Guess What's Up My Kilt

This past weekend there was a class trip to Edinburgh, Scotland for two days and two nights. I wish we had more time there, considering it took an uncomfortable, overnight, and 8 hour bus ride for us to get up to the city. But I spent my time there as best as I could. The bus left at 12:30 Friday morning. One of our classmates, now I won’t mention names (ok… Michael Beni), decided to have a power-hour before getting on the bus. That’s when you drink a shot of beer every minute for one whole hour. It sounds easy, but that is the equivalent of about 5 tall beers in an hour. He vomited on the bus 15 minutes into the drive. We actually pulled over outside of Stratford to clean up his mess.

After getting virtually no sleep, we had to occupy ourselves from 9:30 to 2:00 pm before we could check into our hotel room. So we put our belongings in storage and headed out into Edinburgh for some breakfast. Let me not fail to mention, it was pouring rain that morning. After breakfast, Carrie and I went off with random classmates to see the main part of the city and catch a glimpse of Edinburgh Castle. The castle looked alright. It sat high up on the hill of the volcano the whole city was built on top of. It was fun window shopping on the way. You know you are in Scotland when every other building has ‘Kilt Sale’ signs in their windows. I really wanted one, but I couldn’t find my clan colors. I even stepped inside a store that produced Kilts in front of the customers. It was fun learning about what all the machines did and how Kilts were woven in the past.

When 2:00 came around, almost the whole class found its way back to the hotel for a nap. With saggy eyelids and beat red eyes, I laid my head on the starchy hotel pillow and woke up 3 hours later in the same position I fell asleep in. It was Matt Krayton’s birthday, so his girlfriend Ashley organized a group whiskey tour (Matt’s drink of choice). The tour was a lot of fun. It didn’t compare to the Guinness tour, but I did learn the 5 steps of how one would properly appreciate a shot of whiskey. Afterward, I went out to dinner with Carrie and the girls she went on travel break with. I worked up the courage to try an authentic plate of Haggis at a local pub. It came in the shape of a tower with three layers of yellow turnips, white mashed potatoes, and brown haggis, which sat in a pool of brown gravy. It was delicious. Tasted like a light and spicy hunk of meatloaf.

The next day I went on two tours. The first was a tour of the Britannia—once the Queen’s royal yacht. The ship was, as you can guess, very elegant and prudish, but my fascination with sailing and ships kept me very interested in the ship’s history. In its lifetime, the Britannia traveled so many miles, that if you were to average out the distance it traveled annually, the boat could have circumnavigated the world twice a year. Most of the ship was open for exploration. One of the kitchens, in fact, is still being used to make fudge to sell aboard to tourists.

That night, a large group of us went on a walking ghost tour of the city. The underground vaults of the city are considered the most haunted place in the world according to the Guinness Book of Records. So my hopes of experiencing some paranormal activity were pretty high. The tour guide walked us about the city explaining the gruesome history behind Edinburgh. Apparently, the concept of high heeled shoes was thought up here because women wanted to be able to walk around the streets without covering the feet in human waste which was previously discarded from the tenement windows the night before. This was before plumbing came along of course.

When we got to the vaults, I was pretty excited. There was an actual active Wiccan Temple in one of the vaults. The inhabitants chose this location for worship because it had extraordinarily high levels of spiritual energies. I could see the black and white pillars of positive and negative energy and the pentagram of the five elements in the center of the room. Then we moved to a vault that the Wiccas previously occupied. They abandoned the vault because they disturbed a large force of negative energy. But before they left, the Wiccas cast a circle of containment to imprison the negative energy. A circle of stones was set in the center of the room. The tour guide advised strongly against anyone walking through it. Determined to feel something, to encounter the otherworld, I entered. Being the first to step beyond the seal I heard gasps of worry and fear from a few of the people around the circle. I stood my ground and presented myself to the other world and, to my disappointment, felt nothing. I often wonder why I am so disappointed when experiences such as these are unfulfilling. Perhaps that is because I am a skeptic and void of any definable spirituality. But my disappointment also shows my hope of there being something more. Therefore, this is why I fittingly claim to be an agnostic. Perhaps the next time I reach beyond my earthly bounds, something else will reach for me in return.

The bus ride back gave me a glimpse of the marvelous scenery Scotland had to offer. I wish I had more time to explore the Highlands and maybe see Loch Ness. But at least I have reason to return. We did drive along the coast facing the North Sea. It was pretty impressive. That was the last of the weekend trips the Wroxton Program has to offer. So besides a few day tours and trips to London, my exploration of the UK has come to an end. Now I need to concentrate on papers and finals before heading off to Spain.