Scotland is an ancient land. To hear the bagpipes belching out notes across the sharp crags and green glens makes me shiver. The land looks scarred by its prehistoric past, like the mountains are continuously thrusting themselves upward against the deep layers of time. Nowhere else in the world have I seen such a variation in terrain in such a small geographic area. The people are also welcoming and proud of their heritage. And looking back on it now, I probably crossed paths with a number of my distant relatives. No matter where it is in Scotland – the city, the lowlands, the highlands – I feel connected with the people, the past, and my ancestral roots.