The Orkney Islands

**Pictures cannot be uploaded at this time**

We left early from Edinburgh to go to the Orkney Islands (Northeast Scotland). We had a tiny little airplane that probably fit all of 25 passengers and we flew into the most beautiful area in the world (note: this is opinion... but seriously, it's beautiful). You can see for miles everywhere around you and there is so much green and blue!

We started at Missy's host family since ours was on holiday farther south. There was their annual Folk Fair that weekend so we drove across the mainland to Stromness. Unfortunately, there weren't any musicians playing since it was a bit breezy and chilly. Instead, we walked along there very narrow streets and got a feel for the environment. Orkney is very rural and even it's city areas are small cobblestone pathways and some paved roads. Getting used to sitting on the other side of the car and driving on the other side of the road was an adjustment. Then Steve and Jenny (our host parents) came back and we formally met them and drove the 15 minutes out to their house.

Steve and Jenny live in an adorable little home 15 minutes outside of the main city of Kirkwall. They have a bit of backyard space and three little lambs. They live right next door to a farm with a lot of cows and as you are driving anywhere you will see horses, cows, and sheep for miles.

We (Jenny, Kim, and I) have been having a wonderful time with them. We have been having great food and great company. They have been so nice to us and want to make sure that we are getting the most out of our experience. We were able to feed the lambs the first official night we were here, then got up early before school and played Squash and Racquetball, we went to a local orchestra/band concert for a visiting group of Norwegians, we went to some Charity Stores, and did a 10 mile time trial cycling ride yesterday--50.25 minutes. We will be doing that again next week and I am hoping to improve my time.

Wednesday I went to the beach on a field trip with the P4 (3rd grade) class.

This weekend we plan on going to see a bagpipe parade, take a ferry and go to another island and see puffins, possible go sailing, and then visit a neighbor's farm who just got collies and we are going to help train them to round up sheep!

I'll keep you posted!

London Round Two

Beginning of the SPED in Scotland Program. All of us took a three day trip to London before the program actually started. I have been to London before, three years ago, on a short one week study abroad experience. It was nice to have this opportunity to go back and to experience things a second time and brand new things this time. I acted as official tour guide for the group and was in charge of navigation.

 

We stayed in this amazing hostel: Travel Joy Hostel in the Pimlico district. The staff was very friendly, the building safe, and the breakfast was amazing, filling, and included in the room fee. Every morning we filled up on things to eat that would last us throughout the day until dinner.

 

Enjoy the pictures and commentary! (More will be added to this page later, just making a quick entry)

 

 

 Our Hostel: Travel Joy Hostel

 

 Crossing Abbey Road

 

 Gotta write on the Abbey Recording Studios wall.

 

 Platform 9 and 3/4. Representing the Slytherin house. They added new features since I was there and moved its location. The guy leading it was hilarious and it is still free. Plus they added an amazing Harry Potter Store where you can get wands and platform tickets like the ones in the movies.

 

 Replicating my picture from three years ago in front of Tower Bridge

 

 Making a stop at St. Paul's

 

 Me on Millennium Bridge--The bridge in the opening of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

 

 Me in front of Big Ben--even got a red double decker bus in there!

 

 Taking a picture with one of the Horse Guards

 

We met this 83 year old man, James, who told us all about the Queen's Garden Party that she was having today and a history lesson on the changing of the guards. That has been done for over 200 years every single day. We watched them retire the horses and guards for the evening; then only two guards remain on post throughout the night.

 

 Me with Big Ben and Parliament in the background

 

 Westminster Abbey--where Prince William and Kate got married

 

 You can't go to London without seeing a Broadway show. We went to Wicked and it was amazing a second time as well. It was great to hear it with British accents and the dancing was wonderful!

 

 Feeding Paddington Bear my sandwich

 

 

Then we booked a fantastic trip to Stonehenge through Evan Evans Tour Company. They were a great group of people and we got a 1 and 1/2 hour bus ride plus entry into Stonehenge for only £27! We got to be pretty close to the actual stones and we got an audio guide filled with lots of information. Stonehenge is literally in the middle of nowhere and it was filled with green space everywhere. Very beautiful sights and even though it was incredibly windy, having the sun out felt fantastic!

 

 The UK has just started growing plants for canola oil. They had a lot of pastures filled with the bright yellow plant.

 

 Me in front of Stonehenge--so close!!!

 

 The beautiful stones

 

 

 Jumping pictures are the theme of our Scotland trip. You will see many of them!

 From the distance--note the epic cloud cover.

 

 

Last time I was in London, I did not have the opportunity to ride the London Eye Ferris Wheel so I made sure to take advantage of it this time.

 

 Going up!

 

 The amazing sunset view of all of London

 

 Big Ben at Dusk

 

The London Eye all lit up!

 

Before we knew it, our London trip was up. I was so glad that we went on this trip together because it made us bond before the trip even happened. It was a good stepping stone for me especially since I have not had a lot of classes with these girls in the past, but they are super accepting of me and it's been going wonderfully.

 

After some mishaps on our plane flight to Scotland: bird caught in plane caused an engine fire for one of the British Airline Planes thus delaying all other planes, then a very angry man on a Pakistan flight threatened to bomb the plane so the Queen's Royal Air Force had to escort the plane down so the airspace needed to be cleared for 45 minutes.

 

We are safely in Scotland now and we are starting our home stays tomorrow (Sunday morning). While here we stayed at the Dalkeith Palace--a beautiful estate that is only for Wisconsin students who studied abroad here. We also stopped at a great meat pie shop and toured about Edinburgh. I finally found a store that is as geeky as I am and sells Star Wars, Superhero, and Doctor Who things (I will be going back). We also stopped by the coffee shop where JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter (*insert major geek out moment*). The best thing about going, was hiking 250 meters high to Arthur's Seat. It was amazing and the view of all of Edinburgh was beautiful!

 

I will be taking another flight up to the Orkney Islands. I will blog and edit some more once I'm there.



Leaving for Scotland!

I just graduated college yesterday! It has been an amazing five years at my university and I will miss it dearly. The weather was perfect and my brother took GREAT pictures; here are a few:

Right now, in true Casey fashion, I am jumping from one adventure to another. On Friday I finished student teaching at my seventh grade placement, Saturday was graduation, today is my roommate's grad party, and Monday I leave for London. We will be spending a few days there sight-seeing again. I have been there before so this is a re-visit which I'm really excited about. I will make sure to go on the London Eye and the Warner Brother's Studio Tour (Harry Potter!).


After that, I will be flying to the Orkney Islands to stay with a host family for two weeks observing one of their special schools.

Then I will be heading back to Aberdeen to take classes at the university for a few weeks. Then I will be taking a 5 day weekend to go to Ireland and visit family that I have there. After that, it's a couple day trip to the Highlands! 

I can only update the blog weekly and I will try my best to add pictures, but I won't be bringing my computer, so it might be harder to accomplish that. 

So excited for this new adventure!