Mum and I got up at 6am today to join the crowds flocking to the Royal Wedding. Yesterday, she bought me a Will and Kate wedding t-shirt to wear, but conveniently didn't get one for herself; only I got to look like an idiot! haha. We decided against trying to line up on the Procession line because there were apparently about half a million people between Westminster and Buckingham Palace. Instead, we got good seats in front of the three huge screens set up in Hyde Park that put up the BBC coverage of the entire event. We were among about 200,000 other people. Although we didn't get to see any of the Royals first hand, it was nice to be among the screaming fans and get to see all their expressions as well as the wedding ceremony itself on the screens. The camera angles that covered the ceremony from the ceiling of the church was incredible. I really felt like I was a part of everything, especially because you could get a copy of the program for the ceremony that detailed all the readings and had everything that was said and done during the ceremony and procession. It was really nice.


The walk way to the alter was lined with Maple trees that Catherine had brought in. These trees apparently signify humility and modesty. She put two other trees at the end of another kind that show strength and resiliency. It was a beautiful ceremony. Catherine looked stunning in her lace-sleeved dress and diamond tiara borrowed from the Queen. The couple just seems so natural and happy with one another. The Dean of the Abbey made a really good address. He spoke about how when two people get married they are meant to help make each other the best people they can be, not change one another, just support each other in reaching their full potential. I agreed wholeheartedly with him, and his words were beautifully stated. Something Mum and I noticed was that Catherine was the only one who got her ring at the ceremony, she didn't give one to William during it, which is kind of strange. The couple towards the end of the service signs the registry that all the royalty sign when they get married. They do it in the oldest part of the church, built for Edward the Conqueror, in private.

We stayed to watch the first kiss on the balcony, and it was really cute. Catherine seemed to surprise William with it, and it was a quick kiss. She was so amazed by crowds that I saw her mouth "wow" as she came out to the balcony. After the kiss, they had a fly by of planes they used in World War II as well as modern fighter jets. It was so cool to watch them fly over the couple, and then they flew over the park. It was like something fake that came into reality, and it brought people in the park into the wedding atmosphere even more. They did a second short kiss and the crowd cheered again. Mum said she saw William ask Catherine if she wanted to kiss again, which is a cute moment.

It was just really a great ceremony and a once in a lifetime thing to get to see, especially being in the city itself. We had a great time in the park. Congratulations to the newly weds. They look adorable and happy together.

After the wedding, we went to ICLC to use the computer and decided to walk through Hyde Park to get home. Mum has been wanting to see Kensington Palace in the gardens, so we stopped to look around a bit. They had a special Royal Wedding afternoon tea, and I wanted to go to afternoon tea with her anyway, so we decided to go. It was in the Orangery, and we got finger sandwiches, a scone, two cakes (one in a heart and one that had a W and C monogram on it), and a pot of tea each. I chose chocolate tea and Mum got orange. It was a really nice and relaxing end to a very nice day.

Today, Mum spent the day at the Tower of London while I was at school. We met up at 4:30 and headed to the National Theatre because I got her tickets with my Drama class for our backstage tour of the National Theatre. It was a really concise and interesting hour-long tour. The National Theatre company was formed in 1963 and the building itself was opened in 1976. The first of the three theatres to open was the Lyttelton Theatre, which is the most traditional of the three theatres. It has side and rear stages where a full set can be built for another show. This is good because the National Theatre has a system where typically two shows are going on on the same stage. One play will run for a few weeks, take a break, and the other show will run for a few weeks before taking a break. The side and rear stages in Lyttelton can be used to store the set of the other show while it is on break without having to dismantle the entire set and build it again, although they can put a dismantled set back up in just a matter of 6 or so hours if need be. My class saw Greenland and Rocket to the Moon in that theatre. The Olivier Theatre has a space above it where the entire set for a show can be lifted up and stay there until it will be used again. It is the most nontraditional space, and it was designed to provide an equally good view from all seats. The seats are 118 degrees around the stage, which is exactly the degree of the human eye's peripheral vision, so there is a point that an actor can stand and be seen by all audience members without them having to turn their heads at all. The Olivier also has a dome revolve, meaning that the stage itself has a circular platform on it that can rotate and underneath that circular platform is basically an entire room that can be split in two half circles and used as two different sets. They rise in a cork screw motion that is really cool. It's currently the theatre that Frankenstein is being shown at. The last theatre is the Cottesloe theatre, which is a black box. I haven't been in it yet. We got to tour the backstage area of the Lyttelton theatre, and we saw all the production areas. The National Theatre is one of the only theatres will all its production departments housed with in. They build all the sets, paint everything, create all the weaponry and special effects, and do all the costumes in house. Mum got to see the puppets from War Horse and how they worked, which was good because I had talked about it to her before. The attention to detail in the props is incredible. For one show, they actually looked up what the color and consistency of the mud at a certain time period in a certain place would have been like! Crazy. It was a really nice tour though, especially considering we had seen at least 3 plays in the main building of the National Theatre anyway, and it was a nice way to round out the course.

After the tour, Mum and I figured why not try to get returns tickets to see Frankenstein. I had been raving about it to her, and really it's the only show that I really wanted her to see. It's a once in a lifetime thing. We waited for 50 minutes, and we got in! I was a bit disappointed that I didn't get to see the version where Benedict was playing the creature, because that would have been opposite from what I saw with class, but I have become partial to Benedict as Frankenstein and Johnny Lee Miller as the Creature anyway. I think they are both really really good in those roles. We were sitting really close, so it gave me a whole new perspective to see it from. I actually liked sitting up top where we did with class though because I got a nice view of the bell and the light display, but getting to see the detail of the makeup and be closer to the action tonight was fun too. Mum loved the show, and I thought it was wonderful for a second time.

If you have never been to the Scottish Highlands, you've basically not been to Scotland. Mum and I safely made it to Edinburgh on our flight. She got the delightful experience of staying in a hostel room with 10 other girls! The joy of it! The next morning, we got up early to meet our Highlands tour with Real Scottish Journey. Neither of us had any idea what to expect, but we were greeted by our tour guide, Bill, who knew my name before I even introduced myself! We thought it was very impressive. It was an intimate tour of just 15 people, so there was plenty of opportunity the whole time to ask specific questions and bond with Bill and the other people on the tour. In my opinion, it was a much better way of doing things than taking a large coach where we never would have seen as much as we did this weekend. Bill took us to places that he'd been since he was a kid on vacations, which made the tour that much better because it meant we saw places that normal tours might not get to. Bill just got more and more impressive as the tour went on. He knows so much about history and the environment in the highlands, it's a wonder how he remembers it all! He used his "GPS finger," as Yvonne, a girl on the tour, coined the term, to point at different places on the map to show us exactly where we were, which my Mum appreciated as she really likes looking at maps. Bill was really engaging with his stories both in terms of history and mythology, and he didn't just sit on the bus, he did things with us and was really just like another member of the tour group. The group itself was a random mix of people from all over the world. We had people from Poland, Mexico, China, India, Canada, and the US. It was really an interesting mix, and everyone was really nice and fun to be around. What was even better, the weather was almost perfect the entire time. Really sunny and cool, the best weather we could have hoped for. I was really sad to have left the highlands. I had such a relaxing vacation that I did not want to come back to London at all!

Well those are the general comments about the tour itself, but let me get more into the specifics now; where we went and what we did. I should also say that I am a bit nervous with this post because I've never had any of my tour guides read my blog posts before. But Bill was really interested to read it when he saw me writing everything down in my notebook (this is also the first time I've been able to write facts down as they were told to me on the tour). So I better make sure all my facts are right!

The first day, we met in Edinburgh at 8am and traveled through to Fort William and Mallaig and took the ferry across to Skye where we would be spending two nights. Along the way, Bill gave us some history of Scotland. He gave us different bits as the tour progressed depending on our location, but I think I might just write up the full history all at once to make it clearer for the blog.

The wars for independence were fought in the 14th and 15th centuries, and they were sparked by the death of King Alexander III of Scotland. Originally, they were a battle between Edward I of England (Edward Longshanks) and the Highlanders, led by William Wallace. In 1297, William Wallace's forces defeated English troops in the Battle of Stirling Bridge, which the Wallace monument commemorates. It is placed on a hill opposite Stirling Castle, which the British forces used, and it was where Wallace gathered his troops before the battle. We passed it on the first day of the tour, and it is really incredible to see the monument and the tour, both on hills, right next to each other and imagine what was going through the minds of the forces on both sides at the time. The decisive battle in the first war for independence was the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 in which the Scottish won. Wallace's goals of uniting the noble and common people of Scotland was, unfortunately, not achieved in the first war of independence. He wanted to unite the people of Scotland against the English and stop them fighting amongst each other, but he was betrayed when the nobles retreated during battle, leaving he and his forces to fight them off. Wallace was captured, hung, drawn, and quartered by the English. Wallace became a martyr and Scottish hero. He was the first to stand for freedom from tyranny, and the Declaration of Arbroath was, therefore, partly inspired by his work. It was a letter written to the Pope declaring that Scotland was independent and would fight against anyone who challeneged this. It was the first treaty of this kind, and it was signed by Robert the Bruce, king at the time, and Scottish noblemen and because of this is also a symbol of Wallace's orginial goal: united the nobles and commoners against a common enemy.

After Robert the Bruce's reign, the kingship of Scotland passed to the Stuart line. Mary Queen of Scots gave birth to James VI of Scotalnd, who would later be James I of Scotland as well. Elizabeth I of England was always concerned about Mary's claim to the English throne as she was Henry VIII's cousin. Eventually, turmoil forced Mary to flee to England for protection, but instead, Elizabeth put her under house arrest for years before ordering her execution. When Elizabeth died childless, Mary's son, James, took the throne and united the kingdoms of Scotland and England for the first time in 1603. This was a point of pride for many Scottish people, which is why it caused significant anger when the Stuart monarchy was removed from the throne to be replaced by William and Mary. The Highland Clans remained loyal to the Stuarts and King James, and they became known as the Jacobites. The first Jacobite rebellions occurred in 1689. William tried to force people to sign a loyalty oath on pain of death, building forts and roads to enforce this law and so the English could better crush Jacobite rebellions.

On the way to Skye, we stopped in a place called Glencoe, the site of a Jacobite massacre. The MacDonald clan at first refused to sign the loyalty oath, but eventually they decided to do so. The head of the MacDonald clan left to go to the designated location to sign the oath and arrived before the date the highlanders were meant to sign by, but they told him they didn't have the forms and that he had to go to somewhere far away, and this would be very difficult for him to get to even in the summer. The weather delayed him, and he missed the day to sign it by just a few. Still, the English allowed him to sign because they understood that the weather kept him. When William saw that the MacDonald clan had given in, he thought it was funny, but then saw that the date was a few days past his deadline and decided to use this as an excuse to have the family killed. He sent the Campbell family, loyal to the English, to do this. By the time the Campbells got to Glencoe, where the MacDonalds lives, they were cold and hungry, and the MacDonalds took them in for a few weeks, giving them food and shelter and bonding with them despite the fact that the two clans were old rivals. Hospitality is an important part of Highland culture. After 14 days, the weather cleared and the Campbells left and went to meet with the English forces. They were ordered to carry out the king's orders no matter what, so, despite the friendship that had just been created, they went back to the head of the clan's home and killed him first and massacred the rest of the MacDonald clan as well. The massacre of Glencoe occurred in 1692. Today, it is still on record that anyone but members of the Campbell family should receive hospitality.

Because I saw the movie with Gage right before coming to London, I asked Bill about Rob Roy MacGregor as well. He was a Jacobite and a cattle drover. He was thought to be the finest swordsman in Scotland. We drove through the town where he is buried, Balquhidder.

In 1745, Charles Stuart, also known as Bonnie Prince Charlie, went to Scotland and organized the Highlanders to march on Edinburgh, overtaking the city, and later to London, getting within 4 days march of the city before returning to Scotland. He wanted to restore his line to the monarchy. One very brutal battle for the Jacobites in the wars with Bonnie Prince Charlie was the Battle of Culloden in 1746 with the English forces led by the Duke of Cumberland. Huge numbers of Jacobites were killed in this battle, and they were decisively defeated. The English were very well equipped with modern weaponry and fighting techniques. Even after the fight had ended, Cumberland ordered all the Jacobites dying on the field or caught to be killed, and he is still known as the Butcher for this action. The English plundered the highlands after this, leading to the clearances, when the English basically removed all that was distinctly Scottish, including tartans, the Gaelic language, and bagpipes. They also cleared the land of all the farmers, giving the land to those sympathetic to the English and evicting the tenant farmers in favor of sheep grazing land. This eventually meant that the trees never regenerated because the ship ate them. Skye was once a large forest. Scottish culture was not completely killed though, especially as many people immigrated to other lands and kept the culture alive there.

In the 19th century, Scotland became an exotic place for people to come and visit, and it was very romanticized. King George IV's visit to Scotland in 1822, which I mentioned in the Edinburgh post, revived Scottish culture as he came wearing a kilt. He made it legal to wear kilts, speak Gaelic, and play the bagpipes once more. The 1800s were a time of great innovation and creativity among the Scottish people. For example, the Fourth Bridge, a 9 mile rail bridge opened in 1890 was a huge engineering feet that took over 5 years to build. The bridge was the longest single cantilever bridge span in the world until 1917 and has the second longest single span. It was also the first bridge in Britain to use steel alone.

In the 1950s, there was a revival of Scottish culture when Ian Hamilton, a nationalist who wanted to see the Scottish people take pride in their old culture again, stole the Stone of Destiny back from England on Christmas Eve 1950. The Stone had been a symbol of Scotland, brought to Scotland by the first Scots. All the kings of the Scots were then crowned on the stone barefoot. It was called the speaking stone as well because it was said to speak and pick the kings. It was brought to Scone Abbey for safekeeping, but in the 13th century, Edward I wanted it to take away Scottish power and gain it for himself. He killed all the monks at the abbey and took the stone for himself, bringing it to Westminster Abbey where it has been used to crown all the English monarchs since. In England, Ian Hamilton was called a thief, but in Scotland he was hailed a hero. This move was enough to encourage the Scottish people to revive their culture. When the point had been made, Hamilton tipped off newspapers, wrapped the stone in the Scottish flag, and took it to Arbroath Abbey. It was taken back to London, and soon after, it was used to crown Elizabeth II. Also, Scotland voted for a free parliament. Their parliament had been incorporated into England's in 1707. Ian was a catalyst for change. It is thought though that perhaps Ian did not give back the stone; that he only gave back a fake. Yet another story is that the monks at the Scone Abbey didn't give Edward the correct Stone either. The story goes that they may have given him what amounted to their toilet seat because Longshanks had never actually seen the stone for himself! The Stone of Destiny story is an interesting blend of fact and fiction and mythology, but the stone is currently located at Edinburgh Castle, back in Scotland once more, and it is only removed for the coronations of the monarchs. The 1950s again saw a revival of Scottish innovation and invention.

So that's my history summary. I hope I did it justice Bill. Now I am going to get into what we did specifically on each day, and what we stopped at. I've already mentioned a few places, but I'll quickly lay it out and give my impressions.

On the first day, we had a lot of driving to do, but we got to stop and see some cool things along the way. We passed the impressive Wallace Monument and Stirling Castle, as I said. The first stop was to see Hamish the Highland Cow, his wife, Heather, and his son, as yet unnamed (but we think Henry would be good). I love Highland Cows (Coos). They are adorable and have bangs, what more could you want in a cow. We later stopped for pictures at Glencoe, where the massacre occurred. Glencoe was beautiful. Mountains are called "ben" in Gaelic, which Mum and I thought was funny. Glencoe has the mountains known as the three sisters. There are going to just be a lot of places I describe as beautiful, because there are no other words. The whole tour was full of beautiful sights to see. We drove through Fort William and we saw Scotland's highest peak, Ben Nevis at 446 feet. We also got to see the train line used in Harry Potter! It's the Glenfinnan viaduct train. We walked up a hill in Glenfinnan and got really nice views of the rows of mountains in the distance as well as the railroad on the opposite side. Glenfinnan is also where the monument to Bonnie Prince Charlie is located. When we got to Mallaig, we all got on the ferry to Skye. We drove to Portree, Skye, the capital, which means Port of the King, and is named so because King James V landed there. On the way to Portree, we passed the Cuillin Mountains, Red and Black. We hostel we stayed at was very nice, and Mum and I shared a room with Yvonne. The restaurant we ate at on the first night was only ok, but we were exhausted, so we went back to the hostel early so I could finish some homework, and we went to bed early.

The following day, we met Bill at 9am to go on an excursion around Skye for the day. Our first stop was the base of the Cuillin Mountains where we all plunged our faces into the River Slig. This is said to give you eternal beauty. The myth behind the formation of the Cuillin Mountains is that the giant, Cuillin, heard about a warrior training school on Skye. He was an Irish giant who was always an outcast in society, so he thought he would try the warrior school there. The teacher at the school was a beautiful woman named Skiath (Sorry Bill, probably really butchering the name, but that's what it sounded like to me!). The two fell in love. One day, there was a viking invasion, and Cuillin challenged the best viking warrior to a fight to the death. Cuillin won but showed the viking mercy by not killing him. The viking leader was so angry that he plunged his sword into Cuillin's one eye, blinding him. Cuillin ran away never to be seen again, but Skiath followed him and has been trying to find him since. The River Slig is meant to be her tears as she waits for him on the top of the mountains, which is why we are supposed to get eternal beauty from the waters there. Our next stop was the ruins of a broch. These are towers where the nobles of the area would have lived with the others in the community surrounding them. Everyone would have used it for security when necessary. It had no windows and only one door. The ruins are two and a half thousand years old. It had two stone layers for insulation purposes. It was used as a fort as well as a symbol of status and wealthy for the people in it and for the community as a whole. Eventually, these brochs evolved in to what we think of today as forts and castles. Later on we saw Glendale, took a long, steep, and wonderful walk at Neist Point, the western most point of Skye where there were huge cliffs, and drove through Dunvegan. Another highlight of the day was Fairy Glenn. Bill told us the story of Alaster MacCrimmond, the best bagpiper in Scotland. He would go everyday to the glen to play and see if the fairies would tell him secrets to become even better. One day, they talked to him and brought him in to the fairy world, but they forced him to play and play until he could no longer. They had sucked his energy away, making him feel old. Eventually, he escaped, but when he got back, there were strange people living in his home. He realized it was 100 years into the future. Fairy Glen is supposed to be where one can travel between the fairy and the mortal worlds. It was a gorgeous glen where people left coins and things for the fairies. It really did look like fairies might live there. It had rolling hills and winding roads. It was one of my favorite places we stopped. We also found a small, hidden cave where people left mementos for the fairies as well. We went back to Portree for lunch and shopping at one point, when I got my Hamish the highland cow charm. We also ended up back in Portree for another night in the hostel there. We had a great meal of Chicken pie and mac and cheese at McNabs. I also introduced Mum to cider! I got to try toffee pudding, and it was delicious. Again, I had to go back to the hostel early to get some reading done. The second day was definitely the most walking of the four days, and it was really nice to be able to get to hike and walk a bit. It really helps you experience things more.

On the third day, we went to Eilean Donan castle. It was built in the 12th century as a fort against the vikings. It was owned by the Mackenzies and was transferred to the MacRaes. In 1719, it was destroyed by the English in a battle with the Jacobites. The Jacobites, with the Spanish helping, were storing their weapons and gun powder in the castle, and the castle was then blown up, destroying it completely. In 1916, the castle was rebuilt by John McRae, and the family still owns and uses it to this day. It was a bit rainy in the morning, so we escaped inside the castle, and it really cleared up later in the day. This was the only day that we even really had an issue with weather, and it didn't stop us from doing and seeing everything we were going to. We passed the 5 sisters mountains, meant to be the preservation of the beauty of chief Kintale's 5 daughters. The girls had been promised to an Irish man and his 5 brothers, but when the Irish man, who fell in love with the youngest sister, went back to Ireland to fetch his brothers, he never came back. The girls were getting old, and Kintale went to see a magical man, asking him to preserve their beauty until the men came back. He wasn't careful what he asked for, and the man turned them into mountains, preserving their beauty in that form forever. Our last stop was Loch Ness. The story of the Nessie goes back to the Christian missionary, Columba, in the 6th century. He said he blessed the Loch Ness monster when it came out and was about to kill him one day, saving himself. We took an hour long boat ride on the loch. It had really nice views, and the boat gave a little bit of detail about the loch itself. It is over 800 feet deep, more than 20 miles long, and there is more water in it than all the lakes in Wales and England combined! I was really impressed, but also a little intimidated to be on top of it. The sonar was really cool. You could see what it looked like underneath the boat, and it was like mountains. We then drove to Inverness where we were going to spend the night. The hostel there was nice, we got our own room. Before dinner, we took a short walk along the river Ness. Dinner was actually incredible though. I got Yorkshire pudding and roast beef and another toffee pudding for desert. The whole tour group and Bill ate together, and it was really a great time. After, some of us went to Hootenanny at Bill's suggestion. We listened to music for a little while before heading back to the hostel to get some sleep.

The last day of the tour, we stopped at the Clava Cairns, which is a three to four thousand year old burial ground with stone circles. The burial tombs were really cool, they looked like domes of piled stones. We then went to a really cool placed called the Riven Barracks, an old fort built by the English to better control the Jacobites. They were really neat to look at and go into to see how the soldiers lived in there. We stopped at Edragour, the smallest whiskey distillery in Scotland. It is said that the Irish invented whiskey, but the Scottish perfected it. We got a sample of whiskey, and it really burns. Safe to say I wont be drinking that again! Oh well. It was still a really cool tour just to see how whiskey is made. It was nice that the distillery was still very local and small, not like most distilleries that are more like factories. We stopped for lunch in Pitlochery. It was really quaint there. It reminded me of all those small Maine towns. It had great shopping, and it's where the heathergem jewelry is made. Heathergem is distinct to Scotland. It is made from the dyed and compressed stems of heather plants, and the result is really unique and beautiful jewelry. Last but not least we stopped at the Hermitage for a walk through the woods in "Big Tree Country." It was a lovely walk with a waterfall. It was really peaceful walking there and a nice, relaxing end to the trip. On the way back, we drove past the Fourth Bridge, which I described earlier, and we ended up back in Edinburgh with more than enough time for Mum and I to get to the airport and get back to London. It was really sad to have the tour come to and end because it really was the best trip and the best vacation I could have taken. Like I said, the tour and Bill were both amazing, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. The best last trip I could have done this semester. Mum and I both loved it. No regrets, no complaints.

Last night, I was able to attend a Frankenstein Q&A with people from my drama class. It was a benefit for a charity called Dramatic Need with Johnny Lee Miller, Benedict Cumberbatch, and Danny Boyle, who are the lead actors and the director of the play. We were sitting so close to them. It was an amazing experience getting to hear them talk about the differences in film and theatre, preparing for their roles, and performing dual roles, among other things. They were really funny, and Benedict and Johnny have clearly grown very close in the process. The charity employed a group of women to make everyone Frankenstein masks for the Q&A as a surprise for the three of them. In doing so, the women learned sewing skills and were able to make money as well. I had a great time, and I found all three really interesting. Afterwards, we went to the stage door to try to get some autographs. During the talk, they said Benedict wasn't feeling well, so I figured he wouldn't be out, but I really wanted to wait to see Danny Boyle and get Gage and autograph, because he is her favorite director. Right before we were about to leave, Danny came out! We got autographs, and he was really nice about giving his time to the fans out there. We had to make it to the tube before it closed, so we got our autographs and left. It was a really great night--interesting, entertaining, and exciting!

I woke up at 6am this morning to pick Mum up at the airport. I figured she wouldn't get through customs until probably 7:30 because she landed at 6:30, but low and behold, she was waiting for me at the airport for 40 minutes because I left at 6:45, and it took me until 7:40 to get there! Woops, sorry Mum. After getting her, we took the tube back to my flat (going past our stop on the way because I was chatting too much!) to pack for Scotland. We both got our stuff together for our 4 day trip. We are leaving tonight to Edinburgh and meet our tour tomorrow morning for the highlands. Mum is going to have a very long day, but she's just spent it sleeping, so I don't think it'll be too bad, and like she says, "I'm always jetlagged!," because of her work schedule. I gave her instructions on taking the tube because I don't have time to go back to get her after my internship, so we have to meet at the station to meet the bus to go to the airport! She's perfectly capable of taking the tube herself though, so I don't think it'll be a problem. Hopefully, everything works out with traveling this weekend. It's my last trip, and I'm glad to be spending it with my Mum!

I am desperately trying to get my finals work done. I have 6 essays and two tests to do in the next few weeks, and I am not thrilled. I am also trying to get it done so I can actually enjoy my time with my Mum. I stayed up until 4:30am writing my history paper last night, and I finally finished it. I would have been able to go to bed earlier had it not been that I had to attend a play last night.

The play was called Cause Celebre, and I found it really interesting. It was about a woman whose husband is murdered by her lover, but she takes the blame, trying to keep him from being hanged. The story of one of the jurors, a woman who is morally opposed to the behavior of the first woman, intertwines with the first plot. It is a really interesting portrayal of British high society. I was getting Oedipal complex vibes from it as well as the juror compared her relationship to her son with the woman's relationship to her lover. Eventually, the female juror is convinced into seeing that he woman is not guilty. The trial is not a question of morality but a question of did she or did she not kill her husband. I found the exploration of what justice means very interesting as well. The set was also really great because it included a large black box that became a prison examination room and could be retracted and several grand staircases.

All right, that's all the update I have. Back to work for now.

Last weekend was the last school trip, and what an amazing trip to end on. I spent three days (the whole weekend this time instead of the typical two day trips with school) in Edinburgh, Scotland. I can officially say I've been everywhere my family is from now: Italy, Scotland, and England.

We all met at King's Cross Station for our 7:10 train to Scotland. The train takes about 4 and a half hours, and the cramped conditions didn't make it a very comfortable trip, but the views along the way were really gorgeous. At certain points, the tracks were right at the top of some cliffs above the ocean! Upon arriving at Waverly Station in Edinburgh, we walked to our hostel to drop off our things before heading out on a tour of the Old Town with Bill. He pointed out a statue of King George IV who visited Scotland in 1822 and was the first reigning British monarch to visit Scotland since the mid-17th century. When he arrived, he caused chaos because he was wearing a kilt. Tartans had been banned in Scotland, and King George IV, in wearing one, reinstated them once more. Our tour ended at Edinburgh Castle. We got an audio tour and spent a few hours looking around the Castle. The Castle is where Mary Queen of Scots, famed for being executed by Elizabeth I as Mary had claims to the English throne as well, had her son, James VI of Scotland and I of England. James I succeeded the last Tudor, Elizabeth I, and became the first Stuart on the English throne. The Castle is also home to the Crown Jewels of Scotland. They are the oldest crown jewels in Britain, and they date back to the 15th and 16th centuries. The Castle just sticks out from the city sky line because it is on a tall hill right in the middle of the city's shops and houses, but it has great views over Edinburgh. After the Castle visit, we walked a bit more with Bill. With him, we saw two of the cafes that claim to be the place where J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter. She probably wrote in both of them, but both claim to be the place. We saw St. Giles' Cathedral and the site of the old Scottish Parliament.

After spending some time looking around the Royal Mile and grabbing dinner of fish and chips, we met up with Bill and Sarah to attend a ceilidhs (pronounced kay-lee) near the University of Edinburgh at Pollock Hall. Not all of the group that went to Edinburgh was able to attend due to limited tickets, but I made sure to sign up early because I've been looking forward to this since the beginning of the year. A ceilidhs is a night of Scottish music and dancing led by a caller who instructs everyone on how to do each dance. Some were really easy while others were really hard, but they are all group or couple dancing, so you get to look like an idiot together! It was so much fun. There were plenty of people there who didn't know the dances, so I didn't feel out of place at all. But there were also people there who seemed to be professional dancers, so they were really fun to watch. It was just fun to have a drink and learn some really fun, fast-paced dancing! The band that was playing for the night, Teannaich, was really great. Their music was more rock than what you would think of as traditional Scottish folk music. I was completely drenched in sweat by the end of the night. I am also proud to announce that I won the other contest I had been eyeing since the start of the semester. I won £5 for being the first person to dance with a man in a kilt! I explained the contest to his girlfriend, and she was totally fine with me borrowing him for one dance. Richard the kilted wonder and I danced a waltz type dance together, so it was somewhat slow and relaxed. He was very friendly and told me that Scottish kids learn a lot of these dances in gym class at school! I would have loved to learn something like that in school although I'm sure it's a little awkward at that age. The ceilidh lasted until 12:00, and then we walked the half hour back to the hostel. On the way, a random guy in the middle of a group of people outside a bar touched me on the arm and tried to ask me something. I had sort of walked ahead of the main group a bit, but not too far. I pulled my arm away quickly and refused to speak to him, and the other girls heard him call me a "slag." Stupid drunk idiot shouting insults at a girl who seemed to be walking alone at night after he creepily thought it was ok to touch her on the arm. No way. I was not having any of it. Oh well, some people are just ridiculous. I wasn't letting him bring me down after such a great night. I had been awake since 5am that day, so I needed some sleep before another full day.

In the morning, I got breakfast at the hostel before meeting Bill and Sarah for a tour of Parliament. In 1707, England and Scotland were united, so Scottish Parliament was dissolved and representatives were sent to Westminster. In 1999, Scotland was given its own Parliament once more to be used in regional matters. The modern Parliament building was opened in 2004. The architect wanted the building to look like it was growing from the hills surrounding it and from the land, so the building is in the shape of a tree with its branches and leaves. He also wanted it to symbolize all the different areas of Scotland, so the building materials are from Scotland. The cross in the Scottish flag is depicted in various forms all over the buildings, including on the ceilings and doors. The shape of boats was also incorporated into the building design as shipping has alwyas been very important to Scottish economy and culture. Also, the principles of equality of all people, and the importance of all opinions, is depicted through a really lovely art piece which contains sentences written by women all over Scotland about a woman they think did something great for Scotland. These women wrote sentences in Gaelic and English, and the sentences are written about anyone from Mary Queen of Scots to their own mothers. It's a very moving piece of artwork. The further demonstrate the principle of equality, the main debating room of the Parliament has no party distinctions. Another principle the building attempts to display is openness and a government accountable to the people. There are large windows into ever Parliamentary office with steel decorations on the outside of each. These designs are meant to look like open curtains. Each office is also called a "thinking pod." They look out onto the beautiful hilly view out of each of their windows and are meant to be inspired by it. The offices themselves also look like pods as the desks look more like window seats. Outside of the debating room is the most gorgeous silk panel art piece I've ever seen. It tells the story of Scottish history in colors. The panels are arranged from blacks and grays to blues to purples and pinks to finally gold and silvers. They were so intricate, some even had quotes. They were beautiful to look at. It was an interesting tour, and the tour guide was really nice.

After Parliament, we went across the street to Holyrood House, still a working palace and the place where the Queen stays in the summers in Edinburgh. Mary Queen of Scots lived there as well, and we got to see her chambers. We got a nice audio tour of the palace itself. The palace is modeled on the French style of Versailles. It has impressive decoration, getting more and more impressive as one moves towards the King's apartments. The Abbey there is in ruins. It was built in 1128 by King David I of Scotland. I often find the ruins of these cathedrals to be more beautiful than cathedrals that are still standing today. There is something awe-inspiring about them. The garden behind the house and abbey were also very impressive. The Queen holds parties there in the summers. 

The last planned event for the day was a climb up Arthur's seat, the highest peak in Edinburgh. It was a really difficult climb, especially because I was wearing the one pair of shoes I always bring on trips, my boots. The hill is part of the Salisbury Crag formation, which is a typically example of a crag and tail, or a hill with other smaller hills adjacent to it. Despite the fact that I was huffing and puffing the whole way up, the views from the top were incredible. We spent a good half hour up there, getting blown around by the really strong wings. I took a lot of pictures of the view over the whole city, but the most impressive parts of the view were of the other hills and the ocean in the distance. I loved it, and it made me excited for the amazing views I will no doubt be seeing with Mum on our Scottish Highlands tour next weekend.

We spent the rest of our free time that day walking up the royal mile, where I got my charms for this trip. I got Edinburgh Castle and a bagpipe charm, and I've decided to get the Loch Ness Monster and a highland cow as my charms for next weekend. We got dinner from a really nice little restaurant on the mile. Monica and I shared a Haggis roll! It actually didn't taste that bad, I'd probably eat it again. I also got a brie and cranberry panini, which was delicious. A big group of us were really tired, so instead of going out, we walked back to the hostel and decided, as we passed a theater, to go and see a movie. We saw Sourcecode, which was actually a great movie but screwed with your mind. I can't say anything about the plot or it will give it away, but I loved the movie.

We had the early part of the day free on Sunday as well. I decided to use the time to do some family history searching and tartan exploration. To do so, I went to a tartan mill that I had seen near the Castle. They had a database of all the Scottish tartans. Although the Allan family does have a tartan of it's own, it was privately created and modern. Instead, I got the names of four families that I may be connected to, depending on what region of Scotland I am from, so I have a bit more work to do. I wanted to get a tartan scarf, but I really want to find out more about my family history before I do. I'd like to have a scarf in my actual tartan.

After learning a bit about my genealogy, it was time to get the 2pm train back to London. Again, it was a long and cramped train ride, but we got in to London at around 6:30 or 7.

It was a really great trip. Scotland is beautiful and Edinburgh was a lot of fun, but the best part was definitely the ceilidh. I need to look and see if they have those in Boston. I'd love to go to more of them.

This week, I've been trying to get a lot of work done on my history paper as the first thing I have to do for finals. I'm trying to take it one step at a time, but it's stressful just to think about what's next. My mom is also coming next week, which is exciting, but I feel guilty that I'm going to have a massive amount of work to do while she's here as well. Good news though: I won a quiz that gets me and 5 of my friends a 4 course meal at Bill's house!!! I'm so excited. I've been waiting for this quiz since Claire talked about the fact that she had won it when she was here as a student. It's the one thing I really wanted to win all year, and I did. It was a scavenger hunt of sorts where Bill gave us clues about an object of clothing that we had to get a picture of. He gave clues as to what the object was and the location. Because no one got it in the first round, he sent out more clues, and those are what really gave it away. I had some understanding of what it was with the first clues, but I found it really cryptic. Anyway, the object of clothing was the sacred robe of Athena, called the peplos. The myth is she wore it on her procession to the Great Panathenaic Festival held at the Acropolis in Athens every 4 years. The scene is depicted on one of the marble slabs of the Parthenon in the British Museum. It was interesting to learn a little factoid from the quiz, and I thought Bill did a good job with what the answer was, although I thought the quiz was a lot harder than he did apparently! But I'm sooooo happy I won!

I've also been accepted to the LA program for this coming fall and just had my interview for an RA position there. I hope I get it. It's a great program and something I really want to do. I'd love to get an internship over there and spend some time in the sun! But we'll see how it all pans out because I find out Friday if I got the job. Completely forgot about the car situation there. I've heard public transport isn't very good, so I don't really know how I'm going to get around. Send my bike there?

I'm off with school to Edinburgh this weekend, so that will be my next post. That's all for now!

This week, my Drama class saw two plays. The first was Rocket to the Moon, and it was about a dentist who has an affair with his secretary. Basically the theme was the psychological depression of the Depression era. It was a really great set, but really boring! Barely anything happens, and it was just so static!
Remembrance Day was much better. It was in a black box theatre with no assigned seating, and it was really small, but they really used the space well. The set, again, was fantastic. There were three doors in the lobby area of an apartment building, but they served double purposes as different doors became the front doors to different apartments on the inside. The cast walked in one door and out the other to go into their houses. It was really cool. The lobby doubled as the interior of their homes, and they were brave enough to allow different scenes in different apartments to play out at the same time. The actors stayed on stage all at once, but switched between three different plot lines and situations occurring simultaneously. The play was about Russians in Latvia and activism. I found it really interesting, and I liked it a lot.
I am entering finals time, and I'm really stressed with work. The weather is getting nicer out, and I just am so unmotivated to do anything. I'm taking it one step at a time and focusing on my history paper at the moment. Hopefully, I get somewhere with it this weekend. Mum is coming in two weeks, and I have Edinburgh next weekend, so a lot to look forward to!