Highlands, Work and Hockey

I did it! After being in Scotland for nearly three months I finally made it to the highlands! Adam, Jess, Ana and myself spent all day Friday driving from Glasgow to Loch Ness and back again. We saw Loch Lomond, Glencoe, Fort William, Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle all in one day and all for the low, low price of gas split four ways. Although the weather was not superb it only seemed to rain when we were actually in the car. Every time we got out or were stopping to take photos, it was slightly overcast but fairly dry. As we progressed North it dropped a few degrees and we did get a little snow but it reminded me of home and it was a nice reminder of how much I don't miss trudging through the snow drifts to get to class. The Lochs were spectacular and I can't do them justice to write about them so you will have to wait until you see the photos. Glencoe was very interesting and now that I am a member of Historic Scotland I was able to wander through the museum for free. Although gruesome, the stories of the clan massacre in the 1700's were fascinating.
On route to Fort William we stopped at a lookout for a photo op and ended up coming face to face with a stag. Although smaller than the deer we have in Canada the antlers on this guy brought him closer to my size. A few people were out of their cars taking photos and against better judgement I decided to do the same. I was low to the ground and probably about 15 feet away when the stag decided to investigate what I was doing. It slowly walked towards me and closed the gap to just under 10 feet. I stood up and with my arms out in front of me I started to shuffle towards him while quietly reminding him that I was not going to hurt him. He continued to approach as I shuffled along and soon enough his face was about 6 inches off my hand. I had a couple photos taken at this distance before I decided to get the hell out of there before my luck ran out. After I had backed away and was walking back towards the car he decided to wander over again. This time he walked up and stood next to me. I slowly reached over and rubbed his head before patting his back and rubbing his chin. He seemed happy with this and then sauntered off. Absolutely unreal! If I didn't have the photos I am positive that nobody would ever believe me!
Fort William was a great little town right on the water and at the base of Ben Nevis (the highest point in Scotland). We spent around an hour browsing the shops and wandering the downtown before continuing on to our final destination. We arrived in Loch Ness around 2:30pm, after leaving at 9:30am, and spent the duration of the after noon exploring Urquhart Castle. Other than a tower, old prison, a kitchen and some walls, the castle is mostly in ruins. But the layout is still the same and Historic Scotland has taken great time and care to layout plaques that explain everything and how it would have looked back in its hay day. It is perched on the shores of Loch Ness and from the tower, gives an unparalleled view of the area. I went Nessie spotting for a while but the closest thing I saw where some swans and few boats in the distance. After the castle we had an amazing picnic dinner in the car complete with brie cheese, two different kinds of sandwich meats, fresh bakery bread, hummus, pita, fresh fruit, and twix bars for dessert. All in all the day was a massive success and I am glad to have finally visited the Highlands!

Saturday was spent working in an attempt to make some cash prior to the end of the year. My boss offered me a more full time job if I would be willing to stay in Glasgow and play Football for him next semester. I am not sure how the visa people feel about that but it is another option. Work was good, and people were a little nicer then they usually are mid week. Myself and Ritchie were handing out computer mice as a promo for the shop but I think some people thought we had stolen them. To be fair, we did look a little shady pulling all these things out of duffel bags in downtown Glasgow. I think it might be better if we had a work shirt or something of the sort. But we had a laugh and did really well giving out over 1500 mice in 4 hours.

Sunday was a day filled with sports, more sports and sports related drinking activities. I started the day with a 2.5 hour football practise. I have nothing against a good run around on a Sunday morning, however it makes it a bit difficult to catch the ball when we are playing in hurricane style winds and rains that rivalled the day Noah launched his ark. Needless to say it was a less than productive practise. Following football I had a quick bite to eat so I could get back over to the pitch for our afternoon hockey match. Thankfully the rain had quit by this time and the third 11's continued their win streak as we pushed our record to 7-0. We came out strong with two quick goals but let off late in the first half and allowed them to get one back. There was no fooling around in the second half as we buried another three to cap a 5-1 victory. Yours truly was named Man of the Match with 2 assists and 16 tackles. I have started playing Left Back to help with our forwards while still remaining a defensive player. I would compare it to an offensive-defensman in ice hockey. Also, now that my shot is starting to improve I take the short corner shots when we are attacking. I am told that if I am going to score as a defenseman this is how it is going to happen. My accuracy is a little off but hopefully I should be able to get that under control in the next week or two.

One last note before I sign off - it is official that Momma Taylor is the coolest mom in the world. My x-mas package arrived today and in it, 24 individually wrapped advent presents. This is a tradition that has been going on since I was young but once I moved away from home mom has always sent a little gift for each day myself and my brothers were not going to be at home during December. Each gift is individually wrapped and includes a small clue as to what is beneath the wrapping. Never have I been quite this far and never have I been away for the entire month, but none the less, Mom has done it again. And with an added twist, this year many of the treats seem to be travel oriented. And like every year, my hallway is jealous and have been phoning their respective mothers in an attempt to make them feel guilty! Ha Ha!! I assure them, no mom is like my mom!

This week promises to be full of essay writing, hockey/football practises and hopefully a Celtic soccer game on the weekend. Always something to look forward to!

Old stones, Older Rocks and Scottish American Football

Be prepared, this one might be lengthy! It was a whirlwind weekend that must be expressed in detail in order to have the full effect.



I will start at the end of last week which was remarkably quite. And for that, I am grateful. I slept, finished a law paper, slept, wrote the majority of an archaeology paper, slept, watched an abundance of TV and films and slept some more. It was superb!



Saturday morning marked the abrupt end of my glorious sleep routine with a 7:30 wake-up (I realize that is not early for some of you but keep in mind I am rounding out my 6th year as a professional student). However, the early rise was rewarded with an educational tour of Central Scotland. More specifically, five sites between Glasgow and Edinburgh that included: The Glasgow Cathedral, The Antonine Wall and Rough Castle Roman Fort, Linlithgow Palace and Cairnpapple Hill. Without going into too much depth, I have to admit that this archaeology trip blew the last one out of the water. With the exception of Cairnpapple Hill, this trip was based on more recent structures and artifacts. I found it more interesting because it was easier to picture them as they were used rather than having to wonder who lived there or what certain objects might have been used for.



The Cathedral was magnificent and is in remarkable condition considering it was built in 1114. Not only did we tour the Cathedral but we also took a look at its underlying crypt. The tomb of St Mungo lies below the Church floors and is equally impressive.



For the record, The Antonine Wall is not a wall at all, it is a ditch. Non the less it is an impressive ditch that actually spans the whole of Scotland and for some time divided the Roman Empire from the Natives. Along part of the wall we studied, what was at one time, a Roman fort. However, for the last couple centuries it has been nothing more that a glorified field with sporadic holes and bumps on the earths surface. Still very interesting to imagine how it all worked but I was misled with the promises of Great Walls and Roman Forts!

Linlithgow Palace, on the other hand, was the highlight of the trip! Having been rebuilt and added onto countless times since its construction in the mid 12th century, this place was AMAZING! Although it had no roof and many of the floors had fallen through over the centuries, it was incredible to stand in the middle of the great hall or out in the court yard and see it as it would have been. It helps to have as wild an imagination as an 8 year old! The fireplaces were all intacted as were all 4 staircases and the wine cellar. The 4 level fountain that stands in the middle of the courtyard has been perfectly preserved since King James the 5th had it installed in the early 16th Century. This palace was the birth place of Mary Queen of Scots and was home to the majority of Scottish Royalty from 1300 to 1660. We were given time to roam through the building and I took full advantage by wandering through every doorway and down every passageway I could find. I got lost twice but both times ended up in the kitchen where I always feel at home!

The finally site was another Neolithic Cairn similar to those of our first field trip. However, this site was on one of the highest points in Central Scotland so the view was spectacular and we were actually able to go down into this Cairn and see the tombs. There was still a lot of speculation as to who the people buried there were, why they were buried there and in that fashion and so on, but because the site has not been affected by modern infrastructure, it was interesting to see tomb exactly as it was in 4000BC.


Sunday Sunday SUNDAY!! Having never lived in the US or been a large NFL fan I was never really hyped up about the weekly tradition of crappy beer, tailback BBQ's, Cheerleaders and a pig skin being thrown about. But I made up for years of missing it this Sunday! It was the Season Opener for the Glasgow University Tigers American Football Team as we took on the Paisley Pyros in Paisley. I was given a starting role as wide receiver on the left side with the warning that I "would be used as necessary" as the game progressed. Normally the home team has an advantage because of the deafening roar from the fans, but when a game averages 11 spectators, 2 of which happen to work at the field and are just waiting to cut the grass, the home vs away thing doesn't matter so much. I contemplated writing a play by play analysis of the game but to spare the agony I will skip to the final few minutes and just brief you on the first three and half quarters. One might say that our team had a slightly delayed learning curve after we went 3 quarters without a single positive yard. We did however manage approximately -165 yards in penalties and somewhere close to -60 yards rushing. I blame this on a combination weaker running backs, a rookie offensive line and their dominate defensive line. Our QB tried to throw the ball twice in those three quarters and once the receiver blew it and the other time the ball was rifled well over his head. So we back to the running game, the highlight of which was a 3rd down with 35 yards to go, and still he made the decision to run the ball. Pause - I apologise to anyone who has no idea what I am talking about and may or may not have ever seen a football game. Please bear with me. At the start of the 4th quarter Paisley had an 18-0 lead and I voiced my concern over our running game and convinced our offensive coordinator to air it out for us a few times. Worse case scenario they get the ball but that seemed to be happening already. So with 7 minutes remaining the decision is made to scrap the play book all together and just mess about for a while. We put up 16 points in 6 minutes completing 11 passes with 0 incompletions. I am happy to say that I counted for 3 of those but my highlight reel did not involve any catching on Sunday. No, instead it involved something that is relatively new to me, hitting while running at full tilt! I have hit and been hit while on skates since I was about 15 but never running like this. I played football once when I was small and never really had the size or power to do any damage. A few things have changed since then and it was a whole new world. I was put in as a gunner (man on the extreme outside) on kickoff due to an injury and took advantage of the opportunity. As my coach quickly pointed out "you hit like a hockey player." I broke 4 blocks, and left two kids wondering if the ringing in their ears was the ice cream truck, while on route down field and let me tell you, it felt Fantastic! The last thing I will mention about the game before I wrap this up is my TSN moment of the week. I play on the far left side of the field and run a pattern that had me ending in the middle of the field about 15 yards ahead of the line. The ball was ditched to the receiver on the far right side of the field just off the line of scrimmage. As John (receiver) tried to stay on his feet and worked his way up field, I decided to try and make it over and help out. This rarely happens as the play is normally dead by the time I get over there but John stayed standing just long enough to let me help out. I came sprinting across the field as their left tackle (a lineman who on the roster weighs in at 320lbs) was coming back to hit John. I drove my shoulder, head, and body through him as hard as I knew how to and watched in amazement as this ogre sized man stood up straight and fell backwards as stiff as a 2x8. I have only ever seen it on TV but this man was knocked clean out cold! John eventually got tackled and this guy rolled over and was helped off after about 20 or 30 seconds in his happy place. He was not injured and came back a few plays later so it all ended all right but boy did that ever feel good. In the end we lost 18-16 after they picked off the ball in the dying seconds but it was a great end to the game and for the first time we had played together I think we did alright. I had a blast!

Otherwise, the start of another week has come and gone and the end of term is closing in fast. I have started trying to finish off papers and get things in order to start studying for exams. Plans for this weekend are to try and take in Loch Ness or Loch Lomand, work and play Hockey. Bye week this week in Football so no more of those adventures for a while. Something interesting always occurs so I will do my best to update when it does.

Field Hockey, Ice Hockey and Law

Just a brief note as not a lot has been happening around here as we start to crack down on the end of term. Papers write, assignments to create and books to read! However, with all that I still find time for my sports. Saturday morning I traveled with the boys just out of town to battle in a game of field hockey. I could lie and say that it was close or that there was a point when the game's outcome hung on a thread. But the truth is the only time the game was close was during the first 30 seconds after pushback. We manhandled them to a 13-0 victory to increase our perfect record and take home our second straight shut-out. I am pleased to announce that we now sit atop the league with a game in hand. After talking with the coach/captain, turns out he wants to try me out at forwards next week just to see if I can score as effectively as I can stop our opponents from doing so. Looking forward to it, although my shot leaves something to the imagination! I guess the best way to learn is right in the thick of it.
Sat. night I took a crew, that mixed hockey boys, res kids, and campus friends, to their first ever Ice Hockey game. The Paisley Pirates hosted the Fife Flyers in my true love of sport. It was great for everyone to see a game and some of them got really into it, but it was terrible hockey! In 60 minutes of action there was one hit and it stopped the game because of an 'injury.' I made a few comments to the players as well to the refs and it wouldn't have been awkward if anyone else in the entire crowd had been making a sound. We could have been watching a game of golf and other than a slight chill you would have never known the difference. Between the two teams I saw maybe 5 players that would even compete in a junior league back home. Next year I want to run a fundraiser to have the Bighorns come to Scotland for a tournament!
Otherwise, my days have been spent planning holidays for after the studies end and trying desperately to keep up with school. So far the planning is going better than the school work! But I hope to rectify that with a library session tomorrow, a full day of class on Thursday and another assignment writing and study period Friday. Saturday I am off to the second and final Archeology trip and Sunday we have our first Football game of the season. I will make sure I update following the weekend!

Lancaster, Windermere and Why the French cannot be trusted!

At least there is good reason for my weeks delay on this post. I have spent 4 of those days wandering outside the country and the other 2 dealing with morons who lack the ability to communicate in English. Lets start with the good, ease into a little bad and then finish with the good again.

The good: Thursday night after a very, very long day of classes and tutorials I was able to escape Glasgow and life in residence for a couple days and head to Lancaster England with one of my hall mates. Jess was going home for Halloween and was kind enough to ask me along for a meal outside of the cafe! Lancaster is in the Northwest part of England and is not terrible far from the Scotland border. It took about 2.5 hours to drive there which was included 29 songs by the Beatles and an argument with a GPS navigation woman. We showed that automated voice! We arrived just after midnight and after some quick hellos and introductions, we crashed. Friday was spent trying to find a Halloween costume and after no luck finding a complete one that was not made for a 7 year old or astronomically priced, I decided to make one. I went as Where's Waldo (or as he is known in the UK, Where's Wally). With a couple red shirts, a roll of white hockey tape to make the stripes, a pair of 1 pound plastic glasses and a Santa hat turned inside out I was rolling! Turns out I got more comments on this Halloween costume than any other I have ever warn. And it did not cause nearly as many arguments as the year I went as a shadow! I had a random guy hug me on the street and tell me how happy he was to find me because he had been looking for years. Halloween over here is not the same as home for a few reason. A) Everyone dresses scary, there is no dressing up just to dress up. At home, girls usually take Halloween as an excuse to go out in to public scantily clad. Not so much over here. Also, I learned that kids only started the tradition of trick or treating around 5 or 6 years ago. Kids my age never did it and honestly thought it was just something on TV or in the movies.

Friday night might have been the most entertainment of the entire weekend and it had nothing at all to do with Halloween. The bathroom on the top floor of the house I was staying at has a large sign on it that reads "To the user, do not close this door as the lock is broken and you will be stuck inside. However, if this happens please sing loudly. If nobody answers, go ahead and take a bath." Well, it turns out that people don't read so well these days and sure enough, three of the girls that were trying to get ready for all halo's eve ended up getting locked in the bathroom. Why three of them where in there at once has yet to be determined. Anyways, myself and Jessica's mom started trying to play with the locks and with no luck where ready to knock down the door. I decided to attempt to save both the solid wood door and my shoulder, I would climb out and around onto the roof and into the bathroom window to see if I could fix it from the inside. If you want to imagine a waldo looking man climbing around on a clay shingled roof, in the dark on Halloween night then you might get the same image as the neighbour did when she came out to ask me who I was and tell me that if nobody was home in that house she was going to call the police. After a brief explanation we got things sorted out. Anyways, with a little fandangling, two screwdrivers, a hammer and a flashlight the door practically opened itself.

Halloween night included a few different bars, some drinking, some dancing, some more drinking and me watching an English Ice Hockey League game on the TV. Stereotypically European hockey, I watch for over 20 minutes and witnessed 2 hits, and one of them looked like an accident where the guy just couldn't stop. The night ended with a trip to the local chip shop where I gorged on Chips'n'Cheese. They are just a gravy spoonful away from a poutine.

Saturday was spent vegging out for the most part. Crew of us went to see the new bond movie and it was alright. I miss Q and his crazy inventions.

Sunday we went down to the lake district, which is about 40 minutes away and saw Windermere. It is a gorgeous little town right on the water that reminded me of a shrunken version of Niagara on the lake. It was such a beautiful day we took a ferry ride around the lake. I found a few pieces of property I would like to buy that have a modest castle on a couple of acres on the water. Nothing to spectacular. And right out a movie, a Rolls Royce cruises by with Mr and Mrs. taking a nice Sunday drive in the country!

Sunday night I was treated to a full dinner of Lamb, roast potatoes, mashed potatoes, beans, gravy, Yorkshire pudding and a few things I didn't recognize but tasted great!

As for this week, I have spent all day Monday, Tuesday after class and all day today dealing with these french idiots who I have somehow ended up in a group with and am supposed to write a 'group' paper with. I use the term group paper very loosely as I have had to write the entire thing myself. I will spare the details but the long and the short of it is that of the three frenchies, only 1 of them gave me their work on time and it was about the half the needed length and not referenced at all. I managed to convince one of the others to send me some work today which was a perfect copy and paste from some online article. Not only could we not use it because of the mass plagiarism but it was on the wrong topic! And to top it all off, he also did not cite the work he plagiarised from! As for the third SOB I have yet to hear from him other than a note to ask "How go paper right?" That's the exact words of the email I received.

However, despite all of this I managed to write the entire paper myself, and although it is not my best work it should pass me and I can forget all about this group work business. Tonight I took in the Celtic vs. Manchester United Football match and it was a great showing! The pub was packed with fans from both sides, I won a few bets based on first goal and the game ended in a 1-1 draw. I had a blast and might actually look into getting tickets for the next home game.

Plenty of work this week, long day tomorrow and a few papers and projects to get done this weekend. No trips this weekend although I might try to take in a live ice hockey game at the rink in town. As the days roll on I seem to get busier and busier but I am enjoying every minute of it.