Scotland Part I

For some reason, today I got overly excited for my upcoming trip to Scotland. In a few short months I will be embarking on my first, independent, international adventure. I've only ever gone out of the country one other time, on my mission trip to Guatemala. That was awesome, but with this trip I will get to be more independent and see the world how and when I want to see it. And it's going to be awesome.

Fun fact about Scotland, number one: their national animal is the unicorn. How awesome is that? A whole country getting behind a fictitious animal. Granted, this is the country that probably makes a lot of tourist money off of good ol' Nessy. In my mind, Scotland seems like a mystical, mysterious, magical place. This land is so old and strange in my mind. There is a part of Scotland called the Shetland and Ornkey islands that literally seem untouched for centuries. And I am super excited to get to explore them and experience life away from, well, pretty much everything.

Scotland, especially those islands I mentioned above, once was the location of some Norse colonies (think Vikings and How to Train Your Dragon-esque culture). This was a polytheistic religion, meaning they believed in many different gods. A few gods of note from this indigenous religion are Odin, Thor, and yes, Loki. They have a creation story similar to that of the Bible, as the first man and woman were formed by the gods. A few of the gods found two trees torn out of the ground and formed the first people from them. Coincidentally, their names were Ask (the man) and Embla (the woman). Remind you of any other people who were the first created?

There is just so much rich history to this land that I am just beginning to research, and it is so exciting. I can't wait to share it with everybody. It will be an adventure of a lifetime. Until next time...