i wanted to get into scotland as early as possible on monday, so that i'd be able to explore edinburgh a little bit before leaving for the highlands the following day. my friend kevin and i barely made it onto the 10am train, after navigating the famed king's cross station (no sightings of hogwarts students, drat!) and mistakenly getting into the first class carriage! we finally plopped down into the only unreserved seats on the train at 9:57am--nice hustle!
unfortunately, the train ride wasn't as smooth as i would've hoped. for those who don't know, 16-25 year olds can buy youth railcards, which gives you a nice discount on train fares. i've had mine for over a month, and have used it on about four trains with no problems. so, when the ticket collector asked to see mine, i nonchalantly whipped it out! to my dismay, though, he then asked to see "the other half," which had an expiration date on it. i had no bloody idea what he was talking about. i began to get really nervous, and told him that i didn't have it and didn't know i needed it. he said that i'd have to make up the difference--to the tune of FORTY POUNDS.
luckily for me, kevin piped up. in my anxiety and confusion, i was getting ready to shell out the dough. kevin explained that we were just students for the term, and that there was no way mine would be expired. thank goodness, the collector had mercy on me and let me off the hook--provided that i get my card "sorted" once i got into waverley station in edinburgh.
thankfully, the rest of train ride went smoothly. we got into edinburgh around 2:30 and i headed straight for the travel centre; unfortunately, they couldn't do anything for me. basically, nothing in the UK is handled by computers (railcards, class registration, etc), so i was SOL for getting my date card replaced. i decided to wing it on the way home!
anyways, enough of that boring story (just wanted to give you a taste for how things here are a wee bit different). after leaving the station, kevin and i immediately saw a kilted man and heard bagpipes playing! we knew we were in the right place.
after dropping our stuff off at the hostel (my first hostel ever!), we met up with other trojans to check out edinburgh castle, the tourist mecca of the city. it looked really impressive from the outside, and the views from its terraces were incredible. however...the museum bits on the inside left a lot to be desired. there were few interesting artifacts, mostly cheesy dioramas of battles, rusty swords and guns, and wooden mannequins of famous scots. yawn! ps i'm totally allowed to say i was bored, since i'm scotch, haha. but here are some pictures in and around the castle!
the entrance
we had thought that that very dirty, cathedral-looking structure was in fact a cathedral. turns out, it's some random venue! looks cool, though
if you can't tell by my wayward hair, it was really windy!
graveyard for dogs of soldiers
overlooking edinBRAA
saint margaret's chapel, from the 12th century, sucka!
the castle was actually comprised of a bunch of different buildings/rooms. i forget what this one is...i think it had war memorials inside
i wandered off from the group and found the dungeons. it was deathly quiet, and there wasn't anyone else around, so i got creeped out and left, haha.
this has something to do with a football team. opponents of the team spit on the heart in spite, whereas supporters spit on it for good luck. delish
he was playing beautiful music, so i had to take a picture with him! i love bagpipes!
even more bagpipe players! they must've known i was coming...
the famous walter scott memorial! featured on almost any edinburgh postcard
as we walked past the memorial, some peeps in our group spotted the bonny park that was close by. we decided to have a wander, and got some great pictures with the castle in the background!
the cats. that pillared, beigey building on the right i think is the national gallery
a totally sweet robbie burns clock made of flowers! he's pretty much scotland's national hero
that's the castle behind me!
at the end of a park was a playground, which of course we infiltrated.
i must say, UK parks by and large have more awesome equipment than america!
just another statue...after our jaunt around the city, we were more than ready for a good tuck-in. we headed for jimmy chung's, a chinese buffet place, for dinner. it was okay, mostly fried, so i kind of picked around until i discovered strawberry ice cream...yessss! afterwards, even though i was tired, i knew i couldn't turn in! i went with other trojans to "the royal oak," a tiny local pub that had live folk music. of course, i'm always a sucker for that kind of shindig, so i gladly sat on the floor to listen (there was no room!).
after our butts started hurting, we headed to the "jazz lounge" for some more swingy music. bryan, a trojan studying in edinburgh, apparently jams with the band there sometimes. we sipped on drinks while waiting for the jam sesh to begin. it was well worth the wait--bryan whaled on the sax, and the other musicians were just fabulous. it really made me want to find a jazz club in LA! it was so relaxed and cool, i enjoyed it a lot. by the time he finished, it was gone midnight and i was exhausted--so i went to bed!
after a quick breakfast snarf, the next morning we finally embarked on our tour of the highlands. our tour guide, was very dear, funny, and scottish! on our way to dunkeld, a small village, he told us about how redheads are called gingers, not to be confused with mingers! funnily enough, the scottish pronounce the g's in ginger as you would in "gingham" or "genghis"--so i guess my new nickname could be ginger khan! oh, and minger is slang for an ugly person--coincidence that they rhyme? matt was telling us that back in the day, the telltale witch signs were red hair, left-handedness, and three nipples! uh ohhh...i have two out of the three signs! i'm glad no one nailed my thumbs to my knees and threw me into a loch while i was there...that's what they used to do!
anywho, back to the tour--dunkeld had an old church and pretty river...that's about all i remember. oh, and some evil guy named "wolfibane" or something like that was buried in the church. apparently he fathered about 30 children through rape, killed some of the kids, and burned down a bunch of buildings. he's probs my ancestor.
the church
random spire in dunkeld
town streetafter that, we headed to aviemore, a little ski-town close to some mountains. we lunched, walked around a bit, then got right back on the bus! a lot of the trip was devoted to driving...sorry that there are no pictures of aviemore. it was pretty unremarkable!
eventually, we arrived at culloden, where the jacobites fought against the redcoats in the early 18th century. i was excited to go because i had sung about the field in choir--it's part of the lyrics of the skye boat song. "when the night came, silently lay, dead on culloden field"
and there it is.
i posed for a quick pic, but it was incredibly cold out on the field, so we snapped and dashed!
the gift shops in scotland all had ginger dolls...finally, some representation!to my excitement, after culloden we finally headed to see loch ness. i had always been a tad skeptical about nessie, but now i am a devout believer! loch ness is right on a fault line; apparently, around the world, with any lake on a fault, there are ALWAYS legends about mythological water creatures. i personally think that there is a whole nessie family--dozens of them--that we haven't discovered yet. i can't wait till we capture one, bwa haha! fat chance, though...loch ness is 900 feet deep in parts, and over 20 miles long. i know the nessie clan is lurking in those nooks and crannies somewhere...
since it's so famous, bryan and jason wanted to take a dip. i daresy its frigidity made them a tad regretful
since it's so famous, bryan and jason wanted to take a dip. i daresy its frigidity made them a tad regretful
i opted to dip in my hand--well worth it!
SHE'S REAL!on the way to fort augustus, where we were staying for the night, we passed by this castle (forget the name, scotland is chock full of castles and ruins), and took pictures by standing on a wall you definitely were not supposed to stand on.
after taking a few photos, we continued to fort augustus, where we watched a presentation on highland culture. we got to go into a replica of a highland hut and saw some intimidating weapons. we also found out that way back when, 95% of highlanders had red hair! that must've been horrible! hahaha.
the guy giving the presentation needed a male volunteer to don a kilt, and cheeky bryan volunteered (i'm sure he thought that he'd be able to keep his trousers on for it). unfortunately, the man demanded that bryan take off his trousers in front of all of us. much to our amusement, bryan loudly declared, "EFF THIS, I'M NOT WEARING ANY UNDERWEAR," and sat back down. i'm still cracking up about it, it was probably my favorite memory of the trip. jason volunteered instead, and stripped down to his skivvies to be more authentic.
i was worried the pressure would be on me to put on the lassie's outfit, because of my fiery witch locks, but luckily helen took the fall for me. she even had to put on a horrible, curly red wig! i won't lie, it's the sexiest thing i've ever seen her wear.
after the presentation, we went back to the hostel for some stewed dinner. denise and i wanted to walk it off a little bit, so we ventured into a nearby park to play and chat. there were a few scottish kids hanging about, and when i went to climb up into a playhouse they yelled, "DON'T! SOMEONE PEED IN THERE!" with their wee accents. later, they called again, "WHERE ARE YOU FROM?" to which we replied, "LOS ANGELES!" they kind of scurried away to report to their other cronies about the american invaders.
the pee-filled playhouseof course, all of that wandering made me start to crave dessert, badly. anyone who knows me well knows that once i start jonesing, i can't stop. i can't even think anymore.
so, i convinced helen and denise to assist me in my combing of fort augustus for dessert. the town was very sleepy, and few places were open. we looked at three restaurants and pubs in search of sweets--specifically, sticky toffee pudding, my absolute favorite--before finding one. i was giddy when it arrived at our table! we were digging in, when some lads at the table next to us began chatting us up.
ignoramus that i am, i didn't realize they were british until they pointed it out themselves. i'm horrible with accents, i can't tell differences at all! anyways, these young fellows--james and alex-- were quite friendly, buying us whisky and brandy despite our protests, and making conversation.
however, things kept taking slightly malicious turns. as i've mentioned before, culturally britain is different than america in that many brits have bullyish senses of humor, right off the bat. we girls laughed at first at the anti-american, stereotype-driven jokes, but after awhile it became tiresome. i actually have always liked getting made fun of for personal attributes like my dorkdom, gingertude, obesity (haha, hello high school), et cetera.
but having a relentless stream of half-serious jokes thrown at you that pigeonhole you, simplify and reduce you, invalidate your opinions, insult your beliefs, and make you generally feel inferior, eventually leaves a sour taste in your mouth. i resent assumptions based solely on nationality, that disregard anything unique or intelligent about you and lump you in with people you diametrically oppose. i wouldn't have gotten irritated by the exchange if it had been purely in jest, but it was painfully obvious that these guys ultimately meant what they said.
i know some people in america might do the same thing to foreign students. however, most people i know would try their best to make the person feel welcome. they would ask about cultural differences with respect, and curiosity, rather than trying to make someone feel badly about where they came from.
i think part of it is that americans (the good ones, anyways, haha) have a sort of inferiority complex. we're apologetic and embarrassed of what our country has done in the past, and of the image that it currently projects. we assume that other countries are cooler, more interesting, and all-around better than ours. we are acutely aware that other countries disdain us, hate us, or resent us, and we're trying to fix it. i came here intending to be open-minded and friendly, not defensive!
that being said, i think i'll end that too-defensive tangent, haha. i probably should've prefaced it by saying that i really do love british culture and people, and not all of them are planks like these two guys were. being in another country makes you hyper-sensitive about how you're different and stand out, and its hard when that difference is used against you. ANYWHO, on with the actual STORY...
we were talking with these blokes, who kept buying us drinks and were getting pretty toasted themselves. luckily, i avenged america by defeating james in arm-wrestling (you know america, relying on the brawn to get things done! JOKES), though i'm sure he let me win. james was heavily flirting with all of us, amidst the insults, and insisted on walking us back to our hostel. we said goodnight, and finally i got to snuggle into bed and go to sleep...
until an hour later, when james showed up at the hostel. apparently he went banging down all the doors in the hallway, looking for ME! he eventually drunkenly found our room, and one of my roomies woke me up to see if i'd talk to him. i was delirious from sleep, and mumbled, "TELL HIM I'M SLEEPING!" i could hear his accent from the hallway, as he gave my roommate a paper with his phone number on it to give to me. what a gentleman. needless to say, the next day i was pretty embarrassed when some other trojans inquired as to why the sloshed brit was looking fervently for me. haha, i love traveling.
and so ends part I of the scotland adventure. tune in next time for stories of more castles, revelry, rivers, and bovine herpes. probably will be posted tomorrow. until then, lambikins!
scotted out,
lilly
I love the Highlands so much. You're really making me miss them.
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