Mini Scotland Tour, or Visiting My Future

Yesterday I returned from my travels to Scotland (Edinburgh, St Andrews, Glasgow) with my friend, and today I am spending all day lying in bed with my laptop and doing nothing in particular. It feels good. Again, the visit up north was worth it, and has confirmed the fact that I will be accepting Edinburgh as my firm choice and Glasgow as my insurance.

Of the three places, Edinburgh was my favourite, due to what seemed  to be a completely friendly disposition among the people, beautiful surroundings (architecture and nature -- envision strolling down a street and glimpsing powerful mountainous landscapes from the corner of your eye), the general feel of the city, and the university. At the talks we heard tale of the fun things you can get up to in the university societies, of which the Philosophy Society enthused me. There still exists a nervous element within me about starting a new life in (technically) a different country, but that's natural, and besides it's accompanied by a great excitement. It will be interesting.

We also went to St Andrews to get an idea of it because my friend applied there. It's quite a small town; you can walk around the whole thing in about half an hour, which gives it a tight-knit feeling. It isn't for me, but I can see how it might be appealing. Despite its small area, it doesn't feel like you'd get bored too easily, and it's an easy bus/train ride away from nearby larger cities, so it's perfect for somebody who enjoys the quiet, but occasionally enjoys the bustle of a city.

Glasgow was interesting. Much larger than both the other two cities, it had that strange isolationist effect on the citizens: the more populous the place, the more "to-themselves" the people are. It came off across as them being less friendly, but I know that's not a completely fair assessment. In ambiance it felt a bit like Birmingham does. The university is a few minutes outside of the core of the city and so away from the heavy buzz. The campus is absolutely beautiful -- arguably the most beautiful of the three places we visited, but in general I still prefer Edinburgh in terms of where I want my future to lie.

The trip in itself was fun, enjoyable, but my companion was slightly ... conservative. In my mind I imagined three days of sober, serious exploration by morning, and swirling, excited drunken soaring by night, but that's not her style, I suppose. She was also attached to her BlackBerry, contacting her boyfriend very frequently, which, coupled with her naturally quiet disposition, made things ... just okay, I guess. I think the best way (or at least the best way that I can think of right now) to describe it is that she's an introvert through-and-through, whereas I'm an introvert that secretly longs to be an extrovert, and so I think there might have been a miscommunication in expectations there.

I still enjoyed it, though. Good trip. I really do hope to go back in September.

Now - pictures:

University of Edinburgh

Going To St Andrews

The scenery on the way to St Andrews was fantastic

Stairs in St Andrews that felt metaphorical but in what way I'm not sure


View of Edinburgh from our hotel

A typical Edinburgh street

Glasgow City Centre

University of Glasgow

University of Glasgow

Breakfast at Costa Coffee on the last day -- latte and calming view of regal Edinburgh

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

SoE update

According to the Google Reader counter, more than 5 people read this blog, which is impressive, considering a lot of what I do is literally just try to figure out how I should structure my days. Not very sexy or rock and roll. This is what this post is about. So the first week of the schedule of equilibrium went okay and the second week worse. I'm trying to judge where I'm going wrong. I added 2 hours of Miscellaneous in order to cover for shower time and other little things that I felt need not necessarily count as free time, or any of the other categories. That wasn't such a bad idea. I think, however, trying to keep consistent every day of the week how much time I allocate to each category is what makes things difficult, considering that each day asks of me different things. But at the same time I don't want the amount of time I spend on a particular thing to be arbitrary either, so I want there to be some consistency. Mondays are my busiest days work-wise, so ...
Read more

A Letter To A Friend (On Hedonism)

I was thinking about you the other hour and how by degrees of consideration I have begun to understand the pressure you once and possibly still do feel to achieve greatly, and how you consequently personally desire to do greatly, regardless perhaps of the impracticalities of such desires. I considered my own situation, as one must do in order to understand another, with the express desire to pinpoint the source of this endless undercurrent of guilt that courses through me in the knowledge that I am not doing all that I should be. I thought of Sartre who says that feelings such as guilt, anxiety, and apprehension presuppose the Other, that is: other people, and how if the consideration of the Other was absent, so too would anxiety, guilt, or apprehension. To me, at least compared to you, it always seemed to me that I do my A levels and I study what I study for myself, and that my grades reflect myself and that the sphere encompasses me and me only. But that was naturally, clearly, and d...
Read more

What Am I Interested In? [The Eternal Question]

I guess what I want from Philosophy is the ability to stir the passions of people -- an interesting way, a way that appeals to myself too, to look at the world and understand it. I don't mean I have to move people; I'm not so much about moving people. That's politics. I just want to see the world in a more clear, helpful way, without frill and pomp, but still with beauty and majesty, and I guess that's what I want to get out of philosophy and eventually get into my writing. I want to touch people's passions in such a way that they see differently, but this has nothing to do with moving people, or making them do anything. It's an internal thing. I'm trying to figure out the most moving regions of philosophy. Philosophy is very wide, and much of it is interesting, but there comes a point when you have to figure out what it is you're studying it for, and focus more on that area, otherwise you will only be weak in many areas, as opposed to strong or pro...
Read more