(the sign for the n's isn't on this computer so sorry about the nasty remark I just made about an anus)
When we got up it was late. We did the usual, pack, get dressed, and eat. Then I emailed Iain to let him know that we'd be emailing him when we got to Glasgow. He said that that was fine and that we should probably meet at Central Station in Glasgow in the Burger King, since that had worked so well the last time.
Unfortunately we didn't make it to Glasgow at a very opportune hour, I had hoped to get there earlier since this was going to be my last day with Iain. What took forever was finding the hotel and then the train station. At the train station I got a talking to from Ahmee where she told me that this trip was not just about hooking me up with Iain, and that she didn't want Iain to keep me from enjoying other experiences (like places, information, and other guys). I told her two things: first that I understood that this trip was not just about hooking me up with Iain, and that I had wanted to go on this trip just as much as I wanted to see Iain, and second that Iain had told me to not hold myself back for his account long ago in October of last year. She looked at me and said, "Well that was in October, now he's met you and he knows how you're such a smart, pretty, funny girl...."
At this I might've gotten exasperated, at least I felt annoyed. I told her again that Iain and I have been talking for over a year, and that we know each other very well, that he knew then how pretty, smart, and funny I was. You don't need physical contact to know a person!!! We've gotten to know each other’s personalities and minds BEFORE we got to know the physical attributes, and I think that that is the greatest thing about us. You know, before this trip Ahmee, Poppy, and Momma asked me, "But what if you meet him and you decide that you hate him?" I think that for Momma, this was wishful thinking. First off, I've already met him once and gotten to know HIM. Secondly, we've been talking an awfully long time for me to suddenly change my mind simply because I become able to touch him, that'd be really shallow and I'm not that type.
The train-ride into Glasgow was almost painful for me. Neither one of my grandparents understood, and I didn't think that they were going to understand any time soon what we were going through. The worst part was that I knew that Ahmee wasn't going to let Iain and I hang out at his place, and that we weren't going to stay in Glasgow for another day even though I knew that Iain and his Mom had gone through trouble to get tea together for us to impress my grandparents and that they'd cleaned up Scots old room in case they might let me spend the night. Later the fact that Iain had taken the time to put on a cute floral bedspread for me made me smile and just about cry.
After we met up at Central Station I told Iain about the talking to I'd gotten from Ahmee and we decided it'd be better for the situation if we just held hands and were on our best behavior around my grandparents. Iain took us on a walking tour around his neighborhood where he's spent his entire life. He told me where his sister lived (third flat-can't say where because that'd be silly) and that his father had once lived there. He also told me which bar he would refuse to take me to because at least 8 people had been shot outside it. He pointed out where he went to school, and the exhibits that were nearby that he thought weren't so good (art exhibits) that were right next to where he used to play basketball.
I loved walking through his neighborhood and seeing all these places. I even got to see the church that his mom had gotten remarried in. I was even more excited to finally see Charlie and Pat (his mom and her new husband) and Patch (his doggie!). I loved walking around the house, drinking tea with his family, petting Patch (such a soft puppy dog), and going upstairs to Iain’s room.
While in his room he called Momma for me and I got to talk to her and Emma for a little bit. It was so nice to hear their voices again! Momma and I were so happy we weren't sure what to say to each other. I did check with her first to see if she disapproved of us making out (kissing) in public like Poppy had said, she said she didn't really mind. Iain just sat in his computer chair and watched me talk to both Em and Momma. After a bit he told me I should take the phone down to my grandparents so they would know I wasn't doing anything raunchy up in his room. As I left he hopped on his laptop and started looking up times that museums started closing, he saw then that we'd only have time for one museum.
I took the phone down to Poppy and handed Momma over to him, Iain and I still wonder how that conversation went. We went outside and sat on the back porch and looked at the unkempt grass and talked as Patch ran around chewing on the moss. I told Iain that Ahmee and Poppy were going to want to get on a train back to the hotel much earlier than the one we'd taken the night before. I think that we both realized then that we weren't going to get to spend much time together at all this last day.
Iain phoned a taxi and we walked through the museum where Iain told me about more weapons such as the Glaive (spear with a sword at the end of it), the bastard sword (so named because it was hard to hold), the breast-plate, the specialized helmets (made so that the knights wouldn't get and lance through the eye), and the maces (could crush armor). We also had a good time pointing out tiny things on the swords and the tapestries. I had an easier time seeing things on the swords simply because I'm shorter than Iain and the light hit the metal just right. We had a good time looking in at the Silk Road exhibit. Since it was because of the Silk Road that the Americas were found we took a picture of it on Iain's phone, he'll be sending me those pictures to add on to this blog for my teachers. We had a good time talking about Lord Kelvin (the inventor of the Kelvin scale-weather). He was a Scot from Glasgow who was a professor at the University of Glasgow for Philosophy. Iain told me that he was a brilliant man who went in to pretty much every science out there. He lived in the Victorian Period and it was with his research that we have the refrigerator. He had 69 different ideas for science, and it was these ideas that basically ended up making him money. Iain will be happy that I remembered all of that. Course there was more. There was another spear that I can't remember the name of where it was basically an ax added on to it (both the Glaives and these were made for hacking movements).
After the museum we went out to eat where Iain and Ahmee did most of the talking. I think the reason why I'm always the last person eating is that I am always listening in on conversation, whether it's at my table or elsewhere. I'm a really nosey person. Needless to say, I was the last person eating, again. Every time they're waiting on me to finish up, and I have to say that I don't like being rushed.
We walked back to the bus stop through part of the park so that Ahmee, Poppy, and I could go back to the train station. As we sat next to each other Iain huddled next to me, he got away with this simply because he was freezing-he had left the house without his jacket. We talked about how we were going to really miss each other, and that we were going to have to see each other again.
I asked Iain when he was going to visit me in the states and he said, "As soon as time allows." He told me that I'd always be welcome at his house and that I could have Scots old room since Scot had moved out. I told him that whenever I'd heard that Scot had moved out that I had been slightly happy inside because I knew that that room was free then. Iain said what I should do is wait till I'm done with school then go over to his house and stay with them while I take courses there so that I can specialize.
I told him about how I'd looked into just going to college there (how that would be insanely difficult), how exchange programs sounded very good for college, and how if I hadn't gone on this trip then I would've done an exchange program with Southwestern. Basically, I told him that I have been looking in to it and that I'm working towards it already. The fact that he offered for me to come live with him made me very happy though, and whenever I was about to leave him to go back to barely being able to communicate at all I needed the happy thoughts.
He saw us onto the bus and left, saying he figured it'd be better to not prolong the goodbye.
Ahmee could tell I wasn't the slightest bit happy on the way back to the hotel. She asked me on the train if he was like what I had thought and I told her that yes, he was. Later before we went to sleep she and Poppy started wondering what I was going to say in my sleep that night. Ahmee started acting all dramatic and said, "Oh Iain I'll miss you!" I rolled my eyes, didn't smile, and climbed into bed. More than one tear rolled down my cheek before I fell asleep.
That night I didn't talk in my sleep at all.
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