Edinburgh Journey (and scones)

     So I have a bit of catching up to do on what I've been doing across the pond. First and foremost was my journey to Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Honestly, it was love at first sight. The city was absolutely beautiful and it was impossible to capture everything I wanted; plus, pictures don't do justice to how lovely it was. On our first night, we went to a pub and just relaxed after our semi-long bus ride. It was a really cool place, full of young people and a pretty good cover band. The highlight was probably singing along at the top of our lungs to "Hey Jude", (better, better, better, better!) and dancing a little to "Rolling on the River." 
     The next morning we had to wake up early to go on our dungeon tour which was exceptionally creepy. It was kinda campy, with live actors telling you gruesome tales from Edinburgh's history. For example, incestuous cannibalistic murderers. Cheery, no? And of course there were plenty of pitch black moments with startling sounds and effects. It reminded me of the Dinosaur ride at Disney World, as in I had my eyes closed for a good portion of the time. After that slightly scarring experience, we were able to wander the city. It was misting pretty heavily --as Scotland tends to do-- so we went into the National Scotland Museum to get dry. The museum was massive! We were in there for about an hour, hour and a half and didn't see even a quarter of the exhibits. You could literally spend a whole day in there, maybe two. One of my friends from high school who is studying abroad at the University of Edinburgh met up with us and showed us around the city. We saw the main campus of the University, which included the student union that had a library bar inside. We sat in the cafe and ate our prepacked cheese sandwiches and veggies (college students need to keep it cheap). We continued on our journey and saw Greyfriar's Bobby (the grave, bar, and statue commemorating a little dog who slept on his master's grave every night for 14 years and whom the people of Edinburgh cared for), St. Giles Cathedral (gorgeous!) and an excellent view of the castle. After parting ways with my friend, we headed for The Elephant House, the cafe where J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. We spent two hours in there drinking delicious coffee, eating tasty homebakes, and discussing Harry Potter and our love and adoration of his creator. That was definitely a magical experience (please forgive the pun). We were pretty tired so we headed back to the hostel and just chilled out for a while before heading to dinner. We went to an amazing Spanish Tapas place in New Town and needless to say, it was highly satisfying. After all the walking, we were pretty tired so we turned in early.
     Sunday morning, we checked out of the hostel and made our way to Arthur's Seat, a massive volcano surrounded by smaller cliffs and tiny mountains that is often featured in movies and offers the most impressive view of the ENTIRE city. It was quite a hike (thank you Grandma for investing in those hiking boots for me, they majorly came in handy!) and got tiring and tedious at points, but the view from the top was well worth it. We took pictures, I had a few Pride & Prejudice moments (you know where Keira Knightley stands on top of the cliff?) and we just soaked it all in. I've had this line in my head for a while, that I want to go somewhere and marvel at something; well, Arthur's Seat was my moment of marvel.
      After a much easier descent, we practically sprinted back to Wannaburger, a classy fast-food place that was recommended to us by past participants. We practically inhaled our burgers, chips, and shakes and few things have ever tasted so good. On a funny note, you could add a shot of bourbon to your shake for 2 pounds 50 p-- which I did not do, just to be clear. By then we didn't have much time before our bus back to Aberdeen was arriving so we just killed a little time in a bookstore. I could have spent the whole afternoon in there, it made me feel at home to be amongst all those books. I ended up buying Winnie-the-Pooh: In Scots, a Scottish translation of the tale of the silly ol' bear. Here is an excerpt:

"Whit for dae ye want a balloon?" says you.
Winnie-the-Pooh keeked aboot tae mak shair naebody wis luggin in, pit his loof tae his mooth, and said in a laich whusper: 'Hinny!'"

      They also refer to Piglet at Wee Grumphie and Eeyore as Hee Haw. That was about the end of our adventure in Edinburgh. There is so much I still want to see there so I'm glad I get to go back and take in even more of the city.

p.s. On an unrelated note, last night six of us girls from Kzoo got together and made French Toast (which is apparently a very American thing) and baked chocolate cookies and proper scones. These scones were beautiful! And with a dab of double cream and jam, it was like the sweetest taste of Britain you could imagine :)

Gaels, Scots, and the English

On Tuesday, I had my first Gaelic class (pronounced G-AL-ic, GAY-lic is Irish). The course focuses on the history of the Gaelic language and its role in modern Scotland. First of all, let me say that my professor was awesome! This is Professor McGonigle (still can't get over that) and she is an older Scottish woman who definitely is full of fire. The thing that I felt was great about this class was that I was getting a taste of Scottish history, not simply the Gaelic language, because one influenced the other. I learned about the Highland clearances which was where nobility pushed people off the lands in order to make room for sheep. People were forcibly evicted, and combined with the Irish potato famine and an outbreak of cholera, many people lost their lives as well as their homes. It sounded a lot like the way the Native Americans were pushed off their lands. Because of this, the population of Gaelic speakers dropped significantly. Even today, Gaels aren't being recognized. The Scottish census asks misleading questions like, "Do you speak Gaelic daily?" or "Can you read, write, AND speak Gaelic?" This results in a highly underestimated number of Gaelic speakers left in Scotland. This is apparently an issue in Scottish politics, whether or not candidates and politicians support the preservation of the Gaelic language. My professor even said that she considers herself more of a Gael rather than a Scot.

There was also a discussion about Scottish/English relations which I found really fascinating, especially since I read so much about it before I left. The one thing I was repeatedly told before departing for Aberdeen was to never call someone Scottish English. This was apparent during my class. Someone said that England complains how much Scotland costs them, so why don't they just let Scotland go like the Scots want? To which someone responded that Scotland has all the resources, but because England has all the manufacturing plants and mills, they are able to take the resources Scotland sends them, process them, then sell them back to Scotland for a higher price. When I told my friend Hannah this, she said it sounded a little like North and South relations during the Civil War. It's fascinating when you're able to make connections between the history of your home country and another. After hearing complaints about politicians, policy, economics, and relations between nations, it became apparent than some things never change, no matter where you are in the world.

Culture Conversations

While here, I've met so many great people from different countries, notably Germany. During conversations with both my German and Scottish mates, we've come across a few cultural differences, things as basic as food and words. For example, I've had to explain Thanksgiving to a few people. It's one of those American traditions that is so common, I've never really stopped to think about it. This is a reason I think study abroad is so important; it not only makes you examine a different culture, it makes you re-examine your own. You become more aware of your home culture as well as your host culture which prompts you to question, evaluate, and appreciate.

But beyond Thanksgiving, there have been little cultural things, more lighthearted, that are interesting to see; for example, my Scottish flatmate had her first ever PopTart. She watches a lot of American television and movies (much to my delight) and she mentioned how PopTarts are such a cultural reference so she really wanted to try them but she could never find them. Well, we found some and I taught her the ways of toasting a PopTart to perfection. She quite enjoyed it :) There are other food related things, like the British calling Jello jelly and having baked beans for breakfast rather than at a cookout (an idea I had to explain). Discussing holiday traditions was also cool (Germans tend to open their presents on Christmas Eve and the British have a holiday called Hogmanay which is the last day before the New Year where they have big celebrations).

Also, things like school are very interesting to discuss. In Germany, high school is six years, so it is common to begin Uni at 20. You can leave high school after four or five years and be qualified for various lower level jobs. Also, in Scotland, there typically aren't graduation ceremonies, or even diplomas when students graduate from high school. It's just not a big deal, so obviously grad parties are out of the question. This goes along with a comment my Scottish flatmate made after I explained the Fourth of July: "America seems to be very jolly." And I guess she's right, when you think of grad parties, Thanksgiving, Independence Day, and all the other holidays and events we like to make a big deal out of.  I'm learning and thinking a lot about small but significant cultural differences, so study abroad seems to be providing me with the new perspective I was hoping for.