Yellowstone - 3 days 2 nights...

Yellowstone National Park was a much needed, well deserved mini-vacation before the beginning of fall semester. The idea started pretty randomly and then actually grew into a solid plan that we slid in right in time. There were wild animals, deep talks, waterfalls, freezing sleeps, beautiful colors, and long drives through the night.

All in all, I had a great time kicking it around Yellowstone with these crazy people.

OUR FREAKING CAMPING SPOT / early morning planning session / grand canyon of yellowstone / mammoth hot springs / a (possibly staged) candid rafting picture / mesa falls / the whole gang in the rain / old faithful / west thumb geyser basin / eating lunch in middle of nowhere bear land / grand prismatic spring

The Plans for After I Graduate...?

My last year of college begins in a few weeks and my mind is going crazy thinking of the many paths I could choose at the end of it; typical of any senior. I wouldn't say I'm the type of person who is a 'planner,' however I do like to have a general idea of where I'm going and what I'm doing. As of now I am considering four very different options. Which is leaving my nerves...the very opposite of settled. I suppose that is the way I like it though. The anticipation is killing me but it's incredibly exciting.

My best answer:

In which I make you fall in love with Edinburgh...

I've been to a lot of cities in Europe. I used to think Prague was my favorite but then Paris overtook Prague. I know it sounds cliche to love Paris so much but my goodness...it truly deserves every song sang, book written, and movie made about it.

Dont you agree?
As much as I loved Paris however, it did not hold the top spot for very long. It very quickly lost out to Edinburgh. It was a losing battle really, ever since I stepped out of the Edinburgh airport. A month after I arrived in Edinburgh, I left and went to Paris and London...it was after I came back that I realized how much I was in love with Edinburgh. I also believe its the best city in the UK. I love everything British, really, I do. The other cities I've been to in Britain really have been great but they're not as entirely filled to the brim with beauty, history, and Britishness (yes, I did just make that a word) as Edinburgh.

Edinburgh has a dark look about it. Its all stone, windy roads, misty fog, small alleys, and mossy cemeteries. You can feel the history. The city has the same layout and most of the same buildings as it did in the 1800's. My building below, for example, was built in 1876.

You can see that they look very similar. Most of the buildings in this city are the close to the same height. So when you get up a hill, you look over the city and all you see are a ton of lovely stone buildings with chimneys and then church spires. I absolutely love it. The population is about 450,000 people. So its not a huge city with tons of people in it but it still manages to have a 'big city' feel about it.

It can be easy to forget that Edinburgh is a costal city, right on the edge of the North Sea. The beaches are beautiful, even if they aren't exactly warm. And the water's blue.  Then there's Arthurs Seat and the Salisbury Crags...

Isn't it unbelievably beautiful? Arthur's Seat is actually an extinct volcano and it lies right in the middle of the city. I've noticed that the colors of the city match the colors of Arthur's seat. The stones used for the buildings is similar to the color of the stone of the Crags (cliffs) while the different colors of green and moss are everywhere in the city...on trees, on the buildings, on railings, and of course, the ground.

Rain. We must talk rain. This is a city in Britain we're talking about.

I'm a firm believer that rain makes everything look more beautiful. And there's a different atmosphere, more serious, more dramatic. The colors are darker and deeper; saturated and not washed out. Everything glistens because the raindrops and wet surfaces reflect light. I've never seen a city come more into its own than Edinburgh in the rain.

This is the Scottish Parliament. I love this building. Its crazy, literally mad...but I love it. I tend to think this is what happens when Edinburgh tries to be modern. Have you ever heard that quote that goes something like, "Show me someone's greatest weakness and I will show you his greatest strength.' Well yea, think really hard about that...and how it applies to this situation...ha...ha.

Last of all, I must talk about the people of Edinburgh. Yea, I'm pretty sure they're like the nicest in Europe. Or at least they appear that way because they are so unbelievably charming! Seriously, you can only be called lassie, love, or madam so many times before your heart begins to entirely melt. You can only have so many doors opened, so many directions kindly given, and so many smiles directed at you before you're sucked in and start to feel your heart brimming with love for these people.

I truly love Edinburgh. I could not have ever dreamed this city treating me better than it has. Of course, I wish I didn't have to leave; I'm finding it really rather heartbreaking. Though, I can tell you that I will certainly be back one day.

~Brea

Highly notable honorable mentions:  The Royal Mile, Edinburgh Castle, the kilts and bagpipes, and Calton Hill.

Only in the United Kingdom...

Here is a list of things that I have found you can only do, or things that can only happen, in the UK:

• Trip down the stairs of a double-decker.
• Find an intersection where each corner has a church older than the 1900's.
• Buy pasties. Sad because I really like them. (Btw, no, they're not what you're thinking and yes, you are saying it wrong.)
• Delivery guys walk instead of driving around in a car.
• Walk down a street with four different names.
• Live in a flat building that was built in 1876...without it being in the historical district.
• Be casually walking around and randomly find a plaque with the name Tom Riddle on it.
• Offered a handkerchief for your tears at church.
• Get kissed by a random Irish guy.
• Frequently find actual clouds, not only in the bathroom but the in kitchen as well.
• Give some woman a double-take because you thought they looked like JK Rowling...three different times in the same day.

Disclaimer: Some of these may not be entirely unique to the UK, but these are some experiences I've definitely never had until coming here.

Rosslyn...

A couple weeks back I grabbed the number 15 double-decker bus and rode it South to Rosslyn. You may have heard only of Rosslyn Chapel, which was in the Da Vinci code, but there is an entire town called Rosslyn where there are charming little cottages, Rosslyn chapel, and Rosslyn Castle ruins. There are also some fantastic footpaths around the ruins.

Thankfully, its not hard to get there and I've gone back twice since. Sunset is definitely the best time to go. Everything is darker than normal yet the colors stand out so much more.

Its magical, peaceful, and beautiful here...

 

A good reminder: get out and explore whenever possible. The world is freaking beautiful.

Living life...

I've been so busy living my life these days, that I haven't found the time to blog about it!  So I apologize, first of all. (You all know this apology will eventually come at one point...really...because I'm terrible about keeping consistent at blogging.) But here I am, making amends. Please, forgive me. Alright, now that you've forgiven me, lets get on with it.

A brief recount of some of whats happened.

I...

Travelled to London, Rosslyn, Paris, Glencoe, Loch Ness, Stirling, and Glasgow.
Met and was kissed on both cheeks by the first minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond.
Went to church in Notre Dame.
Rode in a British taxi four different times...paid for courtesy the Scottish Parliament.
Saw Phantom of the Opera in West End, London.
Got hit by a driverless car and got a bruised and swollen leg. Yea, hurt pretty bad.
Then I accidentally got seriously drugged up from the medicine. <---That was embarrassing b/c there were many witnesses...
Saw the Queen....of England.
Went to an MSP (member of Scottish Parliament) only dinner. I get to do what very few other interns do because my MSP is blind and often needs someone with him.
Saw the Hunger Games twice.
Gave a talk in church.
Took a boat tour on the Loch Ness.
Have written endless Parliamentary Motions, one that was picked for members debate!
Was almost pick-pocketed in London.
Have explored cathedrals and castles and ruins galore.
Was on the Scottish Parliament Chamber version of C-span multiple times.
Walked along the misty North Sea Coast in Edinburgh.

I think...

      ...that the British culture is my favorite culture. And Scottish people are the nicest people in Europe.

      ...that time is going by way too quickly and Im not so happy about it.

      ...that because I've now had 3 different guys tell me Brea means beautiful in gaelic, it really must. At first I thought it might be a Scottish pick-up line but I'm convinced it's actually true. Which is pretty cool, right?

      ...that reading up on the politics back home is a very enjoyable part of my day.

      ...that I might be a little crazy for buying plane tickets to Paris.

      ...that I like being a little crazy. Because now Im going to Paris.

      ...that my favorite combination of colors has changed to lush green and dark gray... because of Edinburgh.

      ...that I need to start going to bed earlier.

      ...that the Scottish Parliament is wonderful and inspirational.

      ...that parsnips are my new favorite vegetable.

Enjoy your weekend friends!

Cheers,

Brea

Close...

{ In a position so as to be very near to something or someone; with very little space between. }

This word has been very effective in describing my life lately - even though Im far away from what I normally call home. Why, you ask?

• I'm closer to my future - I've only been interning at the parliament for a week but I already feel like my future is clearer, or at least more feasible.
• I'm closer to God - He is everywhere and always with me. I've been feeling that I need Him more and more. To help me, to lead me, to teach me. It's been a long time since I last felt this close to Him. What a difference starting a new adventure can make in one's spiritual life.
• I'm closer to nature - Edinburgh is gorgeous...I can't get enough of it. As the picture I took above shows you, beauty is in every little part of this city.
• I'm closer to my passions - Adventure, politics, friends, learning, music, travel, photography....just to name a few.
• I'm closer to the world - I had never been to the United Kingdom before. Its a place that I've never dreamed about coming to because I always knew I would come here. Does that make sense? I love this country. LOVE. In February I will be taking multiple trips to explore more of it. And as the months go by I'll see more and more. I'll go to other countries in Europe that I've never been to - making the world smaller but bigger all at the same time.

I guess you could say that my life is pretty wonderful right now. Want to know how I've gotten to this point? I used this inspiration from writer Anne Sexton:

"Put your ear down close to your soul and listen hard."

While we are young...

Edinburgh, Scotland

We travel, initially, to lose ourselves; and we travel, next, to find ourselves.

We travel to open our hearts and eyes and learn more about the world than our newspapers will accommodate.

We travel to bring what little we can, in our ignorance and knowledge, to those parts of the globe whose riches are differently dispersed.

And we travel, in essence, to become young fools again -- to slow time down and get taken in, and fall in love once more.

See you tomorrow Edinburgh!

On bucket lists...

I don't have a bucket list.

Shocking, I know.

I've never had the desire to make a bucket list - formally or informally. I've been trying to figure out why and here's what I've come up with:

I don't want to prioritize my experiences. There are a lot of things that I would love to do such as hug a baobab tree, kayak in front of a glacier, go to antarctica... but my life will not feel incomplete if I don't do them. I've done things that I think should be on a bucket list but I think its kind of cheating to add them on after you've done them so then I would feel disappointed that it wasn't on my list. Instead I treat every experience like what they are: a surprise!

I do what I say I'm going to do. Ask my mother, ask anyone who knows me well. When I get my mind set on something, I pursue it one hundred percent until it happens. I have some specific goals and aspirations, but a lot of my goals are more general. I want to travel, I want to learn as much as I can, I want to understand the world, I want to see America from other country's point of view. I like to keep the specifics vague because I don't want to look at my list and be disappointed that instead of visiting the catacombs in Paris, I visited the ones in Prague. The specifics could lead me to be less grateful for what I've done as well as hung up about what I haven't yet accomplished.

I'm rather unpredictable. I know, it doesn't necessarily go with what I said above so let me explain. My life is not set in stone and I have no idea where I'm going to end up. I realize that buckets lists are subject to change but not the amount of change that I would probably cause. For example, two years ago I was dead-set on becoming an anthropologist. If I'd had a bucket list then, it would have been full of things an anthropologist would want to do: work at a museum (and visit all the famous ones), find something older than 1,000 yrs on a dig, and get a PhD. They're interesting, but they would not be on my list today. I can't predict the things that will be important to me in 5 years, let alone the rest of my life.

I don't mean to demean the bucket list. Everyone is different and they should do what works for them. Personally, I don't have a bucket list, nor will I ever. Instead what I do is keep a "What I've Done List." And I must admit, its pretty awesome.