An Overview

Two and a half weeks in country
Time: half six.

Questions you're are probably thinking:

Yes, I am having a great time! I love it here, it is a great city, great school, great people.

Yes, I have been making lots of friends, and I love them already.

No, I haven't met any Scots yet. Not exactly true, one of my flat-mates is a Scot, and I've met a couple others, but no one else I'll likely see again. Lots of Australians, Indians, and Americans, some Koreans, some English...

No, I have not tried haggis yet. Haven't had a good opportunity. I have, however, tried black pudding. And I really like it. And several different kinds of whisky. (I like them too.)


So, I really like my flat-mates. There's Allie (don't know how that's spelled) the Scot, Paulo the Spaniard, and Ingwan (can't spell that either) the Korean. And an empty room. So far we've all been keeping the kitchen clean. And I've been eating well, my own cooking. The kitchen has an amazing view out to the River Clyde. We can see a tall ship. The Armadillo is nearby, we're right close to the Uni, and to a street with cheap stores and restaurants and bars, and to another street with trendy shops and restaurants and bars.

The Uni is beautiful. It's like a castle. There are spiral stone staircases in towers, and a dungeon. With dead bodies. Seriously. One of my friends is studying anatomy, working with cadavers. There's also a museum with plasticized dead bodies, like BodyWorlds, but creepier. There's another museum in the main building with the most random collection. There is a model of a woman giving birth next to Samurai armor next to a pleiosaur skeleton.

The city is great, but i need to invest in a compass. It is easier to get lost here than anywhere else I've ever been. Everyone I've talked to about this agrees. You can head one direction, thinking you're going the opposite, with great ease. The Uni is the same. It's a maze. The individual buildings and the campus as a whole.

This has been Fresher's Week, basically a week long party where we take breaks now and then to enroll in classes. Except I haven't partied too much. Last night Bryan played an open mike night, so a bunch of us went to that, and a friend's date kept buying pitchers of cocktails for everyone. Which was wicked nice. Went to a ceilidh a few days ago. Basically a neo-traditional Scottish dance party, similar to contradancing. Except simpler, because they serve alcohol.

There are two student unions. The one that I've been in the most (they held the Ceilidh) is the GUU. It has five floors and nine bars. And a world champion debating team, several times over. The debates are very popular.

This weekend a bunch of us plan to go to The Isle of Arran, in the Firth of Clyde. It's an hour by train, about, then a short ferry ride. Said to be "Scotland in miniature," and wicked beautiful, with quaint small villages and lots of caves and geo-caching.

I'll figure out how to post pictures next, and have some of them up. Peace!