It is weekends like these that make me so glad I chose the program I chose and that remind me why study abroad is so special. I am lucky enough to be a part of a program, the LSE General Course, that organizes more or less weekly excursions to places around the UK and Europe. I only signed up for one, this past weekend, which was a weekend in the Scottish Highlands.
Anyone who knew me at all in high school knows that I am a little obsessed with Scotland and it carries some of my most cherished memories, as my first ever trip outside the United States was to Edinburgh. I spent ten days there with members of my high school drama company, exploring the wonders of the city during its Fringe Festival as well as performing in it. We all had the most incredible time and since then, Edinburgh and Scotland have held a very special place in my heart.
At first, it might not sound that appealing when I say we spent the majority of the weekend on a coach bus, but for this I am quite grateful. We saw so much on Saturday; the beauty of the scenery is not to be believed, especially in autumn when everything is different shades of red, orange, yellow and green. We first stopped at Stirling Castle, a place I remembered well from my last visit. I was happy to reclaim my throne in the throne room. We continued up through Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park, and I am pretty sure we saw the Hogwarts Express because obviously there is only one steam train in the entire United Kingdom and it is definitely the Hogwarts Express. We stepped outside for two minutes at a scenic overlook in Glen Coe; it would have been longer but it was raining fairly heavily and to say the wind was gusty would be an extreme understatement. We then went to a place called the Clansman Centre, where we watched a rugged old Scottish man (proudly of clan Robertson) speak of how utterly disgusting and brutal life in the Highlands was hundreds of years ago as well as demonstrate how to properly pleat and put on a kilt. We then drove up the entire length of Loch Ness. Fun facts about Loch Ness: It contains more fresh water than all the lakes in England and Wales combined, Nessie has not been sighted since early 2013, and there is a monetary prize of a million pounds for someone who can provide concrete proof of a legitimate sighting (i.e. a good photograph). For anyone who doesn't know how much the exchange rate hurts us Americans over here, that's about 1.6 million dollars. Needless to say, we were somewhat disappointed we didn't see her.
We stayed Saturday night at a hostel in Inverness. If that sounds familiar to you, it's probably because you had to read Macbeth for school at some point, because Inverness is where (spoiler alert) King Duncan was murdered. I'm actually a big fan of Macbeth so I was busy geeking out just being there. Our tour guide recommended a pub called Hootenanny's to us, and I must say the Hootenanny's experience was my favorite night I have had abroad so far. It had live music and a lively crowd, and being the strange Americans we stood in the front but didn't know how to move to Scottish folk music until a seemingly random man walked in and showed us how to dance and wouldn't let us stand still. After that, we were not the strange Americans sitting on the floor but the strange Americans who were trying to have a Ceilidh (basically a Scottish dance party) even though we couldn't dance. I have had the chorus of a folk song about Thomas Paine stuck in my head for 24 hours now.
On Sunday we mostly drove so we could make it back to Edinburgh in time to catch our train back to London. We did make three stops: Culloden Battlefield (think Braveheart), Clava Cairns (4000 year old rocks and burial grounds), and the Hermitage, a beautiful wooded walk with waterfalls. I geeked out here too, as the Hermitage was the setting for Birnam Wood in Macbeth and I thought of those great prophecies and multiple smacks to the face all laid out for Macbeth. Well done, Shakespeare.
It truly was the "Americans take over the Ceilidh" night that made it for me. Even as I danced, if you can really call it dancing, I thought to myself how special Scotland is to me and how this is an experience I would have never been able to have without study abroad and indeed without this particular excursion. To think I'd made it all the way back to this place four years later, and made a new, unique memory that makes it that much better. I didn't think it was possible for Scotland to get any cooler, but clearly I was mistaken. I can't wait to go back.