The Glasgow Music Scene, and Other Stories

Hello everyone!

Glasgow, as you may have heard, is quite the cultural center here in Scotland, particularly when it comes to music. We unfortunately missed the big Celtic Connections music convention earlier this year since most of the concerts and events were pretty expensive. We've also had a bit of trouble finding good and accessible live music. Usually, when we want to go out for music, we plan to go to a pub for dinner as well. Unfortunately, the vast majority of times we have tried, the pub in question may be closed, or it may be a bar only with no food, or there may be no available tables, or we may get lost (which doesn't happen as much as you might expect). We don't strike out every time, though.

A couple of weeks ago, we attended a concert put on through the National Piping Center, where I'm taking my bagpiping lessons. It was put on by the nascent Big Music Society, which derives its name from a genre of piping music - Ceol Mor, Gaelic for, yep, "Big Music." Also known as piobaireachd (or pibroch, if you prefer), you may remember the video I posted as an example last time I talk about bagpiping. Slow, majestic, rallying, moving, you might think that an entire night of piobaireachd bagpiping music sound unappealing. But this concert was absolutely amazing. The highland bagpipes were featured, of course, but was accompanied by a stunning string section (bass, cello, two violins) that managed to mesh with and even at times enhance the oft-overpowering and always enchanting pipes  It is hard to explain, but the music somehow felt really authentic, and the stories that were paired with the pieces really fit perfectly. Jessie and I felt an intimate, historical connection to the pieces performed.

It was a fairly formal event

We had the table closest to the stage

What Scottish experience is complete without Irn Bru?
(Note the Scotsman contemplating all things Irn Bru in the background)

We also finally managed to find some live and local pub music a few nights ago. A small Irish pub, Malone's is a bit off the beaten path in the city center. We found the pub in a monthly pamphlet which lists live music performances around the Glasgow area. We sat, and were very happy to have some great pub food. Around 9:00, we began to notice various instrument cases accumulating around the table in the center of the pub. Finally, the music began with a guitar, two fiddles, and a drum around 9:30, after the players had bought drinks and tuned up. It was good and simple folk music, and was really enjoyable. It was essentially a public jam session, but they were really good, and a flute joined in a little later.

Not so much related to music as to pubs and bars, it was of course St. Patrick's day recently. Jessie and I decided we'd take a break from our essays and go see what a Scottish St. Patrick's day was like. It wasn't as big a celebration as we expected, probably because it was a Tuesday evening, but we had a little fun. We had seen posters advertising St. Patrick's as "International Pretend-You-Like-Guinness Day," so I decided to try a half-pint. It actually was the best beer I've had (which is not saying much, you realize). Still nothing like cider, but I enjoyed it.

We also played some battleship, and, well, you guess the rest...

On the line of holidays, it is interesting to note that Scotland celebrates Mother's Day much earlier than America - March 15th. That explains why we saw so many guys walking around with big bouquets of flowers the few days before... 

Anyway, Jessie and I are nearing the end of our study abroad experience! This is our last week of classes. This Thursday is the beginning of our three-week spring break here at the University of Glasgow, during which Jessie and I will be visiting Ireland, Amsterdam, and the beautiful highlands of Scotland (including Loch Ness). I don't know if we'll have the chance to blog during those shenanigans, so this might be the last update for a little while. We wish you all a happy and holy remainder of the Lenten season, and look forward to Holy Week and Easter celebrations soon!

Spring is springing, and so is Jessie's artistic nature!

Thanks for reading,

~Jacob and Jessie Wilkerson

Life in the 18th Century

This weekend the Scottish Enlightenment class that Jacob and I are in took a class trip to Alloway, Ayrshire and Culzean Castle (pronounced Coo-lane) to see how people lived in the 18th century. We had to wake up pretty early to catch the bus, but it was free and this was the first castle we have seen on the inside so that made it worth it.

We took about an hour bus ride to our first stop, Alloway, the birthplace of Scotland's national poet Robert Burns. We talked a little bit about Robert Burns in the Burns Supper post, but something that was not mentioned was that Burns came from very humble beginnings. He was born in a small cottage on a small plot of land that his father rented to farm. 

It looks big enough to house the 6 people of the family, Robert, his three siblings, and mother and father. It would have been a little snug I suppose, but not as snug as I would expect from a tenant farmer in the 18th century. You can think this until you realize that only a fourth of the house was actually used for the family living space. The tiny window on the far side of the house is about all the space they had. In this one room the family did all their cooking, eating, sleeping, storytelling, spinning, sewing, etc. 

The counter where food was prepared and the cabinets that held nearly all of the family's possessions

The bed in which the parents would have slept. The creepy, glowing, baby dresses represent the four children who would have slept on the loft above this bed. 

The large window belongs to the room that was used for entertaining guests. This was also the room were Robert and his siblings took lessons from the family tutor. When Burns gained his fame after publishing his first books of poems in Scots, he was praised as having God-given talent. The elite at the time assumed, because of his background, that Burns had no proper education. While Burns never went to University, his education was a little more intimate than his fellows would have gotten at the local parish school. But Burns embraced the image of uneducated poet nonetheless. He continued to write in the Scots dialect and his humble early life was often contained in the themes and settings of his poems. 

The other two rooms in the house were used for keeping the farm animals. The cows, horses, and chickens would have been let to roam and graze during the day but were brought into the house at night for safety and for providing some extra warmth for the family. The family would have also milked the cows, churned butter and made cheese in this area of the house. There was also a door that opened out to the road that the family would open and sell the products they had made. 

Me taking a yoke upon my shoulders. It wasn't too heavy, but I imagine it would be with two buckets full of milk or water hanging from either end. 

We also visited the Burns museum and a few places that were featured in one of his most famous poems "Tam O' Shanter". It was cool how this little town really worked to bring the Burns legacy to life. 

After lunch we visited the home of a man who was in quite a different financial situation than Robert Burns. Culzean Castle, home of the Kennedy family (Scottish Kennedys not the Irish Kennedys that JFK came from). The Kennedy family had held the title of Earl in this part of Scotland for a few generations before this lovely castle was built in the early 18th century. The Earl commissioned a famous architect at the time, Robert Adam, to build him a house. He gave the architect no budget limit and simply told him to indulge his imagination to the fullest.  The result was a magnificent 58 room castle over looking the sea. Mind you, the Earl was a bachelor at the time and never ended up marrying. This huge house was all built for one man. But future Earls, and later Marquises would bring their slightly larger families to reside in the house. 

The house framed by the "ancient" gate that was actually built at the same time as the house but was made to look like ruins to signify that the family came from "old money" 

The Driveway view

How the Castle looks from its private beach

The first room you walked into was an armory that doubled as a foyer. On the walls hung over 700 pistols all of which had been used by either the British army or by the East India trading company. This largest public collection of this type of used pistol decorated the walls along with countless swords of different kinds. I would have been afraid to lead guest through such a room, especially if any of the guests didn't like me or liked my money just a little too much. =P

Our tour guide then led us through dining rooms and libraries and sitting rooms galore. We walked up a staircase that is said to have been on of Robert Adams finest works. The second floor was the main entertainment floor and had sitting rooms and drawing rooms and dressing rooms to spare. The top floor we were not allowed to see because it held the bedrooms and was now used as a private hotel. So if you ever want to say in a real Scottish castle you can. I am told, however, that the prices are quite steep. 

The beautiful staircase

View from the sitting room

All of the ceilings were exquisitely decorated, also by Robert Adams.

We were given an hour to explore the ground at our leisure. Jacob and I spend all of our time at the private beach. It really would have been impossible to see all of the Castle's grounds in only an hour. We also could have seen the Swan Pond, the Walled Gardens, some Cat Gates, a deer park, or any number of other attractions. It would have been nice to see it all, but the beach took up our whole hour.

One bit of the beach

It was quite an interesting experience to see how these two groups of people lived in the period we are studying. There was quite a contrast, as I'm sure you can see. I think I'd prefer to be in the later group and have a castle, if I got to choose. But we shall see what hand fate deals us. 

Happy Scottish Mother's Day,

Jessie and Jacob

St. Andrews, Dundee, and the Legend of the Witches

Halloo,

Jessie and I are starting to do a bit more exploring outside of Glasgow! We've already been to Edinburgh, the capitol of Scotland, twice, as you know. But this past Sunday we were lucky enough to join Student Tours Scotland on their bus to and tour of both St. Andrews and Dundee City. Both are about two hours North-east of Glasgow, and both hold a lot of history and beauty.

So the day started with the alarm at about 5:45 am. Originally set for 6:30, we had to adjust the time when we realized that EVERYTHING, including the underground, opened much later on a Sunday. The bus was departing off of Cowcaddens road in the city center of Glasgow. But the city center itself is a good 30-40 minute walk from our flat. Nothing like a brisk walk to wake you up in the morning. Luckily, we are getting fairly good at this navigation stuff, so we made it with time to spare. The bus was off.

We arrived in St. Andrews to a wide-open view of the ocean in front of us. The guide took us across the beach to some large rocks which would have been off the coast during high tide. I absolutely love the ocean, and we both picked up a few shells and beach rocks along the way. We all gathered on a particularly large rock, overlooking the ocean which would be uninterrupted until Norway and Denmark on the other side (out of view, of course).

St. Andrews

Norway and Denmark beyond the horizon

While on the rocks, the guide introduced us to St. Andrews, named for the apostle of Christ and Scotland's national saint. St. Andrew never actually visited Scotland (although there are plenty of Scottish legends which claim otherwise, one including his accidental operation of a flying carpet machine). St. Andrew's relics did make it from Rome to Scotland though, and were housed in the coastal cathedral which Jessie and I visited in St. Andrews. St. Andrew was martyred like most of the apostles, crucified by the Romans. He, like St. Peter, asked that he not be crucified in the same manner as Our Lord, and so was instead crucified on an X shaped cross. This explains the Scottish flag, brandishing what is known as the Saltire, or St. Andrew's Cross.

He took us on a tour of some of the highlights, which included the ruins of both St. Andrews castle and St. Andrews Cathedral. Both were destroyed during the Protestant Reformation in the 1600s, unfortunately, as part of the political and religious turmoil of the times. The Protestants had taken control of the Castle, and proceeded to hang the Catholic bishops out of the windows as a sign that the Reformation had begun. Scotland called to France for aid, and it was the French bombardment which destroyed the Castle in the attempt to take it back from the Protestants.

Imagine the bishops hung by ropes out of these windows. "The Protestants are here!"

A good view of the perimeter wall

As we know, the Protestants won out in Scotland in the Reformation (Scotland's official religion is Presbyterianism), and this resulted in the destruction of most of the Catholic Cathedrals, including the massive and beautiful Cathedral here in St. Andrews. This cathedral would have been three times the size of the Cathedral in Glasgow, one of few surviving cathedrals from before the Reformation in Scotland (God bless the Glaswegians). The ruins of this church are simply breath-taking. The pictures don't do it justice, but I'll let them speak for themselves.

We also got a little tour of the small town of St. Andrews. There wasn't much to the town itself, although we did find a little gem of a street called "Butts Wynd" (that's pronounced with a long "I"), but our tour guide did point out its uncanny resemblance to the idea of a fart. Jessie and I enjoyed this far more than we should have, but we are children and are happy to admit it.

Notice that "Butts Wynd" is engraved onto the building itself, not just the street sign

A small street, more of a crack, really.

After St. Andrews, we took the bus over to Dundee, one of the seven cities of Scotland (along with Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Perth, Stirling, and Inverness). There wasn't as much in Dundee, except for a lot of public art and sculptures. This includes cartoon characters, abstract art, a monkey, several penguins, a squirrel, a unicorn (these are really everywhere, since they are Scotland's national animal), and an eerily life-like dragon.

The element of Water (Katara)

The element of Fire (Zuko)

The element of Earth (Toph)

And finally, the element of Air (Aang)

Scotland's national animal

This monkey has rearranged the letters of "Information"

Jessie has tamed the dragon

I'll finish this post with a great little Scottish story that our tour guide shared with us, mostly for my own selfish reasons because I don't want to forget it. It's a long story, so brace yourselves, and maybe take a potty break first. ;)

A long time ago in the small town of St. Andrews, way back before the town was called St. Andrews, there lived a married couple. They loved each other, building their relationship on a solid foundation of love and trust, and it showed to the people around them. They were very nice; the man would always help his neighbors with field work, and his wife would help around the house.

One day the man was going about the town taking care of some errands. He stopped at the baker's to buy some bread. They chat a little, friendly as they are, and the baker says, "So I hear your wife's a witch." There's nothing really wrong with witches, the baker is just making conversation, but the man denies it outright. "No, there's no way my wife is a witch. I would know. We have built our relationship on a solid foundation of love and trust. She would have told me. There is no way she is a witch."

Then the man goes to the butcher's. He buys his meat, they have a little friendly chat, and the butcher says, "So I hear your wife's a witch." "What?! No! No! I would know if my wife was a witch! Our relationship is built on a solid foundation of love and trust. Why does everyone think she is a witch?"

The man then goes to the florist's shop to get some flowers for his lovely wife. The same thing happens. He buys the flowers, they chat, "Oh you're wife's a witch," "No! Solid foundation of love and trust so on and so forth..."

So the man gets home, feeling very upset and worried about the experiences he has had that day. He begins to think about it, and realizes that his wife does act somewhat strangely. After all, every evening since they were married, she would go out at 11 o'clock at night, and not return until 4 the next morning. He decides he must get it cleared up with his wife. He gives his wife the flowers, a great big kiss, and confesses what he heard the townspeople say. His wife replies, "It's true, I'm a witch."

"What?" the man exclaims. "I trusted you! Why haven't you told me about this before?" "I'm sorry, I should've told you. It's just that my being a witch is not something that you can be a part of. I didn't want you to feel left out. Promise me you won't get involved, and I promise I'll share my adventures with you. I need you to trust me." "Well, ok," the man replies. "I do love you and trust you."

So that night, the woman leaves like usual at precisely 11 o'clock. The man sits alone, pours himself a glass of wine, and reads a book until his wife comes home again at 4. "So how was your night, dear?" he asked expectantly. "Oh it was absolutely splendid. The girls and I traveled all the way to India and danced and drank tea and swam in the ocean with the fish." "Oh that's nice. I was just here, y'know, with my wine and my book."

The next night the same thing happens. She goes out at 11, the man gets his glass of wine and another book, and she returns at 4. "So how was your night tonight, my dear?" he asked again.  "Oh it was just amazing. The girls and I went to the Loch, and there were dolphins, and a rainbow even though it was nighttime, and Nessie came and we all had tea together. It was just beautiful and wonderful."

This went on for some weeks. The stories kept getting grander and grander, and the man kept drinking his wine and reading his books. Finally, one night the woman returned as usual at 4, but she was drunk as could be. "What happened tonight, dear?" Slurring her words a bit, she told him that they had gone to the earl's wine cellar, took a bottle of exceptionally fine wine, aged wonderfully and from a lovely vintage, and drank to their heart's content. They had a fine old party into the night. At this the man simply couldn't hold back any longer. "Oh dear, please please take me with you. You know how much I love wine. I just have to come with you!" "No, it is out of the question. You promised you wouldn't try to get involved." They had built their relationship on a solid foundation of love and trust, after all.

The man couldn't resist, however. That night, he went out to the hut in the backyard at 10:30, hid behind the barrels, and waited for his wife and her witch friends to come in like they did every night. Sure enough, 11 comes and the women came into the shed. They uttered some magic words (which I can't utter here or else you might try to copy them), and poof! They disappeared! "Aw, that's easy enough," he though to himself. "Anyone can say that." So, up he rose to the center of the shed, and uttered the magic words. Sure enough, he vanished!

He found himself teleported into the night sky and hurtling along at a hundred miles an hour behind the witches. The girls were there, riding their brooms side-saddle and sipping tea. He was screaming from fright behind them, but they couldn't hear him, because, y'know, tea and whatnot. Beyond in the distance the earl's house was getting closer. When the witches finally came to the chimney, they turned into gold dust, went down, and were gone. The man didn't hear any magic words this time, and the chimney was very small, and he was hurtling still at a hundred miles an hour, and he was sure his time was up. But when he came to the chimney, he dissolved into the gold dust and fluttered down the chimney as well!

He rematerialized in the earl's wine cellar, and his wife was astounded to see him there. "Now you promised you wouldn't try to get involved!" Solid foundation, love and trust, yada yada. "But honey, you know how I love wine! I just had to come. I just want a bottle. One bottle! That's all I ask. Please!" The other witches pleaded his case. "Oh come on darling, he just wants some wine. Let's give him some. He won't ever do it again." "Oh yes, I'll never do it again. I'll just get some wine and I'll be good," the man promised. The woman agreed, and the whole party drank and drank the night away.

The man drank far more than just his one bottle, however. He drank until he passed out on the cellar floor. "What are we to do now?" the witches questioned. "I knew he shouldn't have come! I warned him," the wife said. "We'll just have to leave him here. He won't fit on any of our broomsticks."

So off the witches went back home, leaving the man behind. That morning, the earl woke up about 10 o'clock, and sent his servants into his wine cellar for a bottle of his finest vintage. His two servants went down, and were very surprised when they tripped over the man's slumbering body. He woke very surprised as well, and was taken back up to the earl. "We found him in your wine cellar, sir."

"What have you to say for yourself?" the earl asked. The man tried to explain that it was the work of witches. "You're a witch? You'll burn at the stake!" the earl cried. "No no! My wife is a witch! I just followed her here!" "Oh, your wife is a witch, eh? You'll still burn! You've stolen my wine and have fraternized with witches!"

The man was taken down into the square, tied to a stake, and wood scattered all about him. The entire town turned out for the execution (no tv back then, you know). The earl shouted out how this was the punishment for witchcraft, and this was the punishment for stealing the earl's wine. The fire was lit, and the man was sure his life was over.

Suddenly, an eagle came down from the sky and landed on his shoulder. The eagle had a hat in its mouth, which it placed on the man's head. It then let out a loud cry, and flew away. "Well, that was weird," thought the townspeople. On with the execution! But to the man, it wasn't a mere eagle's cry. He heard the voice of his wife in the eagle, telling him a new set of words to say. The man then said the second-most important thing in his life - the magic words which teleported him out of the fire!

He found himself back home in the middle of his living room, in which his wife was standing very sternly over him. He tells his wife, "I have learned something very important today." He then proceeded to say the first most important thing of his life:  "That you, my wonderful wife, are always right."

Cheers,

~Jacob and Jessie Wilkerson

A Day on the Subway

Hello World!

We sort of sucked at the blog writing in February, but maybe we can do better in March. Considering that it is already the 6th I kind of doubt that we will do too much better. But we will try nonetheless.

This last Wednesday, Jacob and I had a lovely adventure on the Subway (Underground as it is called here). The Underground here in Glasgow is the only Underground in Scotland and the third oldest Subway system in the world. But the coolest thing about this Underground system for Jacob and I is the fact that they sell all day tickets for pretty dirt cheap.

Neither of us have classes on Wednesday and since we had both just spent the last couple of weeks writing essays like madmen, we decided to reward ourselves with a little day out. We paid four pounds each (only one pound more than a round-trip ticket) and made a goal to see what awaited us at each of the 15 stops.

8 pounds total for a whole day of fun!

We did not end up making it to all the stops. Some of them we were already pretty familiar with. For example we didn't spend too much time at our very own Hillhead station or the Cowcaddens station which we pass through every week for Jacob's Bagpipe lessons. We missed a few at the end as well because we were getting tired and hungry and decided it was time to go home. But by the end of the day we had been through 10 of the 15 stations. That's not too shabby if you ask me.

The subway system here in Glasgow is perhaps the least confusing system I have ever encountered. It is a big circle around the city and only has two lines that all hit the same stops. You really can't go wrong. The worst that can happen is you get on the train going the wrong way and just have to wait a little longer than normal to get to your stop. 

Our adventures started at the Kelvinbridge station. As the station name might suggest, the train let us off right near the bridge over the River Kelvin. There are bridges that better show the beauty of the river, but Jacob likes the sound of rushing water so we spent a little time admiring the river before moving on. The street on which we found ourselves was lined with many shops, cafes, and pubs. Much to our surprise we found two pubs that we had been looking for a few weeks earlier. It was a little early for a pub visit, so we just made a mental note and kept walking. We went in and out of a few shops, window shopping and people watching mostly. 

Kelvin Bridge

After walking for a while we found ourselves at the St. Georges Cross station. This station was right by the motorway. There wasn't much to see so we hopped on the train again which took us to Buchanan Street. Sandwiched between the Buchanan Street and St. Enoch stations we found a very large walking mall. We spent a little bit of time in some of the touristy shops looking for souvenirs and post cards. At this point, we were both getting hungry for lunch and were happy to find a Five Guys on this walking mall. It was like a little piece of home. The burgers here tend to be different than what I am used to, but at the Five Guys it was like were were back in America surrounded by a lot of Scottish tourists =). 

St. Enoch Station

Next we spent some time on Bridge Street, West Street, and Shields Road. It was clear that we had entered the shadier part of town so we put our camera away and tried to look like we fit in and weren't worth mugging. We witnessed a car crash about thirty seconds from the station. One car rear ended another and the front of the car was pretty squished. Luckily for the drivers it happened right in front of a car repair shop. 

There was a Street School museum near Shields Road that I was interested in visiting. It was an old school taught anywhere from Infants to high schoolers in the early 1900s. It was built by the famous Scottish architect Rennie Mackintosh, although there was some tension over changes that the board wanted to see made to the plans that Mackintosh did not implement. The school had some exhibits that explained how the school was built and run and what a typical day would look like in different decades. They also had some classrooms set up as they would have been in different decades. I thought it was really cool, but I find that I can be a bit of a nerd about these educational things. 

Hopscotch tiles in the hallway

A Classroom as it wold have looked during WWII. The spelling words on the board are all war related (evacuation, siren, ration, etc.)

The door for the infants. There was also separate girls and boys entrances. The school did teach children as young as 2.

We got to the Kinning Park and Cessnock stations before we got too tired. Kinning Park was indeed just a park. Jacob and I played around for a bit on a see-saw and talked to guy about his dog, who was a boy dog, but had a pink harness because that's all the store had and how he was going to get dyes and make it a nice camouflage. =) Cessnock was another shopping street. There was a library as well but it had just closed by the time we got there, which was bummer. 

After that it was home to our own Hillhead Station and up the hill to our flat. It was pretty amazing how for just 8 pounds for the both of us we saw almost the whole city. We are planning to get another day pass to see the rest of the stops sometime in the future. This weekend though we are going on a group tour to St. Andrews and Dundee City. We will also be attending our first bagpiping concert tonight. More information about that later. 

God save the Queen,

Jessie and Jacob