Voldemort's Grave.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, it's true. I visited Voldemort's Grave and might've teared up a little from excitement.  Edinburgh, Scotland was an absolutely amazing weekend, filled with stress, sickness, running, and pure joy to cover all of that.  I went with two friends, Lauren and Conor, and we flew into Glasgow, not really having a plan of what we wanted to do.  We decided to take the train to Edinburgh when we first arrived, because we had heard of a free tour there.  Not going to lie, the free tour wasn't my favorite thing. Our tour guide was absolutely hilarious, but the tour was about the history of Scotland and that really wasn't of interest to me.  But the sights were great! Edinburgh castle is stunning, it was my first real castle sighting!!! And the best part of the tour...THE HARRY POTTER SECTION. So I fail as a fan because I did not know J.K. Rowling was from Edinburgh, and we went to the very place where she sat and wrote the first two Harry Potter novels.  We even went to the graveyard that provided her inspiration for Godric's Hollow....and MAD EYE MOODIE.....AND PROFESSOR MCGONAGALL....AND THOMAS RIDDEL AKA VOLDEMORT!!!!!!!!!!!! So freaking cool, I went to Voldemort's grave!!!! I was one happy human in that graveyard! If you know me at all, you know I'm obsessed with Harry Potter, so this was basically a dream come true.

On day two, we decided we loved Edinburgh so much that we would return, specifically because I wanted to hike to Arthur's Seat.  Now none of us were sure what that was, but we had heard it was a beautiful view.  While approaching the extinct volcano we wanted to hike, my eyes went wide.  Okay, so it was going to take longer than the 30 minutes I had planned for.  But that two hour hike was WORTH IT.  Granted, it was probably the hardest hike I have ever done, even beating the Grand Canyon, but Arthur's Seat was spectacular.  Arthur's Seat is the highest point, and you can see the entire city for miles and miles.  It made me think of that children's song "He's got the whole world in His hands;" such a reminder of our God who is in control of the entire world!!!

Our flight was at 7 am the next morning, and the airport was over an hour away.  We always take Ryanair flights because they're the cheapest, but the airports are always in the middle of nowhere and difficult to get to.  Since we had to leave so early, we realized that the train, metro, and bus would not be running at 5 am. After scanning the internet and asking several travel centers, we came across a bus company that had a 4am bus to the airport!! But we had to walk to the bus station, which our hostel receptionist (our sketchy hostel...) said would be about a 20 minute walk.  So we left the hostel at 3:30am, just incase it took a little longer. WRONG-O. It was much further than we thought, and as we walked through Glasgow we got out first experience of the city. DRUNK PEOPLE EVERYWHERE. And when I say everywhere, I mean literally hundreds of people on the streets, in trashy clothes, smoking cigarettes, and passed out on the sidewalk.  It was a nightmare, and a scene from a bad movie.  As we realized that the bus station isn't as close as we thought, we had to RUN.  Pushing drunk people out of the way, we sprinted to the bus station for a good ten minutes. I'm still sick, so I just kept commanding myself not to throw up and keep running.  We made it without a minute to spare, the bus left right after we got on it. Good times, Glasgow. Good times.  But besides that travel mishap, Scotland is the new love of my life.  I actually liked it more than Paris!  I think I'm just not a city person, and I'd much rather be surrounded by nature than buildings.

So after arriving back in Dublin at 8 am, (it was actually a 30 minute flight,) I received a text from my friend Kandice saying she found a church close to our flat! Service was at 7pm, which was perfect since I usually don't arrive back in Dublin until mid afternoon on Sundays.  We went to Grosvenor Baptist Church and it was so good to be back in a community of believers!  It was a small church, especially smaller to what I'm used to, and it was just what I needed.  The pastor's message was on Job and persecution, and he even introduced himself to us after!  It's the type of church where everyone knows everyone, so we probably stuck out!  We went to the college bible study after the service, with free dinner, and it was such a blessing to meet some Irish brothers and sisters in Christ! We discussed poverty & the Gospels, and I loved being able to bring my experience from Fort Worth and Christ Chapel to the discussion.  It was sincerely one of my favorite nights of being in Ireland, and I couldn't be happier to have found a blessed community here!

Well, it will be my spring break after this Wednesday, and time is flying by.  Unfortunately, Italy is being hit with extreme snow, and my plans are to go to Rome on Thursday! Hopefully everything will still work out, because I'm really looking forward to some yummy pasta!  I'll update ya'll after!! xxo!!