Trier and more (14 Aug)

Hello! Life is good. I'm alive. And I'll put some pictures on here with minimal explanation.

Reese with Emmy and Pup-pup

Yesterday we went to Trier, one of the oldest cities in Germany.

Porta Nigra, The city gate from Roman times

Cool busts in the basilica--Christ and the apostles

Outside of the basilica and palace

Today the sun was shining a bit and I went on a walk and got some happy photos. They are happy photos because the flowers make me happy.

Beautiful clouds

Reese's Nessie shirt I got her in Loch Ness

The end.

In Germany (11 Aug)

It’s been a while, I know. I’m now in Arenrath, Germany, with Nathan, Jessica, Reese, and Finn. I arrived on Saturday after a day of successful travel from Edinburgh. We’re having a good time chillaxing, going to parks, etc. It’s a nice change of pace for me.

The kids are adorable and I’m so happy I can get to know them better. Reese talks all day long and tells me about her favorite color (yellow, like her hair), feeds me plastic “cookies” from the kitchen set food, and lets me read books to her. Finn (the 5-month-old giant) is so calm and pleasant. He has the cutest smile and laugh.

Oh, and Nathan and Jessica are pretty cute too. I really enjoy being around them.

Every morning I go running on the trails through woods and fields here. It’s so beautiful! I wish I could run forever, but my legs eventually tire out. Yesterday I ran past lovely corn fields, blooming sunflower fields, and thick woods. The rolling hills are good to get me back into shape for Provo.

I also enjoy reading, and I’ve been trying to do some work every day. I am working on some editing, communicating with the team through email.

The days are easy-going and refreshing. Germany is a great place to be!

These photos are from a few of our adventures. Yesterday we went to Eifelpark, where we fed the bunnies and goats and we went on the slides. Last night I went on a walk at sunset to take photos of the lovely scenery. Today we ventured to Manderscheid Castle to take Reese’s three-year-old pictures.

A BYU girl already!

Going down the big slide with Reese

Reese's long-awaited Bumblebee ice cream prize

ICE CREAM!

Sunflower field

Queen Anne's Lace with sunset over Spengdahlem Airbase

The Arenrath church

Reese's three-year-old pictures.

View of the upper castle from the lower castle

The photo with both was a trick, obviously

Happy boy

Itchy all over (5 August)

You know, one of the things we loved about moving to Idaho was leaving the mosquitoes behind. There are many mosquitoes in Scotland. I’m sitting here, itchy all over from the bites and from my healing scabs. I’m practicing my self-control and not scratching myself all over.

But there was more to my day than mosquito bites. Yes, it was my last day of the study abroad. CRAZY! But I couldn’t have asked for a better place to be in. I like Edinburgh.

In Edinburgh there are three hills formed by ancient volcanoes: castle hill, where Edinburgh Castle is; Aurthur’s Seat, where we walked to last Sunday and took pictures of the city; and Calton Hill, a smaller hill with monuments and a good view. This morning, I hiked/ran up to Arthur’s Seat again. Then I ran down and ran to Calton Hill. Then I ran back to the flat and learned that Chrisse wasn’t back yet, so I ran back toward Arthur’s Seat to meet up with her. It was a good run . . . I was gone about an hour and a half, and I felt like I got to experience more of the city before all the tourists were out.

I don’t think that I mentioned that we came right at the beginning of a three week festival called Fringe. It’s an “arts” festival, apparently focused on comedy, and it’s the largest of its kind in the world. According to our tour guide from yesterday, it’s when all the crazies of Edinburgh come out. It’s true.

Chrisse, Kathryn, and I went out before the streets got way too busy. We first went to the St. Giles Cathedral. It’s not a real cathedral because they don’t have an archbishop, but it was still really pretty. I particularly liked the stained glass in this cathedral.

We next went to the Writer’s Museum, a small museum about three important Scottish authors: Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, and Robert Louis Stevenson. It was fun to learn more about their lives and their works. Now I feel motivated to read more of them. I wrote down some good quotes that were on some of the plaques. One from Stevenson was really interesting to me because it caused me to reflect on this study abroad experience:

“For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move; to feel the needs and hitches of out life more nearly; to come down off this feather-bed of civilization, and find the globe granite underfoot and strewn with cutting flints.”

I’m not sure that I agree with him 100%, but I was thinking about that: the real experiences I’ve gained on this trip haven’t been because I’m going to certain places, but because I’m going. The value lie in the journey itself.

After lunch and a few other stops, we went to the Scottish Parliament. Lori had organized for us to have a free tour and it was awesome. I gained an appreciation for their government, for the move toward independence, and for the parliamentary system in general.

Scottish Parliament assembly room. Thus parliament building was just made in 2005, so it looks really modern. They really focus on having lots of windows and they broadcast everything so that it's clear that they are working with the people and the public feels free to be involved.

Then we rushed to our final banquet—we all had dinner together and then watched a slideshow of photos from the whole trip. It was really fun to be with the whole group again. We have learned so much together. Dr. Anderson and Dr. Gardner made many of us cry as they shared their closing thoughts and then we all gave hugs and took more pictures (as if we don’t have enough of each other . . . ).

Final dinner

The Gardner boys, who became our brothers. I will miss them!

Edinburgh roommates gone wild

I’ve been thinking about the top reasons I love it here and the top reasons I’m excited to move on. This sounds super trunky, but I think the later gives you an insight into my trip here.

Why I’m excited to move on:

1.      I’m excited to see and talk to family and friends and Ryan

2.      I’m excited to not use the buddy system all the time

3.      I’m excited to eat real food and to cook it and prepare it myself

4.      I’m excited to wash my clothes when they need to be washed

5.      I’m excited to not have to pack a wet towel and sweaty exercise clothes every day

6.      I’m excited to not live out of a suitcase

Sidenote: after these last three points, you might think I smell really bad, but don’t worry about it.

What I’m glad I came:

1.      I learned that I can live out of a suitcase

2.      I have built new life-long friendships and learned from my new friends

3.      I have grown in my understanding of the English language—where it came from, why it’s unique, and why I’m happy I speak it

4.      I have grown more comfortable being in new places and speaking to new people

5.      I have seen what a positive influence a group like this can have on people—others really do notice that we’re good, happy people with values they want

6.      I have learned more about myself—my interests, my abilities, my personality in group settings

7.      I have learned to better appreciate history, art, and individual lives

8.      I have gotten to know some professors whom I really look up to and will keep in touch with forever

And that’s the lowdown. I think on the plane ride I’ll make a list of my most favorite moments on this trip and maybe I’ll post them later. I always think it’s interesting to review and summarize experiences like this.

Well, now I’m off to Germany to be with Nate and Jesse. I’m very excited to see them and the kids. I think I will keep posting a bit on this blog, but probably not as frequently. If you’re a faithful follower, let me know and you can still be my friend when I get back. (I write this simply because I’m curious about who would actually read this entire post to the end.)

Cheers!

A full day in Edinburgh (4 August)

I officially like Edinburgh. We are basically on our own for the last two days here in Scotland, so I made plans with Chrisse and Kathryn, who have similar interests as I.

We started the day with a 3-hour walking tour. This was a perfect way to start. I always love hearing the history from the locals (and hearing their dialect), but ironically our guide, Brendan, was Irish. I guess I’ve come full-circle in the British Isles, starting and finishing with the Irish. Anyway, the tour was great because it was free (except for a tip), informative, and entertaining. It rained for half of it, but I’ve learned not to mind so much. Our group was pretty small because it was early in the morning—there were about 8 of us—and it was fun to talk to the different people from France, Russia, Brazil, and Canada.

We actually had a funny thing happen when we were in a cemetery. In this cemetery there’s a dog named Bobby buried. Apparently this dog had stayed by his master’s grave for 14 years or something like that. BBC (the major British news channel) was doing a report on it because there had recently been an article published saying that the whole story was just invented as a tourist trap. They taped part of Brendan’s schpeal about the dog and the interviewed some of us about it. I was the first one they interviewed and it was kind of funny because I don’t really have an opinion about dog things. Anyway, this whole thing helped break the ice in our tour group. Then afterwards we went to a pub and got haggis (a sort of sausage thing) with neeps and tatties (=haggis + turnips + potatoes), the traditional Scottish meal. It’s the national dish, and it wasn’t bad at all.

Here's part of the report on Bobby: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-14424513

One interesting thing I learned about in the tour is the Scottish move toward independence. They are quite nationalistic here and not too happy to be a part of the British Commonwealth. Scotland has already demonstrated some autonomy, for example, they have their own national religion and their own parliament. In the last election, the party that wants independence got the majority vote in parliament and they plan to have a vote for independence in 2014. Stay tuned.

The cafe where JK Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter

Bobby's grave, where I was interviewed by BBC

View of Edinburgh Castle from below

Eating haggis after the tour with our new Brazilian friend

We went through the Scottish National Gallery. I was most interested in the Scottish artist’s interpretations of the landscape, since that’s really what I think Scotland is most memorable for. But I also got to see some work by Raphael, Rembrandt, Monet, and Seurat.

The rest of the night was not very blog worthy, so I’ll stop writing about it. But we did go to ice cream to celebrate Suzanne’s birthday.

From the highlands to the lowlands (3 August)

I know I say this pretty much every day, but running really is the highlight of my day and the best way to see the territory: I started out with an AMAZING run. It was actually one of my very favorites from the past 7 weeks. Our hostel was in the sticks to begin with, and then I kept running down the road further into the valley. I can’t adequately describe the beauty here, but it’s a very rich, forest green (where as Ireland is a bright, gem green). There are clouds lingering in the foothills and the tallest mountain in the UK (Ben Nevis) looming above. Only one car passed me on the road for an entire hour. The road was hilly enough for a good up-and-down workout without tiring me out too much. I ran past some of the Highland Coos and they made me very happy. I turned around once I got to a waterfall, deep in the valley. The waterfall was beautiful—it had carved deep into the rock and was creating a small canyon.

We drove south toward Stirling Castle. Along the drive I had to be sure to keep watching out the window or else I’d miss some of the most beautiful scenery of my life. Stirling Castle was a good stop, but honestly, by now I’m all “castled-out.” It’s kind of like in Jerusalem when we’d go to tel after tel after tel and they all pretty much look the same: mounds of dirt. Or we’d tour cistern after cistern. Tels and cisterns eventually became the butt of our jokes. Castles are getting there for me. But, this was a very important castle because it was at the junction between the highlands and the lowlands. Basically, whoever held Stirling also held Scotland. Plus, the castle mound put us in a great position to look out at the scenery: to the north we could see the highland hills and mountains and to the south, the lowland plains.

Scenic highlands

Just thought I'd try a new pose

If you can't tell which is mine, you're not my friend anymore.

View from Stirling Castle. The stuff in the foreground is part of the castle.

Wallace Monument from the bus.

We stopped briefly at the William Wallace Monument. William Wallace lived in the 1200s and led the Scots to battle agains the English. The Scottish won and so he’s a hero, even though the English resurged shortly thereafter and won it back. I guess “Braveheart” is the story of William Wallace, although I’ve never seen it. Apparently he’s a pretty big lad because they have his broad sword at the monument and it’s about 5.5 feet long.

After another drive we arrived back in Edinburgh where we checked into our hostel. It was a different hostel than last time. These ones used to be university housing, so it’s like a flat where we all have our own rooms and we share a kitchen with about five others. It’s kinda nice.

Loch Ness (2 August)

Today was pretty low-key, which is nice because we’re all tired. I went for an awesome run this morning along the River Ness. I went 6 miles, the longest I’ve gotten to run since I’ve been here.

Once we left the hostel, we drove along Loch Ness. Loch means lake in Scottish. And Loch Ness is a famous, mysterious lake. It’s one of the deepest in Europe and it holds more water than any other lake in Europe. If you look on a map, you see that it’s long and skinny. But since it’s on a fault line it’s really really deep, which adds to the mystery. Supposedly the Loch Ness Monster, endearingly named Nessie, lurks within the deepest part of the lake, close to Inverness. I didn’t see Nessie in the lake, but I sure saw many representations of her all over the touristy towns we were in!

Scary monster!

Me with the Andersons

Chrisse and I outside of our hostel in Fort William

Mountains outside of Fort William--you really can't capture how awesome they are.

We drove down the lake and stopped a few times to take in the view. We paused at a castle that was built along the lake as well. Then we headed into Fort William where we spent most of the afternoon. At 5:30 I met up with some of our group because we were organizing a group dinner. We made taco salad; it’s so much more sensible to make it all together rather than each of us scrounging together our individual meals. We had so much more food for so much less money. It was so so so so delicious. Some of the girls also purchased things to make banana boats for dessert. Needless to say, we all ate well tonight.

Tomorrow we head back toward Edinburgh, where we’ll stay the last few nights. I’m sad to leave the Scottish Highlands because it really is beautiful here. One more thing you might be interested to know about is the Highland Coo—the type of cattle that is up here in Scotland. Because it’s a cooler area, the cows have long shaggy hair and huge horns. They are really adorable. Google it.

To Inverness (1 August)

It’s August?!?

My August morning started with a wonderful run in a beautiful park with golf-course length grass. We then left early to head north toward Inverness. The scenery was so so so so beautiful! I love Scotland. Everything is green—there are forests and hills and lakes and rivers. I love it here.

Our main stop was in Culloden, just outside of Inverness. Culloden was the site of the last big battle in Britain. In 1746, the Jacobites (the people supporting Prince Charles Stuart, which was most of the native Scots) were slaughtered by the government forces—those who opposed the Stuarts. The museum we went to was really neat. It was arranged very effectively so we could follow the events that led up to the battle and the battle itself. Then we had a GPS audio guide and went out into the battle field. The whole experience gave me a better appreciation for the Scottish people and for the hardship of war. After this battle, the Scottish clan system broke down. They had to leave the highlands and many traditions were lost over time. 

My first taste of the highlands

Battlefields at Colloden

Clan markers and mass graves at the battlefields of Colloden

Have you heard of tartan before? This is the name of the Scottish plaid patterns. Supposedly they identified the particular clan a person belonged to. There are many many clans and many different tartans. The clans are associated with family names that carry on today, McClellan, Frazer, and Johnston to name a few. But a Scottish man said that the tartan tradition is more of a myth. The real way they identified themselves was by the plants they wore in their hats. The plant would be something unique to their clan land and would show where they were from.

We headed back to our hostel, made dinner, and went on a walk. I was consumed with Harry Potter 6, which I’ve been rereading. I’ve really enjoyed having the time to read, but I feel like Harry Potter has torn my eyes from observing the Scottish countryside. So I’ve vowed not to read the 7^th until I’m in Germany.