Friends From Afar!

Not too long after I arrived in St. Andrews, two of my best friends from high school, William and Colby, came to visit.  Having only been in St. Andrews for a couple of weeks and thus still learning the town, it was great to have some old mates to go out with.

Colby, being a golfer, was adamant about playing the old course, which is of course the home of golf (Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews).  As a reservation to play on the course has a waiting list of up to a year, Colby had a letter from his home golf pro vouching for his handicap and woke up at 4:30am to see if he would be able to play.  Luckily for him, he was able to join a group of three gentlemen for an 11:00am tee time.  He got lucky too, as the weather was perfect for golf.  We were not as fortunate the other days.

Lord Voldemort?

We went to Edinburgh for the weekend.  Even though the weather was miserable (i.e. cold and wet), we still managed to have a good time.  We went to some centuries-old pubs to get out of the elements.  BUT, it was while looking for a pub that we discovered something amazing. . . . . . . a free Harry Potter walking tour!!!! We were pretty excited.  Basically, this guy in wizard garb took us on a walking tour of all the famous Harry Potter sites in Edinburgh, such as the cafe where J.K. Rowling wrote most of the first book, the inspirations for Diagon Alley and Hogwarts, as well as a graveyard which aided her in creating names (such as McGonagall and Tom Riddle).  Everyone on the tour was near our age and thus had grown up with Harry Potter.  This resulted in many nerdy Harry Potter jokes and spells being cast (as we had our own wands for the tour!). 

The next day we toured Edinburgh Castle.  It is a huge fortress on top of a huge hill (cliff?).  I can't imagine how anyone could overtake it prior to modern weaponry.  We were also able to see the crown jewels used in Scottish coronation ceremonies.  However, the most memorable story of the day came in the castle's whiskey shop.  Somehow a bird had gotten into the shop and while we were looking at a £3,000 bottle of Scottish whiskey, it decided to relieve itself on William's face. Hahaha pretty hilarious, but William wasn't too happy.  But what a great story! Who can say they got pooped on by a bird in Edinburgh Castle's whiskey shop?!

Inside the Castle walls.

Alas, our wet weekend came to an end.  I had to head back to St. Andrews, and William and Colby set off for adventures in Belgium and France.

Loch Ness & the Scottish Highlands

Recently, I traveled to Loch Ness, of monster fame, with my roommates Laure and Corentin and our other friend Romain.  "Loch" is the Scottish Gaelic word for "lake." It's the longest lake in Scotland, spanning a great length of the country (kingdom?).  We set off at what felt like dawn on Saturday morning to meet our tour guide, Paul, who drove us around all day.

While we were crossing the bridge over to Dundee, Paul pointed out the railway bridge constructed in the late 19th century.  Apparently, the bridge collapsed a year after it was made, leading to a large inquiry.  He claims it holds the origins of the phrase "botched job," as the architect of the bridge was Sir Thomas Bouch.  Not sure if I buy it, but a good story nonetheless.

Our first main stop was at the Hermitage in Dunkeld, a beautiful wood with a splendid waterfall.  We had a nice hike enjoying the greenery.  All the trees and rocks were covered in moss.  As for the trees, there were the tallest Douglas Firs in Scotland.  Douglas Firs are of course native to North America, but  these trees were planted by David Douglas himself, the Scottish botanist from which the trees take their name.

We finally reached Loch Ness in the afternoon.  It was really pretty!  It was at the site of a castle, so we had plenty of ruins to meander through.  However, it started to rain, so it was a wet visit.  Unfortunately, there were no sightings of Nessy, the Loch Ness monster.

On our drive home, we went through Glencoe, which had the most beautiful scenery!  I really want to go back and hike there.  I could only think of Bilbo Baggins, trekking through the hills (can't wait for that movie to come out!).  It was also the location where the famous bridge scene of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" was filmed.

Hogwarts Express!

And lastly, one of the biggest highlights of the day was seeing the bridge filmed in Harry Potter where the Hogwarts Express crosses when Harry and Ron fly by in the Ford Angela!! And then, we actually saw the train used in the movie as the Hogwarts Express!! It's an old steam engine! It was a really nerdy, exciting moment!

The whole trip was well worth it! It was a great day from beginning to end and gave me a wonderful overview of the Scottish Highlands and familiarity with the Scottish landscape.

An awesome bridge!

The Highlands in Glencoe! "What is your quest?!"

Adjusting to Life in Scotland!

Well, after four plane rides, a night in a hostel, a train, and a taxi, I finally made it to St. Andrews.  It was quite a journey!  That was three weeks ago!  Since then, I'm slowly becoming accustomed to life in Scotland.

The biggest difference (other than the accents!) is the weather.  Being so far north, the sun doesn't set until around 10pm.  It's actually pretty nice.  Having five hours of sunlight after getting off work makes the day seem only half done!  However, I'm already dreading the winter...

Biggest mistake thus far: bringing so many pairs of shorts and short-sleeve shirts!!! It's COLD here!!!  At least for the summer.  The normal temperature is in the 50s (I haven't quite learned Celsius yet...).  I had to buy a scarf.  However, I of course bought a wool scarf featuring the Ross clan tartan, which my family stems from when they emigrated in 1732.

So, I'm sure many of you are wondering what I'm actually doing over here.  For the months of June and July I'm a visiting scholar with the Universal Short Title Catalogue. The goal of the USTC is to catalogue all printed books printed in Europe from the invention of the printing press (mid-1400s) until the mid-seventeenth century.  The project began in 1997 and has been a great success thus far.  It is a resource to scholars to help them identify the location of specific books.  Basically, if you search for a book, it will tell you what libraries across Europe have the specific book.

I know it's hard for many to comprehend, but you must understand most books from early modern Europe only survive in one copy.  It is therefore important to identify and locate various works.  My job this summer is helping catalogue works printed in Normandy, France during the first half of the seventeenth century.  Additionally, I will be working at the Special Collections Library, handling and creating catalogue entries for rare books.  That's the fun and exciting part!  Especially since many of these books have never been catalogued before.

I find it fascinating that libraries have thousands of books, yet very often have no idea what their collections hold.  For example, within the past month, the library identified a multi-volume set of books that had been in the library for over one hundred years and had never been checked out.  The books were a gift from the King of Siam (current day Thailand).  As they were in Thai, no one in the library at that time new what they were.  It turns out they are copies of the sacred texts of a specific sect of Buddhism and are very rare.  A great find!

Anyway, I hope that briefly gives you an idea of what I'm doing this summer.  I've had plenty of adventures thus far and will for sure tell you all about them! I'll probably post a few more updates to catch up with the present, but will then plan on updating once every two weeks.

So check back!