Highlands, London, and accompanying Shenanigans

The past few weeks have (as usual) flown by. Last weekend, I went down to London with a program that USC organizes. We spent a large part of the weekend on the train actually, but it was beautiful and sunny and finally gave me a chance to write all the post cards I had been gathering for the previous several weeks, so I didn’t mind a bit. On the way down we had the added entertainment of two kids, maybe five years old, chattering away to their mothers in British accents—even when they were being a bit cheeky, they sounded absolutely adorable!

When we got to London, we located our “hotel”… hostel would be a much better name for it, but hey USC was paying and it had a bed and a shower. What more do you really need? Then we ran out to a bakery that Whitney, in her infinite wisdom, had recommended as a “Sprinkles look-alike” except better. (For those of you unfamiliar with LA’s most famous cupcake bakery, imagine a shop completely dedicated to the baking and decorating of cupcakes—outrageously priced, but never seen without a line curving round the block, even on week days.) It seemed as good a reason as any to try our knowledge of the tube, so off we went to sample red velvet cake cupcakes in what I swear was Miss Puddyfoot’s Tea Shop. Having tasted heaven, we wound our way back to the hostel, sorry hotel, and relaxed a bit before heading to the pub/dinner with the rest of the program. We were up early the next morning to take in a tour of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre (see pictures on the left) and though we didn’t get to see a show there, much talk ensued about making another trip down in April when the season starts again. From the Globe, we split up to amuse ourselves for the afternoon and I was able to meet up with Whitney, a friend from USC studying in London.

After a fun sushi sampling, we went out to Hyde Park to soak in the sunshine that was coating the city in pure joy. I am quite sure that half of London went to Hyde Park that day because I have never seen so many people, dogs, babies, roller-bladers, and picnickers one place before… and Hyde Park London’s version of Central Park, so its not exactly tiny. To add to the fun, there was a relay-race going on all around the park, so excited chatter of teams and supporters increased the atmosphere of general satisfaction to be found in every corner of the park. Having increased our melatonin levels a bit, we headed back to Piccadilly Square to meet the rest of the group for an early show of 39 Steps, a comedy adapted from a short story in which 4 actors play many dozen characters a piece in a silly plot involving murder, espionage, and an oddly significant vaudeville act. The show was housed in an intimate old theatre probably built in the 30’s that sets the atmosphere as soon as you walk in with its 20’s, 30’s, and 40’s musical selection. After the show we all headed to an Asian-fusion restaurant for dinner where they not only serve every style and combination of Asian cuisine availably, they also fresh-squeeze juice drinks… if you ever have a chance to try apple-lime juice, I highly recommend taking the opportunity.

After a meal rich in both diversity and conversation, Whitney and I headed out to meet friends of hers at what I can only describe as a combination milk-shake shop and club. When we got there, there was a line out the door with a bouncer letting people in only as others left the establishment. There was loud music and festive-looking people everywhere in this basement diner-themed restaurant—had we not been meeting people, we would have had to wait at least an hour to be seated. I must admit this all seemed a bit over the top to me until we tried our designer milk-shakes and then began to understand a bit more of the excitement. When we decided to relinquish our table at 10ish, the group split up, and a few of us went to a pub nearby, and seized, with a spirit of British experimentation, tried a “Pimm’s Cup” while we chatted away the evening. The next day, those of us with afternoon return tickets walked around the city taking in Big Ben, the London Eye, Westminster Abby and ending up in Kensington Gardens where more people were enjoying the fine weather. We headed back to King’s Cross Station with enough time to find and shamelessly photograph Platform 9 ¾, which the rail authority quite kindly built for those Harry Potter lovers out there severely disappointed by the fact that platforms 9 and 10 are not to be found side-by-side as J.K. Rowling described.

Having spent time in the south, a trip to the Highlands was next on the agenda, so 8 A.M. Saturday morning of the next weekend found Michael and me on a bus with a Scottish army veteran tour guide with a memory of Scottish history and legend unequaled anywhere, and a tendency to increasingly over-pronounce the last guttural sound of the word “Loch”, much to the amusement of his passengers. I captioned all the photos I took from the tour as soon as I got home so I wouldn’t forget all the accompanying stories, so that will give a better account of the trip for those interested in a bit more detail. For those interested in a general overview, I will give a brief(ish) summary here.

The whole trip lasted roughly 12 hours and took us through some of the most beautiful and varied countryside I have yet seen. In typical Scottish fashion, low cloud cover persisted through the first part of the journey, but the sun beams that were able to filter through only added to the spectacle. We drove North West, passing Stirling Castle, then stopped to visit Hamish the Highland cow at Kilmahog (gotta love Scottish/Gaelic names!). Then we went through the lands of the MacGregors (think Rob Roy) and the Campbells (the most hated clan in Scotland), over Rannoch Moor and the Black Mount to Glencoe, the breathtaking setting for a massacre still known and despised not so much for the number of deaths (rather paltry given the standard of the time) but because of the breach in Highland Hospitality it signaled (more detail in the photo album). From there we entered the Great Glen beneath Britain's highest mountain, Ben Nevis, and drove along the famous canal that creates a safe passage clear across Scotland so ships don’t have to brave the dangerous northern route. The final bit went past Fort Augustus tracing the 24 mile shoreline of Loch Ness and passing Urquhart Castle, which was blown up by the English while they held it rather than present an opportunity for the highland-based Jacobites to use it for a site of another uprising.

We hit Loch Ness at just the right time. It was absolutely beautiful: clear and sunny without more wind that would be expected on a Scottish loch. We chose to go out on the boat tour to see if Nessie would show herself (and yes, for those of you who are interested, Nessie is female and God save you if you speak of her otherwise). The tour took us up the loch as far as the castle ruins while explaining the history of the legend of the Loch Ness Monster, none of which we heard because we were outside enjoying the sunshine and beauty and trying (unsuccessfully) to see further than 3 inches deep into the water—a task made quite difficult by the incredibly dangerous rip-tides that keep the silt in a constant state of agitation, creating the illusion of black water and adding to the mystery of Loch Ness. Having effectively frozen our hands taking pictures of could-be Nessies, and perusing the gift shop that has a Trojan-like ability to incorporate Nessie into even the most mundane merchandise, we hopped back on the bus to finish the northern leg of our trip at Inverness and then begin the long trek back to Edinburgh listening, alternately, to stories from Scottish history and lore and traditional (and not-so-traditional) Scottish music. It was a long day, but well worth it!

In addition to all these weekend travels, I have been enjoying my time in Edinburgh immensely. The past couple of weeks have held dinner parties, sleepovers, pub runs, evangelism, as well as just chill times with friends—to explain them all would make this ridiculously long post even longer, so I will defer until I can do them justice another time. For those of you who have read to the end, well done! And if you still have a few minutes, check out the photo albums on the left-hand side. ;)

Good Fun in Many Guises

I apologize for the lapse in news the past few weeks, and as so much time has past, I will endeavor to hit the high points and not bore you all too much with my rambling!

Robbie Burns Night (phonetically: Rabbie Berrrrrnnnnns Night):

January 25^th marks the Scottish celebration of their most beloved poet: Robert Burns (most well known in the US for his song “Ald Lang Syne”). Traditionally, this holiday is marked by a Burns’ Night Supper which consists of loads of people gathering for a dinner of “Haggis, Nips, and Tatties” (translation: Haggis, Turnips, and mashed potatoes), dancing, and reading and singing the poetry of Robert Burns. I was invited to two such suppers on Friday and Saturday nights: one, a smaller, more casual affair, and the other more traditional but both quite enjoyable! The beginning of a Burn’s Supper is just chat and cocktails and friendly banter etc. (kilts are to be worn if at all possible). Then the Haggis is brought out (with a piper as an honor guard), on a platter preferably lest the hostess’s hand get injured, and Robert Burns’ “Ode to the Haggis” is read out. It is written in Scots, so it is nearly unintelligible to those unaccustomed to the accent, but at some point, the “king of puddings” is stabbed (as indicated by the poem I can only assume) causing a gentle explosion as the Haggis bursts its casing. Then everyone toasts and tucks in. When the meal is over, dessert, traditionally Cranaken (a mixture of oats, cream, wiskey, and raspberries) is served and then the entertainment begins. Everyone must bring a poem or song to share, creating a lovely Austinian drawing room air. The second evening, we had both a guitar and a fiddle and so spent the majority of the time singing traditional Scottish songs with various levels of pronunciation proficiency. I’ve included the link to one of the videos I took that night.

Musselburgh Races:

This weekend USC treated us to a day at the races. I had never experienced horse racing before this and really enjoyed the experience, especially since USC even supplied betting money, as this was a “cultural experience”. We met at the train station and spent the short trip chatting about our experiences to date and fervently hoping that it would not rain (though one of the guys assured us it wouldn’t as this was one of the few times he actually brought his umbrella). At the stop, a shuttle met us and took us to the track where we poked around a bit and then had lunch together while debating the best strategies for choosing the winner… of the six of us present, only two had any experience at all. Apparently, one should never bet on a white or grey horse or one with too flashy of a name. (Personally, I ignored that last bit of advice most of the time, but then again, I only won once, so perhaps its sound ; ) ) My favorite part of the proceedings was the pre-race parade of all the horses and jockeys. As Musselburgh is a relatively small course, one could get right up to the edge of the ring and really get a feel for the power and grace of each horse and the connection with each jockey. Then it was off to the tote to place bets (or the bookies if you were feeling brave) and the race! We got to watch one race from the announcer's tourToward the end it started getting rather miserably cold, so that took a bit of the fun out of it, but overall, it was a good day… and an excellent “cultural experience”.

6 Nations Rugby:

As many of you know, watching sporting events is on my todo list right above sorting my socks, but I must say, I think rugby has some merit. The 6 Nations rugby tournament began this week and my flatmate and a few friends and I went to watch England vs. Wales on Saturday. Luckily a British guy made one of the party so he was able to explain a bit of the game as we went along… the scrum is still slightly perplexing to me, but I think I prefer it to a hike anyway. :) The real excitement came in the second half when Wales came from behind and got two “touch downs” (sorry the terminology is still a bit elusive) with in 10 minutes… at that point, the whole atmosphere in the pub changed. People who had been chatting, sure of an English victory, became rapt with attention (the Scots route against the English on principle, even when it looks like a losing battle, so you can image the excitement when they did start to lose!) In the end, Wales beat England in the upset of the season that included several Bush-worthy plays on either side and resulted in general jubilation at the 3 Sisters.

Edinburgh Apprentice:

The past two weeks I have been participating in the Edinburgh Apprentice Competition. It is a business competition for students at university, sponsored by the Entrepreneurial Society and Proctor and Gamble (!!!). Our team, the Adventure Capitalists, was one of the 24 teams selected out of roughly 40 applicants to participate and we had our first challenge on the January 29^th in the Scottish Parliament building (arguably the ugliest and most expensive building in Edinburgh-- it enjoys the kind of disdain by the locals only matched by the pyramids at the Louvre. See this link for pictures). We were given a case study created by P&G centered on creating a marketing plan for the launch of a new product targeted at the students of the University of Edinburgh. As soon as they explained the challenge, I breathed a bit easier, after all, I spent basically all of last semester doing just that! We had 55 minutes to read the study and create our proposal and then 10 minutes to present to a panel of judges including representatives from P&G, the Entrepreneur Society, and even one MSP (member of Scottish Parliament)! Needless to say, it was a pretty intense 55 minutes! But we put together a good proposal and presented it with confidence… and then spent the next two hours waiting in anxious anticipation to hear results. When they finally emerged, they split the groups into two larger groups, congratulated everyone on their hard work and “fired” 12 teams… the Adventure Capitalists was not one of them. : ) Afterwards, celebrations were definitely in order, so everyone headed to a nearby pub to enjoy themselves. We fell into conversation with one of the P&G representatives and got some good feedback, some great stories, and a card before the night was out. By the time we left, it was quite late, but we stayed chatting outside my flat for a bit until we were interrupted by a man who engaged us in a theological discussion that touched on nearly every well known philosopher and religious tradition in existence and didn’t end until well after I had lost all feeling in my feet.

Our second Apprentice challenge was to create and sell a service for five hours in one of the student unions with all proceeds donated to the charity of our choice. We were told we would be evaluated on creativity (20%), teamwork (20%), and profits (60%) and that we would have less than a week to plan. So we put together a plan and went at it with a will. We decided to showcase one of the group member’s magician talents and my masseuse skills to provide an entertainment/relaxation service and made 114 GBP selling 3 minute massages and the secrets to nine magic tricks, disclosed by the magician himself. We did very well, profit-wise, in relation to the other groups, but the judges apparently didn’t grasp the strategy behind our teamwork (or perhaps had a different view of the bottom line) and though we out-sold even some of the groups who progressed, we were not one of the 5 chosen to go on. Still it was a great experience and I think we all learned quite a bit. I’m looking forward to the next challenge… whatever that may be!

Looking forward, I am heading down to London this weekend, again with USC, and will have the chance to see the Globe Theatre and “39 Steps” among the other things that Whitney (friend from USC, studying in London) has planned to show me. A trip to the highlands is also in the works for next weekend, and I am in the process of planning the rest of my travels… suggestions and tips are always appreciated! Take care and check out the photos!