Adventure is out there!: Kilts and Bagpipes

Scottish accents are a TRIP!

After spending two days back in Oxford, Nadine and I hit the road again. And 9 hours later on a night bus, we arrived bright and early in Glasgow, Scotland. Our first stop after leaving our luggage at the hotel was breakfast. A cute little bagel shop catered to our breakfasting needs beautifully. We did a little shopping around, and I bought another layer because Scotland was significantly colder than I had planed for. In fact, it was fairly cold and rainy the entire time, which probably didn’t give Nadine too good of an impression of the UK. However, we got out of rain when we went to their modern art museum. Of course, I don’t understand all modern art, but I love how unique and out-of-the-box a lot of it is. But the most epic thing of all happened after the museum. Get ready for this—we found MEXICAN FOOD!! That may not seem significant to you, but I haven’t had good Tex-Mex in 4 months, so this meal soothed the soul. Nadine hadn’t had Mexican food since living in the states either, so we split a huge plate of nachos with cheese, guacamole, sour cream, salsa, jalapeños, and grilled chicken. And then we got chicken fajitas with grilled veggies. It was a very worthwhile splurge! Back to the beginning of the story, you might have thought that sleeping on the night bus to Scotland was a pleasant experience for us, but you would be wrong. Our cramped little bodies didn’t get the sleep we needed, so after lunch, we took our full bellies back to the hotel and napped. Post-nap, we found a neat looking old cathedral on the opposite side of town. While we were over there, I spotted a Celtic necropolis up on the hill. I don’t mean for this to sound creepy or weird, but I actually like old cemeteries a lot. It’s so peaceful, and I like imagining the different lives each person might have lived based on what’s written on their gravestone. Some of these graves were marked from the 1600’s—really old—and the view from the top of the necropolis was stunning. When we got back into the city, I made us stop at a fish and chips stand because Nadine couldn’t come to Britain and not try fish and chips. Our meal was only 2 pounds-something (really cheap), and they were some of the best I’ve had over here. I was happy to see Nadine enjoying them because I feel responsible for her liking the UK as if it were my own country. The last stop we made was to an old palace. We walked through the park and stopped at the largest surviving terra-cotta fountain in the world on our way home. Goodnight, Glasgow.

Kilts!

In the flowers by the cathedral

Our glorious Tex-Mex meal

Celtic cross in the necropolis

Me by the terra-cotta fountain

Scotland: Day 2

Arthur's Seat

In the morning, we woke up and had breakfast in the hotel. I think Nadine was a bit freaked out by the English breakfast of eggs, toast, baked beans, bacon, fresh tomatoes, potato scones, and tea; the baked beans still make me do a double take every time. However, it was a good breakfast, and we were on our way to Edinburgh by 11. Our hostel was incredibly centrally located, and we dropped off our luggage there before hitting the town. This day just happened to be Mom’s 50^th birthday, so I gave her a call to wish her happy birthday while we still had wifi in the hostel. On important, fun days like that, it’s weird not being home. The next thing we did made up for my feelings of homesickness, however. We went to the National Museum of Scotland, which is an interactive, science museum. It’s like the Natural History Museum in D.C. with lots of stuffed animals on display, but it also had a few Scottish artifacts as well. One area in the museum had a scale that people could stand on and it would tell them which animal weighs the same as they do. I stepped on the scale and my match was with the giant anteater. That’s attractive—not! Maybe it means I ate too much gelato in Italy. After the museum, we went to what is called Arthur’s Seat, and it’s a large mountain that people can climb to get a great view of Edinburgh. We brought a picnic dinner up there and ate on the top of the world (or so it felt). It was interesting because we could see the coast to one side of us, the city in front of us, and mountains to the other side. Such a lovely landscape. Once we made the trek back down, we did a little Harry Potter tour. When J.K. Rowling wrote the first two Harry Potter books, she was living in Scotland, and we got to see a few places that inspired her. First of all, there’s a graveyard in town that has the names McGonagall, Tom Riddle, and Granger in it, and this place inspired her use of these names. Next to the graveyard is an old private school that Rowling said was her inspiration for Hogwarts. And nearby both of these places is a café called The Elephant House where she would go to write the stories down on napkins when she was poor. I’m a Harry Potter nut, so I thought it was awesome to see the places that inspired the books. Even though we only had about half a day in Edinburgh, I knew immediately that I loved this place.

Up on the mountain

The school that inspired Hogwarts

Scotland: Day 3

Happy Easter! Being away from home on Easter was weird, but we definitely made the most of it. In the morning, we went to an Easter service at the famous St. Giles Cathedral. Those high church services are fun to go to every once in a while because I’m not used to all the pomp and formalities, and it really creates an awe-inspiring atmosphere. After church, we had about an hour to kill, so we went up Carlton Hill. This is where David Hume and other philosophers would go to think and ponder life, and it houses an abandoned acropolis. We got to walk around there for a bit before it was time to head back down to go on a free walking tour. This tour was one of the best tours I’ve been on in my life; the guy was funny, personable, and interesting. He told us lots of Scottish tales and fables that are local and not touristy. If you get a chance, you should totally ask me about some of the stories because they’re incredibly interesting. He took us to see the Edinburgh Castle as well as a variety of other destinations. For the whopping price of free, it was well worth our money! The tour took the better part of the afternoon, and before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye and go home. I enjoyed getting to spend time with Nadine, but I had been living out of a backpack for the last three weeks, so it was great to be back home. Unfortunately, I had a 10-page paper to write when I got back home, and I had a lot of trouble focusing. I was able to lots of productive things like organize my drawers, clean my room, trim my hair, shower, Q-tip my ears…you get the point. Thankfully, I’ve been able to relax a little bit since then, and life is good! I’m so incredibly blessed to get to do all the travel I’ve done this semester.