Cooped Up In Carbisdale Castle

This weekend the international group set up a trip for us to live in a castle! Carbisdale Castle is up north in Sutherland in the highlands of Scotland. The castle used to belong to royalty and eventually was converted into a youth hostel. We left on Friday at noon and drove about six hours to get there. After a few hours we stopped in the small town of Pitlochry where we were given time to go eat lunch. Our group went to a local pub, and Will, Jackson, and I got the 'pie and a pint' deal. Genius. The castle and surrounding area was beautiful! We got settled in our room and had supper: homemade Scottish steak pie, vegetables, potatoes, and bread. It was delicious! After the meal we went on a tour of the castle and then walked to a viewpoint to see the castle lit up by floodlights. The night's entertainment was provided by us students. Each of the countries represented on the trip had to sing a song for everyone else. It was awesome! Some people had to sing along or in pairs, and most of the songs were really cool. Everyone was singing something cultural and meaningful, so, naturally, we Americans performed a rousing rendition of "I Want It That Way" by the Backstreet Boys. It was the stuff of legend... The rest of the night was filled with cards, charades, hanging out, and an unfortunate tripping of a fire alarm at 2:30 a.m.

On Saturday we woke up, grabbed some homemade Scottish breakfast (sausage, bacon, eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes, potato scones, baked beans, toast, juice, and coffee) and then went on a hike through the area surrounding the castle. We walked through a forest and saw some great views of Sutherland, and then we walked through a tiny village called Culrain that was surrounded by farmland. We had a sack lunch back at the castle and then piled into our buses and headed to another castle. We drove to the Dunrobin Castle, which is the home of the Duke of Sutherland. We didn't get to go inside, but it was a beautiful place. An enormous castle, a huge yard/garden, and a path to a panoramic view of the ocean were the highlights. We explored for a few hours and then returned to the castle where we ate homemade curry for supper and then had a night of team games followed by more hanging out. It was really fun meeting more people from around the world and connecting through making fools out of ourselves. Whether it was singing, competing, or playing similar card games, I met a lot of new people!



Sunday morning I was greeted with an astonishing view out my window. It was going to be a great day of sightseeing on the drive home. We ate our breakfast, packed up, and got on the buses. Our first stop was to see more of Sutherland, and then we stopped at Loch Ness. It was a really amazing place. We got a picture with Nessie and saw Urquhart Castle, which is right on the shore of the loch. After we took our fill of pictures we headed to the small town Fort Augustus. This is where Loch Ness begins and connects with a river. We took more pictures and then drove to Glencoe, which is a huge mountain range with some amazing views. The mountains rose up into the misty clouds. It was the ideal Scottish sight. We drove along Glencoe all the way to Loch Lomond. It was as beautiful as the song, but we didn't stop so I didn't get to sing it on the shore... I'll have to go back! The rest of the drive was pretty smooth; most of us were asleep until we got back into the city. It was a grand weekend! I could definitely get used to living in a castle full-time...