Last January, the end was in sight. Vaccines were coming. Covid would leave. We started planning a trip in earnest that had already been postponed once due to the rise of the pandemic. Surely, we thought, in 11 months everyone will be vaccinated and we can put this nonsense behind us. Alba, here we come!

Then, in July, the queasiness settled in as we all came to the realization that 1) the Delta variant was making a mockery of our Summer of Renewal due to 2) a basic human condition we can only call a boatload of blithering idiocy. We are living in the golden age of stoopid.

We made the call in mid-August to postpone the trip yet again as the lifting of travel restrictions continued to be a wildly uncertain reality in the throes of yet another pandemic spike. Alas, today is an unhappy day for us, as 16 November marks the day our study abroad students and I would have been boarding a plane to visit Scotland.

You can see the program at this site, Narrative Arts in Scotland, including the curriculum, our partnership with University of Dundee, and the itinerary. It will include a visit to Tomnaverie Stone Circle and the Kirkton of Aboyne burial ground.

So the countdown of another year begins today. Fear not: the program will rise again in November 2022!