Gondolas, Castles and Bonfires

Last weekend my friend and I took a day trip up into the West Highlands to visit Fort William, the highland’s second largest town at 9,900 people right after Inverness, which I visited earlier this year. This trip interested me because I am a mountain gondola enthusiast, and a few miles away from the town is Britain’s only gondola, that climbs up the side of Aonoch Mor in the Nevis Range (Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in the British Isles) – naturally I had to see the British claim to gondola fame, and I was able to do it just in time; the gondola actually closed for the season later that weekend!
 

In the highlands

Our trip up to the West Highlands took us past some amazing scenery, including bald, rolling hills and even some male deer out on the flat plains. After around 5 hours we found ourselves in the little highlands town of Fort William. We had some time before the bus to the Nevis Range centre so we stopped in for food (I had some tasty mac and cheese) and explored the shopping street and the walkway by Loch Eil. We caught the bus over to the foot of Aonoch Mor, a mountain with a ski area a couple of miles away fro Ben Nevis, and of course the wonderful gondola! As an enthusiast, I have been on several gondola lifts in the Northwest region of North America, including Silver Mountain (the longest single-stage lift in the world that carries people) and the Wallowa Lake Tramway (the steepest four-person gondola in North America). The Nevis Range gondola was lovely and the weather was spectacular the whole trip – crisp, windy, and good visibility of the mountain range across from a viewpoint called Sgurr finnisg-aig, which is hard to say as it was to type. I had a lovely time taking pictures and enjoying the view from the top! Unfortunately we had a bit of trouble locating which mountain was Ben Nevis, and am still not sure even when reflecting on the pictures I took. After a little walk around the ski area (completely devoid of snow, even in November in the Highlands!) we stopped into the gift shop and I mailed home some postcards to be stamped with a special seal from the Nevis Range. Everything worked out perfectly with the bus and train, and we made it back from Fort William to Stirling in plenty of time (and a few rounds of cards).

Very pretty! I miss eastern Washington and Montana!

The viewpoint we walked up to

Another couple of events I haven’t had time to mention before are Bonfire Day and a trip to Doune Castle, famous for its appearance in Monty Python and the Holy Grail in several scenes, including the outside wall during a discussion of swallows and coconuts. The castle itself was very close to Stirling, and we enjoyed the audio tour narrated by Terry Jones of the Monty Python crew as we explored the fun stone rooms, tight spiral staircases and beautiful views of the countryside from the battlements. 

The view from the top of Doune Castle

In addition I got to experience the celebration put on by the nearby town of Bridge of Allan for Bonfire Night (also called Guy Fawkes Day or the 5^th of November), in which quite a few people turned up to huddle around the massive bonfire in a field and enjoy a fireworks show. It was a nice night and a new experience to watch fireworks in the fall instead of July!

With friends on Bonfire Night!

Cougs Abroad Prompt 5: Cross-Cultural Learning & Integration

Cougs Abroad Blog Squad asks me to consider aspects of life in my country that the average tourist would not have to experience and that have influenced my personal growth in the process of living in Scotland. After 67 days here my greatest challenge continues to be adapting to differences in the structure of academics and living at my new university, a part of life distinctly outside the realm of tourism, and how I believe these things have made me a more independent person and student.

While the scenery, weather, atmosphere, and people of Scotland naturally all have their differences to the US, my greatest learning curve was settling in to my dorm and adjusting to life on campus. In the past two years I have exclusively lived either at home or at WSU for greater periods of time, so getting used to new living conditions was the first order of business. Immediately I was struck by the solitude that my dorm, Geddes, provided, as every room is a single and no Resident Advisors/Assistants live on each floor. While the hall does have its own hall assistants (referred to as Accommodation Liaison Students) that live in the building, their role in student life in the dorm was mostly present in the first week as we moved in and to regular checks of kitchens and floors. There was one hall meeting that I recall at the beginning of the year and a smattering of fun hall events, but nothing similar the RA program at WSU, which has been an interesting twist for on-campus life abroad.

Orienting myself to the facilities on campus came entirely in the form of word of mouth from floormates who had lived here the previous semester or had an earlier week to explore. I would never have found the laundry facilities (in a building a few minutes down the street, which operates on a £4 or $6 card for a few washes and dries) without guidance from a floormate down the hall, nor would I have understood the bus system (public transportation in general is fantastic in the UK), found places to eat on campus, or located the two buildings on campus that contain classrooms without trial-and-error exploration. While I first was confused by this approach to university life for new students, who at WSU may receive instructions for laundry, kitchen and other basic facilities in a crash course from their RA at the beginning of the year, I am glad in retrospect for the chance to figure things out on my own.

Cooking my own food for all three meals has become an interesting task in itself that I don’t expect a tourist to Scotland would engage in regularly. While in the past at WSU I frequented the dining halls, Stirling does not have the conventional “cafeteria” but a few different eateries open for lunch or into the night, as well as an on-campus grocery store. As such the cheaper option is to stock up and make lunch and dinner at home, usually in the company of other floormmates, and I have managed so far to feed myself after arriving with basically no knowledge of cooking (pasta is a great invention). The presence of a full kitchen is a nice amenity and I found I enjoy making my own food most of the time.

The academics in Scotland have their own differences in terms of programs, but perhaps the most difficult challenge is the lack of graded material assigned in each class, as my entire grade for at least two of my classes is based on the submission of two essays. While other content is assigned for reading and discussion purposes, it has been difficult for me to adjust to the system in these upper-division equivalents as I am expected to already know how to write and submit essays to the department and to have my grade rely entirely on two pieces of writing. I am crossing my fingers for good marks on my most recent submission, which, in contrast to essays submitted to classes I have had at WSU, was assigned only in the course handbook and was not mentioned by the instructor prior to its submission. No verbal outline of expectations, submission of rough drafts for early review, or any other process of what I have experienced in classes back home accompanied these heavily-weighted essays for two of my classes. However I feel that this sort of grading has made me a more independent student in terms of finishing my work for discussion; since nothing is graded it would be easy to slack off, but I have been more diligent about preparing for class so that I can get the most out of it.

My classes are going well so far and I believe that I am finally managing to adjust to life on the Stirling campus, just in time for me to leave! In just a few short weeks my time here will be winding to a close, as I have two more weeks of instruction followed by an examination period, during which I have two essays due and an exam in introductory psychology. I hope my efforts will translate into good grades, and that I can use part of the examination period after my psychology test is finished to travel one last time around Scotland and the rest of the UK.

Castles and Capitals 4: Lots of London (2/2)

On Saturday I made my way up to St. Paul’s Cathedral and took a few quintessential red telephone booth photos along the way. The “Occupy Wall Street” protesters had foiled my attempts to see the inside of the building the day before, as their presence had forced the cathedral to close; today the gallery with the view of the city was still closed, so I vowed to return another time. We instead made our way back on the Tube to Buckingham Palace, an area which I loved because of its openness, gorgeous architecture and neat path outside the main gates (unfortunately the Victoria Memorial was obscured behind scaffolding, another off-season project). We ate at a sandwich place and began our walk towards Hyde Park, passing under the beautiful Wellington Arch just as a protest parade involving Syria was escorted past by policemen. Hyde Park itself was fantastically large, a slice of nature in the middle of urbanity, and I enjoyed sitting on a bench with my friends eating a vanilla ice cream cone and walking through the grass under the blue sky and along the lake Serpentine. 

St. Paul's

Buckingham Palace through the gates

My friend and I in front of Wellington Arch

The blue skies in Hyde Park

A walk in Hyde Park

The British Museum

Afterwards, I made my way on the Tube to the British Museum, passing through Russell Square and through the grand columns of the massive (and free to view!) collection of historical and cultural artifacts. I spent only the better part of an hour here but was impressed by the interior of the building and the amount of objects on exhibition. Afterwards I met my friends in Trafalgar Square and popped into the National Gallery to appreciate the architecture and a brief glimpse of some beautiful paintings. We took the Tube one last time back to King’s Cross before heading out to dinner at a restaurant for good pub food (I had fish and chips, a usual in Scotland), and spent some time that night in the room sorting out our belongings for the trip home.

Trafalgar Square from the steps of the National Gallery

Coming up out of the Underground

King's Cross

Gorgeous views out the window of the train

Another pretty view

It was sad to think of all the things I hadn’t seen in London yet, but I was so grateful for all the experiences I did have, and I absolutely cannot wait to come back and see especially St. Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and perhaps take a ride on the London Eye. I thought the five hour train ride home would be dull, but I was treated with the most beautiful views out the window of sunny English countryside dotted with sheep, small towns with towering old churches, colorful autumn trees, cream-colored houses with red roofs along the water, and the Eastern coastline running parallel to the train tracks. 

The sun was setting as we made it back to Scotland, and when the train operator announced in a thick Scottish accent that we were arriving in “Stahling,” I was surprised to find myself thinking how happy I was to be coming “home” after a week’s travel. 

I had an absolutely wonderful experience that week, and while I may have spent a tad bit more than I had anticipated it was worth every penny. There is a lot that happened and even more to reflect on that I haven’t detailed here, but even as it stands I hope I haven’t bored anyone, and I won’t be offended if you just skimmed for the photos.

Basically the path I took on the trip!

I covered a lot of ground that week and am so grateful for all the planning my amazing friends put into this. Here’s to a week of great sights, great company and a great memory!

Castles and Capitals 4: Lots of London (1/2)

Our final destination on the week-long trip was London! This was my first time in the city but hopefully not my last, as even with three days to explore there is so much left to see.

Abbey Road

We took a train into King’s Cross from Cardiff on Thursday and made our way to our newest hostel. A few of my group decided to make our way to Abbey Road, so after waiting in line for our day pass, we started our expedition on the fantastic transportation system I came to be familiar with: the Tube. I loved how easy it was to zip from one stop to the next and to orient myself with the different “lines,” though I could not have done it without a pocket map provided to me that now hangs proudly (and somewhat battered and water-stained) on my wall. From our station we were whisked to Abbey Road, a very busy intersection where cars from all directions are frustrated by determined tourists trying to take pictures. I was able to cross a couple times on the iconic zebra stripes and saw the outside of the recording studios before we descended back onto the Underground to Baker Street. The interior of the station was covered in a tile of small silhouettes of Sherlock Holmes, and indeed there exists a small museum and gift shop dedicated to the great detective himself (who I had to remember, through my mindset of seeing historical wonders, was fictitious and did not actually live in 221 Baker Street). Nearby was the Beatles store where we spent some time marveling at merchandise before attempting to make our way through the Charring Cross area. We ended up eating an amazing three-course Mediterranean meal in Convent Garden for very cheap and had a good night chatting at the hostel afterwards. 

A quick picture while crossing!

I love the Underground!

Jeremy Brett!

My first impressions of London were centered around how very little fanfare there was for tourists, and rightly so – this is a functioning city, but it was still surprising for me to realize in person, perhaps exemplified best in the situation at Abbey Road where tourists baffled the regular rhythm of traffic and everyday life. Everywhere there was construction on prominent buildings as they worked to remodel during the off season, and I often expected more directions from a tourist-friendly street sign or public map that did not exist. This did not make me like London less, but moreso made me aware of my self-centeredness as a tourist from abroad, which I hope I quickly adapted to for the remainder of my time in the great city.

The Tower of London from the outside

The next day was Friday, one of the last days of our adventure, and perhaps the busiest day so far. A part of the group took the Tube near Trafalgar Square and an area packed with theatre promotions and houses to pick up a London Pass that allowed us discounts and free entry to some attractions in the city. My first stop was the Tower of London, a very famous and fascinating collection of buildings, grounds, architecture and items like the Crown Jewels situated right amongst a very urban part of town near the Thames (you could see the Tower Bridge from the walkway). I enjoyed seeing the different parts of the Tower, and the weather stayed beautiful with only a few clouds. While I did get to see and take pictures with the “beefeaters” or Yeoman Warders (ceremonial guards that live in and give tours of the Tower of London) and the massive ravens (part of a superstition concerning the protection of the Crown Jewels), I did not get to see Jewels themselves as the line on that particular Friday was at least a one hour wait. 

And old building and a modern one

In the back, you can see a guard in red

Tower Bridge

The bell tower where prisoners like Thomas Becket were kept

Instead we perused the Tower gift shop before hopping on the Tube to Westminster area, where I was treated with my first sight of golden Big Ben and the Parliament and the fantastic exterior of Westminster Abbey (I will have to return to see the inside). Afterwards I went up to the Tower Bridge exhibition, which provided lovely views of the Thames and the more modern buildings along the water. We took the lift down and each bought a cup of sugary roasted peanuts from a street vendor before finding a place to watch the bridge we had just walked along raise for a passing boat. As the sun began to set we joined a Thames river cruise, where we got to see the city waterfront as the lights came on (and got a little wet in the process!). 

The London Eye in the back

The awe-inspiring Westminster Abbey

On Tower Bridge

Big Ben at night from the Thames river cruise

 We made an effort to take the Tube to Greenwhich for the British Music Experience; unfortunately we were too late, but we had stumbled upon “The O2” or “Millennium Dome,” a massive, spiny bubble housing an indoor mall made to look outdoors as well as a cinema, concert hall, and various other facilities. We made our way back out past concert-goers with tickets to Britney Spears and back to the hostel before heading out for a night in the East End of London. A friend of the group led us around the multicultural and urban Brick Lane, where I enjoyed some excellent curry before returning on the bus with friends to rest our feet! 

Next part: Saturday in London!