Classes started today, which means full-time tourist mode ends now. Time for real people things. I'm fine with that; the three classes, Scottish Society and Culture, Scottish Politics, and British Politics (which I'm assuming will probably be like a repeat of Politics and Parliaments) should be fun. Plus they're only five weeks and the program is kind of set up so what you get out of it is what you put into it. We have some book recommendations to choose from to read for classes besides lectures; I'm starting with The Scottish Nation: A History 1700-2000 by T. M. Devine. About 600 pages. We'll see how that goes.
Today was pretty much just for going over the syllabus, expectations, and seeing some of the rooms we will be in. Our main professor and Personal Trainer (adviser) is named Paddy. Paddy is a German man who learned English in Ireland and looks reminiscent of a biker Santa Clause.
We've finished orientation and unfortunately had to say goodbye to our wonderful hotel rooms to move into our student housing (we have a flat in a freshman dorm for five people, one of whom has yet to show up).
Some fun facts about Scotland I learned during orientation: It is the only area in which Coca-Cola is not the highest selling soft drink; instead, the most sold drink is called Irn-Bru and it's bright orange, tastes like Tylenol Junior Bubblegum Meltaways, and mysteriously contains 5% of your daily iron. Mace is illegal. People can be and are legally prosecuted for saying offensive or highly insulting things on social media (not a bad idea in my opinion).
We also had our family stay this past weekend. Out of our eight, three of the other students and I stayed with a nice couple in Berwick-Upon-Tweed (which is, in fact, not in Scotland, but instead in northern England). Fun fact about Berwick: they were technically still singularly at war with Russia until about 20 years ago because they hadn't signed the peace treaty after signing the war declaration for themselves (then not technically being a part of either Scotland or England). They took us to Alnwick Castle, the site where several outdoor scenes from the Harry Potter movies were filmed. A "wizarding professor" was there instructing a broomstick flying lesson (which, needless to say, was comprised exclusively of four-year-olds and their parents). We watched for a while until the "professor" came over, singled me out, and made me pull his trolley (or cart, for you Yanks), and hand him broomsticks one by one as he dispersed them to the students as his official "Trolley Dolly." Then he made me join the class. I had to spend the next fifteen minutes yelling broomstick commands and running around playing the wizard equivalent of Red Light Green Light with a bunny hop command added in. I'm an adult.
Then we went to the far more beautiful Bamburgh Castle and walked down to the beach for a little bit. It was crazy nice, if not a tad chilly and windy (but what else do you expect from the northern English coast?). There are clearly no leash laws here.
Last night, after getting back from Berwick-Upon-Tweed, we climbed to the top of Calton Hill to watch Edinburgh's big fireworks display to mark the end of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
And now it's back to class.
Scottish independence referendum is in 17 days. History will or will not be made.
Today was pretty much just for going over the syllabus, expectations, and seeing some of the rooms we will be in. Our main professor and Personal Trainer (adviser) is named Paddy. Paddy is a German man who learned English in Ireland and looks reminiscent of a biker Santa Clause.
We've finished orientation and unfortunately had to say goodbye to our wonderful hotel rooms to move into our student housing (we have a flat in a freshman dorm for five people, one of whom has yet to show up).
Some fun facts about Scotland I learned during orientation: It is the only area in which Coca-Cola is not the highest selling soft drink; instead, the most sold drink is called Irn-Bru and it's bright orange, tastes like Tylenol Junior Bubblegum Meltaways, and mysteriously contains 5% of your daily iron. Mace is illegal. People can be and are legally prosecuted for saying offensive or highly insulting things on social media (not a bad idea in my opinion).
We also had our family stay this past weekend. Out of our eight, three of the other students and I stayed with a nice couple in Berwick-Upon-Tweed (which is, in fact, not in Scotland, but instead in northern England). Fun fact about Berwick: they were technically still singularly at war with Russia until about 20 years ago because they hadn't signed the peace treaty after signing the war declaration for themselves (then not technically being a part of either Scotland or England). They took us to Alnwick Castle, the site where several outdoor scenes from the Harry Potter movies were filmed. A "wizarding professor" was there instructing a broomstick flying lesson (which, needless to say, was comprised exclusively of four-year-olds and their parents). We watched for a while until the "professor" came over, singled me out, and made me pull his trolley (or cart, for you Yanks), and hand him broomsticks one by one as he dispersed them to the students as his official "Trolley Dolly." Then he made me join the class. I had to spend the next fifteen minutes yelling broomstick commands and running around playing the wizard equivalent of Red Light Green Light with a bunny hop command added in. I'm an adult.
Then we went to the far more beautiful Bamburgh Castle and walked down to the beach for a little bit. It was crazy nice, if not a tad chilly and windy (but what else do you expect from the northern English coast?). There are clearly no leash laws here.
Last night, after getting back from Berwick-Upon-Tweed, we climbed to the top of Calton Hill to watch Edinburgh's big fireworks display to mark the end of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
And now it's back to class.
Scottish independence referendum is in 17 days. History will or will not be made.