Easter with the Scots

This past week was full of great things, so I don’t even know where to start. First of all, my sister is visiting! Having her around was awesome to begin with, but having her here for Easter made being away from home a little easier. Secondly, I’m fairly certain I found my future home. I may be a Jersey girl at heart, but I think I might just have to move to Edinburgh. Spending Easter weekend there was definitely one of my favorite parts of my time abroad. The buildings are absolutely beautiful, the views are amazing, and the people are so friendly. There are too many things to love about Edinburgh that it’s so hard to pick my favorite part.

Sarah, my sister, flew into Dublin Friday morning then hopped right back on a plane to Scotland with us at night (that poor girl was exhausted). We rented out a really cute and cozy apartment right by the city center, making it so easy to walk around to wherever we needed to go. Edinburgh was such a walk-able city, so we pretty much walked everywhere we went. The whole time there I just felt so relaxed. We did a ton of fun things, but I never felt too worn out. A lot of the main touristy things we hit throughout the weekend- Edinburgh Castle, The Elephant House (the café where Harry Potter was written), watched someone play bagpipes on the street (and got a picture to prove it)- but we also got to fit in some different things, as well! On the rainiest, windiest day of our weekend we made the smart decision to do a two-hour hike up a huge mountain to see Arthur’s Seat. After a lot of slips, breaks, and laughs, we finally made it up to the top. The views were incredible and the sun ended up coming out for us on our way back down. On Easter Sunday we made reservations for afternoon tea at a beautiful country club. I even got to try out my croquet skills on their lawn before tea. We had the best time sitting in our own private room, and we definitely made the most of our time there. I’m pretty sure we ate enough tiny sandwiches for a lifetime after being there for over 3 hours. After our nice tea date, we walked around New Town and caught the sun setting right over all the beautiful buildings. I couldn’t label merely one thing that made me love Edinburgh so much, I think I just felt so at home there. Going into the weekend, I had no expectations of what the city held in store for me. Who knew that it would end up being my favorite place (besides Dublin, of course). I definitely will be going back in the near future if I have the opportunity!

I know that this is the kind of weekend I’ll think of when I’m home and want to go back. I had the best time just walking around the city with a few of my favorite people. After a weekend full of laughs, late night chats, and tons of chocolate, I’m happy to be back in Dublin for my last few weeks here. It’s not over yet, though! I still have a few more adventures and tons more memories to make with some pretty great people.