Field Trip!!!

I went with my class up to Newtonmore last week, to see the Highland Folk Museum.  It's about two square miles dotted with historical buildings that were either built on-site, or moved from surrounding areas.  It was a gorgeous spot,  all mountains and pine trees and fresh air.  It will be even more spectacular when the heather blooms.

The scenery on the way into the highlands was lost on  me because I couldn't keep my eyes open. I slept on the bus the whole way there and just opened my eyes as we pulled into the little town.  It was a crazy moment of deja vu because we passed the little tea shop that Aimee and I had visited in January, right after our car broke down!  Such adventures.

At any rate, the Highland Folk Museum was quite the experience.  They had a farm, shetland ponies, an old church, a turn of the century school house and a 19th century thatched cottage.  There was also a settlement called a township, which immediately conjured up very different images, but turned out to be a reconstruction of a 17-18th century highland settlement. 

There were re-enactors there.  Check out the beard on the man in the photo below.  Amazing thing:  the re-enactors were all from Ohio - so bizarre.  The best parts of the day though, besides getting a trip, were the dress up and the peat fires.

Here I am practicing my penmanship in the school house.  

 We might be post-grads, but dress up never gets dull.

 Can you see the beard?  I have a suspicion that it's dyed....  

Also seemed quite out of place with the mid-western accents.

I smelled like peat fire for the rest of the day.

Such a fun trip and really great for catching up on sleep, I napped the whole way back, too!  Other news from St. Andrews. I turned in two really mammoth portfolios last week on my internship and my exhibition.  I also gave a gallery tour for Elements of Genius this Monday and just today did a presentation in class about my internship.  Whew.  Am really looking forward to seeing Aunt Sue, Toby, Laura and Tommy in Florence in a few weeks, and then Miss Rebecca Kate will be visiting.  Spring is flying!

Hope you are doing well.  I'd love to hear from you!

xo

A Holiday in Spain

I spent last week in gorgeous, sunny Barcelona.  I went with a few friends from school, we got a small apartment in the center of the city and spent the week sitting in sunny placas, looking at art, searching out Gaudi buildings and drinking sangria.  It was a brilliant spring break.

My favorite part of the trip was visiting Park Guell, which has been on my list for a while.  Gaudi designed it as a small self sufficient community compound, but it ended up as a city park.  It has fairy tale buildings and amazing mosaics!  It was so nice to be there in the spring especially, with everything blooming.

We also went to see Gaudi's La Sagrada Familia, which was pretty stunning.  The best part was taking the elevator up to the top of one of the spires.  I could see the construction work, and also had a great view of the city.

The older cathedrals were wonderful, as well.

We took a tram up Montjuic to see the Olympic Stadium, the Catalan Art Museum and the Miro Foundation.  Look at the blue sky!!!

Most of the time, I was in the old part of the city, which was really gorgeous.  All old balconies covered in laundry and narrow pedestrian streets.  There was amazing food.  When we didn't go out for tapas or paella, we shopped at the big market on La Rambla and cooked in our apartment. I ate lots of fresh veg and chorizo and strawberries and gelato.  This was just around the corner from the apartment:

A couple times we walked down to the beach or marina to sit in the sun for a while.  There was an amazing collection of sailboats!

I'm back in Scotland now, using the last week of my spring break to finish up a project that's due next week.  Sadly, my tan is already disappearing.  But Barcelona was incredible, I think I want to go back to Spain, maybe Seville or Toledo?!  Also, there thousands more photos on facebook, if you care to have a look!  Hope you are well.

Adios, amigos!