The strange thing about going to another country is that once you are there, you feel as though somehow you have always been there. Your friends and family and familiar places all feel infinitely far away and the past feels like a distant memory. Bein
g back in Scotland just felt completely natural, but it felt like stepping back into a different life, with different friends and different stories and different customs. Then when you leave, it feels so bizarrely unnatural. The divide between the two countries feels so deep and impossible to bridge, yet you know you were in one just yesterday and another one today. It feels even more strange and separated knowing that I am the only one who walks between these two particular lives....on each side, there is no one who really knows my friends or experiences from the other side. It leaves you with so much to say and no one to really say it to.So I am trying to process all of that, while also packing up this week and preparing to move into a new season of life as a working adult. And after travelling over 24 hours yesterday, I am more than a bit exhausted and disoriented!
Every day in Scotland contained a billion blog posts, with no time to write any of them. But here's a few more small highlights:
1) I survived a fishing expedition on the Scottish seas! While the trip was beautiful, it is possibly one of the worst ideas ever to go out sailing on stormy, choppy waters the day after an exhausting wedding. I was pretty convinced our boat was going to capsize and/or I would lose my lunch, but thankfully, neither happened (the story of Jesus and the disciples out on the ocean came to mind quite a few times). On the bright side, I caught three huge fish for dinner, and they were scrumptious.
2) Speaking of marine life, one of the many lovely homes I stayed in was right next to Chanonry Point, on the Black Isle. Chanonry Point is considered the best spot in the entire United Kingdom to see wild dolphins, and it was a five minute walk from the house where I stayed! I met with many days of disappointment in my search for dolphins, but the day before I left the Black Isle, they finally decided to come out for me. Such an amazing sight.
2) Speaking of marine life, one of the many lovely homes I stayed in was right next to Chanonry Point, on the Black Isle. Chanonry Point is considered the best spot in the entire United Kingdom to see wild dolphins, and it was a five minute walk from the house where I stayed! I met with many days of disappointment in my search for dolphins, but the day before I left the Black Isle, they finally decided to come out for me. Such an amazing sight. 
3) A couple of culinary triumphs: the Crichton family kindly asked me to make some traditional cornbread for them, and with great trepidation (it would kill me to mess up such a staple of Southern cuisine) I did so...and it was a success! Then in Glasgow, I tried my hand at a Gordon Ramsey recipe: a chocolate chestnut truffle cake. It was decadent and gooey and utterly delicious....the perfect addition to a dinner party in a beautiful city with such lovely friends.
4) I experienced the best part of socialized medicine: I got pretty sick during my last few days in Scotland, and a doctor saw me for free (despite the fact that I was an American visitor, not a taxpayer), then prescribed antibiotics which I was able to buy for about five dollars. I know having a nationalized health system has its major disadvantages as well, but the free medical treatment and cheap medicine were both pretty sweet!
