I was back in Edinburgh from Monday till Wednesday for my first two exams of this semester, which both actually went okay- although if you follow me on twitter you would have probably seen the rambling tweets of a stressed out student.

My trip was very short because it was my little sister's 17th birthday on Thursday. As soon as I got my exam timetable out, I told my parents I'd be getting a train back on the Wednesday night for her birthday, but to keep it a secret. So we had some moods from her on the days before I left, and I acted like I was upset to be missing her birthday, all the while knowing I'd be back again for her.

So I got on the train and arrived back into the familiar Aberdeen station at 10.00 at night. We planned for Holly to say she was picking up her boyfriend, and she walked into the living before I did, saying they were going to her room- then I came round the door and shouted HAPPY BIRTHDAY to her.
She literally jumped off of the sofa then burst into tears, it was so lovely. We hugged a lot and she cried (although she's going to be annoyed that I've said that). But it felt like such a special moment, and shows that she does love me.

On her actual birthday, we got up at 6.45 so that we could open her presents before breakfast. As it was her 17th, her main present was driving lessons from the family. Holly and my present to her was tickets to Go Ape, at Crathes Castle, for Saturday, so that the three of us could spend the morning together having fun, then have lunch at the Crathes Castle cafe.  We had a very lazy day on her birthday. I decided to take the day off of revision, so we went for a dog walk in the morning then started on an afternoon of movies, consisting of Atonement, One Direction: This Is Us, and Sydney White, all of which were Eleanor's choice. It was really fun, and I loved all the movies that she picked, despite being sceptical of Sydney White, and we devoured plenty of sweets while watching them too.

Eleanor opening her presents

Eleanor's present to me for being a good sister

We toasted her birthday at Las Iguanas, a relatively new restaurant in Aberdeen, which served Mexican food. It was absolutely delicious; to start Eleanor and I shared a portion of Nachos and Honey Peri- Peri Chicken Wings, and for mains I had a Crisp Cayenne-coated fried Chicken, Avocado and Aji Tortas with fries. It was so filling and was really lovely food, and the restaurant had a good feel to it- it wasn't too crowded and the staff were all very friendly.

At the restaurant

Waiting to dig in!

We then went home to have birthday cake, which my mum made (as she always does), and enjoy the last few hours of her birthday.

Giving Eleanor her cake

Eleanor with her cake

On saturday, we headed to Go Ape, which was absolutely amazing! I often get quite scared doing things like this- its not the height that I have a problem with, its more the worry that the harness won't work and I'll fall because of that. So although I was nervous to begin with, hugging onto the trees when I had to move on the platforms, and having to talk myself into doing the bigger things, I still loved it. Each section of the course starts with a ladder up to the obstacles, then ends with a long zip wire, which was so much fun; although because we couldn't land on our feet, we found ourselves being pulled along the chip wood on our back, resulting in very muddy clothes. But it was so enjoyable, and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who isn't scared of heights, we just had a laugh along the whole course. It took us 2 hours to complete it all- which was probably longer than it should- but we had someone who was terrified in front of us, and we did the huge Tarzan drop twice. The Tarzan drop was the scariest part of the whole course, it involved swinging by the wire into a huge net, but as you began to swing, you dropped so far and I honestly thought I was going to free fall to my death. It doesn't help that you're in charge of your own harness the whole way round and there is no instructor to make sure you've done it correctly before the obstacles. But I was safe and the adrenalin rush from the Tarzan drop and the Zip wires is great, and I could have gone around again!
But we were absolutely starving, so headed to the cafe for a quick lunch, since we had to rush back for our Church's annual Spring Fair. The cafe is really cute, and has a good menu for lunch; both Holly and Eleanor had jacket potatoes with tuna and salad, while I had a big bowl of vegetable broth soup and a bread roll. It was so yummy, just what we needed after all that activity.  The next morning I woke up with very sore abs from having to hold myself up on ropes and nets, as well as aching upper legs from where I almost fell into the splits on the hoop section of the course!

We Passed!

My very muddy back

Thanks for reading,
Love,
Emily
xxx