Visit to Edinburgh Castle

On Saturday my friend from the exchange program, Nicolette, and I went to Edinburgh Castle to explore some of the local history.

The castle is actually made up of several buildings inside an outer wall of defense and gatehouse, rather than one massive building (like disney).  I sort of knew this was how medieval castles worked, but what I thought was especially interesting about Edinburgh Castle is that it has been in use since the 12th century, and the buildings inside all date from different periods, much like the city itself.  Nicolette and I decided to take the free half-hour tour around the grounds to get a better understanding on the history we were surrounded by.  Our guide was Ewan, and he was very informative.  I tend to be very critical of tour guides, since I work as one, and I thought it was funny to hear Ewan consciously adjusting his speech for Americans.  Thanks, Ewan!  I'm sure all 30 of us really benefited from that.  He also had tartan pants on, which seems to be a big tourist thing.  Nicolette and I both thought they were pretty awesome.

The oldest building left inside the walls is Saint Margaret's Chapel.  According to Ewan, Queen Margaret was known as a just ruler known for religious reforms, and this chapel was built in her honor by her son, King David, in 1124.  Ewan also informed us you can still be married there, which is a great relief to father's of the bride because it can only hold 20 guests!  

As you might imagine, many of the buildings held museums or other attractions related to military history, as castles and wars tend to go together.  This building, which I thought was one of the most beautiful, is the National War Memorial, completed in 1929 to honor the Scottish men who died in World War I.  Since then, every Scottish person to give their life in conflict is written into the large volumes within the memorial.  The building was lovely and peaceful, and very moving.

We spent about three hours at the castle, and saw all sorts of interesting things.  One of my favorite exhibits was about the "Honors of Scotland," essentially the crown jewels.  They are kept within the castle, but no photos are allowed in that room.  They were really shiny, though!  Another favorite area of the castle were the Royal Apartments, where Queen Mary (better known as Mary, Queen of Scots) gave birth to her son (later James VI of Scotland and I of England) in 1566.  The birth took place in a small wood-paneled "birthing room," which is attached to one of the larger bedrooms.  This is the decoration around the fireplace and ceiling in one of those large rooms.

Another part of the Stewart apartments was a large Great Hall.  While the original metal-free ceiling of the Great Hall remains, the rest of it was redone during the mid 19th century.  I happen to be a huge fan of Victorians attempting history-it's almost always off and super adorable.  The Great Hall was no exception!  The walls were decorated with large pikes and swords and pistols arranged into artful shapes, rendering all the weapons useless.  I found the overlapping histories of the room really funny and entertaining, and the room was still really pretty.  I also got a huge kick out of this sign, advertising living history events throughout the week.  We didn't get to see any, but sometime this year I'll definitely have to go back!

In many of the buildings were war or military centred museums, including an undergound recreation of cells used for prisoners of war during the 18th century-including the American Revolution (which the Scots call "the American war of independence")!  I was surprised by how open they were-they looked more like barracks on a ship than actual prison cells, complete with hammocks.  However, they were still dark and smelly and underground, so I'm sure they still weren't great places to be.  I was surprised that soldiers from the American Revolution were kept here-it just seems like a lot of extra effort to move them this far north!  It just shows how important the castle was as a military facility during its time of use.  Even today, a soldier still fires off the one o'clock gun every day at 1pm to keep time for the city.  Pretty cool.

From the outside, the cells did look a lot more like what I expect from an old prison.

In general, I had a great time poking around the museum exhibits, especially the one about women working on farms on the home front in the National War Museum.  I don't have a ton to say about a lot of it, so here are some pictures instead.

This is Emperor Napoleon's eagle from his glory days with the French Army.  Apparently it was captured during his defeat at Waterloo by a Scottish regiment, and now resides at the castle.  I really liked this case, which also had a couple of other Waterloo artifacts.  I blame this on my middle school phase where I was obsessed with theories about Napoleon's death.

The view from the tower featuring the Red Coat Cafe where we had lunch.  I know I've said it before, but I can't get over how beautiful the city is.

More of the castle.  This part went down to the National War Museum.  I have a bunch of pictures of things like WWII nurse uniforms and propaganda posters, but as those really don't share anything about the city, I'll save them for facebook.

First Day of Fresher's Week

So far, Fresher's Week hasn't been super exciting.  There are 28,000 undergraduates, which means events fill quickly and seem to involved waiting in epic lines just for a chance to get in.  However, there have been some exciting moments!  (These are in addition to the chaos-induced flatmate bonding time.)

At least EUSA, the student activities committee, knows we have to wait in line.  They provided some pretty cool entertainment:

This was in addition to the buckets of candy being tossed around.

Just like SLC has an unofficial mascot (black squirrels), Edinburgh seems to have one too.  The mascot for Fresher's Week is Robert the Moose, a kilt-wearing freshman moose attending events with the rest of us.  As far as I can tell, he's based on this real decoration in Teviot, the student union:

The glass eyes kind of freak me out.

However, there's a much more lively version, waiting in line with all the other freshers.  (By the way, Mom, this picture is for you.)

BULLWINKLE!

yeah, we have cheerleaders apparently.  They're called the Vixens.  No, I don't really get that either.

Chapter One, the Flat under the Stairs...

Edinburgh is an amazing city, and so far my time here has been really fun and incredible.  I'll get back to you in a week and let you know if actually going to class has changed that at all.  Because I'm a visual person, and because being here is like walking into a novel, I'm just going to give you a quick show and tell about my first few days as an Edinburgh student, partaking in the university's 427th academic year.

I arrived last Wednesday at Pollack Halls, a housing area about 20 minutes from central campus, where we stayed for the exchange program orientation.  This building, part of campus facilities, was where our orientation meetings were held.  When I'd gotten my orientation schedule at home, I thought the fact we had a tea/coffee break every morning sounded so cute.  It was actually really necessary, since we were all exhausted and jet-lagged and in a hot room listening to speakers for hours! yay, caffeine!

These next few are all views from the streets we explored during the first few days.  Edinburgh is split into two sections: Old Town (mostly 13th-15th c) and New Town (17th c).  I live in Old Town, which is also where the two main castles are: Edinburgh Castle and Holyrood House, the current royal residence (when they come to Scotland).

New Town is home to the main clothing shop area on Prince's Street, which is sort of like New York's fifth avenue but smaller and prettier, because one side is the entrance to Prince's Street Garden, which is a lovely park.  In order to get from where I live to Prince's Street, you walk across a bridge.

The view from the bridge gives a really nice view of the different types of architecture in Old and New Town.  In one direction you can see towering medieval structures, monuments, and church spires, while straight ahead are the even stone buildings and decorative work of the Georgian buildings.



Also, I had heard that Edinburgh weather was terrible, that it was cold, that it rained a lot, and that is was pretty gloomy.  I think that's probably true in the winter-their days are shorter than I'm used to.  However, right now it's still early fall and while it's been chilly (definitely not the 90s I was used to at home!), we've only had rain twice and it was only for a few hours.  As you can see, most days I've been here have been really beautiful.  Of course, now that I've said that it's going to rain all week.


And I know not to expect the UK to be like it is on television, but sometimes little references are very exciting...

I swear I heard the tardis when we were touring the castle...but actually, these are everywhere.  Some have even been converted into coffee stands!  The streets here are really interesting.  There are buskers; everything from men in traditional dress with bagpipes, to circus acts...

to escapees from Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory drinking corona...

...to shops advertising testimonials from the Dark Lord himself!

(Funny, I always imagined Voldy drinking tea. hmm.)

No, but really, I can't stress enough how much it feels sometimes like this is too much of a fairytale to be true. Not the registering for classes bit-that's definitely real.  But where I actually get to study? Impossible.

For example, this is our student union building.  Doesn't it look like Hogwarts?!

And just in case you needed any more proof:

Told you so.

Cheerio, Y'all!

Had my second culture shock moment.  I'm starting to recognize when they happen, because they're the only times I feel down and ready to cry.  I decided to stay in tonight and process for a bit, since I think part of the problem has been too much stimulation and not enough sleep.  Cue a mug of my new strawberry-banana tea and Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.
I went to my first Ceilidh (pronounced "kay-lee") tonight, which is sort of a traditional Scottish dance.  We did figures, but no real steps (just skipping and spinning).  A lot of the kids had learned the dances in elementary school, which is still a lot cooler than the "Japanese Coal Miner's Dance" we learned with Mr. Banks.  On the other hand, since Scottish kids learn them, the calling was very brief and only really hit the front of the room. (Mind, the room was so full there was a line to get in, and every time a group left someone else could enter!)  Which still could have worked, but the proportion of Scottish students to international students, given that this is "international day" and this was a free Scottish culture event, meant that there weren't enough Scots to drag the rest of us through it.
It was still a lot of fun, but towards the end we did "The Virginia Reel."  Which was not like any Virginia Reel I've ever done.  But it was introduced as an American dance, and the caller had the room slap their knees and shout "yeee'haw!" several times during it.  I know there are tons of Virginia Reel variations, but I think what got to me was just how out of place the whole thing seemed.  Here was the one thing at this whole event I should be comfortable with, and it still threw me for a loop.  After sitting here processing this for a bit, I'm really just excited to chat with the New Scottish Country Dance Society and the "society fair" onWednesday, and to really learn some dances.

Not that I'm complaining mind you-there were very cute boys.  I danced with one during a mixer, and magically my dancing improved tremendously.  One of the girls watching nearby even told me I look very gracefully when I got flung! Amazing how that works ;)

Off to make more tea.  Be back with pictures soon.

Welcome to Edinburgh!

So, here's how bad I am at posting: I've been here for four days and this is my first post since arrival.  Oops.  However, I have TWO entries on the way tomorrow! I do have two good excuses for not posting sooner though:

1) Culture Shock:  Something everybody goes through, right?  I assumed it would just be little things, like when I started school in NY and tried to order a frappe.  Well, that might be true but it's also bigger things.  For example, the showers are electric and have to be turned on in order for the water to run.  As this has never been the case in one of my showers before, it took me an hour to figure out how to get water to come out of the shower head.  Turns out you actually can't google everything.  But I did eventually figure it out, and had a lovely rest of the day.  I'll post my pictures of Edinburgh Castle tomorrow.  Here's one for the meantime:

With one of my program friends in front of the main gate

2) Flatmates!  Ok, this isn't really an excuse, but the other people in my flat moved in today (except one).  So I went to the first year hall event with one of them, Ailse, and then hung out with she and our other flatmate Leah for the rest of the night.  About half-way through we were joined by Annie, the last one, and her boyfriend Ian.  They are both very nice as well, from a small liberal arts college environment as well.  We all spent the rest of the night talking and getting to know each other...which, as many college nights do, eventually boiled down into laughing hysterically at youtube videos.  Tomorrow, the first full day of Freshers' Week (essentially freshman orientation) is International Day.  Which means I have to be there by 10am and then have a meeting with the Director of Studies to officially register for classes.
I don't have pictures with any of my flatmates yet, but you all are with me here too!  Here's my picture-covered bulletin board:

 

Summer Reading

I'm off today for Edinburgh!  I'm nervous and jittery, but mostly just excited.  I can't wait to begin exploring my new home and getting back to doing research and reading.  The American program I'm going to Edinburgh through, Arcadia University, organizes trips for us throughout the semester.  One of those has a literature theme, and includes lunch with a native Scottish author.  In preparation, we all read one of his books this summer and held an online book club.  I highly recommend One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night to anyone interested in action, comedy, or who is a fan of The Breakfast Club.

The novel is a very entertaining journey to a high school reunion gone horribly wrong.  Throughout the story, the point of view switches between several different characters, following the now-adult students to the "Floating Island Paradise Resort" where the reunion is held, as well as some of the organizers and a couple of mercenaries.
At some points I had a hard time following the dialog because of  all the local slang-but I better get used to it!  I'm very excited to meet the author, Christopher Brookmyre, in October.  I'll post about it after I go, so if anyone's interested in following along pick up a copy of One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night.




Wish me luck!  My next post will be from Scotland!

First Grade Friends 1

Dear First Grade Friends,

Tomorrow I leave for Edinburgh, a city in Scotland, where I will be living for the year.  I will write letters to your class and post them here on my blog-please write back to me!  Today I wanted to show you some pictures of Scotland, and some of my favorite Scottish things.

This is Edinburgh, the city I will be living in. 

Edinburgh is a very old city.  It was founded about 1400 years ago!  One of my favorite buildings in Edinburgh is the castle.  During Medieval times, it was where the Scottish King lived.  Now it is a museum, where people can go and see it and what it was like to live hundreds of years ago.

In many places, people have special clothes that have been around for a long time, and are worn for traditions and celebrations like weddings and family parties.  In a part of Scotland called the Highlands, one of these special items of clothing is called a kilt.

Kilts have been worn by Scottish men for about 500 years, since the 1500s.  Over that time they have changed a lot!  Originally, kilts were really blankets (called plaids) that people used at night.  During the day they would wrap it around their waist and hold it in place with a belt.  Then they would put the rest over their shoulders.  Have you ever wrapped a blanket around yourself to stay warm?

In 2010, kilts are more like other clothes we’re used to, that stay up on their own.  They are worn for special events.  Do you have any special clothes you wear for celebrations with your family?

Kilts are usually made out of plaid fabric called tartan.  Did you know that every tartan is special?  Each color has a special meaning.  There’s even a group in charge of recording the meaning of every tartan color!  If your family had its own tartan, what would you want it to look like?

This is the tartan for a Scottish elementary school.  Does the Bailey School have any special colors or symbols?

I am very excited to move to Edinburgh!  If you have questions about Scotland, you can write to me and I will post the answers here.  Have a great fall!

Lauren

Sources:

http://www.newhousehighland.com/history.html

http://albanach.org/kilt.html

http://www.scottish-tartans-world-register.com