Dispatches from Edinburgh, Scotland
Dispatch #1:
Matt Werner’s First Semester in the United Kingdom
December 14, 2008
[I wrote the following for the English-Speaking Union of San Francisco, which is generously funding my study for a Master's in English here at the University of Edinburgh.]
Matt Werner with his brother Mike, atop Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh, Scotland.
I moved to Edinburgh on September 13, 2008, and it’s amazing to look back at all that’s happened in the past four months, as I’ve been studying for my Master’s in English Literature. Two words sum up my first semester at the University of Edinburgh: Barack Obama.
Shortly after arriving in Scotland, my sister Gretchen sent me a campaign button of Barack Obama standing in front of the White House with the words “Barack Obama: 2008” written on it. I decided to pin this on my backpack, and little did I know what I was in for. Nearly every day someone would come up to me and initiate conversation about the U.S. election, whether in line at the supermarket, or at a pub.
At first, I did not know what people were talking about. An older Scottish man approached me at a bus stop, shortly after I had put the button on my bookbag, and asked me in a thick Glaswegian accent, “Whaddya tink ‘bout Perrick Oobamah?” I asked him to kindly repeat the question. And by the third time he said “Perrick,” I realized that he was talking about Barack, and I responded, and we ended up having a good conversation about where McCain and Obama stood in the polls that day.
People here in the United Kingdom followed the U.S. election in October and November more than UK and European Union politics, and it was quite interesting to see “Obamamania” sweep the northernmost reaches of the UK. Nearly everyone I’ve met in the UK seems to be for Obama. This includes not only the students, but even the bagpipers who tour the pubs, and sit down for a pint of Deuchars to give the clients’ ears a rest—even they had read The Audacity of Hope, and were interested in how Obama was going to help fix the economy.
This leads me onto my next topic of living in a literary city. Edinburgh is designated as the first UNESCO City of Literature, and hosts many literary events throughout the year. I am blessed to be taking classes in the oldest English department in the world, and the University of Edinburgh hosts a stunning array of lectures and discussion groups each week, where I’ve learned a lot outside of my regular classes.
Literary landmarks and references are present throughout the city. The main train station is called Waverly, after Sir Walter Scott’s 1814 novel. The public transit system, Lothian Buses are named after Scott’s 1818 novel, The Heart of Midlothian. And I was excited to find out that the old student building that I go to each week on George Square is where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the Sherlock Holmes stories, lived for several years. Many in Edinburgh were brought up reading Robert Burns’ poetry—all of this contributes to making Edinburgh’s literary culture very tangible. And there are contemporary authors here who have been quite successful as well like Irvine Welsh with Trainspotting and JK Rowling. And I am excited to take a Contemporary Scottish fiction course in the spring semester and study those Scottish writers writing innovative short stories and novels today.
The program I’m in at the University of Edinburgh is titled the Master’s in English: Literature and Modernity. Here, I am studying the leading writers from the twentieth century. For the final paper for my core course, I am writing on early twentieth century expatriate American writers, focusing on how the different World War I experiences of Ernest Hemingway and TS Eliot influenced their different literary styles in how they wrote about the effects of WWI.
I am quite fortunate to have as my professors two leading Modernist literature scholars, Professors Laura Marcus and Randall Stevenson. I have also enjoyed office hours with my Deconstruction and History course professor, Dr. Penny Fielding, where her mind is like a library catalogue, where upon mentioning an area I’m interested in researching, she can name ten books and authors in that field that I should look into, and then weigh each author’s merits and drawbacks, and comment on their theoretical style.
One reason why I chose to study in the United Kingdom, as opposed to pursuing a Master’s degree in the United States, was to live outside of the U.S. and to experience the richness and diversity of the English language and to hear it in a radically new way. And sure enough, with people from all over the English-speaking world in my classes, the diverse dictions and varied syntax and accents of each of my classmates adds to the overall discussion—in that how each of us reads a text is quite phonetically different from the other, depending on if someone is from the Scottish Highlands and another is from Australia.
Also, living here in Europe, I have made an effort to travel to other countries and learn about other cultures. In my October visit to Dublin, I went on a literary tour, visited the Dublin Writers Museum, the William Butler Yeats exhibition in the National Library of Ireland, and saw many important landmarks in Irish history. It was an invaluable experience. I learned a lot discussing James Joyce in my Modernism class, but it was something else to actually go to Dublin, and start my day at Sandycove Tower, like Stephen Dedalus in Ulysses, and walk into central Dublin and visit the places James Joyce’s characters visit.
And I feel like I have taken full advantage of what Edinburgh offers, with the National Library of Scotland a couple blocks from campus, and the opportunities to learn about UK and European Union history and politics, with the Scottish Parliament only a mile from my apartment. I have also made a number of friends by joining the university triathlon team and having my own radio show, where I interview writers and musicians one hour each week on the student radio station, http://freshair.org.uk.
Overall, I have been enjoying Scotland immensely, from the very kind and welcoming natives of Edinburgh, to the many world perspectives I gain going to a school with a very large international student population. Back home in the Bay Area, I thoroughly enjoyed my undergraduate experience in my hometown of Berkeley, but it has been educational to get out and explore new worlds. I thank the English-Speaking Union of San Francisco for granting me this exquisite opportunity to pursue worlds beyond my own, and to allow me to grow not only academically in studying English literature, but to have this opportunity to meet and interact in a global village, and to broaden my worldview and view of myself.
Matt at Rosslyn Chapel, just outside of Edinburgh, Scotland.
Matt Werner’s First Semester in the United Kingdom
December 14, 2008
[I wrote the following for the English-Speaking Union of San Francisco, which is generously funding my study for a Master's in English here at the University of Edinburgh.]
Matt Werner with his brother Mike, atop Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh, Scotland.I moved to Edinburgh on September 13, 2008, and it’s amazing to look back at all that’s happened in the past four months, as I’ve been studying for my Master’s in English Literature. Two words sum up my first semester at the University of Edinburgh: Barack Obama.
Shortly after arriving in Scotland, my sister Gretchen sent me a campaign button of Barack Obama standing in front of the White House with the words “Barack Obama: 2008” written on it. I decided to pin this on my backpack, and little did I know what I was in for. Nearly every day someone would come up to me and initiate conversation about the U.S. election, whether in line at the supermarket, or at a pub.
At first, I did not know what people were talking about. An older Scottish man approached me at a bus stop, shortly after I had put the button on my bookbag, and asked me in a thick Glaswegian accent, “Whaddya tink ‘bout Perrick Oobamah?” I asked him to kindly repeat the question. And by the third time he said “Perrick,” I realized that he was talking about Barack, and I responded, and we ended up having a good conversation about where McCain and Obama stood in the polls that day.
People here in the United Kingdom followed the U.S. election in October and November more than UK and European Union politics, and it was quite interesting to see “Obamamania” sweep the northernmost reaches of the UK. Nearly everyone I’ve met in the UK seems to be for Obama. This includes not only the students, but even the bagpipers who tour the pubs, and sit down for a pint of Deuchars to give the clients’ ears a rest—even they had read The Audacity of Hope, and were interested in how Obama was going to help fix the economy.
This leads me onto my next topic of living in a literary city. Edinburgh is designated as the first UNESCO City of Literature, and hosts many literary events throughout the year. I am blessed to be taking classes in the oldest English department in the world, and the University of Edinburgh hosts a stunning array of lectures and discussion groups each week, where I’ve learned a lot outside of my regular classes.
Literary landmarks and references are present throughout the city. The main train station is called Waverly, after Sir Walter Scott’s 1814 novel. The public transit system, Lothian Buses are named after Scott’s 1818 novel, The Heart of Midlothian. And I was excited to find out that the old student building that I go to each week on George Square is where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author of the Sherlock Holmes stories, lived for several years. Many in Edinburgh were brought up reading Robert Burns’ poetry—all of this contributes to making Edinburgh’s literary culture very tangible. And there are contemporary authors here who have been quite successful as well like Irvine Welsh with Trainspotting and JK Rowling. And I am excited to take a Contemporary Scottish fiction course in the spring semester and study those Scottish writers writing innovative short stories and novels today.
The program I’m in at the University of Edinburgh is titled the Master’s in English: Literature and Modernity. Here, I am studying the leading writers from the twentieth century. For the final paper for my core course, I am writing on early twentieth century expatriate American writers, focusing on how the different World War I experiences of Ernest Hemingway and TS Eliot influenced their different literary styles in how they wrote about the effects of WWI.
I am quite fortunate to have as my professors two leading Modernist literature scholars, Professors Laura Marcus and Randall Stevenson. I have also enjoyed office hours with my Deconstruction and History course professor, Dr. Penny Fielding, where her mind is like a library catalogue, where upon mentioning an area I’m interested in researching, she can name ten books and authors in that field that I should look into, and then weigh each author’s merits and drawbacks, and comment on their theoretical style.
One reason why I chose to study in the United Kingdom, as opposed to pursuing a Master’s degree in the United States, was to live outside of the U.S. and to experience the richness and diversity of the English language and to hear it in a radically new way. And sure enough, with people from all over the English-speaking world in my classes, the diverse dictions and varied syntax and accents of each of my classmates adds to the overall discussion—in that how each of us reads a text is quite phonetically different from the other, depending on if someone is from the Scottish Highlands and another is from Australia.
Also, living here in Europe, I have made an effort to travel to other countries and learn about other cultures. In my October visit to Dublin, I went on a literary tour, visited the Dublin Writers Museum, the William Butler Yeats exhibition in the National Library of Ireland, and saw many important landmarks in Irish history. It was an invaluable experience. I learned a lot discussing James Joyce in my Modernism class, but it was something else to actually go to Dublin, and start my day at Sandycove Tower, like Stephen Dedalus in Ulysses, and walk into central Dublin and visit the places James Joyce’s characters visit.
And I feel like I have taken full advantage of what Edinburgh offers, with the National Library of Scotland a couple blocks from campus, and the opportunities to learn about UK and European Union history and politics, with the Scottish Parliament only a mile from my apartment. I have also made a number of friends by joining the university triathlon team and having my own radio show, where I interview writers and musicians one hour each week on the student radio station, http://freshair.org.uk.
Overall, I have been enjoying Scotland immensely, from the very kind and welcoming natives of Edinburgh, to the many world perspectives I gain going to a school with a very large international student population. Back home in the Bay Area, I thoroughly enjoyed my undergraduate experience in my hometown of Berkeley, but it has been educational to get out and explore new worlds. I thank the English-Speaking Union of San Francisco for granting me this exquisite opportunity to pursue worlds beyond my own, and to allow me to grow not only academically in studying English literature, but to have this opportunity to meet and interact in a global village, and to broaden my worldview and view of myself.
Matt at Rosslyn Chapel, just outside of Edinburgh, Scotland.
