What an adventure it is to live abroad! I came to Scotland three weeks ago, and I am already in love! In the morning I run on the BEACH! Beach like a real salt-water, seashore beach! Not the man-made Elm Creek swimming pond that I had cross country practice on! I can even see the ocean from my window. MY window! It is absolutely gorgeous. Despite the beauty in Scotland, I do miss Minnesota fall! A few leaves turned yellow over the past couple weeks, but I miss the vivid crimson and orange leaves of the trees on my street. I hope the leaves change more once the weather cools down. On the topic of weather, I expected a ton more rain than we receive! The rain mostly held off until this week, with some showers here and there, and only one terrential downpour. The air is usually damp, but the temperature is fairly nice. A lot of days are sunny one moment, drizzling the next, windy and cold afterwards, then back to sunny. It's a little like Minnesota in that way, but the cycle is a bit more compact . The key is dress in layers (lots of layers). The people here are in general very nice! I'm so use to Minnesota nice (dontcha know) that it seems pretty average, but a few of my friends from other parts of the states, or other countries, comment on how friendly people are. We often ask shop workers or people walking by for directions or a good place to eat, and the strangers are conversational and helpful! It is wonderful for people who can't use their smartphone to Google nearby restaurants because data cost about 9,000 dollars/18,000 pounds overseas (but those see rants will be in another post). I am off to weekend adventures (dressed in layers), so this is all I have time for! If you leave this page with only one thing in mind, it needs to be that there are real beaches out there. They are magnificent!  Love & joy, Maddie