We know the truth about Immortals...

Some bonus photos.

2006-12-25T05:02:00.000Z

I'm waiting for my cab to arrive to take me to Glasgow International, and I don't even want to talk about how much it is going to cost me. I didn't realize public transportation ended by 7 p.m. on Christmas Eve, so I had to do it. :(

SO, I'm going to lighten the mood with some bonus photographs. Merry X-mas! This is me being a little sad about my execution at the museum of the old Clink prison in London. I ain't no Mary Queen of Scots, bitch! Step off!

Classic Eiffel Tower shot in Paris:

In Florence, an awesome statue of Perseus holding the head of Medusa:

The Coliseum in Rome:

Back to Greece! Ruins of the Temple of Apollo, where the ancient oracle at Delphi was once located:

Posing with Adam on the ruins of the Temple of Cronus and Rhea in Athens. They were the parents of Zeus, Hera, Demeter, Hestia, Hades, and Poseidon. I'm obviously Rhea--Rhea loved Nalgene bottles.

Adam and I (were we on a honeymoon?) on the causeway leading to Monemvasia in the Peloponnese. Can you believe that HUGE chunk of rock behind us had a TOWN at the top? We hiked up and were rewarded with amazing views.

And last but clearly not least, I found my way into a kilt before it was too late! Do I look fierce?

END OF THE BONUS ROUND! To Berlin I go...

Christmas Time!!!!!!

2006-12-24T19:44:00.000Z

To my lovely loyalists at Jon the Scot:

I know I let you down with not posting enough and essentially leaving out pictures from the majority of my semester and my wonderful travels. But I am a perfectionist and can't half-ass entries, so a ton got left out--most of it, in fact. You will all have to meet up with me upon my return to the states, and I can tell you everything and show you pictures if I have my laptop nearby. This has to be brief because I am about to head to Glasgow for a flight to Berlin tomorrow, but here are some things that happened this semester that I neglected to post:

* Daytrip to St. Andrews. Although I lost (and later recovered) my camera on this trip, it was worth it. The ruins of the cathedral, the coastline, the castle, the historically rich campus, sigh. I'll let this picture do the talking:

* Daytrip to Castle Campbell. By far this is the most impressive castle I have visited in Scotland in terms of aesthetic appeal and location. This was a shot from the top:

* Weekend in London sponsored by the UIUC Study Abroad Office. We saw a lot of great stuff, but overall, London doesn't tickle my fancy like Scotland does. It's impressive but not in the way I'm interested in being impressed when I'm in Britain. I want medieval ruins and scenic walks and towns that have a distinct personality; London is too much like NYC in that it's wonderful in its hugeness, but by extension, it just can't have the same kind of local flavor as a smaller city such as Glasgow. Maybe I'm rambling and I'd actually love London if I stayed there longer; I just got an impression that it's an international center more than anything. Cool in its own way. I got to meet some cool UIUC kids studying abroad as well, I saw the typical tourist hotspots, I got to see Samantha from Sex in the City perform in a play, and I spent a lot of time with Brett, who was there from Nottingham. This was important to me because we had a lot to talk about, and it felt like we were best friends again, which is more than I would have hoped for after our separation. We basically cleared the air and had an awesome time talking about what we're doing now and how we feel about our new relationships. Very therapeutic. Photos:

At some hall in London with a lot of art and sweet mirrors for pretentious pics like this one:

Jon admiring Big Ben:

Prime Meridian line in Greenwich. I'm standing in both hemispheres.

* Weekend in Edinburgh with Ali, Mike, and Adam (and Yvonne for the first part). We spent a depressing amount of money on an Italian buffet (but you can be damn sure I ate until I almost fainted), went out on the town for some drinks and a wonderful game of "Never Have I Ever." The following day, we checked out the international market and ice skating rink, ate some CHEAP Scottish breakfast while watching hippies play music and give away food for "Buy Nothing Day," and I watched Mike and Adam drink (thrifty time!) at a pub while some Scottish guy--of course--wanted to fight me because my bored, wandering eye looked in his general direction for half a second. People disgust me way too often, and Scottish people are no exception. Then Mike, Adam, and I met up with Mike's flatmate Cameron (also the greatest Scottish guy I have met here) for a rugby match between Scotland and Australia at the Edinburgh stadium. Mike and I had a good time trying to yell over to Cameron to figure out how the hell rugby works. It just seems like a big free-for-all sometimes, but it was awesome to be a part of that atmosphere. Scotland lost. Whatever. Mike has some pics from the game:

Stadium shot:

Rugby in action:

Aren't we wild and crazy fans? From left to right: Cameron, Adam and me. Close-ups make me angry, but I'm smiling anyway.

* Extended weekend in Ireland with Yvonne! We saw a ton of cool stuff and stayed with Yv's friend Amy, who is studying for the year at Trinity College in Dublin. In Dublin we went out to some pubs (including one that I think was owned by a communist), toured the Guinness factory with Yvonne's friend Nhu (who is at Oxford this year studying philosophy), walked by Dublin Castle (but it's only a pseudo-castle so we didn't pay to go inside), toured the National Gallery as part of Amy's art class trip, had unbelievable crepes and coffee at a hip cafe, checked out St. Patrick's Cathedral, and watched a brilliant traditional Irish dance performance. Oh, I also got an Irish coffee, but alcohol in Dublin is unreasonably priced. Still, it was good, but a little heavy on the whiskey. I had a wonderful time with Yvonne and her friends, as I always do. Outside of Dublin, Yv and I took a daytrip to Howth, which is a cool seaside town that has cliffs we hiked to near Howth Castle. We also did a trip to Cork, where we took a bus to Blarney Castle and kissed the stone! Ohhhh, I'm so sad that I'm not doing any of these experiences justice by running through them so quickly. Maybe I will go back and document them (lol, don't believe me).

* Fall break trip! Yv, Lindsay, Stephen (president of the Wildwatchers group here and a politically astute Canadian), and I joined Marta and Ali in Paris for a few days. I have to say, Paris exceeded my expectations in a major way. Napoleon's tomb and the Louvre (Mona Lisa what what) were two of my personal favorites out of all the sights. Then it was on to Venice, and then Florence, and finally Rome via the Eurail. All were great places, of course, but Venice gets about 6000 times more appealing at night. It's so romantic there that I kind of just wanted to propose to anyone who would accept. Rome was great considering all of the amazing things you can see there, but as a city itself, meh. However, it has so many amazing things to see on a sight-by-sight level, so it's a great destination for tourists. We had more gelato than was necessary, but that's how it works in Italy, and I was overwhelmed by the Sistine Chapel. I also was a kid in a candy store when we walked through the Roman ruins. Wowwwwwww. Other great Roman sights we saw: the Coliseum, Trevi Fountain (amazing atmosphere), the Spanish steps, other parts of the Vatican Museum outside of the Sistine Chapel, the Pantheon (lame), and St. Peter's Basilica. They have a few preserved popes encased in the basilica, which I find kind of creepy. Strike me down, I guess. (Please don't, Opus Dei). Our hostel in Rome was in a sketchy part of town, but anything to save a euro, right? We actually slept in the owner's extra bedroom because they fucked up our reservations. I slept between Yv and Lindsay in a double bed and basically ended up in an "S" position that made my back feel extra special. More to say on this week-long trip, but suffice it to say that we saw a ton of amazing things.

* Now to my final and favorite trip with members the Scotland gang: GREECE! Mike, Adam, and I took a nine-day trip to Greece, and it was the best vacation I have ever taken in my entire life. I have decided that Greece is nothing short of the best country on the planet. The ancient ruins and countryside are awe-inspiring, the weather is great even in the winter, the people are friendly and often beautiful, the food is delicious and cheap (1 euro for vegetarian pitas!!!) , and the oranges and tomatoes are for some reason better here than anywhere else. Not a huge fan of Greek coffee, but that didn't stop me from drinking it most days. There were too many stray dogs and smokers in Athens, but overall the city is first-rate and probably my favorite in Europe since they cleaned it up for the Olympics in 2004. I could dig living there for a few months, I've decided. I promise to come back to this blog for a separate entry on it, because it deserves one, but here is a taste of Athens' best: the Acropolis!

Good note to end on, I'd say. I am off to Berlin for Christmas and New Year's Eve, where Brian will join me. Then onward to southern Spain and Madrid and finally a few days in Scotland before I come back to the states to see all of you!!! I miss you all, and have a wonderful Christmas!

Back with a vengeance!

2006-11-19T02:40:00.000Z

OK, so here is a photo fest from the Stirling University daytrip to the Trossachs National Park. The Trossachs = a small woodland glen in the Stirling council area of Scotland. This was quite a while ago, but I'm catching up, so back off, k?

The group of almost 30 students started out at Doune Castle, but I missed it because the bus left without me! Mike, the guy supervising our trip, thought I was already on the bus and told the tour guide/driver -- a young Scottish guy by the name of Jamie MacDonald, who works for a Scottish tour company called MacBackpackers -- to take off while I was still running from my flat to the circle drive where we were supposed to meet. When I got there, I recall being confused, angry, and sad. But Lindsay soon came to my rescue as she told the supervisor that they forgot me, and he called me to say that Jamie would be coming back to campus to pick me up and bring me to the group at the castle. I didn't care that I was going to miss the castle fun; there are about 60 million castles in Scotland, and at least they came back to get me at all. So I got to enjoy a fun chat with Jamie, who had some pretty awesome Celtic (I think? There were bagpipes) music on and who was wearing a kilt. We talked about the fact that my mom's side of the family has ties to the MacDonald clan in Scotland, so we're probably 700th cousins or something. He can only trace back his own history to 1818, so who knows where our ancestral paths cross, but as a side note, he did say that the MacDonald men are quite handsome. Judge for yourself -- I think he gets bumped up 1.5 points for the kilt -- although this is quite a fuzzy picture:

He was a very entertaining guide. Clan MacDonald all the way!

So the first part of the tour that I really got to see was a weird guy showing off his sheepdog. It was an adorable dog, and a crowd gathered to watch it take commands from its master and boss some sheep around -- it was more captivating that my description indicates. Regena got a great pic of the action:

My pic is worse, but I don't care! You still have to look at it so that I feel like an active participant in my own travels:

The dog was adorable, in my opinion.

So then we drove past the historic Lake of Menteith. That's right, bitches -- the lake of my ancestors. The Monteiths/Menteiths are a sept of the Graham clan, an Anglo-Norman family of the early 12th century. Mike kept making a big deal out of the fact that I'm a Monteith and that this was my namesake lake; I think he was kind of sucking up because he felt bad that he left without me that morning. Still, the attention was nice, and it made me feel like I was seeing something personally significant. Now, I have a picture of this lake that I took from the moving bus, but I'm going to be a big boy right now and accept that it's a piece of shit. So, this is a much better photograph of the Lake of Menteith, taken from the Wikipedia entry on the lake:

Here's the story: The Lake of Menteith, or, until the 20th century, the Loch of Menteith, is often thought of as the only body of water in Scotland that is referred to as a lake. (Actually, there are two other small artificial bodies of water known as lakes: Pressmennan Lake and the Lake of the Hirsel.) All other major bodies of water in Scotland are known as lochs. The are a number of small islands in the lake. The clan seat of the Grahams of Menteith is on the island of Inchtalla. On the largest, Inchmahome, is Inchmahome Priory, an ancient Augustinian monastery. The priory served as refuge to Mary Queen of Scots in 1547. She was only four years old at the time, when Henry VIII was carrying out a series of military raids -- known collectively as the "rough wooing" -- designed to force the infant Mary into a marriage with his son. Henry VIII, you suck, and you couldn't find her because she was hiding on an island in the lake of my ancient people! Hahahaha, nice try, fatass/wife-killer. Am I too defensive of Scotland?

Then we headed to Queen Elizabeth Forest Park, where I posed by a waterfall. I'm wearing the hood because it was raining, not because I thought it was fashionable:

On to Loch Katrine for a stroll along the pier. Loch Katrine is the lake of Sir Walter Scott's The Lady of the Lake. Oil-fired vessels are not permitted to sail its waters due to the danger of pollution to the drinking water of Glasgow. Instead, a wood-burning, steam-powered boat named the S.S. Sir Walter Scott offers local tourist transport. Here I am in front of it, with a HUGE umbrella that I reluctantly purchased because I could no longer handle the downpour. I think I'm laughing at the size of the umbrella here -- you should have seen that mofo fully opened:

And another shot with more of the lake in the background:

Regena and I got back on the bus and talked to Jamie for a while. He made us hot chocolate. I loved this tour and the fact that he really seems to get into his job, which is showing off Scotland's finest spots to the masses. Some more scenic driving took place, and we ended up at the Kilmahog Woolen Mill, the residence of Hamish, the Hairy Coo (or Highland Bull, if you prefer). Since Mike still felt guilty, he gave me a carrot to feed Hamish. Hamish almost ate my hand, but it was fun. Watch as I offer sustenance to one of the greatest Highland creatures:

We were also taken to the grave of Robert Roy MacGregor -- or Rob Roy, as you may know him -- in Balquhidder. WIKIPEDIA: Rob Roy was a famous Scottish folk hero and outlaw of the early 18th century, and he is sometimes known as the Scottish Robin Hood. Rob Roy was a well-known and respected cattleman -- he borrowed a large sum of money to increase his own cattle herd, but due to the deception of his chief herder, who was entrusted with the money to bring the cattle back, Rob Roy lost his money and cattle, and defaulted on his loan. As a result, he was branded an outlaw, and his wife and family were evicted from their house at Inversnaid, which was then burned down. After his principal creditor, James Graham, 1st Duke of Montrose, seized his lands, Rob Roy warred with the duke until 1722, when Rob Roy was forced to surrender. Later imprisoned, he was finally pardoned in 1727 by King George I, who was influenced by Daniel Defoe's fictionalized account of Rob Roy's life called Highland Rogue, which made Rob Roy a legend. The publication of Rob Roy by Sir Walter Scott in 1817 further added to his fame and fleshed out his biography. William Wordsworth wrote a poem called "Rob Roy's Grave" during a visit to Scotland. Adaptations of his story have also been told in film, most notably the 1995 flick Rob Roy starring Liam Neeson and Jessica Lange. Picture time -- the first one is blurry because I had to resize it and I suck at photo editing:

We did a little hike on a trail behind the graveyard, where there was a decent mini-waterfall. We also stopped by Loch Lomond, which has the largest surface area of the lochs. The wretched weather made the view relatively lame:

We saw some more lochs, and I got some chips (fries) at a lochside diner. As I devoured them on the bus with ketchup and "brown sauce" (not a particularly big fan of this steak sauce cousin), a few people noted that they could smell them and that they were jealous. Is this a hint that I should offer a few up? Perhaps, but I was grumpy about the rain and only shared with Regena and Lindsay. Regena made me laugh pretty hard when she had a few of them and then self-consciously said something along the lines of: "I'm not trying to be like, 'CAN I HAVE A CHIP AURRRRR!'" Her impression sounded like Chris Farley in the Gap Girls skit when he has some of their fries and then turns into a monster. Gap Girls: "Aren't you on a diet?" "Yeah, save some for us." Chris Farley: "LAY OFF ME I'M STARVING!!" The box of chips seemed to last for ages, and I remember savoring them as we drove in the rain to our final destination, some Roman ruins that would make for a pretty bad photograph because they're kind of non-existent.

Jamie told a good story about Hadrian's Wall: it was a stone and turf fortification built by the Roman Empire across the width of Great Britain to prevent military raids by the tribes of (what is now) Scotland to the north, to provide peaceful conditions in the Roman province of Britannia to the south, to physically mark the frontier of the Empire, and to separate the unruly Selgovae tribe in the north from the Brigantes in the south and discourage them from uniting. In other words, the ancient inhabitants of Scotland were so unruly that they convinced the Romans not to annex the region to their massive empire. I love it! The more I hear, the more I love.

Finally, it is important to mention that near the end of the tour, Jamie poured all of us whiskey --- good Scottish whiskey -- to mark the end of a wonderful trip. It was the kind that you can really only sip as it fills your mouth and throat with intense warmth. Slanjiva! (Gaelic for cheers, or something) Regena and I with Lindsay in the background:

And there you have it! A great day trip.

Brief post: Mary Queen of Scots 101

2006-10-29T16:59:00.000Z

This is such an unbelievable waste of time, but I LOVE procrastinating and have to set the record straight on Mary, Queen of Scots. Jomarie, she's not the bad one who murdered all the Protestants!

That was "Bloody Mary," Queen Mary I of England, who is remembered for returning England from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism. In the process, she had almost three hundred religious dissenters executed, leading to the nickname Bloody Mary. The two queens are sometimes confused, unfortunately. Scottish Mary is much prettier and less evil.

Wikipedia, lend me your hand! This is Mary, Queen of Scots:

** Mary I of Scotland (Mary Stuart, popularly known as Mary, Queen of Scots) was the Queen of Scotland from 1542-1567. She also sat as Queen Consort of France for a year. Because of her tragic life, she is one of the best-known Scottish monarchs. Vivacious, pretty, and clever (according to contemporary accounts), Mary had a promising childhood. Mary, being a devout Roman Catholic, was regarded with suspicion by many of her subjects as well as by Queen Elizabeth I of Protestant England, who was her father's cousin. Scotland was torn between Catholic and Protestant factions, and Protestant reformer John Knox preached against Mary, condemning her for hearing Mass, dancing, dressing too elaborately, and many other things, real and imagined.
Did you hear that? She danced! What a fucking bitch, right? Ugh.

** Then psycho Henry VIII tried to force Scotland to have Mary wedded to his son, so the English tried to invade Edinburgh and kidnap Mary, but she was hidden in the secret chambers of Stirling Castle. You can see pics of this castle in a previous post. When the Scots suffered a bitter defeat to the English, Marie de Guise, fearful for her daughter, sent her temporarily to Inchmahome Priory. This priory is on an insland in the Lake of Menteith. Menteith and Monteith are associated with the same clan, so this means that my ancestors helped save Mary from the bloody English! And so I love her, and that's that.

** Under the ordinary laws of succession, Mary was also next in line to the English throne after her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I, who was childless. In the eyes of many Catholics Elizabeth was illegitimate, making Mary the true heir. Mary eventually became a liability that Elizabeth could no longer tolerate. She spent years and years in captivity. Elizabeth did ask Mary's final custodian, Amias Paulet, if he would contrive some accident to remove Mary. He refused on the grounds that he would not allow such "a stain on his posterity." Mary was implicated in several plots to assassinate Elizabeth, raise the Catholic North of England, and put herself on the throne, possibly with French or Spanish help.

** Mary denied the accusations and was spirited in her defense. One of her more memorable comments from her trial was, "Remember Gentlemen the Theatre of history is wider than the Realm of England." She drew attention to the fact that she was denied the opportunity of reviewing the evidence or her papers that had been removed from her, that she had been denied access to legal counsel and that she had never been an English subject and thus could not be convicted of treason. The extent to which the plot was created by Sir Francis Walsingham and the English Secret Services will always remain open to conjecture. Mary was ultimately convicted of treason, and was beheaded at Fotheringhay Castle.

** She spent the last hours of her life in prayer and also writing letters and her will. She expressed a request that her servants should be released. At her execution she removed a black cloak to reveal a deep red dress - the Liturgical colour of martyrdom in the Catholic Church. Though Mary Stuart has not been canonised by the Catholic Church, many consider her a martyr, and there are relics of her. Her prayer book was long shown in France.

** American actress Scarlett Johansson will play Mary in a film scheduled to begin production by the end of summer 2007.

And there you have it. MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS WHAT WHAT??

Extravaganza Part 2

2006-10-21T04:09:00.000+01:00

OK, so by necessity (it's late as all fuck), this post will be shorter.

These are pictures from the hike the Wildwatchers group took through the hills by Callander. Wikipedia: Callander lies on the eastern fringe of the Trossachs, itself is a small woodland glen in the Stirling council area of Scotland. It lies between Ben An to the north and Ben Venue to the south, with Loch Katrine to the west and Loch Achray to the east. However, the name is used generally to refer to the wider area of wooded glens and braes with quiet lochs, lying to the east of Ben Lomond. Whatever. We hiked there and it was purdy. Before the hike began, I bought a delicious hummus and roasted vegetables sandwich from the sweetest lady in downtown Callander. She talked to me about being a vegetarian and how it's easier nowadays with all of the different options. I also talked to Stephen, the Wildwatchers president, about being a vegetarian (he is too), and I met Ali, my Spanish friend and one of my favorite people ever now, during this day trip. She's from Malaga, close to Granada, where Sabrina is right now! Big trip what what? Anyway, we downed the sandwiches and began our ascent. Pictures...

See the lake in the background?

I believe this is Melanie and me ascending.

We had some great views from the top:

A cairn at the top:

Wild blueberries! Lindsay and I ate some, then I almost started crying when this guy Dan was like, yeah you don't want to eat those... I survived and they were tasty.

Lindsay took this one (and a few others I've posted). I wish I had her skills.

I made a wish, of course.

With Lindsay by a waterfall:

We took a brief rest on the bridge by the waterfall. But the hike must go on...

A lot of shrooms on our walk. They were EVERYWHERE!

We ended up being on the wrong side of the river and had to cross it to get to our destination. The current was fairly strong, actually, and you can see me crossing with caution. I was protecting my camera.

We got a little lost -- again -- on the way back and found ourselves on a farm, basically. Here's proof:

And the hike ended. What a day! We celebrated our accomplishment at a fish and chips restaurant in downtown Callander. I had a veggie burger, and Lindsay and I defended Nalgene bottles in one of the mose bizarre debates ever with two aggressive German girls. Then we headed back to Stirling and I recall being exhausted for the rest of the evening.

24-hour (up to 30) UPDATE EXTRAVAGANZA!!!

2006-10-20T01:15:00.000+01:00

OK my dears, I've leaving on Saturday for week-long fall break that will be spent in Paris, Venice, Florence, and Rome with some friends. My poor camera can't hold both this coming week's photos AND documentation of all the fun I've been having over the past weeks , so I'm going to do something unprecedented... post TWO photo updates within the next 24-30 hours!

Let's begin! The Sunday after the Dumyat hike was spent on a bus tour of Stirling and the surrounding area. Regena and I made the awesome decision not to bring our cameras (whoops), but I have uncovered a few from friends. Take a look -- just a few, really:

DUNBLANE CATHEDRAL: Dunblane is a nearby town -- it's cute and old, like a lot of Scottish towns. According to Wikipedia (which saves me a lot of time these days), Dunblane Cathedral is "one of the finest church buildings in Scotland," and it is home to the grave of Margaret Drummond, a mistress of King James IV of Scotland. What a hooch.

I think there was some dead bishop from a REEEEEEEEEEALLY long time ago in the actual cathedral as well, under some cool stone covering.

My last pic from this tour is of a monument to Robert the Bruce (also known as Robert I, King of Scotland from 1306–1329) at the site of the Battle of Bannockburn, where Bruce secured Scottish independence from England in 1314. The Scots love him, naturally. He appears in Braveheart. Here is the monument -- he's quite the stud:

Sunday evening was nice as well. I went to a concert at a pub in downtown Stirling with my friend Emily. We decided to be fatties and eat at a Chinese buffet first. This allowed us to have a nice little talk about our families and religion. Then on to this ska-reggae show -- neither of us particularly enjoys either genre, but I supported Emily's claim that it would be wonderful to see the unholy matrimony of the two, and we had a good time. But eek, look at this band. Doesn't it scream NOT JON?!

Um, yeah. We had a beer or two, wasted some money on trivial pursuit on some online game machine, talked to Emily's wonderful flatmate Nikki, and then Emily and I decided that we had had our fill of ska-reggae for the next half-century. We took a cab back to Stirling and called it a night, but not before we stopped for chips (chips = fries in Britain, this is the last time I'm saying it) downtown! These were covered in vinegar, and they were unbelievable. Can't you see how happy we are? And how badly I needed to shave at that point?

By this point -- I can't remember which night -- David and I held a gay slumber party at his flat downtown! What does this amount to, you might ask? Nothing more than two gay guys chatting all night about a wide range of topics, some of them gay. We're both trekkies, which is simultaneously amazing and embarrassing to admit. It was really, really fun. Just thought I should mention it. He helped me buy a cell phone at Tesco and I think we watched Transamerica, but this might have been another night. It's all a blur when you wait this long (I'm a stupid shit). Here are some pics I took of the clocktower in Stirling on the way back to campus in the morning. A bit on the overcast side, but it gives you an idea of the downtown look:

Did I tell you that Regena and I are trying to do "R & J Days" on Wednesdays, because neither of us has class on Wednesday? We've only managed to pull it off once, but we're going to get better by the end of the semester. Our inaugural (only) R & J Day was spent exploring Stirling together. We started with a morning wakeup at the Beanscene, my new favorite coffeehouse, where I drank an enormous chai. Then we stopped by a used record store, where I tempted to buy some Celtic music, but I'll hold off for now. We made our way to the Stirling Old Town Jail, which opened in 1847. Here's info about the jail from the website (www.oldtownjail.com) -- I am FAR too lazy to recall it all on my own: "If the outside was forbidding and grim - then it didn't get any better inside. The Victorian reformers practised what they preached - which wasn't exactly comforting for the poor inmates. 'Coarse food; a dress of shame; hard, incessant, irksome labour; a planned and regulated and unrelenting exclusion of happiness and comfort' was their prescription for the unfortunate souls detained within these walls." Our tour guide brilliantly played the roles of prison warden, the Victorian reformer, Stirling's notorious hangman, and a convict determined to escape. Picture time:

We approach the forboding house of hell...

The executioner decided to make me the subject of his demonstrations. Did he pick me because I had the nappiest hair? It was raining all day -- I swear it's not all grease!

Regena and I explore some of the old jail cells. This kid got caught pickpocketing.

I'm consoling a clearly distraught inmate. I'm such a kind soul.

If I would have been the warden back in the 1800s at this jail, I would have done obnoxious stuff like this eye thing to annoy the inmates. I'd wake them up by screaming, "I have my eye on you!" Then one of them would have ripped my eye out because I would have been too awkward to get away from the door in time. You know it's true... :(

They made prisoners turn this crank for hours and hours. WTF? I don't even think it generated any energy -- it was just worthless menial labor. I'm obviously upset about it:

This balcony was the "exercise area" for the inmates. So I decided I'd go for a little run, but it really just looks like I'm trying to dance.

Oh, this fun fact kind of grossed me out:

Almost done with this jail! We took some pictures from the rooftop outlook. Some good shots of Stirling:

Clocktower with the Wallace Monument in the background (by the hills):

And one final picture on our way out -- how could I resist?

We stopped for a look inside Cowane's Hospital. John Cowane (1570-1633) was one of Stirling's chief benefactors, or "sugar daddies" if you prefer. He told his brother on his death bed that he wanted this hospital built in his name. It was kind of boring, but it's historic, so I guess it was worth the 10-15 minutes we spent in there. Here's a look from the outside:

Our final stop before Stirling Castle was the Church of the Holy Rude, Stirling's medieval parish church. The graveyard surrounding it is spectacular. Some info from holyrude.org: "The Church of the Holy Rude is the second oldest building in Stirling after the castle... founded in 1129 during the reign of David I (1124 - 1153)." The coronation of King James VI as an infant took place here, while his mother, Mary, Queen of Scots (I LOVE HER!!!) sat imprisoned in a castle at the hands of the Protestants. Stupid Protestant lords, get your greasy little paws off my favorite queen. Here are pictures of the church:

Finally, we ended R & J Day with a self-guided (stupid idea) tour of the one and only Stirling Castle. Stirling Castle, that historically strategic fortress that overlooks the town... This entry is sucking the life out of me, so here are Wikipedia's thoughts (briefly) on the castle: "Stirling Castle sits atop the Castle Hill, a volcanic crag, and is surrounded on three sides by steep cliffs, making it easily defensible. This fact, and its strategic position, have made it an important fortification from the earliest times. In the 12th Century Edward I's Scottish campaign included a siege on Stirling Castle. Historians recorded that this was where Warwolf, the largest trebuchet believed built, was first used, with devastating effect." For those who don't know (I didn't), a trebuchet is a "medieval siege engine, a weapon employed either to batter masonry or to throw projectiles over walls. It could fling three hundred pound projectiles at incredible speeds into an enemy fortification, quickly obliterating walls and defenses. Occasionally it was used to throw the bodies of people and animals who had died from various diseases including the Black Plague over castle walls, in an attempt to infect the people under siege." Holy shit! OK time for pictures:

Castle Entrance:

Another view:

Walking along the castle wall...

Chapel for the monarchs.

Who's this? You know! My favorite queen... Mary, Queen of Scots.

Tapestry from the famous Hunt of the Unicorn. Tapestries like this one would have decorated the walls of the royal chambers.

Speaking of royal chambers... I think this is from the fireplace of the royal chambers of either the king or the queen.

Castle passageway. Regena and I got excited when we imagined Mary, Queen of Scots marching through it in all her glory, surrounded by her royal entourage.

I say goodbye to my castle, back at the gate... I'm tiny!

And we say goodbye to Robert the Bruce...

The final part of this post is a quickie... it was international students club's first pubcrawl. Oh lordy... This is where Yvonne, Lindsay, and I cemented our friendship -- we are now an inseparable trio. We went to a few pubs in downtown Stirling and had an amazing night. Long Islands at the Filling Station... perfection. Here are the pictures:

On the way there! Kevin from Canada, Lindsay's French flatmate Lydia, and me.

I love these two girls. Yvonne on the left and Lindsay on the right.

With Lindsay and Michael, who is studying law at Duke. He likes the West Wing and he's from South Carolina. Cool guy.

We sort of got lost on the way home, but it was cool because we were five strong, baby. Here is me with Adam on our expedition back to campus. Adam is great -- he's from North Carolina, and his mom is the head of the anthropology department at Duke (his stepdad is an anthro professor there as well). For some reason, this excites me a lot more than it needs to, I think. Adam's a forward-thinking, open-minded guy, and he is constantly up for doing something. We might go to Greece together after finals are done.

That's all for now! That was an intense post, eh? Expect another one very shortly! Part of the extravaganza agreement.

My First Week (or so) in Stirling

2006-09-22T21:35:00.000+01:00

Thanks to all who harassed me about writing my next post ASAP – I’m ready to reveal Chapter 2. We begin with my arrival at the University of Stirling by shuttle from the airport in Edinburgh. Here are a few pics I took on the ride to campus:

MY FIRST DAY/NIGHT ON CAMPUS – KIND OF FREAKED OUT

They let us off by the residences, and for the first time since being abroad, I was all alone! That made me a little uneasy, but the Stirling student who showed me to my flat (I later discovered he’s the president of the LGBT student group here) was really nice, so that calmed me down a little. When we walked into the hallway of the flat, I was like, OK, so this is a hallway with doors that LEAD to all of the flats on this floor. Nope. The hallway WAS my flat, and the doors were to the bedrooms. It kind of looks like a prison on the inside, and I’ve heard Muirhead is one of the worst residences on campus, but whatcha gonna do? I could go on a rant about how international students at any university are under a special kind of stress and therefore should be given as much special consideration as possible, but A) I’ll manage to come off as a typical American who thinks he’s entitled to more than the average world inhabitant, or B) No one reading this gives a fuck, and I can certainly understand why. It appeared that only one of my four flatmates had arrived, but he wasn’t actually around at the time. I was pretty exhausted by that point and crashed after pseudo-unpacking, reflecting on my brief period of loneliness, and taking a shower. On a positive note, the water pressure was outstanding (and has remained that way).

I woke up, and it was dark out – again, no one was in the flat. I found myself in a better mood, so I decided to walk to the student union. I had to work my way through many loud, drunk Scots, then I crossed the bridge over Airthrey Loch – I recall being satisfied that this campus had a lake and bridge -- and had coffee and chips (actual potato chips, which they call crisps here. Chips in Britain = French fries. Confused yet?). In dire need of human contact – sober humans – I called my mom and dad. Talking to them gave me a boost – they laughed at my various misfortunes, which by that point included:

1) Not meeting any of my roommates yet while being surrounded by happy drunks frolicking about the campus. A major drain on my confidence.
2) Being too shy to approach anyone. Drained confidence, remember?
3) Having chips with coffee as my accompanying beverage because I couldn’t figure out the vending machine and thought I was getting juice – it’s amazing that in another English-speaking country, I could still manage to be deeply confused by my surroundings 88% of the time. No prob, though – I love washing down potato chips with hot vending machine coffee! Why don’t more people do that?
4) Not understanding the shower and fiddling with it for about five minutes. Then, after figuring it out, burning my hand on a 6000° piece of metal that I have NEVER seen in American showers. It was at this point that I announced, in a serious tone while standing naked in the shower, that I hated Scotland. It was just a little moment! Adjusting is key.

I will say that I had two encounters with friendly/drunk Scots that night that made me pretty happy. An attractive (insignificant detail, but why not note it?) drunk guy named Joe stumbled over to me, and we talked about the Killers (I was upfront about only knowing the hits, so I’m sure I disappointed him), me being from America, and how to find the student union. He was so nice! As were his two friends who eventually made their way over to us. And his drunken Scottish slur made me laugh. THEN, on my way back across the bridge, an extra-sloshed guy in a kilt tried to tear his shirt off in a bizarre 2-second fit of rage that immediately switched to seemingly perfect happiness. Naturally, he approached me as I walked by him in the most pathetically timid fashion. Presumably, Highlanders can smell fear. He told me he could “sense” that I was American – well done – and we walked together for a while. I think he knew of Chicago – then he proclaimed to a group of onlookers that I was an American, which elicited several “oohs” and “aahs” that I assumed were sarcastic. Except for the fact that one of the girls in the crowd actually did start asking real questions about where I was from in the U.S. and what it felt like to be here, so that was kind of nice. INTERACTION WITH SCOTTISH PEOPLE! A good end to my first night in Stirling.

** Perfect Scotland moment: I recall walking back to my flat after getting something to drink at the union either this first night or one of the following nights, and it was so late that it was starting to turn light outside. I was walking on the bridge over the loch – not a single person in sight – and I could see the towering Ochil Hills that form the northern border of the campus. They really look big enough to be mountains. All I could think was, Wow, I’m actually in Scotland. It truly hit me then.

THE NEXT DAY – MEETING THE FLATMATES

When I woke up the next day – pretty sure it was fairly late in the afternoon -- I could hear two of my flatmates conversing outside of my room. Finally, people were here! But I got kind of shy and waited until I didn’t hear them anymore -- I can be a real go-getter sometimes, eh? Then I walked over to the union and did some exploring. When I realized it was time to face my flatmates, I headed back over to Muirhead, and all four of them were standing in the hallway when I walked through the door. Actually, I saw five people and wondered which person wasn’t living with me. Of course, that person was the only girl standing there, even though I requested co-ed accommodation because it would make me feel a fuck of a lot more comfortable (it’s a far better dynamic than all guys, in my opinion). Nahh – why should anything go as I requested? I said something super-suave like, “Hey, I’m the fifth one!” Best response ever: all four of the guys just kept standing there and looking at me. Fuck this. So I shake their hands and don’t remember anyone’s name because I’m pretty flustered over the fact that in addition to no Internet access, I was left with four guys, three of whom as it turns out were best friends from last year, while the other one is from Alaska and planned to live with another guy who I apparently replaced. The girl turns out to be dating one of the flatmates. When I shook her hand, she said, “Oh, I’m not living here. This is the guys’ flat.” Ugh – so I’m basically living with a bunch of British frat guys who are best friends. The Alaskan is a big cup of “meh.” I suppose it could be argued that the accommodation office staff have a sense of humor.

BUT, they did ask me if I wanted to go out with them that night, and so that made me kind of happy – happy enough to have a pro-flatmates moodswing. Before I knew it, I was at Studio, the main bar on campus, with my four homeboys. The three British flatmates were quite generous and bought Zach and me several rounds. Jack (or SoCo) and lemonade is apparently their drink of choice. We also danced at Glow, the club beneath Studio. Then they took us to some bar/club on the edge of campus, where we danced in an embarrassing all-guy circle. It makes me blush to think of it, but I suppose it was a bonding experience. I thought it was cute that they seemed genuinely interested in making sure that Zach and I had a good time. I ended up walking back to our flat with the two Scottish roomies (the third Brit is an Englishman), but one of them threw the other to the ground, followed by a verbal exchange that was delightfully awkward to watch. Typical hot-headed Scots! I headed back with the one who was put in the headlock, and I asked him how the Scottish people view America. He said our president seems “kind of mental” but that he thinks the war is a good thing because “these innocent people are getting killed by terrorists – it’s not right,” or something like that. As it turns out, he is definitely in the minority of Scots when it comes to the Iraq war. I think he also said something negative about “all these Pakistanis,” but I could be wrong. Overall, I had a pretty fun night with them.

THE REST OF THE FIRST WEEK

** Monday was more of me settling in, figuring out more stuff about the campus, and getting in touch with people back home. I had to wait a few hours to get my ID card at the sports center. I walked over there with Zach the Alaskan, so at least I had company. This is where I first met Lindsay, who is one of my favorite people here. She’s Canadian and lives fairly close to Toronto. We sat together at the orientation for international students later that day, and I discovered that she’s an environmentalist, which is pretty sexy. She also thought my veggie burger looked good, but I have to say it tasted frighteningly similar to fish. I went for my first run that evening – Stirling University is a perfect campus for the long-distance runner, with lots of different paths to keep it fresh.

** Tuesday night I decided to be brave and ride the bus into the “town” area of Stirling (the campus is kind of in its own little area) so that I could buy some groceries at Tesco. I introduced myself to the girl setting next to me at the bus stop and asked her how to get to Tesco, and we ended up becoming friends! Her name is Emily, and she’s one of my two favorite Scottish students on campus. All from me saying “hi” at the bus stop – she ended up inviting me along to a get-together at her friend Louise’s flat in town, and I had a lot of fun talking to them and the other guests, walking around town briefly, and listening to Scottish bands. Louise served us tea – my first tea in Scotland what what! – followed by a few Mojitos. Emily and I walked back to campus, which takes about 40 minutes, but it was fun talking to her as we made our way back. She’s from Glasgow – Scotland’s largest city and its focal point of commerce, business, industry, media and transport, according to Wikipedia – which makes her a Glaswegian. I like the sound of that. She intends to give me a proper introduction to Glasgow one weekend when we’re both free.

** Wednesday was bizarre. I think I missed most of it because I stayed up really, really late (still wasn’t on a Scotland schedule) on Tuesday night. I remember still being awake when the clubs/societies fair was going on, which was during the afternoon, so yeah, my sleeping patterns were kind of ridiculous, and I think I woke up sometime late in the evening after passing out in my room. But not before someone at the clubs/societies fair convinced me to join the Labour Party for a pound. I don’t know why I did this, except that I think I like Tony Blair, the girl working the table was really charismatic and I didn’t want to let her down, and I figured Labour was the equivalent of the Democratic Party. Current British politics is more complicated than that, I’ve learned.

** Thursday! The most exciting activity was going to the LGBT organization’s first meeting. I was quite nervous, but I figured I might meet someone cool there, so I got over my social anxiety and just went for it. Dale, the president and the guy who helped me find my flat when I first got to campus, spotted me and said hello. I think I had a cup of wine. I met a friendly lesbian – not always an easy task, with all due respect – and I met David, who is a Socialist Party activist and my other favorite Scottish person here. The whole group went out for drinks at Studio, where we proceeded to play “Never have I ever…” You know, the game where someone says something he or she has never done, and if you’ve done it, you have to take a drink. At one point during the game, David turned to me and said, “Wow, you’ve led an interesting life.” Hmph. We went for a walk around campus and learned more about each other – he’s very smart, politically aware, and he knows WAY more about American culture than I would have expected. We spotted a hedgehog on campus – this particular hedgehog managed to be so ugly that it was cute. After that, we went to the computer lab because he wanted to see pictures of the U of I campus, which he liked quite a bit, then we parted ways – but not before I introduced him to Political Wire and Daily Kos, my two favorite websites for American political news.

** Friday: eh, again, totally off because I ended up staying up REALLY late the night before. I missed the environmental/social justice hippie group’s BBQ that I was going to go to because I slept through it – I slept from 2-11 p.m., as a matter of fact. That also meant that I didn’t meet up with David and Emily, which I was supposed to do. I woke up in a daze at 11 p.m., then I couldn’t freaking sleep all night/morning. I blame this ridiculous failure to adjust to the time difference on the fact that by that point, I hadn’t had an alarm clock yet. I fried my American one right away, sadly.

** Saturday was the hike up Dumyat. Some good conversations along the hike were had, and the picnic at the summit felt relaxing. It was a whole lotta soggy and an awful lot of foggy, and you had to hopscotch to avoid sheep shit, but the fact that sheep were roaming around us in the first place made it all worth it. This is where I met Yvonne for the first time -- she's from Boston and easily my favorite American here. We're in love now, but we just kind of shot the shit on this first encounter. Here are some pics from the hike, most stolen from friends who are superior photographers. The second to last pair are of the summit (you may be able to spot the miniature blue and white Scottish flag hanging on that bin thing) and of Regena and me after the hike. The last pair are photographs taken by Lindsay and Regena of Dumyat from the Stirling campus. I'll end it there for now -- more to come much sooner than the length of time you had to wait for this one. I promise. I'll just make them mostly photo essays. I miss you all!

Let's get ready to rumble.

2006-09-13T23:28:00.000+01:00

Family, friends, co-workers, acquaintances, and others (perhaps):

Welcome! I've been in Scotland since last Friday, and I've been told that it's time to get this thing rolling. This blog will cover my journeys as a student at the University of Stirling in Scotland for the fall 2006 semester... oh yeah, and what appears to be a three-week vacation break after finals (in addition to the week-long fall break in October -- delicious). But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Since a lot of this initial entry is coming from the journal I've been carrying around for the past week, and I've had a lot of "I need to write about this!" moments over that time period, it might be a bit on the lengthy side, and it will probably be more text-heavy than future entries. Feel free to skim over it as you please -- or, if you actually care about me, you'll celebrate every freaking word. Eh... do what you will.

BUT BE SURE TO LEAVE COMMENTS! It will be more fun that way. An interactive blog where I can leave responses to your comments is way better than me just posting every now and then. You don't have to own a Blogger account -- just do a non-user comment and there is still a place where you can enter your name. I'd love to hear from you.

NOW, here's the Scottish scoop:

Chapter 1: Transatlanticism and a Brief Stay in Edinburgh

After a ton of help from my amazing mother who helped me pack and drove me to the airport in St. Louis, I was finally ready for my flight to Chicago. We left the house in Belleville a little bit later than expected, since I was kind of freaking out about the possibility of forgetting something and decided to roam through parts of the house one last time after getting all of my music in order. I think my mom almost cut my life short -- once we were in the car, she announced that I have a problem with time management and that "it's wrong to do this to people" -- in this case, and in pretty much any case I can ever think of, "people" meant her. While I agree that I can be slow-moving at times, I thought I deserved a break this time since I was leaving the continent for the first time ever, and I was also kind of terrified about the idea of not having everything with me. We eventually laughed at this dramatic outburst -- thank God we can do that, and usually within minutes of the incident -- and she spent the second half of the ride providing me with kind words and advice about being so far away from home. After a brief but emotional goodbye, I eventually boarded the plane, and BAM... I met up with Regena and Dian, my travel buddies, at O'Hare for our flight to Dublin. They're both from the University of Illinois -- Regena is also studying at the University of Stirling, but she'll be there for the whole academic year, and Dian is studying in Aberdeen (NE Scotland) but decided to hang out with us in Edinburgh before heading there.

The three of us didn't get to sit together on the flight across the ocean, but I think it worked out for the best because I got to sit with a wonderful middle-aged woman who travels to Ireland (and Britain in general) regularly and who also looks like she should work at Jan's Hallmark. Stacey, if you're reading this, she kind of looks like Edna and basically acts the same way, so I fell in love. She's a nurse, and she told me she's sick of all this crazy talk about the ever-climbing retirement age -- who cares if we're still "feeling good" at 70? She said that her brother died around the age of 64 and that she's not going to spend the twilight of her life being employed, because there is a lot more that she wants to do. Unless your job allows you an unusual sense of freedom or you just absolutely love working, then I'd have to agree with her approach to life -- provided that you have the means (and I know that many people don't, which is depressing). Because you never fucking know what's gonna happen. It was a reaffirming conversation, given the way I've chosen to spend the next four months.

I called Brian before I boarded the plane at O'Hare. I think staying together was the right decision, but it's obviously going to make me miss him more. The upside is that I'm going to be missed a lot in return, and that can be a wonderful feeling. Also, the odds of him flying out to Europe to travel with me over winter break appear to be increasing. But I'm trying to stay focused on what I'm experiencing now. A grand finale, if it does happen, is still months away. Until then, Gmail chats and random phone calls will have to suffice.

Back to the flight! I couldn't get enough of the flight attendants, seriously. I'm pretty sure they were all Irish (maybe one or two Scots in there), and their accents made me giddy about the fact that I would be in Europe in a matter of hours. We arrived at the airport in Dublin, and I was still grinning after every Irish voice I heard until we boarded the plane for Edinburgh. Doesn't that sound a little obnoxious? Very tourist-y, at least. During that time, I also beat Regena and Dian in a game of Egyptian Ratscrew and 2 out of 3 games of crazy eights, and we got excited about foreign currency and brand names of candy that we didn't recognize. Oh, and this:

If you look carefully, you can see that the men's restroom signs say "Gents," not "Gentlemen." For some reason, this slightly different approach to bathroom signs was fascinating to us. However, I'm not convinced that you'll see it in this photo, as the camera flash decided to form a coalition with my greasy hair and hook nose to keep you distracted.

After getting to Edinburgh, we walked with our ridiculously heavy luggage to the hostel, which was pretty nice (although I have no standard of comparison). Here's a picture that Regena took from the hostel window (I was being lazy with my camera):

We showered and did our own thing for a while, and there was a friendly guy staying in my room who showed me the kilt he had purchased -- I think he was from Eastern Europe. Then I left the hostel with Regena and Dian to explore Edinburgh, which became one of my very favorite cities in a matter of hours. It's amazing! There are so many medieval-style buildings, especially in the Old Town section (a surprising correlation, I know). We walked by the National Gallery of Scotland and Edinburgh Castle. This castle sits atop the basalt core of an extinct volcano, and it is awe-inspiring to gaze up at the fortress from the streets of the city. I can't wait to go back for a tour, in addition to seeing more of the Royal Mile (a stretch of four ancient streets which, according to my Scotland book, formed "the main thoroughfare of medieval Edinburgh," with the castle on one end). Here are some pictures of the castle from Regena's camera:

And here are a few good shots that I found online (compliments of Electric Scotland at www.electricscotland.com):

And one final shot of Edinburgh from Regena's camera:

Then I called my dad from a payphone to tell him that I was alive and well in the land of the Scots, and we ate dinner at a bar on a really cool winding back street. I had my first drink abroad -- Guinness, which kind of just reminds me of a liquid version of smoked sausage. Six bucks -- awesome. Then we walked back to the hostel, where I talked to a really friendly traveler in my room named James, who hails from the Detroit area and just left a five-year stint in the health care industry. We talked about the politics within the health care industry and his experiences traveling through Scotland. Then I called Brian, who offered me a wonderful break, albeit brief, from the feeling of being so far away from my loved ones. I should note that sharing one room with nine strangers wasn't actually that bad, but I did find myself a little paranoid about my belongings. You basically just have to have faith in the goodness of others, which is a warm, fuzzy experience -- when no shit ends up going down. ;)

Well, kiddies, there's definitely more to tell, but it's really late here, and this post already took an insane amount of time.

NEXT UP: My arrival at the University of Stirling and my general impressions of campus life thus far (I'm still adjusting). Stay tuned!