Day 22 - Going back to Michigan!

I AM HOME! (After Alma College students had an entire flight for themselves to Detroit!)

It is so nice to be home, but at the same time I find myself missing Scotland. I hate having such conflicting emotions! I'm hoping that next summer works itself out so I can travel back to Scotland and visit the places I love the most and new ones as well.

I am so blessed to have had the chance to experience this. I am so thankful to all the people who helped me afford the trip as well as those who encouraged me not to miss out on such an opportunity. It has opened so many new doors that I never thought would exist for me. It is only a sign of great things to come and I look forward to having many more incredible experiences in the future.

Thank you, Alma College! (Hopefully they'll give me more scholarship money now that I've given them a free advertisement on my blog about the wonderful opportunites they have to offer. :])

Day 21 - London.

Today was the nice hour long flight to London so we can fly out tomorrow morning to go back home to Michigan. It took us a while to figure out which bus to catch to take us to the hotel and how to fit us on to a public bus with so much luggage, but we managed to make it to the hotel in one piece.

Some of us entertained the thought of going to London to explore the city a bit, but decided against having to go through the hassle to catch another bus to the airport to get on to the tube and take a long ride into the city. I think most of us were just happy to be able to relax and get ready to go home.

I spent most of my day in bed reading and catching up on some sleep. It felt good to finally be able to have some time to myself. Emma was gone into town with Luke and Dr. Cartrite so I had the entire room and all day to be alone. It was nice.

We hung out in the lobby playing cards and talking for most of tonight. It was a good time. Some of the group (myself included) went to bed early since we had to be going around 5 am to get to the airport for our flight to Toronto.

Tomorrow: Early morning flight HOME!

Day 20 - Mary King's Close.

What a day! Today we took one of our best tours yet - a tour of the city underneath Edinburgh! Mary King's Close, as it's called, is an area underneath Edinburgh that used to be the old city of Edinburgh. The tops of the buildings were chopped off and the new city was built on top of the old one, leaving a small part of the old town nearly intact. The tour was so interesting, but dark! Our tour guide was pretty crazy, but Luke kept him under wraps with some seriously intriguing questions. I love that kid! It was so hard to believe that people once lived down there - especially since they lived down there during the time of the plague. That was slightly creepy - along with a room that is claimed to be haunted by a little girl. I didn't see her, and I'm not sure that I will believe it until I see it. :]

We had our last dinner as a class together at a small place called Maxie's. It was so delicious!!! We ordered a few bottles of wine (not too expensive though) to go along with our dinner, and we mainly just talked about our trip thus far and how much we had enjoyed our time together. I really will miss some of the friends that I have made on this trip. I'm glad that I was able to share this experience with a great group of people!

Tomorrow: We are off to London!

Day 19 - Day trip to the Borders.

Today we took a day trip by train and bus to the Borders (the area that is the borders of England and Scotland). We rode around the Borders in a tour bus with a wonderful tour guide that knew everything about everything! We stopped to take in Hadrian's Wall, the wall that was built by the Romans to keep the Scottish "savages" out of England. There wasn't much left of the wall to see, thanks to people stealing the stones over time to build homes and walls of their own. It was more interesting to learn of the history behind the wall and even more interesting to learn about how long it was and how intricate the Romans had built it. To think the wall and the trenches and the fortresses were built long before mechanical tools! It still amazes me to think about this and the neolithic sites in Orkney.

We stopped at the battle site of Flodden where the English and the Scots fought and the English won. It was interesting to compare the site to that of Culloden and it's vast vistors center; Flodden had nothing of the sort. It was just a simple monument in a small town. We also stopped in Kelso and ran into a beautiful abbey. The architecture was stunning! So far that has been my favorite feature of Scotland - the only thing (besides the scenery) that has yet to disappoint me!

The rest of the trip included a nice long bus ride through the empty Borders area. The scenery is so breathtaking! I can't understand why nobody lives out here. I would in an instant! It was quite a few hours before we got back to Edinburgh.

Tonight we had to say goodbye to Ken. It wasn't very formal - thanks to dining in at Pizza Hut since no other restaurant hosted kids after a certain time nor could they hold all of us. I'm glad that I got to meet such an interesting person who brough much insight to our research and the rest of our trip. I look forward to seeing him again and hearing about everything he has to say about just about any topic you give him. I thank him for the vast amount of knowledge that he filled my head with.

Tomorrow: Mary King's Close: the underground Edinburgh, and our last night in Scotland!

Day 18 - Trip to St. Andrews.

Courtney, Brad, Cory, Danny, and I took a day trip to St. Andrews, the home of golf, today. After a beautiful and rainy train ride, we took a bus ride into St. Andrews. It was windy, rainy, and cold! Our tour guide was a nice man who gave us a great and informative tour about the course and the town. I even got to stand on the bridge that Jack Nicklaus had once stood on. I was so excited to be at a course that the professionals had played at - I've never done that before. It was even more exciting to be at the place where golf started!



We spent a considerable amount of time in the gift shops stocking up on REALLY expensive souvenirs. They were totally worth it though! I got a hat, some logo golf balls, a towel, and a hat clip. It was such an unforgettable trip!

We ate some dinner at a nice bar/restaurant and then decided to call it a day because of the rain and cold. I wish we would have had a chance to see the rest of what the city had to offer, but cold rain and heavy winds are enough to deter any adamant tourist. We sprinted for the bus so that we wouldn't have to wait a long time for another one. We got back to Edinburgh and decided to join the rest of the class in the bar for a fun night. I decided to turn in early, but I still had fun.

Tomorrow: Day trip to the Borders!

Day 17 - Edinburgh Castle, National Museum, and Parliament.

We started our day with Edinburgh Castle. This was by far my favorite castle of the trip. It was enormous and could have been a city on it's own! I loved reading all the information they had about the castle and exploring the rich history it had to offer. I especially liked visiting the Crown Jewels and the Honours of Scotland. We followed a maze of information about them before actually entering the dark room that they were kept in. Not only were they kept behind glass cases, they're were two security guards as well as doors that were a good foot thick and a variety of locks to keep them safe. I liked seeing them in person after hearing and reading about them in our coursework. It was hard to imagine what something like that would look like, but when I saw them I was fascinated. Maybe that's the reason why I hate that America had no monarchy. ;]

Next we moved to the National Museum (yet another one of my most favorite places!). I loved it. I loved seeing all of the variety that they had put into the museum - from neolithic objects to modern day objects (including Dolly - the first ever cloned sheep). All of Scotland was encompassed in one big building. It was almost too much to handle, but I feel that it really solidified our study of Scottish identity. It was a great capstone to our study and really begged us to ask questions about the things we had learned earlier in the trip. It actually made us students think for a change. :]

We were off to Parliament next to sit in on a session and then meet the leader of the Scottish National Party, John Swinney. It was so interesting to sit in on a body of government much different from ours. It was quite ironic that their discussion topic was about involving American students in Scottish government and identity studies. It was exactly what we were there for, not to mention we also came from a school in a town that was deemed Scotland U.S.A.! Nevertheless, our meeting with John Swinney was the highlight of the day. He sat in with us and discussed the challenges the party faces with those who are opposed to Scottish independence. He really brought home the issue to us - which made me question the inconsistencies between the government and independence and the people and independence. However, I am still starstruck that I even got to meet such a government official. WOW.

We had another group dinner at Canongate, complete with Ken and his wife. We joked around together and discussed the things we had heard in Parliament and the things that John Swinney had discussed with us. It was nice to hear some of the students' input about the perception they were getting as our trip was coming to an end. For most of us, our perception about Scotland was nothing like what the real Scotland was. Thank god for that! :]

Tomorrow: St. Andrews - the home of golf!

Day 16 - Day trip to Stirling.

We began our day by taking a trip to Stirling. We visited Stirling Castle and the Wallace Monument in order to better understand the Scottish identity and the meaning of independence to the Scottish people.

Stirling Castle was sweet! It was certainly the most intact castle we have seen yet. It was a very strategic castle and Mary Queen of Scots was crowned there. Several sieges of the castle took place, but the last one was with Bonnie Prince Charlie who did so unsuccessfully. I had a great time exploring the castle, but I was bummed that half of it was undergoing renovations and restoration.

Our next stop took us to the Wallace Monument that celebrated the Scottish hero William Wallace. We took a considerable hike up a steep hillside to get to the monument then climbed 242 steps to the top of the monument in a cramped spiral staircase. The top of the monument was incredibly windy, making it difficult to stand. We climbed back down the monument, stopping to take a look at his sword and some information about Wallace.

We held a meeting at the bottom of the monument, discussing what Wallace meant to the people and what Stirling represented to them as well. It's all a way of understanding the nationalist movements that have received fuel in recent years.

Our final stop before heading back to Edinburgh landed us at Doune Castle, the site of the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Several of us are Monty Python enthusiasts and were excited when Dr. Cartrite showed up with coconuts in hand and trotting around. We made our way through the castle with them, receiving odd looks from some of the other classmates, but that was definitely the highlight of the day!

Tomorrow: Edinburgh Castle, National Museum, and Parliament!