STUDYING ABROAD IN STIRLING, SCOTLAND | WEEK 1
A year and a half ago I was fortunate enough to spend one month studying abroad in Scotland through taking classes at the University of Stirling.
Now that my vlogs are complete I've decided to write blog posts to go along with them to help add detail to each of them and to have this as another form of documentation of my trip.
My first flight left on Friday from KCI (Kansas City International Airport) and arrived in Newark, NJ. After a short layover, I departed Newark and took an overnight flight to the Edinburgh Airport arriving Saturday at 8am. Now, because the UK is 6 hours ahead of Central Standard Time, this means that I was really arriving in Edinburgh at what my body felt like was 2am. I never fall asleep until about 2am except for special circumstances. Because I didn't sleep except for about 30 minutes on the plane, I essentially arrived in Scotland when I was ready to go to bed but had a full day ahead of me.
I took two 1-hour naps throughout the day and needless to say I was miserable.
Arriving at the Edinburgh airport was an entirely separate stressful experience. In order to make my way from Edinburgh to Stirling, all students were supposed to arrive between a certain time frame in order to get a free shuttle from the airport to the University. After getting through Customs it finally hit me that I was in a new country all by myself. I became so over stimulated and wanting to just find where I was supposed to go that I completely missed the guy holding the sign that said "University of Stirling" on it when I approached the pickup area. Because I missed him among the other signs, I kept walking trying to follow the paper directions we had been given (the actual directions also had said nothing about looking for someone with a sign) so I tried asking multiple people about where this very random and specific pick of place was that did not exist. Thankfully after a few minutes I went back and found the group.
The first day was a blur. I tagged along with a group of girls who came from the same university in San Diego to get fish and chips nearby but other than that I just remember pure exhaustion and a guy dressing in full ceremonial clan attire complete with a very loud bagpipe.
It was at this gathering where I met Molly!
(This was not that location. This is at the end of our trip to Skye in Glen Coe)
Molly Poniatowski is a beautiful soul and I love her.
The Sunday was better but very boring. Sunday we had to take a campus tour, including an hour in the library, and sit and listen to other administrative talks. In the afternoon we went in to town for a few hours. Not needing to buy anything, I instead chose to walk around the city center with Molly and another new friend. It was during this time that I finally decided to share with people that I made YouTube videos. They were super supportive and I was happy to finally not feel like I could only vlog when on my own.
After we got back I decided to walk around campus on my own. Stirling's campus is known for its beauty and its man-made Airthrey Loch. Compared to most other loch's in Scotland it's teeny-tiny but it has a gorgeous view of Dumyat Hill in the distance at in June, the trees are a vibrant and the ducks and birds are living their best lives. I really enjoyed this time to just walk around, film without anyone giving me looks, and take photos.
Dumyat Hill in the distance of Airthrey Loch
That evening was spent in one of the communal areas with a big group of girls getting to know each other through the amazing powers of alcohol.
The Monday was the beginning of classes. Not much to report on other than my Photography teacher had no idea what he was doing and it was supposed to be a class for intermediate photography students but I was the only one with any knowledge of how to use a camera past automatic settings.
The fourth day, Tuesday, I didn't have class until later in the afternoon so Molly and I decided to get up in the morning and walk to the Wallace Monument.
One of the best parts about UoS is its proximity to Wallace Monument. Just a quick 15-20 minute walk from our dorm and we were at the visitor center. The quick hike up to the actual monument took 10 minutes max. We were lucky enough to get there a few minutes after it opened so we got to experience it with only a few other people visiting. We decided not to go up the monument and save it for another day when more of our friends were with us (I never did go up it in the end but that's ok.) As soon as we started heading back down the hill, large groups of tourists were heading up towards the monument so we knew it was time to go home.
Later that day, after class, Molly and I decided to head into town to do more exploring with the plan of meeting up with our other newfound friends later. Our first stop was the mall to look for some souvenirs for family and friends so we went to the mall.
One things to note: SHOPS IN SCOTLAND CLOSE HECKA EARLY.
When we got there, most of the places except Primark and Poundland were closed. It was at Poundland that I forgot Scotland's rule that bags at a store cost a couple pence to support sustainability. I just grabbed a bag without thinking. The cashier just looked at me and I was so confused as to why until I realized much later.
We ended up eating at a pub called Molly Malones so we just had to go in. Molly decided to try fish for the first time in years (she is a vegetarian) and didn't completely hate it.
After dinner we had trouble contacting our other friends so we decided to just wander and decided to just walk up the hill to see where it led. We ended up at the Old Town Jail but was closed. We continued on until we came upon the giant town cemetery where Molly proceded to scare the crap out of me from behind a stone. Eventually we reached Stirling Castle, the most prominent marker in the entire city. It too was closed considering it was well after 9pm by that point.
One of the great things about our program was the pre-planned field trips to other cities in Scotland. So Thursday we went to Edinburgh. One of our program's leaders knew a lot about Edinburgh as the inspiration and location of things in the Harry Potter series (Hogwarts is believed to be located somewhere in the Scottish Highlands). So we started the day with a walking tour through some of the city stopping at the Elephant Cafe (JK Rowling wrote the first three books there) the inspiration for Diagon Alley, and even the cemetery where a Tom Riddle is buried (it cannot be confirmed that this was the inspiration for Voldemort's name as the Riddle family could claim legal rights to the name).
After that, Molly and I's only plan was to hike Arthur's Peak, a hill located at one end of the Royal Mile next to the Palace of Hollyrood and Scottish Parliament.
The hike was more tiring than expected but totally worth it (aside from one of our friend's almost being pushed off the ledge). The view was incredible not only from the top but on the way up as well.
At the top of Arthur's Peak with Edinburgh in the distance.
After that we went to get food, ice cream, then headed home.
My first week studying abroad ended with both of my classes field trips. One to Glasgow to photograph around the University of Glasgow and later to go back to Edinburgh to visit Parliament and the Palace of Hollyrood. The second of the two did not happen for a bunch of reasons that are explained in the second of the two videos posted above.
Happy Exploring!
