Kilts, Bagpipes, and Diplomas

After a fun weekend in Amsterdam, last Monday David and I arrived in Scotland. We flew into the capital city of Edinburgh and drove about an hour north to the small coastal village of St. Andrews, the birthplace of golf and home to St. Andrews University.  Awaiting our arrival were David’s parents Karen and Larry, his sisters Amy and Laura, his brother Jeff…. and David’s favorite meal – his mom’s lasagna. We enjoyed a nice evening at the home Karen had rented for the week catching up over a delicious dinner.

Our home for the week

Tuesday morning we headed down the road to the graduation ceremonies. It was very Harry Potter-esque. All of the students were asked to dress in dark pants and a white shirt. The men from Scotland were asked to dress in their native formal wear, the kilt. Yes! I was hoping I would get to see some men in kilts and Scotland did not disappoint. I didn’t realize how much goes into the kilt outfit. Around the waist hangs a little purse-thing with fur on it. The more fur, the closer to royalty. The different colors of the kilt signify the family you belong to, and in their stockings the men carry daggers. The “graduands” don black robes and then get “caped” as they become graduates. When their name is called, the graduand walks across the stage, kneels before the school president, and then a cape gets draped over their head. Then the president taps them on the head with a cloth supposedly from John Knox’s pants (which we learned during one of the graduation speeches is impossible because the tradition started before John Knox was even born). After a few speeches and some singing, we headed out to the courtyard to take some family photos.

Later that afternoon, we had a picnic at Laura’s flat and were then invited to a garden party back at the university. This is where David was star-struck by a celebrity from our childhood. We actually saw a couple of celebrities on this trip. As we were going through UK customs, Pharrell Williams from N.E.R.D and his entourage were waiting for their work visas to clear in line in front of us. David recognized him immediately as “that guy with the song from Band Hero we love!” Anyway, Laura had mentioned to us that one of her roommates and best friends at St. Andrews used to play Morgan on Boy Meets World (the young Morgan, not the annoying one they replaced her with – according to David). She also played the girl at the beginning of The Negotiator. David LOVES Boy Meets World so he couldn’t wait to meet her. Lily just thought it was hilarious that someone wanted a picture with her.

Celebrity Watching - Morgan from 'Boy Meets World'

That night we met Laura’s boyfriend and had a scrumptious dinner at a local Indian restaurant. On Wednesday Laura took us on a tour of St. Andrews. We started off at the golf course, which is closed in preparation for the upcoming British Open but you are allowed to walk around the fairways and greens. Near the course there’s a rock out in the bay that David’s family took pictures on years ago when they visited St. Andrews. So we had to take updated pictures on “THE FAMOUS ROCK.” David and I wore our cute Scotland outfits (argyll and plaid caps) and posed for some photos.

Then we toured the ruined St. Andrews castle and learned all about the corrupt archbishops, Cardinal Beaton’s murder, and the sieges that partially destroyed the fortress.

David's "artsy" photo of St. Andrews Castle

We kept walking along the coast through the campus towards the old cathedral. Some of the gravestones in the churchyard date back to the 1500s but they are kept in a separate space indoors for conservation purposes. David and I climbed over 100 feet up the church tower to get a better view of the area.

Us at the top of the tower

Then we headed back down and to a pub called The Rule to watch the England World Cup game. In case you haven’t noticed, the World Cup schedule often determined our own schedule. Luckily both the US and England won their games so everyone was in a great mood! We had taco night at home and then made a late-night run to the market for some yummy British desserts. After watching more World Cup, we turned in to get some rest before another day of sight-seeing Thursday.