Edinburgh Anyone?

I just got back from our very first independent travel break. A group of six friends and I planned a trip to Edinburgh, Scotland for four days. It was kind of a last minute decision, but it was so much fun and exactly what I needed this week. Here are some highlights from the trip:
Here is Edinburgh Castle. It is massive and fun to play in as we found out.
Another angle. It doesn't look like a typical castle, does it? The castle sits on top of ancient volcanic rock.
We went for a walk in a pretty park.
A beautiful fountain in the park. Sighhhhhhh I miss it already.
The same fountain with a view of the castle. Admit it, you're a little jealous.
Here's a picture of us girls playing in the castle. There were some openings where they shot cannons out of. We replaced cannons with our bottoms.
Here's me being silly and sticking my head through a cannon hole.
Here's Brent being silly with me. He can quote every episode of Friends, he loves Texas Tech, and he actually knew what "Marry/Bof/Kill" was. Impressive.
I'm taken. It's official. I'll send the invititations soon.
Here is a canon that they shoot everyday at 1 o'clock. I'm so hardcore, right?
Here is Brent, Me, and Rachel on top of the castle. It was super windy.
Pretty city picture. If you look reallllly close you can see the ocean.
This brought me back to Bonita Park and it made my heart warm. Extreme repelling anyone?
Here I am in front of The National Art Gallery in Edinburgh. They had a special exhibition of Andy Warhol's work. He was a revolutionary artist in the 60s and he did a painting involving Campbells soup that made him super famous.
Another famous painting of Andy Warhol's was called "Silver Clouds". So here we are playing with some silver clouds and pretending we are seven again. It was nice.

This is St. Gile's Cathedral. I didn't go inside it, but I had to take a picture of this gorgeous building.
The sunrise as we flew back to London. Breathtaking.
Here I am back in Oxford and I finally got to use my umbrella. It has only rained once since I've been here which is so rare.
Kamerie and I cooked spaghetti for dinner and we had leftover noodles. What to do? We decided to leave a present on our friends' Brent and Daniel's door. Aren't we sweet?

Edinburgh by Morning

At 1:00 am tomorrow morning me and eight of my friends are journeying to Edinburgh, Scotland for our first official travel break. We're hoping to visit the famous Edinburgh Castle, go on a ghost tour (don't know how I'm going to enjoy that-- i HATE being scared), visit some museums, look at pretty churches, and maybe even a dance club :). Anyways, please pray for safety on our trip and I'll post some pictures when I get back. Miss you guys!

On Thursday the group was able to go to Bath and Breckon, Wales. It was an amazing experience to say the least. Good friendships were made and amazing talks that I will never forget. God works in amazing ways.

Here is Joel at the ancient Baths in Bath. I just liked the way he was posing beside the Roman guard.

Here is a picture of one of the baths. It's said to have healing powers from hundreds of years ago. It was really beautiful.


Here's a pretty picture. In the background is the Bath Abbey, an ancient church that was magnificent.

Me being rebellious (you aren't allowed to touch the water).

Ashlynn and myself by one of the springs leading into the baths. Please notice my Chaco representation!

Ashlynn and I giving the ancient columns some love.

Also in Bath was a Fashion History Museum that had collections of some old and beautiful clothing. They had a spot were you could try on corsets and hoop skirts. Here's Ashlynn and I's hoop skirt modeling shots.

A church were I prayed.

Here's a really funny picture of Ashlynn and I. These masks fit us perfectly don't you think? Kinda creepy!

Here is Kamerie, Rachel, Brent and I in Britsol. We went to a British Museum here that had a really awesome display on slavery in Britain.

A hill we discovered near our hostel in Wales. Breathtaking, right?

Another beautiful picture.



The hostel we stayed at.

Let's fly away to someone new...

Here is a few images I took before I left for Oxford. Enjoy

Lauren's favorite napping spot in the Snack Shak

Here's Jarret and me at Alto Lake.


And here our some amazing shots from the 9 hour flight to Oxford.


This is Ashlynn and she's a sweetpie.

This is Sterling and Evan. Sterling slept the entire way thanks to some Lunesta.

And now for some Oxford pictures. We arrived in Oxford around noon which is 5 am back home, but to keep us from completely crashing Ron and Janine (my professors) took us on a walking tour. Here are the beautiful outcomes....


This is University Parks my favorite park so far. J.R.R. Tolkein visited this park so much that there is a bench devoted to him where he supposedly sat and got ideas for his books. Crazy!

Here's part of my group and my professors Ron and Janine Morgan. And hopefully in the future my brother's in laws :).

Here are some sweet girls who live next to me. Katie is to my left and Ashlynn to my right. They are hilarious.

This is the Bridge of Spires (I think). Very historic, but not quite sure what about yet. I'll know soon though!


One of the gazillion churches/cathedrals/castles/universities located in Oxford. The architecture here is absolutely breath taking.

Here's a really random school we found on an adventure. It made us laugh.

My room. And my wall of pictures to remember all of you :)

Here's my roommate Kara and I in front of our house. Aren't we cute?

My new favorite picture. Canterbury is the road I live on.

This here is Port Meadow. The River Thames (pronounced Tims) is located here too. Because of all the flooding that occurred this summer it's a little muddy. But there are blackberries and wild horses roaming around. A great way to spend the afternoon if I do say so myself.

These are the wild horses we came upon. They let us walk right up to them and pet them. It was lovely.

And here is a picture I took of my roommate Kara. She is amazing and I love her already.
Well that's it for now. Classes start Monday and we're heading to Wales on Thursday. Could life be any better? I love all of you and miss you like crazy. Give some pine trees a hug for me ok?