This weekend went by so fast!  I had a really good weekend, partially because I (finally!) finished my midterm essays that took up all of last week.  When Friday rolled around and I was DONE I was so relieved.

My good friend Caroline was in Jekyll and Hyde, the musical.  So Irene and I bought tickets to go see her on Friday.  It was a wonderful show!  The singing and acting was really impressive.  It was so fun to see Caroline on stage, because for the past few weeks she has been almost completely M.I.A.--always too busy working on the play to hang out with Irene and me!  Now that the play is over we have her back!  :)

 

We got our golden tickets to the play!

Caroline, me, and Will after the show!  

Saturday I woke up early and it was a really beautiful morning.  Scottish weather is very temperamental, so I knew if it wasn't raining I should get outside before it started!  I had a really lovely run with great people watching.  All the tourists love to visit Holyrood Park and the craggs, and so the park is especially busy on the weekend.  I feel so cool when I run past them, clustered around a map, because I feel like they are the tourists, and I'm the one that knows my way around.  Edinburgh has really started to feel like home for me. 

  It was a good thing I got outside early, because after brunch it started raining.  Irene and I had brunch with our friends Chris, from New Zealand, and Ross, from Scotland.  Chris invited me along to watch the NZ vs England rugby game at a pub, and I went.  It was great to go with someone in full All-Blacks wear.  Most people in Scotland hate the English, so almost everyone in the pub was rooting for NZ.  Thanks to Chris, I now finally understand the rules of rugby!  It was a great way to spend a rainy Saturday.  Ross showed up halfway through and watched the ending of the game with us too.

Chris, me, Ross.  Doesn't Chris look just like Leo DiCaprio (circa Titanic)?!

Sunday I went on my first pony trek!  I went with my friend Stine from Norway.  We took a bus about half hour outside of Edinburgh and the trek leader picked us up and drove us to where the ponies were.  There were about 10 of us.  When we first got there, the ponies had somehow escaped overnight, so we had to walk down the road to the field of cows and try to find them.  Each of us were assigned a pony to rescue.  My pony did not want to be rescued.  My "rescue" was basically me struggling to drag it across a field, begging him to make it easy on me and just follow my lead!!! I am not a natural with horses.

My pony's name was Cal.  My pictures aren't the best because I had to hold the reigns with both hands while I was riding!  But the scenery was AMAZING.  We were surrounded by a mountain range covered in snow.  Even though I don't have much/any experience with horses/ponies, and I was the only beginner, everyone was very kind and helpful and I felt like I got a real pony-trekking experience.  We got to go on bridges over beautiful rivers and creeks, and through forests.  We saw foxes and deer!  The weather was beautiful, no rain, but it was SO COLD!   Luckily I was wearing long underwear.  Phew.

On our walk to rescue the ponies.  We found them in this field with cows.

Brushing Cal

My Norwegian friend Stine!

What a wonderful weekend! 

Love,

Kate