The University of St. Andrews, majoring in quaint since 1413.
Rumor/legend/tall-tale has it that SEAN CONNERY lives down there!

Beach stroll!

Pretty sunset... although, this time of year, things stay light for SO long. The sun doesn't officially finish setting til 2 am and starts rising again by 3 am.

I love a grand entrance.

To the Cathedral Tower... (through a graveyard).

Up, up, up the stairs!

To capture, from above, the MOST BEAUTIFUL DAY IN THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND.

Oh, the Castle... where it all began.

The Pier!

Oh, Scotland. So pretty and so nice to me. I'll miss you!

Introduction to the world's prettiest birthday cake... probably last requested for a 2-year-old's birthday party :(

Hahahahaa.

Shan sent me a bday card w a princess on it and the cashier said to her "Don't you miss when you were a little girl and got pretty cards like this?" Shannon didn't tell her it was for her 21-year-old roommate...

friends, friends, friends...

IT WAS EVEN PINK ON THE INSIDE!!! and tasted even more delicious than it looks...

Out and about at midnight... singing Happy Birthday!

French Martini :)

With my first-year LOVES.

a couple more...

ONTO MAY DIP. about 4 AM on Castle Sands along the North Sea.

we're a very daring duo.

Bonfires to keep us from freezing to death.

Looks like enough light... GO GO GO.

Oooooooh the agony.

afterwards... barely survived after she made me go UNDER the water in an attempt to get a picture w her fancy camera

Such a beautiful sunrise!

Luckily, we remembered decorum in time for the May Ball!

Boys in Kilts. hahahaa.

They even had Fair rides. How exciting!

PHOTO SHOOT BY THE ROCK WALL. yesssss.

and leaning against the rocks. hahahaa. there are cows back there... very classy.

Then I found my long lost travel buddy!

Commence photo shoot with all my Lost Boys.

1. Josh

2. Cameron

3. Marc4. Bruno

5. Iain

got them all. WOO!

And I found Sam, too. :)

Easter Holiday!

And so, my Easter Holiday adventure started at the St. Andrews train station- where lots of other students were also waiting...
Bye, Scotland!

Helllllllo Derbyshire, England. Yes, THAT Derbyshire from Mr. Darcy of Derbyshire.

These pictures are the product of a pitstop on my treacherous journey to the Inn, up lots of hills and along English country roads that have no sidewalk...

But, eventually, in a very disheveled state, I FOUND IT!

My pretty, pretty room :)

In the morning, I walked back to the train station to get to Pemberley!

And then along more country roads after I got off the train...

UNTIL I FOUND IT!

Such a beautiful moment in my life...

And then, like a loser tourist, I took 98575432137474983742 pictures of myself in an attempt to get my face, the house, and the title of the book in one picture. success.

I plopped onto a bench, and with this glorious view, read the part of the book that takes place at Pemberley. And, though I admit that it was a very nerdy thing to do, I am absolutely not ashamed. Hahahaaa.

Then I walked off through the fields, where I sadly did not run into Mr. Darcy. Bummer. Maybe I should go back...

Next stop: Sevilla, Spain!!!

The very impressive Cathedral:

And then we flew to Rome :)

We got to see the Pope on Palm Sunday.

The city is filled with things begging to be captured in photos.

It's history upon history upon history in Rome.

The sqaure in front of the Pantheon.

The Pantheon's Dome

and interior,

AND exterior.

St. Peter's Square! The statues are 140 saints.

We ate lots of gelato that week- at least once a day each day except the last one, I think.

Angel-lined bridge

St. Peter's Basilica

Inside the Vatican Museum, they have UNBELIEVABLE ceilings- including the one in the Sistine Chapel (where photography is not allowed).

So we spent most of that day looking up.

The Dome in St. Peter's on the long and windy hike up to the very top!

The huge, beautiful mosaics that line the walls of the dome. The church is so big that you can't even see them from the floor.

The view from the top of St. Peter's! SOoooOo worth the 520 steps.

The view behind the Basilica, maybe the Pope's house??? Probably not...

Inside the Basilica:

St. Peter's tomb

Michelangelo's Pieta- so, so beautiful.

Onto the Colosseum!

View of the Palatine Hill area from the Colosseum, where Romulus and Remus were supposedly saved by the wolf.

Sara and I fought like true gladiator women.

Until I remembered that she could definitely beat me up and that I had left my linebacker bodyguard back in Pennsylvania... So I gave up, begged for mercy, and we were friends again.

The Trevi Fountain at night- so beautiful. We tossed coins in and made wishes before we left.

And then we went to Florence, where Michelangelo's David is all over the place.

The view of the Duomo and the rest of Florence from the piazza by our campsite- very lovely.

And the incredibly pretty Tuscan countryside:

Duomo up close-

Then, on a bridge lined with VERY EXPENSIVE shops, mostly jewelry, we found engagment rings. I liked this one the best...

But, probably wouldn't say no to this one either :)

The blowfish, however, would be a definite no. Even if the proposer came with an impressive title.

pretty, pretty Florence.

After Florence, we made a pitstop in Pisa where these other very nice buildings complement the tower:

I knocked it over... woops.

Pisa's pretty, too.

AND THEN I WENT TO LONDON to check out Buckinham Palace and frolic with my sisters :)

Parliament

We spent a lot of time in Kensington Park, where Sarah played in the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain.

She also picked lots of flowers...

We found Peter Pan!

Kensington Palace had such a beautiful garden...

This was King William and Queen Mary's dining room. Yes, yes, W&M is just everywhere.

On our tour of London, we saw THE London Bridge.

And crossed the much prettier Tower Bridge.

The Tower of London... not a good place to end up.

The view from atop St. Paul's Cathedral

The very, very cool recreation of Shakespeare's Globe Theater

On to Scotland! The GPS told us to turn into the water- where luckily a ferry was waiting to take us across one of the 30,000 lochs.

Sarah recorded everything we did in her "My Trip to Scotland" journal. The ferry, of course, was no exception.

Stonefield Castle, where we spent one night and very beautiful morning :)

Kayla and Sarah by the water.

Cute, cute, cute.

In place of a little cottage, that house could also work for the summers.

Pretty, pretty bridge

Sarah's in charge- throne proves it.

Uquhart Castle along Loch Ness!

Blair Castle, our final destination before we got back to St. Andrews and my Easter Holiday officially came to a close...