A Glimpse of Royalty

I am one lucky lady because one of my Fulbright dreams has come true already; I saw the Queen! Check it out:

Look! It's Queen Elizabeth II!!!!

The plan for the last couple of weeks has been to head up to Aberdeen this weekend to visit fellow Fulbrighter Niki and some other Fulbrighters, then go catch up with the Scottish Exchange Teachers Club at the Braemar Highland Games, where we were sure to see the Queen! The games are put on in her honor every year, and I was so excited to see her. The Scottish Exchange Teachers Club very graciously invited all of the UK Fulbrighters to get involved in their club activities, including an outing to the games, and even though I'm down in southern England, I knew I had to get up to Scotland for the Braemar Highland Games...and to see the Queen.

But getting up to Scotland ended up being a bit harder (and more expensive!) than I anticipated.  Friday morning, I was so proud of myself for getting to Gatwick via taxi and train with no problems, but when I checked the departures board at the airport, I realized my flight wasn't listed...because it had left two hours ago! I had stupidly misread my itinerary the day before and completely missed my flight on Friday morning. You know those moments where something rotten happens, and you think to yourself, "I could really cry right now or I could just carry on with it," and you have to decide how you're going to react? Well, that was definitely one of those moments for me. :) Thankfully, I kept it together and repeated the unofficial Fulbright mantra to myself: "All Shall Be Well." For a hefty fee, EasyJet rebooked me on the next flight up to Aberdeen. The only problem was that the flight didn't leave until 6:40 p.m. and it was only 10 a.m. So I texted my Fulbright friends for encouragement (thank you Natalie and Niki!), then texted Carlos for some ideas on how to spend my day. He suggested I take the train to Brighton, which is a fabulous little beach town on the coast. A train to Brighton leaves straight from Gatwick and only takes 30 minutes, so I decided to go for it. And I'm really glad I did. It was a gorgeous day, and I enjoyed spending my time wandering around the boardwalk and pier, taking photos and sitting on the beach in the sunshine. Brighton was one of the places on my "Must Visit" list, so you might say it Providence that I missed my flight. 

Welcome to Brighton!

I ate cockles on the beach. They look nasty here, but they're like little clams. They tasted salty like the sea. Delish!

I love the old-timey pier

Brighton

In the afternoon, I headed back to the airport for my flight to Scotland. The flight was delayed a bit, but I made it to Aberdeen in one piece, and I can't even describe how relieved I felt when Niki pulled up a the airport to pick me up with Jessica and Natalie in the car! I was so happy to have actually made it! We had an easy night in catching up with each other, then it was up bright at early the next day for our drive to Braemar. 

The highland games were really interesting! There is a large arena where different events and competitions happen simultaneously, kind of like a modern track meet. But the competitions are very different! My favorite events we watched were the caber toss (throwing the huge log up and over itself) and the weight toss (throwing a really big weight up and over a tall bar). We also saw some highland dancing, lots of highland bands, and the hill run where competitors ran up this mountain and back in a race. Of course we also wanted to sample the local fare, so we ate things like sausage/ham rolls, strawberries and cream/ice cream, and highland steak burgers, plus a little whiskey. :) 

Natalie, Me, Niki and Jessica at the Braemar Highland Games

Me, Niki, Jessica and Natalie exploring the town

The sign welcoming visitors to the games which means, "A Hundred Thousand Welcomes." 

The "hill" back there is the mountain the hill races ran up 

Awkward photo with cute Scots lads

Tug of War! This reminded me of AMHS assemblies :)

Highland dancers

Meeting up with the Scottish Exchange Teachers club members was lovely. They were so friendly! I had been emailing Gillian quite a bit setting up our meet up, and it was so nice to meet her in person, along with Mary and Wilson who introduced themselves to me and struck up a chat. The Fulbrighters were welcomed in so warmly and the club organizers quite delighted to have teachers make the trek up from England. All four of us received multiple offers of places to stay when we next come visit Scotland. Simply put, I was blown away by their kindness. It made the day that much more special. 

And of course, the highlight of the whole weekend was seeing the Queen! :) She arrived at 3 p.m. and was greeted by some of the games organizers (I think) and then sat and watched the games for about an hour. Prince Charles and Camilla were also with her, which was quite exciting! 

My stalker collage of photos of the Queen. My little camera can't zoom very well, so they aren't very good quality.

The she left a little after 4, and we were all lined up to watch her exit. I was really lucky to have a space right at the fence, and the Queen's car drove within about six feet of me! It was glorious! She looked so pretty and was so lovely waving at all of us. She looked just as happy to see us as we were to see her. She's such a lady! :) 

Isn't she lovely?

The exit sign. :)

I feel so lucky to have made it up to Scotland for the games and to have been able to see the Queen in person! Such a fun, exciting weekend!