There and back again...

Okay this might seem like the same old story but I swear it is different this time! Today I had class and then walked to the William Wallace Monument. The monument was alright but to be frank the spiral staircase 200 stairs tall ruined it for me. I seriously hate those things. They are dizzying, claustrophobic, and dangerous.

 Moving on from that I get to the real fun. I went up Dumyat (Ohil Hills) AGAIN. But this time I went with almost the entire study abroad group! It was SO MUCH FUN! We took a different trail up than I had previously done before which went through the woods more. Okay, so I completely intended to go the entire way up with my flatmates but that kind of went out the window. There was this guy who was like taking out and booking it up the hill. Now, I don't know how many people know this, but I am extremely competitive. My pride could not stand letting him get to the top by himself first. So I may have went the entire way up with him and left the rest of the group in the dust. :D It was good fun though and exhausting. We literally ran half the way up. It was an impulse shared by many in the group I later found out when everyone reached the top. When you are up there you feel like running everywhere, or "frolicking" as my flatmate described it.

This was the crazy tunnel of rhododendrons the trail went through. It was very surreal and amazing.

 The trail was actually the trail that led to the "cliff covered in purple flowers" as I have been calling it. I had been trying to find it on my own and so far had been unsuccessful in finding it.

 Apart from the flowers the cliff was also covered in a amazing field.

 And of course, at the top, I could finally have pictures taken of myself :D. After all unless you are in the photos the photos could have come from anywhere. I have tons of photos from that hike filled with all the people doing crazy things and just having a blast. I had so much fun, everyone did. Everyone felt the magic that was in that place. In fact it seemed, with more people up there, the magic multiplied. The joy was felt by all. Everyone was running around like kids, jumping, and laughing. Everyone stood in awe of the views. It was an incredible thing to be surrounded by so many people that were so happy.

The guy I was with force me to run the last 30 or so meters to the top, which nearly killed me. Not really but I definitely did not feel so good when I reached the top. And of course, since we went up together, we had to go down together, which was vaguely terrifying because everything was a lot slippery than it was yesterday and he was going pretty fast. We got in a jumping competition trying to out jump each other across streams and stuff. Well neither of us won but neither of us lost either. I love jumping across things. I had forgotten how exhilarating it feels. We weren't the first ones back to campus, however, because some people ran past us on the road to get to the showers (??????), but it was still a lot of fun. I know that this experience will be something that all of us will never forget and forever cherish, and it something that we all shared together.