Well - I made it here in one piece, and have been in the United Kingdom for exactly one week now. My cosplays are still shoved in space bags in the bottom of my suitcases, and my wigs are still tragically smashed into bags. But that's only for one more week - and with all of the travelling I am having the opportunity to do before moving into my flat, it is well worth it (albeit still quite painful).
I spent my first three days in this fantastic (but very cold!) country in Glasgow, mostly just settling in and figuring out mobile phones and bank accounts and boring but necessary things. I also bought UK power cords for all of my essentials - namely, my PSP, DS, and PS3. Priorities, of course. I checked out Glasgow's Forbidden Planet the first day as well....oh yes, Forbidden Planet. I probably should have mentioned that earlier - it is basically the UK's nerd store, full of manga, graphic novels, action figures, and the like. I quite enjoy visiting all of them and seeing what they have.
Tragically, Glasgow's was quite disappointing, with very little I cared about aside from the large manga wall, and the space itself was hard to maneuver in at all. I will have to find another one once I get more settled in...
...you know, I just realized another important fact I failed to mention in my first post. This is actually not my first time living in the United Kingdom, and thus, I am not entirely new to everything here, which might be an important fact to point out. I lived and studied in Belfast, Northern Ireland a little more than a year ago for six months, and still have a lot of connections there. Okay. Important background information out of the way and hopefully dually noted.
Anyway, back to Scotland. I did not see very many other exciting things in the city that are not typical to most cities, but the people were nice enough. I also enjoyed three meals at a small inn called the Burnbrae (spelling? I hope that is right) that was in the suburb I was staying at that were absolutely fantastic. Chicken tikka, potato and leek soap, and then - yes. Haggis. I actually quite enjoyed it, which means it might be time for me to look up exactly what is in it...let's do that together now, shall we?
According to the all-knowing Wikipedia,"Haggis is a dish containing sheep's 'pluck' (heart, liver and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally simmered in the animal's stomach for approximately three hours."
Errr...........well. I'm glad I read that now, rather than before, because it was legitimately very good. Moving on now, I think.
Guess who else was in Glasgow apparently?
Continuing on in my travels, I also had the opportunity to visit Loch Lomand, Loch Ness, and the Highlands. I fell in love with the Highlands from the moment I first saw them - incredibly desolate and actually a bit eerie, but fantastic. Apparently the sheep sometimes get stuck in the bogs there and die, which is actually quite tragic. Not sure why I felt the need to share that...probably because the fact upset me a bit and I always like to share that sort of thing. Anyway, it was a long day trip indeed (600 km - the longest day trip in Great Britain) but most certainly worth it. On top of that, the weather actually held up quite nicely! It did rain a bit, but nothing too serious, and never when I was actually outside and not just travelling. Is it bad that all I could think about was how epic it would be to take some serious cosplay pictures out here? Imagine that. Especially something like Howl's Moving Castle. Fantastic. Something to look into.
The picture above is of an area called Haunting Glencoe, where there was actually a bagpiper playing as well to add to the entire 'Scottish experience.' The shot to the left is just from the window of the bus, but I loved how the tops of many of the mountains were lost in the clouds like this one was. We also stopped at a unique little place called the Drover Inn that was supposedly haunted...like everywhere else in Scotland. But I could feel it a bit I suppose, because as soon as I walked in, it felt cramped and sketchy, and the air itself just felt very heavy. I lasted about ten minutes before I had to leave. Cannot imagine actually staying there. I'll pass.
I kept my eyes open for Nessie, but apparently this was not the day because I didn't see anything other than black water, and a entire bus full of French tourists.
After a week in Glasgow and the Highlands, I spent the weekend back in Northern Ireland with my significant other and friends, which was a brilliant time. Upon arriving I had my heart set on returning to what had been my favourite Indian take-away for dinner that night, and as soon as I walked in the man behind the counter remembered me AND already knew what I was going to order even though it had been over a year. Fantastic. One of the single best moments of my trip thus far. Overall, the weekend was great and full of friends and love (and scones). I'll be travelling over to Northern Ireland whenever I get the chance.
Oh! My significant other did have the most fantastic welcome back present for me - a pre-registration for London MCM Expo at the end of October!!! We spent a lot of time over the weekend planning that, and planning cosplays, and I can legitimately say that I am unbelievably excited to go to a con in London - especially one as big as London Expo. I am more than likely going to take my formal Ciel Phantomhive, Jin Kisaragi, and Shizuo Heiwajima cosplays, but that could change between now and then. I do have six weeks, after all.
And the day after London Expo is Halloween, when there is supposedly a huge festival in Edinburgh. I won't be missing that, and intend to be dressed as Hei/BK-201. Equally excited.
AND there is a con called 'Scotland Loves Anime' that is in mid-October that I am going to look into once I am settled in at university. There is a weekend of it in Glasgow, and then another in Edinburgh. I can't feasibly go to both, but I need to figure out one or the other to go to. Cosplays are still up for debate.
I am extremely glad to be settling right back into the convention culture here as quickly as possible, though, and I am looking forward to seeing what cons in England and Scotland are like - and the cosplay, of course!! Most importantly.
Currently, I am sitting at a quirky little B&B in Edinburgh waiting out the remnants of a hurricane that swept past America and is now slamming Scotland with gale force winds and rain, and desperately hoping that it is gone by tomorrow so that I can explore this city a bit better. It's quite charming and incredibly different than Glasgow, but that will have to wait until my next entry. I will leave you with this, however - I find myself addicted to a fantastic local drink known as Irn Bru, which is a super-sweet, bright orange soda that is made in Scotland. I was drinking a bottle of it every day...
...and then my taxi driver told me this morning that last week its recipe was actually taken to the Court of the European Union, which was trying to get it changed because it is so bad for people, and it has been banned in several countries (including America it seems!). But they lost the court case, and Irn Bru remains the same. For now. Oh joy. I'm so pleased I'm putting that into my system.
Right there with the haggis (which the taxi driver also told me would put hair on my chest).
-Prince Yuki
The Highlands look so perfect for Howl! Now to find a moving castle...
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