It's not all work and no play

23 February 2018

As a large part of our MSc cohort comprises students from outside the UK, and with the HPC-Europa3 programme currently bringing in researchers from mainland Europe, I thought it would be nice to invite our visitors to experience some traditional Scottish culture: a ceilidh.

Ceihlidh pair

A ceildh is a meet-up with traditional Scottish dancing and live music from a band typically composed of guitars, fiddles, drums and a mix of other instruments. Most of the dances are relatively simple and repetitive but nevertheless lots of fun to do. Sometimes, as was the case for this particular ceilidh, the dances are called - they will walk you through the steps a couple of times before cutting you loose to perform them.

Our party included three Chinese MSc students; an HPC Europa researcher from the Czech republic and a Spanish colleague working for EPCC. My origins are not from the UK either, so we had a truly international group.

Ceihlidh group

I had forgotten how much fun ceilidhs can be and I do believe that I managed to dance every single dance - believe me, it is a very good workout. All the attendees in my party really enjoyed the event. If you ever come to Edinburgh do try to go to a ceilidh! You can see some ideas on the Ceildih Club website.