Indecipherable accents

That’s how Erin Powers describes the Scottish. She was in town for the holidays from Scotland’s University of St. Andrews, where she is studying English literature. She reports that about 10 percent of the undergraduate population is American, including five other first-year Houstonians. She is amused by the Scots’ unshakeable passion for a bright orange soda called Irn-Bru that tastes like concentrated bubble gum before one acquires a taste for it. Erin admires the beautiful coastline and joins in on the traditional Scottish dances (ceilidhs) where the men wear kilts. She already has seen all of Downton Abbey Season 5, since it aired there in the fall.

Have some good news to share? We want to know. Email us at [email protected].