Hello! My name is Gemma Mackenzie and this is my blog. 

Ok, so where to start?  Well this seems like a fitting place to quote the new RBS advert:  “I’m an islander through and through.”  That much is true, but unlike the advert I don’t spend my days out fishing and using the mobile RBS bank van at the pier.   I have actually ventured off the island where there are proper banks; ok that’s not exactly fair – my home town of Stornoway has its fair share of banks.

My island departure has taken me to Edinburgh (for my undergrad degree), Milan (I studied English Lit and Italian) and now finally Glasgow where I have just started a masters in journalism.  First impressions of Glasgow? Well I guess this should be a ‘controversial’ issue to discuss considering the big Glasgow V Edinburgh debate, but in all honesty I like Glasgow and I liked Edinburgh but one thing’s for sure.. neither of them compare to the Isle of Lewis and the lovely town of  Steornabhaigh.

The major difference between Glasgow and Edinburgh is the sheer amount of Leodhasaichs you see walking around here, there, and everywhere in Glasgow – I really never saw anyone from the island when I lived in Edinburgh, while now a day hasn’t gone by when I haven’t bumped into someone I recognize.  I mean there are the obvious islander hotspots – The Park Bar, The Snaffle, The Islay Inn – but it still amazes me the amount of island folk that come down to the Big Smoke and just how small a world we live in.

Growing up on an island was probably different to a ‘mainland’ upbringing – I mean the remoteness wasn’t really an issue in my opinion.  Contrary to some pre-conceived ideas of island life, we do have running water and electricity.  We do, however, lack in fun exciting things like bowling alleys, ice-rinks, shopping centres etc.  Does that really matter?  Surely there are plenty other twenty-one year olds who’ve never been ice-skating?

I guess one thing worth mentioning, as I will probably talk about agriculture and food related things a lot, is the fact that I come from a farming family.  My Dad and Grandpa run Goathill Farm in Stornoway, the island’s only dairy farm.  I spent a lot of my childhood at the farm doing things which nowadays would probably be classed as ‘dangerous’,  like climbing bales of hay and petting all sorts of animals.   More recently I’ve spent most holidays working at the farm so along with my obsession with food, I’m now pretty interested in the farming industry and its future.

I think that’s more than enough chat about me - the rest is to be continued…