Embracing an unusually light week of coursework, I backpacked from Dundee to Edinburgh to Glasgow and back on a journey from February 4th-8th.
Some aspects of my trip were constant: I wore the same pants, jacket, and shoes every day (even on Day 3’s run along the river). I actively recorded my thoughts in a journal. I read the section “A GOOD LIFE” from Garrison Keillor’s anthology Good Poems (a graduation present from my remarkably supportive mentor and teacher, Ed Nolan) daily.
Most moments were charged with entropy: I met a 35 year-old Scottish Engineer named Andrew on my train ride back to Dundee. Meeting a 49er’s fan in a candy shop in Edinburgh. My roommate got arrested on my first night in Glasgow.
I did my best to wrap up each day’s adventure and will be posting one blog each day beginning Monday February 10th. Cheers!
“Will you stop for a while, stop trying to pull yourself
together
for some clear “meaning”—some momentary summary?”
- Moderation is Not a Negotiation of Intensity, But Helps Avoid Monotony by John Tagliabue
“Stand still. The trees ahead and bushes beside you
Are not lost. Wherever you are is called Here…”
- Lost by David Wagoner
The Edinburgh Castle resting on top of Castlehill.
I only got three hours of sleep Monday night. I almost got off at the wrong stop on my way to Edinburgh. I stayed up later than planned Tuesday night, and hit snooze Wednesday morning. I struggled to focus in the 90 minutes I set aside for homework. I haven’t started my assignments. I am getting up in 5 hours.
Yet today was the most beautiful day I’ve had in Scotland thus far.
Listening to a history podcast at the beginning of the Royal Mile.
I experienced the Royal Mile, took myself on a tour of the National Galleries Scotland, walked up & down Princes Road. Then my friend Ray, who also goes to Northeastern and is studying at Dundee, met me for the night. We met at the hostel after he was more successful than I in getting off at the wrong stop en route to Edinburgh.
We both had work to do so we spent two hours in the hostel making sure that the rest of our evening was stress free. We took our time getting to town-center for a 7pm Ghost Tour and made it just in time. Our tour-guide Johnny lead us through the strangest and “spookiest” parts of Edinburgh, telling stories in a theatrical and comedic fashion.
After the tour we made a pit stop at Starbucks to use the restroom and absorb the warmth while deciding where to go next (if you thought I was going to say that we stopped in for a coffee, you haven’t yet met the coffee-snob side of me). We wanted to try some Scottish whiskey and we chose Sandy Bell’s, a pub with live Scottish folk music, from our extensive list of options. The bartender helped us decide on two nice, smoky whiskeys and we talked for a few hours while the joyous overtones of fiddle, accordion, guitar, and tin whistle swam around us.
The hostel kitchen closed at midnight, so we left the pub at 11 with plenty of time to stop by Tesco for pasta ingredients. We prepared a pesto gnocchi dish (at the hilarious cost of 5 Pounds), shared some laughs, and a said goodnight.
I did all of these things despite the fact that I was exhausted, distracted, and disoriented.
Perhaps I was just okay with being Here.
Reflection against the mirror behind Sally Bell's espresso machine. Ray and I enjoyed the pairing of live Scottish folk music and whisky.