Almost Over, but Not Quite Yet

It's the last few days here in St. Andrews, and things are getting quieter and quieter.  Students are trickling out of the halls, the rhythmic rattle of suitcase wheels across the cobblestones becoming as common as the squawk of the seagulls.  The nights are filled with last-minute parties, friends clinging onto the last few hours before saying goodbye for the summer.

This past week has been very bittersweet.  There has been the excitement and relief of finishing exams and being able to look forward to my family arriving in a few days, but I have also had to say goodbye to some of the wonderful people I have met over the course of the semester, not knowing when I will get to see them again.  I have really come to love St. Andrews and will miss it when I leave.  St Andrews will always hold a special place in my heart, and I know that I will always look back on my time here and only have fond memories.

I am so glad that I decided to come to St. Andrews and Scotland in general.  I never expected to fall in love with this place as much as I have, but it has certainly become one of my favorite places.  There is a certain charm here that I haven't found anywhere else, and I wish everyone could experience it in the way I have.  I was always told that studying abroad was the best way to experience another place, but now I truly know what that means.

I cannot wait to share this experience with my family when they get here in a couple of days and travel a bit more before concluding this amazing adventure and return home.  I hope to blog about where I travel to with them, so keep an eye out for new posts in the next couple of weeks!  I may be wrapping up my time in St. Andrews, but the adventure certainly is not over yet!

Cardiff and the T.A.R.D.I.S

This is the second part of my latest adventure.  If you missed part one, you can find it here.

After reveling in the land of Shakespeare, I traveled to Cardiff, Wales to revel in the land of British television.  My main goal for this leg of the journey was to go to the Doctor Who Experience (Doctor Who is my favorite television show), but I found Cardiff to be a great city with so much more to offer.  Cardiff was beautiful, and I had such a wonderful time exploring the city.  I really didn't have many expectations before going there, so I was excited to see all that I could.  It was a simple city to navigate, and I felt very at ease there.

Our first day there, we explored the city, walking around to see what we could see.  We visited the castle, which was actually way cooler than I thought it would be.  The castle has been around for nearly 2,000 years and has been inhabited by many groups of people, taking on Roman, Norman, and Victorian influences.  It was a fascinating place, and I highly recommend taking the time to visit it.  I would love to go back and take a more extensive tour.

Cardiff Castle

The Keep

After spending the first day exploring the heart of Cardiff, we spend a good portion of the next day in Cardiff Bay which is just outside of the city center.  It was fun to get out of the rush of the city center but still be in the city.  This is also where the Doctor Who Experience is located, and being a big fan of Doctor Who, I was beyond excited to be there.

The Doctor Who Experience has an interactive tour that takes you on a small adventure with the Doctor but then takes you to an exhibit that showcases the various costumes and monsters over the years.  I learned a lot of different facts about the show and got to see some of sets, such as a couple of the T.A.R.D.I.S sets.  It was so much fun to indulge my love for this show and be in an atmosphere that loves the show just as much as I do.  I would definitely do it again, and would definitely love to go on the walking tour that is available to accompany the main tour as well to see more of the filming locations around Cardiff.

The TARDIS

The first TARDIS console from the 1960s

Nine and Ten's TARDIS console

Doctors 1-3

Doctors 4-6

Doctors 7-8

Doctors Nine and Ten

Eleventh Doctor

An Ood, a Weeping Angel, a Sontaran, and a Cyberman

The Daleks

After the Experience, we walked around Cardiff Bay, exploring the town.  The BBC filming studios are just across the street from the Experience, but unfortunately since it was a Saturday, nothing was actually being filmed.  I still was able to recognize a lot of filming locations from Doctor Who and Torchwood which was a lot of fun.  Cardiff is a small city, but I really enjoyed being there, and would love to go back again.  I would also love to visit other places in Wales 

This last trip around the UK was so much fun, and I loved getting to see places that have connections to the things I love and have influenced me.  It was such a nice break before the crunch of finals and the end of the semester.  I still have a few more adventures to come when my family joins me in a couple of weeks, and I cannot wait!  I hope they find the UK as magical as I have and enjoy it just as much!

A Bit of the Bard

FALSTAFF:  "What is honour? a word.  What is in that word honour?  air.  A trim reckoning!  Who hath it?  he that died o' Wednesday.  Doth he feel it?  no.  Doth he hear it?  no.  'Tis insensible, then.  Yea, to the dead.  But will it not live with the living?  no.  Why?  detraction will not suffer it.  Therefore I'll have none of it.  Honour is a mere scutcheon: and so ends my catechism."

Henry IV Part 1 Act V, Scene 1

A few days ago, I traveled down to Stratford-upon-Avon with some friends to visit the home of William Shakespeare and see the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Henry IV Parts I and II.  The play centers around the theme of leadership and what it takes to become a successful king.  The quote above exemplifies the premise of Part I in which Prince Hal, Henry IV's son, must redeem his honor in order to one day take the throne and leave behind his less honorable tendencies of spending his time amongst criminals such as Falstaff.  Falstaff contrasts Prince Hal in this scene as he rejects honor and acts like a fool rather than a soldier.  It is interesting to question whether Falstaff is simply being a coward in this scene or whether he is providing a more realistic approach to the concept of honor in which he does not glorify it like the members of nobility do.  Shakespeare explores what honor is and what it means to have honor.  Before I begin to analyze the entire play and turn this into an essay about that quote, I will leave it there and move on to the rest of my trip.

RSC Theatre

The RSC put on a wonderful production of both parts of Henry IV, but I preferred Part I to Part II.  Part I had a lot of action and humor whereas Part II had some humor, but much less action and wasn't as engaging.  It was still really nice to see RSC productions and hope that I can see more in the future.  They put on other productions as well besides Shakespeare's works, and they had several costumes on display from various productions.  There were all very impressive, and it was interesting to learn about each one even if I wasn't familiar with the production is was a part of.

I really enjoyed my time in Stratford-upon-Avon.  It is such a charming little town with little nods to Shakespeare throughout, but nothing overwhelming or too cheesy.  We visited several of Shakespeare's family homes such as his birthplace, his mother's farm, his family home, and the house that his daughter, Susanna, lived in with her husband.  They were so interesting to visit, and I learned so much from the guides in each residence.  I found it particularly interesting to learn about small things that have subtle references in his plays as well as some of the terms that we still use today that came from his time.  

The First Folio

We also visited Shakespeare's grave inside the Holy Trinity Church.  The inscription on his grave says, "Good friend, for Jesus' sake forebeare/ To digg the dust encloased heare; / Bleste be the man that spares thes stones, / And curst be he that moves my bones."  Quite fitting for the poet isn't it?

The rest of Stratford-upon-Avon was beautiful, despite the fact that it rained on us non-stop.  It is a fairly quiet town, but very peaceful.  

I would love to return to Stratford-upon-Avon again sometime and spend more time there.  I am sure that there is so much more to see and learn.  I hope to be able to see many more of the RSC's productions.  It was so nice to be able to indulge my love for Shakespeare and dedicate some of my time to learning more about the bard.

From here, we traveled down to Cardiff, Wales, but since this post is so long, I will continue it in a new one.  Up next: geeking out some more with a man called the Doctor and a time-traveling blue box!

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!

A Writer, an Abbey, and The Da Vinci Code

Some advice to travelers new to Scotland: do not spend all of your time in Edinburgh and Glasgow.  While these are exciting and beautiful places, I think that some of the most beautiful and magical places exist outside of the cities in the country.  There is really nothing else like the Scottish countryside, and it would certainly be sad to miss the opportunity to see it.  It is so quiet and peaceful while holding some true gems of this country.

Today, I traveled down to the Scottish Borders with the Arcadia group and got to tour Abbotsford House, the former home of Sir Walter Scott.  Having a great love for literature, I really looked forward to this tour, and it was everything I hoped it would be.  I learned so much about who Walter Scott was and fell in love with the house that he built.  Even though it resembles a small castle, it is so cozy and comfortable inside, making you feel right at home immediately.  Scott collected many (and often random) historical artifacts that decorate the house, but they somehow all fit together perfectly.  What really got me to fall in love with his house, however, was the library of course.  Reserved for the biggest room in the house, Scott had a library that held his own personal collection of books (over 7,000) and none have been removed and none of have been added since his death.  It was such a beautiful room filled with so many stories that I felt like I could sit in there and read for days.  Scott was a fascinating character, and it was very interesting to learn more about him and his influence on literature and Scottish culture.

The library that I fell in love with

The desk and chair that Scott sat at to write the majority of his works

After I got over my obsession with Scott's house, we popped over to Melrose Abbey which is a ruined monastery.  It was founded in the twelfth century, and even though it is now in ruins, it is still a very impressive structure.  It is amazing to think that humans were capable of making such beautiful buildings so long ago without any of the tools and resources that we have today.  There is so much detail that was all created by hand which is just stunning.  It is also said that Robert the Bruce's heart is buried somewhere on the grounds.

Our next stop was at Scott's View.  Sir Walter Scott used to come out to this spot often (hence why it is named after him) to think about his writing or just to take in the peaceful landscape of the Scottish Borders.  It was one of his favorite spots, and it is not difficult to see why.

The final stop for the day was at Rosslyn Chapel.  If you have read Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code or seen the film, this may seem familiar.  The Holy Grail may just be hidden away somewhere in the chapel...  The detail on the chapel itself is amazing; there is so much detail everywhere you look, and each carving tells a story.  Unfortunately, I was not allowed to take any pictures inside the chapel, but I managed to sneak one in (shhh!).  Like Melrose Abbey, I was amazed by the amount of skill that the architects and builders had over 500 years ago.  Contemporary buildings just cannot compare to these intricate structures.

The sneaky picture of inside the chapel.  (I wish it were easier to see all of the details.)

The Scottish Borders is such a beautiful region, and even though it is the country, it is so different from the Highlands.  There is a different kind of peacefulness that exists in this region that I can't really explain, but I highly recommend experiencing it for yourself.  This was one of my favorite trips that I have gone on here in Scotland, and overall, I definitely enjoy visiting the countrysides over the cities.  There is almost a fairytale-like quality to these places that the cities just don't quite capture.  

I am so thankful to be here and to be able to explore such magical places.  If there is ever a point that I cannot be found in St Andrews, I may have just moved down to Sir Walter Scott's house and am holed up in the library getting started on that reading list of 7,000 books...