Backlog Blog: Magic in Scotland

Written Mostly April 25th, finished recently

Coming to Scotland was never very high up on my then-unwritten Wanderlust List before venturing off into this study abroad in Ireland travelers excuse. Sure, it’d be fun if someone had given me a free flight (cough BankofIrelandliedtome), but I’d never budgeted much time to planning a visit, preferring to dream of the Amazon, Serengeti or Himalayas. Now that I’m here, though, I can’t imagine why I would have ever swapped this trip for another. In my brief time in Scotland so far, I've spent time writing and sipping coffee where J.K. Rowling did much of her work on the Potter books, explored the treasures of real medieval strongholds so much like the ones in books I've devoured and planned, somewhat-accidentally dipped my (sneaker-clad) toes in Loch Ness despite warnings of very real Scottish piranha-beasts, supped on meat pies and chanted off-tune Irish pub songs through a highland hike. I've experienced so many cool new moments in a very short amount of time, and as of writing, this little trip is just about halfway over.

Our Scottish experience began in Edinburgh, capital city and very much still at one with it’s proud and storied past. Our phenomenal (but really) hostel provided us with a free and funny walking tour of the city, and the Australian guide pointed out a lot of neat things we mightn't have otherwise noticed. In a creepy old cemetery notable for the little dog who sat at his deceased master’s grave for 14 years, we were introduced to the crumbling tombstone of a Mr. Tom Riddel, and his son of the same name. There was a McGonagall one too, but that had me less convinced. We saw a street purported to be the real Diagon Alley, like so many others in Scotland, London and Rowling knows where else. I've now taken two winding long train rides through this gorgeous landscape, soon to be followed by a bus, train and ferry adventure to ‘the North’ starting tomorrow at 5 am.

I feel like I keep talking about how beautiful everything I've seen is this semester, and I’m continuing to do so now, at the risk of cheapening the word. There are different sorts, though. Vienna was a very refined, intentional grace and elegance, whereas Scotland is a wild and untamed harsh sort of breathtaking Awesome, by comparison. It's the sort of place I can see Arya Stark or Alanna of Trebond fitting in quite perfectly, where I half expect to see characters from Lord of the Rings or Narnia pop up and wave hello or challenge me to a swordfight. Combined with my obvious Rowling-fangirl finds, it's been pretty much perfectly out of a storybook. There was also a really cool old bookshop in Inverness where we sat on the floor and scanned the shelves for forgotten treasures- I actually did find a battered copy of Treasure Island for my friend, which was perfect because R.L. Stevenson is a Scotsman we found featured in the Edinburgh Writers Museum. Also, I bought the last necessary volume for my accumulating 'Harry Potter in British' collection at a little independent bookstore where the checkout guy chatted with me about the author he seemed to know a lot about, and found a delightful 'Winnie the Pooh in Scots' that I've had way too much fun perusing.

In the little time spent here, I've seen plenty of tartan, though mostly in tourist shops, tried one tiny bite of haggis, and heard floating bagpipe melodies coming from the castle that disappeared both times I tried to track them down. I did see one street performer playing the quintessential Scottish instrument, saw plenty of Scotty-dog merchandise, and overall really just enjoyed the country. They've got a tough-guy attitude and a chip on their shoulder about the English, in a different way than Ireland, yet still comparably so. 

And now, I've run out of things to say, but will update you soon on Belfast, the Causeway, and Getting Around.