some thoughts

I've been reading philosophy, and I've been finding it hard, really hard, to find the truth of what philosophers mean when they write about "nature".

When I first started reading I thought it meant God, religion, or the literally meaning now a days- of the wild, how the world used to be, our primitive roots.

I have come to realize that I was thinking much to hard about it. Our nature is simple, what we feel, at our very core, our honest opinions and feelings without the added speculation of our environment or our society. 

Seneca argues that to live by our nature is the most noble of pursuits. I would tend to agree. I started my MSc because I was scared, pure and simple. If you are comfortable, why change anything? My student life was easy, study a few weeks a semester, hang out, try to be top dog of the university life. But how could I be comfortable if it was just a way to stay safe, to please myself knowing that I still thought or wished about other pursuits much more than I thought about science and my studies. 

Of course this should come back to bite me. I think it has. I enjoy living in Guelph, doing the things I do, but I'm not passionate about my work, I don't wake up in the morning and say, today I'm gonna go and grab the PCR machine by los cajones and do 5 plates! I do my job, I come home, I enjoy the company of wonderful people, then I do it again.

In a years time I will be living by my nature. What we grew up with in the North, taking in beautiful landscapes, learning to interact with them. Enjoying simplicity. I don't know where or what I will be doing, but I'll be taking live day by day, and waking up each morning waiting to grab life by los cajones, ha!

I felt an urge to write, but I think it's an important thought for me, and for everyone. Who are you really living for?

a little bit overdue, but every bit true

Well, the time has come. Today I leave Great Britain to go back to Canada and my "real" life as we called it in Aberdeen.  It's true, my life in Canada is my "real" life, one that I cherish and enjoy immensely, but the storybook adventure that I have been on for the last 5 months has been very real to me, and I will never forget it. Orientation tells you that you will experience all kinds of things, good and bad; that you will undergo cultural adaptation, for better or for worse, that you will make great friends in less than a semester’s time. The wide-eyed and naive George that sat in orientation a year and a half ago did not realize the implications of moving to a new country. Living abroad is one of the most mind opening things I've ever done, and I think I've learned more than I ever could have in a classroom. That being said, I sure will be glad to take some real classes again.When I reflect on what this experience has taught me, and what effect it has had on my life, it kind of just funnels down to the simple idea that no matter where I am, what situation I’m in, I should be grateful. Grateful for even the littlest things, a real sized oven, which works, the way that Canadians move to the right when they walk, for your friends, for the ability to talk to your family whenever you like, for a bike which doesn't break every time you use it. In Morocco, it was like I had moved another level deeper in the Inception-like chain of gratitude. I stayed at a couchsurfer’s place in Marrakech for two days, and it opened my eyes wide to what we had to be thankful for. One room, two students, two mattresses, no furniture, a spool for a desk, and a communal kitchen with two propane burners sets the scene of student life in Marrakech. When I got back to my flat in Aberdeen, it seemed an extravagance to have what we did.I’ve learnt how to travel, learnt that friendship has no time zone, and the exponeniated growth in friendship while travelling can be pretty awesome. I’ve met some of the coolest people, saw some of the most beautiful sights, tried and tasted some wordly cuisine (mmmm goat pancreas) and experienced the most epic of days (skiing in the Sahara anyone?)I write as we drive to the airport to head back to Canada, and it’s a mixed bag of emotion, but there’s two things I know, I’m grateful for the experience I’ve had, and I’m grateful for everything and everyone I’m returning to at home.

Approximately 127 hours

So, with no hostel in sight we headed to a campground on the other side of the island. It was a bit of a slog to get there, but the reward made it all worthwhile. The campground was just up the road from a white sand beach, and surrounded by hills full of sheep, it was a pretty perfect place if you ask me.  They rented out tents and camp stoves so we were set for the night.

After being attacked by some hungry chickens, and making friends with the barn dog, we went and enjoyed the sun on the beach, checked out the town and tried to track down some info about Carly's heritage. Again, it was a beautifully sunny day and Iona was buzzing with activity. We headed back to the campground for the night, but while at the hotel we heard about "St. Columba's Tears". In a bay at the very southern end of Iona, a few miles from our campground, limestone with green streaks from pressurized plant matter washes up on the shore. Apparently, while you carry a tear, you will be protected from drowning, bonus, so I set out to find the bay. Originally I thought, ah, due south, keep the loch on the right, you'll be fine. Not so much, I got to the coast, but even after some interesting climbs from one bay to the next, I don't think I ever actually found St. Columba's bay. Luckily, and with some careful searching, I did find a few "tears" and headed back to the campsite to make some dinner.

3 hours later after the sun had set, we enjoyed some 'al dente' pasta, raw courgette and some sausages. Ah, the joys of cooking with a mediocre campstove.

Sadly, that was the last night of our trip through the islands. Carly headed back to Canada, and I up to Dunino for a relaxing visit with the family! The west coast is definitely one of the highlights of all of Scotland and I'm glad I could enjoy it and the adventures with a familiar face and a good friend.

Ah, finally done with the stories, sometimes it get's a little old typing out your trips when the memories are a little more vivid and exciting than you can describe yourself. On the way home I will hopefully put together a slideshow, so stories will be retold with vivid detail in person with the highlights in that.

As I write this blog I really should be studying for my last exam on Monday, but we are all finding it a little hard to study when summer and home are so close, and with each night it seems like someone new is leaving Aberdeen. It only makes sense to hang out continuously until we all leave, right? Yesterday we finally got to check out a distillery, and sampled a few drams with a great old tour guide. It was a beautiful day so afterwards we headed down to the riverside for dinner, I got to practice my fly fishing technique (its pretty ugly) and the day turned out great.

When I woke up today, I realized I actually needed to pack, and its hitting harder and harder that I am actually heading home so soon! It's definitely a mixed bag of emotions, even with exams I am really enjoying everything here right now, but I am anxiously awaiting my first step onto Canadian soil, and contact with old friends and my family. I am not feeling particularly inspired right now, my brain is exploding with to do list's, anticipation and memories, but there should be one more post in the works before I come home, and hopefully some picture updates to the last few.

This week, I finish exams on Monday, fly down south to visit family Tuesday, then head home Friday morning. For those of you reading in the Sault, I will be home Friday at 6, so keep your schedule open for some celebrations next weekend!!

See you soon!
George

the Caribbean, I mean, Scotland

I last left you as we had finished our day's adventure in Sligachan. The next morning we went to catch the early bus, as usual on the side of the highway, into Fort William where we would then catch a bus to Kilchoan to catch a ferry over to the Isle of Mull! Taking the bus was quite an unfortunate way to travel when you are trying to pack in as much as you can in one week, but we were happy as it was providing a good "budget" option for us both. I can tell you, exchange and travelling is not a friend to my bank account. Sadly, this bus managed to ruin all the happy feelings we had about travelling cheaply. As we jumped on and said Fort William we were told 26 quid, hold on, you mean like 2.60 right? Nope 26 pounds. Yikes. We had no choice and paid the man, but were not impressed as we made our way down to Fort William. To make it worse, when the bus driver dropped a pound we had given him below his seat, he made us pay another! Another bad bus ride for the books, will they ever stop? Probably not (until I'm back in Guelph w/ a student pass woo!). We disembarked in Fort William, and on the way out, I got that pound back. Hmph.

We had a few hours to burn in Fort William, but as usual (only on this trip), the weather was stunning! We got some food and relaxed on a green in the city center. Luckily, there was a library right next door with free internet access so I could hand in my assignment that was due that day! We jumped on our next bus and headed toward Kilchoan. I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I think I am conditioned to falling asleep in moving vehicles. No matter how uncomfortable, bone jarring, hot the ride, I consistently fall asleep. This ride was not exception, but the few times I did wake up it was pretty great. This bus was literally doing everything, dropping people off at their door, the driver helping old ladies in with groceries, picking up and dropping off boxes from town to town! The driver must be well liked in this corner of Britain. After rounding some beautiful peaks, which were, as usual, covered with sheep, we arrived in Kilchoan, which I don't think is actually a town, because basically all there was to see was a ferry terminal, but a beautiful one at that! With the sun shining the sea looked tropical and we had a beautiful rocky shore to look out from and see the coast of Mull. It made me want to swim. So I did. And it was cold. Very cold.

I jumped back into some dry clothes and we hopped on another ferry headed to Tobermory! Mull was a special visit as Carly's Scottish ancestor's hailed from the Isle of Iona, on the southwest tip of Mull. Tobermory is one of the most quaint harbour towns you will ever see. Each house front is painted a different bright colour, on one end of the bay, the Tobermory distillery, which is still producing whiskey, and on the other, steep hills and an old Victorian house. Very cool town. Sadly, we got there as everything was closing, so we checked into our hostel, attempted a behind the scenes tour of the distillery of our own, and looked at store fronts. A restaurant on the end of the street was voted the "Best Seafood in Britain" or something along those lines so we checked out the menu. For a couple of broke student's it was a little out of our price range, but we wanted to try some authentic local seafood, so we shared a plate of 6 oysters, yea...count'em SIX, were extravagant. This was both our first time having oysters and I loved them! Will definitely have to indulge in more of those when I have the chance. Other than us the restaurant was pretty much filled with old wealthy couples, so we didn't hang around. To get our REAL dinner we went to the chippie at the harbour front where we got some good old fish and chips! They were also delicious, and were even more tasty when enjoyed at sunset in Tobermory.

Bright and early next morning we were off to the Isle of Iona! Another scenic bus ride, and we arrived at the ferry terminal, it was a gorgeous day, and for all I knew, we were looking at the Caribbean. The sand was white, the water turquoise blue, and not a cloud in the sky. The ferry ride was only ten minutes so in no time we were off and exploring. First stop was food, and what a stop it was! The Co-op on Iona had freshly baked goods, AND natural peanut butter. Needless to say, I was ecstatic. Good peanut butter is worth its weight in gold over here. We then set off to find the hostel on the other end of the Isle, and because you can walk across the whole thing in a day, we hoofed it. We were welcomed with some bad news...no rooms available for the night. Yeesh, no hostel, no money for hotels, and no camping equipment, we were in a bit of a pickle!

Anyways, I think that's enough for one post, dinner time! Tonight we are seeing Ainslie and Devin off, two fellow Canadians that live above me and have become close friends, so should be fun! Crazy how time flies!

Hopefully another post will be going up in the next few days, don't touch that dial!

George

mmmm sardines

Ok, a friend once told me, your blog will never last. I admit, I have slacked pretty badly since Easter Break, apologies everyone! I started writing this post when I came back but I got...distracted...by...life and stuff. I was seriously sick! Carly came! ...and I procrastinated...a lot. I'm in the mood now though, so enjoy.

- For those of you hoping for a long winded account of my Easter Break, it is not to be. 3 weeks of adventures in not so sunny Spain, tajines and the Sahara in Morocco cannot fit into one blog post. As I said before, pictures are worth 1000 words, and some good ones are to come. Particular stories will have to be told in person, I don't think a keyboard will do some of them justice.

I have come down with a fever, which is a little scary considering where I've just been, but hopefully it fades fast. In the next couple weeks, I have a lot of work to finish and then Carly is coming to visit! We are planning a trip up the West Coast which should be amazing! After that, 2 or 3 weeks and I will be home bound! Time flies, but I will be happy to see everyone and enjoy summer in the Sault!

- So, that fever turned out to be a pretty ugly sickness, apparently Campylobacter. A food borne illness I must have picked up dining on cow's pancreas, fresh dates or market fruits while in Morocco. Anyways, got some antibiotics and those cleared the nasty critters out pretty fast! Good thing, I thought I was going to fade to nothing on a diet of chicken broth and rice and I had 3 assignments to do in a couple days before Carly came to visit! I got them done, literally 10 minutes before catching the bus to leave, missed my first train to meet Carly (I honestly miss so many trains it's ridiculous) but finally got to Inverness and found Carly waiting at the train station. I actually didn't see her at first, and waved at my cousin standing behind her...awkward (sorry Carly!).

The adventures began! We headed out from the beautiful little coastal town of Ullapool, and took an extremely wavy ride to Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis. We had a very interesting time navigating around the island with buses running approx. every 3 hours with no real stops and no schedules posted. It led to a bit of a food debacle, but in the end we came out with a great dinner and some funny stories. We stayed in the coolest hostel, right on the ocean, with lambs and a farm and some great trails surrounding it. What a great place to start the trip. We saw some ancient standing stones, enjoyed lunch right in the middle of them (can't do THAT at Stonehenge) and continued south to the ferry port to catch a ferry to the Isle of Skye. Or so we thought. Turns out there was no ferry that night, so we caught one to Northern Uist instead! Just like that, 2 Outer Herbrides in 2 days! We stayed in another great hostel with some trails we took full advantage of in the morning before our ferry left. It even had an awesome little suspension bridge over an inlet, very cool, but a little too many dead sheep for our liking. I thought it was kind of interesting, Carly, not so much.

Oh, one little detail I may have forgot to mention. My wallet had unfortunately fallen through the seats at the ferry terminal in Harris (the southern part of Lewis), so my left back pocket was lonely. Thankfully I have spent far too much on this exchange and I had my credit card numbers memorized so was able to pay for accommodation.

Side note: canned sardines and mackarel are my new favourite travel food.

SO. We finally got a ferry over to Skye! Woohoo, we arrived ready to start our adventures. Sadly, it was Sunday, and in the Hebrides this mean NOTHING is open or running. We rolled with it, and it provided us an excellent chance to explore our own little Uig Bay. Our hostel was perched on the hillside with sheep pastures stretching back for miles and the sun setting over the sea, spectacular. That bay was explored thoroughly, and as usual, the highest points were sought, conquered and photographed. We ate lunch a mile or so up and behind our hostel overlooking the bay. It was so nice to be with an old friend enjoying such a beautiful foreign destination. Later we watched the most golden sunset I've ever seen from the hills rising up across the bay. The next day we explored northern Skye, seeing Kilt Rock and heading down to the Old Man of Stor. This took much longer than expected. A prominent theme during our trip were our attempts to hitchhike. In the end, we succeeded once, and it took us a few hours. Yea, probably wouldn't knowingly try that again, unless somewhere much more remote, but it was great and I can cross that off the to do list!  We continued south and saw Portree for about 5 minutes as we transferred buses through to the booming metropolis of Sligachan!! The Cuillin Range is one of the most spectacular mountain ranges in Scotland, which is saying something, and my guidebook said Sligachan was the best place to explore it from, so I thought why not? It was true, set right in the middle of a glen with epic peaks extending back for miles, it was a walkers paradise. A walkers paradise complete with one hotel, one campground, and luckily, one newly opened hostel! A hungry Carly was not impressed with the lack of...everything, but, we got some food (venison burgers!) and soon we were off enjoying some spectacular views, and saying, oh ya let's just go around the next bend. This led to quite the walk, and we got back definitely in need of a beverage. At the hotel we met a fellow Canadian who was travelling the world for 4 years! Impressive to say the least.

Alright, it's getting late, I just wanted to get a post up to motivate me to do some more, so here it is, I'll add pics soon (may have to do some studying, I do have exams Monday and Tuesday).

I'm loving Aberdeen at the moment, and very sad that the experience is coming to an end, but I'm already reminiscing about some pretty epic adventures that I'll never forget! 4 months is an awkward time frame, I am really settled in now, but it's time to get up and go, yet again! What a crazy, lucky life I have.

The posts will come fast and furious in the next week and a half hopefully so keep an eye out! Sorry about the delays, a man's gotta travel sometime you know! Can't be working all the time! :P

On the roaddd againnn

Tomorrow morning we are off to Spain and Morocco for 3 weeks. Bullfighting, sangria, beautiful beaches, tapas, treks through the Sahara, vibrant Moroccan culture and the Atlas mountains will be sought eagerly. Our itinerary is as follows: 25th -28th Barcelona 29th Madrid 30th Toledo 31st -1st Seville 2nd - 5th Granada 5th Tangier 6th - 8th Marrakech 9th -11th Sahara 12th Fez 13th Chefchaouen 14th Tangier 15th Faro 16th Back to Aberdeen
Until then, adios amigos!

not so unthinkable

Just kidding, thought I'd leave everyone with some suspense so you would come back.

So we headed up Arthur's seat, or so we thought. After climbing a few hills in the Cairngorms I knew how long of a trek it could be so felt the need to get this one out of the way, and followed someone up what I thought was just a more direct route up Arthur's seat. Not so much. As I crested the hill I looked up and there was Arthur's seat, but rising up about 500m down the path from us, shoot.

The girls weren't to happy, but we made it up eventually and saw some great views of Edinburgh from the top.  From there we explored the Royal Mile, had a snack in the Elephant House, where J.K. Rowling wrote the Harry Potter series! I kept my eye open for other writers looking like they would make it big someday.

From there we checked into our hostel, went out for dinner at a place just below Edinburgh Castle, met some Australians and had quite the night experiencing Edinburgh's night life.

The next day we woke up to check out, but none of us were quite ready to start exploring. So we drank our fare share of water and had a full Scottish breakfast including black pudding! Which for those who haven't heard, is basically blood pudding, and is delicious and nutritious! After that, we walked up to Edinburgh Castle, which is perched high above most of the city on bluffs in the center of town. The entry price was 14 quid, which we decided was a little much for a morning inside a castle. Instead, we took some pictures at the gates, pretended we went in, and continued on our tour of Edinburgh! Next we headed to the National Museum. When I was younger, travelling to Washington D.C.'s Smithsonian, and London's Natural History Museum, I loved checking out the exhibits.10 years later, nothing has changed. I felt as though I could wander forever looking and learning about natural history and other interesting displays.

Eventually we were on sensory overload so we split up, the girls went to the grass market, and Tucker and I checked out Greyfriars Kirkyard, a grave yard famous for Greyfriars Bobby, a dog who continued to visit his deceased master's grave everyday for 14 years after his death. The grave's were very much different from those in St.Peter's in Salzburg, and were decorated with skulls and ominous figures rather than gold fixings.

The trip ended with some smoothies and a picnic in new town and then it was back to Aberdeen!

This weekend, it was off to London for the Head of the River Regatta. It was a bit of a last minute scramble but it worked out as the novice crew needed a sub and I could get a lift down! HoRR is very historical head race, held on the River Thames! We left at 6am Friday morning and began the long drive down to London. I woke up to some very questionable things, and it was good fun driving down with the guys from AUBC. We arrived, and I was lucky enough to be welcomed by one of the crew's family for the weekend. We discussed race plan, although not extensively, and headed for an early night.

The next morning it was off to the University of London boathouse to rig and get on the water. Rowing in Britain is a bit of a different story then in Canada. The density of clubs on the Thames is mind boggling. It seems like every second building is a boat house. We got on the water after a bit of a scramble and the race began...but only about an hour of getting up the side of the Thames with 420 other crews around, insane. I also had drunk a significant amount of water before getting onto the river and was regretting whole heartedly. Luckily someone had an empty water bottle.

We finally started the race, finished the race, rowed back upstream for what seemed like ages, and got back to Alex's to shower, watch a bit of rugby then head out with the crew for post race and St. Patrick's day celebrations.  The Thames Boat Club has a bar upstairs and I don't think I have ever seen that many rowers in one place at one time.

Sunday morning the team left and I headed to Winchester to visit Julian, Sandy and the boys.  I was happy for a little time to read on the train and finished The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and would definitely recommend it if you have not already read it.  The rest of the day we spent biking, having a delicious dinner as always, and watching the Three Musketeers.

On Monday, I headed to London after saying goodbye and arrived at Waterloo station on the south side of the Thames.  I didn't know quite where I was so tried to head for a tourist info building by St. Paul's Cathedral, but wasn't exactly sure of my directions on the way. Eventually I got there, planned a route to hit the highlights, and set on my way. Down the Millenium bridge I strode, with the impressive Tate Modern infront, and St. Pauls at my back. I turned down the river, past Shakespeare's Globe Theatre and toward the Tower Bridge. I paused for lunch beside the city council building, taking in an impressive vista with  the Tower Bridge and the Tower of London on the opposite bank. Crossing the bridge I began to feel quite ill, as if someone had stomped on my internal organ.  It was not a pleasant feeling being ill travelling alone and having the trip back to the airport looming.

Painfully, I made my way back to the airport, found a table close to my gate and put my head down like I was back in highschool math class. Feeling a little better, I caught my plane back to Aberdeen, took a taxi home, and was welcomed with some Belgian cuisine from Quinton, for which I was extremely grateful.

Another trip done, and another one coming up, 25 days exploring Barcelona, Madrid and the Andalusia, Morocco, the Atlas mountains and the Sahara. At times all this travel feels a little overwhelming, but I know this summer I will look back on my travels fondely and have some great stories to tell for the rest of my life.

Sayonara!

George