Scotland and Heading Home

Sorry there hasn't been a post before now...Wi-Fi was hard to find in Scotland!

We've had a great final leg of the trip. After landing in Scotland, we headed straight for the highlands and found ourselves deep in the heart of the country at Loch Rannoch, down 17 miles of narrow winding roads next to a beautiful lake surrounded by mountains.  We wandered around the town of Stirling, famous for William Wallace's big battle for freedom and explored the grounds of Blair Castle. We paddled ducky rafts at Loch Tay and did the hokey pokey in our boats before strapping them together and trying to race across the flotilla.  After some free time in St. Andrews, we headed to a nearby town and had a golf lesson.  Loch Ness was beautiful, but it was too choppy for Nessie to appear.  Students had a blast trying out some of the highland games.  We visited a sheep farm, watched the collies do their work, tried shearing sheep the old-fashioned way, and spent a lot of time cuddling puppies.

Yesterday we drove down to Edinburgh, walked most of the Royal Mile, spent some time in Edinburgh Castle, checked out the tartan factory where weavers were operating the looms, and arrived at our hostel.  Alan Torrence of the Skein clan gave a fascinating two hour talk on Scottish history and battle practices. Our students were enthralled by his presentation--complete silence and focus for the entire evening and more great questions.

We're waiting to check in for our flight after a very brief night of sleep. Here's to smooth travels and timely arrivals. Barring any travel delays, we'll call when we land in Minneapolis from the tarmac.  We'll clear customs and immigration and come out at the far end of baggage claim at the international arrivals.  Enjoy a few final pictures, and we'll see you later today!

Northern Ireland

(Sorry for formatting issues...the internet connection isn't the best...)

Northern Ireland has been a beautiful and incredibly interesting experience for the entire delegation. I think we would all agree that our time here is far too short--another day in Belfast and we could have explored the Titanic museum, taken a walk along the Peace Line...the people here are so welcoming, and the food has been some of the best on our trip.

We arrived in Belfast at lunch time yesterday and everyone was excited to have pizza! Our tour guide for the city had some great stories and a lot of information to share.  We did more shopping (of course), checked into our hotel, and enjoyed the luxury of free time and a big group meeting to check in and re-connect.  Today we went up to the northern coast to cross the rope bridge at Carrick-a-Rede and explore Giant's Causeway. Beautiful scenery when we could see it, but quite a bit of fog for a change.  We came back and students chose between a couple of activities before dinner. After supper, we had guest speakers come in to talk about "The Troubles" and the peace process.  Our students were amazing--so attentive and ready with many thoughtful questions. The speakers said they were far and away the best group they've ever encountered. So proud of them!

Tomorrow is a very early day. We'll leave the hotel at 6am to catch our ferry over to Scotland.  One more country--your students will be home before you know it.

Republic of Ireland

Ireland has been a whirlwind experience! We left Limerick and spent most of Saturday in Killarney Lakes National Park. The pony cart rides were bumpy but a lot of fun, and provided some spectacular views of the Gap of Dunloe.  We took a motorboat ride back across the lakes and landed at Muckross House, a manor that Queen Victoria visited during her trip to Ireland in the 1870's.  After a short tour of the traditional farming methods at Muckross Farms, we climbed back in the coach and headed south to Cahersiveen.

Our day in Cahersiveen was equally jam packed. We spent a couple of hours learning Gaelic Football from some champion footballers. It was challenging, but also a blast. We met up with a youth service group and went through a rotation of games with some Irish students.  After more sandwiches for lunch (lots and lots of sandwiches over here), the delegation headed out to the peat bogs. We each harvested a brick that will help to heat the homes of the elderly and turned over other bricks to help them dry.  Our local guide took us to a 9th century circle fort, and we practiced our Harlem Shake for the evening event.  A little more touring around town and a scavenger hunt rounded out the rest of the day.  Dinner and a Ceili with music by a talented group of girls wore everyone out, and we returned to the guesthouses ready to sleep.

Most of today was spent on the coach, winding up the coast and across the country to return to Dublin. We learned about the Easter Rebellion at the general post office, then got some time to shop for souvenirs.  We'll head to the Gaelic Football museum tomorrow morning before traveling north to Belfast and our fourth country.  As always, I'll update when I can!

Wales

We had a whirlwind tour of Wales over the past couple of days.  After a stop to explore the Roman walled town of Chester in Northern England, we crossed over the border and headed for Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch.  We stumbled over the pronunciation, stamped our passports, did a little shopping, and got back on the bus to begin the Full On experience.  Students learned new ways to approach challenges and life and broke solid planks in half using only their hand or foot! We got into the hotel late in the evening, grabbed a few hours of sleep, then got up bright and early to return to Full On and do some abseiling at Penrhyn Castle. Every delegate succeeded in at least standing on the top edge of the tower and leaning back over the 100 foot drop, even if they didn't complete the descent.  Either way, they all accomplished an amazing feat of bravery!

We took the ferry from Holyhead this afternoon and appreciated the incredibly (rare) calm Irish Sea for the duration of the journey. After three hours on the bus, we've arrived at a beautiful hotel in Limerick, Ireland.  We have another busy couple of days ahead of us and likely no internet. I'll post again from Dublin for certain.

Northern England:Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwick, Birmingham, Chester

Students (reluctantly) said goodbye to their home stay families yesterday morning and boarded the bus to continue on our journey.  We had time to wander in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, the famous birthplace of William Shakespeare, and enjoyed lunches packed by our families. A few lucky students got marmite on their sandwiches...

We all had a blast at Warwick Castle. After exploring the grounds, the People to People groups stayed after closing to experience an evening as troops fighting for the Lancaster family in the War of the Roses.  They tried out basic sword fighting techniques, learned about shooting a longbow, and tried their luck at charging enemies with "spears."  We spent the night at a beautiful hotel in Birmingham, and are headed on to Chester this morning. We'll be in Wales before dinner, gearing up for a 4th of July celebration and the "Full On" experience.

Framlingham, Suffolk

Home stays are going well! Our delegates spent the night with British student hosts and came to school with them today.  They had an assembly, went to morning lessons, ate lunch in the canteen, then played rounders.  We're all still a little confused about the rules to rounders--it looks sort of like baseball, but innings are ended by a set amount of time rather than outs.  You can still get on base even if you don't hit the ball as long as the bowl (pitch) is within the batting area--the opposite of getting a ball! And to confuse the Yanks just a bit more, you're expected to run with the bat in hand.  We have one more night with our home stay families before heading on to Stratford-upon-Avon and Warwick Castle tomorrow.  A few students have gotten motion sickness on the bus, but we finally fixed the air flow, so hopefully stomachs will settle and we can all enjoy the scenery.

London

Our trip is off to a great start! Beautiful weather in London yesterday, right around 80 degrees and sunny, which is unusual at this time of year.  We had a great visit with a former MP yesterday who was also a minister in Margaret Thatcher's cabinet.  Lots of walking, lots of sights, and a performance of Let it Be in the West End yesterday evening.  Today it's more sight-seeing in London, a trip on the London Eye (moved because the Washington group was delayed on Saturday), and off to homestays.  We'll be in Suffolk for the next two days, experiencing daily life in an English house.  I'll try to update again when we're in Warwick!