1 Week, 5 Countries, and an Engagement

The past week and a half has quite possibly been the busiest, craziest, most amazing time I've ever experienced. My parents landed in Edinburgh last Thursday (April 18th) morning, I met them at the airport, hugged them super tightly, helped them with their luggage, and brought them back to my dorm to drop their bags off and let them rest for a bit before we went out and about. We got lunch at Oink, and then began by visiting the Palace of Holyrood, where the Queen stays during summer and hosts her annual garden party. Afterwards, we got afternoon tea at a nearby tearoom called Clarinda's, which was absolutely lovely. We meandered through the High Street area, settled on a place for dinner, and called it an early night so that mom and dad (and myself) could get some much needed sleep. The following days were filled with visiting the Royal Botanical Gardens, Mary King's Close (the underground city), and plenty of ice cream.

Easter Sunday rolled around and we went to the airport to pick Garrett up. I had been tracking his flight, and they arrived an hour earlier than expected, so we took an Uber to make sure we arrived on time. I, of course, was getting impatient knowing that they had landed early and was texting him like mad telling him to hurry up because I had been waiting on him for over 30 minutes. Little did I know that he was preparing to propose. The reason he was taking so long was because he changed clothes, brushed his teeth, and combed his hair to make sure he was photo-ready for the event. We were walking to the tram past the big Edinburgh sign when he asked me to stop so my parents could take a picture of the two of us. I was very unhappy and did not want to take a picture. We were already running behind schedule, I was hot, and I wanted to get a move on. I reluctantly agreed and set my stuff down and walked over to the sign. I was a little confused when Garrett handed me a letter to read, but I opened it anyways. If you know anything about our relationship, you know that it has often revolved around airports. I pick him up in NC or Edinburgh, he picks me up in Reno or the Bay Area, and we've met at airports in Nashville and Dallas. Flying is how we've made sure to see each other about once every six weeks for the past year and a half. The letter Garrett handed me said some sweet things about how airports are important in our relationship and at the bottom read "Will you forever meet me at the airport?" I looked up from the letter and he was down on one knee with the ring I had picked out months ago in his hands. Of course I said yes, and there was an applause from the people around us. I thought I was impatient waiting for him to come out of the airport, but he couldn't even wait for us to get into the city to propose!

My parents had reserved a table for tea for the two of us at the Balmoral Hotel that afternoon, so after church and lunch we headed down Princes Street to celebrate just the two of us. Tea lasted almost two hours and they fed us enough that we had to get a takeaway box for the desserts! We meandered through Princes Street Gardens which are finally in bloom, and celebrated the (for the first time since I've been here) warm Scottish sunshine. We ran into mom and dad in the gardens and decided to go to the meadows to take photos of the two of us and get dinner afterward. Monday and Tuesday were spent exploring the city, visiting my campus, doing the Scotch Whisky Experience, and so much more. We ate at my favorite restaurants, went to my favorite shops, and I got to show everyone why I love Edinburgh so much.

Wednesday was a hard goodbye to my parents in the airport, but Garrett and I flew to Amsterdam at around the same time, so at least we got to hang out airside until we boarded our flight! We landed around lunchtime and didn't have any plans, so we hopped on a bus to The Kuekenhof, one of the largest flower gardens in the world! After spending pretty much the entire afternoon there we dropped our stuff off at the Airbnb and went to get dinner and homemade, fresh stroopwafels! We wandered around the city for a bit and then turned in for the night. Note to future self/everyone reading this: If you're going to Amsterdam, book tickets for the Van Gogh Museum and Anne Frank House well in advance. By the time we went to buy them they were sold out for two weeks past our visit! So we improvised and got breakfast at The Breakfast Club, went on a walking tour, visited the Cheese Museum, shopped a little bit, and got lunch before getting on our afternoon train to Brussels, Belgium. Thursday night was spent in Brussels eating fries, waffles, chocolates, drinking a true Belgian beer, and exploring everything we could before turning in.

The following morning we hopped on a train to Paris, where we dropped our bags off at a storage locker across from the Notre Dame and then went to view what remains of the church. Honestly, the only signs of a fire you can really see from the street are the holes in the scaffolding where the roof once was, and the place where the spire fell through. There are a few scorch marks around where some stained glass used to be, but the trees and other buildings in the area seemed untouched. Overall it looks like they will (hopefully) be able to repair it fairly quickly. We went from there to the Arc de Triomphe and climbed to the top to get one of the best views of the city. After that we met up with Garrett's Aunt Joy who lives in France for lunch and enjoyed duck hearts, beef pate, and chocolate mousse. It was a lovely visit, and I'm excited to go back again soon! We went to an ice cream shop per Joy's recommendation while we wandered around to waste time before going into the Louvre. The Louvre is completely free for anyone age 18-26 on Friday evenings after 6pm, so all we paid for were the audioguides. Score! We got to see the Venus, a Sphinx from Egypt, and of course, the Mona Lisa. I was totally geeking out. We spent about 3 hours in there and barely scratched the surface of all of the artwork displayed in the museum. After leaving the Louvre, we grabbed a very late dinner at a nearby market and ate along the canal on our way to the Eiffel Tower. After watching the light show that occurs hourly at the tower we returned to our Airbnb at around 11:30pm and crashed.

Saturday morning we slept in a bit and got a slow start to the day with getting crepes for breakfast nearby and then figuring out what else we wanted to see and do. We walked by the Pantheon, did some shopping at a store Aunt Joy told us about, and did a hop-on hop-off boat tour of the city. Stopping by the Eiffel Tower in the daytime, we walked underneath it to admire the structure in the daylight. Around 5pm we grabbed our bags and headed to the train station where we went through immigration and customs, and then boarded a train to London. Yes, we took the Chunnel, and yes, it was super cool. We even stopped at Platform 9 3/4 to have some photos made before we left the station.

London is one of the neatest cities I've ever been to. I don't think you can ever see it all, and each borough has its own feel. Last time I was there I stayed in Greenwich. This time, we stayed in Brixton (near THE Electric Avenue!). Our Airbnb hosts were super cool and recommended some good places to visit, like the Brixton Farmer's Market and the restaurant we ate breakfast at Sunday morning. We were unaware that this weekend was the London Marathon, so the city was jam packed full of people. Unlucky for us, we had planned most of our day in the Westminster area; right where the finish line was. So we did what we do best and adjusted as needed. We visited 221B Baker Street, dropped our bags off at the train station, and set off to see Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. We saw them both... from across the street. We did make sure we got tickets to visit the Churchill War Rooms and it was definitely worth it. I highly recommend this to anyone traveling to London! Visiting the very bunker where Churchill had vital conversations and made critical decisions really helped put WWII in the UK into a much clearer perspective. After our visit ended, we took the very packed underground back to the train station, got our bags, grabbed some dinner, and boarded our train back to Edinburgh. It was a lovely 4.5 hour train ride through the English countryside and up the coast.

Garrett and I got back to my dorm at around 9:30pm, I finished studying for the night, and we went to bed. I woke up early yesterday morning to get some last minute studying in, Garrett made me breakfast, and I went and took my last exam here in Edinburgh! That's right, I'm finished with school here! It's been a whirlwind of a semester, and after I submit my last essay for my online class tonight, I'm finished with school until my Capstone begins on May 28th. I'm currently 11 days from graduation, 10 days from seeing Garrett again, and 8.5 days from seeing my family (I'm especially excited to see the dogs). I'm feeling just about every emotion I can about leaving so soon, but I am excited to be back with my people again.

I'm traveling to Budapest, Hungary, and Cardiff, Wales, over the next several days, and then returning to Edinburgh to celebrate my birthday and pack everything up. I want to thank Garrett for being so supportive of me taking this semester to live in a different country and for helping me study on all of our train rides. Life with you is going to be fun! I also want to thank my family for everything they've done to help me get to where I am and for supporting me in all I do. I can't wait to be home with you all. And thank you to everyone else who has prayed for me, sent me cards/messages, and has kept up with my journey so far. I'll update you all at least once more before I leave about how my next two trips go, but if you don't get a chance to read it before I'm back, I'll see you stateside!