I was originally supposed to go to St Andrews and Falkland Palace but because I failed to pick up my Orientation tickets on time, my tickets went to someone else and this trip was left open. It was a good choice though! Culzean is less of a castle and more of a manor-style building. The house was enlarged in the 1590s and continued to grow via the Kennedy family (not associated with the Kennedy's of America!); I won't go through the entire history of the place because honestly it's a lot to take in, and very very complex at points but I will give you a fun fact! President Dwight Eisenhower was actually given the top floor apartments of the Culzean Castle as a gift after World War II. He made four trips to Culzean, three as general, once as president, and he often liked to golf, walk the beaches, and paint during his visits. After his death, the rooms were returned to the National Trust for Scotland and made into suites, which people can now pay exuberant amounts of money to stay in.
It was really fun to wander around the gardens with Carolina, one of my flatmates, and see things like the Swan Pond, and go climb down to the shoreline to linger among the rocks of the beach and explore some shallow cliff-side caves. We spent nearly all day there, and then the following day, Saturday, I spent at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. The nice thing about the Glasgow Museums is that the majority of them are absolutely free. The Kelvingrove is one of them. The exhibits are excellently put together and I even got a fair few surprises when I wandered around.
I had no idea what would be in the Kelvingrove before I left, so I was pleased to find an exhibit on the first peoples of Scotland, an exhibit on the Vikings, and a Conflict and Consequences exhibit which contained suits of armor and swords, even a small display on the Holocaust. I also on Saturday went to a traditional Scottish dance called a ceilidh. For those who do not know what a ceilidh is, check out this video (our ceilidh was very very informal and filled with MANY more people, but we did actually do the first dance that is shown in that video). It was very fun, and very crazy at points.
On Sunday, Carolina and I walked for ages to get to the Glasgow Cathedral and Necropolis. The Cathedral is the only remaining medieval church on the Scottish mainland which lasted entirely untouched through the Protestant Reformation in the 1500s (largely at the expense of King Henry).
As someone doing Celtic and Viking Archaeology and is extremely interested in medieval Christianity and ecclesiastical-related topics, this was absolutely amazing to see. It's about a forty minute walk from my flat, and totally worth it (even if it did rain). Additionally, we went to the St Mungo's Museum of Religious Life and Art which is right across the way from the Cathedral and was very informative about all sorts of religions that are represented in Glasgow. Fun fact: St Mungo (otherwise known as St Kentigern) is the patron saint of Glasgow!
Since Sunday, I've waited for my program inductions. And at long last, today, Wednesday, I've finally had them! I spent from 10:00 this morning until around 7:00 going over logistics of the archaeology department, learning IT related things that are useful to my studies (such as how to access self-taught courses for ArcGIS and AutoCAD) and I also got to meet my core professors for my program and my fellow PGTs (post-graduate taught degree). I was given so much information - on Moodle, on door codes for the PGT workspace and various rooms undergraduates do not have access too, on 24 hour code access to the building, etc. The department is also very closely knit, much like Gettysburg in some respects. I'm very excited that we have our own amenities and spaces, labs and lounges, and the PGRs are more than willing to help out the PGTs on anything they need. A popular topic on the PG moodle is "Who has this book?" where anyone can ask for a book and if someone has it, they can more than likely borrow it, even if it's a personal copy.
I'm a mixture of absolutely terrified, overwhelmed, and excited. I spoke with a researcher who has gone to Glasgow and is now moving on for a job, but has worked extensively with the Isle of Iona, which is what I would like to focus on for a potential masters dissertation, or even future doctoral thesis. I was torn between feeling like I know nothing, and being assured as I explained my background and interests that I would be a-okay.
I also spoke with many of the post-graduate research or PhD students, many of whom are in their third or fourth final year of PhD. It came to my knowledge that I sort of have to decide if I want to do a PhD immediately after this pretty much within the next two months. Of course, this is all reliant on funding. I know I want a PhD eventually, however, I would also like some huge opportunities for fieldwork and research. If I wait too long, I could potentially lose the relationships that I will build here at Glasgow, or have those relationships become more distant than if I try for one now while I have the chance to become close with many of my peers and advisers. It's a decision I need to come to (also to decide: US or UK? That in itself is a load of differences - price, time [five to seven years versus four]) quite soon. Many American PhD students I spoke with did fund themselves through loans, and though they agreed that the advice not to do one unless I'm funded is ideal, they also suggested that if I have something I'm passionate about and know it will pay for itself in the long run, I should do it regardless of price tag.
Regardless, it's a large chunk to focus on rather quickly. I have a large amount of reading to do as well, but I'm more excited for that (once I figure out exactly how I'm going to do it... sharing these books with eight classmates is going to be interesting) as I finally get to explore my interests on a deeper level. Of course, I'm still having technical problems (enrollment, some issues with MyCampus - the running joke is who doesn't have issues with MyCampus?!, some issues with weird numbers coming up on my student account) but as long as I show up for my courses I should be alright.
Tomorrow, we're taking a department field trip to Inchmahome Priory and Callander, which was talked about fondly by previous MLitt students. Apparently, it's the trip and the moment where everything becomes clear that you're absolutely in the right place doing the right thing (we also take a little rowboat to the island for Inchmahome).
I have no doubt that I will feel the exact same.
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