Saturday, April 12, 2008
Stirling Castle
The first one is in front of a neat gate on the walk to Stirling Castle. The next two are of the castle and the fourth one is from the top overlooking the cemetery. The last one is in our hostel room that night.
photos from spring break, week one
Here are some photos from my travels around Scotland during the first few days of break last week...
Our hostel in Stirling - the Willy Wallace :)
my lovely traveling companions, Mirelle and Caroline
beautiful Scottish daffodils
We climbed up to the Wallace Monument, located outside of Stirling
From the top...it was very windy!
Our hostel in Stirling - the Willy Wallace :)
my lovely traveling companions, Mirelle and Caroline
beautiful Scottish daffodils
We climbed up to the Wallace Monument, located outside of Stirling
From the top...it was very windy!
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
He is Risen!!
I know - I know what you are thinking: "You haven't posted the promised pictures from spring break (part 1) yet! What are you doing starting another rambling post about a weekend that happened about three weeks ago?" I'm sorry but it's just that there is so much to tell and show (show and tell?)! I realized just today that I had forgotten to share about my wonderful Easter weekend. Thus, before I can go on to post recent pictures, I need to say a few words (okay, let's be honest: more than a few) about Good Friday, Easter Saturday, and Resurrection Sunday...
First, Good Friday to Easter Saturday was taken up not by a Good Friday service but a 21st birthday party (shocking?). One of my new friends, Sarah, celebrated her 21st birthday a few days early on Friday night. English-born, Sarah now lives in Edinburgh, which is quite easily accessible by train. So she invited our group of friends over for a black-tie dinner and sleepover at her family's home right outside of downtown Edinburgh.
We had such a lovely time! Sarah, her parents, and her sisters were wonderful hosts. We had an absolutely delicious meal complete with appetizer, salad, main course, and 3 choices of dessert. What a joy to eat outside the dorms for a night! We toasted Sarah and gave speeches to celebrate her 22nd year of life. After dinner, we chatted, played parlor games, danced to swing music, ate some of Sarah's homemade porridge, and then crashed on their living room floor. We left the next morning to catch the train and hurry back to St. Andrews for serious homework time!
I spent the rest of Easter Saturday writing papers and studying philosophy. I have two papers, one for each class, each counting for 50% of my grade, and both due shortly after spring break. Not wanting to be stressing about them over break, my goal was to finish at least one of them (plus turn it in!) and have the other pretty much completed. Fortunately, I finished a draft of each, received comments from both profs, turned in one, and now only have the second one to revise before the Friday after classes resume. Hurray! It was a crazy month of working ahead but I succeeded in meeting my goals.
Anyway, that was Easter Saturday - my nose stuck to the grindstone - but Easter Sunday was a day full of fellowship, celebration, and community. (I actually accomplished absolutely nothing in terms of schoolwork and yet I refused to let myself worry about it.) First, three of my girlfriends - Hannah, Sarah, and Mel - and I went to the 7am Easter morning service called "St. Mary's on the Rock". It took place right on the coastal path, between the cathedral ruins and the North Sea. The sun was so bright as it rose up over the sea that it was blinding us during the service! Absolutely gorgeous. What an amazing way to start the day that celebrates Christ's resurrection!
The service was followed by communion in the cathedral ruins. We crowded around the spot where the altar would have sat and passed the elements until everyone had received them. Afterwards, we all moved on to a car park near the castle ruins where some St. Andrews hotels had set up a complimentary Easter breakfast of sausages, rolls, tea, and coffee.
After breakfast, it was only about 8:30, so the girls and I headed down to the pier to enjoy the beautiful morning and to kill some time before the 10:30 Easter service at the Baptist church. After church, we went over to our friend Becca's flat where she and a few other girls had cooked a delicious Easter dinner. I had to eat sparingly because I was anticipating another later dinner that I'd been invited to by a family I have befriended at my church, Holy Trinity. But even eating modestly, I still managed to try yorkshire pudding for the first time in my life! It was quite good. For a good couple of hours, there were a bunch of us there just eating, hanging out, chatting, etc. Very relaxing after a week of busyness and hard work.
Then, almost immediately afterwards, I was picked up by the Egan family and we headed off to their friends' house for Easter dinner number two! Again, I ate modestly but still enjoyed an amazing array of home-cooked dishes including cheesecake at the end. The guests included three or four families of post-grad couples. The husbands were all doing post-grad work in theology at St. Andrews, working towards doctorates, and everyone was from America. Two of the families had children...3 girls and 3 boys in all. I am so used to celebrating Easter with my family of 7 so it a huge blessing to be with these families and their little kids that afternoon. I enjoyed some rousing theological and political discussions with the adults and also watched a little of 101 Dalmatians (the original Disney version!) with the kids. Fun times for sure.
All in all, it was quite a full day of eating, talking, celebrating, and just spending time with people - students, kids, and adults - in worship and in fellowship. For my first Easter away from home, I really felt blessed, encouraged, included, and loved by the amazing Christian community in St. Andrews. And, if that latter comment has appeared more than once over the course of my last few posts, I can't apologize for my redundancy. In fact, don't be surprised if you read it again and again before this term is over. The truth of the matter is this: the greatest source of my excitement and joy and love for St. Andrews has been and continues to be the extremely genuine members of the Christian community of which I have become a part of here. I may even have to devote an entire post to this topic in the future...once I finish posting those promised pictures, of course. :)
First, Good Friday to Easter Saturday was taken up not by a Good Friday service but a 21st birthday party (shocking?). One of my new friends, Sarah, celebrated her 21st birthday a few days early on Friday night. English-born, Sarah now lives in Edinburgh, which is quite easily accessible by train. So she invited our group of friends over for a black-tie dinner and sleepover at her family's home right outside of downtown Edinburgh.
We had such a lovely time! Sarah, her parents, and her sisters were wonderful hosts. We had an absolutely delicious meal complete with appetizer, salad, main course, and 3 choices of dessert. What a joy to eat outside the dorms for a night! We toasted Sarah and gave speeches to celebrate her 22nd year of life. After dinner, we chatted, played parlor games, danced to swing music, ate some of Sarah's homemade porridge, and then crashed on their living room floor. We left the next morning to catch the train and hurry back to St. Andrews for serious homework time!
I spent the rest of Easter Saturday writing papers and studying philosophy. I have two papers, one for each class, each counting for 50% of my grade, and both due shortly after spring break. Not wanting to be stressing about them over break, my goal was to finish at least one of them (plus turn it in!) and have the other pretty much completed. Fortunately, I finished a draft of each, received comments from both profs, turned in one, and now only have the second one to revise before the Friday after classes resume. Hurray! It was a crazy month of working ahead but I succeeded in meeting my goals.
Anyway, that was Easter Saturday - my nose stuck to the grindstone - but Easter Sunday was a day full of fellowship, celebration, and community. (I actually accomplished absolutely nothing in terms of schoolwork and yet I refused to let myself worry about it.) First, three of my girlfriends - Hannah, Sarah, and Mel - and I went to the 7am Easter morning service called "St. Mary's on the Rock". It took place right on the coastal path, between the cathedral ruins and the North Sea. The sun was so bright as it rose up over the sea that it was blinding us during the service! Absolutely gorgeous. What an amazing way to start the day that celebrates Christ's resurrection!
The service was followed by communion in the cathedral ruins. We crowded around the spot where the altar would have sat and passed the elements until everyone had received them. Afterwards, we all moved on to a car park near the castle ruins where some St. Andrews hotels had set up a complimentary Easter breakfast of sausages, rolls, tea, and coffee.
After breakfast, it was only about 8:30, so the girls and I headed down to the pier to enjoy the beautiful morning and to kill some time before the 10:30 Easter service at the Baptist church. After church, we went over to our friend Becca's flat where she and a few other girls had cooked a delicious Easter dinner. I had to eat sparingly because I was anticipating another later dinner that I'd been invited to by a family I have befriended at my church, Holy Trinity. But even eating modestly, I still managed to try yorkshire pudding for the first time in my life! It was quite good. For a good couple of hours, there were a bunch of us there just eating, hanging out, chatting, etc. Very relaxing after a week of busyness and hard work.
Then, almost immediately afterwards, I was picked up by the Egan family and we headed off to their friends' house for Easter dinner number two! Again, I ate modestly but still enjoyed an amazing array of home-cooked dishes including cheesecake at the end. The guests included three or four families of post-grad couples. The husbands were all doing post-grad work in theology at St. Andrews, working towards doctorates, and everyone was from America. Two of the families had children...3 girls and 3 boys in all. I am so used to celebrating Easter with my family of 7 so it a huge blessing to be with these families and their little kids that afternoon. I enjoyed some rousing theological and political discussions with the adults and also watched a little of 101 Dalmatians (the original Disney version!) with the kids. Fun times for sure.
All in all, it was quite a full day of eating, talking, celebrating, and just spending time with people - students, kids, and adults - in worship and in fellowship. For my first Easter away from home, I really felt blessed, encouraged, included, and loved by the amazing Christian community in St. Andrews. And, if that latter comment has appeared more than once over the course of my last few posts, I can't apologize for my redundancy. In fact, don't be surprised if you read it again and again before this term is over. The truth of the matter is this: the greatest source of my excitement and joy and love for St. Andrews has been and continues to be the extremely genuine members of the Christian community of which I have become a part of here. I may even have to devote an entire post to this topic in the future...once I finish posting those promised pictures, of course. :)
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
traveling in the highlands, or Spring Holidays, Part 1
Spring break has begun and I have just completed the first segment of my travels. This past Saturday morning, March 29, two other JSA students and I took the train to Stirling, a city only a few hours away from St. Andrews. We stashed our luggage at the youth hostel, the Willy Wallace Youth Hostel, and headed to the Wallace Monument just outside of the city. It was built in the 19th century, I believe, to commemorate William Wallace's 13th-century contributions to the Scottish Highlanders' fight for freedom from English domination. It was quite tall - almost 300 steps! - but we climbed all the way to the top to see the lovely views of the city, the university, and the majestic mountains. Then we headed to Stirling Castle, where we had a nice tour in the cold rain and wind. :) Even so, it was still both enjoyable and pretty. We explored a little on our own as well before heading back to the centre of town to find some dinner.
With nothing to do after dinner, we came back to the hostel for some free tea and movie-watching. To Caroline's dismay (one of my travel buddies), I admitted to never having seen Robin Hood: Men in Tights, so we watched that movie as well as a few episodes of Friends before heading to bed.
The next day, Sunday, we hopped on the train to Inverness, a larger city way up north in the highlands. The train ride was absolutely gorgeous: snow-capped mountains, rolling hills, adorable sheep, and hairy "heiland coos" (highland cows). Our original plan had been to see Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle that afternoon, but we arrived too late for the last bus to the loch.
Instead, we got a bus to Culloden Battlefield, about 10-15 minutes from Inverness, where the English and the Scottish had fought in 1746. The story of the Culloden Battle is quite sad because it was essentially the "last stand" of the Scottish Highland Clansmen against the English troops. The Highlanders had tried to instate Bonny Prince Charlie (King James' son and the rightful heir of the Scottish throne) as King of Scotland, but King Edward brutally crushed the rebellion with his army at Culloden. The battlefield looks today pretty much the way it did back then, except for a new visitors centre and flags to mark the army lines. The sky was particularly amazing that day, reminding us of the dramatic contrasts of nature that Emily Bronte describes in Wuthering Heights.
Back in the city, after dinner, we took a lovely walk along the Ness River, which runs through Inverness. The riverwalk was nicely lit and lined with bright daffodils. Afterwards, we played several rousing games of UNO and Slapjack with a fellow hostel mate before finally going to bed.
Monday, we got up early and headed straight to Loch Ness. The bus trip was very expensive but quite lovely because it took us all along Loch Ness, through the town of Drummondochit, and up to Urquhart Castle, which is right on the Loch. The day was absolutely spectacular! Far better than we could have ever imagined. I just couldn't stop taking pictures of the sparkling water, blue sky, and puffy white clouds. We were certainly blessed in terms of weather that day!
After lunch, we took a fun double-decker bus to Fort George, about 20 minutes or so outside of Inverness. Fort George, which juts out into the Moray Firth, is a fully-functioning barracks and military fortification dating back to the 18th century, built right after the 1746 defeat at Culloden. The beautiful weather continued and so we saw some more glorious skies, both snow-capped and green mountains, and sparkling waters surrounding the fort.
That night, after dinner, we took another river walk, stopping for ice cream at Tescos, the Scottish chain grocery store. It was a very peaceful evening...a perfect honeymoon or marriage proposal spot, we decided. Caroline decided she would come back for her honeymoon in the summertime someday and stay in one of the cute B&Bs along the Ness River. Quite the romantic location!
Tuesday, today, Caroline and I said goodbye to Mirelle and headed back to St. Andrews via Aberdeen. We arrived in Aberdeen, a historic port city, at 11am and walked around until a quarter-past 2, stopping for lunch in the middle. Following my guidebook, we saw some great historic buildings and especially a wonderful old church, the St. Nicholas Kirk. After finding our way inside, we ran into one of the pastors, originally from Texas actually, but a resident of the UK for some time now, and he gave us a little historical overview of the church.
Apparently, over 50,000 people are buried in the huge cemetery that surrounds the even larger church building. This is because it was built on a slope and so graves were placed on top of each other as the years went by. Also, inside the church, one section of it had fallen into disrepair over the centuries and, while making preparations to renovate it, they uncovered a host of graves. That part of the church quickly became the largest archaeological dig in Scotland about a year and a half ago. The archaeologists have found over 900 bodies since then and expect to find more. The pastor showed us the dig and said that the oldest body found thus far was an infant dating back to 600 AD. It was an incredible story and such an exciting historic gem to stumble across in our self-guided tour of the city. We had no idea what might be inside the church beyond an ornate sanctuary! Also, some of the pews (arranged in the Scottish choral style, we learned, so that everyone can see the pastor in his pulpit) even date back to the 17th century!
Finally, after another couple hours of exploring, we took the train back to St. Andrews by way of Dundee, where, while crossing the bridge, we saw the thickest, clearest rainbow I may have ever seen in my life. Not only was it massive in width but we were able to see the entire thing from beginning to end!
What a satisfying few days of traveling and sight-seeing! I'm very glad the weather was that great. It's probably too much to hope for but...I hope it is nice next week too when my mum (!) comes to visit me. (Hurray!) I'm extremely thankful for and blessed by our many incredible experiences of God's magnificent creations of nature. Now off to Germany for some more beautiful adventures, I hope! Watch this space for photos - coming soon!
With nothing to do after dinner, we came back to the hostel for some free tea and movie-watching. To Caroline's dismay (one of my travel buddies), I admitted to never having seen Robin Hood: Men in Tights, so we watched that movie as well as a few episodes of Friends before heading to bed.
The next day, Sunday, we hopped on the train to Inverness, a larger city way up north in the highlands. The train ride was absolutely gorgeous: snow-capped mountains, rolling hills, adorable sheep, and hairy "heiland coos" (highland cows). Our original plan had been to see Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle that afternoon, but we arrived too late for the last bus to the loch.
Instead, we got a bus to Culloden Battlefield, about 10-15 minutes from Inverness, where the English and the Scottish had fought in 1746. The story of the Culloden Battle is quite sad because it was essentially the "last stand" of the Scottish Highland Clansmen against the English troops. The Highlanders had tried to instate Bonny Prince Charlie (King James' son and the rightful heir of the Scottish throne) as King of Scotland, but King Edward brutally crushed the rebellion with his army at Culloden. The battlefield looks today pretty much the way it did back then, except for a new visitors centre and flags to mark the army lines. The sky was particularly amazing that day, reminding us of the dramatic contrasts of nature that Emily Bronte describes in Wuthering Heights.
Back in the city, after dinner, we took a lovely walk along the Ness River, which runs through Inverness. The riverwalk was nicely lit and lined with bright daffodils. Afterwards, we played several rousing games of UNO and Slapjack with a fellow hostel mate before finally going to bed.
Monday, we got up early and headed straight to Loch Ness. The bus trip was very expensive but quite lovely because it took us all along Loch Ness, through the town of Drummondochit, and up to Urquhart Castle, which is right on the Loch. The day was absolutely spectacular! Far better than we could have ever imagined. I just couldn't stop taking pictures of the sparkling water, blue sky, and puffy white clouds. We were certainly blessed in terms of weather that day!
After lunch, we took a fun double-decker bus to Fort George, about 20 minutes or so outside of Inverness. Fort George, which juts out into the Moray Firth, is a fully-functioning barracks and military fortification dating back to the 18th century, built right after the 1746 defeat at Culloden. The beautiful weather continued and so we saw some more glorious skies, both snow-capped and green mountains, and sparkling waters surrounding the fort.
That night, after dinner, we took another river walk, stopping for ice cream at Tescos, the Scottish chain grocery store. It was a very peaceful evening...a perfect honeymoon or marriage proposal spot, we decided. Caroline decided she would come back for her honeymoon in the summertime someday and stay in one of the cute B&Bs along the Ness River. Quite the romantic location!
Tuesday, today, Caroline and I said goodbye to Mirelle and headed back to St. Andrews via Aberdeen. We arrived in Aberdeen, a historic port city, at 11am and walked around until a quarter-past 2, stopping for lunch in the middle. Following my guidebook, we saw some great historic buildings and especially a wonderful old church, the St. Nicholas Kirk. After finding our way inside, we ran into one of the pastors, originally from Texas actually, but a resident of the UK for some time now, and he gave us a little historical overview of the church.
Apparently, over 50,000 people are buried in the huge cemetery that surrounds the even larger church building. This is because it was built on a slope and so graves were placed on top of each other as the years went by. Also, inside the church, one section of it had fallen into disrepair over the centuries and, while making preparations to renovate it, they uncovered a host of graves. That part of the church quickly became the largest archaeological dig in Scotland about a year and a half ago. The archaeologists have found over 900 bodies since then and expect to find more. The pastor showed us the dig and said that the oldest body found thus far was an infant dating back to 600 AD. It was an incredible story and such an exciting historic gem to stumble across in our self-guided tour of the city. We had no idea what might be inside the church beyond an ornate sanctuary! Also, some of the pews (arranged in the Scottish choral style, we learned, so that everyone can see the pastor in his pulpit) even date back to the 17th century!
Finally, after another couple hours of exploring, we took the train back to St. Andrews by way of Dundee, where, while crossing the bridge, we saw the thickest, clearest rainbow I may have ever seen in my life. Not only was it massive in width but we were able to see the entire thing from beginning to end!
What a satisfying few days of traveling and sight-seeing! I'm very glad the weather was that great. It's probably too much to hope for but...I hope it is nice next week too when my mum (!) comes to visit me. (Hurray!) I'm extremely thankful for and blessed by our many incredible experiences of God's magnificent creations of nature. Now off to Germany for some more beautiful adventures, I hope! Watch this space for photos - coming soon!
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