History and the law, the Necropolis, and the BBC

Firstly, I'd like to apologize for the lack of creativity in the title for this blog post. I simply could not find an alliterative way to sum up it all up.

Alright, so on Wednesday, we had a massively informative and critical lecture for our understanding of Scotland. Although it was titled "Scotland's Legal Tradition," our lecturer, Dr Kenneth Norrie, took us through 1,000 years of Scottish history to illustrate the impact of the country's legal tradition. As a history major, this made me incredibly happy. Having the historical context is extremely necessary in order to fully understand any subject! So unfortunately for you, I'm going to quickly summarize the important and interesting points of Scottish history that Dr Norrie noted because I felt this sped-up version of Scottish history allowed me to begin to put together the puzzle pieces of what we have been learning thus far (the Jacobites, Mary Queen of Scots, William Wallace, etc.).

So, let's go back to medieval times! Weee! It's the 10th century, and the area we know as Scotland is kind of a conglomeration of Celtic (Britons and a lot more), Irish (Scots) and Germanic (Angels) tribes. Eventually they all get unified under one dude (classic) named Malcolm II (king of the Scots tribe). So, there was a bit of an awkward clash of tradition when Malcolm II united all these tribes that literally set in motion the rest of Scottish history (cue dramatic music). See, Celtic tribes are matrilineal, that is, they trace their family line through the mother, not the father. So succession depends on the maternal line - therefore if a king dies, his successor has to be the closest related to the mother, so his brother would take over, not his son. If you think about this, it makes way more sense to trace lineage through the female; you know why? Mothers always know who their children are and fathers...don't. Right, so Celtic tribes are matrilineal and the Scots, the Irish one, is your classic patrilineal (tracing family lines through the father). Now we're gonna have a quick vocabulary lesson: using patrilineal succession is called Primogeniture and matrilineal is Tannist. Good? Good.

 Well, when Malcolm II unites all these tribes and he's Scots, when he dies, they use the system of Primogeniture, and the crown is passed to his grandson, Duncan I. That's all good and well, unless your name is Macbeth. Oh my gosh, Macbeth! Shakespeare wrote about him! Yeah! He did! This moment is what he wrote about! Alright, so, Macbeth was Celtic, but he was also the son of Malcolm II's daughter. So, being Celtic and more down with the Tannist (matrilineal, remember?) tradition, Macbeth was like, "Duncan I is a usurper of my throne" and thus killed him in battle. He installed himself as King and ruled quite well actually, however, Duncan's son Malcolm (spoiled: soon to be Malcolm III) was thinking "...wait, Macbeth totally usurped my throne," since he believed in Primogeniture. So Malcolm killed Macbeth in battle and became Malcolm III. By the way, Malcolm III married Queen Margaret, a Saxon princess, who was responsible for bringing the importance of the (Christian) Church to Scotland and also for beginning the decline in Celtic influence.

Malcolm II (thanks for the photo wikipedia!)

How are we doing? Too much history? Too bad - there's more!

Okay, skip ahead to 1290. The monarch (a wee babe), Margaret, dies and (obviously) has no heirs! There are two possible choices: Balliol or Bruce (Yeah! Robert the Bruce! We know him!) Balliol had a claim to the throne through primogeniture; Bruce had a claim through the Tannist succession. BUT they couldn't work it out. So, they submitted this issue to Edward I of England and forever changed Scottish history. THIS WAS A BAD IDEA. By asking Edward I to choose Scotland's next monarch, Scotland implied that England was superior to Scotland and had some sort of authority over it. This implication would affect Scotland for the rest of its existence up until this very day.

Edward I (thanks for the photo wikipedia!)

So, Edward I basically tells both Balliol and Bruce if they accept England as their feudal overlord of sorts, they can be King of Scotland. Bruce was like "heck no!" and Balliol was like "yeah, whatever, okay!" so Edward chose him. Thus the wars of Independence between the Edward I of England vs William Wallace and Robert the Bruce! Woohoo connections!

Also, remember that Declaration of Arbroath thing? The thing that may have had a role in inspiring our own Declaration of Independence? Yeah, that was in 1320, right? And Robert the Bruce is the one who sent it (it was a letter to the pope) in which he essentially declared that Scotland was independent from England, the Pope himself (more or less...they remained Christian for over 200 more years), and that the people were sovereign. Not him, Robert the Bruce, the people. This is why after 1320 you never again see any monarch in Scotland called King/Queen of Scotland - they're the King/Queen of Scots (the people). Hench Mary Queen of Scots. Cool, huh?! Scotland is super progressive.

Here's the Declaration of Arbroath again! Well, a copy of it :)

So, wars of independence distance Scotland from England, naturally. But this applies to many areas like trade and also law. Scottish lawyers begin to train in Scotland and Continental Europe and adopt a more Roman style of law which sticks with them throughout their earlier history. In fact, this is essentially the reason Scotland has a separate legal system from England even today! In the 15th century, Scottish parliaments are sitting regularly and they even pass the Education Act of 1496 demanding education! Even though this education is for the eldest son of landowners, it's still really progressive for the 15th century!

Okay, the Reformation happened and changed Scotland completely in a bunch of ways, but I think I've talked about the reformation enough in this blog, so I'll skip it. You're welcome.

The next fun fact to do with Scottish law has to do with that young 1707 Union - the joining of the parliaments. So, according to Dr Norrie, if you ask an English lawyer about the 1707 Union, he/she will say that the English parliament expanded to allow Scottish representation, which is technically correct, that's what happened. However, if you ask a Scottish lawyer, they will say both the English and Scottish Parliaments dissolved and a parliament of Great Britain was established, which is politically accurate - that was the agreement essentially. If you recall, I actually wrote the latter statement in a previous blogpost because I heard it in a lecture from a Scotsman! Cool stuff. Also, the Treaty of Union notably provided for the preservation of Scots law and the primacy of the Presbyterian church!
How did that happen? (ugh, I'm sorry guys, but this was a really great lecture and it's all so important to truly understanding Scotland) Sir James Dalrymple, First Viscount of Stair (quite the name, if you ask me, but apparently, Scottish lawyers today just call him Stair) wrote the first comprehensible book of Scottish law! His book was so comprehensive and legitimate that it allowed Scottish law to be recognized by the English in the act of Union! Good job, Stair!

Sir James Dalrymple, First Viscount of Stair! (thanks for the photo, stairsociety.org)

Alright guys! Thank you for bearing with me! That's it for the dense history.

Okay, Wednesday night Patty, Liam and I explored the Necropolis (!) - Glasgow's central and very famous cemetery. As you may be able to figure out, Necropolis means city of the dead, and it is just that. The gravestones, like buildings, are lined up in very meticulous rows creating sidewalk-like paths for viewers. It's a very creepy place, honestly, especially since we visited at dusk. Really interestingly, though, Liam came across two gravestones for both sides of his Scottish ancestry practically right next to each other!

Patty and I at the Necropolis Entrance

Me with the John Knox monument at the top of the Necropolis!

The Necropolis and a lovely view of Glasgow

Thursday proved to be a very exciting day as well. It was completely media-focused and ended with a trip to BBC Scotland!

So our lecture was all about the media in Scotland and it was all very eye-opening (as usual). Our lecturer was Dr Michael Higgins and he began his presentation by trying to explain how Scottish culture is all about disagreement and arguments and further, that there are few things that unite Scotland. This statement alone was so new, but yet so obvious to us all after being here for four weeks. This is a good time to talk about the dynamic between cities in Scotland. All the major cities love nothing more than to rip on and make fun of each other. It's not always very nice either. Aberdeen and Dundee have a kind of intense rivalry as well as Glasgow and Edinburgh. That's not to suggest that Glasgow isn't just as willing to throw a few jabs at Dundee or Edinburgh at Aberdeen. The way the media is structured adds to this dynamic, if anything. Dr Higgins showed us several different newspapers that had associations with cities. So, each of them would write from a different perspective - from the particular city's perspective - which could be drastically different from another city's perspective. So, for instance, The Herald writes the Glaswegian perspective while The Scotsman writes the Edinburgh perspective.

The Scotsman itself!

Dr Higgins also noted how newspapers are one of the ways Scotland makes itself distinct from England. For instance, many English newspapers have Scottish Editions like The Sun has The Scottish Sun so these newspapers are slightly more geared toward Scottish audience and perspective (what those in the media affectionately refer to as "putting a kilt on it." Sometimes it's not so slight though. During independence, one newspaper printed one edition that advocated a "no" vote and the same newspaper advocated a "yes" vote in the Scottish edition! What the heck? It's a crazy place here in the U.K.

The group and Dr Higgins after our lecture on the median in Scotland

Another interesting part of Dr Higgins's lecture was in discussing how the BBC works. As you probably know, the BBC is funded by the public, not a private corporation in order to provide truly quality content that is not necessarily economically profitable. So, as I thought before and as you might think, the BBC is not funded by taxes, it's funded by a "TV License." A TV License is essentially how if you own a TV, you have to buy a TV license and all the profits from a TV license go toward funding the BBC. That way, if you don't have a TV, you're not funding a service you don't use.

The last notable thing about the media in the UK? They watch Fox News for entertainment purposes. Like, to laugh. I just thought that was quite hilarious in itself.

After our media lecture, we (very appropriately) went to visit the BBC Scotland! We learned a lot about how the BBC and the freedom of the press in general works. One interesting and important tidbit is that the BBC is independent from the government (which makes sense since it's not funded by taxes) but still works closely with the government. It's Royally Chartered, which means the charter can be reviewed every 5 years. Some updates BBC Scotland is looking toward include new ideas for funding online TV watching (something comparable to a TV license perhaps?) among other issues. Scottish Independence, for instance, if revisited could change a lot about BBC Scotland, obviously, so far as the country could lose its association with the BBC all together and have to create its own public broadcasting system if it so desires. It's all very fascinating. Independence has so many implications that fly completely under the radar.

Getting ready to go inside BBC Scotland

We also learned a lot from Donald Martin, Editor in Chief at DC Thomson (Based in Dundee! Remember?) about the restrictions and regulations on the press along with ethics in reporting certain issues. He faced us with a lot of important questions on whether to print certain pictures and stories and why. It was all very fascinating. I can't possibly detail it all here, but if you're interested, let me know and I'll be happy to expound.

After learning all this amazing information about media, we got to go on our own tour of the BBC Scotland. My favorite part was probably the metallic gold pair of underpants that hung from a pole at one of the cubicles. When a journalist was asked by our tour guide what it was doing there he replied "they're drying" without blinking an eye. Anyway, we got to see a lot of the studio and even got to watch an anchor record part of that night's show! It was an amazing experience.

Us in the Newsroom at BBC Scotland

Look, Ma, I'm on TV!

The squad on our BBC Scotland tour

Thank you for bearing with this post through all the (super fun and interesting!) history! I promise the next one won't be so dense. Cheers till then!

Ideas, Investigations, and the Highlands

We started this week off with a couple fascinating lectures about Entrepreneurship and Investigative Journalism, respectively.

Very aptly, the lecture about Entrepreneurship took place in the good old Strathclyde Technology and Innovation Center. Our presenters were Dr Niall McKenzie and Mr Bernd Wurth. Mr Bernd Wurth started out the lecture to tell us about a bit about Fulbright actually! He's a Fulbrighter originally from Germany who studied in Texas and now in Glasgow. Bernd started by telling us a bit about his own postgraduate work in Glasgow but went further to make sure we knew the benefits of being a part of Fulbright. He called this new network of friends and potential collaborators from all over the world the "Fulbright Bond" and implored us to take advantage of it in our lives as entrepreneurs and advocates of social enterprise.

The rest of the presentation was done by Dr McKenzie who focused on strategies of openminded thinking and increasing our ability to come up with new ideas. His motto is a quote by Linus Pauling that says "the best way to get a good idea is to have lots of them." The quote really struck me as both true and highly applicable, no matter what your area of study. He advocated for addressing multiple viewpoints when it comes to coming up with ideas along with deferring all judgments, and challenging assumptions. This all sounds good and well, but it's much more difficult to apply to daily life. For instance, one of his examples was challenging us to turn "IX" into the number 6 with one stroke. Think about this while you read the rest of the blog...I'll tell you the answer at the end.

After going through different strategies for creatively coming up with ideas, he split us into two groups and put a chart of a business model in front of us and challenged us to come up with a viable business that advances social enterprise and entrepreneurship using our new strategies for ideas. Our group developed a plan for an app like Uber or AirBnB that would allow people to rent out adventure equipment like kayaks or bicycles on the same sharing model. The other group came up with a plan for an eco-friendly gym in which the equipment powered the gym itself thereby addressing both environmental and fitness issues at the same time. I was quite impressed with both groups' ideas and ability to flesh out a business model with such little practice.

Daniel and Patty presenting "Ecofit," their idea for an eco-friendly gym

The next lecture was all about Investigative Journalism and was vastly eyeopening to the profession as a whole. The lecturer was Dr Eamonn O'Neill, an extremely prominent investigative journalist in Scotland who also happens to spend a lot of time in the States. Thus, he was able to provide many critical insights about the differences and similarities between the U.S. and Scotland. My favorite of these insights, although mostly unrelated to journalism, was when Dr O'Neill noted that Scotland knows America, but America doesn't know Scotland. He pointed out how seldom the average U.S. citizen travels outside the states and even if they do, Scotland isn't a typical destination. As a history major, this observation particularly struck me. How often are we, as history students, taught a historical perspective other than that of the U.S., England, France, or Germany? Almost never! Unless of course, you study history at a higher level. And then there's the other side of it: Scotland knows America. So the relationship between the two countries is simply fascinating. Although we didn't delve into the reasons for any of this, having this perhaps obvious statement, pointed out was quite thought-provoking.

Right, investigative journalism. Dr O'Neill described investigative journalism in two key ways: firstly, as trying to make people care about things and secondly, in the words of Carl Bernstein, "...simply the search for the best obtainable version of the truth." He complained about the bad reputation journalism has in popular culture, and rightly so. Throughout his presentation he gave us countless examples revealing the critical importance of investigative journalism. He did admit that some journalism is disreputable and is simply churned out without any true fact-finding or investigation. He also noted that the U.S. has some of the best investigative journalists because of our constitutional right of "freedom of speech." The U.K. doesn't officially have this freedom of the press, and U.K. investigative journalists are more restricted to functioning within the system.

Everybody after our lecture from Dr O'Neill

The last thoughtful part of Dr O'Neill's presentation I'll discuss is the insight that some people only do the right thing when it's more painful to continue doing the wrong thing. He says one comes to realize this when working as an investigative journalist, especially when uncovering stories concerning government officials. As he rightly points out, many corrupt government officials continue their misbehavior until they are worse off misbehaving. In a way, investigative journalism turns these people away from doing the wrong thing by making it less painful to do the right thing. Yeah, it's a sort of dismal way to look at the world, but it's certainly a fascinating insight when considering the role of journalism in society.

Also, if you're looking for movie recommendations from a real-deal investigative journalist, look into All the President's Men, Pelican Brief, Citizen Four, The Insider, and Veronica Guenn.

That night, Michael's Aunt told us about a theatrical event going on at the Centre for Contemporary Arts (CCA) in Glasgow hosted by a Fulbrighter! Talk about the Fulbright Bond! So we all headed over to the CCA to experience the "Stage to Play" event. Essentially local playwrights, directors, and actors get together to perform one scene from a play the playwrights are in the midst of writing and then accept feedback from the audience of Glaswegians! What?! How cool is that? We saw three really amazing scenes that gave us more insight into Glaswegian culture than anything else so far - as the arts typically do. The first was about the 1959-1960 New Year's Eve in Glasgow! So through this play, we learned about Glaswegian traditions such as the city's bells tolling at midnight, there being something called a "first step" through the doorway (I think it's just the first person to cross the doorway in the new year), and it being bad luck to take a drink before midnight! It was a lovely story about the importance of family, the transition from 1959 to the new decade of the "swinging 60s" (making us consider the fact that the decades of the 20th century have different reputations than they do in America), and the deep history of Glasgow.

All of us with Sarah Rose, a Fulbrighter who did her year in Glasgow! She was hosting the Stage to Play event. #FulbrightBond

The next scene was about a shopkeeper in a rail station shop and her interactions with her regulars. It definitely highlighted the centrality of public transportation, namely trains, so much so that businesses can function in the stations. Again the relationship between regulars and shopkeepers. This reminds me of how small Scotland can seem to me, as someone from the U.S. In fact the other day on our trip to the highlands (more on that in a moment), our staff contact, John, ran into a friend of his who lives across Scotland just by chance. People really seem to know each other all over this country, revealing a sense of community and wholeness that the U.S. simply could never have.

The third scene was between an Islamic State terrorist of 17 years old holding a police man hostage. The scene went deep into the terrorist's background revealing that he had grown up Jehovah's Witness. The scene was a fascinating commentary on the psychological impact of religion and the rather drastic results. Given how hugely religion has shaped this country's history and still affects it, it wasn't hard to see some of the inspiration for this scene. However, after Matt, one of my peers, talked to the writer of the play afterward, she said she was inspired by how working in the economic world of market schemes and the like can brainwash a person as effectively as a religious belief can. (Do note this is how the writer felt, not how I, nor the Fulbright Commission, feel about religious beliefs.)

Either way, the nature of this event and the truly insightful dialogue between the Glaswegians and their fellow playwrights, directors and actors reveals the liberal nature of this city and its vast appreciation for the arts.

So after our night of Glaswegian theater and culture, we came back to the flats to rest up for our day in the highlands!

On Tuesday, we got up early and hopped on our bus to the Highlands! The trip was centered around the Glencoe Massacre and the Appin Murder and we were guided by Dr Allan Macinnes, a retired professor from the University of Strathclyde who has actually been working for the government to uncover the truth behind the murder! But first, the Glencoe Massacre. So, remember the Jacobites? They were pretty upset when William of Orange and his wife Mary (Protestants!) took the throne after James II (A Catholic Scot) was essentially forced to leave. So, as we know, there were uprisings across Scotland including the highlands. After it was clear that the Jacobites would not be successful for the time being, William of Orange offered a pardon to highland clans if they took an oath of allegiance to him in front of a magistrate. So when the MacDonald clan of Glencoe was a little too close to William's oath deadline, some rather prominent lowlanders who had some beef with the highlanders ended up convincing William of Orange the MacDonald clan needed to be "extirpated." Thus, a regiment was gathered from a neighboring clan, the Campbell's, and the massacre ensued killing 38 MacDonald's. There still remains some deep animosity between the two clans today as a result.

A small monument acknowledging the Glencoe Massacre

Dr Allan Macinnes telling the story of the Glencoe Massacre - it was a bit rainy, but we didn't mind

So we hiked up close to Signal Rock, where the signal was given during the massacre and Dr Allan Macinnes told us a much more detailed version of that story. It's all very confusing actually. But the highlands are really really stunning. As I told Patty in all serious, the Scottish highlands are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Just look:

Here's the whole squad stopping off at a common stopping point for travelers in the highlands throughout history. It's a point between Glen Kinglas and Glen Coe. It was so commonly used that there has been a stone with the kind words "Rest and Be Thankful" for passing travelers. 

After learning about the Glencoe Massacre, we drove even further into the Highlands to learn about the famous Appin Murder. Dr Macinnes had particular insight into the murder since he's been researching it for the government for a number of years. Basically, a member of the Campbell clan, Colin Campbell, was shot twice, allegedly by a marksman far away. The man arrested and hanged for the crime was James Stewart, despite his pretty obvious innocence. Thus, in an effort to figure out what really happened, Dr Macinnes has been up and down the hills of the Highlands where it took place using the little evidence they had (mind you, this murder happened in 1752, people) of different times and testimonies. Essentially, Dr Macinnes explained why he thought it was possible that Colin Campbell's own nephew was the one who killed him. He had many reasons for this possibility, but the main one was motive. Mungo Campbell, Colin's nephew, was able to take over Colin's job and status after his death. That's motive if I've ever heard one. Anyway, Dr Macinnes says his work will be published soon, so we can all read more about it then.

The stone commemorating the spot where Colin Campbell was murdered! 

After our lovely afternoon in the highlands, we headed to a gorgeous manor on Loch Lommond owned by the University of Strathclyde! We were provided a wonderful meal, a lovely view of the Loch and even greeted by an authentic bagpiper! We certainly felt like we were getting the royal treatment. So, after a very delicious haggis appetizer, a wonderful meal and an overall lovely day, we headed back to Glasgow, full and quite exhausted.

Me, Patty, and Nina at Loch Lommond

All of us and our bagpiper outside the university's gorgeous manor at Loch Lommond

So, did you solve Dr McKenzie's challenge from the beginning of the blog? How do you turn "IX" into the number 6 with one stroke? The answer is to add an "S" to make it say "SIX." That's what I call thinking outside the box. Well done if you solved it before getting to the end! You're a creative thinker.

The next blog will feature what we learned from a truly phenomenal lecture about the Scottish legal system and our trip to BBC Scotland! Get excited! I know we are.

Cheers till then!

Sunshine, Stirling, and Stairs

Saturday was sunny! Nearly all day even! Which was lucky for us since we spent a lot of it outside.

We met John outside our flats Saturday morning for a walk through a new part of Glasgow. We walked down High Street getting bits of Glaswegian history along the way and eventually came to the Glasgow Green. The Glasgow Green is one of my favorite places in Glasgow so far. It's a large park made up of huge fields of grass, elegant lines of trees, and several historical monuments. However these monuments weren't all for war heroes and politicians - they were for more localized citizens and popular movements specific to Glasgow. There was even one for those who opposed the first World War, which I thought was especially fascinating. My favorite monument was to the women of the Temperance Movement given the irony of temperance in a country with such an emphasis on drinking in its culture.

The monument to the Temperance Movement in Glasgow Green

The Glasgow Green also shares a space with something called the People's Palace, another testament to the importance of the people themselves to Glasgow's identity. The People's Palace is a rather small museum devoted to the history of the people of Glasgow themselves. The exhibit details marriages throughout Glaswegian history, what school was like, the Temperance Movement, what jail was like, a favorite dance, homosexual history - it was all a lovely testament to the identity of Glasgow. The people of Glasgow are so embraced by their own city that the city's slogan itself is "People Make Glasgow" - which as Neil (our student ambassador) pointed out to us, is quite brilliant since you can add any word to the end of that phrase as well such as "People make Glasgow...musical" or "smart" or "beautiful" etc.

The People's Palace - quite literally named, clearly

The Commonwealth Games (an every four year sports affair at which all British Commenwealths, including former ones, compete against one another) were held in Glasgow last year, and this was their mascot, Clyde. He serves as another example of Glaswegian identity and pride. 

Outside the People's Palace is a lovely Terracotta Fountain (the largest in the world actually!) called the Doulton Fountain. On top sits Queen Victoria looking out on her empire. This domineering statue of Queen Victoria is all over the city and apparently was erected during Britain's imperialistic moment in history as a symbol of the empire. Part of me wonders what would happen to these imperialistic images if Scottish Independence were to occur - but another part acknowledges that Scotland deeply values its history, and would probably keep them in place as a testament to their past and the massive legacy of English rule they had to overcome to be independence.

All of us outside the Doulton Fountain

After the People's Palace we got some lunch at a lovely pub nearby that supposedly sold the best beer in Glasgow - ironically it's German beer - but the food was certainly lovely.

After lunch, Neil brought us to the Merchant City Festival. We are so lucky to be in Glasgow for this festival. It is such an excellent representation of Glaswegian culture. Everyone is out and about on the streets looking in on the booths that are all completely decked out with either delicious deserts, crazy food, or little Scottish trinkets. I have never seen a more extensive street festival in all my life. We all had a lovely time exploring and talking with the vendors, trying amazing deserts and enjoying the musicians on the street. By the way, every single time we've been on the streets of Glasgow, there's always a street musician playing. From all ages and all types of music, there hasn't been one time without music - a lovely testament to the artisticness and creativity that is bursting from this city through every outlet whether it be music, film or theatre.

The Merchant City Festival in Glasgow

I was super excited to see the spread at the dessert booths - who knew Turkish Delight was actually delightful?

Although the music and the festivals are pretty grand, there is one thing I love even more about Glasgow - the police boxes. People, the Doctor could land the TARDIS in this city and no one would find it even remotely out of place. There are police boxes of every color throughout the entire city, although I like the blue ones best.

Me with a green TARDIS

Me with THE REAL TARDIS - shame on all the nonbelievers

After spending hours exploring the Merchant City Festival, we headed home to get some rest.

On Sunday, we all kind of split up and did our own things. History nerds as we are, Liam and I decided heading to Stirling was our top priority. As you might recall, Stirling is the location of the ever important Battle of Stirling BRIDGE - that's right Mel Gibson, the Battle of Stirling BRIDGE was on a bridge. Of course, it fell during the battle, so it's no longer there, but we were super duper close to where it was! By the way, all the Braveheart debunks are on a previous blog post - do take a peak if you haven't already. It's important.

Right, so Liam and I took a quick train to Stirling and were quickly smitten with the small town. It's quite historical. It even has little blue and gold signs throughout the whole place explaining the historical significance of old churches, buildings and bridges. Naturally, we loved that. We were a tad hungry when we arrived, and happened upon LORD DARNLEY'S HOUSE. If you don't recall, Lord Darnley was Mary Queen of Scots's second husband -- you know, the one that flew into murderous rages on occasion and killed David Rizzio in front of his very pregnant wife that one time. Good stuff. Anyway, it's casually been turned into a coffee house aptly titled "Darnley Coffee House." Naturally, Liam and I chose this place to stop for a bite. It was quite small with a couple decently sized rooms and the characteristic short doorways. It was a perfect start to our history-filled day.

The Darnley Coffee House - Lord Darnley's actual house

After our lunch, we headed up a hill and happened upon an awesome-looking church. Classic Scotland. We peaked inside and discovered it is the Church of the Holy Rude which Mary Queen of Scots worshipped in and John Knox preached in! We were tweaking with excitement.

Church of the Holy Rude

Inside the Church of the Holy Rude

After poking around the Church, we walked up the road to Stirling Castle itself. Wow, there was a lot of history in this building. It's been sieged 16 times - half of which are by the English and the other half by the Scottish trying to take it back from the English. It's switched hands between the two many times and it's all rather confusing. Mary Queen of Scots along with several other important royals had been baptized in that very church and many of the James's (James V, James VI/I etc.) lived there as well! The decor was fantastic and we really loved our tour guide. He liked his sound effects - especially shouting "BOOM....BOOM BOOM!" when discussing castle sieges. My favorite part was a huge room they call the "great hall" used to host parties by the likes of Mary Queen of Scots herself. Our tour guide told us that she once hosted a three day party that required her to take out the equivalent of 12 million pounds in that very room.

Stirling Castle

Stirling Castle

Chilling on the throne in the room where Mary Queen of Scots threw down

The most interesting part of the castle was that it was essentially completely restored to how it might have been in the 17th century and earlier. In fact, the castle had been used by the military up until 1964 which is when Historic Scotland began to restore it. So the inside of the castle was very cartoonish in its bright colors and restored decor. It was kind of an odd effect since it looked so new but was trying to replicate something so old.

An example of one of the restored rooms - check out that cartoon-like ceiling!

The biggest benefit of Stirling Castle, I think, are the views. It sits on a hill, so the views of Stirling were absolutely breathtaking.

After finishing up at the castle, Liam and I were left with about 3 hours until our train left. He was feeling very ambitious and somehow convinced me that we could go all the way to the Wallace Monument and back in time for the train - I was skeptical, but I'm very glad he convinced me. It was well worth the mile or so it took to hike there...and uphill, I might add.

The view of Wallace Monument from Stirling Castle

 So we hiked across the river - yup, the very river that the English had to cross on the BRIDGE to meet William Wallace and the Scots at the Battle of Stirling BRIDGE. Did I mention it happened on a bridge? Silly Braveheart. Anywho, Liam and I crossed a bridge (not the bridge...remember, that one fell during the battle) near where the bridge once was and soaked in the historical moment. We found some monuments to the battle and made our way to the castle-like monument that commemorated it all.

Me on a bridge, not the bridge, near where the Battle of Stirling took place

By the way, the whole town of Stirling, unsurprisingly probably, is devoted to William Wallace and that battle. Something on nearly every block is titled "Wallace This" and "Wallace That" - which is quite charming actually. Again, a lovely representation of the differing identities of each Scottish city, but how each one fully embraces their identity.

Right, so we made our way to the Wallace Monument and ended up climbing to the very top. Guess how many steps there are? I'll save you the time, it's 273. Let me show you what the 273 steps look like:

Imagine climbing 273 of these tiny steps on a spiral staircase - if I didn't know what dizzy felt like before, I know now

The crazy staircase was totally worth the top though. Even though there was crazy amounts of wind and quite a bit of rain, the views from the top of the Wallace Monument were absolutely stunning, and the struggle it took to get there certainly made us consider the struggle Scotland has been through for greater independence and arguably still goes through today.

The Wallace Monument up close

As I said, the top of the monument is quite windy and a tad damp

The view from the top of the Wallace Monument

After our rather exhausting climb up and down the 273 stairs, Liam and I were ready to head home on the train and get back to our lovely warm beds in Glasgow.

That's all for now! Cheers till the next one :)

Precipitation, Paradoxes, and Plays

So, we've been in Glasgow for several days now, and let me tell you: I will never again complain about Chicago weather. Well, I might still complain about the extreme winters, but during the spring, summer, and fall, I will never complain again. It rains on and off and on and off all day, every day, here in Glasgow. Clouds or sunshine, it could rain at any moment. Mind you, when the sun is out, it gets pretty toasty but as soon as the wind pushes the clouds to cover it, it's freezing again. The rain could last five seconds, it could last five hours. It could be a downpour or a light drizzle. It's so unbelievably unpredictable.

One of the other differences between Glasgow and Dundee is the hills. Of course, Dundee certainly had its fair share of steepness, but Glasgow is on another level. Edinburgh as well, come to think of it. As we walked around the city our first day, we were all rather nervous as we walked straight down a sidewalk that was inclined at about, I kid you not, a 60 degree angle. I asked our staff contact, John, if people ever slipped down these streets and he laughed and said "oh yes." Given my experience with icy Chicago winters, this thought was terrifying.

Anyway, Glasgow itself is pretty interesting. Our first impression of the city centre was that it looks awfully familiar. Not familiar because we've been in Scotland for a couple weeks now, familiar because we've lived in the States our whole lives. The city center is lined with stores like H&M, Forever 21, and even the Hard Rock Cafe. Honestly, it looks a lot like Boulder, Colorado, where the entire "street" is made up of cobblestone or brick walkway and shops lining the sides. Of course, the city is still distinctly Scottish in many respects given the presence of our friends the seagulls, statues of historically important figures sprinkled throughout and of course, double decker buses.

The streets of Glasgow

Our first full day in Glasgow began with a lecture called "Inspiring Innovation" by Dr Steven Graham, the executive director of the Technology and Innovation Centre (TIC) at University of Strathclyde. This building is particularly important to the University of Strathclyde. The Queen actually officially opened it only a few weeks ago! The building represents the university's drive to continue innovating and bringing innovation to the public. The building is accessible to the public and has meeting rooms, seating, computer access etc. The TIC's goal is to give the public a place to enter the "Valley of Death." Wait, what? Yes, the "Valley of Death," which apparently is a stage in the Technology Readiness Level (the process of idea to reality) where the idea itself was formed. TIC also strives to bring the worlds of academics and business together, which Dr Graham noted can be a very difficult task, but a crucial one for success and true innovation. Ultimately, the TIC wishes to have a multidisciplinary approach to innovation involving technology, the public and even the government, bringing all the people necessary for innovation into one space to make the process massively efficient.

Squad with Dr Steven Graham at the Technology and Innovation Centre

After our lecture, we got a tour of the facilities. The building itself is only about 5 months old meaning everything was pretty brand spanking new. My favorite part might have been what's pictured below. There were several of these booths around the common area that essentially block out all sound so that one can work peacefully in a common area with a lot of people.

The sound-proof booths at the TIC

After our lecture with Dr Graham, we headed to the National Piping Centre to learn about the bagpipes! The National Piping Centre has a one-room museum full of ancient to contemporary bagpipes (including ones played at the battle of Waterloo!) along with old sheet music and different variations of pipes. Our tour guide was lovely and very knowledgeable, being a bagpiper herself for 15 years. The most interesting information included that the bagpipes didn't even originate in Scotland. The first pipes known are from 12th century Egypt and they spread throughout all of Europe not showing up in Scotland until the 13th century! Also, their original use in Scotland was by the "Town Piper" who would play in the wee hours of the morning to wake everyone up. If you've ever heard the pipes being played, you'll know that they have absolutely no volume other than loud and they would be a very effective alarm.

Everyone outside of the National Piping Centre

After learning a bit about the pipes, we actually got a chance to try them out. YOU WOULD NOT BELIEVE HOW MUCH AIR IT TAKES TO GET THE BAGPIPES TO MAKE SOUND. I cannot emphasize that enough. You have to fill the bag with air, and then blow a ton more to get sound out. When you take a breath in, you can squeeze the bag (keeping the pressure exactly the same) to continue making sound but then you better pump some more breath in soon or the sound will stop. To demonstrate exactly how difficult it was, here's a video of my own attempt:

After we all made our pitiful attempts to play, our tour guide played for us and made us all feel really good about ourselves. Not. She was really incredible.

Next we went to the Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow. It was...modern art. I have a lot of respect for people who appreciate and understand modern art, and really, I always try to give it a chance, but I'm not a huge fan. Even so, I enjoyed our time there immensely. The first exhibit was a film in which they had bean bag chairs to lay on and lawn chairs as well. The film was super odd and I do not understand it, but I enjoyed watching.

After walking through all the exhibits, we headed back to the flats for a couple hours to relax and get ready for our Civic Reception at the Glasgow City Chambers.

This reception was one of the nicest we've attended so far. It was small, so we all got a chance to talk to everyone in attendance. The Baillie (a civic officer) of Glasgow was in attendance along with other important members of the Glasgow City Council. We also got a chance to talk with a Fulbright Scholar currently studying in Glasgow from the States, which was an awesome and very informative experience. We got a chance to discuss our lecture topics with a few of our lecturers at the University of Strathclyde as well. Our favorite part was being allowed to see the City Council Debate Chambers themselves. It was a beautiful debate room with cushioned seats featuring a gold crest, a gorgeous ceiling and overall extensive decor. The cherry on top was the chair at the head of the room donated by Queen Victoria herself, affectionately known as the "Victoria Chair."

Me sitting in the "Victoria Chair"

Most of the group at the Glasgow City Chambers

We all had a lovely time at the reception, and enjoyed our night out in Glasgow afterward. 

Friday we had two lectures: the first was a walking health history tour along the streets of Glasgow, the second a round table discussion with the National Theatre of Scotland. 

So, the health tour mainly focused on a strange phenomenon special to Glasgow called "The Glasgow Effect." Basically it's this health conundrum that the life expectancy of Glaswegians (at least those with lower income) is inexplicably lower (10 years lower) than anywhere else in Europe. Our lecturer, Dr Patricia Barton, noted the paradox of Glasgow in that it's known for its innovativeness, but also has this reputation as the "sick man of Europe." So while the city is constantly creating new solutions to problems, it seems to be unable to solve the one, arguably most important, problem it has: health. 

Dr Barton also told us a bit of the history of the city itself. The most surprising tidbit was that Glasgow was built on the trade of three items: slavery, tobacco, and opium. Yikes. Maybe that explains the health problem (joking, of course). Anyhow, Glasgow provides better access routes to the Americas than London, so it was heavily used for these profitable trades. 

Us with Dr Barton on our health tour

Another interesting tidbit from our health tour concerns Cholera, which became a health and political issue. So, cholera was most likely brought to Glasgow by washer women, one of the only groups of people that wasn't quarantined because the wealthier citizens of Glasgow had priorities in the field of not doing their own laundry. So cholera hit and the remedy used was a "hot totty," whiskey, tea, lemon and honey. To this day, my own father insists that hot tottys are a great cold remedy. Unfortunately, alcohol dehydrates your body, and didn't really help the victims of cholera out much. Anywho, eventually people thought the government invented cholera in order to obtain bodies for anatomists of Glasgow and research. I guess that tells us a lot about political efficacy and confidence in the Glaswegian government in the 19th century.

After our health tour, we went to our meeting with two representatives from the National Theatre of Scotland, Neil Murray and Elly Rothnie. The lecture was called "Theatre without Walls" and it was quite well named. So, the National Theatre of Scotland is a bit of a mystery to someone from the States. This Theatre is funded by the Scottish government with a rather generous budget. The fact that the government supports the arts so completely is so amazing, but seems too good to be true. The government doesn't even have to vet their programs! After discussing it with Neil and Elly though, it's clear why Scottish culture is a huge asset that must be conserved. In Scotland, culture is considered a resource, not a burden or a service. In fact, when asked how Independence might affect the National Theatre of Scotland, Neil and Elly were both confident that, if anything, their funding would increase. In a time of independence, having a strong and flourishing culture is essential to national sentiment and a successful transition into independence, therefore acting as a resource. As Elly noted, "culture allows a small country to punch way above its weight."

Everyone with Neil and Elly at the National Theatre of Scotland discussion

The most interesting thing about the National Theatre of Scotland is that they are the first national theatre company that chose against having its own venue. This gives the Theatre the ability to make the entirety of Scotland its venue. In fact, on their opening night, they had 10 different plays in 10 different Scottish cities open on the same night at the same time, binding the whole nation together in one night of theatre. The setting for their plays has been everything from a traditional theater setting to pubs, airports, and football fields. If all this wasn't enough, they even do international plays basically all the time. In fact, I'm extremely excited that they'll be doing one of their famous "pub plays" in my own college town, Champaign-Urbana! I can't wait to attend.

Our talks about both health in Glasgow and the National Theatre of Scotland were both extremely eye-opening and inspiring.

This weekend will certainly bring more exciting adventures in Glasgow, so cheers till then!