The Sequel

In October I went along on New Scotland's "Fresher's Weekend" retreat and had a blast.  It was so much fun that some of my friends/the committee members decided it would be a good idea to do it again in second semester.  This time we went to Melrose, another historic Scottish town, and again I got very little sleep...but it was such a blast!  We spent Friday night and all day/night Saturday dancing, then went back to the hostel for a jam session with whatever flutes/accordions/guitars were around and singing.  I was really amazed to realize how far I've come as a dancer since October-at the first weekend I could barely get through "Mairi's Wedding" (one of my favorite dances now) and this time I could do the whole thing without it being called and didn't mess up once!  I don't have a ton to say about the weekend, except that it was a great couple of days away with a bunch of other crazy dance kids.  Pictures!

sculpting the fondant

 The theme for the weekend was Harry Potter, and it was also one of the girls' birthday.  I was asked to make a surprise birthday cake for her in the theme for Friday night.  I decided to do a Hogwarts crest, and I was really pleased with the way it turned out!

the Hufflepuff badger

 The cake was red velvet with cream cheese frosting, covered in fondant.  All of the house mascots were also sculpted out of fondant, which was a lot of fun to do!

the Gryffindor lion

the finished cake

Sanne really liked it, and it was a lot of fun to present during the dance.  I was really proud of myself--and I got to eat red velvet cake, which I love and you can't really get in Scotland.

During the day on Saturday were classes, some normal Scottish dance classes and workshops by society members who also do other dance forms.  I took Cuban Salsa and Lindy Hop, and taught a vintage dance class! I was really excited and nervous, but a ton of people came and they seemed to have a great time.  I taught 1860s waltz and used the time to talk about some of the issues that I see on the dance floor a lot, both at home and at ceilidhs here: leading well and steering.  I hope the lesson sticks!  Being crashed into walls is no fun.
On Saturday night there was a "fancy dress" (aka costume) dance, which shamefully I didn't put much effort into.  I went as a Slytherin, and wore a basic schoolgirl-looking thing.  I have a bunch of HP costumes, but they're all in the States. sigh. oh, well.  Some people got really into it, and the costumes were pretty cool even if they weren't very elaborate:

two of my friends as the golden snitch and Fleur Delacour

another friend as Professor Umbridge (he stayed in character all night too, which was hilarious)

 Today (Sunday) we went to Melrose Abbey, the ruins of a twelfth century abbey which was also the site of a Roman fort under governor Agricola.

 It was really cold (it was also snowing a bit), but the abbey and grounds were beautiful.  It was fun to walk around with my friends and explore the site and the museum that's also on the grounds.

 I want to write a post solely on the abbey, so I'll have more to say about it and more pictures of the structure later.  Afterwards, we went to the only place open in town (Melrose is very small-there was one line of shops and that was the whole town center)--a tea shop down the street from the abbey.  We spent the rest of the afternoon having tea and cake and chatting, as usual :)  I'm exhausted, but it was well worth it.  Yay dancing!