A Bonnie Week

I went to the folk band last night: incredible. As it turns out, I was lucky I went because it was the last time the place would be open while I’m in Scotland. Incredible. The band that played, Harem Scarem, had a truly gorgeous soft sound, the kind that calls you into yourself, making you not want to breathe for fear of losing the moment. Incredible. I bought both cd’s, and while none of the tracks capture what I experienced at the actual concert, I was very pleased with the puchase.

Today we had a lecture on “Heart of Darkness.” Oh the Horror, the Horror! No, actually, it was a very, very good lecture which made the case that Conrad’ novel, written in 1899 was a herald to the Modernist movement in the same way that Post-impressionism was the harbinger of a modern shift in 1910. Both, according to the lecturer, abandoned realism in favor of a closer examination of individual truth. I know, it doesn’t sound that interesting, but it was.

Today, I also attended a tour of the poetry library, and then listened to a reading from a Scottish novelist by the name of James Robertson. A very good time all said and done. I've been thinking about reading only Scottish Literature for a year after I get home. It would be VERY meaningful to expose myself (an unfortunate word choice) to as much as I can after gaining a contextual understanding of the culture.

A note about Scottish weather. It has not failed to rain a single day since I have been here. I think on some level I thought the reputation of Scottish weather to be an exaggeration: it is not. Today it was the warmest it has been, 65 degrees. Ah, and I don’t think I need to tell you that AC doesn’t exist here. Also, It is funny to be walking quickly through the city, sweating from exertion but still cold when the wind caresses you just the right way.

Here is to one week in Scotland!

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Scottish word/slang of the day

• Fash-- "I tell ye not to fash about. It’ll be taken care of, no need to worry bout that wee bairn"

To fuss, argue, worry, etc. You know, Scots is actually a very interesting language. I'm sure to the casual eye, my presentation makes it seem that these words are merely replacements for English ones, but I've found that Scots words actually function in a variety of grammatical contexts where English requires multiple terms for clarification. Fash is a good example of this.