Losing Track of Time

Edinburgh is God's country...

This enormous city blends a rich history of bloodshed, violence and political crises with beautiful scenery, endless festivals, a mammoth volcano and 200,000 Scots. The Scots to me are the rednecks of the UK, a fun-loving, crazy and welcoming group of people. The French were snobby and the Britains were depressing, still I felt like they were very similar to our American culture.  The Scots are quite a different story.

On my first night in Edinburgh, several of us went to The Three Sisters.  It is a huge club near the college area of Edinburgh. We were lucky enough to catch fancy-dress night, meaning nearly half of the women there were dressed in either a sexy police outfit, greek outfit or some other ensemble. No Scot is too old - many of the woman in these risqué outfits were well over 60. Many of the guys were dressed up also, some of them as women. The Scottish men dance with one another in a way quite stunning to a Louisiana man, but it was explained to me that it is part of their culture. Still, after being crept upon on the dance floor, I stepped away and sat against the wall.

The next day, I woke up early and explored the city on my own in search of a laundry service. Before I found one, I found at least 27 barber shops. The Scots have some of the most interesting hairstyles I've seen. It's like the 90s rock scene come back to life. In the past few days, I've seen mullets, shaved heads with only bangs and the reverse of such, and what can only be explained as a dread-lock rat-tail. As crazy as it all seems, they make me feel at home.

Haircuts aren't the only interesting sites of Edinburgh, however. I've seen a couple of castles and I've seen the royal palace at Hollyrood. We took a 45 minute hike to sit on top of a volcano at midnight on Arthur's seat and gaze at the surrounding cities. It was a breathtaking site. We visited Mary King's Close also.  A close is a small stairway alley that leads in between the buildings in Scotland.  Because the island was formed by a volcano, everything slopes up or down. At Mary King's Close, we learned that everyone in the 1300s used to toss their shit out of the window and it all dripped down the street to the loch. Because of this, only the rich lived at the top of the hills and on the higher parts of the buildings. The poor were forced to live lower and close to the loch. Those convicted of crime were often drowned in the piss and shit filled loch. Only the nobility were lucky enough to have their heads cut off.

Changing the tone a bit...

Tonight, I ate supper with Dr. Joe Goldblatt, and we went to the Scotch Malt Whisky Society after.  I met his family, and their friends Amber and David, who also came to the scotch bar. I had a dram of whisky that was a complete ass kicker. It was an amazing night. 

Sadly, the media tour will be ending soon. I will be leaving for America a week from now. It's going to be sad to leave Scotland behind because I have had the best time. There is no place like Edinburgh. I will be back one day, hopefully in August to catch the Fringe Festival which is comparable to Mardi Gras, but crazier.  There are also several other festivals in August in Edinburgh.

Tomorrow, I will be visiting Queen Margaret University and find out more about their Events Management Graduate curriculum there.  And because it has been at least 9 or 10 days since I last wrote, I am missing a lot of things on London.  So, my next post will be going back in time to the last several days in London. But it will probably be short, because London wasn't as exciting as Scotland has been.

London, Bath, Stonehenge

Everyday in London is both jam-packed and laid back.  Each day, I wake up at 8, eat a short breakfast, go to Jay's class then Danny's.  We've been having most classes in Hyde Park, which is close to our hotel. There are many English people who take their very well trained dogs to the park. 

Each day after class, we find something else to do.  As I said, we went to the British Museum and the British Library the first day. There is always so much going on that I forget what's happened if I don't write it down right away.  One day, we took a walk through Hyde Park.  We took a picture with the Peter Pan statue, because it was part of Jay's scavenger hunt.  Another day, we went to Harrod's, which is comparable to Saks Fifth Avenue in New York City, but more expensive if you can imagine. Supposedly, you can get anything there.  Even a lion...Forget the lion, we saw a 103 inch flat screen plasma TV. It came out to only 90,000 US dollars. Shipka was like a bug to a light with that thing.  I think he wanted to sleep next to it.

Today, we woke up early and got on a bus at 8 to travel to Stonehenge and bath.  The few hours we drove through the English country side was very beautiful, even though I slept through most of it. Both Stonehenge and Bath were breathtaking.  Of course Stonehenge was just a piling of rocks but it made for some great photo ops and we all cut up.  Bath was beautiful and interesting.  It was a Roman colony were the Romans actually all gathered to bathe.  A little creepy, yes, but intriguing.  I finally got to buy a few new shirts for cheap price in Bath.  

Nights in London.  I wish there were pubs in America like there are in Europe.  There are so many of them that you are bound to find the one that most fits you.  Unlike at LSU, rap music doesn't blare in your ear the entire time you are out. It's much more about experiencing the culture and meeting people.  Prince Alfred's pub is very near our hotel and we usually stop there before we go anywhere else at night.  There is low, descent music and there are lots of people there to meet.  I've been three times to Linoler now, which is a German pub also within walking distance from the hotel. It's become my favorite.  There is a little German woman and and wee little Hungarian man in fancy little get-ups who bring you steins of Dortmunder Beer.  A stein is roughly two pints.  There is a man who plays the piano and sings there also.  Much of it is german folkish kind of music, but he takes requests and many people do karaoke.  One man thought he was Elvis the first night we went, and he was pretty good.  

We had a bit of schooling there one night with Jay.  Not a literal class, but the guys learned a lot from Jay about branching out to the locals, with whom the bar was mostly filled.  The result was that we met a woman named Kate, her boyfriend James and a large group of their friends. They were understood to be English royalty, and they showed us a great time.  We danced with them all and shared a few pints.  The next time we went, we met some more interesting people.  I met a soldier from the UK Army.  It was hard to understand most of what he was saying because of his heavy Scottish accent, but he shared some stories about the War in Afghanistan. We also met a guy who was born in Kenner, but works as a Defense Contractor at Arizona State University.  We got his business card and very much plan to keep in touch with him.

Overall, the trip has been amazing so far.  We are about at the halfway point now.  It's almost as though I forget that I am actually taking classes. It's amazing what you can learn about yourself and other cultures when you visit an English pub. I can't imagine I'll be nearly the same as I was before I left for this trip. This trip so far has been the most amazing experience and I would recommend it to anyone, not just Mass Comm majors.  The greatest part of it is that we have yet to see Edinburgh and Isle of Skye, and those are the places I am looking most forward too.

London

Sleep. Hard-as-rock beds. Tiny bedroom. Didn’t matter. After a long nap a few of us went to Prince Alfred’s pub and ate fish and chips. I had heard bad stories about the fish and chips but I really enjoyed it. We had a few drinks. I have made it a goal to try as many foreign beers and foods as I can rather than sticking to the original things I can get at home.  That said, I didn't quite like John Smith's  – a little too dark and heavy for my liking.  Guess I won’t be cut out for the Guinness Factory. But they say you must like Guinness when you go to Ireland.  We'll see.. Back to sleep…

 

Day 2

Class and then tourist kinda stuff.  British Museum was interesting but lots of tourists and kids.  The library was better.  We saw a Beatles collection, a Shakespeare collection, the Magna Carta, and several other historic docs.  We also saw the Rosetta Stone at the museum.

A small group of us made a trip to Fleet Street, which is so far my favorite part of London.  Fleet Street was the authentic vision of old time London I've imagined in my head for so many years.

We stopped at a place called “Ye Olde Cock Tavern,” (in British terms of course and not American).  That night, Manchester U was to play Barcelona and lots of people were making it out to the pubs to catch the game.  We stayed there up until the game started and met a few people. The match itself ended up being a let down.  I also learned not to actually call it a soccer game in Europe also - it's a football match, and people have gotten shanked for less.  We went to Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese Pub once the game started to meet Jay.  It is a place of rich poetic history.  The pub was very dungeon-like with stairs that led further underground.  We went to the furthest floor down.  If you have seen Lord of the Rings, imagine the pub that the hobbits go to when they first leave the Shire - that was this place - great people, fun time.  This was easily my favorite night out in Europe thus far.  We met lots of locals and the atmosphere was amazing.  It reminded me of the typical old time pubs that you see in old English movies. Awesome.

 

5/28/09
It’s been a few days since I’ve had a chance to write. I usually spend any downtime napping since we are on the run during the day and out at night more often than not.

Last few days in Paris. Last time I wrote, I thought I was going to bed. That didn’t happen. Sleep is actually a pretty uncommon occurrence in this group. The 17 or so of us are all getting along quite swimmingly, and we pay the price because of it. That night, we found a few bars down the road from our hotel and all went out. We became regulars at Pub Brussels, a two-minute walk away from the hotel. Sylvain and Oouaid (pronounced wah-eed) earned college funds for their children from our patronage. Throughout the week, we met many interesting locals at that bar. I enjoyed the insight into the French culture.

The next day was a little rough. Alex and I were up for 8:30 and went to see the Louvre. Only about half of the group made it, but many of those went later. We saw the famed Mona Lisa… yay. It isn’t what it’s cracked up to be, but still worth the visit for all of the famous art.

On the Monday, we had our first class. I have two classes with Danny, but I go to Jay’s classes anyway because he might possibly be one of the interesting people I know. He is quick witted and usually has an odd story to tell. After class, we had a guest lecture from a French journalist who writes for a prominent French newspaper. Jay taught her journalism at LSU some years back. We then headed to the Eiffel Tower again to take the actual tour. It was a little stressful standing in the crowded lines but the view was pretty stellar.
After that was the boat ride on the Sienne River. We saw some beautiful French architecture and got a really good look at the French culture. Hundreds of them set out blankets on the edge of the river and rest for up to several hours each day. Some eat cheese and drink wine, some play guitar, some talk and many display their affection publicly. I’d like to set out a blanket on the Mississippi when I get back home, but somehow I don’t think I’ll get the same effect.

Our last night in Paris was a little dramatic, for me at least, but it turned out to be amazing. Though we were leaving to catch the Eurostar to London at 7:45 the next morning, we knew we had to experience the French culture for just one more night. Nearly the whole group stayed out through the night. We met a large group from Tahiti and it was great mingling with them. 

The next morning, everyone was ready to go to London, despite the fact that we all looked like death. I was hoping to catch some sleep on the train, but instead laughed at Shipka and Sarah Hairston the whole time. Finally, we got to London. After getting acquainted with the neighborhood and the hotel, we all crashed for several hours.

5/21/09

I barely slept last night.  I remember waking up every hour or so throughout the night thinking, “Shit, I overslept!”  When I at last woke up at 7:42, three minutes before my alarm sang out Alice in Chains, I was ready for what would be an extensive, yet exciting airplane ride to Europe.

I got in the car with my parents and headed off to New Orleans. We met Rebecca and her family after eating at the airport.  Finally we checked in our bags and said goodbye to our families as we headed through security.

We sat down with Julie, Drew, Katherine, Tori and Natalie as we waited for our first flight.  We met up with Jay and Lindsay when we got to Dallas.

8:00 PM

On the plane to Paris.  2 hours(ish) down and 7(ish) to go.

We just finished watching Yes Man.  We’ve already eaten supper, and Horton Hears a Who is beginning.  But, we are still in America.  I just watched the sun set over Lake Superior – or one of those Great Lakes. 

9:00 PM

It must be an episode of Lost.  It’s been at least 10 hours since I last wrote; yet only one hour has passed.  Finally in France, and the time change kicked all of our asses something awful.  Once we finally got off of the plane and got some Euro, we headed off to the bus that took us to our hotel. 

Hotel

We got settled in the Hotel Mercure Montparnasse, and our professor, Jay Perkins, took us around the neighboring blocks.  He showed us where to get cheap beer and good beer – to me they were essentially the same.  He also showed us where to get good, quick food and pricier food.  My first Parisian meal was Croque Monsieur, essentially a grilled cheese, with bacon and ham and cheese actually on the outside of the bread.  We all went back and took naps after that because the plane ride was killer.

The Amsterdamned showed up just in time for us to go eat supper, and we were all excited to see them.  We went eat at L’Hippopotomus Viandes as a group.  It was only a short walk a few blocks away.  I was shocked that I was able to order my entire meal a francais, and furthermore that the waitress understood it all and got the order completely right – assuming I knew what I was ordering.  My meal was nothing short of amazing.  I had a sort of Thai kabob for the appetizer and a Hippo Burger (not actually hippo meat, no hippos harmed) for my entrée. 

After the meal, we had our first expedition on the metro, the subway of France.  Jay didn’t come with us.  I think he was tired. Our other professor, Danny Shipka was very eager to get a gelato from some place on Rue de St. Michaels. It was, in essence, Italian ice cream, but don’t say that to Shipka.

I think I’ll be going to sleep soon because I am beat. 

Packing for MMT

5/17/09

Four days away. Finally. Then four days in Paris to begin what will be a four week Magical Media Tour through Paris, London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Isle of Skye, and Dublin. Somehow, it took strategic organization of less than 33 pounds worth of clothes, cameras, and important pieces of paper to create the sense that I'm finally going to Europe for a month.

Tomorrow, I am to skype with Dr. Joe Goldblatt of Queen Margaret School of Special Events Management in Edinburgh. I am thrilled at the opportunity that follows alongside Dr. Goldblatt, and I hope I get to meet him and tour his school when I get to Edinburgh on June 6.

The Amsterdam group leaves tomorrow.  I hate to miss out on that trip, but I look forward to the crazy ass stories that Sarah Hairston will undoubtedly share when she meets us in Paris - assuming they let her leave Amsterdam.