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!

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!

Pre-Departure

If there's one thing I've come to know about history it's that everything we read only presents a sample of a whole story. Whether it's a primary, secondary or even tertiary source, a single source can only provide a single perspective on a historical moment.

This blog will function similarly. It will be a primary source written by yours truly about my 5 short weeks in Scotland, but it will also notably only present one perspective on Scotland and its history: mine. Thus, the title of my source is a "Sampling of Scotland" to remind readers and myself that any information I detail or stories I tell will surely not be able to capture the whole picture of the amazing country of Scotland and my adventures in it.

My program is called Scotland: Identity, Culture, and Innovation. This is about all the information I know about what I will be doing across the pond. Along with this, I know I will be taking classes and completing assessments, going on both planned and unplanned trips, and soaking up all possible cultural experience. One of the largest emphases of the Fulbright program is being a diplomat between two nations upon one's return. The U.S.-U.K. Fulbright Commission is no different. Participants are tasked with gaining a cultural understanding of the United Kingdom and bringing a new perspective home to the United States. I feel particular purpose in this goal given my future as a high school history teacher and my duty to expose my students to more than one perspective of history. Scotland in particular offers an intriguing alternative perspective to history in the U.K. As American students, we are used to an English perspective on European history along with other powerful nations like France and Germany. Rarely are we exposed to perspectives of smaller nations like Scotland.

In order to attempt to gain a background knowledge on Scottish history from a Scottish perspective, I borrowed a book from the library called How the Scots Invented the Modern World: the true story of how western Europe's poorest nation created our world & everything in it. It's both a bold and rather long title which is partly the reason I chose it. Of course the author, Arthur Herman, introduces the book by admitting his title is a little exaggerated, but insists Scotland is crucial to central aspects of the modern world such as capitalism and democracy. This book and the arguments within it might explain the last part of the title of my program: Innovation. Herman argues that the Protestant Reformation under John Knox and the structure of the Scottish Church, also known as the Kirk, is the foundation of democracy along with other interesting connections like how the Scottish Enlightenment was more impactful than popularly understood due to its lack of limitations by state institutions and aristocracy. Although I was not able to complete Herman's book before leaving, I'm sure I will learn more about the centrality of Scotland to modern developments while in the country itself.

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Besides history, the program also features an emphasis on Scottish politics. It's an exciting moment to be in the United Kingdom learning about politics. With the Scottish referendum on independence failing on September 18th of last year, along with the upcoming referendum throughout the U.K. concerning EU membership, I will surely learn the advantages and disadvantages of independence and the complicated political issues involved with EU membership. Being privy to the primary sources of Scotsmen and Englishmen themselves at such a tumultuous time in politics will be invaluable to me as a political science minor and as a future teacher. The program also promises a trip to the Scottish Parliament itself, likely providing fascinating information and perspectives on both independence and devolution, which is the process of distributing the power of a unitary government to its regional governments.

Of course, many other topics of study, some academic, some less academic, will be explored throughout my trip and almost all will be detailed here. My adventure with the 9 other participants from across the United States begins when I fly out of O'Hare International Airport on the Fourth of July. Don't you worry, I certainly appreciate the irony of departing from my home country on its Independence Day to spend the rest of my summer in the United Kingdom, the reason we have an Independence Day. Luckily, a friend of mine provided me a small American Flag to keep with me so I don't feel too guilty ditching the U.S. for the U.K. on the Fourth of July.

Throughout the trip, I will be residing at the University of Dundee for the first two and a half weeks and the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow for the other two and a half weeks. We hope to travel throughout the United Kingdom in our free time and all around Scotland.

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All in all, I know the next five weeks will be some of the most exciting, most academically captivating, and most eye-opening weeks of my life and I look forward to sharing my sampling of Scotland with all of you.

Until next time!