Sneak Peaks, Nobility, Kilts, Bagpipes, and of Course My Newest Accent

Wow! Just when you think my adventures can’t get anymore epic than the previous post…THEY DO! Haha, alright well that was a bit facetious, but either way, the point is, I can’t really still believe I’m here and all the many things I get myself into. Every day I’m here I have to wake up and pinch myself to make me realize that I’m actually experiencing life day by day, ups and downs, but the roller coaster that’s over here is absolutely a blast, and I’m always seeking new thrill rides.

So I know it’s been a week since I last posted, but to be honest, it’s only because I enjoy writing ridiculously long blog entries that take you forever to read, and it’s pretty accurate to having one of my signature heart-to-hearts, because they take hours on end, ramble on and on, and sometimes don’t really have a point. I’m just going for authenticity so that you think I’m still with you, even though I’m of course, doing a lot cooler things than you are right now :-P Haha, okay, so let me catch you up to speed on my life.

Basically, Tuesday the 7th was a bit of a drag, because of course I had class and from time to time, class definitely gets long, tedious, and redundant. I enjoyed my theatre class that I was in though, because we got to discuss our viewing of A Midsummer Night’s Dream which I of course absolutely loved, so that was fun to share vantage points on the production, but after class I’m sure I did something to the effect of getting groceries, going to the bank, doing the dishes, or something really really cultural like that (insert your laughter here). Anyways, that night our class went to a movie entitled “Brideshead Revisited” which was more or less this chick flick that our professor picked out for us to see (I would have definitely voted for the new James Bond Premiere, but who am I to judge good movies?) and it had an actor that we previously saw in a show this semester, but despite seeing a remotely familiar face, I thought the flick sucked. It wasn’t too exciting, kinda lame, very long, and oh, the only hilarious portion of the night, was that there were thirty of us in a giant group to go see it, and the theater was completely empty (no one wanted to see it, duh, cause it was terrible), but the crazy movie attendant lady made us all sit in the very back right of the theater, so that we were all together. So needless to say, it was a humorous time having to be squished all together in a completely vacant theater just to see a terrible movie, but whatever, it’s over. After the movie, a number of the guys and a few of our friends went to a place called the Sports Café (I may have mentioned it before) where Tuesday nights are Student Night, and so I got my groove on and got to know some people in my program a bit more, those times are always pretty hilarious and a good time for sure.

Wednesday the 8th was a great day in Josh’s history, because I worked again at Xtreme, always a great time of course, and not only that, but I worked with some of my favorite guys from the Xtreme Team, the guys from “The Reel.” I was in charge of editing up our blogsite for The Reel, and labeling it and making it more “searchable” if you will. After that, I took some new press releases and “Xtreme-ified” them, by more or less putting my creative flare on them and jazzing them up a bit so that we could post them on The Reel’s Blog itself. (I don’t have the site right on me, and couldn’t google it, but either way, it does exist lol) Of course, that wasn’t just the extent of work, I did some administrative stuff, accredited some companies in our database, and also did some minuscule tasks as well. BUT, that’s not the kicker of the day. In the afternoon, my co-worker Sam asked me if I wanted to go see some shorts, and no, I’m not talking about checking out a pair of good-looking knickers, but Film Shorts. The one huge perk that comes along with working in the Xtreme Information/Press industry is that you get press passes and VIP tickets to premiers and such. Well, because of this, Sam got me a ticket to the afternoon showing of the Raindance Film Festival’s short films series. Essentially the Raindance Film Festival is a play on words (mocked off of America’s “Sundance Film Festival”) but London’s biggest film festival every year, and of course, it’s going on right now! So Sam and I went to the cinema and watched some of the new short flicks that are going to be judged at this year’s festival, for…FREE! That was monumental, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Of course, that wasn’t the end of my Wednesday, that only takes you to about 6:30pm my time (1:30pm Eastern Standard Time), after that, I had my first authentic experience with a full meal at a London McDonalds and I must say, it’s a lot better than the states version of fast food. I had a big mac and fries, and there was virtually no grease on any of it! It ruled. Not that I endorse fast-food consumption, but I was in a hurry, and it appeared healthier than the State-side, version I grew up on. Anyways, after a quick bite, I was on the move again because my flatmate Mike and I went to the Palace Theater on Wednesday night to see SPAMALOT! If you don’t know, it’s of course the Monty Python and the Holy Grail inspired musical, and the British version was hilarious to say the least. I thoroughly enjoyed it and to be honest, if there was any show I could choose to ever perform in again, it’d probably be my pick without a doubt. Mike is also an avid Python follower, and I’m positive he loved it as well, and not only that, but we were second row on the first balcony, so we had exceptional seats for the whole show.

Of course, I’m sure you’re now asking yourself something to the effect of “Now Josh, how could you possibly top free tickets to the Raindance Film Festival, and Spamalot at all? Well, I was of course thinking the exact thing…until Thursday happened! Essentially, let me spell a few things out. First off, Thursday typically means, I have classes, life’s a little bland, and then I have to probably do laundry, because it’s almost the weekend and my underwear is running out. However, after classes on Thursday, which weren’t too bad because we had a late start time for class and I got to sleep in a bit, I went about my normal homework and daily routine, as well as slowly preparing myself for my trip to Scotland that I took during the weekend (more details to come momentarily) I then ended up heading to The Rex, which is a theater, to see the premier viewing of “All Together Now” which is a documentary released all about the creation of the brand new Cirque du Soleil performance of Love which is based all on The Beatles and their music. So, I’m sitting in the theater watching this amazing documentary, filled with great information, wonderful Beatles tracks, and not only that, but by the end of the film, I realize that Sir George Martin is sitting behind me. For anyone who isn’t familiar with Sir George himself (yeah we’re on first name basis lol) he’s the legendary composer that many times is known as “The Fifth Beatle” because he was the man attributed to discovering the Beatles, as well as producing many of their original works. After realizing this, and after the premiere finished afterwards, I tracked down Sir Martin and got a photo-op with a friend who happened to have a camera, right before he darted away with Mrs. Martin in their cab. Imagine that huh? Meeting not only an honorary Knight, but the original producer of a band I grew up listening to!!! I mean, sure, I kinda felt like a big deal, but that was definitely my first true experience meeting a celebrity for sure, and without a doubt, I was star-struck for the rest of the night.

But anyways, so Friday morning I got up at 4:30am or so, for my 4:45 taxi to Kings Cross Train Station. I was out and on my way, early morning, to the same station, that is “famous” thanks to Harry Potter, so at 5:30, I took pictures as Platform 9 and ¾, but unfortunately I didn’t go to Hogwarts, because I’m a muggle, contrary to popular belief. But I didn’t need to go Hogwarts anyways, because my destination was Edinburgh, Scotland, on a mission to experience bagpipes, kilts, and perfect my Scottish accent. This was also my first big experience with a train, so I was like a kid in a candy store getting on the train, cracked out, at 5:45am, before the sun even rose, and excited as ever. I caught up on my own journaling a bit, and was awake basically almost the entire ride, watched the sun rise over the UK, saw many towns north of London, and our train took us along the English coast, so I got to see a great view of the English Channel running into the North Sea in the inlet towns.

We arrived in Edinburgh at approximately 11am and hopped on a coach for a driving tour of the city with our very own blue badge tour guide. Rebbin, as he was called, was an authentic kilt-wearing, bagpipe playing, tour guide, who told us all about the history of Edinburgh since its founding (which started with Edinburgh castle) and all about the type of buildings, sites to see, and where to go. Despite already being awake for so many hours previously, I tried to take in as much information as possible, and really didn’t realize beforehand actually how historic Scotland really is. For instance, the real person that the Sherlock Holmes stories are based off of, was a Scotsman, and Alexander Graham Bell was Scottish too, but then moved to the states when he was a bit older, so much for my history classes in the past where I was preached he was an American. Anyways, after that, the girls and I (I forgot to mention I went traveling with five girls…Ashley Noval, Katie Burtzalaff, Andrea Smith, Jenny Cupero, and Kelsey Gwilt) went to get something to eat at a local pub and then headed straight to the heart of Edinburgh to explore.

We started with Edinburgh Castle, bought audio tours, and Ashley and I took our time exploring every nook of the historic landmark. The view over top of the city was incredible, and the weather held out just long enough for our tours to wrap us, allow us to see the “Scottish Honours” which are basically the Scottish “Crown Jewels” and head back down The Royal Mile (the main street in Edinburgh, it leads from the Castle down to the Hollyrood Palace, which is the residence of the Queen once a year, and also was the home of Mary Queen of Scots back in the day) to grab an early dinner as well. The rain picked up in the early evening during our dinner, but Ashley and I also tried the Scottish meal of Haddis, which essentially is minced lamb mixed with oatmeal, served with mashed potatoes and mashed swedes. Now, I must say, I’m a lamb fan, and the Haddis was amazing, as were the potatoes, but the swedes I’m not so sure about. I’m still not exactly positive what they were, but they had a mashed potato-like consistency but at the same time had chunks in them that had almost like a peanut-like crunchiness. Oh well, it was all worth it and part of the overall experience. However, since it wasn’t very late, Katie, Ashley and I went to another pub and talked to some of the locals until we decided to get a late night pizza from a middle-eastern restaurant called the Bodrum Express and call it a night. When I got back to our Bed & Breakfast, I got to know my two roommates for the weekend a bit better, Vic Raghunath (Vic for short), a 23 year old Indian guy who had been studying in the UK for a year, and Chaum, a student from Arizona State University, who was also studying abroad. After talking to them a few, I went to sleep because we had an early morning ahead of us.

Saturday I was up by 7:30am, and had breakfast at 7:45. The breakfast served was actually quite delicious, a mixture of lots of fruit, cereals, and croissants/breads, but still filling, no doubt. The whole group then hopped on our coach, and met our tour guide for the day, Fred Stuart (also an authentic kilt-wearing gent) who was going to be driving us to the Scottish Highlands and Loch Ness. So we traveled out of Edinburgh, I got about an hour of sleep extra on the coach, and we stopped first in the Scottish lowlands to make a pit stop and also see Hamish, the Highland Cow. Hamish is the most famous highland cow of them all, and has a very ginger orange coat, is very furry, and has large horns. He basically eats all day, drools, and poses for photo-ops, which of course, we took generously. Then after a bathroom break and coca-cola, I was back on the bus and we were off for the Highlands. Now the rest of this blog entry may get really redundant, only because I don’t have enough adjectives to properly describe the sights, but let me say, overall, the Scottish Highlands are by far, absolutely phenomenal, and incredible sights to behold. I’ve never seen scenery so beautiful in my lifetime. For an hour, I constantly glued to my window or behind my camera lens snapping pictures of the mountain tops, the lochs, and the surrounding areas. We stopped once more during the mid-morning for a quick photo-op at the Glencoe Mountains, but more informally known as “The Three Sisters” because of the three side-by-side peaks of the mountains. This was absolutely wonderful to see, and our weather was also gorgeous, so it was great to be able to fully take in the sights to the fullest degree. We only passed through a few small spots of rain throughout the journey through the highlands, but that actually created for a great time too, because I probably saw 20 some rainbows throughout my journey, they were always climbing a peak or falling into our lap as our cameras continually snapped, well at least mine did anyways.

Finally we arrived at the Urquhart Castle, which sits along Loch Ness. We had a chance to explore the ruins of the castle built in approximately the 1500-1600’s or before. Not only did we have a chance to climb around the towers, and courtyard areas, but additionally, it was in the early afternoon, and we were at a peak time for pictures, once again, so I got plenty of beautiful shots of the Scottish Highlands flanked by a castle on one side and the infamous Loch Ness on the other. We also took a quick ferry ride around the outside of the bank of the castle, and traveled across the Loch a further ways, to search for the Loch Ness Monster and also pick up some more fun facts about the Loch itself. Loch Ness is actually the largest body of fresh water in the world, and if Scotland had to rely solely on Loch Ness for the rest of its water supply, it could last 66 years without drawing from another source. There are many other boring and uninteresting facts that I learned, but I suppose I’ll spare you those details, since this is already a lengthy entry by far.

Nevertheless, when we returned by coach from the Loch, the sun had set and the moon had chosen it’s place in the sky by the time we reached Edinburgh’s lights. We of course, had to eat again, so we once again chose Bodrum Express as our place of choice, because of it’s amazing food selection (I got a chicken chili wrap…fabulous) and afterward it was about 9pm, so we headed to the local pub to celebrate our friend Ashley’s birthday. Of course, while we were there at the pub sharing stories and laughing, we ran into four Scotsmen in kilts and authentic garb. They had just got back from Scotland’s football (soccer) match which had resulted in a 0-0 tie, so they were just looking to have a fun Saturday night and meet people. Well it turns out, we were the right people to meet, because they carried on with us for a good few hours, and when all the girls were thinking about heading home to call it a night, Ashley wanted to continue her birthday in style, Scottish style that is, so Vic and myself decided we’d also accompany the merry band of Scotsmen to another pub to share more life stories and such. I found it truly remarkable too, because of the men, Andy, who is the head of his own Scottish tourism agency, is 36 and was having a heart to heart with Vic and I, and kept telling us how jealous he was of our youth, and that we had the incredible opportunity to travel to so many places at this age in our lives. We also all concluded that it was very remarkable that a young man from the Far East, (Vic being from India), and the Far West (myself), would somehow meet in Scotland, and enjoy themselves and get to be such good friends in literally 24 hours in the UK. Especially in such a connected world, it was epic to really find someone with so many similar values, thoughts, beliefs, and just experiences, despite being from half way around the other side of the world. So as Andy, Vic, and Andy I all shared stories of our pasts and lives, Ashley and the other guys continued to get to know each other, and we all ended up finding another pub to house our conversation, and then later went to a nightclub that had a live Scottish cover band that played everything from old rock ‘n roll, to new age music, so the six or so of us all sang our favorite tunes and had a grand ol’ time most of the evening. We ended up returning after a monumental evening at 5:30am to our B&B to call it a night, but as Andy said, “No matter what, twenty years from now, we’ll always remember the night that the far east and west met in one place and had the absolutely best night of our lives.” If there was one image I had in my head, of what I guess I wanted to get out of my study abroad experience, or what I wanted to experience while I was abroad, Saturday night summed up that for me. To not only meet locals, have an authentic cultural experience, but to meet a life-long friend in less than 24 hours and truly connect to someone in a way that I think only traveling can create for me.

Anyways, continuing on, I woke up by 8:30am, had another complimentary breakfast at the B&B and all the girls and Vic and I were on our way through Edinburgh again, but this time we were on a mission, and that mission was to climb to Arthurs Seat, which is the name given to the top of a mountain that is beside Edinburgh called the Sheffield Crags. So, by 9:30-10am, we were on our way ascending up this mountain, on at least a 2-3mile trek around and up, climbing until we reached the summit, 450ft above sea level, and were overlooking all of Edinburgh and Scotland. I can’t express how accomplished I felt to reach the pinnacle of Arthur’s Seat and gaze out in all directions across Scotland. The view was immense, clear, spanned for miles, and was absolutely gorgeous. I looked out across the North Sea, imagining the sights that Norway and Finland must provide from their side, and then I looked over the city of Edinburgh and saw the castle I stood in yesterday, and then in the other directions saw the port of Edinburgh, looked toward the Southern Side of the UK, and again to the Highlands in another direction. I took video, photos, sat on top of the mountain and just reflected on life. It was a tranquil and peaceful place at the summit of Arthur’s Seat, and was well worth the climb, and not to mention a nice little calf workout too! But regardless, after that, it was about 12 or so, and once I had taken enough documentation of the view (so much for a fear of heights anymore right?) we descended back down the mountain and got lunch at a local restaurant, and prepared for the train-ride back to London. We had a six hour train ride back, and had to switch lines on the way home, but it was nice to be back after so much travel. Either way, I must say that the time I spent in Edinburgh and Scotland was one of the most incredible experiences I’ve definitely had yet, and a must-see for anyone thinking about traveling to Europe at all.

I slept well on Sunday night, and Monday brought on internship time at Xtreme and a lot of homework to also catch up on. When all of that was finished and taken care of, I took care of some last minute preparations for this coming weekend, which is my fall break, and of course I’ll be spending a lot of that time traveling to many places in Europe as well. So hopefully I can blog a bit more frequently there or along the way for sure! I also saw a show on Monday night called “the Disappearing Number” which was loosely based off a true story about a mathematician who discovered countless theories and theorems that modern physics and math are based off of, but probably that no credit was ever truly given to him. It was a drama, and a lot of technology and special effects were used very artistically to create a great production. I know that’s not a lot of detail, but compared to the rest of my weekend, last night’s show, wasn’t in much comparison to the 700+ pictures that I took in Scotland (about 150 or something pictures are posted at http://picasaweb.google.com/taternater2046) and needless to say, I need to clear up some more space on my camera before I do anymore traveling.

Alrighty, well that’s going to sum up today’s entry, and I hope you enjoyed the full account of one of the best weekend’s I’ve experienced thus far in my abroad-time. I hope you’re all still trying to find a small bit of time to email me and update me on all of your lives because I want to hear all about them and keep the facebook posts/updates flowing, I truly miss you all and hope you’re doing well! Everyone take care, enjoy the photos and keep me posted on your lives!!! And as always…Cheers! (PS: I tried out my Scottish accent last weekend for Andy, Dave, Pete, and “Finney” – the four guys we hung out with…and they felt as though it was very authentic, believable and the funniest thing ever, so I’m fully immersing myself to whatever culture I get exposed to!)