Rotary Visits and Loch Ness Trip (Part 1)

Greetings Family and Friends –

Hope things are going well for all of you back in Texas! It’s been a while since I’ve posted lately, with classes and Rotary activities ramping up quite a bit. Things are going great, and two months have now passed since I left East Texas. The time has truly flown by, and I’m adjusting more every day to the Scottish way of life.

Here are several fascinating things that I’ve been up to lately:

Rotary Ceilidh
Attending Aberdeen Deeside’s Charity Ceilidh was so much fun! The band played Scottish folk music all night long, and learning the Scottish dances was a great laugh. Two of the Rotarian ladies even showed me some impressive moves on the dance floor!

Rotary Club Visits
Last week, the Aberdeen Balgownie Rotary Club invited me to speak at their meeting on Thursday night. The Balgownie Rotarians were a friendly group, and the presentation went well. After presenting and exchanging banners with the club, they kindly extended an open invitation for me to visit their meetings in the future.

This week I’ll also be traveling down to visit and speak at the Laurencekirk Rotary Club, which is located about 30 miles south of Aberdeen. It’s been great to meet so many friendly Rotarians here in Scotland, and I look forward to meeting even more during future club visits. Here are the Scottish Rotary Club banners that I’ve collected so far to bring back home:

Golf Lessons
My colleagues and I had our third golf lesson on Friday, and I’m really getting hooked on it. My flatmate and I have been putting in some extra time at the driving range, so hopefully we’ll be hitting the full course soon!

Trip to Loch Ness
On Saturday, my roommate (Nick), his friend (Sylvia), and I went for a highlands day trip to visit Loch Ness. Waking up early, we packed sack lunches and hit the road. Castle ruins were all along the road we took, and we visited one along the way called Glenbuchat.

Here’s a view of the castle:

The towers were quite intimidating:

Nice view from the castle window:

Steep spiral staircases!

Loch Ness Visit (Part 2)

After visiting Glenbuchat Castle, we drove up and down the steep hills. Here’s what the view looked like from a look-out point (another castle is visible towards the left of the valley):

As we traveled further Northwest, the rainy weather started moving in. Here’s a view of the clouds moving in with mountains in the background:

After four hours of driving we arrived in Inverness, a northern coastal city located about 15 minutes from Loch Ness. Loch Ness is famous for Nessie, the notorious sea monster who is said to inhabit the ancient body of water. We could tell we were getting close when we saw this Nessie statue outside of a gas station:

Loch Ness is one of many bodies of water created by the glaciers during the ice age. The word loch is essentially another word for a lake. However, I was quickly corrected by a Scottish friend when I accidentally called one a lake. Thus the name – Loch Ness. As we arrived at Loch Ness, a rainy haze was settling over the water:

I wanted to jump in so that I could say I’ve been swimming with Nessie, but the water was really cold:

Loch Ness Visit (Part 3)

After visiting Loch Ness and picking up a few souvenirs, we headed east and visited Culloden Battlefield. At this site, the Battle of Culloden took place in 1746 as a final clash between the Scottish Highland Jacobites and the Hanoverian British Army. Blue and red flags across the battlefield mark the positions taken by the opposing forces:

Next to the battlefield was a really old house with the thatch roof still intact. Apparently, this house is all that remains of a peaceful farming settlement that was all but wiped out during the battle:

On the way to our next stop, we stumbled upon this amazing bridge. Although we were at a poor angle for taking a picture, I’m relatively sure that this is the bridge that appears in the Harry Potter movies:

Next we visited the Clava Cairn, a pre-historic human burial chamber dated around 1,000 B.C. There were several single-chamber circular burial structures with an entrance oriented south west towards midwinter sunset. It was absolutely fascinating to visit this pre-historic site. Vertical stones like the one in this picture were positioned around the structure in a specific pattern:

After that, we drove to the northern coast to explore Fort George. Unfortunately, visiting hours were already over so we decided to start heading back to Aberdeen. The drive went quickly, and along the way we listened to an important football (soccer) match between Scotland and Italy. Scotland seemed to play well, but unfortunately Italy pulled ahead and won 2 - 1. The day-trip proved to be a great vacation from everyday life in the city.

That’s all for now friends, but thanks for checking in and have a great week! Best wishes -

Golf Lessons and Scottish Holiday Celebrations

Greetings Friends –

Things have been going quite well here in Aberdeen, and I hope that life is good for all of you back in Texas. Here are a few things that have been happening on this end:

Golf Lessons

Last Friday, three classmates and I attended our first golf lesson at the Murcar Links Golf Club. It’s quite a beautiful course located along the coastline on the Northeast edge of the city. My colleagues and I are part of a pilot program sponsored by the graduate arts school at the University of Aberdeen.

Here's a view of the Murcar Links Course (notice the North Sea in the background):

Essentially, they’re sponsoring us to take weekly golf lessons from the club pro, and in January we’ll receive a free one-year membership to the club. Talk about being in the right place at the right time! :) The club pro, Gary, is an excellent instructor, and I’m so excited to learn to play in the country that invented golf. Amazing fun!

Guy Fawkes Night (a.k.a. Bonfire Night)

On Tuesday night, my flatmates and I went down to the beach to watch the fireworks in celebration of Guy Fawkes Night. Guy Fawkes Night (more commonly known as Bonfire Night) is an annual celebration on the evening of the 5th of November. It celebrates the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot of the 5th of November 1605 in which a number of conspirators, including Guy Fawkes, attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament.

Surprisingly, the event is a big celebration in Scotland and England. Fraser, my Scottish roommate, shared his view that the Scottish celebrate because the plot nearly succeeded in destroying parliament. When we asked him why the British celebrate the holiday, he shared his view that they celebrate the fact that they stopped the attempt to blow up parliament.

Here are some of the fireworks:

And here’s a picture of my roommate and I trying figure out how to stay warm (yes, that's a scarf wrapped around my face):

If you’re interested in learning more about Guy Fawkes and the notorious plot to blow up the English Parliament, here’s a link with additional information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes

Upcoming Charity Ceilidh Event:

This Friday I’ll be attending the Aberdeen Deeside Rotary Club’s annual Charity Ceilidh. As mentioned in a previous blog entry, a Céilidh (pronounced "kay-lee") is a social event with Scottish highlands music and dancing.

The word céilidh is Irish and Scottish Gaelic for 'visit'.’ The traditional Scottish highlands music is provided by an assortment of fiddle, flute, tin whistle, accordion, and drums. In addition to raising money for local charities, dancing and celebrating at the event with local Rotarians should be great fun. I’ll keep you updated on how it goes.

That’s everything for now, friends. Please have a great week and stay in touch!

Aberdeen Deeside Club Visit

Hello Friends -

Hope all of you had a safe and fun Halloween yesterday. Similar to Halloween in America, children could be seen last night running up and down the streets in costumes as they trick-or-treated. Good fun!

Last night I visited my host club, the Aberdeen Deeside Rotary Club, for the second time. It was fun to visit and chat with many of the Rotarians that I met while volunteering at the children's disco. The guest speaker was quite interesting, and he spoke about a photography project on Scottish scenery that he spent six years producing. The pictures he showed during the presentation were breathtaking!

During the meeting, I proudly presented the Aberdeen Deeside club with a Kilgore Rotary banner and several City of Kilgore pins. They were happy to receive the banner and have given me an Aberdeen Deeside banner to give to the Kilgore Rotary Club. Here is a picture of me with the club president on the left (Quentin Tweedie) and my host sponsor on the right (Ian Reid):


The Deeside Rotarians have been incredibly kind, and I look forward to building a relationship with their club over the next 8 months.

Thanks to all of you for tuning in, and have a great week -