Edinburgh and the Highlands

I write from a desk in Nottingham, England - the same desk I wrote my previous post at - but there have been many travels in between these desks. The largest part of those travels was spent in Edinburgh, Scotland. A while back, I posted about my two-day trip to Edinburgh with my friend, Ben. We were fortunate to stay for free at the apartment of a fellow Luther student and friend, Lisa, who kindly offered me a share of her dwellings again for this break.

A bit of background about the whole Edinburgh deal? And a history leading up to it? In the Nottingham program, we students are kicked out of the house for our two breaks. Not wanting to spend much money this spring and knowing the amount of work I would have to do over the break, I looked for options that involved staying in one place for relatively cheap. I spent the first 10 days traveling Ireland with my friend Aaron Rosell (more on that when I get the photos). The remaining two weeks were contested until Lisa, studying for the semester at the University of Edinburgh, (famous for its beautiful campus and its past, shady dealings with bodysnatchers) offered to let me sleep and eat in her flat. A lady with an unquestioning idea of hospitality, she and her friends tolerated me enough to let me live with them for the remainder of my break.

While I was there, these photos were taken:

I hiked Arthur's Seat again several times - it was a great place to go while I was staying in Edinburgh

The views are always great

The flat is right next to the Royal Mile...

...which leads to Edinburgh castle...

...which had some cool exhibits and monuments inside. Here is a sort of Scotland equivalent of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

I took a nine-hour day trip through the Scottish Highlands with a small, but really cool tour company called "The Hairy Coo." Pictured is Russell, our driver, in the first foggy hours of the trip.

The first big site was the William Wallace monument, who, through the info provided by our tour guide, I learned to admire and also be uneasy about (he had a big stomach for violence)

While the fog was thick for the first few hours, the scenery was beautiful

And when the mist cleared, even more so

The hard-to-mistake orange bus, some of our 20something crew, and the woods

One of the lochs we visited. Scattered fishermen completed the Minnesota feel.

These are Hairy Coos - Highland Cattle - coming up close to eat some bread provided by the driver

Some were more eager than others

Doune Castle - famous for being the site of three different scenes from the incredibly low budget "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." Inside is the courtyard where the film's happy wedding turned into a confused, bloody mess. You will recognize these walls in this video.

Coconuts were provided.

This was one of the last things we saw: the giant Forth Railway Bride.

That's all for now, uploading photos three times a piece. Hope you enjoyed! It's nice to be back in the 'Ham, relaxing, taking my daily change of clothes out of real-life drawers, writing my final paper and prepping for finals which will be in the 20s of this month. Next up I'll be posting pictures and stories from my time in Ireland.

Weekend in Edinburgh

The sun has been out in full force recently... by English standards. That means it must be spring.

What have I been doing as the winter's welcome wears away? In the longest gap between posts in recent memory? Very little. But you can rest assured I have been enjoying myself. I won't bore you with the slothful details, but will instead focus on the more exciting ones, for example, a very recent trip to Edinburgh with my pal Ben Gardner.

I was very fortunate to spend two nights at a flat care of the lovely Lisa Diviney, a fellow Luther student and hospitable host, as well as her five lovely flatmates. Our first day Ben and I had only a cursory look throughout the city. The second day was far more comprehensive.

Our day began with a visit to the local Grassmarket, right at the foot of Edinburgh castle:

I didn't buy anything at the market, except for one fantastic hog roast, but not before a minute-long back-and-forth with the local Scottish merchant:

"Yeah, I'll get one on dark bread."

"Youwantsoomstoofinonthaht?"

"What?"

Regardless, it was incredibly delicious.

It also proved to be invaluable to my energy for that day, as a hike was in the very near future. It's not that much of a climb, as climbs go, but Ben and I hiked up Arthur's Seat, to the highest point in sight and got to see some lovely views of the Scottish city. Here are some pics of the journey up:

Ben resting on a warning sign, with unintentional hilarity.

The Wikipedia page on Arthur's Seat said it is "quite easy" to climb. Thus the first time I edit a Wikipedia page.

Victorious.

Shot from a conveniently-placed monument

The rest of the day was spent visiting a local museum and looking around town. It was a nice, relaxing stroll. The night, however, was something else entirely. One of our hostesses was holding a birthday celebration party, and we, as temporary inhabitants, were a part. It was also Disney-themed.

L to R: Little John and Robin Hood (I couldn't find tights somehow)

There may be no live-action Disney Robin Hoods, but the costumes were a success. The girls of the flat dressed up as dwarves, and the birthday girl as their Snow White. It was a great time. Thanks go out to them.

Now I'm back in Nottingham, doing work and not spending money anymore. I've already been planning my Spring Break, which will involve a ten-day trip throughout Ireland and a few weeks scrambling to finish up three finals. 'til next time!

Nottingham, Part Two

The new semester here has begun! Irish Literature and American Literature are behind me now and my previous anxieties of passing the former have been extinguished. I enjoyed and learned a lot from both, including the knowledge that I never want to become a professional academic, at least not in the same way as these literary critics I have been reading.

Before moving onto new news, I will look back on the old for a bit more, because I never did post up some of the Alps pictures. These are of when my brother and my cousin Arnaud went to visit Les Contamines for some skiing and mountain-gawking. We stayed with my uncle Demian.

Stefan, Arnaud, and I about to do some cross country skiing

Skiing is a difficult thing when you don't know what you're doing and have a bad knee, but the woods were beautiful

Up on the mountain. I stayed back because of the aforementioned reasons, a position that Arnaud and Stefan were apt at symbolizing, shown here

Post-ski drink time

After all that and Paris, I came back and lived with my grandmother for about a week, while my mom was off traveling with her friend, Deb. Because of living in the States, learning French late, and visiting only so often, I never really knew my grandma, at least not more than my mom's mom who spoke a different language but was always very kind and provided delicious food. Now I know that all of those things remain true, but are only parts of a whole, a whole that I got to know more during my short stay. I'm glad to have had that experience.

And now I'm back in Nottingham, already learning about Norse mythology and religion in general. Ice and Fire: Myths and Heroes of the North is the absurdly exciting title of the former, and Introduction to the Study of Religion the latter. In one corner I will hear about how Thor smote giants with his mighty Mjollnir and in the other I will hear about how such a mythical character is really an archetype of the collective unconscious.

Apologies: my last lecture was all psychoanalysis

Semester two promises to be a fun one, and my goals include not severely injuring major joints and getting to know more people. I'm doing well with both so far.