I have some truly amazing classmates here. Some of them speak some Scottish Gaelic. And, some are willing to sit down with a few of us American students who are curious about the language, and to teach us rudimentary conversational Scottish Gaelic, essentially for free (we are buying him drinks, so it works out all right, and he swears he needs the practice. I think he is just being inordinately nice)! I overheard one of the kids in my Celtic lit class asking the professor about how he could learn a little Gaelic, and talked to him about it afterward; and shortly thereafter one of the Scottish boys in the class offered to teach us! We met in the Library cafe, and in 40 odd minutes learned some of the basics: "my name is -," which is "s' e mise," but which sounds like "chemise a," and "good morning" which is "maden mhat," pronounced "madthen vah," etc. It was fun, but so frustrating! The last time I was learning the basic beginnings of a language, I was in second grade singing songs about flowers and spring and vain milkmaids in Spanish! Oddly, despite the fact that the two languages bear very little resemblance to each other, I kept wanting to fill in my sentences with Spanish words, saying "yes it is cold today" in Gaelic then adding, "pero aqui, siempre esta frio." Not functional at all. In Scottish Gaelic (which here is pronounced with a flat 'a' rather than a long 'a,' as in "fallacy" or "bath," rather than in "name" or, say, "Jane"), "mo chreach sa thainig" is a common response to the question, "Ciamar a tha thu?" (How are you?). It means, "my ruin/destruction has come," and apparently is very frequently used by University students come exams period. The modern English equivalent? "I'm screwed." Yes, I was amused.
The fellow who was giving my classmate and me the informal lesson is a second year student who is in my Celtic Literature class. He is from the west coast of the country, and in addition to walking us through what must have been agonizingly simple hellos and goodbyes, and only laughing at us a little, he also hopped up at the end of the hour and came back a few minutes later with maps of Scotland and Europe. It appears he has travelled quite extensively (though I feel like that might be commonplace here, since everything is so much closer and more accessible.... garrrh, stupid big, expensive, non-public-transportation-supporting U.S.) and he set to covering the maps with dots and stars and labels. I now know exactly where I want to go in the Highlands, the Western Isles, and the Lowlands, and with any luck I will be able to get myself around Scotland during exams period. Six weeks, three exams... I feel like I ought to have the time. Right? Our esteemed tutor was also able to make recommendations about where to go in Continental Europe. He told us which were his favorite cities, which were the most beautiful, which had the cheapest booze, and which were so sketchy that we should avoid them at all costs. SO! Grand Tour plans are slowly being made! In addition to Spring Break and exams, I have six weeks to fill after the semester ends. So many places to go, so many things to see! Alas, my bank account is not infinite. And traveling is not cheap (even if you do it right). And with the ridiculous cost of living here... ! Well. Mo chreach sa thainig.
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