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Published: August 15th 2008
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This morning I finally departed TASIS, summer number four. I decided to rent a car and drive to Edinburgh, Scotland. Although I knew it was a 7 hour drive, I did not know that I would see about 1000 sheep (and I am NOT exaggerating!!!) nor did I know I would be driving a stick shift Shodar (a kind of car which I named Shroeder from the Peanuts) on a two way road in the back hills of Scotland, behind a John Deer tractor. The views were amazing! The impending storm was like something out of a painting. The clouds were so low I could almost touch them. Instead, I just stuck my camera out of the window as I was driving and got some great shots! As I had no problems getting TO Edinburgh, the Fringe Festival put a huge kink in my plans. Roads were closed and I basically drove around for an hour trying to find the University of Edinburgh where the TASIS group was staying. Finally, as a last resort I stopped at a petrol station and stumbled upon a lovely Scottish man who tried his best to give me directions. It was clear that I did
not understand his peculiar Scottish accent and he actually drove me to the University … right to the front door. As I exited my strange little vehicle I just happened to run into Nasser, a kid from my class, who was as excited to see me as I was to see him. Mary and Paul (who are chaperoning the trip) were not too far behind, rushing me off to a fringe theatre show, titled “Global Warming Is Not Gay.” We then had dinner, too much wine and returned to the University. As I had about 5 minutes here, I had failed to remember where my room was and just spent about 20 minutes meandering in the rain, attempting to find where I had left my things. I can only wonder where I left that little Shodar vehicle … in a parking lot somewhere.
Day two in Edinburgh consisted of a sprint through the city! I trudged the Royal Mile and found various versions of Sutherland garb and “Sans Peur” crests from my royal family tradition. I then continued on to the National Gallery, the Royal Botanical Gardens, various “fringe” performances, and the Museum on the Mound (which explained the history
of the Bank of Scotland and had an exhibit of a million pounds of counterfeit money!) I planned on meeting Mary, Paul and the kids at Saint Mary’s Cathedral. I trudged up the mountain to the Cathedral and waited. Three of the boys came zooming over in a taxi and we waited some more. Well, turns out there are two St. Mary’s Cathedrals in Edinburgh and we unfortunately were at the wrong one. Yet another cab later and we finally made it. We toured the Cathedral and saw an amazing exhibit on how victims of violence cope. It was oddly strange reading the stories of victims from the London bombings with a couple of boys from Saudi Arabia. But in the TASIS tradition, we moved on in our little bubble to the Castle. I decided to forgo seeing the inside of yet another castle for a street market. In my attempt to get back to the castle without trudging the Royal Mile yet again, I went the back way only to scale a huge fence with iron posts and climb even more stairs to the top. I finally found the group and continued on for another night of “fringe.” The
outdoor venue consisted of modern dancers on stilts. They portrayed what we think was the evolution of modern day women in society (but one never knows, the interpretations are endless I suppose!) Tomorrow morning I leave for Geneva. I will of course spend hours in the airport waiting for my friend Cassie to arrive, only to navigate my way up the mountain to Leysin American School.
As I have yet to find an internet connection, I am writing this on Word. I navigated my way to the Terminal (there is only 1 Terminal in Edinburgh, can you believe it??). Unfortunately I pissed off way too many British drivers in the process with my lack of signaling and flat out scary driving. Finally I found the car hire drop off and some how managed to get on the bus with my luggage to the check in desk. Oh some $250.00 later in excess baggage charges and I was on my way. The flight was smooth and I easily found my rental car. As I was waiting for my friend Cassie to arrive from British Midlands Airport she phones me to let me know that she is in stopped traffic on the
M25 and missed her flight. The only flight they could book her was for Saturday, two days from now. So, there I was, alone in the Geneva airport with only memory to serve me as to how to navigate my way to Leysin (since Cassie printed the directions, I was counting on her to co-pilot this adventure!). Well, somehow my memory is not as poor as I imagined and I got all the way up the mountain without any problems whatsoever. The head of the Board of Trustees (yeah, whatever!) directed me to my room and to my “team” of friends, who all got here earlier in the day. As my accommodations last summer consisted of a dorm that I got kicked out of (with bunk beds!!!) and a hotel where the warden (as I like to call her) spoke only French, I was delighted to find that I was put in a room with a huge patio and an amazing view of the Alps! And then I find out that the kids are all delayed in airports somewhere and we don’t have to teach until Saturday! So our plans are to go back down the mountain to Vevey and
go on a wine tasting tour on our day off.
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