Renaissance

Rejoice, rejoice! I am out of the doldrums and the skip is back in my step!

The conference of historical economics professors departed around noon today. The house staff and I then raced to prepare all the rooms for the incoming 80 students from University of Southern Mississippi, who were arriving just a short few hours after the last conference participant walked out the door.

After the house was cleaned up and ready, the two stagecoach buses full of students arrived. Earlier in the afternoon I was wondering to myself how I was going to muster the energy to handle this group. I was left absolutely knackered from the economics conference, not to mention a little emotionally bruised from their utter lack of respect. Also, I was a little concerned that the house just could not take another large group – my poor palace was left a little battered from the past week.

However, once those buses pulled up and the 80 wide-eyed students got out, I felt my energy restored almost instantly. Their excitement to be here really made me snap out of my rut. They looked at the palace with such awe and they are so curious to know the history of the house and about Edinburgh… It was nice to see Scotland through their eyes again and remind myself what does not need reminding: I’m really, really lucky.

Tonight I organized an estate tour and shared with the students all the interesting things I’ve learned about the house and surrounding 850 acres in the last few months. We visited the “hairy coos” (Highland cows), the stables, the Orangery, and Montague Bridge while enjoying the Midlothian evening breeze.

I think I will spend the rest of the evening on the front porch with a well-earned cuppa and a good book.