Honeymoon period?

You plan, you make lists, you rewrite the lists, and you have in your head all the ideas and visions of what life is going to be like in Scotland for three months. The Youtube videos are all watched and the trips are planned. Of course what you are really wanting is it to be exactly like Jamie and Claire from Outlander (minus any battles of course) or any and every Hallmark movie filmed in Scotland (minus the cheesemo of course).

You envision the cloudy mornings you awake from your tiny flat, you put on your "jumper" and rain boots and you wander downstairs to the local coffee shop to have a cup of tea and all the neighbors are so excited to see the American because she is so nice and they just cannot believe their luck that they have an American couple living among them. Look at how cool she dresses! Wow, she is so polite! My dog just loves the American! I am currently sitting in said coffee shop and while everyone has been beyond nice, the dogs have paid me no mind. I will keep dreaming.

Let me backtrack. We landed in Glasgow and I got a brief glimpse of the biggest city in Scotland and I was immediatly awestruck. Gritty and fascinating. Gothic and intriguing, and I am anxious to see more. We hopped on our newest mode of transportation, the Scotrail. We are in Scotland and we are on a train. I can feel my British blood pumping through my veins, all 48% of it. Yes, I did my Ancestry DNA and the 36% Scottish is making me feel like JK Rowling right now as I am cruising through the "gateway to the highlands", to my second home in Perth. 

We cruised past Dunblane. A story book town with a heartbreaking past. In 1996 the deadliest mass shooting occured at an elementary school here. Sixteen children and one teacher died on March 13th. Simply put, the UK immediately changed their laws. Take note US. I am eager to visit this town and pay my respects to the innocent victims of the tragedy. 

Stirling came next and you could see the William Wallace memorial sitting high atop the hill. Not sure about you, but Braveheart is one of my favorite movies and musical scores. I may see if David will paint his face blue and fight for Scotland. It could happen. 

The train arrived in Perth and my heart was so excited. It was like all the prepping had finally came to fruition and now was the time. I had not set foot in Scotland yet, although David had twice. I had only looked at our apartment online and would quickly learn that pictures are very different online, versus in person. More on that later. 

Off the train we got, lugging all 5 suitcases behind us. Not at all looking like visitors. After a quick taxi ride, David and I were dropped off on the corner of our new neighborhood. He pointed up and there it was, our flat. It absolutely looked like it was built in 1908 and it for sure has had few upgrades since. I did not care. It is ours and it is in Scotland. Stones falling off the side? No problem. That is part of the charm, right?

Now, I was warned by my husband that there were 52 stairs to the front door. I had this. Nevermind that I sit on my rear end 8 hours out of the day. Piece of cake. He was going to be so proud of how quickly I make it up. On stair number 13 I was done. Are spiral staircases harder than straight up ones? I am sure I read that somewhere. I have to do this everyday, several times a day? When I return, if no one compliments me on my glutes after all the stairs I will be climbing, well I may question our friendship. 

Two hours later we made it to the front door. Huge exagerration, but it sure felt like it. I do not want to sugarcoat anything in my writings or paint an idyllic picture to make it seem like all is perfection. I am going to write the good, the bad, and the ugly. So, as we made our way to the 52nd stair, the air was filled with the ever so lovely fragrance of weed and cigarette smoke. Well now, I was not expecting that, but here it is. I did not see Jamie or Claire smoking a little something something in Outlander? Just the same, I was excited to open my front door with my skeleton key and cross the threshold, except it would not open and any longer trying I would have gotten a contact high, so David took over and helped a girl out.

There she was, all 125 square feet; I mean all 485 square feet! Was that my kitchen or was it my kitchenette? I don't remember seeing a dorm fridge in the pictures yet here it is. Thank goodness my rear end will shrink soon because food for two people in my kitchenette will be tight. Oh, look at the tiny toilet! It's so cute! The tile in the bathroom and toy kitchen was not anything I had seen since the 80's, so when I post pics I fully expect you all to know I am looking at is as being "retro" and I am confident the 80's are coming back. Follow me for more decorating tips. 

The two steps it took for me to get through the hallway to my bedroom, unveiled a room the size of say a great laundry room in the states? Yes, that's about right. When I say we are over the top "big" in everything we do in the states, it is completely true. There is absolutely no room for a queen or king bed in a standard UK bedroom. So there it was "a broken on one side because all David did was sit on it to put his shoes on before" double sized bed. We literally will have to take turns when moving about the bedroom. Oh, and immediately we knew this bed had to go. The new one would arrive in two days. 

Growing up and into adulthood, I had moved no less than 30 times, so suitcases were dropped and I immediately started ripping down old curtains, arranging my kitchenette, and planning where all things would go because this unpacking and having your home together in 48 hours was in my blood. Besides, this place was only 50 square feet so it should be a breeze, right? I was in my "honeymoon with Scotland period" and I wanted to settle in as quickly as possible and be done so that we could venture about. David would be working on music soon and we would need to plan trips around all of that. 

Needless to say we couldn't do it all in one day so we decided to pause and head downstairs onto High Street and see what this little city was all about. The pedestrian-only street was bustling with people of all ages and I noticed right off the bat that so many people here smoke cigarettes. Gross is all I can say about that. I am gonna need the UK to take some notes from the US this time. At any rate, it was so fun to see all the stores and old buildings in person. I had stalked this little city since the moment we considered it. Marks and Spencer on the right, Primark on the left. Coffee shops were scattered and Starbucks made it's appearance at the end of the street. In determination of not going to places I "recognized" I refused to head to Starbucks, but let me tell you, a poster of the golden arches (aka McDonalds's) is on the phonebooth (yes they exist here) and suddenly my mouth was watering for some nuggies. It hasn't happened yet, but in full disclosure it's because I have not found it yet. It will happen. 

You have churches that were built in 1448, St. John's Kirk for example, and then a vape shop across the street from it. There are kilt shops next to turkish barbers, pubs next to Domino's pizza, and the coolest Italian restaurants in the alley way behind you. It's both fascinating and then typical of a city. You can hear the old church bells ringing from these ancient churches and it just hits you differently.  We encountered a couple of homeless people and it took me aback at first. Not because I didn't think they exist here, but because I was naive to believe that the city we had never set foot in, in a country we had never set foot in until recently, wasn't this completely idyllic picture I had in my mind. When I told my mom a few days later about the homeless, she just ever so quickly and matter of factly said "well, it's a city and that happens anywhere". She is right, and even in Scotland. 

We returned to the flat after a quick trip to the Tesco Express for a few food items, and while I am dying to talk about the grocery stores here, that content will be at a later post. Trust me, so much to say about food here already, ha! We were exhausted and the day had flown by. Driven by adrenaline, it was like our bodies just suddenly couldn't take it anymore. My brain was on overload, and once that happens for me it is like I turn into Goldie Hawn from Overboard when the kids are throwing grapes at her and she is just blubbering nonsense words. Oh, and this time coming up the stairs was absolutely not any better than the first.  In fact, as David and I literally were near stair 25, our neighbor came around the corner to see us huffing and puffing. What a sight we were, ha! His name is Ian and he has was so kind and I am sure he wondered what these out of shape Americans were doing in his building. I can't recall how it happened, but suddenly he asked if we wanted to meet his dog. My husband would say that I walk around with a sign on my forehead that only dog people can see and it says " may I see your dog and pet it and love it and take it home?" Needless to say we met the pittie named Enzo and I love him already. 

I climbed into the broken bed in our little flat in Scotland and shifted around the broken springs poking into my hips and was ready to sleep and start it all over again tomorrow. We were very fortunate that we had these opportunities ahead of us and I know we do not take it for granted that we are getting this experience that some people only get to dream about.  We have family and friends who support us and will miss us, and we both have employers who are have been phenomenal. I know I miss my coworkers already. We have friends who made amazing gifts for our little humble abode, who had cupcakes delivered from the local bakery in town, and who tell me they can't wait to read these stories of mine. We are blessed.