Hello there! I am finally getting around to writing my very first post abroad! Sorry for the delay, but I have been busy doing all of the things that I am to be writing about!:)

On May 16 we took off from the Chicago and landed about 10 hours later in Edinburgh, Scotland.  Edinburgh was the first of many stops until we get to visit Luxembourg to search for an apartment! The furthest I have traveled in my 24 years has been The Bahamas, so I was thrilled to learn that my first European experience would be in Scotland, where they speak English.

When we landed it was rainy, gray, and COLD! I had on a sundress and sandals thinking that the middle of May surely would have nice weather. I was quick to learn that I might as well get used to the climate change, for the hot summer days we experience in The States were mere non-existent over in the U.K. Needless to say, I had packed A LOT of clothes it looked like I wasn’t going to be wearing.

Okay, so I obviously wasn’t happy about the weather, but once we finally got to our rental car by walking a mile in the rain with our 7 pieces of baggage between the two of us, I was feeling better; however, my feeling of relief didn’t last long once it was apparent that Dan wasn’t very comfortable nor experienced with driving on the opposite of the road. By this time, we were both running on no sleep for 24 hours and trying to find our way to our hotel off  Map Quest directions through the massive countryside.  It was an extremely  high anxiety and frustrating morning, but we finally made it to our hotel in mid-afternoon, and I don’t think I have ever been so excited to sleep.

Okay, so to break it down, here’s what I retained from my first day in Scotland:

• The people were extremely friendly and generous; however, their “English” was not our “English.”  Most were very difficult to understand, but they were all just so very nice, so there just isn’t much room to complain.
• The countryside was absolutely beautiful! I have never seen so much green grass in my entire life. The rolling hills and mountains could be seen from miles on out, and was just picture perfect. BEAUTIFUL!
• The roads were extremely narrow and the signage  wasn’t the greatest.  For these two reasons, it took us about 2 hours to get to our hotel which was less than 30 miles away.
• The style/fashion of women’s clothing often kept me staring. I didn’t quite understand it, nor have I  seen anything like it. I am going to just say it was “funky.”
• I am going to use the same term, “funky,” for the food.  It wasn’t bad, but it was different. It wasn’t exactly to my liking, but when have you ever heard of me  turning down food?

I would say that day one was definitely a challenge, but a thumbs up! I am thankful we made it safely and in one piece!  The days to follow would just get better and better, and I will be posting pics/posts from our  6 days in Edinburgh soon under the category tabs!

Cheers!