My mom visiting me in Italy is basically the study abroad equivalent of your parents bringing you Panera and staying for lunch in elementary school: everyone wants to sit with you, you seem way cooler than you actually are for one day and as soon as it's over, you're jealous of the next kid whose mom brought Burger King to school.
(My mom did actually bring me some lipstick and like 16 things I ordered online but couldn't ship to Italy, so that's pretty neat).
I am a terrible tour guide, so instead of trying to show my mom around Florence for 6 days (she's coming back in December, she'll see it all eventually), we decided to go to a city I've never been to, where neither of us would have any clue what's happening.
30 minutes after arriving in Edinburgh, Scotland, my mom asked why I wasn't studying there. I love Florence, but by the end of the weekend, I really was sad to leave.
We somehow avoided rain for four days, even with Hurricane Ophelia rolling in right as we left. At the Edinburgh Castle, we learned a bit about the House of Stuart/Stewart (ugh spell it RIGHT, people!!) and how I was CLEARLY meant to be royalty. We then walked a mile down to the Holyrood Palace, the queen's official residence in Scotland, where I'll be relocating to shortly. I'm sure the queen won't mind if I keep the place occupied for her.
Naturally, high tea was another mandatory stop, as scones with clotted cream are my favorite food.
On Sunday, we went out to some lochs and castles in the western highlands. I wanted to go to Loch Ness, but Debbie heard there's a monster there and really didn't want to risk it (I wish I was joking about that).
My favorite stop of the day was at Loch Lomond, solely because I think the men's choir at my high school sang that song every year?? (It was probably only once, but that doesn't mean the song hasn't been stuck in my head since 2010).
Beyond the touristy stuff, we had some great food (no haggis, sorry) and plenty of gin and Scotch. I listened to four different people play bagpipes on the street. We had the best baked potato I've ever eaten. I also had my first Starbucks in months, which was embarrassingly exciting for me.
After all the excitement of the weekend, it was kind of nice to be back to a familiar place, even though I wish I could just stay in Scotland forever.
I had to take a midterm today (again, who knew I'd actually have to study while abroad?), so I left Debbie alone in the Uffizi Gallery while I went off to my exam. She got lost on her way home from the museum because Google Maps tried to tell her she was walking the wrong way down a one-way street, so I went to rescue her as soon as I was free. We had to stop for gelato to ease the pain.
If you've made it this far, thanks for reading these choppy ramblings about a weekend with my mom. DM me for info about the really awesome cocktails I had all weekend (didn't want to bore the masses with descriptions of every one, ya know?).
Catch ya next time when I write about either study habits abroad, beauty tips and/or fall break.