Week 5 of my study abroad experience has proved to be one of the busier weeks so far.
It started off slow until we got to Wednesday. First, those in the British Studies courses (read: most everyone including me) had to take the first large-scale exam. The exam consisted of three long-answer questions concerning a variety of topics and we were to apply everything that we had learned up to that point to the test. I honestly think that I could have done a lot better. Maybe I rushed a bit, or maybe I just wasn’t specific enough, but I think that my answers could have been better. Oh well, what’s done is done and I don’t think that they were so terrible that I’d fail the test outright.
Almost immediately after the test, a collection of us were shuffled onto a bus headed to Edinburgh, Scotland. This would be my first “Long Weekend.” We spent four nights in Edinburgh and had three days to enjoy some of the sights of Scotland.
I’ve seen plenty of cathedrals and castles during my trips and while Scotland has all of those, I took a lot more time to appreciate some of the natural beauty of the land. Edinburgh resides on several dead volcanoes and I took Thursday afternoon to climb up one called Arthur’s Seat.
As you can see, it is fairly high up and it overlooks Edinburgh and quite a lot of the natural landscape. It took me a solid hour to climb up there (it's 800 feet, by the way) and when I did get up there, the views were fantastic. Of course, the best view is if you go up there around 6:00 a.m. to see the sunrise, but I enjoy sleep a little too much and I decided to go up around noon. It was good timing because it started raining by the time that I made it to the base of the mountain. My legs were sore and my pants were dirty, so I decided to call it a day and rest.
As pretty as Arthur’s Seat was, it is nothing compared to the beauty that is the Highlands.
The Highlands are technically part of the same mountain range that makes up the Appalachians. Through lots of geological stuff, they drifted north until they ran into what would become England and Southern Scotland. That’s why they’re so mountainous while everywhere else is rather flat. I like mountains. They’re big, majestic, and full of natural beauty.
I’ve been to the Cascades in Oregon and Washington numerous times, but one thing that I like about the Highlands is that they just seem to roll on for miles. You have miles upon miles of mountains and hills interspersed with lochs and forests and it’s flat enough in places where you can just stand and get an amazing uninterrupted view. It might not have the scale of Mount Hood, but I can still say that the Highlands have given me some of the best views that I’ve ever seen.
During the Highland trip, we also made a stop by Loch Ness. We didn’t see the monster, sadly, but it was also a very nice bit of scenery (and it’s cute to see how this tiny town goes all out in appreciation of the legend). It was getting a little late by then, so we got back on our bus and headed back to Edinburgh.
Due to the hostel that I stayed in having poor internet service, this article might be a little late in coming. Still, if you ever find yourself out in Scotland, then you can’t go wrong with the sights that I’ve shown you.
(I did try haggis. The one that I had was not nearly as disgusting as people made it out to be.)
