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Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2008 , 1:10 p.m.

Roamin’ with Roman - Scotland

Roman Flis

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Back in June, I took a digital media class in Scotland through UTC, and spent three weeks roamin’ all over to different locales, so this month I am going to talk about some of my experiences visiting this beautiful country.

As the plane was landing in the Edinburgh airport, I could definitely tell I wasn’t in America anymore. The lush landscape of Scotland was something I had seen in pictures and movies, but never in person, and it was definitely a sight to behold.

We spent the majority of our time in Edinburgh, based at the University of Edinburgh’s Pollack Halls. Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, is a fascinating city filled with history and folklore. The project I am working on for the class is a book about traveling through Scotland and exploring its folklore and storytelling, so Edinburgh was a great place to gather information.

Edinburgh Castle is huge and sits high overlooking the city. Every day at 1 p.m. except Sundays, they fire a cannon shot. The day I was visiting the castle I had forgotten all about it, and almost jumped out of my shoes when the shot went off because I was standing right next to it.

I also went on several ghost tours in Edinburgh to gather information on folklore, which led down into Edinburgh’s underground. One tour went through the vaults below the South Bridge, which is supposedly one of the most haunted places in the world. Homeless people used to live down in those vaults, and the old body snatchers used the vaults for transport when they dug up bodies from graveyards to sell to the medical school.

On the first weekend of the trip we went up into the lower Scottish Highlands, and that trip was absolutely amazing. The mountains in the Highlands are a lush vivid green, with tiny plants called heather all over them. After spending a lot of time in Edinburgh, it was nice to get out and see the Scottish countryside. At Glencoe, I hiked up into the woods and it was incredible seeing all the bright green moss and clover covering the floor of the woodlands.

It was in this Highlands trip that the group had our first encounter with midges, which are similar to tiny mosquitoes. I had been warned about them and bought some midge repellant, but I kept forgetting to use it. The whole group was swarmed by them during our Highland trip, and midges became kind of a running joke throughout the trip.

During the second week we ventured over to Glasgow, which is the biggest city in Scotland. Glasgow reminded me much more of an American city than anywhere I had seen in Scotland. It was highly industrial and had more of a rushed atmosphere than the more laid back, old style city of Edinburgh.

We also visited Alloway, a small town south of Ayr, which was the birthplace of the famous Scottish poet and bard, Robert Burns. The funny thing about this town was how cheery everyone seemed to be. Random strangers would greet you with, “Jolly good day!” and stuff like that. It was a beautiful village with some of the biggest roses I have ever seen.

On the second weekend we were allowed to go wherever we wanted to go, so I took off by myself to the Isle of Skye, a large island in the northwestern part of Scotland. The train ride took about seven hours but twisted through Highlands, and was the most beautiful scenery I had seen in my life. That was until I actually got to the Isle of Skye however.

The Isle of Skye is absolutely gorgeous and is one of the most beautiful places in the world. While on the isle I hiked up to the Faerie Glen, which reminded me of The Shire from Tolkien’s Middle-Earth. I would not have been the least bit surprised to see a hobbit poking its head around the corner, or some fairies fluttering out of a tree, due to the ethereal enchantment this glen had cast over me. I also visited Loch Ness on the way back, but didn’t see the monster.

On the last week of the trip I had a major problem. We headed down to Hawkshead, England to visit the Beatrix Potter farms, and I accidentally left my laptop down there on a bench. It was highly upsetting, but I was determined to not let it ruin my trip.

I spent the rest of the trip in Edinburgh, and checked out some sights I hadn’t seen yet. The three weeks went by so fast, and there was still so much to see and do.

All and all, even with losing my laptop, this was the best three weeks of my life thus far, and I will remember it forever. I highly recommend for anyone to visit Scotland at least once in their lives, and if you do make sure to visit the Highlands and the Isle of Skye while you are there. You won’t believe your eyes at all the sheer beauty.

I have also kept an online journal of my adventures in Scotland, so for a more in-depth account of the trip visit http://romanflis.livejournal.com/

I will be roamin' through your area soon! If you would like to make comments or have questions about any of my stories, or provide some ideas and information for future stories, you can contact me at roaminwithroman@gmail.com.

Chattanooga native Roman Flis is a senior at UTC majoring in communications. He serves as assistant features editor of the school’s Echo newspaper, and writes both journalism and fiction.