Edinburgh

The last four days have been a whirlwind, as evidenced by my lack of posts. This week we've been in Edinburgh staying at the Edinburgh Central Hostel. My pictures from the week are all posted here, but I thought I would take some time to give a cursory update anyway.

Tuesday - visited the National Museum of Scotland. I really enjoyed this experience, although I would have been able to spend several more hours here. The first three floors are all dedicated to Scottish history prior to 1707, when the Act of Union initiated the formation of the United Kingdom. Our discussion was based on Dr. Cartrite's belief that this is an intentional step by the Scots to establish their national story prior to Britain, and the future of Scotland as it relates to the UK and the EU. Following this we were free for the day. I decided to walk the length of the Royal Mile, and looked in a few shops before walking around the outside of the Parliament building.

Wednesday - We took a train (for £8.50, since the Central Belt lines between Edinburgh and Glasgow are so heavily subsidized) west out of Edinburgh to Stirling, where we toured the William Wallace Monument. The Monument is a massive tower built from rocks quarried from the surrounding valley, so it appears to be a craig naturally extending from the ground. It was built in the 1860s as a new form of romantic Scottish nationalism was developing alongside the Enlightenment and romanticism in mainland Europe, as well as in response to overseas military engagements that Scots were forced to participate in, on behalf of the British Empire.

A few in the group escaped the gift shop early enough to listen to a brief presentation from a gentleman impersonating a Scottish crofter who fought alongside William Wallace in the 14th century. This was not only beneficial as it helped fill in more historical context, but was also interesting to hear his subtle opinions as someone who works at the epicenter of this sense of “hairy nationalism.” He started the presentation by saying he hoped we all understood Scots, because that was the only language he ever learned. In retrospect, his dialect was actually quite thick, but I didn’t really have much difficulty understanding him. Interestingly enough, what I would call their sense of linguistic xenophobia is common throughout the British Isles, as well as the States. I commented after the presentation that I was glad this happened at the end of the trip so I had time to acclimate to the dialect. We then took a bus to the Heritage Centre at Bannockburn, a battlefield where Robert the Bruce again defeated the English a few decades after the execution of William Wallace. They had a movie for us and a litany of artifacts from the battlefield, as well as another reenactor who spoke to us about the weaponry of the era.

After we took the train back to Edinburgh, the long-awaited night had finally arrived - drinking whiskey with Dr. Cartrite! I had dinner at a huge bar with Britt, Ken, Cheyenne and Britt’s kids Emma and Luke, after which Cheyenne took the kids back to the hostel. Britt, Ken and I went to a small pub and had a dram after dinner: finally the kind of experience I thought would be much more common on this trip. The pub itself was one where they had taken the class four years previous but it had apparently been significantly remodeled since that time, a fact they found distasteful and drove Ken to complain to the bartender. They had spoken of a place that was just as it appeared in the 19th century, with pictures of the poets who had once sat at the bar covering the walls. It had certainly fallen victim to 21st century commercialism and was nothing like they had described to me, but it was nice to sit quietly and talk while BBC droned on in the background about Her Majesty visiting Dublin for the first time since the Empire was a respectable empire and a few more of our boys getting shot by Afghan policemen and the ongoing debate over whether football or rugby is more popular throughout Wales. We slowly moved through our drinks then made our way back to the hostel, where Ken retired for the night. Britt and I went back out, with the rest of the group in tow, and visited a small pub across the street until they kicked us out.

Thursday - for me the most anticipated day of the trip; we visited Parliament! We were given a tour of the building on which we couldn’t take any pictures, yet after the tour we were allowed to return to the same parts of the building and then could take pictures. The building was deliberately designed to be incredibly unlike other parliamentary buildings throughout the Western world, and is very modern yet literal. I did think the tour guide was reaching at some points for meaning that just wasn’t there, but the symbolism is mostly very intentional and obvious through the whole structure. Following the tour we met with Kenny MacAskill, an MSP who is a member of the Scottish Nationalist Party and serves as Justice Secretary. Ken (Ken Steven, the literature instructor on the trip) had informed me right before this meeting that in this capacity he made a decision to release the Lockerbie bomber back to the Libyan government, a decision that was heavily criticized by London and Washington, so naturally I asked him if he thought that decision would affect his future as Justice Secretary, as he was running for re-election that afternoon. He immediately got very passionate and a little less politically correct, and displayed his tenacity gained from decades as a defense attorney in Edinburgh. Following the tour we headed back to the hostel before our final group dinner, at a fantastic Italian restaurant just up the street.

Friday - it was a free day in Edinburgh, but that didn’t mean I was tempted to sleep in and forsake a minute of the experience here. I got up at 9:00 and grabbed a quick breakfast from the kitchen downstairs, then waited in the lobby for Megan and Lynn, who were as excited as me to spend the day at St Andrews, certainly the cradle (if not technically the birthplace) of golf. They were downstairs by 10:00 to catch the 10:27 train to Aberdeen, but it was cancelled so we spent a few extra minutes in the train station before being the first people on the 11:00 train to Dundee, another city to the north. It was only a few stops north to Leuchars, home to an RAF base a few miles inland from St Andrews, and we caught the bus to the coast straight off the train. We immediately followed a sign from the bus station that said “museum,” where we met an older lady who was disappointed to hear we were more interested in the British Golf Museum than the Town Museum, but gave us typically Scottish (incomplete) directions nonetheless. Despite this we were able to find our way to the Hotel at the Old Course, where we visited the Pro Shop and I bought {redacted}. One of the employees there gave us the best directions I had heard since arriving over here (“find the space between the hedges along the car park, then walk along the 17th and 18th fairways up to Links Street”) as well as by far the most photogenic route. Unfortunately the course was packed, so I couldn’t take any photos of me actually standing on Swilcan Burn or its famous bridge, but the opportunities for pictures from a distance were still awesome. The British Golf Museum was amazing as well. We were driven from it after 2 1/2 hours by overwhelming hunger, but the tickets they sold us were good for two days because they said we easily could have spent 5 hours, and I felt I could have been there for more like 10. They had nearly every possible artifact related to the Royal and Ancient Club, the Open, the history of amateur and professional golf throughout Britain, as well as the Walker Cup and other international competitions. Following the museum we headed up to what is surely the greatest Best Western in the world, and ate at the Chariots Bar (named for Chariots of Fire, filmed on the beach at St Andrews). The bartender kept us there for a few more hours with his stories of the professional golfers who had stayed there over the years when the Open was at the Old Course. Wandering the town after lunch was an incredibly surreal experience. The University of St Andrews is full of English and American students, and the courses of the area are popular for many American tourists, so we were more likely to hear a New England or Georgia accent as Scots dialect. Even the bartender at Chariots hardly had an accent, although he slipped into it as we talked more about politics and nationalism within Scotland. After a brief tour of the sights of one of the strangest towns in Scotland, we hopped on a bus back to Leuchars and caught the express train back down to Edinburgh. Exhausted from the day, I “wasted” my last night in Edinburgh by staying in to upload pictures and catch up on blogging.

BBC Shetland Interview

I and another student in the course (as well as instructors Britt Cartrite and Ken Steven) were interviewed by BBC Shetland earlier tonight. You can listen here - although it will only be up for the next 24 hours! Our segment starts around 16:55.

Lerwick

This morning we took a coach from Unst down to Lerwick, on the Shetlandic "mainland," which is what they call the big island. It was about 2 1/2 hours door to door, including two ferry rides and a bus ride on roads that are somewhat less than direct. In Lerwick I had what tasted like the best fish and chips of my life, then we went to the Shetland Museum before we could check into our rooms at the next place, a small B & B called the Glen Orchy House. The Museum was very new and they had clearly invested a lot of money into it.

Early breakfast tomorrow then an afternoon flight to Edinburgh for the last three concentrated academic days of the trip - followed by a free day Friday in Edinburgh, Saturday in York (England), and Sunday/Monday in London before we fly home Tuesday.

Sabhal Mòr Ostaíg

We've spent the last couple days at Sabhal Mòr Ostaíg, the Gaelic university on the Isle of Skye. We had a campus tour yesterday that I felt captured exactly what we were trying to observe at the school. They provide Gaelic immersion classes for all students, all of whom spend a year studying Gaelic then go on to take all their other courses for the next three years in Gaelic. However, they understood that we weren't as interested in actually learning the language as we were in understanding the phenomenon of why people want to learn it. The school itself has incredible facilities, interestingly enough most of which were paid for by the EU in an attempt to promote Scottish nationalism.

Today we had a free day, and it was awesome. I spent it hitchhiking to and then hiking up Beinn na Caillich, the largest of the Red Hills on Skye. It was an incredible experience, although I am definitely sore tonight, but don't mind given the views I got to experience from the top. Tomorrow we will be taking a taxi to the train station where we'll catch a train back to Inverness. From there we'll be flying BE 6919 to the southernmost tip of Shetland, then taking a bus and two water taxis to the northernmost tip, where we'll be staying at Saxa Vord Resort on the Isle of Unst. Although Shetlandic culture is likewise concentrated on fishing, it is completely different from Skye. Rather than Gaelic, Shetlanders speak a Nordic dialect that can be traced back to when they were owned by Norwegian Vikings. There are almost no similarities between political culture either - Shetland and Orkney stubbornly keep electing Liberal Democrats to the Scottish Parliament, a party that is otherwise almost extinct in the entire UK, and most natives would be just as happy to secede from Scotland! This would actually be institutionally reasonable as well, since most of Scotland's oil money comes from Shetland and Orkney. But, more to come on that later, once I actually get a chance to talk to real Shetlanders.

The Scottish Highlands - Dunbeath

“I can switch on my computer and talk to my granddaughter in New Zealand, but that isn’t communication.” -Nan Bethune

The focus of our travels today was the Heritage Centre in Dunbeath, boyhood home of Scottish author Neil Gunn. We had been reading his book Highland River, and saw many sites that were central to the plot and theme of the novel. More interesting to me was a retired couple, George and Nan Bethune, we met there who had grown up in the Highlands, moved to Edinburgh to spend their adult lives, and finally returned to the region to retire. We walked along the Highland River then up a small hill from which we could see most of the valley surrounding Dunbeath.

What I found most interesting about their presentation was how politically contradictory many of their most deeply held beliefs are. In the States, we have a very strong belief in our individual property rights, probably rooted in our institutional history of only allowing suffrage for white property-owning males. Nan believed that it was inherently ridiculous that the Scottish Historical Trust is able to restrict her ability to conduct archeological digs on her own property. However, the idea that the Scots cleared from the Highlands in the Clearances were wronged by their English landlords is central to Scots identity, even though this displacement was (mostly) within the landlords’ right to do what they wanted with their own property.

Although we as Americans are prone to see this as contradictory, I believe the response to this is consistent with my earlier statements about Scottish nationalism being more about connection to the land and its history, and less about institutional logic. Whereas I have been almost feeling guilty that I don’t have the same attachment to my homeland (although I certainly have more of an emotional connection to Michigan than most Michiganders in my own generation), American nationalism seems to me as more a function of our shared belief in a set of ideals. As indicated by the quote at the start of this post, even 21st century Highlanders are strongly nostalgic for a simpler time, and believe that modern society is ignorant of the value of face-to-face communication. This argument may have its merits, but I would say that the argument itself is less important than what it teaches us about what it means to be Scots. George and Nan feel disconnected from what they see as the moral corruption of Western society at large, but this is primarily expressed in their feeling of abandonment or being forgotten, a theme throughout Scottish literature and one that I have heard from many of the individuals I’ve interviewed.

Tomorrow we are heading west from Inverness to the Isle of Skye, where we will be discussing a journal article on the rights of linguistic minorities before taking classes at the Gaelic university on Skye for a day.

Kildonan

Yesterday was by far my favorite day of the trip. We took the train 2 1/2 hours up to Kildonan, site of the Clearances in the 1820s, where English landlords cleared their sharecropping tenants from the land to make room for sheep, which were more profitable. We got off the train and quickly realized there was almost nothing there, which is what we were supposed to realize about the area. Ironically the only economic activity in the area outside of sheep farming is rich Englishmen coming up to fish on the rivers of the area, often paying as much as £2,000 for a week. After a discussion on what the Clearances meant to Highland consciousness, we were free to wander for 3 hours, until the next train came. I immediately wandered out to the River Helmsdale and started walking along it with a smaller group. It was an incredibly surreal experience, and was completely congruent with what I initially expected from my time spent over here. After half the time was gone, we decided to wade across the river so we could take a different way back to the train station. It was so incredible being out in the middle of nowhere, having no service (not even on my European mobile), and having an opportunity to be so close with unspoiled earth. I'll write more tomorrow - we are staying at the Inverness Youth Hostel and they charge a premium for internet access.

Inverness and Election Wrap

First, and most importantly, the Scottish Parliamentary elections were held yesterday, and the results were stunning. Holyrood uses PR electoral rules, meaning each party's seats in parliament are partially based on regional elections, but also conform to the percentage of the national vote which the party received. This is a less stable but more democratic form of government - less stable because it almost always results in coalition government. The Scottish National Party shocked all serious observers by gaining an absolute majority of the seats in Edinburgh; 69 out of 129 total seats. However, not everyone was thrilled to hear the news, as British PM David Cameron congratulated the SNP on their "emphatic win" then went on to say if they were to hold a referendum, he would campaign to keep the UK together "with every fibre that I have." This adds a new twist to the whole experience that I am having here and I hope to have even more conversations about this with locals before I leave.

Today we took the train north from Dunkeld to Inverness, what Britt called "the second most beautiful train ride in Scotland." He tells me we are taking the most beautiful train ride in Scotland next week up to the Isle of Skye, but as far as I can tell they've all been quite beautiful. In the afternoon we visited the battlefield and museum at Culloden, where the English finally put down the Jacobite Uprisings in 1745, which has provided much inspiration for Scots identity since then. After taking the bus back to Inverness we visited this incredible Indian restaurant and ate way too much, then walked back up to our hotel. I am so excited for the next four days in Inverness. This is an incredible city and I have just loved what I've seen so far of the Highland culture.

Dunkeld

Today we arrived in the village of Dunkeld, notable for its history within the context of the Jacobite Uprisings of the 18th century but for little else. Dunkeld sits at the gateway to the Highlands, west of the Mearns and right at the place where the land starts to change from gently rolling meadows to steep foothills and violent rivers. I have so many thoughts about the passion of the people who live here, so much to say that I am going to take a couple days to reflect for the time being. Tomorrow we'll be traveling to Inverness and staying at the Thistle Hotel, from where we will be taking an afternoon trip to the battlefield at Culloden. Never a dull moment, but I'll try to gather my thoughts and present something more reflective tomorrow.

Onward and Upward

Today we are headed to Aberdeen, the 3rd largest city in Scotland. There we will attend a political science lecture and they will pitch to us their study abroad program run with Alma College. Following this we'll proceed up to the Royal Dunkeld Hotel in Dunkeld, where we will watch election returns. I have to go pack and grab a quick breakfast before catching the train but I did want to mention how excited I have been for this day since finding out about the trip. Watching elections in a foreign country is a rare opportunity indeed and one that any student of comparative politics (like myself) will enjoy quite a bit.

Andy Hall and the Mearns

"That is The Land out there, under the sleet, churned and pelted in the dark, the long rigs upturning their clayey faces to the spear-onset of the sleet….That is The Land – though not quite all. Those folk in the byre whose lantern light is a glimmer through the sleet as they muck and bend and tend the kye, and milk the milk into tin pails, in curling froth – they are The Land in as great a measure."
-Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Scottish Scene

Yesterday I mentioned I was looking forward to hearing more about the emotional attachment people from this area specifically have to their concept of Scotland. It is interesting to note that when Scots make arguments in favor of independence, these arguments are primarily emotional, based on the attachment they have to the land and the history of the people. Conversely, whenever an argument is made against Scottish independence, it is an institutional one: that Scotland would be unable to exist without the close economic and cultural ties that currently exist between Edinburgh and London. I was initially skeptical about how a presentation from a photographer could possibly relate to our theme of exploring Scottish identity from a historical and literary perspective, but Andy Hall quickly changed my mind with his enthusiasm and passion for the Mearns and the Scottish countryside at large. He is the author of a book, A Sense of Belonging, in which he asked over 100 prominent Scots to describe their favorite place in Scotland in 300 words or less alongside his photographs of the places. The passion displayed by all these individuals (incidentally including Ewan McGregor) for their homeland is remarkable given what we call patriotism in the US. Even after only four days over here, only two of which have actually been spent in Scotland, the strong cultural and literary traditions of this country shine through in every interaction and experience I have had. To be Scottish isn't necessarily to support independence, but the emotional arguments made by the nationalists are easy to relate to because of the strong sense of "us" shared by all Scots. This is an important part of what Andy Hall tries to capture in his photographs, and it seems that for the people of the Mearns, being Scottish is far more important than being more Scottish than the Highlands or Borders.

Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire

Last night we took the train from Edinburgh up to Stonehaven, right on the North Sea coast. During the train ride I had a long conversation with a Scot on everything from American football to Osama bin Laden and NATO. He also recommended a few places to eat over the three days that we're here, which we took him up on last night. Stonehaven is in the Mearns, a region of Scotland that is often unnoticed because it is neither the Borders or the Highlands. It is however quite pretty (our hotel is right on the harbor), and very working class, as everyone who doesn't work in the service industry or for the oil companies is dependent on fishing for their livelihood. Tonight we're having dinner with Andy Hall, a photographer who will explain more to us about what it means to be from the Mearns. I'm looking forward to getting more of a sense of the emotional attachment that people from this region have to the land and country.

Day 3 - 5/2/11

Yesterday we went to Lindisfarne, which is only accessible by causeway. The causeway is only clear for a few hours every day because of the tides, which the bus driver said come in at 80 mph and only roughly follow the posted tide tables. Needless to say this was fairly stressful but the island itself was enjoyable. It was initially settled by monks in the 7th century AD, who left after several Viking raids. Subsequently they venerated their leader Cuthbert, which led to a cult being dedicated to his memory after miracles were performed by him on the island and around the region. In the 11th century it was again settled after the Normans invaded Britain, so there were ruins of a church from 632 as well as another church from 1096.

We then traveled to Hadrian's Wall, built by the order of the Roman Emperor Hadrian to protect the Empire from the Picts, because he believed that Rome should not expand any further lest they became overextended. It has been mostly disassembled over the years as Scottish farmers found the supply of square stones to be rather convenient for their purposes.

Both of these sites recall the feeling of the Borders people that their historical suffering has been unappreciated by Scotland at large, let alone the rest of Britain. Today we are going to start reading Sunset Song in preparation for visiting the Lewis Grassic Gibbon Center on Wednesday, as well as visiting a battlefield and seeing the place where Robert the Bruce's heart is preserved.

Kings Arms Hotel, Berwick-Upon-Tweed

The property owner/bartender of the hotel is fantastic. Yesterday our rooms weren't ready when we arrived and we all got free drinks for our first meeting because of it. After we were all checked in, he gave us a tour and explained that its claim to fame is not only having hosted the Beatles before they started their final world tour in Glasgow as well as where Dickens' first public reading of A Christmas Carol was held, but also being located in a place where most of the fighting surrounding this town took place. Berwick-Upon-Tweed (Upon-Tweed for the sole reason that it sits on the Tweed River) has changed hands 19 times through its history, and sits on the north side of Hadrian's Wall, although it is currently within England. This historical relevance is deeply felt by the people who live here, and plays into their concept of homeland I referenced in my first post. So far this hotel has provided a great introduction to the cultural immersion we are trying to attain.

Day 2 - 5/1/11

After a full day yesterday, I fell asleep at 9:00 trying to read the article for today. Despite being afraid I'd sleep late, I actually woke up at 7 without my alarm and was the second person down to eat breakfast. Today we're traveling over to Holy Island, which was initially settled by Anglo-Saxon monks in 635 AD, then down to Hadrian's Wall, built by the Romans after they decided that conquering what was then ruled by the barbarian Picts wasn't worthwhile. Finally got my phone working on the wifi here at our hotel so I'll hopefully be uploading a few more pictures daily.