Friday, June 8, 2007

"Oh Flower of Scoland..."

Reed has been teaching Monaco and I the words to a Scottish song, I'm about two lines in, but I'm hopeful that I'll get them done by the end.

Scotland is a beautiful country and Edinburgh is a lovely city. We are staying at Reed's house and her parents have been incredibly generous to us. The other day, we visited Ediburgh Castle and listened to the audio guides (I generally recommend the audio guide whenever available-they really enrich the experience). Edinburgh Castle, which is still in use for events today, is home to the oldest building in the city as well as the Scottish crown jewels. The thing about the Scottish is that they are very proud of their heritage and still a bit grumbly about losing their sovereignty to the English. Don't make the mistake of calling a Scot an Englishman, or you may end up with a few bruises.
While in the castle, we had a very interesting discussion with Emily's mom about the purpose of the Monarch. It was as much a political discussion as it was an historical one. She pointed out that the Monarch can be seen as an unbiased figure who represents the people, rather than a political party; I quoted some Thomas Jefferson. All in all it was a good little discussion. The more I get to know the people that are my friends here, the more I see the similarities in their families and in the way they communicate and interact with each other. Lord knows there has been more than one discussion on politics in our house! Reed is going to be studying history at Durham next term, and it's no wonder why she has an interest in that.
The same day we went to the Castle, we also had the opportunity to go the the Scottish Parliament. Reed's dad is a judge, so he took us back and showed us his chambers, his robes, and even his wig! We got to sit in on one of his cases for a few minutes and see the law at work. We also got a tour of the building, which was the seat of the Scottish Parliament before joining the UK. It's in situations like these that you can see the difference in age between Britain and the US. There are a lot of situations where they are both equally modern, but to see the lawyers and the judges wearing their wigs, you can see that they are woking under a system that is respecting much older values and tradition than ours. This doesn't mean that one is better than the other, only that they function under a different background.
Besides all that excitment, there has been: a trip to the grocery store, Monaco's birthday take away curry night, chips and cheese (aka french fries with shredded cheese on top), and general lazing about, storing up energy for the big trip. We are going for a hike today, should be cool to see the view.

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