Editor’s note: Carver stayed away from haggis during her trip abroad.

With England and Turkey already under her belt, junior history and anthropology major Catherine Carver tackled New Lanark, Scotland this summer.

Carver spent May 11 through June 26 helping the charity New Lanark Trust create a public search room for all of its collections.

“I feel like helping them create a public search room was pretty relevant to my career goals, as far as working with museums and archives stuff like that,” Carver said.

She cataloged some of their photographs and digitized inventories.

While in Scotland, she said she experienced many things she would not have been able to here.

“We saw two cows being herded by two vehicles,” she said. “That was interesting because it’s not like you see cows walking down the road every day.”

She also experienced her first rugby match in Scotland.

“They were a bunch of characters, bunch of rowdy, giant men,” she said. “They took their shirts off and sang like a warrior chant.”

Carver said her living conditions were very basic: a bed, sink, toilet and shower. But the area where she lived differed from the U.S.

“I really liked that it was still a village,” Carver said. “(It’s like) you’re back in time.”

Carver said she ate salmon for the first time in Scotland, but stayed far away from haggis.

She said she appreciated how Scottish people acted around her.

“Everyone was genuinely interested in my American thoughts and opinions,” Carver said. 

Carver said she even surprised herself while studying abroad.

“I knew I was independent, but surviving six weeks alone was a big deal for me,” she said.

Carver said Scottish people’s attitudes present a more laid-back life than those of Americans.

“When they go to have their dinner, they don’t hurry up to go and watch TV,” she said. “A lot of times their dinners can last up to two to three hours because they take the time to have a nice dinner and wind down after their day. “