It Is Not About Me

There are any number of phrases and mantras that I can apply to leading the International Traveling Classroom, but this is as good a place to start as any. I knew walking into this role that this would be the case, and had also seen it at work last year when Ken did such a good job leading the group. Even so, it was the time in London that brought this most clearly into focus.

Edinburgh took a great deal of energy and effort to keep things coordinated based on the amount of time that I was there. As mentioned in the previous post there was a great deal of class time involved in that location and it was also the location where most of the students were just getting a sense of being overseas. Here I had few illusions about my free time and was guarded about being able to take the greatest advantage of it that I could. Even though it was a bit of a whirlwind of 30 hours, the time spent with Chris and Donja greatly recharged me. This bit of time for myself served to reinforce the idea that I need to take time like this whenever possible, and was so fulfilling to spend time with friends. Sounds like a great plan, something to make sure happens, unfortunately there is always a big BUT in the middle of that idea.

In my case the qualifying "but" is that opportunities like the one I got in Edinburgh are more rare than a freshly cut steak from the bone. This became clear in far more ways than I can mention here, as well as for some program-based reasons, as I continue to find myself without the opportunity to do the host of things I would chose to do. There are some who will say something along the lines of "what do you expect, it is a job, not a vacation?" In truth, I signed on knowing exactly that, yet I am continually surprised that each little window of time that appears is so small you can barely do anything with it, let alone go do something that is any distance away from your current location. The greater concern I have is with those that think I did this to get a holiday out of it. Let us be clear, I do not spend my holidays with every single day scheduled on a fixed itinerary broken down by hours. This program lives off of the structure of itinerary to make the most out of the students' opportunities for learning. If it were a holiday I would have no class preparation, no teaching, no grading, no haggling with local sites about group tours and meals, and no need to stay on site with students in hostels. In truth I am doing all of these things and more on a daily basis. In fact, even when the students get a couple of days of free travel I am going in advance to our next city to make sure that as much is pre-arranged as possible. It means that even these "free" days are chock-a-block full of time and energy spent on things for them and not me. Don't get me wrong, I am happy to have the opportunity to lead/guide a group of students on a study tour of a lifetime opportunity, but that also means that guiding/leading makes it about them, not about me.

So for those of you that would think "its work, not holiday", I'm with you, it is a job and I take it quite seriously. I spend hours of each day guiding and supporting the students as they go about the business of learning how education, travel, and exploration can be blended together to create a rich one-of-a-kind experience. These are hours done in addition to teaching multiple hours at a time and in joining them for visits to cultural, social, and aesthetic sites in our location. There are very few short, or even standard length days to be had. It is for this reason that I am repeating the mantra "it is not about me," knowing that the richness of their experience is the key, not the richness of mine.

ITC in Scotland - By the Numbers

Rather than take dramatic lengths to discuss the time in Edinburgh I thought it might be more digestible to do it by the numbers.

• 25 Students, 1 Group Leader, and a later introduction by one of the two short-term faculty.

• 15 full days in Edinburgh, staying at Dalkeith House, home of the Wisconsin in Scotland program since 1986. The spring 2014 WIS group was in the house, many having arrived about the same time that we did. I have never seen the house so full, and it sure did make finding a bit of privacy difficult to do. 

• Over 40 hours of classes taught, including 30+ hours of sociology and international studies classes and 12+ hours of humanities. This was actually classroom time, not the affiliated events in and around the area.

• 12 tours and events, not including the 3-day highland tour. Among the sites visited: Scottish National Gallery, Scottish Galleries of Modern Art, Writers' Museum, Greyfriar's Cemetery, National Library, Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh Castle, and a match at Hibernian Football Club.

• 50+ hour tour of the Scottish Highlands though MacBackpackers, with a fantastic guide/driver named Neil. He took us to places like Dunkeld, Culloden Battlefield, Clava Cairns, Loch Ness, Dunvagan Broch, Faerie Glen, Eileen Donan Castle, Glencoe, and Doune Castle. A few others were sprinkled in, but that is some of the bigger stuff.

• 10 or more Chinese takeaway bags used for meals due to our days out of the house and Henry's hectic schedule at the house dealing with our 25 students, the WIS program's 43, and the faculty and families of the programs. Always good recycling for later use.

• 3 versions of the calendar due to changes in events and availabilities. Being in one place so long meant that it was necessary to alter the schedule much more than I anticipated or wanted to do.

• 3, as in celsius. This was most commonly what temperature I was being told it would be in Edinburgh on that day. There were a few nights when it was clear and the wind picked up that I thought that was also the temperature reading in my bedroom. I didn't take to wearing a wooly hat in the house, but it wasn't unusual to see students wandering around with blankets around them.

• 2 days on which it was blowing a houlie (or blowing goats). It happened first when we were at Edinburgh Castle and it was clear why there were times that they would close the castle due to the high winds. Even though it isn't too high in the grand scheme of things, it was sufficiently exposed to blow you all over the place when it was really blowing. The second memorable one was an overnight where the windows rattled throughout the night and kept the house feeling terribly cold.

• 0 days of being able to wear sunglasses all day. There were hints of sun now and again, but all told we even had rain when we had sun. It isn't that this is unexpected, rather it is just the reality of a wet winter over here.

• 2 lovely days with our friends in the Scottish Borders. Chris and Donja are always so welcoming and are such fun to be around. They got me to the Preston Reed concert on Saturday night, which was absolutely fantastic in this little spot in Selkirk. On Sunday we had a long leisurely walk along the River Tweed, with one of the better William Wallace statutes looming above us, tea/coffee at Scott's Abbotsford home, dinner at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, and a final stop by St. Andrew's Square and the temporary art/light exhibit. The time spent with them flew by way too quickly as always.

Welcome to the Whirlwind

Since arriving on Thursday we have been doing things pretty fast and furious. In brief it has gone pretty much like this:

• Thursday after check in we had INTS 365 (Contemporary Europe) followed by a wee wander into Dalkeith, dinner, and an effort to keep the students going until about 9pm if possible.
• Friday started with three hours of the Social Problems class followed by a trip to Edinburgh Castle (where it was seriously blowing goats), a trip to MacBackpackers to settle up details of our three day trip to Skye on Monday, dinner at the Malt Shovel, and a stop in to see Gavin at Maysons.
• Saturday entailed hearing Marian and Henry talk about drinking culture and responsibility in the morning, nicely linked to my Social Problems class. In the afternoon we cancelled the walking tour because of an impending chance of serious rain (which unsurpisingly came upon us heavily). I got into Edinburgh in time to secure Hibernian FC tickets for next Saturday for the whole group and to see a bit of sun up on Calton Hill. Then upon going down onto Rose Street to visit the outdoors stores the weather finally gave in and came down in buckets. I still managed to get train tickets to London as well before coming home somewhere close to soaked.
• Today, the students and I got off too a slower start, but the excitement was right off the bat. One group managed to lock themselves out in a way that necessitated breaking the door lock to get them back into their room. After that things were pretty enjoyable with the students all doing Patty's version of the Amazing Race in Edinburgh having to find locations and information all throughout the Old Town and the New Town. That kept the students busy from 10.30a to 5.30p. Leah, the assistant group leader, and I took a more leisurely approach into Edinburgh, stopping at Black Magic Coffee to talk about the schedule for the rest of Edinburgh. After that we wandered about and I showed her a few of the major areas around the Old Town and a bit up into the New Town. I have to remember that there is an outdoor lighted art exhibit in St. Andrew's Square which starts on Tuesday (it was set up today).
• Tomorrow through Wednesday we head through the Highlands and onto the Isle of Skye, giving the students a very different view of just how historic and diverse the society and landscape are.

All of that leads me to a few observations. First, this group has the makings of a good group to be along with for the trip. They have been energetic and have been working well together. Don't get me wrong, there will definitely be speed humps as we go along, but it seems to be coming together pretty well. Second, from all I have seen and done, it is the little things rather than the big ones that change in Edinburgh and Dalkeith. I have found my way around easily and most everything is where I expect it, but there are those few surprises of things torn down, changing ownership, and changing what exists in a given location. All in all though, it is the same place I love and remember. Third, it is definitely time to buckle up because while it is as much as 40 degrees warmer here, the damp is definitely a bone chiller. I have been sleeping with two down comforters to keep warm enough at night and during the day the continuous bouts of rain and drizzle keep it plenty moist, but hey the wet and humidity are fantastic for eliminating dry skin.

Reboot: 2014 Internationl Traveling Classroom

Greetings all,
We arrived successfully at Dalkeith House, home of Wisconsin in Scotland, yesterday. We made it through border control without much hassle and there is a funny story related to that which may appear later. The students struggled mightily to make it beyond dinner time before sleep yesterday, but for the most part I think it was a success.

We start classes this morning for 3 hours and then head to to Edinburgh Castle this afternoon. To that end I won't post more until later today. 

Off we go!

 

Reaching the Isle of Islay

On the 5th of July we made our way by ferry to the Isle of Islay. It is well known as the island of scotch whisky with 8 distilleries currently on the island. What isn't played up as much is that it has wonderful natural areas, great sandy beaches, and nice little towns, making it feel so comfortable to just be there taking it all in. We were there from the 5th of July until the 8th of July, camping the first night and then spending the next two nights at a new bed and breakfast just outside of Bowmore.

Our days went a little like this:

5th of July, Friday

• Arrive in Port Ellen by ferry a little after 1pm (a lucky break meant we got to the island earlier than we had expected because we made an earlier ferry)
• Drive from Port Ellen up and around Loch Indaal to Port Charlotte and then the Port Mor campground (a great campground with modern facilities all for 16 quid for two people
• Set up the tent and get a bit antsy to do something
• Drive up to Bruichladdich Distillery and enjoy a late afternoon tour, which keeps us there beyond closing and the staff even pull out a guitar and sing before we leave.
• Drive up and out along along the southwest coast down to the southern tip of Portnahaven and Port Wemyss, enjoying the coastline.
• Drive back to Port Mor and have dinner at their small cafe.
• Enjoy the slow long sunset of the Scottish evening

6th of July, Saturday

• Breakfast at the Port Mor cafe
• Drive up to the newest, smallest, farmhouse distillery, Kilchoman for an excellent Americano and then a wee tour. They have only been open since 2005 so their product is still quite young.
• Change scenic locations, going down to the far southeastern end of the island and check out the Kildalton peninsula. Have a late lunch at the Ardbeg Old Kiln Cafe - fantastic place for lunch with great food and fresh coffee.
• Take the deluxe "Through the Decades Tour" at Ardbeg.
• Go out and see the Kildalton cross and then go out to the end of the road and walk along Claggain Bay (thinking a lot about what a fantastic place it would be to land a kayak)
• Get checked into our wonderful bed and breakfast Dha Uhlar and meet our host Jim and his family. It has only been open a matter of weeks when we stay there. He has also set up the house next door for a full house rental. Can't recommend it enough.
• Decide to go out in the rainy evening for dinner at the Harbour Inn Bar. Definitely upscale, not just bar food. We paid quite a bit but got to spend a nice slow evening there in the fading light and even had a great cranachan trio dessert with a dram of Ardbeg's 1990 Airigh Nam Beist.

7th of July, Sunday

• A complete Scottish breakfast at the bed and breakfast.
• Headed down to the Kildalton trio for a tour of Lagavulin, but see that we can easily wander over to the Dunyvaig Castle ruins for a small exploration before the tour.
• Head just a few minutes up the road to Laphroaig for both a tour and a food and single malt pairing taste session. We meet up with a couple from Sweden and Urse and Kevin, a father and son from Switzerland, enjoying a very leisurely afternoon of talking and getting to know each other.
• Drive back up to the seven mile beach along Loch Indaal. The drive out it treacherous because it was once a road but is so deep and heavily potholed that we bounced out to the beach. It was by this point that we nicknamed the car Tigger.
• Steph got her first taste of driving in the UK on the beach and then back up the road to the airport.
• Decide to head back into Bowmore and have dinner at the Lochside Hotel, which was definitely good comfort food and wonderfully fresh fish.
• The evening lingers so we decide to head up to Finlaggan, the ancient seat of the MacDonalds - Lord of the Isles, at its height in the 1300s and 1400s.
• Just a small road trip to Port Askaig to make sure we know were to try and catch an earlier ferry on Monday, with a peek at the port site of Caol Ila. (Technically we visited all eight distilleries, but only went through seven of them, this was the only one we didn't make.)
• A country drive along the Great Glen Road before making it back to our bed and breakfast.

8th of July, Monday

•  Another amazingly full Scottish Breakfast, this time Jim remembered the beans. He was great about saying we didn't have to rush out and could even leave our bags longer if need be. 
• Down the hill into Bowmore Distillery (the islands oldest surviving distillery) and a nice leisurely tour and lingering looks at Loch Indaal. We saw Urse and Kevin as we were leaving and they really tried to encourage us to stick around and do a tour with them. They were great gentlemen and made a wonderful plan of this trip to celebrate Kevin's 30th birthday.
• A stop up at Bridgend and Islay Ales. They had lovely ales and it was so surprising and nice to have local beer on the island home of scotch whisky.
• We are very early for the early afternoon ferry and decide to make a pitstop at Bunnahabhain Distillery. We convince ourselves that we are only on standby for the ferry, so why rush, thus sticking around for a tour. They have stopped production in order to fully clean everything, but it is still neat to see.
• We get down to the ferry terminal, 6th in the standby line for the ferry from Port Askaig back to mainland Scotland. We are fortunate enough to get on the ferry so that we can make it across the country to Chris and Donja's without it getting too awfully late or having to find lodging at the last minute.

It was a great start to this vacation and rather than discuss every minute detail we decided to do it through a slideshow.

Returning to the City of Peeing Statues

After yet another lovely breakfast the finally choice was made about climbing the Belfort, I would do it and Steph wouldn't. We came back up and got packed, which has become so easy and quick over these last couple of weeks that we each are all set to go in only about 20. In truth the price seemed a bit steep, 8€, to just climb a tower 366 steps, but it was another clear sunny morning meaning there would be good views up top. While I climbed the original model of a stairmaster, Steph went to find stamps and just wander a bit more. The plan was simple and worked out perfectly,coming back over to pick up chocolate from The Chocolate Line before getting checked out just after 11am and catching our train. The route between the two cities is so standard that we didn't have to concern ourselves with picking up a specific train at a scheduled time, it was much more a matter of just picking up whatever was available to us next in the day.

I can't say it is an overly memorable train trip, even with going through Ghent, then again it isn't like the places to really enjoy in Ghent are right in front of the train station. Big surprise! Arriving in Brussels, we got to enjoy a stop at Midi station, which is not all that attractive overall, but it is where the Chunnel train terminates. Just a couple of minutes later we got off at Bruxelles Centraal and had our shorter arrival trek to the hotel that we have had this trip, took about 5 minutes to get to the Aris Hotel. We walked in expecting to just put bags in their luggage room, but our room was ready for us so we checked in and took a few minutes to unpack things and settle into our space on the fifth floor. Turns out that if you opened the window and leaned out you could get a nice view of the upper reaches of the Grote Markt, which came in handy that night. As for unpacking, I don't know when it started, but I have always felt a bit more relaxed having things out of the duffle bag and hung up and shelved. Turns out that now I have Steph doing that as well. I think it has to do with the fact that when you have folds led that can wrinkle it is best to get them hung quickly, although it could just as easily be that I am a little Type A and feel a need to have things orderly.

It was then time to go through the stomping grounds so completely covered in March. As it was a late lunch time we stopped by La Brasseurs on the square for a bite of lunch and an adult beverage. This had been a pretty much daily stop during ITC, enough so that the weekday barman recognized me immediately. The biggest change was that we got to sit outside at a table and watch everything going on in the Grote Markt without having to be a direct part of it. The people watching was a great deal of fun, and in some ways even more pleasurable than Amsterdam because it was such a centrally important location and students, parents, tour groups, individual travelers, and a few locals found their way though here.

Around 3pm we decided we should get the mandatory stop out of the way, Manneken Pis. I don't think it is overstating the case that this is one of those underwhelming sights for tourism, and even Steph's reaction wasn't "oh wow" but more of a "that's it?" With such a reaction and with the warmth of being out we had enough time to go and do something a bit more memorable the Rene Magritte museum. I enjoyed it just as much the second time and Steph also was quite enthralled by his body of work, especially that in his impressionist period he did not eliminate surrealist elements to the paintings.

We wandered by the Royal Palace and park immediately to the north of it before sitting and enjoying the fountain and simply watching things go on around us for a little bit. By that point it was nearly 6pm so we went back to the hotel to relax and freshen up, a matter that was so much easier because the hotel was right on the edge of the market square on the Grassmarket. The more we had a bit of time, the more we realized that having a clean, albeit dated, place to stay in such a central location was not to be underestimated. We did not have that in Koblenz, but we did have it pretty much everywhere else, but nothing as truly close as being just 250 yard from the most central location of the city.

It only makes sense that when you are in the city of peeing statues you ought to see Janneke Pis, right in the alley where Delerum Tremens triplet of bar, cafe, and ministerium are. This statue is about the same size as its sibling, but it was more about the people there gearing up for the night's World Cup qualifier against Serbia. We stopped for the expected view of the place, and a glimpse of the beer bible and just how diverse and extensive their beer offering are, with well beyond 1000 choices. We chose not to spend too much time there as it was feeling like time to seek out something more substantial in the way of dinner, heading over to an Iranian restaurant Ken introduced me to, Caspian. If it hadn't been for his head's up I am sure that we wouldn't have stopped as there was nobody dining there. All of that changed within about ten minutes of our arrival, with four tables of people appearing in short order. The food is excellent, so very flavorful that is worth seeking out the block south of the row of Greek restaurants.

The long evening light led us to do two more things, seek out the last of the official peeing statues, Zenneke Pis, the leg lifting dog. This was the one I was least confident in finding, even with the map, because although the is some affinity for it, it is on an out of the way side street that I don't think many tourists would seek out. This may have been their intent, to have something more for the locals, but I am not convinced by that either. I knew roughly where it was, but the space invader street art was what led us to know we were in the right spot. In some sense I think it is the best of the three, but only because it has much more of a feel of accessible street art rather than something caged off and away so that people see it from a bit of distance.

Once I connected where we were at with being close to St. Catherine's cathedral we wandered up there to take a look at is as we were headed toward dusk and see the area that has the most specifically fish restaurants on the square that I know of in the area. The side light was seeing yet a fourth space invader tile art image. Based on it getting later we decided to head back east into the center of town and watch the second half of the game back at the micro-brewery we first stopped at lunch time. It turns out there were a few locals and then a bunch of guys from London, Chelsea fans to be exact, joined us for the half as well. It was all exciting and great fun to do. After the game we headed back to the hotel hearing all the reveling still going on to celebrate Belgium's win in the game. As we got to the room and opened the window they were lighting up the Grote Markt in blues and greens and reds so we got to see a bit of that right from our window.

I ended the night wondering whether or not we should have more actively pursued tickets to the football match. I felt so mixed about it because while it would have been wonderful to experience such a game in person they kept moving the game time back, and I felt less comfortable being so far On the edge of the city in an area that I didn't have the most inviting feeling about when I was there in March. Initially the game was supposed to be in the afternoon and I would have been much quicker to say yes, but for whatever reason the game start was moved to 8.30pm. This meant we would be coming home at night in situation that was potentially highly charged in an area that left only two options out of there, and neither was a simple walk. After the game was over I had that thought that maybe we should have, but by the same token what if the result wasn't a win for Belgium, would the feeling of people leaving the game created a riskier situation. Lots of what ifs and the only outcome to speak of was that we had a great day and a fun evening doing what we did.

Brugge and Out to Damme

The Salvator provided a comfortable stay and coming down to breakfast meant that there was a good meal to start the day awaiting us. Over breakfast we had some decisions to make since we did not actually have a plan of action for the day in place to this point, and we figured we should have some idea of what we intended to do with such a beautiful and sunny day. Steph and I had a good time biking in Koblenz, so we figured that maybe we should try a bike tour, the Pink Bear Bike Tour. The choice was based on the description identifying that it wasn't just of Brugge, but it also took you up along the canal further toward the coast to the town of Damme. A ride out into the country a few miles sounded just in line with what we wanted to do. It also had a good time frame on it, 3.5 hours, so it would leave us with some time in the afternoon.

The bike tour turned out great and we managed to fit in some of the sights on the north end of town before going further up the road to Damme. It was good getting out the hustle and bustle of the city itself and out into a more serene area, where the bikes are the most common mode of transportation seen since the routes really cater to bike traffic. The beauty of pedaling along the canal is in evidence in the pictures we have, including this one.

Our first stop out of town along the route was at an 1800s windmill, evidenced by the fact that only the top turret with the sails had to be moved rather than the whole mill itself.

That is our lovely group, two from New Zealand, two from England, two from Texas, one from Chicago, and the two of us. As we pedaled the last little bit into Damme we found that when the estuary dried up and left Brugge a greater distance from the sea, the shipping port moved up to where there was still water, Damme. Steph took the time to pose as we crossed the bridge into Damme.

Now Damme is back to being a very small, sleepy community because the estuary continued to dry up, leaving even it without direct access to the sea. We stopped in town to get a quick look and then a bit of a nosh, it was mostly about waffles and beer before heading back into Brugge. We stopped at the windmills on the north east side of town, which were 18th century windmills because they were all wood structures that had to completely rotate to find the wind.

We made it back right about 2pm, leaving us with plenty of time to walk about a bit more, especially going down to see the swans and Minnewater. We spent time walking around the green spaces on the  edges of the old town, feeling in no rush to get anywhere specific. The truth of the matter is that we wandered aimlessly taking in our surroundings and avoiding the rush from all of the other tourists for the canal boat tours, the walking tours, the bus tours, and the tour of the available tours. The sun and warmth were so very welcome and we took every opportunity to enjoy having them as constant companions at this point. It just turned out that all the advanced weather predictions were that it would be cool and damp or rainy so we kept our packing conservative and did not add in shorts, which we were now thinking would be a welcome addition to our baggage. By the same token we didn't have much interest in a shopping interlude in order to rectify the situation either, everything we looked at just reinforced the reasons why you see so many overseas travelers in the U.S. wanting to purchase clothes when they visit.

Our feet took us around the Burg and back around again to the front of the Belfort. The way the day was progressing led to the putting off of climbing the Belfort tower to another day, in fact we could make our way to Bruxelles at any point on Friday that we wanted since there were at least two trains each hour. It then just became a matter of how soon we would leave the appealing city of Brugge since the hotel had a noon check out and would hold a bag for the rest of the day if we chose. It was a discussion we waited upon, figuring dinner would give us a good chance to figure out what tomorrow would have in store. 

As the Salvator Hotel was immediately to the west side of St. Salvator's cathedral we had the good fortune to enter the oldest parish church in Bruges. The original sections date back to at least 1200. It is amazing not only the condition but also the understated adornment of the interior as well as the architectural exterior. Such factors led to a view of the beauty in the simplicity of form and function and just how much work it took to make it all come together.

After freshening up at the hotel we wandered over to the 'Zand for dinner. There is a long row of restaurants there and the choice was really a matter of whether we liked the prices of their offerings. They basically offered all of the same options, it was more about ambience and price. Needless to say, we were eating al fresco in the late day sun of post 7pm long days, and we ended up at a typical, run of the mill restaurant, but the special on offer was mussels, which is what we were both after. They were prepared au naturale, steamed and, as always, served with fries. They were satisfying, but not good enough to be the final word on that dish during this trip.

We wandered back to the hotel and had drinks at the bar before going back to our room, which actually had a nice outdoor patio. It was a quirky little space and only two rooms had access to patio space, but in the failing light of the evening it was nice and cool and felt good to spend even more time outdoors. It was here we talked of climbing the Belfort in the morning and catching a train to Brussels at about noon time so that we would have a good chance to wander there. We also had a nice opportunity to pose with local chocolates and beer.