Scotland, light of my life. My sin, my soul. Scot-laand. Anyone who’s ever read Lolita will understand that reference; though I’m not a 40 year old perverse man with a crush on a 12 year old gal. But rather, my heart lies with the glens and lochs and tartan and highland coos (and the accent, fuck me). Whilst this is all enough to make me fall head over heels with the place, there are a few things that are truly important to meeee.
Ballachulish on March 23rd 2018. That was our first ever trip to the Highlands with my grandparents, my mum, and our loyal hound (Lady, she’s a baby King Charles lol). The funny thing is I never wanted to go, nor did I really care for Scotland at all; it was just another place my family wanted to visit together. But wow. A few little things made the trip so special; there was no signal, so our only music choice in the car was instrumental compositions by some Russian pianists and violinists; it was so so cold, but the rawness of the air made the warmth that the mountains and ridges gave us stronger; my family, my closest family, was together. We took it all in together.
Small backstory. My grandad was diagnosed with lung cancer in May 2017, and he passed away in August 2018. Now for most people I know, their grandparents mean very little to them and exist as just another set of family members. To us, however, grandad was everything but that. I won’t get too into it, but one thing I have to mention is his want to live and to help us live. Mad little man he was sometimes, but through his madness he helped us see what really matters in the world in our own individual minds; for me, it was travelling to the little places on earth. Whilst I would never deny a cheeky trip to the USA, or some island in the east, I found that the small places tend to hold most warmth and meaning. Because of that trip, every time I think of Scotland I think of his happy face running down the hills with me, trying to escape the rain (we made it hehe).
Since then I’ve visited Scotland a handful of times; for Uni stuff (of course I applied to Edinburgh), with a friend and visiting another, I can say with confidence that almost each time was added to my top-ten memory list. It’s just a place that makes you feel at home, whether that’s due to the people, the customs…or the haggis 😉 (jks never actually tried haggis yet, fake fan :/). Edinburgh is just gorgeous and has so so much history, though if you prefer something more rural – the Highlands are obviously your top choice (100% recommend Ballachulish or higher near the Isle of Skye!). Glasgow’s just funny for the accent – ‚Glesga‘ cracks me up every time -, Dundee’s a cosy lil city with some cool cafes and a tonne of history too! I don’t know much about it, won’t lie, but it’s deffo a nice place to go especially if you’re a student. Heard Aberdeen is goooood too, never been myself though! (It’s next on the visit list ;)).
Boy, the memories. The good, the bad, the hard and the beautiful; they all happened there. I miss them every day; I’ve found that little thing that makes me smile every night.
November 2018, Dundee
16.03.19
juliamzk 