Bella Amore

Picture details:
1) A view of the coast from St. Andrew's seaside. It was beautiful - highly unusual clear weather for this time of year in Scotland.
2) Fraser and me at the Celtic Music Society night at The Settle Inn pub

This past week has been even more surreal. Every moment I feel so happy. It should be a crime to be this happy. Sorry for all the gushing...

So, the weekend wasn't too terribly exciting. I had the flat to myself, which was really nice and gave me a chance to sleep in and go to bed when I wanted. I spent Saturday in Perth. The Catholic Society originally planned to take a trip to the Trossachs - hills with walking paths - but, due to the rain, we switched our plans to stay indoors. The group was relatively small - eight total, but all the students were nice and friendly. Our first stop was to Scone (pronounced Skoon) palace. It was one of the oldest palaces in Scotland, and a place where Scottish kings were crowned for centuries. Queen Victoria even stayed there for a night. The palace was set up like a museum, walk-through area, preserved and fully functional. I guess the noble family lives there every so often. It was a really neat place to see.

We then ate our lunch in the van since it was too wet to sit on the grass. Peacocks which parade around Scone wandered up to us and it seemed for a moment they would jump into our van just to get a taste of the food we crammed into our mouths. I was afraid the stupid birds were going to overtake us, eat the food, and peck our eyes out - but, of course, no such thing happened.

Then we took a walk through the palace maze. In its centre there was a fountain. It took us a while to figure out how to get to the middle - mazes surely aren't easy, even if you study a map for a while! Then we took a ride into Perth's city centre, split up into two groups (the Shoppers and the Strollers - I was part of the Shopper group). Jackie, Anne, and I were the only three to go shopping, so we took our sweet precious time, walked around the mall and went in a few of the stores until we settled on New Look. I got a shirt (actually, it's the one in the above picture), Jackie a purse, and Anne a sweater. Then we walked back to the van, got in, and headed back to Uni.

I checked my email after that and got a phone call from Fraser. I missed him. It was nice to hear his voice and how his day had been.

I then ate some dinner, headed back to the chalet, and watched P.S.: I Love You. I got an early night's sleep, intent on waking up early the next day and checking email before meeting Jackie and Anne to go to Mass.

Apparently there was a glitch with the computers Sunday. So, rather than check my email I killed about an hour by reading and listening to my iPod. I met Jackie and Anne at ten to eleven, and the three of us went to Mass.

After that I took the bus back to Uni...which seemed to be a little odd, for my taste. That was probably due to the fact that I had a conversation with one of the first year students (who's name was also Kristen, although, for clarity's sake I am going to spell it differently: let's say...Christin). So...during our roughly 15 minute bus ride from the city centre to Uni, Christin informed me quite in depth about the reasons behind the scarf around her neck. In short, she had had a little too much fun with a boy the night before and now needed to wear the scarf. Okay, I thought as I sat there, trying every effort not to express how uncomfortable and odd I thought this conversation was. Thank you for informing me about your adventurous side...you don't know me, but you don't care. You just want someone to talk to. Needless to say, I was glad when the bus stop appeared and I could get rid of her. She was a nice girl, just a little too open for my taste...

Anyway, I went back to the flat, got my books, then went to the library and computer labs to get some work done. I wandered back around 6 and soon afterward Fraser returned from his weekend home. The two of us had dinner.

We hung out for the majority of the night, not thrilled at the fact that we both had classes in the morning.

But, Monday arrived, classes were held and attended, and another day was done. Fraser took me out to The City Walls, a nice restaurant in the city centre, for dinner.

Tuesday was relatively uneventful. I didn't have classes, so I worked for a while on homework and catching up with people online. I also went to a Catholic Society meeting - a talk on a mission trip some parishioners took over the summer. Then Fraser and I went to dinner again in the city centre - at Frankie and Jerry's or something like that - a resatuarant I would equate to T.G.I. Friday's. It was really nice.

I talked to my mom for a little while after that then hung out in Fraser's flat for a while.

For Wednesday Fraser and I had made plans to go to St. Andrew's, a town about an hour from Stirling, granted the weather held out. Well, the weather was perfect. We drove there around 12:30, not arriving until near 2. We walked through the ruins of a cathedral, the cemetary, and along the beach, then headed in the direction of an Italian restaurant for dinner. It was such a great day. I want to take my parents there when they come to visit Scotland next Wednesday through Sunday.

After we got near campus, Fraser stopped at Tesco to get something. He told me to stay in the car, and when he got back, he had a bouquet of flowers in his hands. It was so sweet! I felt already really spoiled because he has spent a lot on me in the past few days, but it was really nice of him to do that.

We got back to campus, I put the flowers in a glass of water (I have yet to get a vase) then we drove to one of the academic buildings to check our email (we were meeting people in the courtyard beyond the academic building at 8 so, rather than running to and from the chalets, we drove).

8 o'clock rolled around. My friend Jackie met us at the courtyard and we drove into the city centre to the Settle Inn, a pub that has live Celtic music provided by Uni's Celtic Music Society every Wednesday night.

No one was there when we got there, but within twenty minutes of sitting down, musicians and listeners had filled the place. The music was so neat - I was reminded of my dad's stories from his visit to Ireland, about the richness, history, and tradition of the music. I loved being there, listening to all the sounds. Although, the drunk guy dancing in the corner was also highly entertaining...

We left around 11:15. I was pretty tired and wanted to get a good night's sleep, although, when I got back to my chalet all I could think about was the music and the overall amazing day I'd had with Fraser. I can't wait for my parents to meet him. I only wish Carly and Keeley and all of you could meet him as well. Some day...