Today’s post is a bit different from my previous posts, as I have started to reminisce on past travels and periods that I have been living abroad. 2020 the year where we weren’t able to travel, put earlier travels into a different perspective. You start to appreciate those times of travelling even more. Sometimes while in lockdown I started thinking how would a lockdown have been if I still lived in Scotland. So I started looking back at all the pictures I took, which are a lot of pictures. And it got me thinking why not share some of these pictures with you and tell you a bit about my time in Scotland, a country that definitely holds a special place in my heart. For I simply fell in love with the Scottish west coast. Scotland is moody, breathtakingly beautiful and I found a peace and quiet there that I can’t find in the Netherlands. I mean just look at the picture below, taken by a good friend of mine who visited me. You see the rocky coast line, the sea, the moody weather, a sunset and the Isle of Mull in the distance. I could definitely just sit down on the rocks for ages and just enjoy the view, which honestly felt like a living painting.
So let’s go back in time and travel to 2017, the year I mostly spent in Scotland as an Erasmus exchange student at SAMS UHI (Scottish Association of Marine Science/University of Highlands and Islands) and following three courses of the marine science study. But first lets leave the Netherlands behind, January 2017 My adventure has begun. This photo is taken from the ferry between IJmuiden (NL) and Newcastle (UK).
I love travelling by ferry, you can completely unwind and let your thoughts go. The move to Scotland was very stressful. My parents and I took the ferry on Saturday evening. Yes, my parents brought me to Scotland. Because apparently if your daughter moves to another country its the perfect excuse to go on a short vacation.
The Thursday before we left I had a last exam at my own university in Leeuwarden, the Friday was spent packing all the stuff that I would need in Scotland, and travelling to IJmuiden from Leeuwarden. The Saturday repack the car and went to the ferry which is just at the end of town. And on the ferry that was the moment went everything started to fall into place. Before it was just a dream and felt so surreal, but being on the ferry, everything clicked. Seeing the sunset over the North Sea just calms the mind.
After a long day of driving, from Newcastle we arrived at the Scottish west coast. This semester I was going to stay on campus of SAMS next to the small (wee) village of Dunbeg. Dunbeg lies just North of the town of Oban, the gateway to the isles.
In the picture above you can see the village and the campus. Behind the campus is an a little forest which hides a ruin of a castle and chapel called Dunstaffnage. Dunstaffnage castle can be seen in the picture on the right. It felt surreal and kind of magical to be living so close to a ruin. It was also very convenient to have a small forest right next to uni and campus. it was absolutely great to go on a small walk after lectures. During my time here I followed the courses Marine robotics, marine conservation and ocean circulation and climate. These are three different lectures but interesting in their own way. I loved to dive into marine robotics and see all the various technological ways to research the oceans. A small example is the AUV (autonomous underwater vehicle), the AUV is a self-propelled, unmanned, pre-programmed underwater vehicle capable of carrying out simple research activities with little or no human supervision. They are used to take physical measurements such as temperature and salinity, but can also be used to map the seafloor. Marine conservation I guess speaks for itself. Here we talked about various ways to conserve the marine environment and species and went over the importance of conservation but also the importance of awareness. This marine awareness is something I hope to rise through this blog. The final course was probably the most difficult and complex one; the ocean circulation and climate. How do our oceans currents work and what effect to they have on our climate. This is a subject I would like to write a separate blog post about, as it is complex and is something important to understand to also tackle to subject of climate change.
What else did I do besides following lectures, making homework and learning for exams. Well, I went on a lot of walks, went sailing with fellow students, and just plenty of adventures exploring the Scottish west coast.
Some highlights :
Seeing the aurora borealis, or the Northern lights! Did you know that the aurora can be seen from Scotland? I had read about it online, but wouldn't have dared to dream that I would actually see the aurora in all her might and glory. Such a beautiful sight! This was the first time of seeing the aurora, and actually was the best light show I have seen. I went to bed quite late on various times, because an aurora alert was given out. This meant that I. and one other student on campus, would venture outside brace the cold, go through the forest to be surrounded by complete darkness and hope to see even a shimmer of the lights over loch Linnhe.
The Scottish west coast is also amazing for stunning sunsets! I guess it's because of the sea and the islands in the distance which gives more depths and drama to the sunset.
The town of Oban the gateway to the isles. That is what most people know Oban for, just a town you need to pass to go to the islands of the Hebrides. But the town itself has its charms and this town also has a place in my heart. It has everything you need, with shops, supermarkets, restaurants, fish and chips shops and of course a whisky distillery. I am not really a city person, but I loved to walk through the city centre of Oban, past the harbour and up to McCaigs tower.
From Oban you can obviously go to the Hebrides. In this first half year I visited the isles of Mull, Lismore, Iona and Staffa. When you take the ferry to Mull you pass the Isle of Lismore with its beautiful Lighthouse.
The isle of Staffa is probably one of the best places to see Atlantic puffins (Fratercula arctica) in the wild! Staffa is a small island which is only populated by breeding sea birds. Including my favourite sea bird the puffin. What is not to love about these little birds with their colourful beak and slightly clumsy behaviour on land. Puffins only come to land when during the breeding season, they arrive around mid-April and stay on land till mid-August. So this is the only season that they can be seen. I did this trip in May with a friend, and honestly I love Staffa, because there aren't any predators the puffins aren't afraid. You can just sit down on the cliff and see them fly and walk past, sometimes they would land just a meter away from you. It's definitely the best way to enjoy these animals in their own habitat, while you are sat down and are respectful towards them.
This blog was just a small impression of my time in Scotland from January until June. So much more has happened, I could go on for ages. But that is for another time, I will add some pictures on my gallery if you want to see some more photos. I will write another post about the rest of my time in Scotland, for this was not the end. During one of my marine conservation lectures, we had a lecture from a marine mammal biologist from SAMS talking about harbour porpoises (Phocoena phocoena) in Scotland and acoustic research. I got so intrigued that wanted to know more and I felt that I found a work field that would definitely suit me. We talked after the lecture, made an appointment to talk even more and talk about an internship opportunity, as I had to do an project internship for my coastal and marine management study. All this talking led to me getting an internship at SAMS. And thus another semester in Scotland and this time living in the town of Oban.
This first semester was amazing and I wouldn't have missed it for the world. I actually see this Erasmus exchange as one of the best choices I made in my time as a student, it really formed me to the person I am now. I learned things about myself, I was always a bit shy and unsure of myself, but going to a new country on my own, meeting new amazing people made me realise it's okay to be me. Further the uni and its students were amazing, warm and so welcoming. I learned so much about the marine science work field and about Scotland.
Erasmus exchanges are so important for European students, really if you get the change to study abroad via an Erasmus exchange, do it! You learn more about yourself and other people and countries. It's truly a shame that the UK has left Europe and most of all left the Erasmus exchange agreement. I wouldn't have been able to do this exchange without Erasmus exchange funding as it would have been way to expensive.
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