Scotland is a must!

I absolutely LOVED Scotland. Stirling is amazing in that, its not a huge city but its big enough. If you want the big city, Edinburgh and Glasgow are less than a hour away. There is a pub down the street from the university and downtown Stirling has a busy nightlife on the weekends. The highlands are the real secret of Scotland, it is just breathe taking.

University of Stirling is beautiful, it has a loch on campus where students can learn how to canoe. There is a golf course, a castle, and the William Wallace monument is just across the street. Stirling is filled with Scottish history, and all the classes taught during ISS incorporate it into the curriculum which just makes everything much more interesting. The academic standards are higher in Europe, so the classes are tougher, but your grades get inflated when they transfer over. All the Scottish teachers are amazing story tellers, and Scottish history is definitely nothing to skimp on.

The staff encourages trying new things and helping students plan trips in and around Scotland and trips to different countries on the weekends. Every Wednesday, the staff would come by our dorms with a new Scottish treat for us to try. They weren't all good, but it was worth trying!

The living situations were really nice. We all had our own bedrooms with a shared bathroom/kitchen between 4 people. Scotland is expensive, but if you plan right and try not to eat out too much, you should be fine. I traveled to Spain one weekend during the soccer world cup, and it was amazing! After my time in Scotland, I took another month to explore Ireland and Greece. Being in Europe is really amazing because there is just so much culture around you, and its so easy to book a weekend trip to so many countries!