Highlights of the Highlands

I attended the Rotary District 1010 Diamond District Conference. It was the 60th year of District 1010 holding their annual conference which unites the clubs in Northeastern Scotland. The conference was in Inverness – known to locals as the Capital of the Highlands and known to tourists as home of the Loch Ness Monster!

It was a weekend mixed with business and fun – the highlights of my weekend were:

1. Staying in my first ever Bed and Breakfast! I was housed by a local Rotarian for two nights at his lovely Bed and Breakfast accommodation.

2. Going to Loch Ness – “loch” means lake. Loch Ness is the deepest Loch in Scotland, at over 800 feet deep. I traveled to Loch Ness with three other Ambassadorial Scholars who attended the conference, and we stood in awe as we arrived to Castle Urquhart. Urquhart is the ancient Castle, that dates back to 500 B.C., left only now in ruins, due to it being burned later in its 1500 year life. The Castle overlooks Loch Ness, and I can tell you that the Loch is anything but the home of a monster. Beauty, history, authenticity…yes, but no Nessy.

3. Surviving my first Ceilidh Dance. A Ceilidh is the traditional Scottish partner dancing that is done here. It is basically the equivalent to line dancing in the states. I was thankful that all the dance moves were very repetitive, so even my uncoordinated self was able to catch on and sometime hold on! Holding on because the gentlemen often swings and spins and turns the lady around. One of the dances was called “Strip the Willow” – where men line up on one side, ladies on the other, facing each other, then you and your partner spin and “dose-doe” with one another and all the partners down the line. For all of the dances, the music got faster and faster as the song progressed, so you were going triple the speed, compared to when beginning the dance. It was catch on to the dance moves or fend for yourself!

4. Eating Haggis! The Ceilidh Dance started by a very “posh” dinner. “Posh” is the word they use here for “high-class”. The haggis was delicious! The haggis was used as a stuffing inside a chicken breast. When imagining haggis, I thought it would be gruesome and bloody and not appealing at all, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. The haggis had the consistency of a fine stuffing, and was very pleasing. I tried not to think of what I was actually eating – minced sheep heart and liver perhaps, and rather focus on the actual taste.