July 5- To The Highland Games We Go!

A cute "Welcome to Scotland" sign at our docking terminal.
The rock tells you the weather forecast.

Officially in Scotland. The town we’re docked at is called Greenock. We are a 30 minute train ride from Glasgow and about an hour away from Edinburgh. At first, I was really disappointed that we weren’t actually docking in the city of Glasgow, but I quickly changed my mind. It’s really nice to not be in a big city for a change! Greenock is a nice town in the countryside of Scotland.

Today I was able to go see authentic Highland Games in Scotland! It was incredible!!

SAS has these events planned at every port called Field Programs. Students can purchase tickets to do different things like go on a wine tour or a guided hike or a museum tour, etc. The tickets are expensive (way overpriced in my opinion), but they’re also good because the events are preplanned with legitimate tour companies. Anyways, people who change their minds ahead of time can sell their tickets to other students. If no one wants to buy their tickets, though, they can put them in this basket for other kids to pick up for free. I check this basket every day for free tickets, but I’ve never found anything. Until today! It just so happens that there was ticket available to go to the Highland games in a nearby town called Luss. Heck yeah!

So yes, I got to go on a $70 Field Program event for free. Woo hoo! I got up at 7:30, found the ticket, and still had an hour to pack up before we left. The timing couldn’t have been better. I then met up with my friend Ilwi, and we got on the bus to Luss (no rhyming intended). Luss is a very cute, small Scottish town next to Loch Lomond (loch = lack in Scotland). We had an hour of free-time to check out the village, and then we joined a parade headed by a bagpipe band walking to the Highland Games.

Loch Lomond

Swan on Loch Lomond

Beautiful Flowers!

Scottish Cottage

Highland Games Parade

The cows were intrigued by the bagpiping.

The Games were a lot smaller than I thought they were going to be (which I liked a lot). I think it was more of a local event than anything else. It was just a small track with food stands/vendors in the surrounding fields. The men performing the events were basically big, buff Scottish dudes wearing kilts and throwing heavy stuff. We got to see traditional Scottish athletic events like the caber toss and sheaf toss. There was also running, wrestling, tug-of-war, bike riding, and an obstacle course race.

Caber Toss

Ilwi and I shared a wood-fired pizza for lunch. I also got a box of strawberries for only 1 pound. Yum!

Pizza!

Best Strawberries Ever (besides from grandpa's garden)

There were also dancing and bagpiping competitions going on at the same time as the athletic events.

Scottish Dancing

Bagpipe Competition

Traditional Scottish Band

Badass Scottish Band

After a couple of hours, Ilwi and I decided we had had enough of the Highland Games (awesome as they were). We went back to Luss and stopped by at a little café for some hot chocolate and cake.

Cafe Break!

Hot Chocolate and Carrot Cake = Happy Jessica

We made it back to the ship in time for dinner. Afterwards, I joined my friends Lindsey and Katie for a little stroll through Greenock. Nearly all of the stores were closed, but it was fun to explore the streets anyways. All in all, today was the perfect day to begin my Scotland adventure. I got experience a lot of amazing Scottish traditions and spend a lot of time with awesome people.