Rotaract Activities and Rotary Children's Disco

Greetings Everyone –

Hope things are going well back in Texas! Today is daylight savings time here in the UK, so for a few weeks the UK is only 5 hours ahead of East Texas time. Isn't it funny that we roll back the clocks on different dates?

A friend mentioned last week that they would like to hear more about the Rotary activities I’m doing here in Scotland. It was great to receive the feedback, and I’ll be sure to post more about Rotary activities in Scotland from now on. Please let me know about other things I can continue to improve on! :)

Over the past several weeks, I’ve been meeting with the Aberdeen Rotaract Club. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Rotaract, it’s essentially Rotary for college students. Rotaract clubs typically focus on charity activities, professional development, and social interaction.

Often, Rotaract clubs help out with activities that the local Rotary Clubs are sponsoring. Aberdeen Rotaract is particularly unique because it’s made up of students from the two rival universities in Aberdeen - Robert Gordon University and the University of Aberdeen. Even with the friendly rivalry, the Rotaract club seems to have a great time putting events together.

Aberdeen Rotaract Ceilidh Fundraiser

We’ve got several charity events on the calendar for the next few months, and I joined the planning committee for the winter charity Ceilidh (pronounced “caylee”).

The Ceilidh is a traditional Scottish highlands dance party where a “Ceilidh band” plays Scottish highland folk music. For each song, a performer calls the dances and provides instructions to people who don’t know the Scottish dance steps. Ceilidhs are quite popular this time of year, so we’re hoping to attract a good crowd to raise money for a local children’s charity.

The University of Aberdeen’s clubhouse venue has agreed to host the charity event free of charge, and we found a printer to donate tickets and fliers for the event. Now our big concern is finding a Ceilidh band to perform at the event on November 23. My sponsoring Rotary club, Aberdeen Deeside, is also putting on a charity Ceilidh on November 9, so I’ll get to learn the Scottish highland dances before we host our own event. Fun stuff!

Aberdeen Deeside’s Children’s Halloween Disco

Yesterday, the Aberdeen Deeside Rotary Club held their semi-annual Children’s Disco to raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund. I went to help out with the event and had a blast!

The event was held for kids in Primary 5 – 7, which is the Scottish equivalent of grades 4 – 6 in US school systems. Most of the kids were 10 or 11 years-old. I helped run the coat-check room for most of the afternoon, which provided me with quite an entertaining view of the dance floor.

It was absolutely hilarious to watch the group of little boys gallivanting around, with the group of little girls always one step ahead of them. The DJ was great at entertaining and involving the kids, and they all seemed to have a blast. Here are some pictures of the kids having fun on the dance floor:

The Deeside Rotarians are really nice and were great to work with. Many of them worked quite hard to put on the event, and it was neat to learn the details on how the event was put together. It was also great to get to know several new Rotarians over the course of the afternoon.

Towards the end of the event, some of the Rotarian ladies even hit the dance floor to show the kids how dancing is really done. And man, they could dance! The kids had a great time at the event, and the Rotarians and I had a fun time raising money for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund.

This Wednesday I'll visit the Aberdeen Deeside meeting again and will present them with a Kilgore Rotary Club banner and City of Kilgore oil derrick pins. I'll keep you all updated on how the visit goes.

That's all for now, but take care and have a great week!

Weekend Roadtrip to Manchester (Part 1)

Greetings Friends –

Hope things have been going well for all of you back in East Texas! Everything is going great here in Scotland. Classes have been exciting and I’m getting to know more fellow students each week.

This past weekend I traveled to Manchester, England with my roommate (who’s name is also Nick) to pick up a car that he bought online. As soon as classes were finished on Friday, we caught a Ryanair flight from Aberdeen to Liverpool, England. Ryanair is a discount airline that offers cheap, direct flights all over Europe (similar to Southwest Airlines, but much more stripped down).

After arriving in Liverpool, we found a cab and negotiated a fare for the 30 minute drive to the car dealership in Manchester. The cab dropped us off at the dealership, and then we picked up Nick’s 2001 Volvo.

Driving around Manchester was absolutely hilarious! Because cars drive on the left side of the road in the UK, the steering wheel and driver’s seat is on the right side of the car. Neither one of us had ever driven like this before, and Nick was determined to learn. So, for the first 30 minutes of Nick driving, both of us were laughing/freaking out trying to keep the car on the correct side of the road while navigating traffic. It sounds random, but we couldn’t stop laughing because it was so strange driving on the left side of the road. We finally found a Travel Inn to stay at, so we dropped off our bags and headed downtown.

Maps showing local attractions were all over the place:


First, we walked around a park and found a statue of Queen Victoria:

Downtown Manchester was really amazing! The city center was alive with people, and there were lots of neat shops and attractions. Here’s a picture of some of the local shops (notice how different cabs look in England compared to the US:

After walking around downtown, we found the reconstructed remains of an ancient Roman fort.

Manchester apparently began as the original Roman fort that was built in 79 A.D.

After visiting the fort, we walked back to the car and headed back to the hotel. After taking a few wrong turns, we found our way back and headed in for a good night’s rest. The next morning, we woke up and headed out onto the highway towards Aberdeen.

To attach more pictures, I’ve continued in a second entry below.

- Have a great week!

Weekend Roadtrip to Manchester (Part 2)

Hello Again!

Continuing on the entry above, we woke up on Saturday morning and headed onto the highway. The road systems here are quite different from US highways, and major intersections and highway exits are often poorly labeled (if there’s even a sign). Highways that start with an “M ##” are similar to interstate highways in the US. Highways that start with an “A ###” are similar to our state highways in the US (US 259 for example).

We started out heading north on M90 from Manchester through Lancaster. As we started getting further north, the landscape started getting hillier and hillier. Here’s a picture of our view as we continued on M90 just north of Lancaster:


Sheep covered the fields and hills all across the countryside, and in many cases we would see them scattered up and down extremely steep hillsides. After passing through Carlisle, we drove by this field of windmills. I thought these were really cool:

Soon after this, we crossed into Scotland and took the exit for A7 to head northeast. A7 winds through the is known as the “tourist route to Edinburgh.” We weren’t in a hurry, so we decided to take the tourist route so that we could really experience the Scottish countryside. Here’s a picture of my flat-mate, Nick, driving with the Scottish lowlands in the background:

This windy road took us all around the gorgeous countryside, and we passed through several little towns that were in the middle of nowhere:

As we approached Edinburgh, we saw a random sign that said “Chrichton Castle.” We decided to venture off road, and eventually we found the remains of the 500 year-old Chrichton Castle. Here’s a picture of me with the castle and countryside in the background:

Heading back to the main road, we drove for half an hour and reached Edinburgh, Scotland. Edinburgh is a gorgeous and busy city, and we got turned around a few times before finding a place to park near the city center.

After walking around the city for a while, we finally reached Edinburgh Castle. This castle is absolutely enormous! The south side of the castle is built on top of a 50 ft rock face, and the north side overlooks the waterfront. This castle was exceptionally fascinating because it is still maintained and houses events.

Because we reached the castle after closing time, we weren’t able to explore inside. The guard at the gate told us that the castle is so large that it can house four large weddings simultaneously without any problems.

My camera battery died as we entered Edinburgh, so I wasn’t able to take any pictures of Edinburgh Castle. Nick and I plan on returning to Edinburgh to spend an entire day touring the castle, so I’ll make sure to take some neat pictures then.

Taking to the road again, we crossed the two mile long Forth Road Bridge and headed north along the coastline. Reaching Aberdeen two hours later, Nick and I congratulated each other on a safe and exciting road trip.

I’m not sure where our next road trip will lead, but I’m looking forward to it. Until then, it’s time to hit the school books and study hard.

Once again, I hope things are going great for everyone back in East Texas!

- Stay in touch and best wishes to all of you

My First Month in Scotland

Greetings All –

Hope things are going well back in Texas! Today marks one month that I’ve spent in Aberdeen, and it has truly been an eye-opening experience so far. The past month has gone by so fast, and yet my arrival in Scotland seems like a distant memory from long ago. I’ve already had so many enlightening encounters and have made so many great friends here in the UK.

Here are a few things that have become a part of everyday life now, even though they shocked me when I first arrived:

- Sinks have separate faucets for hot and cold water
- Cars drive on the left side of the road
- Roundabouts (the European term for circle intersection) replace typical intersections
- Many grocery stores expect you to bring your own bag, and they charge you if you use their plastic bags
- It’s the norm here to make coffee and/or tea by heating water in a self-contained heating pot that plugs into the wall
- Shopping centers and stores typically close around 4-5 pm
- Even on extremely sunny days, the high temperature is around 50-60 degrees Farenheit

On a different note, I moved into a new flat that’s much closer to campus over the weekend. I’m now only 5 minutes away from school, so no more walking 15-20 minutes each way to class each day. Four of us live in the flat, and my roommates are from Scotland, Luxembourgh, and Bulgaria. My new bedroom is pictured below:


It’s been particularly interesting to get to know Frazier, the Scottish roommate, since he was born and raised in Scotland. In addition to teaching us several phrases in the Gaelic dialect, he’s told us several of the best places to visit in Scotland. My other roommate Nick is buying a car this weekend, so we’re going to start taking road trips around the country as soon as possible.

I’m off now to study for classes, but I’ll stay in touch and keep all of you updated. Best wishes and have a great week!

Recap of Last Week: Visit to Aberdeen Deeside Club

Greetings All -

This past week has been relatively slow, and it's been good to have a chance to settle in and figure out a routine. Classes are going well so far, and I'm still meeting new people at school and making friends easily.

Last Tuesday I made it to the Aberdeen Rotaract club's first meeting of the semester. Everyone seems pretty cool, and I'll look forward to helping out with Rotaract charity and social events over the next two semesters.

On Wednesday, my sponsoring Rotarian, Ian Reid, picked me up and drove me to the Cults hotel to visit the Aberdeen Deeside Club for the first time. Ian is a retired educator who grew up in Edinburgh. After chatting for a while, we made our way upstairs for the meeting. Quentin Tweedie, the club president, introduced me along with the guest speaker (a member of parliament representing the Aberdeen area).

Dinner was excellent, and the speaker was interesting. The visit was a great opportunity to meet local Rotarians, and Quentin mentioned that they'll want me to come back to make a presentation in the next couple of months. The club gave me a banner to bring back to the Kilgore Rotary Club, and I have a Kilgore banner to give them when I return to speak.

Over the weekend I attended church in the King's Chapel, which is attached to King's College. The church is ancient and beautiful, and some of the stained glass windows have been in place for over 500 years. I also discovered that there's a youth dinner (with free food!) every Sunday night after church. :) The youth dinner was a fun opportunity to chat with other students while enjoying homemade chicken noodle soup (amazing since it was 40 degrees outside).

On a different note, a package arrived containing East Texas t-shirts that were collected by Rotarians from District 5830! Thank you to my parents for going to the trouble of shipping them over. I've already handed several t-shirts out to my roommates (from India, Zimbabwe, and Nigeria). They seem really excited to have Texas gear to wear! I'm going to try to take some t-shirts to the Rotaract meeting tomorrow evening to hand out to members.

That's all for now, but hope things are going great back in Texas. Cheers!

Rotary Scholars Conference in England

Hello All -

The past week has been busy and enriching. Lectures started last week, and it looks like this semester’s classes will be intense. On the bright side, the professors are excellent and the material is interesting.

This weekend, I attended the Rotary in Britain and Ireland (RIBI) Link weekend in Bournemouth, England. The conference was held to bring together all of the ambassadorial scholars studying in England, Ireland, and Scotland. On Friday, I flew down to Southampton, England and took the train to Bournemouth. I didn’t know what exactly to expect, but the weekend turned out to be an absolutely amazing experience.

Several of the scholars posing right before eating an amazing English breakfast:
A sample of the scenery during our ferry tour of Poole Harbor:
Rotarians and scholars eating dinner at the "Western Ho-Down." The Swanage club president is pictured at the far right, and Sue and Maggie (two of our host Rotarians) are pictured front and center:
Some fellow scholars from Jamaica, Namibia, and Malta. The caption on the banner in the background is so appropriate!
We just didn't want to leave each other when the conference was over!

In addition to meeting 100+ ambassador scholars from over 20 countries, we were housed and fed in smaller groups by our host families. After meeting my host family on Friday, we travelled to Swanage (the neighboring down) where the host Rotarian, Sue Whitton, lived.

After settling in and meeting the other three scholars at the house, we went to the house of another Swanage Rotarian for an English barbeque! The food was excellent, and the company was even better. In addition to meeting several Swanage Rotarians, about 10 scholars were at the house party. Our dinner hosts, Henry and Rosemary Clark, truly made us feel at home.

The next morning, Sue and Maggie (another Rotarian), cooked us all a traditional English breakfast! It was absolutely delicious. After eating the Rotarians drove us around the coast for a brief tour before taking us to the meeting center in Poole. After a brief presentation, we all boarded a ferry that took us on a tour of the gorgeous Poole Harbor.

After the tour, we changed and went to a “Western Ho-Down” back at the conference center. A live band played folk-type music as many of us square and line danced. Of course, I had to jump in and show them how well Texans dance. ;)

The next morning we woke early and attended several seminars designed to enrich our experience as ambassadorial scholars. Wrapping up the convention, we said goodbyes and headed back to our universities across the UK. I took the bus, then train, then plane and finally arrived back in Aberdeen late last night.

Meeting so many Rotarians and scholars at the convention was a great experience, and I look forward to keeping in touch with them. Several of us have already made plans to visit each other in different cities. Huge thanks to our hosts in England and all of the Rotarians who worked to make this convention such a positive experience.