The Highlands and higher learning.

It's been nearly a month now since I've moved here. I can't say that it's been really easy, but it hasn't been terribly hard either. There are moments of homesickness that mostly come around when I'm left by myself without anything to do or anyone to talk to and won't go away and, let's be honest, sort of ruin the night. But since I last wrote, I did have some adventures. Namely my first excursion up into the highlands. I've been keeping up to date with what the International Society does and what trips they offer, and joined up on a trip to the highlands to places like Inveraray, Glencoe, Fort William, and Harry Potter Bridge (Glenfinnan Viaduct) last Saturday, September 28. I've allowed myself one day each week to go explore someplace new or do something without worrying about how much work I'll have to do later. Last Saturday's trip was beautiful, to say the very least, and very uncharacteristically warm!

Our first stop was Inveraray, which has been made famous recently in British pop culture as the location for the filming of Downton Abbey's 2012 Christmas Special.

Inveraray Castle

Glencoe

The next stop was a wee bit of a break in Glencoe, to the Three Sisters mountains in the Highlands (most noted as the location for parts of the James Bond film Skyfall!) and we also passed Loch Lomond. Glencoe was beautiful, the highlands are beautiful, and I didn't want to leave. I saw quite a few houses for sale around Glencoe that I wouldn't mind just moving into with a big pile of books and my dog and lots of jumpers and warm blankets. We stopped for lunch in Fort William, which is often the half-way point for trips up to the Isle of Skye, etc. Fort William is also a popular destination for those who dare to try the 96 mile hike of the West Highland Way, something I definitely put on a bucket list. After lunch, we went to Harry Potter bridge and got to see the Jacobite steam engine cross, puffing away, as well as some exploring. It was hot in the highlands, which is extremely unusual. It was Gettysburg Homecoming weekend back home, so I brought my Gettysburg gear to feel connected despite being several thousand miles away.

Adjusting to life here isn't all too terrible, but there are some things that make me sad. I desperately miss my friends and family back home, mainly on the notion that I've been here for almost a month and still haven't quite 'clicked' with anyone in the same way as I did in my undergraduate years. While I greatly enjoy the presence of the new friends I've made here, it is rather hard to explain just who you've become in the past four years to a whole new group of people. Sometimes, I feel very disjointed from what's happening at home. It's different from Egypt, because I had Gettysburg to come back to at the end and perhaps that's why I was so desperate to return so early last time I was abroad. Life at home had been on hold then, I had a year and a half to come back to and when things got rough I was desperately anxious to come home; whereas now - this is a higher degree. This is home, for the moment. This is what there is! No hold button, no more semesters at the 'burg and a wide open future ahead of me. I love living here though. I'm extremely lucky to have lived part of my dream of moving to the UK.

Speaking of a higher degree (rough tangent): I've got to say, Gettysburg did prepare me in the best ways possible (thanks, Anthro. department!) but grad school is a whole new level of terrifying in some regards. Papers and research hold more weight, you're amongst colleagues now, not just fellow students. I don't mind the amount of reading: it's necessary. I learn something new each time, and I nearly review something I already know each time as well. And it's really strange to be talking to your colleagues and actually get the chance to say "I'm an archaeologist. I specialize/I research..." and it actually feels right. Thanks to Gettysburg, I've got a solid grasp and understanding of anthropological and archaeological theory, it's just a matter of conquering some of the deep historical details of my specialty now. I don't regret a single religious studies or history course I took either, as in some magical way that information has been retained and helps, even if only a little. 

But still, the amount of knowledge I've yet to learn about the historical and archaeological details of Scotland is mind-blowing, terrifying, and intimidating. Sometimes I have to remind myself that it's only the second week of classes; no one expects me to know the history between the Campbell and MacDonald clans in full-on detail. No one expects me to know exactly what type of site I'm looking at just through pictures the first time I see them. I've got time to learn it, somehow.

I've also been thinking about which path I want to follow after my masters degree is completed. I know I want a PhD. I just don't know if I want it immediately after or not. I know I've mentioned it in a few blog posts before, but I'm still musing. I know I want to get out in the field more. I know I want to go back to troweling away at the earth because that's what I love so much about archaeology. I want to do more field research, get my head in a few projects and get some more experience under my belt. But I don't know how long I should wait, if that's the path I choose, for my PhD. I don't want to lose the connections I make here while I'm at Glasgow, but I also have the matter of funding.

Quite a pickle. Seems I haven't gotten any further than the last time I brought this up, except with the inkling that I might want to take a break from academia before going onto a PhD straight away but there you have it.

*casually shrugs shoulders*