Ceilidh in the Castle

This post is long overdue and should have been written a couple of weeks ago, but with the deadlines I've had for the end of the semester and my infamous tendency to procrastinate, I am writing it now.  Anyway, a couple of weekends ago, the Celtic Society here in St Andrews held a ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee).  It is a social gathering involving traditional Scottish music and dancing.  It was held in the St Andrews Castle which made the event even more special.

We were taught the dances as we went along, so it was perfectly fine that we didn't know what we were doing.  No one cared if you weren't very good or didn't catch on right away.  When participating in a ceilidh, don't expect to have the same partner throughout the whole dance, because you basically end up dancing with everyone else as well.  It was so much fun, and the dances were fairly easy to learn.

I highly recommend attending a ceilidh at least once while in Scotland to get a better understanding of Scottish culture and tradition and to just have fun.  It is perfectly okay to look like a fool while participating, and you get to meet so many different people.  It is a blast, and doing it in the castle was so unique.  We also go to witness a beautiful St Andrews sunset as we were dancing which concluded the night wonderfully.

I have now concluded classes and have just one more deadline next week and a final a few weeks from now before I am completely finished with the semester.  It is amazing how fast this semester has gone by.  I am so thankful to have had this opportunity and would encourage anyone to have their own study abroad adventure, because there really is nothing like it.

Keep an eye out for upcoming posts about my travels to Stratford-upon-Avon and Wales in the next couple of weeks!