Klaudia Patryn is a student at Stockton University and an ISA Featured Blogger. She studied abroad with ISA in Stirling, Scotland.
We all have plans and dreams that we want to accomplish during our lifetime. Some are easy short-term goals, while some are strenuous, long-term goals. One of my goals while attending a university was to study abroad. I’m excited to say that that day has finally arrived and my dream of going overseas for a semester has come true. It took a lot of hard work and planning, but I couldn’t be happier that I followed through with my dream.
Scotland is filled with so much history that naming just five monuments would not be nearly close to covering them all. I have been in Stirling for three weeks now and the amount of history I have learned about is incredible. I’ve learned about everything from castles to famous alleyways, monuments, famous battle sites, and of course, the beautiful land itself.
In Stirling, one of the must-see monuments is the Wallace Monument. William Wallace is known as the “Guardian of Scotland”, and his monument overlooks the Battle of Stirling Bridge. It also overlooks the city of Stirling where you can spot the Stirling Castle, and on the other side find the University of Stirling. The climb up to the top of the tower is narrow and has a number of steps, but the view makes it worth your while. My plan is to take a picture of the view during every season so I can make a beautiful poster comparing each of them.
Next up we have Doune Castle, which is located in the Stirling district of central Scotland. The castle is a medieval castle that sits near a village called Doune. The reason why I mention this castle is because if you are a Game Of Thrones fan like myself then you should definitely check it out. The Doune Castle was used to shoot some scenes for Winterfell- in other words, you can say that the Doune Castle is Winterfell.
I can’t mention historic monuments in Scotland without talking about Edinburgh. Edinburgh has an enormous amount of things to see and do. When it comes to monuments in the city, the first one to check out is the Scott Monument. You can go to the top of this monument to get a spectacular view of the city. The monument is dedicated to Scottish author Sir Walter Scott. The monument is located on Princess Street when you can see both Old Town and New Town Edinburgh. It is the second largest monument in the world dedicated to a writer after the Jose Marti monument in Havana, Cuba.
Probably my favorite monument or statue in Edinburgh is the Greyfriars Bobby statue. Located near Greyfriars Kirkyard, the statue is of Greyfriars Bobby who was a Skye Terrier that became famous for guarding his owner’s grave for fourteen years. The Skye Terrier passed away in January of 1872 while still guarding the grave. There are numerous children’s books and films that tell the story of Greyfriars Bobby. The nose of the statue has turned to a golden color from people rubbing it for good luck. A handful of pubs and stores around the statue are also dedicated to him.
My favourite monument in Scotland is the Duke of Wellington statue in Glasgow. The statue is of Arthur Wellesley and can be found on Royal Exchange Square outside the Gallery of Modern Art. The monument has a funny twist to it; there is typically an orange traffic cone placed on his head. Sometimes you can find numerous traffic cones on the statue at the same time. The police have tried to figure out ways to stop people from placing cones on the statue, but the public will not allow it and the tradition continues.
These five monuments are only scratching the surface of what can be seen throughout Scotland- there are so many more monuments to see in the country. So what are you waiting for? Go and see them for yourself!
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