Student Bloggers

Long walks and hiking are one of the major joys in life that I usually take for granted nowadays. I would usually wander around places aimlessly without a set destination, admiring each flower and how the sun reflects on puddles of water. Going to Scotland, I knew it was a place with three things: Irn Bru, Highland Cows, and hills as far as the eye could see. I signed up for one excursion for the summer: the Trossachs. I knew nothing about the Trossachs besides that it looked huge on Google Maps. As field trip after field trip passed, time grew closer to my excursion and the changed path I was about to take to fully immerse myself in the nature surrounding the place. 

The Trossachs excursion started with a drive from the Edinburgh Center to Perth for a tour of the Scone Palace. There were peacocks everywhere. I was fortunate enough to grab a large feather off the ground. The Scone Palace was interesting, with the shovels Queen Elizabeth used to plant trees and a giant taxidermy bear in the hallway. On the outside, there was an old chapel, and the original location for the Stone of Destiny. A few of my classmates and I took a wander around the gardens before going on a long bus ride through the Trossachs to Killin and the Falls of Dochart. 

The Falls of Dochart and their views were amazing. I was taken aback by how all of this existed. After viewing the falls, we ate lunch at the River Inn, where I had a chicken mayo sandwich. Sitting with my friends, we decided not to go with the rest of the group to go to a distillery and stayed in Killin. It was a dangerous decision, with the only way to get out was to make sure we caught a bus at 6:42 to Stirling and then took the train back to Edinburgh, but taking risks is one of the most fun parts of studying abroad. 

After lunch and collecting our stuff from the bus, we went towards the Old Mill, a water mill turned art market, to look around at all the vendors and to rent a key to have access to an old Bronze Age cemetery. It was off the beaten path, with the lock being very fidgety. We explored the small strip of land and saw the slow streams of water on the right and fast rapids on the left. We rested and afterwards, explored the Old Mill shops and all their vendors. I bought a print of a Highland Cow with an Irn Bru can on its horn and a keychain of an old deer antler. The shop owner was a kind woman who told us that there is a hiking trail that leads you to Finlarig Castle from the 1400s. With cheerful goodbyes and trinkets in hand, we set foot on the hiking trail. 

Wandering for hours was exactly what I needed after sitting on long bus rides after another. There were buttercup flowers and trees everywhere I could see. There were some times I would crawl over overgrown plants and step in mud to get better views of the lake or flocks of sheep on the otherside of a barbed wire fence. I loved every minute of the adventure, and wish I could relive the moments of nature at my fingertips. 

While heading back, we stopped at Finlarig Castle. It did not look like a castle in the slightest, due to it’s disrepair due to abandonment in the 1800s. There were other architectural features around the castle, such as what we called the murder hole where people were executed and an old mauseleum filled with dirt. It was the coolest castle I’ve seen, and it wasn’t even supposed to be part of the itinerary. The exploring we’ve done in the past few hours was adventurous and spontaneous, yet it has been the most fun I’ve had that week. 

The rest of the makeshift excursion consisted of dinner at a grocery store and waiting for the bus from Killin to Stirling, looking out the window were the sights of Loch Lemond and fields of sheep. Then, taking the train to Stirling to Edinburgh, passing the Wallace Monument and the memories shared on the trip with one another. My views have changed on nature, and to take in every flower and glistening rock. There is so much adventure out there to be seen, and taking an unprecedented turn in a given Arcadia Excursion led to my viewpoints on what classifies as beauty to be entirely changed. Speedy rapids with calm flowers are gorgeous and nature’s form of art. High end castles deteriorate with time, as so do leaves hidden in coves around mushrooms. Outlooks on life and beauty can be seen with one amazing excursion, even if the adventure was spontaneously done. Buttercups still bloom in meadows, sheep still frolic in fields, and grass still flows. It’s just the journey to take a leap out of your comfort zone to reach that blissful breeze.