Yesterday morning, on my second day in Scotland, I was given a bus pass, a list of things to find, and a friendly shove out the door. And thus began my first trip to Edinburgh.
The students have to complete the very same scavenger hunt on their fourth day of orientation, though they get to do it in groups (we call them, what else!, clans). Patty, my supervisor, thought it would be important that I experience what the students will experience their first time in the city, and I couldn’t agree more. It was a great exercise to see and feel what they would themselves in just a few days.
I walked to the Dalkeith bus station, grabbed the #3 Lothian bus, and 40 minutes later, I arrived in the city center at Waverly Station. Actually, that is where I was suppose to arrive. Instead, I got off three stops early because I saw a sign for the University of Edinburgh’s Old College (see photo below), which used to house the entire university but now is just home to the Faculty of Law (faculty meaning in the UK school, not professors) and couldn’t help myself. So I hopped off and walked into the greystone courtyard and awed in its stately presence. It’s quite a gorgeous piece of real estate!
University of Edinburgh, Old College
After the ooh-ing and aah-ing because I am a Student , I found my way to the Waverly Station, where I was meant to go first (sorry Patty, I don’t follow directions well!). Waverly Station is located on Princes Street, which runs parallel to The Royal Mile. It is quite a busy and bustling intersection – on the corner a bagpiper played for tourists’ quid, people were dashing in and out of the trendy overpriced boutiques that line the far side of the street, a row of schoolboys in their uniforms walked in a single file behind their teacher, and as a major transportation depot, hundreds of people by the minute are filtering in and out of Waverly Station.
But I was no rookie with crowds – I spent a summer in New York City! I got my elbows out and made my way through to the Princes Street Garden. The Princes Street Garden (see photo below) separates Old Town from New Town Edinburgh. In 1820, Nor Loch, a heavily polluted lake in the center of Edinburgh, was drained and New Town was built on the other side of its valley. In the lake’s place this beautiful park was created and is now a popular meeting place in Edinburgh – the day I was there, people were laying in the grass, eating lunch, reading, and taking a stroll with loved ones along the garden’s edge. Edinburgh Castle looks majestically over the grassy field and the garden includes a monument to Sir Walter Scott, the Scottish poet and novelist (Ivanhoe, Rob Roy).
Bagpiper on the corner of Waverly Station and Princes Street Garden
My scavenger hunt took me all around the Princes Street area before instructing me to head towards The Royal Mile. The Royal Mile is a one-mile long street (fun fact that isn’t actually all that fun because it is math-related: The Royal Mile is actually a Scottish mile in length, which is equivalent to 1.8 km or 1.12 standard miles) that stretches from Edinburgh Castle to Holyrood Abbey, the Queen’s official home in Scotland. It’s a big tourist to-do and there are a lot of neat shops and pubs along the street.
Anyways, other places I visited while in Edinburgh as part of the scavenger hunt included Greyfriars Bobby (below). Bobby is a Scottish folklore legend. Bobby was a loyal Skye terrier who spent 14 years watching over his owner John Gray’s grave after he passed away. The pup’s grave stone reads: “Let his loyalty and devotion be a lesson to us all.”
Loyal Greyfriars Bobby
I visited a few other places but many places, like Victoria Street (featured as the picture in my blog’s heading) and Calton Hill were closed off due to construction. I was really sad but I know I will probably be coming into the city a lot this summer so all is not lost!
I had a very enjoyable day (I think I was gone from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.) and I got to talk to a lot of people (at Greyfriars Bobby, I met a couple visiting from Idaho who were former alumni of Christian’s college – small world!). This summer my goal is to take more risks (I can hear my mother having a fit all the way in U.S. about that!) and try to talk to more locals and approach people. It would be too easy for me to interact only with the American students in the palace – but that is only a part of why I am here. I tend to be a bit reserved around others but I think to learn and develop my cross-cultural communication skills and competencies, I need to put myself out there and try to immerse myself in the culture as best I can.
I assumed before I came here that I would be able to “pass” as a local, as long as I kept quiet and didn’t tell anyone I was an American. However, in Edinburgh, I was approached my a lot of people who asked “Where are you from?” I haven’t isolated just what makes it obvious from even a distance that I am not from Scotland, but it’s pretty interesting to know that even though I am white with red hair, I still come across as a foreigner. I need to do some more critical observations about it (and I will), but I think U.S. Americans probably carry themselves differently, in a way definably different from most Scots. I am sure it was a give away, too, that I was visiting because I spent my whole afternoon in Edinburgh with my eyes wide and my mouth gaped open, trying to take in all the beauty. I realize that this is probably the first time in my life I’ve had to identify as a U.S. American and that I have probably been expected to represent my country. What a privilege I have that I can go 23 years of my life and never have someone ask me “So what are you?”
I think visiting Edinburgh on my own was a very important experience because I now know a few of the challenges students may come back with once they start going out into the city themselves and I can help facilitate those conversations and reflections better. Some of them may come across some anti-American attitudes, some may not be comfortable with the “Where are you from?” question, and some may find it intimidating to walk past a group of men outside of a pub after a rowdy football match on the telly. The men here seem to value “masculinity” a great deal and I have to admit I felt a little uncomfortable walking past a group of men and being subjected to their comments. I expect for many students they will not be really affected by the cultural differences until a few weeks into the term because the first few weeks they are so enamored with their new host country, but it will be helpful for me to keep a running list of things to expect students to need help processing. And I definitely think experiencing the cultural adjustment stages along with the students will help make me a better advisor, both here as an intern and back at home in my career as a Student Affairs professional. I certainly am not immune to the stages of culture shock!
That is all for today, I am afraid. Today all I did was start working on orientation for the students who arrive on Thursday, and tomorrow is more of the same, so there might not be any new pictures in the near future. However, I realize I still have not posted about the Dalkeith Palace, so maybe I can find a few minutes tomorrow to run around and take some pictures of summer home to post here!
Until then, please take a look at my Photobucket album of my day in Edinburgh for more pictures!
