Planes, trains and automobiles (June 21)

After spending the weekend in England, it was time for me to head on back to Scotland. My flight out of Birmingham to Edinburgh was scheduled for 2:15, so Mike’s wife, Pat, drove me to the airport at noon. Security took no time at all, so I sat in the terminal playing more games of Fruit Ninja than I care to admit. The flight from Birmingham to Edinburgh was the same way: lots and lots of Fruit Ninja.

Once arriving in Edinburgh, I hopped on the tram that was to take me to the nearest train station, since there isn’t a train station within moderate walking distance of the airport. Only, I couldn’t get off at my designated stop because there were six or seven elementary school-aged kids running up and down the aisle, preventing me to get off.

The next stop was fortunately not too terribly far away, so I just got off then and walked back to the stop I was supposed to be at. Once there, I waited 20 minutes or so before boarding the replacement rail bus (the railway is under renovations in one area, resulting in the closure of that part of the line) that was to take me to the part of the line that was functioning. That bus ride was about an hour or so (meaning more Fruit Ninja). The driver dropped us off right outside of where to board the train to Stirling, and the train I needed had just arrived. The timing was absolutely perfect.

That train ride to Stirling was about 20 minutes. Once I arrived in Stirling, I walked two blocks to the bus stop, boarded the bus that took me back to the University, arrived back, and promptly went to bed.

I’m basically like Rose… but on a mountain, not a boat. (June 22)

After a short day of class (only one!), the ISS program hosted a hike up the Dumyat. The Dumyat, though classified as a hill, is easily a small mountain and overlooks campus. The hike up was very gorgeous. When we were walking up, I felt that I was in the shire. I felt like a hobbit.

I was most definitely feeling it in my legs, considering I hadn’t worked out over the past month much prior to hiking. When we finally reached the summit, I couldn’t seem to catch my breath, though not because of exhaustion, but rather because of how amazing the view was.

About 60 or so of us managed to hike to the summit and were were all exhausted by the time we reached the top.

I, of course, had to take a ridiculous picture, because that’s just who I am.

We hung around at the top for about 20 minutes before we made the trek back down. After that, I played some games in one of our friend’s flats before heading off to bed.

My kryptonites are the crossbar and the left post (June 23)

After my longest day of classes during the week, I, and a handful of other ISS students got together to play a game of football (not American football. We played soccer). Not enough of us were there to fill all the positions, so I played forward and midfielder all game, while the defenders played both defense and mid.

To say I was rusty was a bit of an understatement, considering I had seven shots on goal and converted none of them. Three of them hit the left post, two of them hit the crossbar, one was saved and the other slid just to the left of the goal. Needless to say, I need much more practice.

What have I learned over the past few days?

1. I’m not in good of shape as I thought I was.

I was out of breath multiple times on my hike and was panting like a dog after a walk on a hot day during the football game. I really need to step it up a notch when it comes to working out, because even the basic stuff has been phasing me.

2. Public transportation is a million times better here.

I think this has been well established, but public transit in the midwest is not even close to being as developed as it is over in Europe. Yes, it may be slow and much more frustrating when you know you could drive it faster, but getting from point A to point B is a lot easier here and there are a lot more routes to choose from.

My first week in Scotland has come to a close. Even though it’s only been a week, I’ve been up to a crazy amount of things.

I’m not in Kansas anymore (June 13) 

Immediately after I landed in Edinburgh, I was transported to Stirling, where my university is. It was about an hour drive in. After all the check-in procedures were all wrapped up, I unpacked and walked around campus. Saying that the campus is green is an understatement. My photos look doctored because of the incredible lushness of the plants.

Early that evening, we had an informal intro session in the castle on campus. (Yep. There’s a castle.) All 8 of us KU students got together with our professor and went over various things. After that intro session, we KU students and two other of our new found friends walked into a neighboring town to grab some dinner. Westerton Arms (the name of the pub) made a mean macaroni cheese dish.

Let’s get down to business (June 14)

Sunday was a bit more of an educational leaning day. For most of the day we had informational sessions, then went into town to buy some groceries and such. Going into Stirling that first day definitely scared me. There were 100+ of us scrambling around Sainsbury’s (the local grocery store chain) and the Thistle’s center (shopping mall in the city centre) trying to find what we needed. I remember thinking that there was no way in the world I was going to figure out the layout of Stirling.

When we got back, even though it was cold, I was a sweaty mess, so I took a shower. Now, normally I wouldn’t include something as trivial as a shower, but believe me, showering at the university is something unlike I’ve ever experienced. Scotland is very eco-friendly. There are recycling bins on nearly every street. When you go to the grocery store, they charge you 5 pence (8 cents) for each plastic bag that you use. Remember the BopIt? Well. Think of the shower having a big BopIt button on the wall, and if you don’t push it every 30 seconds, the water stops. It makes you think of how much water you actually use when you’re taking a shower, but when you just want to stand there and relax, it makes things difficult.

Later on that evening, we went out to celebrate Matt’s 21st birthday at Fubar (a club that had a terrible ambiance and was incredibly overpriced for serving mainly American alcohol). Regardless of how expensive it was, we all had a good time.

Classes, cemeteries and Journey (June 15)

My two classes began on Monday. My first class is about how the media has covered the Royal Family throughout the years. To me, this subject seems relatively interesting, but we didn’t quite get to that during our first meeting. We went through the entire Royal Family lineage. And that bored me (and the rest of my class) nearly back to sleep. My KU class was fairly simple that day. We just went over the basics, nothing too out of the ordinary.

No one really wanted to cook yet, so we went out for dinner. Jeanne, a student at Ohio University, met some locals at Fubar the night before who said Settle Inn was a great pub. We Americans didn’t realize not all pubs have food. Settle Inn? It’s one of those old, traditional pubs that just serves booze, but we didn’t know that until we walked in. The owner of the pub (at least that’s what I thought he was, anyway) was more than happy to give us a recommendation of where to eat– the Portcullis, just up the hill. He even called up there and had them get a table ready for us. That dinner was pretty darn good. Who knew the Scottish could make delicious lasagna?

We discovered that the Portcullis was right next to Stirling Castle and a really old, creepy cemetery. So, naturally, we all walked around, looking at the gravestones and admiring the beauty (typically you don’t associate graveyard with beauty, but I assure you, this one was). When we were done meandering around the castle grounds, we walked back down the hill to grab a drink at Settle Inn, to repay the owner for helping us out. Our one drink turned into a couple more and we ended up closing down the pub. (It closed at midnight. We weren’t out THAT late.)

It was open mic night at Settle Inn and my big mouth had to say that I knew how to sing. After relentless peer pressure from my friends (and Ole Miss Ryan saying he’d play the guitar with me), I went up and sang Don’t Stop Believing by Journey. There’s apparently a video somewhere. I haven’t watched it yet. Fortunately, I wasn’t the only one from our group who went up and performed. KU Ryan told the host that our friend Johanna could, um, whistle in a peculiar fashion, so she ended up being called out without knowing what was going on.

After the pub closed, it was time to go home. It being after 11, the buses were no longer running and there were no cabs in sight, so we decided to walk home, with guidance of some locals. We, being dumb Americans, ended up getting lost and a walk that should have taken no more than 45 minutes took around an hour and a half. We made it back in one piece (except for the aching legs and sore feet).

Battle of the Bulge (June 16)

The second day of classes were a breeze, considering I only had one class. So that night, our International Summer School (ISS, not to be confused with ISIS) program held a Pub Quiz (very similar to trivia night) at a local restaurant– the Kilted Kangaroo. I played with different people. They were people I had only seen, not met. We were team The Brady Bunch… and we won. We only won bragging rights, but everyone who knows me knows that I really like winning, even if it doesn’t matter.

Many of the ISS students continued on with a pub crawl, but several of my friends and I didn’t really feel like spending any more money, so we went back to campus and played Go Fish. None of us remembered the rules. We played one round and we definitely messed up, so we turned to Heads Up (that game where you put your phone on your forehead, similar to CatchPhrase) and had a night chalk full of laughs. Pretty sure I haven’t laughed that hard since I was a kid who laughed at everything.

The Hive = Scotland’s version of the Hawk (June 17)

After our third day of classes were done, 10 of us in our little group took the train to Edinburgh to explore the nightlife. We stayed in St. Christopher’s hostel which was right near Edinburgh Waverley train station (the main station in Edinburgh). Eight of us stayed in one room, while two stayed in another. We met a girl from New Zealand who was traveling all over. She told us a horror story about the other guy (a 40-year-old man) who was staying in our room. Apparently he went out the night before, brought a girl back and well, I’m not going to go into any further details about that.

When we left, we were hungry, so we decided to try and find some place to eat. The first place that we went by was McDonald’s. I had the Chicken Selects, and they were 100 times better than the ones in America. MSGs are outlawed here, so that’s probably why.

The first bar we went to was called “Secret Arcade Vodka Bar.” It was most definitely secluded down an alley and up a flight or two of stairs. I tried their homemade Skittles vodka. (Marshawn Lynch would have gone wild.) It was pretty amazing. It was like I ate an entire packet of green Skittles. They had even crazier stuff, but there was no way I was actually going to try any of it.

When we left the vodka bar, we made our way to the Hive. The only way to explain it is Scotland’s version of the Hawk… just a lot bigger. It smelled just like the Hawk. The floors were sticky and gross like the Hawk. There were two versions of the Boom. (For those of you who have no idea what the Hawk is… it’s a gross college bar in Lawrence. ) Unlike the Hawk, there was a lady who had this crazy stash of random stuff in the bathroom. She took up an entire sink area with it. She had perfumes, gum, lotions… you name it. She handed everyone paper towels, even though there were automatic dryers right there. If you didn’t give her change, she got mad. It was really weird. Miraculously, we all stayed relatively close to one another and we didn’t lose anyone throughout the night.

I love Edinburgh… and I hate Edinburgh. (June 18)

I woke up at 8 a.m. Thursday morning. Surprisingly enough, my bed at the hostel was very comfortable. We were getting ready to tour Edinburgh, as was the rest of our ISS group. When everyone was ready, we headed for Edinburgh Castle. By the time we got there, we realized it was actually relatively expensive to get in there and we would have rather spent our money on something else.

We did many various things throughout the day. Right after the walk up to Edinburgh castle, we went on the Harry Potter walking tour. Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling is from Edinburgh and still lives there. Many of the places in Edinburgh are where she wrote the books and drew inspiration for her novels.

After that, we went to the National Museum of Scotland. There were many exhibits spanning all the different intellectual avenues. We spent a solid two hours there. My favorite thing about the museum was not an exhibit, but rather the view from the roof terrace. From up there, you could see everything. Edinburgh is one beautiful city, especially the city centre area.

When we left there, we went to go shopping… until we realized you could walk up to the top of the Scott Monument. We hiked the 287 narrow stairs (backpacks/duffle bags and all) to the tippy top. And we thought the view from the National Museum of Scotland was amazing. This left me speechless. It was honestly breathtaking. Everything looked so small and peaceful, but it was far from that. The city centre was huge and chaotic.

Then, everyone left. It was time for the ISS buses to go back to Stirling. I had accommodations through the night because I had an early flight that was leaving out of Edinburgh. So, I found a taxi, and made my way there.

Now, when I arrived, it was weird. (Little background information: AirBnB is a website where people rent out rooms in their houses or apartments for people to stay in. I booked a room near the airport in a lady’s house. All of her reviews were great, so I wasn’t nervous or anything.) Her husband had no idea I was coming and made everything very awkward and uncomfortable. I took a nap, because I really needed one, but when I woke up, he was still making things incredibly awkward and horribly uncomfortable. I really didn’t feel very safe. Not that he was going to do anything, I just had a sour feeling in my stomach, so I made up some story saying that I was going to walk around, maybe grab something to eat and I bolted.

I walked five miles, searching for a hotel, but they were all booked. Every single one I walked into was booked. I was getting extremely frustrated. My feet were starting to bleed. (I had walked 15 miles by that point in not so good walking shoes.) I wasn’t in the best part of Edinburgh. After a scary situation that will easily stay with me forever (I’d rather not talk about it), a police officer who helped get me out of aforementioned scary situation drove me around and helped me find a place to stay.

Merry Olde England (June 19)

My flight departed for Birmingham, England at 7:00 a.m. I was definitely ready to see a close friend of my dad’s. Mike has been like another uncle to me. He flew from England to Nebraska to watch me run at state my senior year, and then stayed for the following week to see me graduate. That was the last time I saw him. When I got off the plane, everything worked out really well. The second I walked into the terminal, I saw him. He had just walked in.

We drove back to his home, I dropped my stuff off, and we were on the road again. We went to Ludlow, a quaint little village, where there’s a castle and the historic Feathers hotel. We walked around there for a bit, and then on a whim drove over to Wales because we were so close.

That night, we went to a local pub restaurant. I had the best burger I’ve had in a while paired with a Swedish mixed berry cider. After that we went to the pub that’s right across from Mike’s home for another drink and went off to bed. It had most definitely been a long day.

Rocks and stuff (June 20)

On Saturday, I saw lots and lots of old rocks, but I was extremely excited about it. By old rocks, I mean Stonehenge and Avebury Henge. Yep. I’m the type of girl who gets excited about old rocks. Color me easy to entertain. Mike and I spent most of our day driving around the English countryside getting there and getting back.

3 things I’ve learned/reaffirmed so far

1. I really should have brought another heavier jacket.

I’ve been wearing my OPA quarter zip over everything for a week now. I definitely underestimated how cold it is here in relation to what I’m used to. Yes, I’m showering. Yes, I’m wearing other clothes underneath. I look really silly because I look the same in every single picture I’m in. It’s on my to-do list to buy another heavy-ish jacket. I don’t want to look the same in every single picture I take on the trip.

2. The drinking age in America is far too high.

You can die for your country, get married, have kids, and smoke cigarettes all when you’re 18, but drinking? You have to wait until your 21. No one in the UK (who I’ve talked to, anyway) understands why America is different in this way. They all have told me, “that’s why your country has such an alcohol problem.” I couldn’t agree more.

3. It’s unbelievable pretty over here.

I’m sure I’ve said this at least 100 times per day, but man. It’s gorgeous here. I can’t get over the beauty of the three countries I’ve visited thus far. I’m sure my photos speak for themselves.

Originally written for my study abroad class.

Even though Scotland and the United States share a language, the two countries are separated by more than just the Atlantic Ocean.

The climate, attitudes, phrases and basic living arrangements in Scotland are very different than the Midwest United States.

CLIMATE

The heart of Scotland during the summer is vastly different from the heartland of the United States.

The lush, green landscapes and mid-50 degree temperatures can be a bit of a shock for someone who is born and raised with scorching summers that can reach 110 degrees. I’ve worn shorts twice, and that’s just because I’m a stubborn Nebraskan who is in denial that it won’t get over 65 degrees the entire time I’m here.

ATTITUDES

The Scottish are, on average, more reserved than Americans. They are especially friendly if asked questions, but if you don’t ask, they are more than likely to keep to themselves.

For example, a group of us Americans meandered into the oldest pub in Stirling, but we were under the impression that it served food as well. The owner politely told us that it didn’t, but he made a call to one of the local restaurants and told them that a group of ten of us were on the way up. On our way out, one of the women sitting at the pub walked outside with us and told us exactly where to go. We ended up going back later for drinks and ended up closing the pub. (I may or may not have sang at open mic night.)

PHRASES/ACCENT

It’s a wee bit baltic today, eh? It’s a little cold today, yes?

Even though the language is similar, it can sometimes be nearly impossible to understand someone who is using Scottish phrases.

Pizzas are delivered in “munchie boxes.” An overtly angry person is a “banger” and deserves to be “ragdolled” (grabbing someone by their collar and shaking them). And the ever so handy crosswalks are called “zebra crossings.”

Aside from different phrases, the accents are very different as well. Someone may be saying something completely “normal” to an American, but because of the accent, it can seem to get lost in translation.

“Ah wiz like” is “I was like.” “Ah’m gan ta Embra” is “I’m going to Edinburgh.”

BASIC LIVING

The flats (the Scottish word for apartments) at Stirling contain anywhere from five to seven bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen area and living room space. On the surface, things look similar, but there are many, many differences.

In the bathrooms and kitchen, the sinks have two spigots, one for hot water and the other for cold water. That makes things very difficult to get warm water. It makes things very difficult when I’m trying to wash my face.

Also in the bathroom, the shower has a push button for the water. The water stays on for 30 seconds then shuts off, so pushing the button multiple times per shower is mandatory. Remember the Bop It? It’s sort of like that.

In the kitchen, there is no dishwasher and there is a mini-fridge and a freezer the same size. However, most of the food in the UK doesn’t need refrigerating or freezing.

All appliances and things that need to be plugged in require a different plug than is used in America. Plugs in the UK are 220 volts, while plugs in the United States are 110 volts. That means don’t try using your American straightener while in the UK. It will smoke, possibly pop, and most likely be worthless after a few seconds. There are voltage converters available at some places, but even then, it’s still not wise to try.

In the United States, at some grocery stores, like HyVee, customers get a few cents off their purchase if they bring reusable bags. In Scotland, you get charged 5 pence if they don’t bring reusable bags. The entire country of Scotland is very eco-friendly. It’s very easy to recycle here, as there are various recycling bins on almost every street.

But if you have to know only one thing that separates Scotland from the United States, know that they drive on the left-hand side. You may not be driving, but you’ll sure be crossing the street, and you definitely need to know where to look.

After taking a pre-departure selfie with my mom and just barely having my bag weigh less than 50 pounds, I was on my way. For the first time in my last several trips, TSA didn’t grill me about my epi-pens, so I thought my day was going to be a good day. Well, that was about the only good thing to come from Omaha. (With the exception of my flight not getting cancelled.) I found my gate, plugged in my phone, and played some solitaire. Then things got weird. People started walking off a plane at a nearby gate. But they didn’t look relieved. Most of them were pissed. A couple guys who sat next to me while I was waiting for my flight to Newark told me that their flight to Chicago was scheduled to leave around 2:00 p.m. It was now approaching 4:15. They boarded like nothing was wrong, then two hours later while they were still on the tarmac, the plane came back to the gate and unloaded all the passengers. The announcements over the intercom said that they weren’t going to cancel the flight, but they suggested that people try to get different flights out of Omaha, but not to Chicago, because a storm was brewing and wasn’t going away. But the time the two gentlemen finished telling me their frustrations about their flight, I realized that it was 4:30—the time that my flight was supposed to start boarding. I looked over at my gate and nothing. We were set to leave at 4:55, but by the looks of things, that wasn’t happening.

Now me? I started to mildly panic because I knew that I only had an hour layover in Newark. To make things even better, my connecting flight from Newark to Edinburgh was on the exact opposite side of the airport. We started boarding at 4:45 and sat on the plane for an hour before we were in the air, 30-40 minutes of that was sitting on the tarmac. I don’t exactly remember. I fell asleep for a few minutes and when I woke up, we were in the exact same place. I became more and more paranoid through the flight. The lack of air conditioning didn’t exactly help that. (I overheard an attendant say that the temperature control was broken.) I couldn’t sleep. I would be checking my phone every few minutes. I calculated that we were going to land around 9:00 ET. My connecting flight was set to board at 9:05. Thankfully I wasn’t the only person on my flight heading to Edinburgh. An outstanding seven or eight of us were desperate to catch our plane. But making it wasn’t going to be easy… at least that’s the situation that presented itself. When we landed in Newark, there wasn’t an onramp driver (or whatever it’s called) anywhere nearby. We were all standing in the aisle with our bags, fanning ourselves with whatever we could. Me? I used my hands. The woman behind me used her boarding pass. The woman in front of me used a book. 10-15 minutes went by before we were let off. It was now 9:30 and I had 10 minutes to make my way across the entire Newark airport to catch my flight. Luckily for me, one of my friends and classmates, Ryan, was boots on the ground at the gate where we were headed. I messaged him for updates (and kind of venting frustrations. Sorry Ryan) and he said they hadn’t starting boarding yet. Sigh of relief. I still needed to get over there. Once I made my way off the plane, I hustled down to the shuttle bus that went from terminal to terminal. 9:40. We were still at the stop waiting for people to board. Our flight was supposed to be done boarding by now. It took 10 minutes or so (but it felt so much longer) to get to our terminal. And our gate was the one at the end of the never-ending hallway. I took off, backpack on and duffle bag slung across one shoulder. And I ran the whole way there. Pretty sure it was a mile. No. I’m not exaggerating. (At least I don’t think so.) By the time I arrived at our gate, I was sweaty and gross, and everyone was standing in line. I saw Ryan almost instantly. KU blue is real easy to pick out of a crowd. Apparently the air conditioner on the plane was broken? No way I wanted to go through that again. But later I heard that the plane hit birds, so I have no idea what actually happened. That’s United for you. We stood… and then sat… near the gate for at least 20 minutes more before they announced that they were going to delay the flight. 9:55 turned into 11:00. 11:00 turned into 11:30. We boarded at 11:30. I thought that was going to be the end of it. But I was so wrong.

11:30 turned into 11:55. 11:55 turned into I don’t even know because I started watching We’re the Millers. (And I almost finished it before we even left the gate.) I know the door to the cabin closed around 12:35 because that was the time I sent my dad the last message before I turned off my wifi. By that time I had sent my professor five different emails telling him our “supposed” approximate arrival time. Why were we in the plane for an hour before shoving off from the gate? All of the baggage hadn’t been loaded onto the plane and they were severely understaffed AND there was another mechanical issue. Eating dinner at 1:45 a.m. ET was weird though. And that was another disaster in itself. I’d rather eat the new slop that the inmates in OITNB get in season three. (Whoops. Should have put a spoiler alert on that one.) I didn’t even know what the “vegetable” was (I found out it was quinoa. I hadn’t eaten it before) and the pasta tasted really bad and it was covered in overcooked, way out of date spinach. Like, I’d rather have uncooked Spaghettio’s. At least the dinner roll and the sorbet were edible. The rest of the flight was relatively smooth. There wasn’t a large amount of turbulence, but I still couldn’t get to sleep. We arrived in Scotland in one piece just before noon BST. Customs was a breeze, because Ryan and I got off the plane relatively quickly and both of our baggage arrived. Half of the girls who were coming to Stirling with us weren’t as lucky. I keep telling myself that it could be worse. My bag could have ended up on another flight somewhere. My flights could have been cancelled. I could have missed my second flight altogether. The air conditioning on my second flight could have not worked. But thing is for sure: I’m never flying through Newark again.