next day we woke up early and went on a free walking tour of Edinburgh which we had the most AMAZINGLY FUNNY tour guide from England, and I don’t know if any of you know this but the Scottish HATE the British, but the British honestly don’t care that they hate them. Hahah! He was AMAZING! You could tell he LOVED HIS JOB!  He had such enthusiasm when he talked about this city!  He took us everywhere! And I learned SO much about the city that I hadn’t read about, plus some funny jokes in the middle.  We went to where the lady from Harry potter wrote all her books the little coffee shop that faces a school that resembles Hogwarts! Ah! It was incredible.  Toured a cemetery with the most amazing story with a dog and the grave yard shift guy.  So much went on in this city, and it’s the kind of city that reminds you of all the movies you watch about Scotland (Braveheart) that makes you feel like you are still in that time.  Looking at all the little streets and hearing all the stories, you can actually see and picture how life was back then.  It was a TRIP!  Edinburgh was an amazing time, met a whole bunch of people and smiled my whole way through this town! The architecture and the people were SO nice! It was a city that I will never forget!!

 

Next stop GLASGOW, Scotland!... ready to party with cute guys? J