Last weekend I headed down to the borderlands for the last hurrah. Most of our time was spent crowded into a presentation room for everyone's final project, which, while informational and sometimes interesting was LONG, even some of the professors were falling asleep at parts. It was the first and likely the last time that we were encouraged to bring a pint to our evening lectures and the professors on both nights ended the lectures early so we could all head down to the pub for a dram. The Scottish know how to do things right is all I can say.
I presented on Margaret and Frances MacDonald, the sister duo in the Glasgow Four. They both have been overshadowed by their husbands (the other two of the famous Four), Charles Renie MacKintosh and Herbert MacNair, in their posthumous acknowledgement. They are now two of my favorite artists, they were incredibly innovative and unlike anyone else of their time. I am somewhat obsessed with them now (primarily Frances, even though MacNair destroyed much of her work after her controversial death. Her work has such a bold social critic in it which I hugely admire.), so here are a few of their works:
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| Margaret MacDonald |
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| Frances MacDonald |
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| Frances MacDonald |
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| Frances MacDonald |
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| Frances MacDonald |
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| Margaret MacDonald |
After presentations on Saturday we had the chance to walk around Melrose for a bit before we had a tour of Melrose Abbey, so naturally we went and got ice cream. There is really nothing quite like ice cream on a 40 degree day with snow on the surrounding hills.
We then had a tour around the abbey, notice anything a bit off about that main arch?
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| The Scottish Weather Gods blessed us with clear, beautiful skies. |
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| View from the top of the Abbey |
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| Enjoying the sunshine despite the chilly temperature. |
We then headed off to another Abbey, but stopped on the way to see Sir Walter Scott's favorite view of Scotland. Pretty gorgeous.
We finally ended in a town (clearly I was paying very close attention during this outing), but when we arrived at the abbey the gates were closed. So we were released to explore for an hour, and my friend Claire and I ventured into a pub and were 2 of 5 females there. Naturally a football game was on so we got a strong taste of the border accent (and a lot of confused glances).
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| Continuing the sightseeing at dark theme of London. |
Sunday we spent the morning in more presentations (after a breakfast in which I tasted haggis and blood sausage for the first time. Haggis I would do again, the sausage--NEVER AGAIN!). After the last of the presentations we headed off to Abbotsford, otherwise known as Sir Walter Scott's house. It was incredible, I wish authors still had the status he had. A few of us also hatched a plan to take over the house as our own one day, the grounds are spectacular!
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| Oh, you know, just Scott's backyard. |
It was a pretty good weekend (minus the hours upon hours of presentations), and especially nice to get out into the country for a change. As much as I love cities being raised in a more country setting definitely makes me itch for open spaces and fresh air every so often.
In other news, my week should be pretty fun. Headed to a concert tonight (The Tallest Man on Earth, an absolute poet), a Thanksgiving dinner Thursday night (our kind trip leader specially arranged for a restaurant to cater a turkey dinner for us all), Saturday to Edinburgh for their St. Andrew's Day celebrations (free admission to the castle, carnival rides, Christmas Market!), and Sunday to lunch with the family friends of some folks at home. Should be a lovely week!
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