A Trip to Bonny Scotland

I returned on Tuesday from a lovely week-long trip to Scotland, where I reunited with several Fulbrighters. We planned the trip on a whim, and I'm so glad we decided to go for it. After arriving in our new countries and settling into our new lives, it was nice to get together and debrief a bit, swap stories, and just relax together. When you pack up your life and move to a new place, you know you'll be meeting new people and basically rebuilding your life, especially your social life. I was prepared for that reality, but I didn't realize how exhausting it would be. It's been so comforting to meet the nice people I've spent time with in London, but being brave and outgoing all the time can be a tad tiring. It was a nice relief to just relax a bit with some familiar people. I'm really looking forward to spending more time with my new London friends so that we can get past that initial acquaintance period and move into the familiarity of friendship that I have with my Fulbright friends. In the meantime, we're all depending on each other for support and some good laughs, which we had plenty of in Scotland. 

I met Christy and Natalie (who's now living in Durham, England) at the Edinburgh airport around 7 p.m. on Tuesday night. We were all a bit tired, so we went back to Christy's for some dinner and a good chat--that lasted until 2 a.m.! Guess we had a lot to talk about. The next day, we had some time to kill before meeting the other girls, so we explored the main street of Bathgate, the town where Christy lives, and had lunch in a little bakery shop.

Natalie, Christy and I in Bathgate for lunch

The whole point of the trip was to go see the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, so as soon as we collected Niki (who's now living in Aberdeen, Scotland) and Tessa (who's now living in Bentham, England) at the train station, we hopped a train to Edinburgh. The city of Edinburgh is home to several major festivals/events in August, including the Tattoo (a military marching band pageant), the Fringe Festival (comedy, drama, music, basically all things artsy), and the International Book Festival. The city was bustling with performers, tourists and all sorts of characters.

Before we went to the Tattoo on Wednesday night, we had our first real pub dinner in Scotland, and it was so tasty! Plus the pub was gorgeous, and we met a really nice couple on their honeymoon as we stood in line waiting for our table. The woman used to live in London, and she gave me lots of tips for city life. She was a hoot! As we left the pub, it was raining, but luckily, a couple of the girls picked us up some super cheesy Scotland ponchos that we laid across our laps during the performance, which was held in a small outdoor stadium at the base of the castle. The Tattoo was really interesting. Many different military marching bands performed, there were Scottish dancers, and a great drum line. I really enjoyed the performance, and we all thought it was kind of fitting that it rained the whole way through. We said to each other that we were glad we got the real, rainy Scottish experience at the Tattoo.

Edinburgh--The Fringe Festival and some Olympic pride

Slightly blurry group shot at the Edinburgh Military Tattoo 

The Tattoo takes place in a little stadium right in front of the castle

Flags line the stadium. I like seeing our American flag flying next to the Union Jack, the Welsh flag and the Scotish flag.

Panoramic shot of the Tattoo set up

Lots of military marching bands played amazing music that taught the audience about Scottish history.

Love those torches in front of the castle

The next day, we went back into Edinburgh to explore the castle and check out more festivities. After the castle, we wandered around a bit and went to two performances. The first one was a one-hour version of "A Mid-Summer Night's Dream," and I have to say that if we could trim down all Shakespeare into one hour, I think a lot more people would be into it! That's blasphemy, I'm sure, coming from an English teacher's mouth, but I have to admit, I enjoyed it a lot more being just one hour instead of 3+. Later that night we went to a hilarious musical about a dramatic Dracula who wants to be a star in the next Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. Just three male actors played all the roles, and their comedic timing was priceless. Plus, it didn't help that they were all super cute and totally charming. And the musical was full of parodies of pop songs re-written about Dracula. It sounds totally dorky, but trust me, it was great.

On the Royal Mile where the main Fringe festivities take place

The Royal Mile

Lots of crazies

Christy and I on the Royal Mile 

The pub we ate at on the first night in Edinburgh

I thought these posters on the National Scottish Library building were too funny! 

Supposedly, this is the coffee house where J.K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book.

The first and only pick up I've seen in the UK so far! Felt like I was home in Auburn! :)

We went back into Edinburgh on the train the next two days and did more exploring. Another Fulbrighter, Jessica who is living in Hull, England, came up on Friday as well. One day, several of the girls took the hop on/hop off bus, but Niki and I wanted to check out a few other things so we set off on our own. We visited the Book Festival and then walked down to the Royal Palace, the Queen's official residence in Scotland. And then we all reunited at the end of the day to do the Whiskey Experience, a touristy attraction where they teach you about whiskey and give you a sample. Needless to say, we had fun there.

Natalie and I bought matching sweatshirts in the Fringe shop--actually, I just copied her! :)

There were lots of unique street performers all up and down the Royal Mile. This guy ate a huge, long balloon...

The four of us went to a horrible free comedy show, but we still had fun. 

Arthur's Seat down by the Royal Palace

That's as close as I got to Arthur's Seat. No hiking for me!

The Royal Palace of Edinburgh, the Queen's official residence in Scotland

Natalie and I on the Whiskey Experience ride

The HUGE whiskey collection at the facility. This isn't even half of the collection, and the whole collection came from one man!

Yum! And we got to keep our souvenir glasses :) 

Group Shot!

On Sunday, all the girls except me either headed home or down to Tessa's in northern England, but I had a couple more days with Christy in Scotland. Sunday afternoon, Christy and I decided to go to Linlithgow, which is a nearby town with a cool castle. We checked out the castle, watched an odd little performance in the castle square performed by the Linlithgow Players, and then decided to call it a day. But on the way back to the car, fate stepped in! :) We discovered a little tea shop inside the museum and decided to stop for our first British afternoon tea! It was lovely!

Christy and I in Linlithgow

Mr. Whippy!

The room where Mary Queen of Scots was born

The next day, Christy had to work--her first day!--so I took myself on the train into Glasgow. I was pretty proud of myself for getting the bus to the train station and then getting around Glasgow on my own and back on the train, and the bus, to get home. It was a good day for me! I enjoyed Glasgow, but it's a different kind of city than Edinburgh. Glasgow is actually bigger than Edinburgh, and it's much more industrial. There is great shopping everywhere, though, and I found the pedestrian streets really nice and easy to navigate. I also walked out to the Glasgow Cathedral, which was gorgeous. 

Catching the train to Glasgow