Trip to Northern Scotland

This weekend I had the opportunity to take a tour to the northern portion of Scotland. I visited Sterling Castle, The Wallace Monument, and Castle Campbell. 

Just to give you a little back ground Sterling Castle was once the home of Stewart Kings and Queens of Scotland. The beautiful tapestry and artifacts have been preserved to give a unique and impressive view of the of the history of the castle. 

Wallace Monument for all intensive purposes is the basis of the movie Braveheart. I had to walk up 200+ steps to reach the top, but the views were priceless.

Castle Campbell is hidden in the hills of Sterling Scotland and in order to reach the castle you have two options. You can take the long winding icy path through the wilderness or take the main road up a winding hill. We decided on the path through the wilderness. The views were amazing looking at the waterfalls and beautiful forest. However, it was a 45 minute hike up a mountain. 

Enjoy the pictures! 

Chapter 22

The hustle never stops if you are truly dedicated to the hustle.  Nevertheless if you take the time to examine the hustling process you will notice that as you hustle you should continuously take your hustle to the next level. If you are not taking it to the next level you are just spinning your wheels and you should reexamine your goals.

I have been in the states for three weeks and I enjoyed every minute. I find it funny that when the plane landed in Little Rock on December 14^th, 2010 how excited I was to be back in familiar territory.  I was greeted by family with smiling faces, and work for me to do. Whatever happened to a vacation?  Yet if you are a true hustler you don’t need a vacation until the goals have been reached. I have come to determine that the goals will never be reached, because I always add new goals to the agenda so my vacation will come when I die.

While I was at home I started to brainstorm more business ideas and when this experience is over the dream of a being a millionaire by 30 has already been put into motion and the only person standing in the way is ME. I find it funny how when you grow older people who knew you as a child begin to tell you of the potential they saw in your as a child, and how people who knew you before you received your education now say when you finish that Masters we should be partners on this idea. That just proves that the steps are ordered and all you have to do is walk in purpose.   

While in the states I made the trip to North Carolina to see my second family. I must say that I have some great family/friends and the NC trip proved that. It was great to sit down and talk candidly about life with people who wouldn’t judge, criticize, or chastise you. If you can’t have those talks with the current people in your life you should consider changing your environment. I know that if things ever hit the fan I can call on a few good people to support me all the way, and they wouldn’t ask any question besides how can I help? Life brings about a change, but I have some roots called family and friends that will always be by my side.

I arrived back in Scotland January 6^th, 2011 to my surprise to 6” on snow.  I am trying to get ready for the next semester and trying to catch up on 1 of the 3 books I was supposed to have read before I left the states, but I was having way too much fun. I didn’t miss the snow while I was gone. When I move back to the states I need to be in a warmer climate. When I get back to my room I realize there are no groceries but I do have a can of salmon so we will make a meal! I also make it a point to stock up on comfort food in the while in the states. So I go to my room and begin grocery shopping online LOL. So quick and easy and it will be delivered the next day. AMAZING!

Tonight as I am cooking dinner and reading (yes I can multi-task) I realized that while I was in the states I didn’t workout at all and I ate everything in sight. I ate GOOD and all the time so I knew I gained 5 pounds. I weighed myself yesterday when I was at the gym, and I was excited to see I didn’t gain a single pound. However, it is my goal to drop 20 more pounds before I totally end my diet. It’s not a New Year’s Resolution, but it’s something I have been contemplating for a while.

After I finished cooking tonight I went into my room to eat dinner and listen to music. This is a normal routine for me, but tonight was different. As I finished dinner and attempted to go back in the kitchen the door was locked and my key wouldn’t open the door. I just knew someone was playing a trick on me, so I went back to my room and waited for about an hour to see if the door would be unlocked, but to my surprise it was still locked. I knocked on my hallmates door and asked him has this happened while I was gone, he laughed and said no and attempted to try his key but the door wouldn’t open.  So he comes up with the brilliant idea we should climb through the window and open it from the inside. That sounded fine until I thought that I might be the one climbing through the window. Immediately the incident that happened to the Harvard Professor came to my mind and I know I don’t want to go to jail in Scotland (keep in mind my hall mate is from Iran). He said “I will be right back” and he comes out in snow boots and a hooded jacket, I was thinking to myself this is so stereotypical of a break-in and we are going to jail TONIGHT. So we go outside force the window open and climb into the kitchen to open the door. If this is how I will begin the new semester I don’t want to know what is yet to come.