Scotland Study Abroad in May 2019

While the idea of ghost stories during Christmas rather than Halloween may seem odd to Americans, but telling Yuletide ghost stories is in fact an old British tradition. That's the reason, for instance, that Charles Dickens had three ghosts visit Ebenezer Scrooge in  A Christmas Carol , which is essentially a ghost story. In the 1970s, the BBC ran an annual series of televised ghost stories, either on Christmas Eve or Christmas night. The shows, which ran from 30-50 minutes, were huge hits, and inspired a revival series in 2005. Fortunately for us in the U.S., most of these shows are available on Youtube. While they were made on cheap 16mm film, the stories hold up well. Below are embeds (or links) of the shows, plus several other ghost shows that aired during the holidays. A Ghost Story for Christmas (BBC), 1971-1978 The BBC had already aired two earlier ghost stories at Christmas that proved quite popular, one in 1968 called  Whistle and I'll...

Many of the Christmas holiday traditions in Britain are similar to ours (stockings, decorations, carols, Christmas trees, etc.) but there are also some uniquely British ones. In Scotland, it becomes even more complicated since Christmas was almost entirely eliminated after the Protestant Reformation in 1558 and did not completely resurface until the mid-20th Century (Hogmanay -- Scottish New Years --  was instead celebrated; more on that in another post.) The following are some typical British Winter Holiday traditions. Father Christmas Since the late 1800s, Father Christmas has become almost identical to our Santa Claus. But because of the Catholic origins of Christmas (ie, the Mass of Christ) and Santa Claus (Saint Nicholas, a Turkish priest), Britain turned away from some of the Christmas traditions after the Protestant Reformation. St. Nick became Father Christmas, a pre-Christian figure (sometimes called Old Man Winter) who wore green robes and had red hair...

We fly out of Atlanta en route to Scotland on Saturday (either 11 May or 25 May depending on which session you are in). We'll arrive at the Amsterdam airport and then take a shorter flight into Edinburgh International Airport . We will then make our way to the Edinburgh Central Hostel in Edinburgh's historic New Town. Each twin room has its own shower, sink, and toilet. The hostel also has kitchen facilities, additional showers/toilets, wifi, laundry facilities, coffee bar and restaurant. Once we settle in, students will have a brief on-site orientation and neighborhood tour, including historic Calton Hill .  Over the next week, we will visit the sites of Edinburgh, which may include the National Library of Scotland , Edinburgh Castle , Mary King’s Close , Holyrood Palace, John Knox House , the University of Edinburgh , Surgeon’s Hall Museum , the Scottish Storytelling Center , the Walter Scott Memorial , and the National Scotland Museum . ...