Cara could not stop smiling as the shoreline came into view in the distance.  For months she had fought and argued with her parents to let her take this trip - a full year in the Scottish Highlands, studying ancient dig sites under the esteemed archaeologist, Professor Gordon McKnight.  While her friends in Ireland wasted their transition year, Cara planned to soak up the local history and culture, and make contacts that would help her admission into the University in Glasgow once she finished her secondary education. It was only that final argument that caused her parents to finally relent.<br/><br/>It wasn’t as if she were traveling across the globe - it was only Scotland!  Just a boat ride.<br/><br/>A<em>chilly</em>boat ride.  The late spring air still held a damp chill, and Cara shoved her hands deep into the thick wool cardigan wrapped around her tall, slim frame.  The wind kept stealing locks of pale, strawberry blonde hair from the scarf on her head, and Cara eventually gave up and pulled the scarf down completely, looping it loosely around her neck instead.  It would be less windy once they disembarked at Gairloch.  The boat was so close to the port, she could see the shapes of individual people moving back and forth on the piers and between the buildings packed along the dock.  She hoped one of them was Professor McKnight.  The man was a paragon of achievement in his field, but<em>notoriously</em>absent-minded.<br/><br/>As the boat drew up to a salt-stained pier, Cara slipped through the crowd gathering on deck, eager to be among the first passengers to disembark.  Her luggage could wait, it would be taken off by the porters and stacked over by the pick-up area.<br/><br/>A bright smile spread across her face, reaching up to her deep, emerald green eyes.  She nearly ran down the gangplank ahead of everyone, bouncing on her toes when she reached solid land.  She couldn’t believe it - she had a whole year in Scotland!