Yes, that's right, last night I tried haggis. And you know what? It was really good! Seriously, it just tasted like spicy ground beef.
For those of you who don't know, haggis is ground up "sheep parts" (I won't tell you which parts). I had to try it because we were at a Robert Burns Celebration (as you can see from the photos). Friday is Robert Burns day (you've never seen a country more obsessed with a poet), and all week long there are dinners in his honor. Paddy, my Scottish Culture and Society professor, arranged for all of us to go to this super traditional Burns celebration. We had haggis, taters, nips, single malt, the works. It was really fun for about two hours, and then the toasts started...all of these people got up to toast Robert Burns by reading or singing something he had written or "would have liked" (aka whatever they wanted). It got pretty boring after a while.
Here is the list of things I learned last night:
1. Haggis is good, especially when mixed with mashed potatoes and mashed nips (nips taste kind of like squash).
2. The proper way to drink whiskey is "however the fuck you like it" (quote from a Scotsman in a kilt).
3. Old musicians play the violin pretty badly and discriminate against viola players.
4. Most older Scots smell bad...some of them smell REALLY bad.
5. Robert Burns was super sexist.
6. Most of the people who go to a Robert Burns celebration are also sexist.
7. It's really easy to pretend you know the words to old Scottish folk songs.
8. When you order an "Alabama Slammer" in Edinburgh, say it in a really bad southern accent, and you get it at a discount. Good to know.
What else is going on...I went to St. Giles Cathedral yesterday (see picture). I finally did my laundry, and it was ridiculously expensive (like 3 pounds)! I also went back to this sandwich shop I found in New Town one of my first days here, and I had really good pumpkin soup. The weather was so weird today - it was kind of cold, but really sunny and nice, and then all of a sudden it started snowing! Crazy.
So, that's it for now. I'm off to London tomorrow to see Alex and Mark...I'm so excited!
Xoxo Pam
1 comment:
That food sounds gross, but so do the old men. You look like your freezing in your pictures. I hope you watched the Giants game. They won and Will and Nick must be happy ;-). The Haggis sounds really nasty and my advise is don't try the peanut butter!!! I learned how to do the book for basketball games so I'm doing that for my math teacher. Come back soon and stay away from those smelly old dudes. Tell Bonnie and Jonah I say hi.
Love Jenny
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