Independence, England, and Irn Bru

Alright, on Friday we had one lecture all about the independence referendum that occurred on September 18th, 2014 (my 20th birthday as it would have it) by Dr Neil McGarvey of Strathclyde's School of Government and Public Policy. I know I've already written plenty about it, but Dr McGarvey provided several new insights, so I'll just be sharing those.

Very fittingly, Dr McGarvey began by discussing the culture of Scotland itself which plays an immense role in the independence referendum. Scotland is actually the only country to vote against being independent when given the opportunity to vote. That alone reveals a lot. As Dr McGarvey noted, Scotland really is a very unusual nation. It's already pretty independent: it's got its own sports, its own religion, its own press, its own education system and of course, its own legal system! So Scotland is essentially a nation without its own state otherwise known as a stateless nation.

Thanks for the picture, dailywhat.org

Really quick about the education systems since I haven't touched on this already. It's all quite interesting. So, I think I mentioned that people from Scotland go to University in Scotland for free while the rest of the U.K. has to pay 9,000 pounds; however, any country in the EU can go to school in Scotland for free. It's all quite odd. But, compared to England, Scotland's university degrees are for four years and you can study several different subjects where, as I understand it, in England students only need 3 years of university for a degree, but it's much more specialized in terms of subject area. Interesting, isn't it?

As Dr McGarvey explained, over the years of devolution, Scottish politics has developed its own agenda very separate from UK politics while also experiencing an overall decline in Britishness while Scottishness has been accentuated. In fact, he mentioned that if you ask someone in Scotland if they voted yes or no for independence, they would often say "no, but I'm not a unionist" or "yes, but I'm not a nationalist." This makes it seem like Scots shy away from polarized politics and prefer more moderate approaches, which from what I've seen so far, is accurate. After all, the referendum was praised throughout the world as surprisingly peaceful. This doesn't mean, however, that there weren't strong feelings or exaggerations. Here, for instance, is a video of someone very clearly in favor of independence narrating the arrival of English politicians to Glasgow to try to lobby for the "no" vote:

There were many really fascinating results of the referendum. On the surface, the "yes" vote was 1,617,989, or 44.7% while the "no" vote was 2,001,926, or 55.3%. The voter turnout was massively high at 84.6%, but don't forget that 16 and 17 year olds were allowed to vote for the first time as well, which probably added to that number. In terms of demographics, older people generally voted "no" while men typically voted "yes" along with less well off people. All in all, the referendum inspired a wave of interest in politics from all walks of Scotland. Independence and all its trappings became the dominant conversation topic so much so that bars had to put up signs that said "nae indy debates at the bar" (no debates about independence at the bar). The populace was engaged in politics like never before, which perfectly attests to the importance of this referendum.

Now, a little bit about devolution. The process of devolution (the process of distributing the power of a unitary government to its regional governments) is different in each nation of the U.K. So, Wales has different devolved powers than Scotland, which are different from Northern Ireland. 1999 marks the year of Scottish legislative devolution through the Scottish Parliament, but they already had administrative devolution for several years through an institution called the Scottish Office, a branch of the U.K. government that handled administrative affairs for Scotland. Dr McGarvey also noted that devolution is actually more of a conservative policy, which is kind of surprising. But seeing as it's an alternative of independence, it makes perfect sense. It's all about perspective, people. Another piece of evidence for this is that in the Scotland Act of 1998 which established the Scottish Parliament, the supremacy of the U.K. Parliament was reasserted. Finally, Dr McGarvey mentioned that he considered the U.K. to be not a unitary state, but a state of unions, because each of these nations have unique powers and governments. I was taught in high school that the U.K. was a unitary state, but it certainly doesn't seem to function much like one - especially considering the massive devolution in Scotland.

There is a ton more to write about on the subjects of independence and devolution, but I will spare you all for now and you can ask me more when I return if you so desire.

After our lecture, Nina, Omar and I hopped on a train to London for the weekend to get some first hand experience in comparing Scotland to the rest of the U.K., and let me tell you, from what I saw, Scotland and England could not be more different.

First, I'll go through what we did before doing a full-on comparison. We arrived Friday evening and met Nina's friends, Lauren and Niko, who we were staying with. They showed us around the city a little bit before taking us to a truly phenomenal Mediterranean restaurant in Soho called Cookhouse Joe's. Have you every had Halloumi? It's good and you should try it. Then we stopped by a gelato place where I had kiwi, gin and elderflower sorbet - what? It was really amazing though. After feeding ourselves, Nina, Omar and I walked around London ourselves a bit. We said goodnight to Big Ben at midnight and watched the London Eye slowly spin lit up by its red lights.

First night in London

About to say goodnight to Big Ben

The London Eye at night

London at night

Right, so, the next morning we woke up bright and early to be touristy tourists, but also get a sense of what London is all about. While we walked from Picadilly Circus to Buckingham Palace to St Paul's Cathedral and beyond, we began to notice one hugely important thing about London: it's very international. About 1 in 3 people in London are not from England. We probably heard at least 15 different languages throughout our day and saw people from all over the world. It's not just the people though. The food was all very internationally focused, all the tour places we went offered audio guides in a ton of different languages, and to top it off, on all major cross walks, the street literally told you which way to look for cars coming. Like, instead of the white lines in front of you, it said "LOOK RIGHT --->" or "<--- LOOK LEFT." If that doesn't prove the internationality of London, nothing will.

Picadilly Circus

Omar, me and Nina at Buckingham Palace

The London Eye

Nina and I at Somerset House

My favorite touristy thing we did was St Paul's Cathedral. This is a splendid cathedral in the middle of London that has been a very historically central venue for important moments such as William Churchill's funeral and Princess Diana's wedding. There are over 500 steps to be climbed in order to get to the top of St Paul's cathedral - which is really kind of torturous - but the view is so worth it. See for yourselves:

St Paul's Cathedral

The view from St Paul's Cathedral

The view from St Paul's Cathedral

The view from St Paul's Cathedral

To go along with how internationally focused England is, the cathedral also had monuments to all sorts of countries throughout the world including a huge tribute to the "American dead of the Second World War" which stands behind the high altar - which is a very sacred and important place! Such splendor devoted to a former colony of England speaks volumes about the culture of this city and its central cathedral.

My other favorite event was seeing a Vivaldi orchestra concert by candlelight in St Martin-in-the-fields, a lovely church near Trafalgar Square. The music was splendid and the venue matched it perfectly.

It was at this concert I began to consider some differences and similarities between Scotland and England and a comparison between the two. The first thing that sparked this was when I noticed a rather large royal crest at the front of the church on the ceiling. "Huh," my American brain mused, "what about separation of church and state?" Well, dummy, this is England! The Anglican Church was made for the state! Henry VIII split from the pope and made the monarch the head of the church, remember? Right, well, the situation in Scotland is the same, but different (as many things here are). Scotland has a legacy of Presbyterianism, which is certainly ingrained in their state structure as well. Our legal expert from last week, Dr Norrie, agreed that in Scotland there really is no separation of Church and State. It certainly would be difficult to enforce given the relationship between the church and state in England.

Eventually I also came to notice the constant distinction between England and Scotland in London. Signs and information would never call people British - only Scottish or English. This reminded me of what Dr McGarvey mentioned about the decline in Britishness. Come to think of it, I don't think I've heard the term "British" once in reference to a person. This just goes to show the relentless separation of Scotland and England as distinct nations and cultures. More on this in a second!

First, I'll quickly detail our second day. We woke up and headed over to King's Cross to experience some Harry Potter nostalgia. The line for Platform 9 3/4 (kind of a cheesy rip-off people, not gonna lie) was quite long, so we decided to head to the British Library first to go through an AWESOME ONCE IN A LIFETIME EXHIBITION ABOUT THE MAGNA CARTA AND IT WAS THE AWESOMEST AWESOME THAT EVER DID AWESOME. Really quick, for those of you who don't know, the Magna Carta was this rather important document that was a result of the English barons of 1215 and their rebellion against King John basically for some important governmental changes. What it established was that the King had to follow the law, just like everyone else, and the people would not be subject to tyranny. Sound familiar?! Thus, traces of the Magna Carta's message are found throughout all of European history. It doesn't matter that Pope Innocent III (who happened to be England's feudal overlord at the time) annulled it like, 10 weeks later - not important. The document lives and breathes to this day in all sorts of things including, I don't know, the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. Speaking of those, they both happened to be in this exhibit. Yep. Thomas Jefferson's personal copy of the Declaration of Independence was sitting in front of my face and so was the freaking Bill of Rights. I definitely cried a little. It was magical. (Also, note again the reverence afforded to the United States in this London, Magna Carta exhibit. Okay, moving on.) Okay, also about every copy of the Magna Carta in existence was there, including the closest thing to the original we've got and a few papal bulls and all around amazing medieval and modern documents. It truly was once in a lifetime. Sorry for geeking out here, non-history folks.

King's Cross station

The British Library

A lovely park I spent my last few hours in London hanging out in, soaking up the rays

Although I understand my two days in London in no way allowed me to fully understand English culture in contrast with Scottish culture, there was certainly a palpable differentiation between the two. London seemed to be looking out toward the rest of the world, unconcerned with Scotland or the rest of the U.K. while Scotland is very internally focused. London excreted a mixture of many different cultures forming one very tolerant and ambiguous amalgamation, while Scottish culture is clear cut and full of its own unique character. Neither is good or bad, but they are certainly different. And I definitely did feel a little homesick for Scotland while I was away.

DC Thomson in London - one of the only pieces of evidence I saw of a Scottish connection whilst in the city

That's not to say there aren't plenty of similarities between England and Scotland. They both sell bottled Scottish water everywhere! But beyond that, they're both very egalitarian societies, they both do not have much of a separation of church and state, they share very similar governmental structures and have similar cultural values. So, I suppose on the surface they are the same, but in personality, they are very very different.

Speaking of understanding Scottish culture, Monday was highly eye-opening in that respect. After a morning lecture about the Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences (all highly interesting, but this blog is already too long, so if you'd like to know more, just ask me), we headed to the Irn Bru factory! Okay, some background: Irn Bru (pronounced Iron Brew) is essentially the Scottish national drink. Scotland is the only country in the world where Cocacola is not the most popular soda (or as they call it here, ginger or fizzy drink) - it's Irn Bru. Why's it spelled like that? Legislation got passed that drinks had to come at face value, so basically that what the drink says it is has to be what it actually is. Now, there is a little iron in Irn Bru, so that was in the clear, but it isn't brewed like a beer, so the owner of the company said they'd keep the name and just spell it weird, thus "Irn Bru" was born. What does it taste like? Although it claims to have an indescribable taste, I will tell you it tastes like fizzy bubblegum cough syrup.

All of us heading into our tour of the Irn Bru factory! I know, we look good.

How in the world is this drink beating out Cocacola in Scotland? I would argue a combination of the fiercely spirited culture of Scotland along with phenomenal marketing. Two members of the Irn Bru marketing team met with us on Monday to tell us their brilliant formula for building a brand. Essentially they told us about two important concepts when it comes to marketing: the brand's essence and the brand's character. The brand's essence is developed from a lovely pyramid of traits of your product and turns out to be two words that fully capture the product's essence. Irn Bru's essence is "Bold Spirit," which after watching several adds was absolutely fitting. Their marketing scheme is quite bold. Jonathan Kemp, Irn Bru's Commercial Director, told us that if he thinks any of his competitors would print or run an advert (that's what they call ads here), he wouldn't do it. Irn Bru's marketing is unique, cheeky, bold, and filled with the spirit of Scotland. Here's an example:

See how the add pokes fun at Scotland while also giving off this unparalleled sense of pride? That is spirit. And that is Scottish culture. Remember the video of the Darth Vadar music and the English politicians? Classic Scotland. Scotland has the ability to make fun of its rougher side, but still embrace its culture all the same unlike any other nation I know of. It has a sense of humor, it's bold and cheeky, and it is fiercely confident and proud of what it is. Doesn't that kind of sound like a person? That's the second part of what Mr Kemp told us about building a brand: give your product character, like that of a person. So, Irn Bru's personality is essentially Scotland's personality, and that comes across in every advert you see and even the drink itself: bold spirit.

We all got a little nostalgic at the Irn Bru factory. Never before had we seen Scottish culture so greatly represented in a 2 minute video. It just showed us how very much we will miss this place and its very bold spirit.

This one of the last blog posts - I expect about two more. One with more events and one reflective one when I return to the States on Saturday. So until the next one, cheers!

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!

Goodbyes, Galavanting, and Glasgow

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were some busy, travel-intensive days. Monday was spent in Dundee, Tuesday in Edinburgh, and Wednesday in Glasgow.

Let's start with Monday, what was essentially our farewell to Dundee. We started the day with Graeme discussing our time in Dundee and what's expected of us in our assessments -- that's right! We don't just galavant around Scotland without any word or grades! We actually have to complete journals, an essay and a presentation. So this really is summer school - although it sure doesn't feel like it. 

After our debrief with Graeme, we headed over to an administration building to meet with the Principal and Vice-Chancellor of Dundee, Sir Pete Downes (just knighted a few weeks ago!). Sir Downes told us all about the "transformation agenda" of Dundee and how far Dundee has come so far. Dundee is a hugely impressive university, and it's come a long way from its initial split in 1967 from being a part of St Andrews. For instance, Dundee is now #1 in the UK in research in life sciences, which was no surprise to us given our time learning about Thiel and advancements in forensic facial reconstruction. My favorite part of our talk with Sir Downes was when he described the model Dundee has adopted in order to become the best university in Scotland. He said their model was brought to the university by one particular head of a department in the sciences who insisted on appointing people who were better than those already in the department - including himself. Think about this! It would be so difficult to bring people into your work space who were more effective than you, therefore threatening you and your job! However, obviously, this is better for the company, business, school, whatever, itself. This was a model I immediately thought could never be followed in the States. We're too competitive in the work environment stateside, but in Dundee, this model has brought the university status and success. This is an idea that I hope not to forget in my own professional career, especially since Dundee has proved that it is successful in the realm of education. 

Sir Pete Downes, President of Dundee University, outside the Life Sciences Building (image from http://www.thecourier.co.uk/)

We also asked Sir Downes about Scottish Independence, and he brought up two very interesting points about the issue. Firstly, Sir Downes himself as an Englishman, would be made to be an ex-pat working abroad if Scotland were to be independent. Thus, he pointed out that there's an emotional element to Scottish independence that could be negative for ex-pats from England, Northern Ireland and Wales as well. The other fascinating point he brought up about independence was the irony that results from the SNP majority in Westminster right now. The SNP is obviously working to make life better in Scotland and represent Scotland as best as possible in England right now, however, if they're successful, the vote for independence will be vastly less likely. So the SNP is a bit stuck right now because if they do too much good for Scotland, people will be convinced that independence is unnecessary, but if they don't do their jobs effectively, they'll inevitably lose seats in the next election. There are so many levels and perspectives of Scottish Independence - it's so interesting to watch them unfold. 

After our lovely day of lectures we went to the Apex Hotel on the waterfront of Dundee for our farewell dinner. There we ate an amazing meal with Graeme, Pat, Daria and Keegan. It was certainly a bittersweet, but highly enjoyable time as we prepared to leave Dundee to spend the next two weeks at Strathclyde University in Glasgow. 

Matt, Nina, and Omar at our Dundee farewell dinner at the Apex Hotel

The next day (Tuesday) we hopped on a bus with all our luggage and headed off to Edinburgh, our old friend. We had essentially the whole day to ourselves, which was most welcome since our first day in Edinburgh was jam-packed with (amazing) activities. 

We started the day off with a walk to Edinburgh Castle, the castle that inspired none other than Hogwarts itself. So, we walked up the Royal Mile until we found the entrance to the castle, pictured below.

Edinburgh Castle from afar

The entrance to Edinburgh Castle, flanked by William Wallace (left) and Robert the Bruce (right)

The Royal Mile is arguably the most touristy part of Edinburgh. It stretches from Edinburgh Castle all the way to Holyrood Castle and the Scottish Parliament, and the street itself is lined with whiskey shops claiming to be the best whiskey in Scotland, the most touristy of tourist stores and plenty of pubs. Oh and don't forget about the advertisements for witchery tours. Lots of those too. 

The Royal Mile - note the advertisement for "Witchery Tours" as promised

We decided Edinburgh Castle was just too touristy for us to spend all the money and the time on the interior tour, so we walked around in the free part for a while and moved on. The next stop to be made was the ever-important Elephant House Cafe, the "birthplace" of Harry Potter, as it were. This cafe has a perfect view of Edinburgh Castle on its hill of rock and grass that served JK Rowling's imagination very fittingly to inspire Harry's story and the castle it takes place in. Here we stopped for quick coffee or shortbread cookie (in the shape of an elephant, I might add) and soaked in the warm atmosphere that Rowling herself loved so much. 

All of us outside the Elephant House!

Me, Patty and Tim hanging out in the Elephant House where JK Rowling once wrote!

The Cafe has a drawer full of letters written to/about Harry Potter or JK Rowling -- this one's from France and has a drawing

After our coffee, the group split up (cue dramatic music) to accomplish two different activities. One group decided to hike up a practically vertical mountain called Arthur's Seat, which is notorious for its amazing views, and the other decided to see the Botanical Gardens. I was in the latter group, my family and anyone whose ever hiked with me much before will not be surprised to know. So, while the larger group hiked Arthur's Seat, me, Nina, Patty, Jael and Matt got sidetracked on the Royal Mile shopping around, going on the Ferris Wheel, and then going on a freaking amazing tour of Mary King's Close. 

Let me tell you about Mary King's Close. So, this was one of the things I really wanted to do while I was in Scotland, so I'm very pleased my friends agreed. This is one of the most haunted places in Europe, and if you went on this tour, you would not be surprised at this fact. So, firstly, what's a close? A close denotes a rather narrow street lined by up to 12 floors worth of tiny flats (more or less) or shops or whatever, usually providing a pathway away from the main street. Here's an example of what one might have looked like: 

Patty walking up something that might be considered a close

So, what's so special about Mary King's Close? A LOT OF THINGS. 

1) This is a street named after a woman in the 17th century! Not even a particularly rich woman! She was the mother of 4 children who had been widowed, but closes were typically named after very prominent or important people who lived there, so she must have been a very successful and important woman indeed. 

2) It dates from the 17th century and earlier! 

3) There were plague victims there! (Wait, wait, wait, Lisa, I know my history and therefore, I know that the plague was in the 14th century!) Alright, so the main plague that we hear about in AP European History and World History definitely hit in the 14th century, however, plagues hit different places at different times all the time! One hit of the plague was particularly bad in Edinburgh in 1645 including Mary King's Close. 

Now, there are a lot of stories of plague victims being walled up in the close and left to die, but those stories aren't entirely rooted in fact apparently (which, not going to lie, bummed me out a tad), but of course, the true stories were just as horrific. Lots and lots of people died during this hit of the plague throughout Mary King's Close. However, there was hope for those who had the bubonic plague (if you had the pneumonic plague, you were pretty much done for). There was a "doctor" of sorts who could help those with bubonic plague by cutting open the puss-filled sores, draining them, and singeing them back together with a hot iron, and thereby giving them a 50% chance of surviving. Great odds. Anyway, the only reason this dude survived was because he wore this totally crazy outfit which consisted of a body-length leather shawl (particularly impervious to little things like fleas which, I dunno, cause the plague) and a freaky mask with a raven beak. Here's Nina modeling the mask: 

Nina and the plague mask

The mask was filled with oils to ward off evil spirits and demons, but the oils actually may have helped ward off the plague itself. So, the plague doctor of Mary King's Close and plague doctors throughout Europe actually might have accomplished something by wearing this creepy outfit. 

So. What's the most interesting thing about Mary King's Close?

It's underground. 

It's just hanging out underneath Edinburgh right now. They built the Royal Exchange on top of it at some point and kicked all the residents out with a 40 pound stipend. Jackpot! 40 pounds to find a new home and livelihood, whoopee!

Well, almost all the residents got 40 pounds. One got 400 pounds. How, you may ask? By being difficult. Mr. Chesney really liked his house on the close and was not happy when asked to leave, but when he was offered 400 pounds (about 40,000 pounds, and way more US Dollars, by today's standards) he couldn't exactly refuse. So he left his little home and the toilet he was very proud of (titled "Thunder Box" - how appropriate) for better things. 

Okay, last story about Mary King's Close. So, there's one room that's maybe legitimately haunted. Apparently a psychic from Japan came to the Close to see if there was any paranormal activity going on. She found nothing. Nothing! How could that be? So many people died from the plague among other horrific things! So she found nothing except for one thing in one tiny room. In this room she felt a presence, and when she tried to leave something grabbed her dress to pull her back. She turned around and saw a small child. The child called herself Annie and said she died of an illness and was abandoned by her parents. The Japanese psychic determined she was there because she wanted her stuffed toy, so the psychic went out to the Royal Mile and bought her a barbie after which Annie vanished. To this day there is a huge pile of stuffed animals and toys for girls left by those on the tour for Annie. It's kind of eerie actually. Not to mention the hugely noticeable drop in temperature in Annie's room. No joke. It's freaking cold in there. 

Here's a picture of what the close looks like today with some artificial lighting (image from theguardian.com)

There are more really interesting and frankly, haunting, stories about Mary King's Close, but you'll have to ask me more about them in person as I've already written too much about this one experience. 

Alright, after the Close we met back up with the rest of our group at the hotel to change and go to the good old Scottish Parliament for a photography exhibition curated by the University of Dundee archives. The exhibition was called "Michael Peto Photographs: Politics In Focus," and it was really cool. We felt so fancy all dressed up in the Scottish Parliament analyzing black and white portraits of important political names and faces. Some interesting people featured in Peto's photographs included Winston Churchill, Nelson Mandela, Ian McKellen, and John Lennon. They were a truly stunning collection of portraits with fascinating stories behind each of them. I especially appreciated the prevalence of important women in Parliament in one portion of the exhibition. 

There was another photo exhibition going on at the same time in another portion of the parliament called the World Press Photo Contest. Each member of our group was particularly struck by the group of first place photographs titled Family Love by Darcy Padilla. This was a striking series of photos about AIDS victims and how it affected their lives and the lives of their children. Each display was very touching, emotional and creative - some more political than others. I highly recommend you all checking out their website to see more about the exhibition and the stories it tells about our world at their website: http://www.worldpressphoto.org/collection/photo/2015

We were all absolutely exhausted after the exhibition and our meal afterward that we all headed back to the hotel to crash. 

The next morning (Wednesday) we hopped on a bus to arrive in Glasgow for the first time! We met up with our staff contacts, John and Neil, and were shown around the city for the first half of the day. Glasgow is the biggest city in Scotland and many people consider it Scotland's New York City. We could all see why. There was a Forever 21 on your left and a Hard Rock Cafe on your right. The buildings were taller than we were used to in the rest of Scotland, especially Dundee, and there were way more people. Way more. After orienting us around the city and allowing us some time to get settled, we ended our first day in Glasgow at the Dakhin South Indian Restaurant where we got a taste of Scotland's Indian Cuisine, which was, might I add, quite delicious. 

Daniel getting ready to eat a "dosa" at Dakhin on Wednesday night and I am laughing at the ridiculous largeness of it - but it was very tasty (photocredit to Patty Esch)

We're all greatly looking forward to our time in Glasgow at the University of Strathclyde. Can't wait to tell you all all about it. Cheers till then!