Scotland

After my friends left London, I took a few days to recover then headed off to join Neha, Agnes, and Cindy, three fellow General Course students, up in Scotland. We visited Edinburgh and Glasgow from January 5th to January 11th. Seeing Scotland's two largest cities was really interesting as was seeing the differences between England and Scotland. It was also fun to spend some time with fellow General Course students outside of school and London.

View from Edinburgh Castle

-Edinburgh castle was full of fascinating and super old buildings. The castle is so old, in fact, that they're not sure when exactly it was constructed or by whom.

Enjoying some haggis with a dram of whisky 

-The Scottish people have made a very disproportionate contribution to the British Empire since the Act of Union in 1707. I had learned a bit about this in my British History class back at K, but it was enlightening to see so many examples in the museums in Edinburgh and Glasgow. James Watt (inventor of the steam engine), Adam Smith (father of modern economics), and Alexander Fleming (inventor of antibiotics) were all proud Scots. James Bond fans will know that the original Bond of the books and movies was Scottish, and this fits perfectly with the British Empire's history where Scots played disproportionate roles in the British military and colonial administration. It's remarkable what a profound impact such a small nation has had on the world.

Inside the world's largest whisky collection

-We watched a debate in the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, and were lucky to witness a very exciting one! The debate was over a bill to expand free school lunches. As some of you may be aware, Scotland is currently in the process of setting up a vote on whether or not to become independent, and this issue colored the entire debate. Scotland has a number of different parties. There is a Labour Party and Conservative Party which correspond to their counterparts in Westminster. However, the majority party is the left wing Scottish National Party (SNP), which is leading the charge for independence. There is also a smaller, centrist Scottish Liberal Party. Normally, the SNP and Labour Party see eye to eye on most issues, but Labour is opposed to independence. On this issue, Labour advocated increasing childcare credits for working parents as more effective. The Conservatives were opposed to the whole thing, but Scotland is a fairly leftist nation and they don't have much of a voice. More than disagreeing on what would be most effective, the rift between Labour and the SNP came up over an amendment supporting independence added onto the bill. Anyways, it was an interesting debates, with plenty of the booing and cheering that makes British politics famous. Some of the politicians were quite skilled orators, and it was fun to listen to the back and forths as the parties grilled each other with questions during the speeches. The bill (predictably given SNP's majority) passed, but the independence issue is still very much up in the air and will depend on the upcoming vote.

We visited the Royal Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh where there was a pavilion dedicated to the Queen Mother, who was a Scot. 

-Scottish accents range from fairly normal sounding to completely incomprehensible to me. On a bus in Glasgow, I sat behind two men coming back from work, and I could not understand a word they exchanged (although they were speaking English)! On my distillery tour (described below), they showed a video where one of the workers interviewed had subtitles.

Edinburgh

-I fell in love with Scotch Whisky during my time in Scotland. During our last day in Glasgow, I took a day trip to the Glengoyne Distillery. The trip was informative and a fun way to get out into Scotland's beautiful countryside. I wasn't sure when the bus would arrive to take me back into Glasgow, but a very kind man who saw me walking along the rode gave me a ride to the nearest town where I could catch a train. The man turned out to be a police officer who grew up in the area and remembered the "good old days" when it was unthinkable to not offer a ride to someone walking along the rode. He was very kind, interested in my travels, and seemed to know a lot about the community surrounding Glasgow. His brother-in-law ran the Glengoyne distillery, in fact. Anyways, on the subject of Whisky, I love the depth of the flavors involved. I picked up a few bottles, and every time I have a wee dram, I discover something new in the taste. Different whisky's also have very distinct flavors based on where the barley was grown, where they were distilled, and what kind of barrel they matured in.

A view of the countryside outside the distillery

As President Obama has pointed out, the UK is about the same size as Oregon, but the country is filled with diversity and different people. I loved seeing a different part of the UK outside of London! 

At Glengoyne Distillery 

New Years in London

After visiting Germany, Riley, Audrienne, and I said goodbye to Allison and Ben and went to London from December 28th to January 4th to celebrate New Years. It turns out that many K students studying abroad choose London as their destination to celebrate the New Year. I got to hang out with some friends who I hadn't seen for more than half a year. We spent a lot of time exploring the city with Hunter, one of my flatmates at K last year. Hunter has always been a big fan of British culture (talk to her about Sherlock sometime!), and her excitement for seeing all the sites in London was infectious. I always have the most fun in London when people visit me, and this time was no exception.

-London is so full of things to do that it was easy to find plenty of attractions I hadn't visited yet to fill our time. This included the Tower of London complete with Beefeater tour and the City of London Museum. The London Museum was a treat I hadn't known about before. It covered the history of the city from its hunter/gatherer roots thousands of years ago up to today. My knowledge of London's past has always been murky, so it was informative to learn the history of this city I've been living in! After the others had gone, Trent (studying in Spain) and I visited the Churchill War Rooms where British military officials spent much of the war during German air raids (although Churchill himself thought the rooms were rather stuffy and often preferred to watch the air raids from his roof, being a total badass). Anyways, the attached museum on Churchill was full of enough information and interactive exhibits to entertain you for hours, and Trent and I as two war buffs spent a good amount of time in there. Well worth the ticket price.

-Drew (a fellow K student studying at LSE) joined Hunter, Audrienne, Riley, and I to wait in the returns cue to see if we could get tickets for LeMis. There were not returned tickets, but as we started to leave a man came up and said he had an extra ticket because his date was sick, and he was willing to give it to us for free. We decided to let Hunter go, and she had a great time and said the man was very nice! I hope the karma gods are kind to him.

Enjoying some fish n' chips with Hunter!

-New Years itself was fun but very stressful for many parts. Say what you will about the nightlife in Kalamazoo, but there are a few nice things Kalamazoo has that London does not. 1) people generally have large enough houses/apartments where you can hang out with a large group of friends before/after going out 2) There are plenty of places where you can enjoy some of the best beer in the world for much less than the standard 3.50 pounds (~$6) that a standard pint runs you in London and 3) although the fireworks in Kalamazoo are not as impressive as London's show, it's really easy to find an excellent spot to view them, which can not be said for London

where you have to line up 5 or 6 hours in advance. Of course, it was fun to spend New Years with my friends in a big city, but next New Years, I think I will appreciate all the things Kalamazoo's humble New Year's Fest has to offer.

K students in London! 

The nice thing about London, however, is that there is always more to see!

Germany

I visited Germany from December 17th-27th. I've been lucky to visit Europe several times with my family, but it's been about fourteen years since I travelled outside of Italy, so it was exciting to see a different part of Europe. Although I love traveling with my family, it was also a new experience to have so much autonomy over what I did and to be traveling with other people my own age.

View from the top of the town hall in Rothenburg

I spent most of the time staying with Riley in Erlangen at her student apartment. Erlangen is only a fifteen minute train ride from Nuremberg and located in the beautiful southern Bavaria region of Germany. Erlangen itself is a fun student town, home to the large Frederich-Alexander University where Riley studies. Audrienne, a friend from Kalamazoo College currently studying abroad in France, joined us on December 20th for some more traveling and the three of us spent Christmas together. While Riley finished classes, I traveled to Rothenburg and Wurzburg, and then when Riley finished classes and Audrienne arrived, we all spent a few days exploring Erlangen and Nuremberg. Then we met up with Ben and Allison, two friends from K studying abroad in Spain, to visit Munich and the famous Neuschwanstein Castle.

Cathedral in Rothenburg

Looking down a street in Rothenburg from the wall surrounding the city

A few observations:

Gluhwein!

-Christmas markets are ubiquitous in Germany, and not just for tourists. Rothenburg's market was more touristy, but that whole town felt like the atmospheric elements of a Disney theme park, so that was unsurprising. Riley assured me that in Erlangen and Nuremberg, locals regularly visit the markets after work and on the weekends. I ate more sausages and drank more gluhwein from the market stalls than was probably healthy. Btw gluhwein is better than British mulled wine.

With Riley and Audrienne in Nuremberg! 

-I missed my family on Christmas, but it was reassuring to have some good friends to celebrate it with. Riley gave me a really cool and handy Iphone case that doubles as a bottle opener(!!) and Audrienne gave me a lamb wool sweater and macaroons from France. Both presents were very thoughtful and I use them regularly. Audrienne was also ready to lend her considerable cooking skills to helping us prepare a delicious Christmas meal and make some fun Christmas drinks.

Enjoying some Christmas cheer

-Germans speak better English than I do.

Inside a cathedral in Wurzburg completely destroyed during WWII. 

-The most interesting thing I learned from the cathedrals and museums I visited was the extent of the destruction inflicted by allied bombings on German cities during WWII. The city of Nuremberg was completely leveled by British bombing, and not even its most culturally significant sites were spared. The city we see today was completely reconstructed in the 50s and 60s. Dresden, Berlin, Bamburg, and other German cities were similarly devastated. Of course, London and cities across Japan suffered heavy damage from bombing as well. We took a tour of the bunkers in Nuremberg that were used to protect Nuremberg's most valuable artwork and artifacts. Our guide was a very pleasant and knowledgable German woman who lived through the air raids of WWII. Germany has made a conscious effort to reconstruct its cities in a manner congruous with their historical roots. This is certainly understandable; if Germany simply covered its rubble with completely new buildings, it would mean accepting that the allied bombings had permanently destroyed a part of their history. It was saddening to see how war had inspired so much hatred that led to destruction and death.

-Neuschwanstein Castle was beautiful but a bit crowded. The eccentric Ludwig II began construction on the castle in 1869, but it remained unfinished following his mysterious death in 1892. The castle was based on Ludwig's fanciful and wrong conception of what a renaissance castle should look like, and it is widely considered to be the inspiration for the Disney castle. The tour through the inside was a bit rushed through the finished parts, but those parts were interesting and beautiful. The best part of the experience was walking up to the castle and taking photos around the area. It was fun to get into the mountainous part of Bavaria and explore a bit.

A view of Neuschwanstein Castle

I loved spending a significant amount of time in a single region of Germany with some good friends. Although ten days isn't nearly enough time to really "know" a place, I do feel like I gained some understanding of Bavaria. Riley was a gracious hostess, ready to help with her language skills and familiarity with the region and introducing us to a few of her German friends. Typing this post has made me excited for my next trip to mainland Europe!

The beer in Germany was very good

Update and a bit on British politics

I'm just over halfway through my Winter Break and am having a great time. I was in Germany over Christmas and London for New Years with other students from K. It was great to catch up with all these people I haven't seen in months, and comforting to have some friends around for the holidays. I'm about to board a plane for Scotland, but I'll be sure to post on all my break activities next week. 

In the meantime, here are a few thoughts on this news cycle's political dust up here in the UK. Ed Miliband, leader of the opposition Labour Party, has recently taken a stance to eliminate a loophole that allows agencies to pay EU immigrants less than their Briish counterparts. The fear is that as more Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants come in, this could lower British wages. 

My thinking: 

1) The agencies' practices are deemed "exploitative" because they are paid less than UK counterparts for the "same job". Whenever the term "same job" is bandied about, complexities are being ignored. Are factors such as experience, language skills, and education accounted for? It could be that the immigrants are paid less because they are less productive. 

2) Ed Miliband is worried about Britain's cost of living and understandably wants higher wages. He notes that low wage immigrants work in the food and packaging industries. What are some major determinants of the cost of living? The cost of food and the cost of shipping, which impacts the cost of everything else! 

3) Mr. Miliband correctly notes that cheap immigrant labor creates some winners and some losers. Native workers in those industries have some competition, but all other Britons enjoy lower prices. Mr. Miliband wants to switch the winners and losers. What makes him think his selection is better? Who knows! The current arrangement, however, can be defended by volumes of economic literature on how prices adjust towards an efficient equilibrium. 

4) I'm sure Mr. Miliband is far from concerned about the fate of Britain's current and potential immigrants, but they are people too and worth considering. If they're accepting these low wage jobs, they must be tremendous improvements over their current opportunities. What will the cost be to these immigrants if the law makes it more difficult for agencies to hire them? They will likely lose an important path out of serious poverty. 

The Spirit of Christmas in London and Thousands of Drunk Santas

I've noticed that they do Christmas a lot harder in London than we do in the US. Whether someone says "merry christmas"or "happy holidays" to you in the United States is a political statement. Here though, everyone says merry christmas, I feel like a dweeb reflexively saying happy holidays. I hear at least twice the amount of annoying christmas music than what I'm usually exposed to back home. This struck me as a little odd given that the UK is a much more secular society than the US, and that London in particular is more religiously diverse than Kalamazoo. Then I saw something that snapped all the pieces together.

At about 1 in the afternoon, I saw thousands of young men and women dressed as santa, playing drums, singing, and drinking prodigiously. They loudly proclaimed "merry christmas" and passed out candies as they walked by. I got two chocolate coins, two hard candies, and a sucker! One of the popular chants was "what do we want?" - "Christmas!" - "When do we want it?" - "Now!" People brought out their kids in strollers to watch, and the santas staggered over to put candy into the tikes' hands accompanied by a slurred ho-ho-ho, all of this viewed with approval by the parents. 

Apparently I had witnessed santacon, a world wide phenomena that's been becoming more popular in the internet age of flash mobs. Most everyone I saw seemed amused, except for a few drivers who were unhappy about all the people staggering across the street when the light was green. No one complained about a bunch of santas walking around drunk though - that's what Christmas is about in the UK! Good cheer, free candy, and fancy dress, what's not to like? I think public Christmas displays have become so secular in the UK that outside of homes and churches, Christmas does not have a primarily religious association. 

Make of that what you will, but merry Christmas! 

Cooking With Phil

One of the nice about living in High Holborn is that I get a generously sized kitchen. Even though it can be time consuming, I prefer cooking to relying on a food service system. Here's a sampling of some of my dishes.

The first thing I made, looks less tasty than it was 

Bangers and mash, had to make it! 

I was surprised by how easy this was to make 

A peanut/banana/chicken/broccoli/green onion stir fry

I Visit the NHS

I've used the National Health Service twice in the past week and come away impressed. As a student here for nine months, I'm entitled to full coverage by the NHS. Imagine something like that happening in the United States. I am paying 20% VAT over here though, so I don't feel too guilty.

My stock of medicine from home is running low, so I went into the NHS branch to talk about getting my prescription refilled. My appointment was for 10:30, so SUPER EARLY in other words, and I was embarrassingly 20 minutes late. Despite this, I ended up getting to my appointment in twenty minutes and even though all I had was my pill bottle, there were no problems getting me set up for a refill. The only catch was that I needed to get some blood work done - apparently they have some concerns about my medicine causing liver cancer sometimes or something, which I guess they're not too worried about in the States. I said whatever, it's not my money after all, so I scheduled another appointment to get my blood drawn.

I went into that appointment today, this time only five minutes late, and was seen right away. Getting my blood drawn took no time even though I forgot a paper I was supposed to bring. They had all my records digitized so they knew exactly what was up. Unlike the painfully awkward laptop carts I see them use at Borgess for electronic records, they're process seemed well integrated. The doctor was courteous, even offering a few comforting words to help with my apparent discomfort over getting poked (thanks dad!)

I'll be able to start getting my prescription when I get back from break, and they will cost less than a third of what my family pays back home. Go socialism!

So this is the part where I compare the NHS to the US's dismal system and talk about single payer. It's certainly worth pointing out that the editor of a leading libertarian magazine has written enviously of France's health care system. However, our government already spends more per capita on health care than the UK and other single payer countries! It's just that firms and individuals in the US also spend a ton on health care! I think that if we can get costs down to typical developed country levels, then we could make a smashing public or private health care system. The question is how to get those costs down. There certainly are appealing things about the single payer system in terms of cost control, but I think the issues are so intertwined and deep in the US system that no single reform will have a very large impact, and any major change could have unintended consequences.