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Class of 2017
If you were to guess the five most popular tourist destinations in Europe, Scotland would probably not be on your list. In fact, I would venture to say that it would most likely be absent even from most lists of the top ten. Undoubtedly among the first to be named would be England, Spain, Italy, France and Germany; it is doubtful that Scotland would be among these ranks. Why? This isn’t due to any fault of Scotland’s other than perhaps its comparatively out-of-the-limelight status. I myself used to believe, as many others undoubtedly still do, that other European countries simply have more exciting attractions to offer, are richer in history, boast more beautiful landscapes, are more brimming with culture and are simply more interesting. Therefore, the surprise I was often met with when I would tell others I would be traveling to Scotland for a week with a group of my fellow McConnell Scholars before venturing to England did not perplex me. “I know. I wish we were staying in England longer, too,” was often my response to them, met with sympathetically nodding heads. I thought, as did many with whom I shared my plans, that England had much more to offer; I was excited to see Lewis’s home, Oxford University, the Globe Theatre in London and the 9 and ¾ platform from Harry Potter, to name a few attractions. From the beginning, the journey had even been labelled “the Oxford trip,” despite the fact that we were heading to Scotland first. The idea that England would be the climax of the trip was unspoken yet unavoidable; Scotland was the country we were visiting for a week before the real fun began.
Little did I know that a week in Scotland would completely change my perspective. I found that everything about the country I vastly underestimated is exciting, unique, harsh and rugged, from the rain that would pour down yet be finished even more abruptly than it arrived, to the unforgiving mountainous yet luxuriously green landscape, to the stunningly beautiful yet somehow dark and mysterious castles that stretched to the skies, to the thick and unmistakable accent of the people who call the nation home. The people there are unflinchingly proud to be Scottish, individualistic and patriotic in their blood, and rightfully so; the terrain has understandably been dubbed beautiful yet incredibly harsh, and staking out the first community there must have been anything but easy. During our stay in Scotland, we continued to hear stories of the native peoples’ tradition of bravery and fierce individualism, from the courage of William Wallace to Scottish poets’ refusal to adopt the traditional English language in favor of their own unique dialect full of the character that marks their culture. In Scotland, I realized that although Americans may have adopted their political system and literary traditions largely from the British, we couldn’t have gotten our fighting spirit, rugged individualism, and hint of defiance and spontaneity from anyone but the Scottish.
My trip to Scotland with several of my fellow McConnell Scholars was thus far from the prelude to England that I expected it to be. It plunged me headfirst into the unique and strong culture I had only briefly read about, which has become one that I will never forget as I have learned and seen for myself how it is a part of me and my own country. Now, while I may continue to love the very British idea of reading Shakespeare’s plays and sipping tea in an English café, I nevertheless see the beauty in the rugged simplicity of the blood pudding and loud, hearty laughter I found in Scotland.
Alicia Humphrey, of Paducah, Ky., is a junior McConnell Scholar majoring in English, political science and Spanish.