Final Remaks from Scotland

Greetings

            Well it has been a good trip thus far as I am nearly five months in to my journey and I am leaving Scotland in the next two days to go to Mortlake, Australia. As for what I have been up to the past few weeks I will start with where I left off in my last blog, if you remember I had just left my parents at the rail station and had hopped in a car with my friends Duncan, and Bob to go hiking in two feet of snow. We were hiking in the Cairngorms National Park and though we only did a wee hill it felt like we had conquered Everest and the trail we left in the snow was there to prove somebody had been man enough to leave the trail in such thick snow covering. In the bothy where we stopped for a wee bit to eat the guest book had a temperature of -30 degrees Celsius, unofficially the coldest temperature in Scotland so we claim that we may have been in the coldest place in Scotland.

            After a good day of hiking I was back in Aberdeen for about 16 hours as I did laundry, went to church, took  a nap and hopped on a plane to Dublin, Ireland. Yep one more stamp on the passport and get this, its even green, they might as well have stamped it with a clover stamp. Then I grabbed a bus to Belfast and spent the next four days with my friend Steve and his family in Northern Ireland, seeing lots of beautiful coastlines, green pastures, and sheep. I did enjoy a fine pint of Guinness and of course had an Ulster Fry for those of you who actually know what that is. All I can say is that Northern Ireland was an incredible place and was so beautiful, it was about as picturesque as one could imagine and I would recommend it to any of you who are going to the UK in a the future. After my three days on the island of Ireland Steve and I railed and sailed it back to Aberdeen, a bit of an adventure considering Steve was taking a surfboard and guitar. We couldn’t have looked any more awkward walking through train stations in Scotland with a surfboard.

            Back in Aberdeen I have been revising and taking my exams, both of which I felt went very well, but we will see how well I actually did in a few weeks. Other than that I have just been seeing lots of friends and saying some goodbyes. I managed to get in a swim with a few friends who all decided we would prove our manliness by swimming in the icy North Sea. Also, I felt like I could not leave Scotland without a game of golf, so golf I did yesterday and since I didn’t have any clubs I thought I might have trouble golfing. I forgot that I was in Aberdeen and that people here are pretty nice, as my friend Michael and I got to the golf course and started looking for club rentals a local man named Jack just lent us his clubs for the day, no questions asked. Possibly the nicest guy I have ever met, but then again most of the people I have been fortunate to meet over hear have been incredibly friendly and very accommodating.

            I am so thankful to have had these experiences and this time to say goodbye with friends, whether over coffee or dinner, or over a game of golf it has been very enjoyable and I will remember my time and my friends here forever. Oh I am supposed to mention James and Becca, who made a great meal for me other night, and to Abi and Njoki for the good chat as well. As my time here winds down and I have said goodbye to my church family, most of my friends at the CU, and most of my friends in the halls I am also preparing myself for my next adventure. I am so thankful for all the friends here who have made my time incredible, as you may know it is not the place but the people that make somewhere special and that holds true for Scotland.

            To end I would like to thank my family for being so supportive in all that I have been doing, and my friends here for all they have done fore me. I know that wherever I go the Lord is with me and is constantly guiding me to people that are there to guide me and make me a better person, my only hope is that I can repay those who have been so good to me someday and that I can use this life to honor God for all He has and continues to do for me. Thank you all and the next time I blog I will be in another hemisphere, another country, another time zone, and well into another adventure.

Take care and God bless