Falling in Love

I have fallen in love with Scotland.

I guess the best place to start is the beginning. It took me over a week to figure out how to fit my life into two fifty-pound suitcases. It takes one, maybe two cars full of stuff to move into Olin, but yet, going across an ocean only takes two suitcases. During the process of packing, Marshmallow wanted more than to come with me, and kept sleeping with my suitcases. I had to break it to him that he had to stay at home when I left, but he wouldn’t have liked being a stowaway anyway.

After a night of traveling, and getting searched over and over again, I finally made it to Aberdeen, where I was met by a very nice RGU student. The Aberdeen airport is maybe the smallest airport I have ever seen, and only about a 10 minute cab ride away from Rosemount Hall, where I am living for the semester. Very different from my picture of an American dorm, but full of a charm all its own. Although not necessarily pretty, its comfortable and functional. I am living with four Irish girls, and one from Scotland.

The street that I live on.

My room from the doorway.

The kitchen from the couch.

In Aberdeen, they say if you don’t like the weather, wait five minutes. Nothing could be more true. One moment it is snowing, and the next, the sun is shining. When I arrived in Aberdeen, it was snowing, much like it was back home. The difference is that everyone expects the snow in New England. In Aberdeen, they expect snow, but don’t know how to deal with it. There was no salt or sand to be found, and no one shoveled anything. So eventually the whole city became a slip and slide! Particularly treacherous was the walk down Bakers Street. A solid sheet of ice, I learned to just go with the flow and sort of slide down it. Oddly enough, after all of the ice disappeared, a bin of sand appeared on this same street. With this warning sign attached.

I didn’t know that I needed to be worried about sharp objects in the sand. But at least there is sand now. Maybe next time it snows I will end up a little less bruised.

On my second day in Aberdeen, I took a walk to the beach with the other students from Olin. One thing about Aberdeen, is that you walk everywhere. I walk all the time, on average 4 miles a day. It is wonderful. I am outside more often in a week than I am in an entire month back at Olin. It wasn’t supposed to snow, but of course as soon as we walked the mile and a half to the beach, it began to snow, and quickly. Take a look at our faces.

A few minutes later, it had stopped. Although I could not smell the salt air, there was still a brilliant quality to being at the beach. There was water and waves. Located on the North Sea, Aberdeen is the largest sea port in north-eastern Scotland. I have not yet seen the port, but there is a fish market that is open every morning until 8a.m. that sells the catch of the day. I may have to attempt to eat fish if I can get some right out of the sea! Although everyone else was a little trepid about approaching the water, I had no fear.

Sticking my hand into the water, I realized that it wasn’t nearly as frigid as I thought it would be. Also, on this day, I took a trip to my first pub in Scotland. Recommended by our guidebook, it was what you would think of as a typical pub, wood paneled and cozy. Of course, I forgot that its claim to fame was its “posh toilets”, so we will have to make another trip back. That won’t be a problem.

Last Monday, I attended the Aberdeen Business School Induction, where I learned the practicalities of being a student, although I was still not registered for classes. That took until the third day of classes to sort out. It was informative and somewhat useful, but the best part is that they arranged for us (the business school exchange students) to visit Crathes Castle on Wednesday.

Built in the 16th century, Crathes Castle was the home to the Burnett family for over 400 years. It is a charming little castle that never saw battle, although it did see fire. Some of the original paintings are still on some of the ceilings and are incredible. What I found remarkable were how many features the castle had to prevent sword fighting. The doorways were all below the height of an average-height man so that if he were chasing someone either he would hit his head, or be slowed down because he had to duck. Every eleventh step was a different height so that he would trip. And the staircases were spiraled to the right so that it would be more difficult to fight. And these things did deter fighting, but they also meant that I had some difficulties, and almost hit my head a few times and tripped up the stairs on more than one occasion.

The night of the castle trip, I also attended class. Staying in class until 9 p.m. and then taking a bus back to city center (about 3 miles away, and where I live) was harder than I imagined. As soon as I got home, I was dressed and out the door for my first night out. Wednesday night was student night, and something that I could not miss according to my flat mates. And I was glad that I listened to them. I danced the night away, and ended up back at my flat at 3:00 in the morning. Luckily I could sleep in the next day, but it was an adventure indeed! That night was when my flat mates also discovered the differences in our vocabularies when they asked me, “Did you have a good crack last night” the next morning. It turns out that they do not mean “crack” as in the drug, but “caic” as in a good time. And here I thought that maybe the reason I had so much fun was that I ingested something illegal. Spurred by this event, we started this dictionary, now just one sheet of paper on the fridge, but soon it will cover the entire kitchen, I fear.


On Saturday, we were going to go to Stonehaven to visit Dunnottar Castle, but it was raining and all together miserable, so we decided to wait until the next day to go. Instead, I wandered to the Central Library and got some reading done for class, and then went out dancing with my flat mates that night.

Although waking up on Sunday was difficult, this was the day that I fell in love with Scotland. We met at 9:15 (although it was really more like 9:25) and walked to the train station, getting a little lost on our way. Once we managed to get ourselves to the train station, we had to buy tickets, and only had a few minutes until the train left. While we considered waiting for the next train in an hour and a half, I was determined to catch this train. As soon as we got our tickets, I was off running through the station to get to the right track. As we boarded the train, it departed from the station. Dan, Christina and Laura (three other students from Olin studying at RGU with me) laughed and said that they never would have run through a station. I guess it was my father’s influence.

In approximately 20 minutes, we arrived in the small town of Stonehaven, and began the three mile journey to Dunnottar Castle, one of the most stunning sights I have ever seen. We managed the short trip to the harbor, and then realized the trek we had ahead of us was going to be no small task. This beach smelled like the ocean I know, the salt hanging in the air.

We started down the path, had to pass several road closed signs, and were finally walking on the cliff when we got our first view of the castle ruins. Most of the remaining structures are from the 15th and 16th centuries, although the site has been inhabited since the year 900 when the Picts settled on the cliff. All along the walk, the views were breathtaking and phenomenal. We thought we may never make it to the castle because every few moments we stopped in order to take the sights in.

Along the way, we stopped at a memorial built to honor the men from Stonehaven that were killed in WWI. An interesting little piece of history, it was designed to look unfinished, as a reminder of how short and ever changing life is. We stopped to take a break here, and marvel at the centuries of history that we were taking in.

After a short break, we continued on to the castle.

Pictures will never be able to do this castle justice, and even though it was a grey, the view was unlike anything I have ever seen. I also found it incredible that even though there was snow on the ground a week ago, everything was so green .

We entered through the gatehouse, becoming season members of Dunnottar Castle, and beginning our journey through the ruins. The castle was abandoned in 1715, before the Declaration of Independence was even considered. Home to the Earls Marischals, it was a heavily embattled castle, imposing in all rights. At one point, it was the home to the Honors of Scotland, the Scottish Crown Jewels. The later history turns darker, as in 1685 125 men and 42 women were held in a small dungeon called the “Whigs Vault” during the rebellion of Argyll and Monmouth, during which there was an attempt to overthrow King James II.

After eating a picnic lunch, we decided it was time to make our way back to the train station and head home. We had grand plans for a walk through the shell house, but that is an adventure that will have to wait for another time, as we were all tired and sore from our trip. We took the easy walk back along the road, easily half the distance of the first walk, but without the view.

I am impressed if you have made it this far, and I promise not to write one of my books next time. Up next weekend: Glasgow and Huntly Castle.