The Kooks - Naive

Also, this song was playing in my head on repeat the entire weekend...Taylor, I blame you.

London Calling

Yeah, I know that's probably the most common title for anything about trips to London, but it's cute and I'm using it.
Now, if you couldn't tell, Elizabeth, Michelle, Jess and I went to London this weekend! We left Thursday night at around 11ish and rode a bus for 8 hours...we're that dedicated to saving as much money as possible. When we first arrived, we headed straight towards Buckingham palace, which was huge and included guards with fuzzy hats. After depositing our belongings and taking quick showers, we wasted no time in heading to Westminster Abbey. Even though I've heard about how beautiful the Abbey is, it's one of those places that you cannot truly appreciate until you've experienced it. It was my favorite part of the entire weekend. The rest of the weekend was filled with visits to the British Museum, The Tower of London, the Globe, The Tate, Hyde Park and The National Portrait Gallery. We also did the touristy thing and took way too many pictures of Big Ben and the Eye. But honestly, how many chances are we going to get to go to London?

The Tower felt so full of history and it was mind-blowing to think about the fact that we were walking where people like Elizabeth I walked hundreds of years ago (no, I'm not a history nerd at all). Unfortunately we couldn't actually go in the Globe seeing as how we were running very low on funds, but we saw the outside of it. Still counts, right? The Tate was interesting and it confirmed my theory that I am not a modern art kind of girl. The National Portrait Gallery was much more my style, especially the Tudor room with its collection of Elizabeth I portraits. Can you tell she's my favorite yet? And, of course, Hyde Park was just as pretty and English as one would expect it to be.
All in all, it was a fun trip and I'm glad we went.

And we're walking, and walking, and walking...

My feet hurt. I didn't even know it was possible to get blisters on the bottoms of your feet, but apparently it is. But you know what, I'm in love with this place, blisters and all. In fact, I think I'll make a list of everything I love about Glasgow, and Scotland in general, just so it can be documented...

1. I love the fact that I'm walking everywhere. Even though my feet are yelling at me to just sit down for a few minutes, I feel like I'm really getting to see Glasgow. Of course we've taken a taxi when the walk just seems too far to bear, but that's been two or three times and generally after an intense shopping day.
2. People here seem to live at a much slower pace than we do in the States. I get the feeling that they make sure everything they do is enjoyed to its fullest and no opportunity is missed. There's definitely a sense of just "being" coming from this place and I love it.
3. The way people "go out" here is much more my style. Going to a pub (or two or three) for a few drinks with friends and just relaxing is pretty much my ideal night out. Yes, the clubs are fun every once in awhile but you don't get to know people the same way when you're screaming over the Usher song coming from the speakers. Unfortunately, going out here is still just as expensive as it is at home, probably more so.
4. Um, have you ever heard a Scottish accent? If so, then no more explanation is necessary on this one.
5. The fact that the Uni was founded in 1451 still blows my mind. Being surrounded by so much history is pretty much how I want to spend my life.
6. The people are genuinely nice. It's not the same as at home, where everyone smiles and says hello as they walk by. But I have to keep reminding myself that I live in South Carolina, "smiling faces and beautiful places" and all that. Needless to say, the three of us, after hearing how friendly Glaswegians are, expected people to act the way we do at home. Though it takes people a bit more warming up time, once you get them talking they're really nice.
7. The cars here are absolutely adorable.
8. There is so much open, beautiful green land in Scotland. Anytime we've traveled out of the city I'm astounded by how much space there is. It's probably my mom's "granola crowd" influence on me, but I don't think enough people appreciate open land that's been left untouced.
9. Coffee shops are everywhere, and if you know me at all you know I love my coffee. So far, Montgomery's has been the best.
10. Grocery shopping has always been something I love to do, I don't know why, so please don't ask. Let's just say I enjoy Publix trips far more than I should. Here, grocery shopping is a once a week thing, at least. You only buy what you need for the week, mainly because you don't want to try and carry too much back to your flat, but also because there are so many less preservatives in the food you really can't buy too much food or else it goes bad. This may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I find that I really enjoy it.

Well, now that there's a list I suppose there should also be a few pictures...



The Park, a bar down the street

 

Beautiful

 

COFFEE!!



Groceries





 

Fresher's Week

This past week has been a little bit ridiculous. It's Fresher's Week, which is when all of the freshmen move in and there are events held EVERYDAY. You can imagine the noise and general confusion that a few hundred 17-18 year olds can cause, and none of it is very helpful to us international students who don't really know what we're doing. You see, we had to "enrol" for classes this week, except the way they run things at the Uni is so much different than it is at Converse. At home, we log on to the Converse website, check the classes that we want to take and that's the end of it. Here, you have to be pre-approved for a class, then speak to the person who's in charge of that particular department to make sure there's still room in the class and that its time works out with your schedule. If all of that ends well you then have to figure out when to enrol in the class, which could be in the department office, online, or on the first day of class...it's quite confusing and too stressful to be legal.
But, enough complaining, because I think that I've managed to sort everything out fairly well (hopefully). I am excited to start classes, mainly to have something to do during the day other than shop, but also because I think the classes that I'm taking are going to be really interesting. I plan on taking Victorian and Edwardian Glasgow (because when am I ever going to get to take a class like that again?) and Pagans, Princes, and Priests. Classes start tomorrow, and I can't wait!

On a completely different note, here's a picture of Jess, Myself, and Elizabeth at Edinburgh Castle that's just cute!

"Horizontal Rain"

Before leaving for Glasgow I had a few family members warn me about the typical Scottish "horizontal" rain...it's so windy that the rain ends up coming at you horizontally instead of falling straight down. They weren't kidding! After spending most of the morning running around the Uni like a chicken with my head cut off, trying to figure out what papers I needed and where to take them in order to get a student i.d., we decided that we needed to head to City Centre to do some shopping. This would have been a perfectly good idea, had the weather not been getting progressively worse as the day went on. It started out with a slight sprinkle and by the time we finished shopping a few hours later it felt like we were walking through a hurricane.

Not my picture, but a decent representation of the weather

 Our umbrellas, though admittedly rather cheap, didn't stand a chance against the intense amounts of wind that sent the rain in ten different directions at once. Needless to say, we were ready to get a cab back to the residence and call it a day. However, everyone else in Glasgow apparently had the same idea...there were no empty cabs. Solution: walk the 25 or so minutes back and endure the thorough soaking from gale force winds and the literally horizontal rain. Though everyones umbrella was turned inside out at least once, I know I for one had a good laugh about the hysterical image I'm sure we presented to passerby and those who were lucky enough to get a cab.
I think I'm going to have to invest in a pair of these very soon...

First Impressions and Day Trips

Wow!
I can't believe I'm finally here, it seemed like it would never actually happen. This city is gorgeous and filled with beautiful buildings and fun little shops. I received a very in-depth introduction to many of the shops the first few days we were here because our luggage was lost somewhere in Iceland (never fly Icelandair, apparently). But, everything is where it's supposed to be now and I have more time to just explore the city and attempt to find my way around.
Yesterday we went to Callander and Loch Katerine. Callander was a cute little Scottish town, reminiscent of the ones you see in pictures and in movies. The Loch was breathtakingly beautiful and a place that made me realize "Oh my goodness, I'm in Scotland!". Needless to say, it was a great trip.

Gorgeous, right?

Today, my fellow Connies and I made a day trip to Edinburgh. It was a day of many firsts: bus trip, castle visit, trip underground, and haggis tasting. The city itself was amazing, and filled with so much history that my heart kind of started to hurt. We stayed along the Royal Mile while we were there, which is like the main road for attractions and such. It felt like there was a mini fair going on with all of the vendors and little shops and restaurants, it was great. I have a feeling that we will definitely be making a few more trips back!