Shetland!

I met my classmates at the ferry terminal. The months preceding this trip had been filled with stories of a week of phenomenal jam sessions starting with the party on the boat. The rest of the class was concerned that if they had too much fun on the boat, they might ruin the festival ahead. Some of them went to see the on-board movie theater. A few of us took our instruments to the party in the middle of the boat; it was clear that the jam sessions were friendly, but not very Nordic. We retreated to the front of the boat to wait until it was ok to sleep there.

While my companions passed out on the couches, I tried to catch up on my blogging. That's when Andy found me. Our conversation went something along the lines of:

Him: Hey, there's a party in the middle of the boat, you should come.
Me: But I'm supposed to be watching our stuff. (with a vague hand gesture toward at least three sleeping classmates and a pile of instruments, snacks, and luggage).
Him: Right, but there's a party.
Me: I know, but the stuff...
Me: Wait! I'm coming!

The party in the middle of the boat was definitely in full swing. The ferry we were on brings the majority of the artists to the festival. Members of Frigg, Zar, and Box Club were definitely involved in the jamming. I sat with my new friends and listened. After a while the group I was sitting with started playing. They were clearly not the folkie type that plays fiddles; a couple gitars, song, and harmonica were present as well as recognizable blues hits. I made several new friends that evening and well into the morning.

We stumbled off the boat when it arrived and took a cab to the Youth Hostel. Reception wasn't technically open yet, so we hung out and waited for them with visibly low energy levels. Once the warden arrived to check us in, we found out that girls wouldn't be able to get into our room for another couple hours. We went off in search of food, abandoning our luggage at the hostel.

We found both our classmates who had been in Shetland for several days and food at the community center next door. By the time we ate breakfast and caught up with everyone (including meeting some of the other students who were taking part in the Nordic Tone project) it was time to pick up our keys. We took some very cold showers and headed back out for some exploring before the concerts started. By chance we found the preview concert, which was totally packed. So, we hung around the door, sweltering and getting our first on-stage tastes of the concerts to come.

The concerts that week were great. Great! But they were only a tiny portion of the festival. The concerts are very social events and the audience tends to wander around (usually to and from the bar) through out the entire evening. Each concert has between three and five artists - pretty much all of them exceptionally talented.

After the scheduled concerts people gather at the Festival Club to listen to more music (both unpublished performances by the main artists and other bands as well as jam sessions in every room and corner and stairwell). After the Festival Club closes at 5am (or a little before then) people wander off to house parties that tend to last until the restaurants open in the morning. The truly hardcore (not me) then go straight to the pub to continue playing after breakfast.



The festival planners don't schedule anything during the day. This leaves plenty of time for either sleeping during the day or sight-seeing. I did a reasonable amount of both. On Saturday, Birgit and I walked along the coastal path in search of seals. We did not find them, but we did get some good photos.

Sunday we went for a tour of South Mainland in less than inviting weather. It was windy and almost raining the whole time. We had with us our local guide, Cameron, whom I had met on the ferry and spent a fair amount of time hanging out with during the festival. A fan of music and Norwegian chocolate, he knew where to take us to squeeze the most out of our few tourist hours.

First stop - St. Ninian's Isle, connected to the mainland by the sand bar you see above.

Looking southward from St. Ninian's.


Next stop was Sumburgh, as far south as you can go on land in Shetland. The puffins just wait for you to take their photos. Below are a couple shots looking down from the point, next to the lighthouse.




After the final party on Monday (awesome music, but less fun due to the lack of a local guide), we scrambled to pack and get out of our rooms before check out. We went shopping in town. Some of us spent a few hours in the Shetland Museum; I recommend the museum as a stop at the beginning of the trip, if it's your first time to Shetland. Then we all piled in the hostel van and headed back to the ferry.

The boat ride back to Aberdeen was significantly less of a party, due mostly to the high waves we were sailing through. Nobody really wanted the festival to come to an end, but it's hard to play when the floor rolls out from under you. I slept happily under my new Shetland wool blanket, preparing for another day and a half of travel before finally arriving back in Rauland. I'm looking forward to next year's festival already!