After my 11 days in London I flew to Scotland and since then I've been living in a Scottish town called Haddington with my brother Nico and his girlfriend Kelly. The Royal Burgh of Haddington is about 30km out of Edinburgh and has a whopping population of 8,844 (8,845 now that I live here...!). It's actually a bit like being back home in Helensville as it has the same small town feel to it, although in all honesty it's probably caused me a few waves of homesickness as it has almost too much of a comfortable feeling to it. Often since arriving here I'll be walking home after a days work and will be feeling like I'm back to being stuck in the daily working grind when I'll stop for a moment and just look around and wake up to the fact that here I am on the other side of the world in Scotland! Being here was something I had looked forward to for so long while back home but now that I'm settling in it becomes all to easy to forget just where I am and what I am doing here. All reasons for being here aside, getting back into work after backpacking for six weeks was still fairly difficult but the vision of Spain for a month at the end of May is making it manageable.. just. Some highlights so far of Scotland have been:
- Reuniting with my brother and Kelly after having not seen them for a year
- Landing two weeks work at the local council where Kelly works which is 10 mins walk from home - and I am now on my fourth week there
- Going on a girls shopping trip to Glasgow for the day
- Walking about in the snow
- Girls weekend out in Edinburgh
- Getting back into baking, especially when I made my first ever batch of cupcakes
- Discovering the extensive walkways along the river and tunnels amongst the streets
- Having hot spiced cider at the local rugby 7's tournament, followed by Sangria
- Drinking out at the local pubs, especially Sunday sessions
- Meeting all the local Haddington RFC hooligans
- Cooking roasts and having yorkshire puddings for the first time
So all in all, I'm loving Scotland even if sometimes reminds me of home a bit too much for my liking and makes me miss everyone back there... But it really is a beautiful country with its rugged countryside, its gorgeous stone buildings everywhere and most importantly its hilarious and super friendly locals. A great place with great people equals great times. Great!
