Sunset in St Andrews and a (wee) reflection

Good evening!

All is well here, definitely a somewhat free week academically as it's the last week of classes and all of my coursework has finished. I'm feeling much healthier and have begun studying for one exam and have certainly been busy socially with activities, societies, events, friends and plenty of fun. There are a host of different festivals, concerts, events and publicity around town this week too as Friday is St Andrew's day! Enjoy the photos below - all were taken either yesterday or today while I was out and about with friends. Also, a short (or wee) reflection is below. Have a lovely rest of the week!

Inside the foyer of Younger Hall, the concert hall at St Andrews and the location for exams and the graduation ceremony.

The ceiling within the concert hall.

Quite blurry, but I liked it. :)

I saw this car yesterday and am convinced it's one of the coolest cars I've seen in Scotland. :)

 

I wrote this earlier tonight, and while it is quite personal, I think it sums up well my last three months here. It's almost poetic, but I don't know, I like it.

 

The love and joy I've discovered here have blended with reminiscent memories of home - a staggering and beautiful view of life has been created  - interwoven with memories, individuals, places, expressions and days past. I yearn somedays for familiarity again, for my upbrining and my home, for safety and the familiarity of life. For how easy it all can be when you know how and where to live it. Yet beneath it all, I never want to leave this place.

Two Thanksgivings, Writing, and the past week

Greetings!


I know it's been a little while since I last posted, but I can say I experienced a very full and pretty awesome week. Unfortunately, I've also been fighting quite the head cold the last several days, and am hoping for a quick end to it and once it passes, a sickness-free winter!

 
Thanksgiving here was quite fun! On Wednsday night, my study abroad program drove students to Edinburgh for a meal at the Hard Rock Cafe. Edinburgh is about 1.5 hours south, and it was really nice to see the Christmas lights decorating the city as we arrived. Here, the decorations spring up when the Christmas season begins on November 1st, and seeing the decorations and lights on historic buildings, museums, hugging stone pillars and sandstone structures felt a bit like a tiny New York City at Christmastime. It was nice, too, meeting up with other Americans studying at the University of Edinburgh.

 
On Thursday, I cooked a somewhat non-traditional Thanksgiving meal for myself and my four kitchen-mates. I had planned ahead and the guys were really excited. We decided on a time we could all meet - about 8:30 pm - and it really turned out nicely. I was the only American, and the guys were all quite interested in the origins of the meal and the traditional foods served. I began baking and cooking in the morning, and ran out to attend my Virginia Woolf class from 3-5 pm. My group presented again, and it really was a great lecture. I made two baked pasta dishes consisting just of pasta, tomato sauce, ricotta, mozarella and homemade breadcrumbs, a butternut squash dish (my favorite!) that I added some honey, butter and black pepper to, plenty of green beans (definitely the most popular dish!) and two pumpkin desserts, my Mom's delicious dark chocolate chip pumpkin bread cut into quarters, and a small pumpkin cake with a cream cheese layer and cinnamon topping. I whipped some homemade whipped cream, and both pumpkin desserts were quite popular, as the guys all commented that they had never tried pumpkin desserts before. Samuel also made some baked mushrooms to add to the meal. The best part too, was that the guys took care of all of the dishes after the meal. :) A fun part of the evening was definitely bringing a tradition from home to the meal, or, to the table. The last several years, my Mom has carved out a small pumpkin and placed a vase of flowers within and used the arrangement as a center piece to the Thanksgiving table. It’s a creative, beautiful touch and I’ve enjoyed arranging the flowers the last few years. I had a small pumpkin here from when Lydia visited, and bought some flowers at the grocery store. It was fun creating it here, and carving and digging out the pumpkin with my bare hands at our kitchen table to the amazement of the guys who watched in disbelief, thinking the pumpkin intestines I was pulling out were where the pumpkin desserts were coming from. I explained the tradition of the pumpkin-vase to the guys, and they found it pretty funny and interesting, it grew to be a really cool thing to have on the table. They wanted pictures of it, and I took a few myself. It's still in a nice spot on the kitchen table, and any of our friends who have ventured in have asked about it. :) We had plenty of leftovers from the meal, and we've all been helping to eliminate them the last few days. Justin was also able to use the leftover whipped cream the next day when he made a 'Japanese cheesecake' for a birthday party he was attending.  

 

Mmmmmmm.....

So incredibly delicious.

The table as it began to be set.

 

            I’m really enjoying the kitchen and everyone I share it with. It’s certainly taken a bit of adjustment, and every day is certainly different, but it’s really a fun group and I feel happy to be a part of it. J Plus, Joseph – who’s actually a medical student – has proven to be an awesome editor/proof-reader for my English submissions.

            Speaking of which, I have two poems and a short story to turn in tomorrow for another 30% of my Creative Writing grade. There has certainly been a lot of editing involved, but I am really loving both my short story and the poems. This university and this town are nothing short of inspiring, and I’ve reached a point that I really am loving writing and am so happy when I’m doing it. I had never written a short story before this week and was surprised to finish it in 2.5-3 days and am now doing the very final edits. A short story is like a very condensed novel and as I finished my first this week, I had the urge to write fifteen more. J I’ve also realized that the humanities and English are the two subjects I love. I miss the humanities a bit – mainly just the infatuation with learning ideas and theories and deciphering why history, culture, society, and government is the way it is. The writing is a completely different experience, it’s artistic and I love that I’m creating original work and using my imagination and ideas, but I do miss absorbing all of the ideas and learning that the humanities come with. One of my friends here compared the two as watching sports versus playing sports.

My experience here definitely feels comparable to my first year of college. In both settings, I've experienced such a love of learning, an infatuation with my tutors or professors, and an inspiration from the subjects I'm learning. The same excitement and love I'm experiencing with English I had with journalism two years ago and the surroundings, events, societies, socials and fun I've found here I experienced in a similar sense at Saint Michael's two years ago. I am so pleased to be staying here for the year.

            I attended a poetry reading/open mic here Friday night with my friend Susanna. It was at a local restaurant/juicing bar called Zest, and a Scottish poet read quite a bit of his work. We had heard there would be a small free dish from the restaurant and we were approached at one point by the restaurant owner asking if we were vegetarians. My answer was vague, but I said I was fine with having meat in the free dish. Susanna answered similarly before the restaurant owner told us upfront that the two choices were a roasted haggis or a vegetable bruschetta. I’m not sure if I turned down a really great cultural and culinary opportunity or not, but we both chose the vegetable bruschetta.

        I met up with my sweet friend Miriam yesterday for a lengthy walk around St Andrews including the pier and harbor area, and a break at a coffee shop. Miriam is Scottish and we met on the retreat we both attended last week. The visit included lots of talking and laughing, and while we were at the café/coffee shop, she commented on how she loved the number of coffee shops St. Andrews had. It’s quite true, it’s really a University town with a sprinkling of fishermen and golfers, but it feels very much designed for students.

Here's a hilariously strange and uncomfortable photo of Miriam and I from last weekend...it was after the late-night techno ceilidh - if that can be used as an excuse for our disheveled-ness. :)

 

            This coming Friday is St Andrews day, which is quite the celebrated holiday here. This whole week there seems to be celebrations and there will be no classes held on Friday. My residence is hosting a formal dinner on Friday night which should be quite fun. I imagined it was only a day really celebrated here (and, truthfully, it probably is…) but I was still shocked the other day when I was checking out my lovely Ballroom Bunnies calendar (featured on this blog several times before…) and found that of the five international holidays listed for November, a few of which included Remembrance Day, Diwali, or the Hindu festival of lights, Thanksgiving Day, and shockingly, St Andrews day!

This past weekend and reflections on the World.

Good afternoon!

Big news here with lots of events and things going on. Just as a warning, this might be my most passionate and harshest blog post yet - especially at the end. Nonetheless though, enjoy! And I hope it makes you think. :)

This is where I spent my weekend. We were near Perth, a small city in central Scotland.

I spent the weekend away on a Christian retreat which was truly quite nice. More importantly, it made me think and reflect quite deeply. There were 140 of us staying in a large, historic home called Lendrick Muir. The home is used solely for Christian retreats and while it felt a bit like an ordinary conference center, the intricate ceilings were some of the most beautiful I had ever seen.

I didn't realize until I was there, but the focus was certainly on Evangelicalism. As one with a Catholic background, it was a bit different for me. I felt like that always had to be mentioned when I introduced myself. Of course it didn't have to be, but much of my knowledge was very different and I think I fully realized and understood that Catholicism is right for me right now. A big focus was applied to reading the Bible, and truthfully, I brought a rosary to Scotland, not a Bible (and not for reasons of airline weight restrictions at all). I loved the reflective writing I could do though, and the constant singing throughout the weekend, and being in a room with 140 other college students singing songs of Jesus and love is beautiful and so classic. Overall, I found everyone was so open and friendly. While I believe I was the only Catholic person on the retreat, I didn't feel any judgment. I know it also is all a part of the abroad experience. Here, Evangelicalism and the Church of Scotland/England is huge, and that's what I experienced and educated myself about. Interestingly, I was also one of very few Americans. There were many many students from Northern Ireland, several from Scotland and England, a few from different European, African and Asian countries, and then a few Americans. Returning to St. Andrews Sunday evening and hearing American accents when skyping from friends and family from home truthfully sounded a bit strange after hearing so many different accents over the weekend! Besides meeting so many new people and forming friendships, other highlights of the weekend were certainly a talent show and a techno ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee) on Saturday night. It was such great fun and felt so distinctly Scottish and the perfect abroad experience. Beginning around 10:30 or 11pm on Saturday night, we all were quite tired from staying up late the evening before and being active and in seminars all day. 140 of us ventured to a concrete-like gym building attached to the large house we were staying in and found that the large gym was incredibly freezing. It was clearly nighttime in the middle of Scotland, and we huddled together in clumps before the ceilidh began. And then, it all came together. As the techno music began, we danced, laughed and screamed for two hours to traditional ceilidh dances (which I now know quite well as it was my fourth ceilidh!) as the large room grew warmer and warmer. It truly was such an incredibly fun experience. I couldn't help but wonder and marvel at how I came from Saint Michael's alone to St. Andrews, Scotland and then on to a weekend retreat alone - knowing nobody and trying to understand a religion that I don't quite consider my own - to meeting some of the kindest people and having such a fun time dancing in a concrete building in Scotland in the middle of the night surrounded by 140 other individuals.

Similarly, a woods walk that afternoon with friends was just as wonderful. We departed during some afternoon free time around 4 p.m. and found it quickly was growing dark. After taking a few photos of ourselves with one another and with sheep,

we set off onto a short woods trail. While I was slightly wary about venturing into the Scottish woods under nightfall and later slipped on a wet log, it was truly beautiful. The ferns and tree canopy just seemed to illuminate the woods somehow. I felt like such classic Scottish literature (not that I've read any...) perhaps in the same way that walking in the New England woods on a snowy evening may evoke feelings and images of Robert Frost's poetry. We actually were quite close to the region where Beatrix Potter vacationed in the summer and where the inspiration for Peter Rabbit originates. We stumbled across this pond which I thought was incredibly beautiful. It might be the most reflective pond I have ever seen.

I took the photo above holding my camera the correct way. The pond is reflective on the lower part of the image, with the trees in the upper half and the green grass clearly dividing the two. Now,

I took this image holding my camera upside-down. The pond is in the upper half with the actual trees in the lower half. I think they look about the same!

 

Returning to St. Andrews yesterday, I was able to put the finishing touches on my second Virginia Woolf essay and turned it in this morning.

This was what things naturally looked like last week when I finished my research for the essay.

Taken from the top floor of the English building last week. It feels like medieval St. Andrews to me. :)

 

After returning from the retreat, I spent a few too many hours on skype with friends from Saint Michael's and found it so refreshing to talk to them about everything. I skyped my friends Katie and Maeve, and the high point was certainly seeing Maeve hug Katie's laptop and me hugging my own. Katie's on Saint Michael's rugby team and this weekend the team won the (division II) northeast championship! I can say I was very proud of her and her team! The two girls were headed to Mass soon and we were all laughing about ways to somehow skype me in so I could attend electronically. :)

 

Later, I skyped with my friend Kirsten who is studying abroad in Uganda! We skyped for two hours, ending at 4 a.m. her time, 1 a.m. my time. Kirsten and I met through our involvent in volunteering and activism on campus and she is such a wonderful friend. She's studying post-conflict resolution in northern Uganda and is travelling around central Africa spending a considerable amount of time in Rwanda and studing the effects of the 1994 genocide there. We spoke about her studies and everything we've both been up to and it was so refreshing to be back in that service/activism/college student-saving the world-but-who-knows-if-that-will-ever-happen(?) mindset. What stuck with me most was what we discussed about the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Kirsten and I were both involved in a campaign at Saint Michael's on bringing awareness to the conflict, and we both have dropped off a bit. For me, for reasons of skepticism and perhaps believing we really can't change things completely. For her, being in the region and meeting refugees and seeing the conflict (sort-of) up-close. Yesterday, rebel leaders closed in on the city of Goma in Eastern Congo, and it appears today they have or will overtake the city. Kirsten informed me of this and it really is a hugely catastrophic development in the ongoing war there. An action that we could never even consider happening in the States or anywhere in the developed world as we have a strong government and military to protect us. Kirsten and I discussed the similarities of the conflict in the Congo to the ongoing conflict in Syria, and just how it seems like there is no end in sight and how we both don't fully understand it or know what could happen and how it appears the situation continues to worsen. Similar to what I've written here about the Middle East, it feels like these conflicts especially in the Middle East and central Africa will never end in our lifetime. The situation in Congo is interesting though, and important. I credit Saint Michael's completely for teaching me about it, it really is a story of war, of land, of resources. The Democratic Republic of the Congo is the largest territory on Earth without a functioning government. It's an enormous land mass containing the second-largest rainforest on earth and has incredibly huge deposits of diamonds, gold, coltan (used in all cell phones) tin, copper, zinc and magnesium among other minerals. The nation, founded only 125 years ago has gone through three nearly equal periods of enslavement, colonialism and dictatorship as neighboring nations and rebel groups have built mines to strip the minerals from the country - a multi-billion dollar industry - which later become cell phones and jewellery. It got me thinking about the advancement of nations like the Congo and those in the Middle East. Ancient history proves that the land that now makes up Iraq and Iran was where the first written word and alphabet was created, and the land that is now a part of the Congo is where the first arithmatic was found to have been performed. Yet why is it that these nations are among the poorest and least educated in the world with some of the highest illiteracy rates? It all is so fascinating and terribly sad. 

 

While I've so loved studying such concentrated English literature and writing here, speaking with Kirsten made me miss sociology, history and anthropology. I truthfully just wanted to read a history textbook after speaking with her.

 

Further, I think one of the highlights of skyping with Kirsten was when she described sitting under a mosquito net and alerted me each time she heard (presumably wild, we determined) dogs howling in the distance, and roosters crowing in the early hours of the morning as I heard simply my heaters and doors closing in the hallway.

 

Now, after my poetry and reading is finished, I think I just need to learn about and understand the current conflict in Gaza. Perhaps that will be mentioned in a future blog post.

 

I think overall, I've become quite passionate about human rights conflicts and I'm not sure what will come of that interest in the future. I credit my college choice completely for ingraining into my mind such a global view and awareness about conflict and human rights violations. 

 

Further, it made me incredibly sad this week to hear about the hundreds of thousands (?!) of Americans in 36 (?!) states petitioning to withdraw from the Union because of the re-election of President Obama, when (literally) billions around the world continue to live without clean water, sanitation, food, and vaccinations, as millions more die prevantable deaths to disease and conflict each year especially in the Middle East and central Africa. Politics is fascinating and can be easy to wrap yourself into, but if these hundreds of thousands of Americans (again, ?!) turned their attention to global conflicts and appreciated the safety, peace, security, comforts and basic living essentials we have in the developed world, perhaps the world conflicts we ignore could slowly be put to an end...even in our lifetime.

 

 

 

 

Kitchen Party

I think I can say I really love St. Andrews. It's been a busy but very good week here. I have another lengthy and weighty Virginia Woolf essay I'm working on for Monday. I've reached a point here that while I'm here for the year, it's becoming tough to think of leaving this place and just how fast the first semester is moving along. In about a month, I'll be flying back to the states (only to return, though!) I truly do miss Saint Michael's, but I think this year abroad is teaching me that I will develop a love for both places. They're so incredibly different but so special to me in completely different ways. Studying abroad is truly leaving everything and everyone you know behind for a time and sculpting a new, short-term experience elsewhere. There have been days when I feel like nobody else in this small town is like me at all, but there are just as many days that prove to me that I fit right in. I often wonder if I will be back here someday or what will happen as I leave, what will I take with me? How is this changing me? It seems to be in the little bits though. While everyday unfolds differently, just so many of the small events, words and friendships are touching and completely stick with me.

I met with my Creative Writing tutor Jacob Polley this morning. It was a really wonderful meeting/critique about my poetry thus far. Office hours here are much more formal and require an appointment in advance, but the review was so worth it. Although he always refers to me as "Lizzie" rather than the name most use, I really appreciated his feedback. While I think I have other dreams and ideas for a profession, in the back of my mind writing as a profession continues to be there. I like to think that if I really want this (do I?) maybe I could do it through a lot of work and applying myself. This certainly is the location to reform all of it too. This is completely the place and the education that serves that dream/idea.

Last night was our kitchen party! Oh, dear. It was so incredibly fun. And hilarious. Our kitchen should be equipped for eight to twelve, but there are only five of us. Joseph, Justin, Samuel, Conor and myself. The last couple of months between cooking, cleaning, eating and spending time in there we've gotten to know one another pretty well. I invited three friends and several of the girls who are friends with Joseph, Justin and Samuel came along. I had met I think everyone before, and everyone is so sweet. In addition to the five of us, I think we had fifteen other friends attend. Justin, Joseph and Samuel cook a lot of authentic asian food in our kitchen and for the kitchen (dinner) party this was no exception. They ordered mass amounts of Chinese and Japanese meats and foods from Dundee, the closest city and Scotland's fourth-largest city. Using two 'hot-pots' set up on our kitchen table surrounded by twenty students, the meats and soups and vegetables cooked all together. Conor made a banoffee pie which I had never had or heard of but it was quite good! Justin suggested to me a few weeks ago after seeing me cook pancakes that I should make some for the party. I created a triple batch of my Dad's (famous!) recipe and added coconut to each one. As the hot pot was off to a slow start and more food had to be bought, I made the pancakes first at the beginning of the party. I think I made nineteen in all throughout the night and they were such a huge success! Just as I marvelled at the seemingly confusing process of the hot pot and how that all works, Joseph, Justin, and Samuel had the same questions and interest with the pancakes and how they're made and what's in them.

This picture was taken of myself and Justin when we realized he was enjoying a pancake I had made and I was eating some Asian food (I think rice and satay sauce and dumplings) he had made.

While I worked the pancake grill, my three friends Marissa, Hannah, and Allison arrived. Hannah attends UCLA as a student (like me with Saint Michael's) and has been sorely missing Asian food - I know she really loved everything. The evening was really filled with so much laughter and food. As I tossed out pancakes to the next waiting person, the Asian girls were choosing food for me to try and reserving different specialties they were afraid "would be all gone!" Everyone I live with also know that I'm mainly-vegetarian and were so sweet in continually checking if I was okay with different meats being cooked. I think ultimately I tried everything and didn't mind at all. Vegetarianism out the window. :)

In between talking, laughing and eating, Sake, a warm Japanese wine was unveiled. Justin travelled to London yesterday and while there picked up some Sake. I was handed a tiny ceramic glass with different figures and characters painted onto it and it was quite good. It's made from rice rather than grapes giving it a very different but sweet taste.

The evening continued to progress with laughter, talking, dancing, and at the very end of the night - the five of us in the kitchen doing some massive cleaning. :) It sort of felt like the end of a Thanksgiving dinner celebration. At one point, I commented during the (large, traditionally Asian) meal to Conor (who is English), "Oh man, the pressure is on now for me to make Thanksgiving dinner next week!" Immediately, Joseph, Justin, and Samuel responded with, "What's Thanksgiving!?" Ohh dear, hahahaha not sure if that will happen at all...but the pressure is (slightly) on.  Some "family" photos are below:

 

Joseph, Justin, Samuel, myself and Conor.

:)

One of the two hot pots.

Allison, Hannah and Marissa:)

The "inspiring" portrait.

 

I'll be away for the weekend for a retreat with the Christian Union. I'm looking forward to it! I've heard how we'll be in Scotland's countryside staying in a large estate/historic house. :) 

 

 

 

Glasgow

Happy Sunday!

Yesterday my sweet friend Allison and I ventured to Glasgow!

Glasgow is Scotland's largest city at about 6-700,000. Although not the capital, it has several interesting stereotypes or words associated with it. When researching Glasgow, or mentioning it to one who has been before, the most common words or phrases mentioned are:

Industrial. Victorian. Modern Art. Gothic. Not as Pretty as Edinburgh. Gaelic.

I can say all were true! Allison and I met super early in the morning before the sun rose, and after staying up a bit too late to work on an essay I was half hoping we could reschedule the trip and I could avoid the cold darkness outdoors and fall back into a cozy warm bed. However, my thoughts quickly changed! We grabbed some breakfast in town and took an early bus to Glasgow. It's about 2.5-3 hours and it was wonderful to sleep on the bus! Glasgow is on the West Coast of Scotland, so while it doesn't quite border the Atlantic Ocean, and we didn't see any body of water, we did successfully cross from the East to the West Coast of Scotland yesterday! The bus stopped in small towns along the way and picked up loads of elderly women all wearing long coats and red cloth poppies for Remembrance Day. In between my sleepy thoughts, I kept hearing the word 'Glasgow' pronounced in conversations surrounding me. I determined that the pronunciation is hard to grasp. It's most accurately pronounced GLAAZ-GOO. The Glasweigan accent is quite gaelic, which actually is the official language in parts of Western Scotland. With my American accent though, GLAAZ-GOO just doesn't work or sound at all natural. It sort of completely transforms the accent and is just a strange language jump. GLAAZ-GO seems to work better. GLASS-GOUW seems to bring out the American accent more and probably shouldn't be used.

As the bus drove into the city I first noticed the industrialness. Granted it was a grey day, but the grey concrete buildings just blended in. Like London, Glasgow really developed and grew during Great Britain's industrial revolution.

The not-as-beautiful side of Glasgow.

Once at the bus station, we planned to begin our visit with the Glasgow School of Art, a well-known art school (I think Scotland's only!) known for modern art and it's uniquely beautiful architectural design in the buildings. Immediately though, our map just wasn't pointing us in the right direction. Surrounded by tall concrete buildings, we just weren't in the right place. We found a nearby post office, and waited in line behind some elderly gentlemen with the strongest Scottish/Glasweigan accents we had ever heard. Extremely gaelic, they were having a good time speaking with the post office clerk, and both Allison and I were curious about what was going on and being said. We had no idea. Soon, a woman behind us in line with the help of the post office clerk pointed in the correct direction and both were extremely friendly.

Passing through several different areas, Allison and I both came to find that the Glasgow we were seeing was a mix of Victorianism with some industrialism and then some modernism. Like much of the buildings in Scotland, sandstone was everywhere, but in some places carved in more Victorian ways with curls and faces, and in others much more modern with squares of stained glass.

The Bank of Scotland.

 

Once at the Glasgow School of Art, we found we were too late to jump into a tour group and that the tours were quite expensive. We walked around the outside of the buildings a bit, and found an art school shop where students in the school sell pieces of their artwork whatever medium it may be. These shops tend to be an absolute weakness of mine. Thankfully, I kept my purchases to a minimum, but I find it so inspirational and creative to view what others create and believe to be art. The shop included quite a bit of history on the school and several photos of the architecture of the buildings. Unlike St. Andrews, Glasgow School of Art is relatively newer, coming about in the 1860s, and was created to serve Scotland in ways of design and architecture.

From there, it was about lunchtime and we headed to the Willow Tea Room to enjoy high tea. The Willow Tea Rooms (there are two in Glasgow) were designed solely by Charles Rennie MacKintosh. A Glasweigan architect who designed much of the city, MacKintosh's lifespan perfectly spans industrialism and victorianism in Glasgow. His architecture is very square. It includes a lot of stained glass, too.

At the Willow Tea Room

 

Allison and I split the high tea which was quite delicious, but not quite enough. We both had a small chunk of sandwich, a sweet, and some tea but we treated it as a tasty snack. :)

 

Once we left, the streets had grown very crowded and we found we were in one of Glasgow's main shopping districts. With no Thanksgiving, Christmas shopping here is in full swing and Glasgow supposedly has the best shopping in the U.K. after London. Servicemen and women were everywhere too selling poppies for Remembrance Day, which is today. It seemed like everyone had one pinned to their jacket. I bought one and think it later fell off somewhere. It's in some of our pictures, but then disappears completely!

I didn't mean for this picture to showcase solely people smoking, but I can say that Scotland (from what I've witnessed eaveryday) does have a TON of smokers. While there is a smoking ban in all indoor buildings, it does feel like on a daily basis there is no way to avoid breathing it in on the streets.

Christmas shopping crowds.

 

Allison and I headed next to Glasgow's Cathedral, the only of Scotland's cathedrals to make it out of the Protestant reformation intact. The St. Andrews Cathedral has been featured here before and that was once even larger than the Glasgow Cathedral and was a major Catholic pilgrimmage, but after several attacks during the Protestant Reformation, now a few walls are barely standing.

Prior to coming to Glasgow, I had no idea that there was a Cathedral there and had no expectations. What we found though, was certainly for me the most memorable part of the day. It was incredibly breath-taking, and can only really be compared to perhaps some of the major cathedrals in Paris. Allison and I approached from the Christmas shopping mobs and found that as we walked fewer and fewer people surrounded us. By the time we made it to the Cathedral, there were few others and we enjoyed the sight with no crowds.

Just as we were almost at the Cathedral, I stopped and took a few photographs of these yellow trees. They were so bright and reminded me of fall foliage.

At the Cathedral!

This was right before we entered. A large cemetary stretched all beyond the Cathedral and on either side. It's called a 'Necropolis' and was so truly beautiful and spooky. The November grey sky, the graves everywhere and these trees dripping with down-turned branches added to the aura. 

Looking out at the Necropolis.

So Scotland!

 

 

 

Poppies for Remembrance Sunday.

The Cathedral included two floors and several small rooms like this one.

Tombs were also along the floor, this one was such a polished gold.

 

Overall, it was so incredible. At one point I said to Allison, "How can there be so much beauty in one building?" After exitting, Allison made a comment about how the Cathedral was now Protestant. I was really surprised and thought immediately back to the lengthy visit and walk-through we had just finished. I had seen what I had thought was Catholic literature, a cross that I imagined was used for adoration, and while I didn't see a tabernacle, the entire Cathedral just had such a Catholic feel - no doubt from the ornateness. I wasn't totally sure if I believed that it was now a Protestant Church, and my Catholic defenses - which I didn't know I had - were completely questioning this too and trying to believe that it couldn't be true. I knew that the Cathedral remained intact during the reformation, but could it really completely be transformed into a Protestant Church? Once we went to the front of the Cathedral, our question was answered. Marked in large letters on a sign welcoming all to the Cathedral were the words 'Church of Scotland.' That certainly was something that surprised me.

 

After some exploration of the Necropolis,

some more outdoor views of the Cathedral,

and spotting this Westie (West Highland Terrier) that I wanted to scoop up and take with me,

we ventured off to grab a sandwich and then to the Gallery of Modern Art!

 

Oh, and here's an image of me on a street corner, poppy intact!

 

As we grew closer to the Gallery of Modern Art, I wasn't completely sure how far we were away, when I saw this statue that made me laugh:

We then learned it was the official symbol of the Gallery of Modern Art, and we were right outside the Museum.

We didn't stay too long as we were soon to catch our bus back to St. Andrews, but it was a very cool and free museum full of modern (and perhaps at times, questionable) artwork!

The interior of the Museum

As we exitted.

An ornate door in Glasgow.

A police box!

Near the bus station. :)

 

Overall, it was an amazing trip and a city worth seeing! The ride back was filled with darkness and elderly Scottish women with several Christmas shopping bags. :)