Schae Comes to Scotland

Sorry for the long hiatus from the blog. Schoolwork has taken over. Blah. But alas I am back!
On Monday, I met Schae in Edinburgh, which is about an hour away from St Andrews. He came to visit during his fall break. It was a glorious but way too short reunion. (It's ok Schae, you can come back now.)

We spent the day walking through the city and enjoying the beautiful Scottish weather. Sarcasm. Luckily it stopped raining long enough to get some pics.

The castle on top of the hill. 

Hi Schae. 

The castle in all its glory.

Selfie time. 

I'm glad I always ruin these cute romantic pictures...

Shoutout to the asians who took this pic. You nailed it. 

One of the most famous streets in Edinburgh is called The Royal Mile. Lined with pubs and shops, the street leads up to the castle which overlooks the city. Men in kilts play the bagpipes adding to the Scottish atmosphere. 

Royal Mile selfie. 

Loving the bagpipes. 

We stopped for dinner at a little pub near the top of the Royal Mile. It was cute and had fantastic music. I may have sang along to one too many songs. But it's fine. 

If any of you back home are planning on studying abroad soon, I really recommend a trip to Edinburgh.  It's such a beautiful city with a unique Scottish feel. And you can visit me in St Andrews too!

Notre Dame Weekend

Last weekend, I flew down to Notre Dame for one last crazy weekend before I headed back over the pond to St. Andrews. I had a blast and got to see all 8 of my Vis girls who go to Notre Dame, the STA boys who go there, and Mary and Marie who were also visiting. 

I arrived on Friday and went out that night with all the Vis girls! 

Racine is a champion. 

Saturday morning, we crawled out of bed and threw on our ND apparel for the first football game of the year! 

We stopped and watched Sarah N's a cappella group perform on our way to tail gaiting. 

They sounded fabulous!

We then walked over to the Deasey's and Martine's tailgates and got the ND game experience started off right. 

Coincidentally, my uncle Carey and aunt Jess were down in South Bend for the game too with my cousins Ryder and Camden. We had a great time at their tailgate! 

Jess with baby Camden at his first Notre Dame game. Soooo cute!!!

Ryder just a little bit excited. 

Camden was quite the hit with the girls. 

The game day crew!

Carey and Mary preparing for shotgunning. 

Nothing like shotgunning beer with your uncle!

Carey puts us all to shame. . . 

After our fair share of tailgating, we entered the stadium and Mary and I snuck into the student section. 

Fighting Irish coming onto the field!

Ran into my girl Audrey at the game!

Touchdown pushups! 

Just slightly happy that I got to do the pushups.

Half time came as a great relief as tradition states that all students have to stand the entire game except for half time. We sat down (finally) and enjoyed the marching band. 

After the game which we won, we downed some ridiculously good food at Shannon's family friend's townhouse and then went back to the dorm to rest. Despite being extremely exhausted, we managed to rally for one last night out! 

Mary and I not quite ready for another night of fun. 

Ok, maybe we can rally. 

Love you Elle!

You too Shan!

I had the funnest (it's a word, ok) weekend ever with all of my Vis girls. Thanks to all of you for having me at ND! Don't worry, I will be back! Hope you all have a fabulous year!!!!

Latina - Italy Day 3

My third day in Italy was by no means as exciting as the first two, but it had a good ending.

In the morning, we woke up in Positano and had breakfast before hitting the road and driving back up north to a small city about a half hour from Rome called Nettuno.  This city is where Andrew and his friend Tyler would be staying for the duration of their baseball tournament. They are staying in some sort of police headquarters which seemed very intense. We had to wait around awhile for them to get settled, and by the time we left, it was already dinner time.

My dad and I drove 15 minutes to the hotel he would be staying in for the next week in another small city on the sea called Latina. I was kind of bummed I wasn't staying in that hotel longer, because it was located right on the beach and was really nice.

We dropped our bags off at the hotel and headed into Latina for dinner. Unfortunately the restaurant we were going to didn't open until 8:30 (welcome to Europe, the land of late dinners), so we walked over to a bar/cafe packed with locals to grab some drinks and soak in the atmosphere.

Because Latina is by no means a tourist destination, we got to see a different side of Italy. All of the locals were out on a Monday night having drinks and catching up with each other. The streets were packed with friends talking and Vespas zooming past. It was nice to just sit back and take it all in.

After we finished our drinks, we walked back to the restaurant and ordered some delicious food.

The waiter first brought out the most amazing homemade focaccia bread I have ever had. It was still warm, just out of the oven, chewy with a little crunch, and covered with the perfect amount of sea salt and rosemary.

Next came the suggested sampler of appetizers which was wonderful, but way more expensive than what was stated on the menu, which was a little disappointing.

My dad ordered the hamburger for his main course which was stuffed with fresh mozzarella, kind of like an Italian version of a Juicy Lucy. It was heavenly.

I went for pesto based pizza covered in mozzarella, olives, cherry tomatoes, and thin slices of a freshly grated local cheese on top. It was very filling, so I sadly couldn't finish the whole thing which was majorly disappointing.

The most exciting part of the night was when I asked for the rest of the pizza to go. The waiter who came to clear our plates didn't speak English, and I actually managed to use my Italian (which I am learning at St. Andrews) to ask to take the rest of the pizza home with us and he understood!!!!! WHOOOO!!! I almost jumped up and did a happy dance but I was too full to move. Typical.

We finished off dinner with some fresh strawberries, drove back to the hotel, and fell asleep.

I had a wonderfully crazy weekend in Italy and hope I can go back sometime soon!