A list

Some things I'd like to do in Scotland:

• Walk in Holyrood Park inside Edinburgh often
• Go see Dunsinane castle and Birnam wood -- "Fear not, till Birnam wood Do come to Dunsinane"
• Eat Haggis
• Drink Innis and Gunn –- a Local Edinburgh Brew -- http://www.innisandgunn.com/index.htm
• Eat British Indian Food often
• Visit Loch Ness
• See the Falkirk Wheel (awesome feat of engineering, and the only one like it in the world)
  
• Go to pubs… much pubs… -- http://www.sirc.org/publik/ptpchap1.html
• Visit & Walk Hadrian's Wall -- http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/430
• Watch a Glascow Football game
• See Cathedrals
• Climb (Bag) 5 or more Munros of my choice -- http://www.mcofs.org.uk/munro-corbett.asp
• Have Real Fish and Chips wrapped in Newspaper
• Visit Lawers Village and Loch Tay in Perthshire and look at the evidence of the Land Clearances in Scotland -- places where since the early 1700's, people were forced to get off the land and emigrate, leaving whole townships of old abandoned stone houses dotting the landscape, so the wealthy land owners could develop sheep farming.
• Tour several Whiskey/Scotch Distilleries
• Buy a Tweed Jacket
• Chose a highland way to walk over course of 3 days -- http://www.stcuthbertsway.fsnet.co.uk/ -- http://www.west-highland-way.co.uk/ -- http://www.greatglenway.com/
  
• Climb Arthur’s Seat (an extinct volcano next to the dorms) by both road and footpath.
• Go to the Saturday morning market at the foot of Edinburgh Castle.
  
• Take a day trip to South Queensferry.
• Get a geologist's tour of Holyrood park. Look at the geological display outside of “Our Dynamic Earth” next to Holyrood.
• Take the Ghost Tours in Edinburgh Old town
  
• Go to the Royal Botanical Gardens

A friend gave me this additional advice:

• Hang out on the Salisbury Crags and stare at the Holyrood bldg. until it no longer looks hideous to you.
• Have a picnic on The Meadows and watch the cricket games. Buy fruits and vegetables on Argyle Place just off the Meadows. Wave to the folks in our flat on the second floor of 6 Warrender Park Rd. Also buy lemon curd and oat cakes at the small grocery store on Argyle place. Take them out to the Meadows and eat them while you people watch.
• Check out the Edinburgh Folk Club. Ask for Paddy. He’ll get you set up. Live music every Wed. evening. Really fun place. No tourists will be there and it’s a great way to learn about local culture.
  
• Other good day trips: Glasgow, Dumferline, North Berwick (the birding center!), Dalkeith (beautiful park)
• Good overnight trip: Berwick-upon-Tweed (neither Scotland nor England)
  

Optional - if I can - Things I'd like to see in England

• Visit Stonehenge – the largest henge in all the world
• Visit Bath, Eng.
• Visit Oxford, Eng.
• See the Canterbury Cathedral
• See the Globe Theater in London
  

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Scottish word/slang of the day

• weans -- "Och, I canna hear myself think with all these weans chatterin' "

A wean is a child, usually under the age of puberty, so I do not teach weans in my classroom. The source of this word could have several obvious influences: first, refering to the fact that they are "weaned" from the mother's milk, but since nursing babies are also called weans, and I have't come across a textual example of the recently birthed called "nae weaned" or "no weans," this seems less likely; a more likely possibility is a smushed together version of "wee'ns" sort of like the American south's "young'ns." (So children are "wee" people. It is such a relief that I won't have to put up with any for six weeks.)