Festivals and Adventures

Wow! So after a week of boredom I got to have some fun again in Scotland. First things first, of course there was class again for me all week, instead of the fantastic reading week I had before. I learned about Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and about real Hallowe’en traditions that originated from Celtic Society related to the end of summer and the beginning of winter, a festive time known as Samhain (pronounced sao-wayne) Anyway we learned about turnip lanterns, so my new goal is to create a turnip lantern at the next Hallowe’en so that I can be cool. Turns out that Samhain is when we become closer to the spirit world so we dress up to confuse the spirits... Don’t know how well it works but we still do it. So that is how my learning goes here! The excitement I have. The more exciting things happened at the weekend this week.

The Guy Fawkes Fireworks at Glasgow Green, you can even see some of the carnival rides

Friday as most of you may know was 5 November, which means that it was Guy Fawkes Day (before that though, I got to make an exciting Taco dinner!!! It was lots of fun, and tacos taste excellent here in Scotland, although they could use some salsa help). Turns out this guy (Guy Fawkes) and a bunch of people wanted to blow up parliament a really long time ago, and they failed miserably, they planned to do this on 5 November but were caught about a week and a half before (So it was really an epic fail) so in honour of their epic fail, we set off fireworks, and I guess a lot of towns have bonfires. Glasgow has a great celebration down at Glasgow Green, the park was full of people, and there were carnival rides, and food (didn’t eat any) and of course fireworks. Erin and I went on two of the carnival rides (each costing 3 pounds, but who cares) and then we enjoyed the fireworks, because we didn’t know when we would get to do this again. The fireworks were great, and they played Abba the whole time which was funny. Afterwards my friends and I went to a bar in Merchant City, one in the City Centre and ended the night at Bamboo (which is a very interesting club).

Tom, Alex, Me, Justin, Erin, and Sam at Bamboo

The graveyard behind Glasgow Green, Sufficiently creepy

Saturday I had to wake up nice and early to crash the second Archaeology Field Trip. I technically wasn’t invited on this one, but no one checked to see if I really belonged, so I just had some fun. Our first stop on this rainy day (which wasn’t forecast to be quite so rainy) was the Glasgow Cathedral, which is the oldest church in Glasgow. It was built and rebuilt many times, and is now just old, and old. Saint Kentigern (aka St. Mungo) is buried in the Cathedral, and he is very important to Glasgow, somewhat of a patron saint. The grounds around the Cathedral are beautiful, there is a fantastic graveyard behind the church, and really great trees as well (the day was full of great trees actually). Next we got on the bus to go visit a “wall” it was somewhat north, but not too far. Built by the Romans a really long time ago, as a checkpoint they think, but not a lot really remains. The “wall” was built of turf, so it looks more like a hill really but they told us, it is definitely a wall (we must believe the archaeologists). Near the wall is also a fort, but there isn’t a lot there anymore other than really cool trees. I think the whole group was a little disappointed at the fort because they said it was the location of a bath house, and considering our very wet and cold situation we could have all used a steam. But no such luck, we just got to trek through the mud, and start freezing to death (I think the teachers were enjoying themselves way too much).

Some trees as the Roman Fort right next to where the bath house would have been

Linlithgow Castle Built By King James III

Next we went to Linlithgow, to visit Linlithgow castle. It isn’t a very big castle, and the real low-point of the building is that there are no more roofs, which means that when it rains, you can’t really escape the rain. Other than this point, it was really quite pretty, and we got to climb to the top of a tower and see everything from up there. A really key note about this tower is that it changed my dream of being a princess living in a tall tower. There are too many creepy stairs, and it’s too far to walk to go to bed, so I may be a princess but I am not living in any tower. Finally we stopped at a cairn, which is pretty much a big pile of rocks to put your dead in. I am sure the site was really awesome at some point but it was ruined, I feel, by two different things. A) It was really, really, really cold, and wet (and for a 30% chance of rain, I think I was 100% wet) and B) it was archaeologically ruined I felt by the fact that they rebuilt it in different “stages” of its uses and so it isn’t the actual original cairn, it is just a cairn. So it was a fantastic weekend, I really enjoyed it (even though it was wet) and it was absolutely beautiful with the rain falling everywhere. 

More trees, because it was a fantastic tree weekend!

Trip to Skye, and the Great Beyond

It seems so crazy that I can have done so many things in only seven days. The magical week started ever so horrifying. My first paper was due, and I had to finish reading ‘The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner’ by none other than James Hogg. I also had to be sure and go to my anatomy lab for two hours throughout the week to prepare myself for an image exam on the thoracic, abdominal and pelvic cavities. But by the end of the week I was lucky enough to have survived school (didn’t think it would happen) and I got to go on a trip with the International Society to the Isle of Skye. For anybody who doesn’t know, Skye is in the highlands of Scotland (YAY) and it is about a five hour bus ride if you go straight there, which we didn’t.

Erin and I on our way to Skye

My trip to Skye started early Saturday morning and ended late Sunday evening. Well maybe not too early or late, simply very dark. The drive up to Skye included a stop at Loch Lomond, and on our way there we saw sheep, cows, and a pig. Our bus driver also taught us some everyday Scottish terminology such as: Glen=valley, Ben=mountain, Moore=a mountain over 3,000 feet, and an Inver=is the mouth of a river or loch. Some other exciting things on our bus ride included SNOW, there was snow at the very top of some of the Moores in Scotland which was very exciting. Now about the distance from Glasgow to Loch Lomond is where the signs of Scotland start to change. Not only are the directions and destinations in English, they are also in Scottish Gaelic. Which means that ‘Oban’ turned into ‘An t-Oban’ and many other towns had fun names as well. After Loch Lomond there were many stops in gorgeous areas just to take some pictures, and on our way to some of these places we passed Glencoe, which is the site of a huge massacre back from the times when Scotland was made up of clans.

On our way towards Skye!

Further on and much closer to Skye, though still a ways off, we passed the site where Hagrid’s Hut was filmed for Harry Potter. I was however fairly disappointed that we didn’t get to stop and see his hut, because I am in the land of Harry Potter, and must fully experience the Potter world (which means also seeing the movie when it comes out). Just before we made it to Skye we got to stop at Scotland’s most photographed castle, so, I dutifully took a photograph, and got on the bus because it was cold. Finally after hours of travelling by coach bus we made it to Skye, but first we had to cross a bridge. And for anybody out there who enjoys news, you may realize that the bridge we crossed was the same bridge that the nuclear submarine was stuck under (yay submarine) I didn’t get to see it though (sad) they must have released it, pretty much right before we got there . I realize that this shouldn’t be disappointing, because we wouldn’t want millions in technology to be stuck, but it would have been cool to see a submarine. We did however luckily drive by something rather hilarious right before the bridge, which was a sheep crossing sign, I had seen deer crossing, and people crossing signs, but now I think my life is almost fulfilled, I just need to see a Highland Cow crossing sign, and all will be well in the world.

Standing in the water in Skye

Now for anybody who doesn’t know, Skye is perhaps the most beautiful place on the planet. There are fantastic mountains, and water is everywhere. In fact while in Skye I stood in some Scottish water. I stayed in a Hostel (my first) in Portree or Port-righ as the Scottish say. I walked down to the waterside, and saw the world’s fattest seagulls. They live right outside a fish n’ chips shop, so all the fat goes straight to their necks, We also walked to the top of a hill (very exciting I know) and saw this turret, which we climbed and then played in a little park thing. We drove around the isle and saw some of the most fantastic views, including the end of a rainbow, which I never thought was possible, until I saw it. Turns out that at the end of a rainbow there is no pot of gold, simply pure beauty.

Frolicking on a hill in Skye

The next day we woke up and drove to Loch Ness, I didn’t see the Loch Ness monster (probably because she either never existed, or is dead).  Unfortunately I never really got to see the Loch because there are trees everywhere, I did however get to see the canal into the Loch, and a sailboat was going through it. After we passed the Loch, I got to see an elderly people crossing sign, not quite as cool as the sheep crossing, but still pretty funny. I also got to see Bambi, only this Bambi was old so it had big antlers. Pretty much it was just overall amazing. I would highly suggest visiting Skye and the Highlands in general when coming to Scotland.

Portree

A Week of Fun and Adventures

It’s always sad when you realize how much money you spend back in the states, but it is even worse here. I cannae (note my cute new Scottish language) imagine living here for how much it costs. Although I guess it would be fine if I were to actually be making money here, but it’s still so expensive. I guess I will just have to keep an eye on what I can and cannot buy. Although it can get difficult at the City Centre and on Ashton Lane (mostly because I love shoes, mixed drinks, and taking taxis home at night). But it will all end well, I am sure I only have 10 more weeks.

Me walking through Kelivgrove Park

I started the week having pancakes (which look funny here in Scotland) and going to the Kelvingrove art gallery and museum down next to Kelvingrove Park. Firstly the pancakes, Erin and I bought the Bisquick mix (its equivalent) and went forth to conquer pancakes (and brownies). So we mix our batter and pour it into the frying pan, where we realize they make their pancakes look like crepes, they don’t look like fluffy batter pancakes that I get back home. However I think I like them here better, they were really good and it turned into a fairly successful breakfast. After said cooking extravaganza we walked down through campus and to the Kelvingrove art museum, and it was a beautiful fall day, there were leaves everywhere, and campus was cute in the fall. At the museum we saw all sorts of great things, and tried on some faces, and also got to see the Scottish Romantic Period in art (I am learning about the romantic period right now in Scottish Literature, I suggest reading Sir Walter Scott’s Waverley, but steer as far away from James Hogg’s Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, as it sucks) It was a very nice museum, with lots of things, it was a mix of nature/ science, art museum, and art gallery, but it comes highly suggested as a stop on any trip to Glasgow, it helps that it is free!

I tried on a nose in the museum

On other notes this week I discovered you really can walk all the way to the City Centre. Erin and I walked down, and then decided to see a movie out of nowhere on Thursday, we watched Grown Ups, and again enjoyed in their delicious candy selections at Cineworld and had some fantastic popcorn. It was a good way to end the week (even though I had classes on Friday). After our adventure to the City Centre we went back to Ashton Lane in the West End to go to an International Society meeting. It’s kind of nice to meet in a bar. They did provide food, however, half nine at night is a little late to be having dinner, thank goodness I had already eaten (however bad for me) at the movies. The meeting was fun, it wasn’t really a meeting in the normal sense, but I met some people from Sweden. It was overall very cool.

The bar where we had our International Society meeting

On Friday I had my first real field trip that I was actually required to go on here for my Ecology and Conservation class. We went to Possil Marsh which is a reserve within city borders, making it very different from most other reserves and wildlife refuges. It is classed by Scotland as an SSSI (don’t ask because I don’t remember) which means that you can’t really build there. The Marsh is managed by Scottish Wildlife Trust in Edinburgh, and we got to tour it and see lots of dead plants (because its winter). Mostly it was a little sad because it was so cold. The forecast was for partly sunny skies (how optimistic we are) and 13 degrees. So I thought great I will wear a jacket with a long sleeve shirt and a scarf! NO. I was wrong; it was very cold, and kind of wet, due to the fact that it is a marsh. But overall very enjoyable and I did learn things as well. Some facts I learned: Pike eat ducklings and baby swans, Water Vole live there, and they are a highly endangered species, Otter are moving into the area which is a sign of a good environment, and finally I learned that I don’t understand Scottish comedy, jokes, or anything like that. I know this because my teacher and tour guide would say something and everyone would laugh, except for me, the only American in the class...

Possil Marsh, the view to the farm

Overall a very good week, I am excited for next week as I will be going to the Isle of Skye, which is way up north and a good 5 hour coach ride, and then a ferry, then we will be there. I have to start writing my first real assignments here at the University of Glasgow, but it should be fun, I changed my word processor to English (U.K.) and have put my margins at about 4 cm (very big margins), I know not to use the letter ‘z’ and I also know how to cite a paper properly here, so it should be fun. Both work and play make for a very tired Jessica here in Scotland.

Our Scottish Pancakes

FALL-ing in love

Just a quick note (on this glorious fall season) from Glasgow. I have lived now for 20 years, so I have experienced my fair share of fall days (not as many as some), however none quite as fantastic as those here in Glasgow (I am sure there will be some that aren’t as fantastic but I don’t want to write about that). All of the days are the fall days we expect when we wake up in the morning. Like those fall days back home in Colorado, where the weather is crisp and there is just a slight mist in the air when you wake up. But those fall days disappear in a matter of hours, there is something here that keeps fall hanging around all day (and it is truly lovely). The leaves stay crunchy, and you can literally see all of the colours in a single leaf on any tree, from the green to the yellow (ahh!!) and finally the red. The wind is light enough to just rustle those leaves, and when you walk through the parks the leaves on the ground start floating around you like you are in a mystical wonderland. The sky stays cloudy, but it’s a light cloud that you know may or may not open to reveal the blue sky beyond you just have to sit and watch it. Finally the mornings really are misty, you walk outside and can feel the water on your skin, in the air, just floating everywhere, but it isn’t quite the rainy day (not yet). I know I may be writing this prematurely but I have never experienced a fall that is so perfect, it’s a fall I have only ever dreamed of, a fall where every day is exactly how I expect fall to be.

I wasn’t expecting to write to everybody today, but I just thought you needed to know that if you are a fall spring person (as I am) then you need to see the fantastic weather here in the fall (I don’t know about the spring). It’s been like breathing in a dream, and then you realize it’s the truth. I have a few pictures of today that don’t do anything to capture the essence of the weather or the day really, hopefully though you will get a chance to see a perfect fall.

A Field Trip!

WOW! So my sixth week in Scotland was fantastic, and I learned plenty of cool things. My week didn’t really start until Wednesday this week, at which point I was able to get two for one tickets to the movies with my orange coverage. Pretty much if you have an orange phone in Scotland you can text ‘FILM’ to 241 and they will send you a confirmation code. This code you can take to any movie theatre and get two for one tickets, which made the price for my friend Erin and I to see the movie 5.30 (pounds). We then had the awesome experience of making our own bag of candy rather than buying candy in boxes (so U.S.) it was definitely worth it. We saw ‘Wall Street: The Money Never Sleeps’ at a giant movie theatre complex down in the city centre of Glasgow. Wednesday night for movies is definitely a great way to spend the day.

On my way to my field trip!!!

Then my week became so much better when I joined the level one archaeology field trip to Kilmartin Glen. That location was awesome, there were some great historical sites, dating to the Neolithic period (at least that is my understanding due to lectures). We looked at Cairns and standing stones, and many stone plaques that were in the most beautiful little graveyard. We then got to climb to the top of a hill known as Dunadd (the fort of the river add) there were the most amazing views from the top of the hill, and I could see all the way to the seaside!!! After we did that we went to Achnabreck where there were many stone carvings on the ground, all sorts of cup and ring carvings (I don’t know what they are, due to the fact that I am not taking Archaeology).

A Cairn in Kilmartin Glen

At the end of the week, even though there aren’t a lot things I did, but it was totally worth it to go on a field trip for a class that I am not even part of. There are so many things to experience and see here in Scotland, so much history, and now I have the chance to experience it. An adventure to Kilmartin Glen is just what everybody needs to do. That and it’s one of the most beautiful experiences on the planet. Still so much to do, and so little time to do it, can’t wait for my next adventure to The Isle of Skye.

Me on the top of Dunadd in Argyle and Bute

My Parents came!!!

The joys of my parents coming to visit!!! My parents arrived on Wednesday and just left early Monday morning. It was good to see them, especially because they are very good at making me delicious meals, or buying them for me, and also buying me gifts and taking me to Edinburgh. I was excited that they got to enjoy this great city, as I love it here so much! That and it was good to have a wee piece of home here in Scotland with me, and we had unco fun together (as far as I can tell from my vast reading here Unco means lots in Scots).

They arrived Wednesday afternoon, and decided to take a tour of my campus here first, so I showed them most of what I could (and then we saw some things that I had no idea existed), and then they were a wee bit hungry so they took me out to dinner at the Ubiquitous Chip on Ashton Lane. I decided to have the Haggis neeps and tatties, Mom had the highland salmon and Dad had the pork belly. It was all quite delicious (it comes highly recommended from me) and for desert I had a poached pear with some sort of delicious ice cream. Overall it was a great experience for their first night in Glasgow, and then they needed to sleep in their fantastic flat, and I had class on Thursday so I had to sleep in my dorm. After class my parents wanted to see the Glasgow City Centre, where all the fantastic shopping can be found. So we took an adventure on the Orange Clockwork (our city subway) down to Buchanan Street where we visited some high end shops, and some others. Afterwards they made me a delicious ravioli dinner (as they finally realized that I starve here from the amount of walking I do each day) which I think I shall be repeating often for the rest of my stay here. All in all it was another successful day for them in Scotland.

Turns out that moms and dads make plans for when their daughter is in classes, so they decided to head to Oban while I had to go to my Scottish Literature Seminar (so sad I didn’t get to go too). I really like the seminars that they do here, it’s very calm and quiet, and we get to discuss anything that is going on in class which is very nice rather than just getting lectured at. After my classes and studying were over I met my parents again, and they took me to Ketchup (also on Ashton Lane) for dinner. They were rather surprised by the deliciousness and all of the burger options at the restaurant and also how amazing the chips are there, which was good. I spent the night at their flat in a bed not made out of stone! Early (ish) Saturday morning we left for Edinburgh, we got the train tickets as three for two (yay cheap), which was very helpful, and then enjoyed a day in Edinburgh which is truly a beautiful city. Again there was much shopping to be done (yay) and eating as well (we enjoyed lunch at the restaurant Tiles). We arrived back in Glasgow to have tea at Cup on Byers Road (which was as usual, delicious) and we all enjoyed our own pot of tea, and a scone. Afterwards we played a game of scrabble in their flat, but ran out of letters so some words were made up (mom...), and Pint was spelled in Ye Olde English (Pynte).

I left my parents Sunday after another fine dinner of ravioli (I am so lucky to have them). I am so happy they got to visit me, and we definitely had a lot of fun (or at least I did, I hope they did too). Hopefully they will want to visit this city again in the future, just because it is absolutely fantastic.

My weeks at school have been great so far, and I get to start my field trips this week, including ones to the Anatomy Museum, Possil Marsh, and more museums. It should be good and they won’t have to pull my arm to get me to do the assignments there. Lucky for me I finished the book ‘Waverley’ by Sir Walter Scott, however on an unlucky point, it means I have to read ‘Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner’ by James Hogg (who should have come up with a shorter name for his novel). Although a good thing is that all this reading has opened my eyes to some different spellings and pronunciations by these crazy Scots. I have been continuing on my pronunciation dictionary, and also some usage, like a single inverted comma (‘) to be used around a quote, not any of those silly double inverted commas (“) that we yanks use. It will also be time for me to start writing papers, which should be interesting and good. I am just having too much fun here in Scotland! No pictures this week, as my parents took all the pictures (they are such useful creatures). Love you tons mom and dad, hope you enjoyed your mini-cation, and can’t wait to see you at Christmas time! xoxo-Jessica

Learning... About life and such

Oh School, how I love thee, you are a place where I live and learn, and for half a year I am in Glasgow doing it! (HA ha, dreams do come true) It turns out that other than learning about scholarly things I also get to learn about Scotland while I am here (who would’ve thunk?). Like the school I am currently attending is the 4^th oldest school in the English Speaking world, and the 2^nd oldest school in Scotland, falling behind The University of St. Andrews which is where Prince William went to University!!! My school was originally founded in the City Centre; however it was moved to the West End of Glasgow when the city got too crowded. However I feel that the West End is much more crowded… (It makes no sense) The Biology Building was actually on fire at some point in time, so it has been rebuilt. Other than that I must say that I feel my University is surprisingly small considering that over 20,000 people attend school here, it does help though that the many dorms are removed from the main campus, so it’s like there is less than there really is (Sneaky Scots). My school is right next to Kelvingrove Park, a subway station, and the Botanic Gardens (So many options). So after school was finished this week I decided to utilize the subway station, seeing as I have already used the Botanic Gardens, and Kelvingrove Park is rather boring (however I might actually spend time figuring out about that in future).

Our lovely little subway, known as Clockwork Orange because it only goes in a circle

I went down to the City Centre to look at the many shopping oportunities on Saturday, and it was very fun, they have so many fantastic stores it made me want to spend all of my money. The stores are also in these gorgeous old buildings, and the shopping down in the city centre is sprawling so there is plenty to do. I also decided to go down to Glasgow Green on Sunday, which is the oldest park in Glasgow and lies right next to the River Clyde. At Glasgow Green there is a building known as the People’s Palace where you can go through a “museum” that features Scottish history through the wars, and also general facts about the city and where people could live, what was done back in the day, and also full of Scottish Brands such as Irn Bru (Iron Brew is the pronunciation) There is also a small “winter garden” attached to the People’s Palace so that people can enjoy some plant life during all of Glasgow’s wild seasons.

A church down by the buchanan shopping area, look at how cute it is.

Considering the weather in Scotland is somewhat mad, which is like the weather in Colorado in that we can experience all seasons in one day, I was still rather easily surprised by this week’s weather. On Wednesday and Thursday this past week I believe that the whole of the Atlantic Ocean fell on Glasgow, so much so that I literally had to wade across a street in water that almost went to my knees (thank goodness for my hunters) Then on Friday the weather started getting really nice, and for Saturday and Sunday we were able to walk around in balmy 15 degree weather where really only a light sweater is needed and the sun was shining like crazy. But it keeps the city fun having so much weather to go through, and I had no idea I could get so wet in the rain even with an umbrella, and that the city could also dry out so nicely for the weekend.

as you can see, there was some fantastic weather this weekend, this picture is of the Clyde River

The Clyde riverbank is beautiful as well, and there is so much history there. Originally the Clyde River was much wider than it currently is, and therefore much more shallow, however some leaders of Scotland (a really long time ago) realized what kind of money they could make using the river, so they paid a very nice French Engineer to make the river less wide, and much deeper, which allowed the city to become a shipbuilding city, and also make some other large things, such as locomotives. There are still pieces of this building history on the Clyde, though much has been removed because it was making the river dirty and toxic. The river has now been cleansed and you can fish for salmon in it, and it has also gone through a sort of rebirth with many newer buildings that represent the past.

Part of the Clyde River revitalization, I think its pretty cool, and right near this was a building with a half naked man outside... Pretty exciting by the Clyde

It was nice to be able to see so much and do so much once class was started. I got to enjoy the rain, go to classes, and walk around the city, and try an Ostrich burger. I learned that the teachers practically speak a different language even though they don’t. I had no idea that Detritus in American English turns into Detrytus (pronunciation) here in Glasgow, and who knew that Skeletal was really pronounced Skeleetall? It makes me laugh often, so I have started to keep a sort of Dictionary of Scottish Pronunciation. All I have to do for the rest of my weekend is read some more of Waverley by Sir Walter Scott, which has turned out to be a pretty good book. I can’t wait for more adventures to happen, including the adventures that will happen when my parents arrive on Wednesday this week.

Where I enjoyed the Ostrich Burger, AKA Big Bird, it was rather delicious, and they have great chips.