PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT TO ALL BLOG READERS

So you may have noticed that I haven’t posted for a few days… It’s because they wanted to charge me ten pounds for internet in Edinburgh, which I was not about to pay.  I wrote my blog posts anyways, and I have posted two of them today (days one and two of Scotland) and will post the other two tomorrow (days three and four).  After that, we will return to our regularly scheduled posts.  I just didn’t want anyone to be confused or miss out on anything…  

Also, my friend Emily just posted some of the pictures she took during our walk on the River Cam last week... they're really cute, so I thought I share a few with you!

Check back in tomorrow for days two and three of Scotland! (Four posts in two days?!  Yowza!  What a deal!!!)

Cheers!

Well, can I just meet William Wallace, then?!

Written 9 July 2011 - Scotland, Day Two

I really wanted to write my post about the Trossachs last night, but I was so tired by the end of the night I ended up passing out at around 22:30!  But yesterday was an incredible day.  The Trossachs were so lush and green and beautiful, and despite the rain and mud, I loved the hike.  I took a ton of pictures because every time I looked around, there was another gorgeous view I wanted to capture, even though photos never quite do it justice.  It also really Made me want to watch Braveheart.... but then again, what doesn't make me want to watch Braveheart?!

We had to take a bus up to the trail, about ninety minutes, but we stopped in the little highland town of Callander to buy some lunch (the plan was to have a picnic once we reached the top of the trail).  The town was beautiful, and had a great view of the hills through the buildings.

We finally reached the Trossachs, and started out on the trail around Loch Katrina.  It was actually a lot longer and more difficult than I had anticipated; it was definitely an intermediate to advanced level hike, but I didn’t mind.  As far as the hike itself goes, there’s not much to say aside from “We walked, it rained, we stepped in mud, etc,” so I’m just going to let the pictures speak for themselves.  Note that this is just a selection from the 120 photos I took on the hike (at one point, I heard the guy behind me say “We need to make friends with that girl so she’ll send us her pictures…”), but these are some of the best ones:

Starting out onto the trail; it’s still pretty flat at this point…

It started raining about twenty minutes in, but it didn’t stick around too long.  Good thing my camera is waterproof!

Starting to get pretty high up… the views are getting better and better!!

See that (as the Scots would say) wee tree on the mountain horizon?  That’s where we’re headed.

Getting close!

This was definitely one of the steepest parts; a lot of us were on all fours because the rocks were pretty wet and slippery.

The view from the almost-top.

Finally past the tree!!

Getting close to our lunch spot…

We made it!!!

Views from the top… it’s amazing to me that this is what I looked at while I ate my lunch yesterday.

Starting to head back down…

Look at how dirty my shoes and legs were by the end of the hike!

How gross is this?!  This is what my feet looked like after I took my socks off… that’s not a farmer's tan- it's all dirt and mud!

Despite the dirt, it was a great day.  There was also a ceilidh (pronounced “kay-leed”) that evening, which is a traditional Scottish dance party.  I went for part of it and had a great time, but I was really tired and my feet were aching so I turned in a little early. 

I was also feeling a bit nostalgic last night; when I came here with my Fringe friends, the ceilidh was one of the most fun things we did, and so I was missing them all quite a bit.  For any of my Fringe-ers who are reading this, I love you guys all so much and I wish you were here with me!!!!

Today is also looking quite good, but we’re going to spend today in the city instead of the countryside.  So far the plan includes the Royal Mile, Prince’s Street, the Elephant House, Edinburgh Castle, and quite a few other things.  A few of the other girls in my group want to do the Edinburgh Vaults Ghost Tour tonight, but I’m not going…. I learned my lesson with that one last time I was here!!  It was so terrifying I left halfway through and then slept in the same bed as Zoe that night because neither one of us wanted to be alone!  I tried to warn them about how scary I found it, but that only seemed to make them want to go more.  To each his own, I suppose, but I’ll be finding some other people to hang out with tonight!

But ghosts aside, we’re going to meet at the Royal Mile around 11:00 (it’s quarter to 10 now) for a great day of shopping and sightseeing!  Let me know if you need any tartan clothing, novelty kilt beach towels, or postcards of muscular shirtless men in kilts…. I’m sure I can pick some up for you today.   Cheers!

Buses and Castles and Sheep… Oh My!!

Written 8 July 2011 – Scotland, Day One

I’m in Edinburgh!!!  It’s so great to be here, but the trip up here yesterday was actually pretty brutal… we were on the bus for about eight hours!  We did make quite a few stops, though, so it wasn’t all that bad.  The first one was around 13:00, when we stopped in Richmond for lunch.  Richmond is a beautiful village in Yorkshire (which is in Northern England) that houses the ruins of a 12^th century castle.  I didn’t really want to sit down and eat right off the bus, so I went to go check it out. 

It’s really quite incredible… The first tower is enormous, and once you walk inside, there’s a big grassy area that is enclosed by the remains of the rest of the castle.  I don’t know what it is about ruins, but I think they’re really beautiful.  One would think that crumbling buildings would be unattractive, but I think there’s something pretty cool in imagining what it was once like.

The best part of the castle was the view from the top.  I had to climb so many stairs to get up there, but once I made it, the view was incredible.  I could see the entire village, as well as a large part of the countryside.

Everything is just so lush and green up there, probably because it rains so much.  And in the true spirit of Northern England, after about five minutes at the top of the castle, it started pouring, so I headed back down.

Afterwards, we got lunch and just strolled around the town (luckily, it had stopped raining by then).  There is a really cool building in the town square that I believe is quite a few hundred years old as well, but I couldn’t quite figure out what it was.

At first, I thought it was a church, but after further investigation, I found that it had some kind of military purpose, but there wasn’t a plaque that explained it or anything.  It now houses a military museum, but it was quite expensive to get in, and we didn’t have much time left before we had to get on the bus again, so we passed on that.  Instead, we just walked around and looked at the buildings, all of which are very cool; the town has a definite kind of character to it. 

Before I knew it, though, we were back on the bus and headed north again.

It only took us a few more hours to reach the Scottish border, where we got off to take pictures.

If I look unhappy in that picture, it’s only because it was freezing!!!  We were at very high elevation, and I left my coat on the bus because the driver said we were only stopping for five minutes. 

The view from the border marker was, again, incredible.  The driver said there’s usually a bagpiper there, but he seemed to have gone home for the day, which was sad.  I would have liked to hear some bagpipe music as I took my awesome panoramas of the Scottish countryside!!

 

And then, once again, we were back on the bus, but I was actually starting to find the drive a bit more enjoyable.  The Scottish countryside is very pretty, and so I just watched out the window.  There are tons of sheep, though! 

I found them really quite amusing for two reasons: First, they’re always eating!!  It’s just grass, it can’t be THAT good!  And second…. Well, if you’ve never heard Ian Dunbar sing his song about “shaypees” in a Scottish accent, then you wouldn’t understand.

Finally, we arrived in Edinburgh, and guess where we’re staying?!

POLLOCK. HALLS.  (For anyone who is unaware, Pollock Halls is where we stayed when we came for Fringe two years ago.)  It’s incredibly weird to be staying here again, and it really makes me miss my Fringe buddies… I’ve been feeling nostalgic ever since we arrived.  However, it’s time to make new memories with new friends, right?

Everyone wanted to go out, so I suggested we head to the Royal Mile.  Weirdly, I still remember where everything is!  I thought I would have forgotten by now, but my feet literally just carried me there and everyone followed….

The city is very empty right now because the festival doesn’t start for another few weeks, but once we started getting close to the center of town, things started to liven up.  On the way down, we walked past this clothing store, and I just had to take a picture for my Fringe friends:

For everyone else, it’s too hard to explain!! 

And then finally, the Royal Mile!!  The Royal Mile has some of the best architecture in the city…

We just kind of strolled around for a bit, taking pictures and looking for a pub that would accommodate a big group.

Finally, we came across The Filling Station.  It was a little kitschy, but we were ok with that.

We sat for quite a while, had a couple rounds, and just talked and talked and talked.  It ended up being a really great night, and it was past midnight when we headed back.  We would have stayed out later, but I’m going on a hike to the Trossachs today (which is up in the Scottish Highlands), and I didn’t want to be tired.  I’m really excited for the hike because it’s something I haven’t done yet!  I’ve seen quite a lot of Edinburgh, but when my Fringe group went north to the Highlands, I had to stay behind because I was sick…. But I’ll finally get to see it today!  However, my bus leaves at 9:00 (it’s about 7:30 right now), so I should really get going.  I’ll be back quite soon with a post on the Trossachs…. Until then, cheers!

Revenge of the chocolate brick, a.k.a. How dessert turned into sightseeing

I know I said I was only going to update this blog like twice a week, but I just have so many things to say!!!  It'll probably drop off a bit after I come back from Scotland, though, so enjoy it while it lasts.

So last night I went to Evensong, which is the evening mass in the King's College Chapel where the choir sings.  IT WAS INCREDIBLE.  These boys have some of the most amazing voices I have ever heard, plus the acoustics in the chapel are really very good.  The service was about forty-five minutes long, and the majority of it was sung by the choir... major vocal stamina right there.  It was also cool to go to an Anglican service (it's the official church of England), though it's pretty similar to Catholicism; some of the prayers are worded slightly differently and there's no homily, but it's a lot of of the same general structures.  I did find it interesting, though, when the priest said "God save the Queen," only because I can imagine the uproar that would ensue in California if anyone dared cross the church-state separation.  At this point in time, it's probably more of a tradition than anything else, but it definitely struck my American consciousness as out-of-the-ordinary.  Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures (they don't allow photography because it's technically a religious service), so you'll just have to use your imagination.

Almost directly afterwards, I went to the first plenary lecture of the term; plenary lectures are optional lectures given in the Cambridge Debating Chamber by guest scholars and lecturers.  Last night's lecture was called "Why Cambridge is Unique," and I found it very interesting.  From the things I heard the speaker talking about, Cambridge is unlike any university in the U.S., and the most striking example of this (in my opinion) is the fact that the school is run democratically.  As an example, a few years back, an American tobacco mogul wanted to donate 2.5 million pounds to the university to fund a fellowship.  Naturally, the university was thrilled, but many students were opposed to the idea because they believed the school shouldn't accept money that was made by selling something that kills people.  Because Cambridge is a democratic school, they set up a formal debate and then put the issue to the vote.  In the end, the anti-tobacco people lost, and the university accepted the money for the fellowship.  The outcome, though, is unimportant; if the students had won the vote, the university would not have accepted that 2.5 million pounds.  Can you imagine any university in the U.S. doing that?!  I definitely can't.  It was a very cool lecture, but once again, no photography is allowed in the debating chamber, so sorry for the lack of pictures.

And now for the chocolate brick.  The chocolate brick was a dessert that I tried last night, and it was the chocolatiest thing I have ever eaten in my life.  It was soooo delicious... I call it a brick not because of its size (thank goodness), but because of its density.  It was actually a fairly small piece, but I was full for the rest of the evening after eating it.  However, I subsequently decided that a run was in order this morning so that I could mitigate a few of the calories... So I got up at 5:45 this morning and set off into the city.  I couldn't resist bringing my camera, though, and snapping a few pictures:

The last photo is the King's College Gatehouse, where I enter the college to get to my dorm.  Gorgeous, isn't it?  The whole college is beautiful (there will be a post on King's soon), as well as the city itself.  Alright, well, I have so much reading to do... I've already done two readings today and I still have three to go before 16:00.  Better get moving!!  I'm headed off to Edinburgh tomorrow morning, though, so I'm sure I will be posting again quite soon.  Cheers!!