This is the portion of the blog where in my trip I was BUSY. Busy getting settled back into the house, back into the routine of things, meeting new people in the program, shifting my brain from vacation mode to school mode. Needless to say it was yet another scenario where it was a lot at once, but I managed to get through it. Also note that this will be a shorter blog because although you guys might be interested in learning about what I did in my orientation, that isn't what I intend for the blog. :)
Let's start with that Friday. We started bright and early at eight thirty in the morning, getting breakfast and meeting in one of the classrooms to get acquainted with faculty and directors and each other! We also started learning about the house and went on tours. Most I had already explored when I first arrived here with Kallie and her sisters but I got a bit more inside history with the estate on this tour.
Saturday was yet another early morning as we started with breakfast and going through the basics of life at the house and also what to expect with our classes and house trips. In the afternoon we had something called the Amazing Race which was set in Edinbrugh. We got a lost of historical landmarks to find in the city and from there was set out in groups to go find them and document it with a photo. This was to one, get us acclimated with using the buses and two to get us acclimated with the city and of course withe everyone in the programs.
Sunday we had final house details to cover and were assigned our house chores. That was part of the deal when we applied for this trip and I honestly don't mind it. I clean the laundry room and the weight room which one of the two barely get used. (It's the weight room, don't worry we clean our clothes here). We also went into our classrooms and got the run down of what to expect for the three weeks of class and what assignments will look like. I was excite with all of the field trips we were doing because that is the best way for me to learn and experience Scotland! Afterwards we set forth for a tour of Edinburgh! This was the best part of our weekend.
We had Dave the tour guide taking us through the streets and closes of Edinburgh and he was an energetic dude. I took notes for myself on his tour guide skills as I am one for Stout back at home. It was about a two hour tour full of stories and the history that made Edinburgh what it is today. Some highlighting stories worth telling included historic landmarks such as St. Giles Cathedral, Edinburgh Castle, Greyfrairs Kirkyard, & Maggie Dickson's Pub.
The first story is of Jenny Geddes. She was a market woman of the 17th century and is famously known as the woman who threw a wooden stool at the ministers head during service. This is such an important piece in Scottish history because it started the Bishop's war and ultimately the War of the Three Kingdoms. Story goes that the people of Scotland in the 16th century went through a Protestant Reformation and were strictly Presbyterian. There came a time when King Charles I went to a Scottish service and sent for a service using full Anglican rites. In the years to follow King Charles I and the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Laud began to consider ways of an Anglican style church. The King came up with a prayer book for Scotland called The Booke of Common Prayer and it was faced with widespread opposition from the population. This is where Jenny comes in because she was the one who opened the door for the disgust of the new church. After it happened people in the congregation were shouting abuse, throwing bibles, stools, sticks and stones and eventually taking it to the streets rioting throughout the night and days to come. So Jenny was known as the woman who changed the face of Scottish faith and if you are that well known in Scotland you will eventually get a pub named after you. (As you will notice in more of my stories).
The second story is one that is close to my heart as it became inspiration for an episode in Game of Thrones. Because as you might've known, the first two seasons of the show was filmed in Scotland but they then lost them to Belfast which remained their filming grounds for the remaining of the series. In Edinburgh Castle we are shedding light on the youngest king, 10 year old James II and the Chancellor of Scotland's invitation to the castle addressed for the Earl of Douglas and his younger brother. The Chancellor, Sir William Crichton, feared the the Black Douglas clan was growing too powerful and wanted an end of their power. So they set for a dinner party with the Douglas brothers as their guests and all was well and everyone was enjoying the music and the huge feast. After many main courses they set out to have one final meal and put came a head of the black bull (which symbolized the death of the Black Douglas clan). They seized The Earl of Douglas and his younger brother and went through a mock trial and found guilty of high treason and were beheaded. If you haven't guessed it already this became the story line for the Red Wedding of Game of Thrones. If you haven't seen the show yet though I won't spoil that for you!
The next two stories are both from the Greyfrairs Kirkyard, a grave site of people in Scotland. It was also used as dumping grounds for people who died from the Black Death and a prison for the top criminals of the city. Two important names to note and who have headstones in the grave yard are Sir George MacKenzie and Greyfrairs Bobby. Sir George MacKenzie was the man who tortured prisoners in the grave yard. Well he did that for MANY years and used methods such as the iron boot and a thumb device that would break the prisoners thumb. Well when he died he was buried in that exact grave yard, This is where things get scary...in 1982 there was a homeless man that went into the grave yard looking for shelter from a huge rain storm and he went into MacKenzie's grave site.When he ran in there he fell through the floor and on top of his coffin! The man doesn't remeber much of the fall but got himself out and went to the hospital for his injured arm. But when he arrived at the hospital he scared the nurses because the man had scratches vertically down his face like a hand had done that to him. Could it have been from the fall, an animal or Sir George MacKenzie's ghost himself looking to torture people? Police were called and investigated the grave site and talked to the man. Since then police have locked the gates to the grave site and there have been 256 recorded reports of the Bloody MacKenzie's ghost coming out and haunting people. The most recent was 2011 when a man was on a haunted tour of the grave site and afterwards going home and feeling uneasy. He went to shower and noticed excruciating pain coming from his back. He took off his shirt and found vertical scratches all down his back. Coincidence? I will let you decide and look into the stories themselves.
But to go off on a lighter note from the grave site, this one is about the grounds keeper and his dog Bobby. For years Mr. Greyfrairs had tended to the grave site with Bobby and later died of a sickness. The church held a huge service in honor of him and his loyal companion, Bobby, knew his owner was gone and after he was set in his grave Bobby laid at his side still for the rest of the day. People the next day would pay their respects to the grave and see good ol' Bobby there and tell him to come and get up...but he wouldn't. Four days later he was still there. With people constantly checking in on him he still wouldn't leave. Booby stayed by his masters side for 14 years! There is now a grave site for him and people leave treats, toys, sticks and dog bones for him. He is also one of the many who have a bar named after him.
Maggie Dickson is the next woman of Edinburgh who was a fisherman's wife. She became pregnant and came to fame for after being convicted of killing her newborn baby. So she went to trail and was sentenced to hang in the grass market for the public to see. The day of her hanging, the town was there and as she had the noose around her she was pronounced dead at the scene. The doctors signed off on her death papers and sent her off with the mortician. But in the back of his wagon he started to hear some rumbling and moaning. Suddenly he saw the sheets moving and Maggie Dickson's head popping up ALIVE. He was terrified at what he was seeing and couldn't believe it. He brought her back to the doctors and did an examination of her. She was alive and put back on trial to kill her AGAIN. But the law makers of Edinburgh state if someone is pronounced dead then they no longer are a citizen so they couldn't put Maggie on trial or sentence her to death since the doctors signed off on her death papers. So she lived and eventually remarried and had four more kids. Technically, as well as being dead in Edinburgh and basically a ghost, she also didn't have to pay taxes! Her story is so famous that she also has a pub named after her!
There are many other stories that came from Edinburgh's past and unraveling them is part of the fun that is offered in this city. It is full of history and I encourage you to find them! This is it for this post though, I wanted these stories to be the highlight so you could understand the city, it's past and what made it what it is today!