Greetings From Scotland!

… And the journey begins.

After an astronomically expensive cab ride, a mad scuffle at the airport to avoid excess baggage fees, three semi brutal plane rides, and a car ride through the Scottish countryside with a breathless sighting of a highland cow, I have arrived safe in Irvine, Scotland.

I feel like my 9 hours in flight were some of the first relaxing moments I’ve had in months. I wrote a few posts, cracked open the Scotland guidebook, and just stared out the window and tried to grasp the enormity of change that is taking place in my life.

I can’t believe it… The Great Escape has begun! As my mother wrote to me this morning:

Every day is the first day of your life, of course, but some are *really* the first day.  June 8, 2011 ranks right up there with the first day of Montessori, Shaker Jr., Shaker Senior and the first day at Pratt.  Oh, yeah, and that day I dropped you at JFK, certain you’d be sold into the sex trade and I’d never see you again.

Oh, did I never mention on this blog that my first time in Asia my mom cried every day for two months? It happened. Luckily she handles my travels a bit better now. And she’s right: this is the first day of the rest of my life. And I couldn’t be more optimistic about the greatness that will be the next six weeks in the United Kingdom.

Coming up in the next week I have a few more posts lined up about my graduation celebrations, my bon voyag-ing and more pre-departure goodness. And coming up after that you can look forward to posts about my first Scottish wedding, a road trip through the highlands, and based on this morning’s errands, a word or two about the amount of Scottish pride on display at the local grocery store.

Thanks for coming along for the ride!