Emma Takes the U.K.

London was one of the greatest places I have ever seen, which is why I was a bit worried that maybe I had made a mistake starting out my trip on such a high note.  But that was not an issue. Every place we visited was wonderful in its own unique way.  After saying goodbye to my amazing family who aren't really family, the next stop was Oxford.  Going to Oxford was truly like stepping back in time.  If Hogwarts were real, it would be Oxford University.  We only had two days in Oxford (thankfully because we were staying in a creepy youth hostel sharing a room with 16 other strangers) but it was a perfect amount of time for the little city.  Mira and I went on a tour of the city, saw one of the academic buildings, climbed a tour to get a birds eye view and did some exploring throughout the city.  Being an English nerd, it was so amazing to see the location where the inspiration for Alice in Wonderland came from, seeing some of the symbols from The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe hidden throughout the campus, imagining being a student there when both Tolken and C.S. Lewis were professors.  I could definitely see myself in this world.
The next stop on the list was Bath, another quick stop to finish up our tour of England.  Bath is a quaint, beautiful and proud little town that fits our idea of England.  It was lovely to see the shops, try our first ale in England (not a fan), and go to afternoon tea.  But the particular reason we chose this city to visit was the Roman Baths.  During the Roman empire, Bath became a Roman hot spot due to the natural hot springs.  People would bath and drink from the waters for treatment or just for general well being.  We were able to do a tour of the baths and even drink some of the healing waters, which were nasty... We also went to the Jane Austen center.  Jane Austen lived in Bath and there is a little museum type establishment set up recounting her life and specifically her time spent in the beautiful city.
It was finally time to make our way to Scotland, but to get there we had to take an 8 hour long night bus.  It was not the most pleasant experience in the world but it made me that much more excited when I arrived in Edinburgh.  We spent four days in Edinburgh and those days started with a bang: it was Hogmanay.  Hogmanay is an internationally known Scotish celebration to celebrate the New Year.  People come from all over to go to street party in downtown Edinburgh where there is dancing and fireworks every hour and drinking and singing Auld Lang Syne.  Mira and I were having one of the most amazing nights of our trip thusfar at the beginning of the party until....we were trampled.  Literally trampled.  There were 75,000 people there and it became so crowded that no one could literally move, we were all packed like sardines.  And then some idiot shoved, Mira and I fell to the ground and we literally were stepped on.  I was shrieking for help, completely terrified when finally some guy saw me and lifted me to my feet.  I was basically having a panic attack, he calmed me down and helped me find Mira.  I don' think I ever even thanked him because I was so traumatized!  But everything was alright, we were just a bit bruised up and once we calmed down a bit we were able to enjoy the rest of the festival.  It was an...interesting New Year's Eve.
The rest of our days in Edinburgh we explored.  We went on tours including a ghost tour and spent time taking in the city.  Edinburgh is great but in a very particular way.  It is interesting.  They have a sort of dark and eerie history there.  A lot of expressions about drinking like shit faced or hungover come from there (for a reason.  They really know how to drink...).  I saw a million men in kilts playing the bagpipes.  If I never hear a bagpipe again it will be too soon... I highly recommend seeing Edinburgh but I wouldn't say it is a relaxing sort of vacation trip.  My favorite parts of my time there were seeing some of the places J.K. Rowling used as inspiration for Harry Potter since she spent a lot of time writing the books there as well as climbing Arthur's Seat.  There is an inactive Volcanoe right outside of the city that you can climb and get an incredible view of Edinburgh from.  The Emma of 5 months ago would never have even considered spending her precious vacation time being tortured by climbing a giant volcanoe, but the Emma that has since then climbed several volcanoes in France and walks up and down huge hills every day was pumped.  It was amazing.  You would look to your left and see this beautiful natural site, so peaceful and calm and you turn your head and it is this bustling and thriving city.  It was surreal.  On our last day of the trip we decided to take a bus tour of the Highlands.  While most of the day was spent sitting on the bus, it was a highlight of the trip.  The Highlands are absolutely stunning.  It doesn't seem possible that something so beautiful could just be placed on earth on its own.  It was a beautiful way to end our tour of the UK.  The tour also took us to Loch Ness where we went on a cruise to find the monster, dun dun dun.  Unfortunately Nessie wasn't out that day.  We made it back to Edinburgh and headed home.  It took us 24 hours to make it back to Clermont which gave me plenty of time to reflect.  The UK was amazing and it was hard to leave knowing that the next ime I will be able to go, if there even is a next time, won't be for a long time.  When I left Italy it was sad but I knew there were more travels to come and adventures to be had.  But now there is less than a month to go and it will all be spent in Clermont.  Since coming back I have spent tons of time with my host family who I am going to miss an insane amount, but whenever I get sad about that fact I just imagine seeing my parents and sisters at the airport.  This has been the trip of a lifetime.  I have experienced France on a day to day level and have been able to see other parts of the world as well.  But no matter how breathtaking the Highlands are or how exciting the Streets of London can be, there is nothing like the Mitten.  I will be ready to go home.