Life at the Uni

Hello my good people.

Jessie and I have just finished writing a rather long essay for our Scottish Enlightenment honors class at the University of Glasgow. So I hope you appreciate the love and dedication it takes for me to write even more on this blog, for your sake. ;) Speaking of essays, I thought now might be a good time to write about our classes and the life at Uni in Scotland. I'll try not to bore you too much, and I'll even reward you with some pictures at the end. =) We haven't done much more in the way of tourist-y things since the Lake District, but we have alot planned for the next couple of weeks, so stay tuned for that.

Iconic University Main Building

The Scottish Enlightenment course Jessie and I are taking was part of the deal for our study abroad experience. We are studying abroad with the Principia Consortium, which is an international honors program that brings kids from all over the world to study at Glasgow (honestly, it isn't too "international" since I'm fairly certain all the kids in this class are actually American). So far it is a more or less interesting class, with the biggest themes in the class centering around the enlightenment's emphasis on empiricism (reliance on sensory experience and inductive reasoning, i.e., science, for knowledge). The paper I just finished writing attempted to argue that David Hume, a famous Enlightenment religious philosopher, was not an atheist, but had a more Kierkegaardian view of faith. If you don't know what that means, don't worry. I'm not entirely sure myself. ;) (I can send you a copy of my essay if you're really interested...)

Jessie and I are also both taking a Scottish and Irish Literature course, which is slightly more interesting. It is focusing on Irish and Scottish Modernism in literature. The focus of this course is more on the cultural and societal insights to be gained from the literature, rather than the art of the literature itself, which is something Jessie and I aren't used to and don't enjoy quite so much as the literature studies back home. But hey, we have read Joyce, which was fun. =)

Our third class (yep we're only taking three classes here) is sadly a different class for each of us. Jessie is taking a Celtic Civilizations course, and I'm taking a Bag piping: History and Repertoire course. My bag piping lessons are going very well, although I don't actually have a set of pipes yet. I've been learning only on a practice chanter. The lectures have been great fun too, as I've learned the difference between Highland pipes and Lowland pipes, etc., and the various types of piping music and the traditions along with it. Here's a few videos to help illustrate the variety of piping music out there:

The Bothy Band - 1976

The video starts with about two minutes of Gaelic intro (skip ahead for the music). The video gives a good idea of the Irish pipes, a bellows-blown instrument with much more versatility than the iconic Scottish highland pipes (see 3:22 for a good view of the piper).

Traditional Piobaireachd - Glengarry's Lament

Bag piping, from as early as the 14th century, has been a functional art form. This video is an example of a piobaireachd (pronounced: PEE-broch), or ceol mor (Big Music).

Treacherous Orchestra - 2014

This is an example of modern piping/celtic music. Really fun music here.

So that is what we have been doing academically over here. It hasn't been all fun and games. Well, ok, mostly fun and games. But the classes have been important too. I'll finish out this post with a few pictures of our flat for you to enjoy, so you can see how we have been living the past two months. The flat is pretty well-sized for the two of us. We have plenty of room, and have cozied it up with a few posters we bought soon after arriving (there was a half-off deal in a local on-campus shop).

The main room window

Our bed, complete with Wilkerson blanket and Hogwarts poster

Our desk area

Rebel ship blueprints

Dalek blueprints

Piper painting by a local from Edinburgh

Another Doctor poster

Our posterboard with pictures from Jessie's family and a pillowcase we stole from Icelandair ;)

KITCHEN!!

Throne room

My first haircut abroad, all Jessie's handiwork

Th-th-th-tha-th-tha's all folks. Much love to you from Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, Europe.
~Jacob and Jessie

Lake District!

This is Jessie again. I have emerged from essay land to bring you this update on our adventures. I finished and turned in one essay, but have two more that I'm currently putting off. But they say your mind works better if it gets frequent breaks, right?

Anyway, where do I even begin to describe the awesome weekend Jacob and I just had?

For those of you who may not have seen Jacob's Facebook posts, we spent the Valentine's day weekend in the Lake District of England. This is an area famous for its beauty and for being the home and source of inspiration for many authors and poets including William Wordsworth and Beatrix Potter (who wrote Peter Rabbit). And it really was as beautiful as it reputation suggests.

Sunrise over Lake Grasmere

We started off our adventure at Glasgow Central Station where we caught the first train that Jacob had ever ridden. He was very excited.

It was then a two hour train ride to Oxenholm in England where we switched into a much smaller train to take us to the lake town of Windermere. Our final destination was Grasmere (where William Wordsworth lived), but we needed to take a bus to get there and we got into Windermere after the Buses had already stopped running. This wasn't a problem for us however, because we just got a one-night stay at a backpacker's hostel there.

This turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because little did we know that Windermere is home to the largest lake in England called, believe it or not, Lake Windermere. They give cruises of this lake year-round. So Jacob and I got a "freedom of the lake" pass and went on two different cruises, and wandered around two other wee lake towns on either end of the lake. There was also a lake aquarium on one end of the lake that we went to see. It was pretty cool.

Ants carrying food to their colony

Baby alligator

Starfish really loves you!

and the majestic seahorse.

Jacob ambling in Ambleside

The day was overcast and rainy, but we still got some really nice views of the wildlife and the landscape from the lake.

The Queen's swan (because all swans in England belong to the Queen)

After a beautiful and full day on the lake, Jacob and I caught a bus to Grasmere where we would be spending the rest of the weekend. When we got there, it was dark and pouring rain. The bus let us off in the town, but our hostel was about 30 minutes out of the town, so we started walking. We realized that we could have taken the bus for longer when it passed us coming the other way about 10 minutes later, but we just noted that for the future and kept trudging. We had not eaten, but we also wanted to get to the hostel while the reception desk was still open so we could check in. When we did check in, the kind man behind the counter loaned us a flashlight (or torch as they call it here) and then offered to drive us down to the pub since he and his wife were headed there themselves. The food was a little more expensive than we would have liked, but we were very hungry, tired, and wet, so we ate there anyway. We decided it would just be a fancy Valentine's day dinner a day early. We had planned to watch a movie before going to bed back at the hostel, but the rain had caused the power to go out, so we just went to bed instead.

The next day the power was back, the sun had risen, the clouds had cleared, and it was a beautiful day. We decided to go visit Dove Cottage, the home where Wordsworth and his family lived during his most creative period. On the way to the cottage, we stumbled upon a little daffodil garden and Wordsworth's grave. It was too early for the flowers to be blooming yet, but it was cool to see where he and his family were buried.

Dove Cottage (taken from the top of Wordsworth's garden (not the daffodil one))

We finished the day with a walk along the river Rothay and a walk back to the hostel in the daylight.

The next day we were checking out and needed to be out of our room by 10. We still wanted to do some hiking in the beautiful hills surrounding the town, so we decided to wake up before dawn and try to reach a summit to watch the sunrise. We had a hike planned, but the entrance to the path was extremely hard to find in the dark and unfamiliar place, even with a torch. We found a path eventually, but we don't know if it was the one we had planned to take. We got about as high as we could before sunrise, but we were still surrounded by higher peaks, which was kind of a bummer. But I am still very glad that we decided to go out so early because the lake, the forest, and the mountains were absolutely beautiful in the soft predawn light. While the sunrise from the summit of our walk wasn't too spectacular the sun rising over the lake was.

Predawn light on Lake Grasmere

The path just before the sun rose. Jacob thought we were in Hyrule.
(if you don't know what that means, that's okay neither do I)

From the top of our little hill

A wee waterfall

The sun just peaking over the mountaintops

We took one bus (which we almost missed because we were paying too much attention to these giant worms at the bus stop and not watching for the bus), two trains, and a subway to get back home to our flat in Glasgow. The Lake Distract was beautiful and I can't imagine a better place to spend a romantic Valentine's day weekend with my husband, but as always, it's good to be home.

Much love to you all,
Jessie and Jacob

Irn Bru

Hello all,

Even though it is Jessie's turn to write the blog, I'm taking this one today. Jessie is busy reading for an essay in her Celtic Civilizations class, which is due next Monday (or perhaps she's playing on her phone...). Either way, we have heard that grading is much easier here than stateside, so we don't have to stress too much over them.

Just a short installment today. I wanted to share with you a Scottish drink that Jessie and I have discovered and love. No, not whisky. This one is a soft drink called "Irn Bru" (iron brew). It's an orange-colored soft drink with a taste reminiscent of cotton candy, although that falls far short of its true wonder. It is the Scottish equivalent of coca-cola. They do have coke over here, but we have heard that Irn Bru is actually more popular than coke in Scotland (one of our tour guides thought this might be a lie spread by coke to boost their sales, but at any rate I definitely think it much more enjoyable than coke). Each bottle proudly proclaims it has been "freshly bru'd in Scotland to a secret recipe for over 100 years." It is such a local wonder that we have found two (not one, but two) small books of poems dedicated to Irn Bru. One of the local ice cream cafes has "Irn Bru sorbet," which I can't wait to try.

Just a couple more quick announcements, and then I'll let you go about you day. First, Jessie and I are planning to take a train into England this weekend. We want to visit the Lake District, and hopefully do some hiking around where William Wordsworth lived. We are both very excited, so expect a blog post soon with pictures and stories from that trip!

Also, Jessie and I are planning on having this blog printed and bound as a keepsake of our trip when we get back. If you want to get into the book, make sure you leave comments on our posts!

Thanks for reading, everyone! May the Force be with you,

~Jacob and Jessie Wilkerson

Married Life

Hello everyone!

Today is our One-Monthiversary! Jessie and I are growing closer to one another every day. We are learning about each other, from our past experiences to our current habits and preferences. And I love my love more and more the more I know about her.

I love this one

Nicki, Jamieanne, Megan, Jessie, Jessica, Jennamarie, Josyln, and Lani

David, Sam, Me, Andy, and Chase

Jackie, Larry, Ivan, Lynnette, Mary, Jessie, Me, Jennifer (mama), Jamie (pop), Marilyn, and Paul

In celebration of this occasion, we thought it might be a good time to share one of our favorite aspects of home life:  food! Ah, food, one of the great unifiers in this world. And eating time is such a good bonding time. We have been eating really well over here, with a good balance of sampling local restaurants, pubs, cafes, etc., while still eating quite a bit of home-cooked meals. I think you've heard of all the biggest and best restaurant stories (haggis), but we really enjoy cooking together as well. It is a good time to not only explore and experiment in the kitchen, but also a great time to work together (which we do pretty well) and talk some more. We have made quite a range of dishes, from Chinese beef-and-broccoli, to chili baked potatoes, to pork chops with our own special rub of various herbs and spices (whatever we happen to have in our pantry, really).

Lovely Jessie excited about some stew

Mmm porkchops (wrapped in bacon)

Chili on chips (Scottish chips, of course)

Beef-and-Broccoli

Jessie and I are so alike sometimes. That can be good, such as when we both love learning or when we share political and religious views. It can also be comical, however, considering how directionally-challenged we both are (no trip is complete without at least one u-turn), or how clumsy we both can be. On the topic of cooking dinner:

Jessie and I cooked pork chops the other night. Along with the chops, we made our own garlic-toast, and sauteed asparagus and green beans. It was a really delicious meal, if I may say so myself. Everything was plated beautifully, fresh from the stove, and we sat down to eat. It struck me that we needed to take a picture for your enjoyment, but we didn't have the camera in the kitchen with us.

Isn't that pretty?

Let me take a detour from the story to let you know that Scotland seems to be hyper-sensitive to fire danger, especially considering how wet the climate is. Nearly every door, in almost every building, has the same standardized labeling, which reads: "Fire door keep shut." Such a sign is on the door to our kitchen, which is separate from the rest of the flat.

EVERYWHERE.

We do keep the door shut. Always. Whether we are cooking or not. The only time that door is open is when we are going into the kitchen or coming out of it. And we never dilly-dally either. We are good listeners.

So anyway, I go get the camera, so I can take a picture of this wonderful bounty, and no sooner than I sit back down at the table, the fire alarms starts to blare. No way. But... but... my chop is warm now. We stare at each other for a couple of seconds: No, there's no way that was us. The door was open for mere seconds while I shot out to grab the camera. We grab our garlic toast to munch on, grab our shoes and coats, and get outside where a small gathering of neighbors has already collected.

A few minutes later, and the fire patrol comes down our street with two trucks, sirens wailing and blue lights flashing. They go in, and I hear an exchange inside. Something about the third floor. That surely isn't us. We are on floor "C," but that doesn't necessary mean third floor, right? Few minutes later, and the fireman comes out and talks to the guy in the truck, who smiles. They then start calling out for the residents of flat C12. Darn it.

Got a picture from the flat

As we learned, not just smoke or steam, but even heat is enough to set off the alarms. We are told to be more careful, and to enjoy our pork chops, and then everyone goes on their merry way. Of course, now Jessie and I have to worry about assassins in the night, hired by our neighbors to seek revenge. So we were embarrassed in front of our neighbors and the fire patrol, and our lovely dinner was chilled when we got back.

It's all good, ATKS (that's "as the kids say"). At least Jessie and I love each other.

We love you guys, too.
~Jacob and Jessie Wilkerson