Day 8: September 22, 2024 (Scottish Landscape)

(by Marcela & Sofia)

This Sunday started a bit earlier than some of us would have liked. We woke up at 7:15am to a beautiful sea view. After we all had breakfast, we met in front of our new accommodation. Together we made our way to the port where we took a ferry to the Isle of Mull for our first stop on our three-island tour. Some of us even had the luck to see dolphins glide through the water but they had the audacity to not even notify the others about their great find.
From there on, we had a long bus drive across the island. The driver/tour guide told us a lot of interesting facts such as that only 18 students attend the school there or that a helicopter was needed to set up an antenna (the internet connection is apparently still pretty bad though). Sadly, a lot of us didn't catch many of the facts because we were still tired from the journey the day before and slept through them. After driving one and a half hours through the magnificent landscape of the Island of Mull, we arrived at the second port. This time we took a much smaller boat. The cold wind got to us, everyone bundled up in several layers of warm clothing but that didn't take away our excitement for the much-anticipated island of Staffa which Ms Hänggi had told us everything about in geography. 40 minutes after setting off we finally set foot on the beautiful island made of Basalt entirely. We had about an hour to explore the island, and we spread out into different directions. A fraction of the class headed to the cave we saw from the boat and others climbed up the grassy hills to the highest point of Staffa. Sitting comfortably cushioned on the green grass we ate our lunch and basked in the warm sun. The view was wonderful and the air incredibly crisp. It almost felt like being in a real life Minecraft world. We further explored the island and strolled around, some of us went a bit crazy and did somersaults and flic-flacs to fully take advantage of the pillowy grass. In the last few minutes our group descended into the depths of Staffa: its cave. Amazed by the stunningly turquoise water we took pictures, as our generation does (always those phones…). Time flew by and soon it was time to leave the island behind, something which was quite devastating. The third and final stop on the three island tour was Iona. Upon arriving we were immediately greeted by the cute houses along the coast and the little beach. Once again, we were free to wander around by ourselves. There were many things we could do, for example: sit in a café while sipping a hot, lactose-containing beverage with some scones, going down to the beach and watch the waves crash against the shore or hike up to the oldest rocks of Europe. The bravest of us even dared to take a quick dip into the ice-cold water while others went on a search for a real Scottish Highland cow. Sadly, instead of encountering a Highland cow we met a rather odd looking normal one. The cow made it very clear to us that it wasn't too happy to see us there by running straight toward us. Luckily there was a fence between us, otherwise we wouldn't be writing this blog entry today. At five o clock we met at the port and took the boat for a last time back to Mull. The bus was already waiting for us and we sank back into our seats, tired but content. Our way home was exactly the same as our way there. All in all, it was a great day full of new and exciting sceneries, a bit of seasickness and and some napping.












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