A Very Scottish Birthday!

Well, you are no longer reading the Blog of a Teenager!! That's right world, I'm 20 years old. Wow. And day one of being 20 (or day 365 of being 19 depending on how you look at it..) was AWESOME! Some of the other Americans here had gone to Glasgow for the weekend but I hadn't wanted to go there too terribly badly so I went on a day trip to Stonehaven with Caroline! We caught a bus into town, caught another bus to Stonehaven, and walked the 1.5 miles over to Dunnator castle! It was fantastic. The views were beautiful and my pictures SURELY don't do it justice. Mom and Dad, we'll have to go here when you come... it was pretty breathtaking. (because it was beautiful and because it was a HIKE! hahaha)

Dunnator was great and then we ate in Stonehaven and headed back to town. We got some groceries to make pancakes for my birthday dinner :) they were super yummy. On our way back into town, however, Scotland threw me another birthday curve ball and we ran into bag-pipers!!! I felt so cultured... haha. Actually I was very surprised, the people standing around and watching them weren't rolling their eyes like "oh, tourist attractions.." no no, the locals were THRILLED and moved to dancing (some of them) and eager to drop a few pence in the pile for the players. Cool!

After dinner we headed to a Ceilidh. I'd never been before but I'll surely go again. It was all scottish music, guys in kilts, organized dancing in groups of 2,4,6,or 8 and lots and LOTS of twirling around in circles!! I smiled the whole time... my face was sore before my feet were!!

Thanks to everyone who sent early cards or emails or wishes on and around my birthday this year!! I miss everyone back home but couldn't have thought of a better way to spend my day here in Scotland. It was fantastic.