London!! I saved going to London until this trip because I knew the history of it would be so interesting for everyone. And it was! We landed in London around dinnertime on Wednesday so we settled into our hostel and headed out for food. Now a big rule for us normally on vacation is to try and eat somewhere that we don’t normally have back home. Can you guess where we ate the first night? CHIPOTLE!!! While I am not normally a Chipotle fan, there happens to be no Chipotle’s in Scotland (and yes that is currently my home until May 21st so I get to eat there) and I have missed Mexican food. I will say, there is a Mexican food place here too that is good but they taste different. Also, for those who know me and know I hate guac, the UK does something right with their guac – it is delicious.

Our first full day in London we started off at Kensington Palace. The airbnb we stayed in was a really close to it and we were able to walk through the gardens to get to the palace. It was very interesting inside (and there was more photography allowed). Kensington Palace is a royal residence that was originally built in a suburb outside of the city of London called Kensington. King William III bought the house in 1689, with the idea of moving away from the River Thames, who’s fog and floods did not help the King’s asthma. Back then, the city of London stopped well before Kensington. Now, London has expanded well past Kensington and other surrounding areas. Inside they have costumes from the movie The Favourite.

We continued our walk through the gardens afterwards to check out the area and a monument. We took pictures by the Albert Memorial, which Queen Victoria had made in memory of her husband Prince Albert.

We then headed over to Buckingham Palace to see where the Queen lives. Buckingham Palace is only open to tour for a few weeks in the summer so we were not able to go inside. However, we could stand at the gates and were still able to see the Palace as well as the Victoria Memorial which is right out front. There were people exiting the Palace when we were there (no royalty) so we were able to see how the guard went about letting them out.

We then headed over to see Big Ben, Parliament, and Westminster Abbey. Unfortunately, Big Ben is under construction until 2021 so there was not much to see over there.

We then walked over to check out the London Eye. We did not go on it (hello people who do like heights) but it was pretty to take pictures by.

We had a quick lunch at Sherlock Holmes restaurant (it was a really cool theme inside). We headed over to the Household Cavalry museum afterwards. The Household Cavalry museum was built right in the middle of the horse guards and lets you actually see into the stables. The museum tells the story of the horse guards as well as describes their duties to the Queen. It was definitely an interesting museum to go through. We also had a bit of fun with the dress up things they had there.

Our last “museum” of the night was one I was really looking forward to. It’s called the Wellcome Collection. Henry Wellcome is from the 19th century and he enjoyed collecting medical antiquities. He has very odd things in the collection, including old surgical tools, inhalers, fake limbs, Darwin’s walking stick and Napoleon’s toothbrush. Looking at his collection gives you a walk through history and how far we’ve come today.

There was also a super old x-ray machine upstairs. In another room, there was a dress made of 6,000 contraceptive pills, which is enough birth control for 26 years. I found this very interesting.

London: Day 2!!! We started off day 2 at the Tower of London (aka another castle), which is a sight. We took a tour of it since they take you into the cathedral there which is not open to the public until 4:30. The cathedral is still very much in use and is actually the resting place of many of the people executed at the Tower of London, including three queens. The most famous that everyone asks about is Anne Boleyn. This is the site where they executed royalty. All of the other executions took place at the top of Tower Hill.

The interesting thing about the Tower of London is that it is actually a small community. The Tower has been built up over the years, with the outer walls being added after the inner and expansions happening, and is quite large. The Tower currently houses many families. The Yeoman Warders, which are part of the Queen’s guard and is a very hard position to get, give the tours of the castle each day. They also live in the Tower with their families. There is also Constable of the Tower (the highest position there), a Resident Governor, and Ravenmaster (who is one of the Yeomen Warders and is in charge of making sure at least 6 ravens are kept at the tower) also live there with their families.

In the Tower of London you can go through and see the Crown Jewels. For obvious reasons, there are no pictures allowed. You can also walk around the top of the wall and go into the different towers and see the different things they had there, like exotic animals and a place for prisoners. The actual castle inside the Tower of London is called the White Tower. There is another chapel inside of the Tower, too. It also showcases the Royal Armouries collections.

A lot of famous prisoners were held in the Tower of London. One of the more famous prisoners were the Princes in the Tower. The two brothers, Edward V, King of England, and Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, were the only sons of Edward IV of England and Elizabeth Woodville. The two sons were the only heirs surviving at the time of their father’s death in 1483. When they were 12 and 9 years old their uncle brought them to London where Edward was supposed to ascend the throne of England. When they arrived there, Richard, their uncle, declared them bastards, saying neither of them were heir to the throne. Richard wanted to hold the throne so he locked the boys away in the Tower where they were never seen again.

When at the Tower of London, the Tower Bridge can be seen. After we finished touring the Tower, we walked out to the River Thames and took pictures by the Tower Bridge.

Next, we walked to this Old Operating Theatre museum. It’s housed in the attic of an early 18th century church of the old St.Thames’ Hospital. To access the attic, you have to go up a long, narrow spiral staircase. It was really cool to see where they used to perform surgeries. In the attic itself, you can see herbs they used to use to make medicines as well as early medical equipment. The little medical nerd in me absolutely loved this.

We then walked over to the St. Pauls’ Cathedral. We didn’t go in because you have to pay but it was very cool to see. We also found one of the red telephone booths there and had to take a picture.

Lastly, we went to the Freud museum in Hampstead, London (yes you heard that right. Instead of Hampstead, NC we were in Hampstead, London). Sigmund Freud moved to Hampstead, London in 1938 to escape the Nazi annexation of Austria. He came to London with his daughter, Anna (she was the only one of his children to also study psychology – she was a child psychoanalyst), and his wife. Freud only lived in the house before he died, but his wife and daughter lived here for many years after. Freud was able to move most of his furniture to his London home, making it the best replica of his home in Austria. Everything of his was kept completely the same, making it a living museum of his life. Freud made great discoveries for clinical psychology and birthed psychoanalyst. While some of his ideas were a little outrageous, he had good grounding to his thoughts and paved the way to many more psychological revelations. While I, personally, am not a huge Freud fan, I can recognize that he did a lot for psychology and the psychologist in me found it really cool to see where he last lived and worked.

That was the last of our London trip and the next morning we headed back to Glasgow. We stayed on the West End since my mom and grandma were flying back to the States early in the morning and the airport is closer to that side. It was great to see them and absolutely amazing that I was able to experience these places with them for the first time!

Bon Voyage!

On March 1st, I met my mom and grandma in Glasgow for a week long trip. We started off the week by taking a train to Edinburgh for a few days. Our first night there we didn’t do much besides check out the city. The first full day we were there, however, we took an Uber to go see the Royal Yacht Britannia. It is the former yacht of Queen Elizabeth II, and was in service from the years 1954 to 1997. It has been docked in Edinburgh ever since. The ship was very interesting to see, especially since you get to see in on the rooms they once inhabited. We were also able to eat in the tea room which was fun.

And since I always find something medical somewhere, I took pictures of the onboard doctor’s office.

The next day we took a bus trip to Loch Ness and to see some of the Highlands. Once again, we stopped at The Three Sisters in Glencoe. Unfortunately, it rained most of our trip so our pictures didn’t come out the best. It was really interesting to see Loch Ness again. As always, the ride was absolutely beautiful with the best scenery ever.

The following day we had to check out and head back to Glasgow (I still had classes). Before that, we took a quick trip to see the Palace of Holyroodhouse. It is Queen Elizabeth II’s palace in Scotland. It is also the palace that housed Mary Stuart (the Mary the movie Mary, Queen of Scots is based on) during her reign in Scotland. The palace is also associated with Bonnie Prince Charlie (the reason for one of the many Jacobite uprisings – they wanted a Stuart back on the throne). The castle was very interesting to see.

There is very little photography allowed inside the castle. I took a picture of the outside of the little tower that Mary, Queen of Scots, lived in. We were able to go up there inside the castle. It’s a narrow, winding, uneven staircase going up that makes it hard to imagine men storming up all those years ago to execute Mary’s secretary, David Rizzio. They dragged him from Mary’s bedchambers and stabbed him multiple times in the back in the room next door. Mary, who was very pregnant at the time, was there to witness this all happen. People say that you can still see the blood stains in the floor where he was stabbed. When we were there, it was fairly easy to spot where he had been stabbed and where there were blood stains. He laid there for awhile so it is not hard to believe there would still be blood stains to this day.

We then headed back to Glasgow for a few days. Mom and Grandma explored the city while I attended the few classes I need to. We tried a few fun places for food and explored the city a bit before our next adventure: London!

The Isle of Skye trip was just so eventful that I had to make two posts about it. We truly saw most of Scotland on that trip alone. We also visited the most picturesque places ever so I have way too many photos from this trip. Skye was voted the 4th Best Island in the World and it’s been said that Skye is conclusive proof that sometimes God was just showing off. Anyway, the morning started off with seeing the sunrise. I made a point of going to bed early the night prior because I wanted enough sleep and I knew the sunrise would be worth it to see. And it really was. I didn’t travel too far from the hostel to see it because it was quite cold in the morning and I had left my jacket in the room but I still snagged some good photos.

Absolutely gorgeous. We then did what every person does to wake up in the morning and stuck our heads in a freezing river for 7 seconds (I’m just kidding). We went to the River Sligachan where legend has it that if you stick your head in the river for 7 seconds you’ll be granted with eternal youthfulness and beauty (and yes every significant place in Scotland’s history starts with legend has it. Welcome to Scotland). The water was absolutely freezing (Scotland is cold and we had traveled very far north) and I forgot to take a big breath before sticking my head under water so really enjoy this video of me dunking my head. (Also notice how red my hair is in this – I’m really shooting for coming off as a Scottish person I guess).

The Sligachan Bridge crosses the Sligachan River and the Cuillins (a range of rocky mountains) can be seen from the bridge. The view from the bridge is absolutely gorgeous.

Old Man of Storr and Trotternish Peninsula was our next stop. Old Man of Storr is the most famous and well-known landmark in Skye. It is a large 50m high pinnacle of rock on a steep hill (a very steep hill – it was torture trying to walk/climb up to it). It was created by a massive ancient landslide and is one of the most photographed landscapes in the world. It was also featured in Harry Styles’ ‘Sign of the Times’ music video as well as many movies. The trek up to the Old Man of Storr was very hard and definitely had my knee feeling it the whole next week but the view was well worth it.

We could’ve gone further up but I was afraid I would not make it back down in enough time (It took me a really long time to get up there). But point for me and my crappy knee because I made it up despite how painful it was. After knee surgery things like this didn’t seem possible so I always really appreciate it when I’m able to do these things. I also had to take lots of pictures while up here (especially sitting on the edge of the mountains/cliffs). In the first picture, you sort of see a road between the green landscape and the loch. That was where the bus was parked.

Lealt Gorge and Lealt Falls were our next stop. Lealt Falls feed into Lealt River. Kanye West filmed scenes for his song Wave here.

Then we went to Kilt Rock and Sound of Rassay. Kilt Rock comprises of some spectacular 180 foot tall sea-cliffs in the north-east Trotternish. It was formed around 61 – 55 million years ago by volcanic activities. By Kilt Rock, Mealt Falls can be seen feeding into Loch Mealt. Near this area there has also been dinosaur footprints recently discovered.

We stopped for lunch in Portree, the main town on Skye and known as the Capital of Skye. The only restaurant opened there when we stopped was a fish and chips place. This is because Portree is a huge tourist place and we arrived out of season, when everything closes down in preparation for the tourists to come again. Portree is the site of MacNabb’s Inn which was the last meeting place of Flora MacDonald and Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1746. Also, 37% of the population can speak Scottish Gaelic and Skye holds a Scottish Gaelic College that people travel from all over the world to attend. Portree is also featured in Made of Honour during the bachelorette party.

Finally, we stopped on our way back and visited the Commando Memorial. It is dedicated to the original British Commando Forces that were raised during World War II. Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in the British Isles can be seen there.

Overall, it was an amazing trip and very interesting. Skye is a gorgeous place. It is a sight worth seeing.

This blog post is long overdue. On February 23rd – 24th I traveled to Isle of Skye, one of the most famous parts of the Highlands. The trip up there is fairly long, but very beautiful. We left out of Glasgow at 8 am Saturday morning and returned Sunday night at 6 pm.

Our first stop was Luss, a village on the banks of Loch Lomond. It’s a very beautiful village. Loch Lomond is a freshwater loch (there is exactly one lake in Scotland and they take offense if you call any of the lochs lakes). Ben Lomond can be seen from the Loch. There is a song that features the Loch as well and is quite interesting to listen to. It’s called “Bonnie Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond”. I enjoy the song and personally like Runrig’s version.

From Loch Lomond we traveled to Loch Tulla. This loch is in the Central Highlands and is surrounded by the remnants of the old Caledonian Forest. It’s a beautiful loch but the day we were there was quite chilly so I don’t have many pictures there.

Next we saw the Three Sisters in Glencoe (again? I know). This is probably the most popular part of the Highlands and can be seen on almost every Highland tour. I find the history of the Three Sisters to be more interesting each time I hear it. Many movies have been filmed in this area. Skyfall was filmed in Glencoe and the road that James Bond drives down after staring at the Three Sisters is the same road we traveled down.

We made a few extra stops along the way in order to see more of the Highlands. One of the stops we made along the way was to one of my new favorite spots in Scotland (besides Isle of Skye). We stopped on the side of the road and walked up one of the mountains to get this view. It was super windy so some of the pictures were a bit interesting but it was nonetheless breathtaking to look out from where we were. However, it was a tad worrisome standing on the edge of the mountain with all of that wind.

Our final stop before hitting Isle of Skye was Eilean Donan Castle. The Castle is the most visited and popular attraction in the Highlands and is one of the most pictured spots. It was partially destroyed during the Jacobite Uprising in 1719 but was restored in the early 1900’s. Eilen Donan Castle is actually featured in the movie Made of Honour. It was actually featured in many movies. We did not get the chance to actually go see the castle as there was a wedding there. We did, however, get the chance to see the bridge, groom, and some of the guests in attendance (and yes some of the men were wearing kilts).

After this stop we finally arrived at Isle of Skye. We put our stuff away in the cutest little hostel (with a pub attached) before starting to explore the area. To get to Isle of Skye you cross a bridge called Skye Bridge which crosses Loch Alsh. It opened in 1995 and replaced the Caledonian MacBrayne Kyle of Lochalsh ferry, the only transport to Skye prior to the construction of the bridge.

The village we stayed in, Kyleakin, is situated on the east coast of Skye. Situated there is the ruins of Castle Moil. It was a fortress built in the late 15th century and home to a cheeky Norwegian Princess named Mary (aka Saucy Mary). She used to charge the boats traveling through the narrow canal between Castle Moil and the mainland and would run to the cliff in front of her castle and give them a royal flash as reward for them paying. We made the trek over to the Castle and checked out the ruins. There’s not much left of the castle and it even sustained some damage during a storm recently.

After our adventures there we headed back into town to have dinner at the pub attached to the hostel. I even tried Skye’s whiskey although it was a little strong for my taste. As for the rest of the night, the Isle of Skye tour has two rules: ‘a little party never killed nobody’ and ‘what happens in Skye, stays in Skye!’😉

3 of my flatmates and myself decided to travel to Amsterdam for a long weekend on February 16th. Since I don’t have class until noon on Tuesdays, we were able to fly to Amsterdam on Saturday and fly back early Tuesday morning before class started (so no need to worry – no classes missed). Surprisingly, the weather was actually quite nice in Amsterdam and we were able to enjoy the park and sit outside at most meals. It probably wasn’t even that nice but after being in the cold that is Scotland, we’ll take 50 degree weather. This was my first time traveling to another country since arriving in Scotland and I have to say it was very interesting. Since leaving America, I have taken great notice to how different the airports are. For example, at Glasgow’s airport they didn’t even check my ID when I walked up to security. I had to input my passport information when I checked in and then I just scanned my boarding pass. Also, whenever you enter an airport after security, you’re taken through a maze of shops before running into a bunch of restaurants and seating. You’re gate doesn’t pop up until 15-30 minutes before boarding so you can’t even go sit at the gate. As well, every flight I have had outside of the US so far has had me board the plane from outside which I had never done before.

The first thing I noticed when I stepped out of the train station in Amsterdam is how many modes of transport there are. If I thought traffic patterns and roads were crazy in Scotland, it is nothing compared to Amsterdam. You have trams, bikes, vespas, normal cars, and tiny cars like the one from When In Rome. All of these modes of transport are on the road and make crossing the street a nightmare. I was almost taken out by bikes so many times because they pay no mind to if we have the walk signal. We did make the decision to get a 3 day public transport pass. This allowed us unlimited access to all of the public transport (especially the train and tram which we used constantly). This was exceptionally nice because our hostel was one train stop outside of the city center and situated literally right next to the train stop. We were also upgraded to a private room in the hostel so that was very nice.

Our first day we spent walking around the city and taking in the sights.

Despite a pretty chill first day, we hit the ground running on the second day. We started off with the Van Gogh museum in the morning. It was very interesting to see all of the paintings. The museum even had a lot of his self portraits. Unfortunately, his Sunflowers painting was being restored and was not available to be seen. There was a wall, however, with a print of the painting on it.

After the Van Gogh museum we headed over to the Heineken Experience. Heineken is definitely an experience. The building it is in is one of the original factories that is no longer in use. You can see where they used to store ingredients while learning about the history of the company. We even were able to see the very first bottle design all the way to the newest.

The interesting thing about the Heinken Experience that makes it different from other brewery tours is the fact that since it isn’t an active brewery there is more than just a brewery tour mixed in. We were able to do this thing where you go into another room and are taken through the whole Heinken experience. It starts with the beer being made. The room used for it has a circular ceiling and the screen spans the walls and ceiling. It feels as though you are in the beer as it is being made. Then you see the bottles and the video follows the bottles as they are distributed. It’s just an unique part of the tour. There’s other rooms as you go through the tour that have different themes, like one for football (or soccer). At the end of the tour you get two free beers.

After the Heineken Experience we explored the city a bit more before doing a pub crawl that night which was fairy interesting. The following morning, our last day, we were surprisingly able to get Anne Frank House tickets (after sitting in a queue online for almost an hour). We decided to walk around the city and get a few pictures before we ate somewhere for lunch and then headed to our tour.

We ate outside for lunch, right on one of the canals. While sitting there we realized that one of the houses that overlook the canal was for sale. We looked it up and the list price was £2.5 million! After we ate, we went and saw the Anne Frank House. Out of respect I did not take any pictures there. However, it is a place everyone should visit at least once. The original bookcase that hid the annex is still there today. The annex itself is empty of furniture since the Nazis ordered for it all to be taken after the people of the annex were discovered. Although there are personal belongings on display in the annex, little things that had been left behind like shopping lists and books. Also, the pictures that Anne had plastered on her walls are still there. The tour is done through an audio device and at the end you can listen to a letter Anne wrote to her father when they were in the annex.

Lastly, we did a canal tour at sunset. It was absolutely beautiful to see the sunset from the canal. They also gave us a little history of the different neighborhoods we visited while going through the canals. The tour was really nice because we were able to see parts of Amsterdam that we hadn’t walked to.

Amsterdam was such a pretty city to visit and definitely worth the trip. I would go back in a heartbeat. (If you ever go you have to try chips (fries) with mayo at some point – I absolutely hated them but it’s worth saying you tried it).

Finally, since I’ve had so much fun commenting on airports, I have a bit to say about Amsterdam’s. First, I am still completely surprised by the fact that the train station is connected to the airport in the literal middle of the airport. Also, I will forever be surprised by the fact that you can just scan your boarding pass at security then proceed through the metal detectors – like there’s no showing your ID and being questioned. Also, since the airport is so huge, we took a shuttle from the gate to our actual plan, which we had to board from outside. The flight was very easy. I was able to sleep the whole time since the person next to me never showed up so I had the row to myself (it was two seats in a row).

Up next: Isle of Skye weekend trip

But for now:

Bon Voyage!

When most people think of Scotland, they think of Loch Ness. I mean, who wouldn’t? It’s the age old tale of the monster that lurks beneath the water. Most people even know and have seen the black and white “surgeon’s photo” of Nessie (I put surgeon’s photo in quotation marks because he was really a gynecologist but it was the 30’s). I even bought a postcard with the photo on it. It was iconic. That photo sparked belief in Nessie and years of people believing she was there. It took 50 years to prove the photo was fake. Compared to photos before that were proved to be fake within days, this was monumental.

I am getting ahead of myself, however. To get to Loch Ness we took a long bus ride. The bus ride goes right through the Highlands of Scotland, giving some of the most gorgeous views. It only took us 30 minutes into our trip to leave Glasgow and run into these huge mountains. They truly looked like something right out of a movie or picture. I tried my best to capture a few of the views of out the window of the bus.

One of the more famous landmarks we passed were The Three Sisters. The Three Sisters are located in Glencoe and are part of Bidean nam Bian.

Before stopping at Loch Ness, we went past Fort Augustus to the tiny town of Invermoriston. There’s a bridge they’re currently refurbishing there called the Thomas Telford bridge, which was built in 1813. There’s a little walking trail there that takes you out through the woods to a small little cabin. If you look out the windows you get a perfect view of the new bridge there.

After exploring the little town, we headed back down to Loch Ness. Because of the tour I was on we were able to go to a farm in Fort Augustus that is right on the banks of Loch Ness. It has one of the best views of Loch Ness. The farm is actually a bed and breakfast on Loch Ness but actually used to be the end of the line for the West Highland Railway. It used to be frequented back in the day by people hoping to catch a glimpse of Nessie. On the farm there are 2 dogs, 3 horses, and 4 Highland cows. We had free range to explore the farm and interact with the animals. I got some amazing pictures while there and even got sort of close to the Highland cows. While adorable, their horns are huge in real life and will impale you. Often it happens because they move to scratch themselves and catch someone standing too close so I kept my distance.

My flatmates and I on the farm with Loch Ness behind us.

Despite the look of complete terror I had with the cows I was very excited to see them. I was not excited, however, with how much they moved while I tried to take this picture. They are the most adorable things ever.

After seeing the cows and Loch, we headed into the town of Fort Augustus and explored around. The town was cute as can be and had some great tourist attractions.

Finally, we stopped at Loch Lochy (literally Lake Lakey) on our way back and got out to stretch our legs and check it out. The Highlands were very pretty in the background of the Loch.

The ride back was long but luckily we were able to sleep for most of it. The trip was truly memorable and one I am thankful to have had the chance to go on. Loch Ness is definitely a place to see. Next up, I head to Amsterdam on Saturday for a memorable weekend.

Bon Voyage!

I tend to be a little behind on these blog posts lately and I fear that in the next few months I’ll get even more behind. You see starting this weekend I have a trip planned every weekend up until Easter weekend, starting with seeing Loch Ness. Anyway, I explored more of Glasgow last weekend. I took another trip to the West End (got off on the wrong stop – still in the West End but not the closest stop) so I really was able to see a lot of the area. It was a very pretty walk over to where we needed to be. The West End has a lot more grass and nature to it in comparison to the concrete jungle that Merchant City is (aka the area I’m around). Here are a few shots of the area we walked through to get to the museums we were going to.

I can only imagine how gorgeous the area is during the summer. Once we got to the area we wanted to go to we set out in search of a place to have brunch. We picked a random restaurant while walking which ended up being absolutely delicious and the interior was really cool. Then we headed out to check the University of Glasgow and the Hunterian museum that’s there.

The Hunterian museum opened in 1807 and admission is free. It’s a great museum to go and see. It features pieces from the Roman Empire which invaded Scotland. They built a wall called The Antonine Wall, which separated the North and South of Scotland. The museum features artifacts from when the Romans were in Scotland plus pieces of the wall.

(Warning here for the pictures following – they’re not for those with weak stomachs). I love all things medical. The museum has a nice medical collection in it with some very interesting items. I saw skulls riddled with disease, hearts, and even a baby in a womb. There was even old medical supplies there, all nicely preserved.

There were a lot of other random things in the museum and a whole other room. From the Hunterian, we went and saw Kelvingrove Art Museum. Now Kelvingrove isn’t your typical art museum. It has a little bit of everything there plus some art. We saw exhibits, busts, animals, and a mummy. We even heard an organ concert while we were there. The museum was really beautiful and interesting and somewhere I would definitely go back to.

Finally, this past weekend was super uneventful. We ate out and went to a few things, but nothing too big. I did get to watch the most boring Super Bowl ever, however, we did not get commercials. Our student union put on an event for it and streamed it. The whole place was packed. It was definitely an interesting experience. Next week I will hopefully have pictures from Loch Ness and with Highland cows.

For now,

Bon Voyage!

Last Saturday my flatmates and I went to a Celtics football match. For my American readers, I mean soccer. I had never been to a professional soccer game before so this was a little interesting. I also made the mistake of wearing a burgundy sweatshirt while the other team’s color was red so I zipped up my North Face and hoped none of the Celtics fans saw that I wasn’t wearing any green. It was also super freezing and the stadium was open. Anyway, the game was very interesting. The Celtics won and actually got a couple of goals. We had really nice seats for fairly cheap so we had a great view during the game. Overall, it was a great experience and definitely something I might go to again. (Baseball is still my favorite sport though).

The rest of the weekend was fairly uneventful and then I actually caught a cold this week so I haven’t done much. However, there were two interesting things this week. First off, Monday night we heard what sounded like the music an ice cream truck plays playing throughout campus which was super crazy. We heard the music again on Tuesday but it sounded a lot closer. We happened to look outside and right out our window was an ice cream truck. Super random story but it was weird just seeing an ice cream truck pop up outside of our flat in January, especially since we’re on campus and it’s cold here. It’s a great idea though. 8:30 pm during the week and on a college campus? There was a line by the truck when I looked out.

The other interesting thing in the week is I went and saw Mary Queen of Scots on Thursday. I mean when in Scotland? The closest movie theater to the school is CineWorld. Cineworld is the tallest movie theater. We were on the 4th floor for our movie but there is 6 floors. It’s a very big theater. I tried to get a photo out the window to show how tall it is but it was kind of hard seeing how dark it was. There was also an escalator to get to the theaters (yay for no stairs). You can see it in the window since the escalators were lit up. The theater was really cool to see and Mary Queen of Scots was a great movie. I learned a lot from it and highly suggest it.

For now,

Bon voyage!

As the new weekend approaches I figure it is really time to make a post about last weekend’s adventures. I started school on Tuesday (I have no Monday classes woot woot) and have been slowly figuring out my way around (the buildings are confusing). I’ll make a whole post about the differences between school in Scotland and school in America.

Anyway, I did some sight seeing touristy things this past weekend. On Saturday, I walked the block to the cathedral with my flatmates to check it out. The Cathedral in Glasgow is very interesting and has many myths and legends linked to it. It was consecrated in 1197. The stained glass windows in the Cathedral are actually post-war replicas of the original windows. The inside of the Cathedral is absolutely gorgeous. The Cathedral is free to enter every day besides Sundays since they still hold church there. There’s multiple little temples of worship within the cathedral in honor of different ministers. Inside the cathedral is absolutely breathtaking. The pictures don’t do it justice at all.

The other part of the Cathedral is a lower temple. It’s very interesting to walk down the steps and enter into something out of another century. There’s no way to really describe the beauty inside of it. My best advice is to go check it out yourself because it’s the kind of place you have to see for yourself.

Behind the Cathedral is the Necropolis, which is basically a Victorian garden cemetery. There are 50,000 individuals buried there. That’s not the interesting thing about it though. This cemetery is on a hill. Yes it is on a legit hill. There’s a little bridge over to it and walking paths that just lead you all the way. At the top of the hill there’s a huge memorial for John Knox and from there there is one of the best views of the city. Also, interestingly enough, although behind the Cathedral the cemetery is multi-faith and has multiple ministers in it. The Necropolis has also been expanded multiple times and covers more than 37 acres. The Necropolis is truly an interesting sight to see.

Also enjoy this picture of the Cathedral at night that I took while on a walking tour the other night. Beauty is in Glasgow and it’s not hard to find.

Speaking of beautiful places in Glasgow, on Sunday I took a trip to the West End of Glasgow. In the West End there is the University of Glasgow which looks like a castle. Supposedly, the university was used in the filming of Harry Potter at some point but I haven’t been able to figure it out for sure (I also haven’t seen Harry Potter so…). University of Glasgow is a huge campus and one I am happy not to be on. It was absolutely breathtaking but the hills and expanse of land was enough to make me know I would hate myself if I had to walk to class there everyday. The pictures below are just part of the campus. (Also enjoy the picture of me and some of my flatmates)

Next, we did a lot of thrift shopping, ate at a cute little bagel place, and then headed to the Botanical Gardens. The Botanical Gardens have multiple greenhouses on the grounds and even a tea room but we only made it to 2 of the greenhouses. Inside was amazing. You can walk through different continental plants with each room being a new area. At one point we went from the types of plants you see in the rainforest to a desert area. We even went into a room of “dangerous plants”, most of which were from the Carolinas. The Gardens were very pretty and have actually been around for some time. There was also a koi pond and you can see the fish in the picture of it.

One of the things I find interesting about Glasgow is that it is completely normal to walk down most alleyways. In fact, the West End has this thing called “lanes” which are just nicer alleyways with restaurants and bars and they tend to have lights strung up. Most times though, to get to the entrance of a shop or restaurant you’ll have to go down an alleyway and it’s just normal. There’s nothing dangerous about going down this alleyway or anything sketchy about the shop. It’s perfectly normal.

Finally, we took the subway to and from the West End since it is a bit of a walk. Tickets were cheap and the subway is super easy to figure out. However, it is quite funny looking. The subway is quite small and I watched multiple people hunch over to get in or sit. It’s also not very roomy so I have no idea how anyone could ever stand while people were sitting. There is not enough room.

Glasgow is a truly beautiful city and there is so much I have left to see. I am so incredibly thankful to be able to be here for the semester and to have the chance to get to know the culture and people. Soon, I will start traveling around (already starting to book a trip to Amsterdam woo!) but there will always be places to go in Glasgow.

Bon Voyage!

To start off, there are very different cultural norms between Scotland and America. People smoke EVERYWHERE. You’ll find cigarettes on the ground all over the place. Also, a lot of the school buildings have revolving doors while most of the shopping buildings have automatic doors. Another big difference is crossing the street. A lot of the intersections have scatter crossing, where the light to walk will come on and you can literally walk anywhere. Like all of the cars have a red light and you’re supposed to just walk diagonally. The walk signs are also only on for a short period of time so you have to basically hustle. Lastly, the most confusing difference is that the way they write dates is different. Instead of month, day, year it’s day, month, year. Let me tell you, I have almost missed so many dates. Like class start dates and residence start dates threw me for a loop.

I was kidding when I said that was the last difference. The differences are everywhere. I will constantly be finding differences as I go since there as so many. However, the biggest difference is drinking age. At 18, you can drink, buy alcohol, and enter any club or bar. Because of this uni events have a lot more alcohol too. There’s a student group at Strathclyde that organises welcome events for international students all this week. One of their big events was a bus crawl yesterday. Basically, you bought a ticket and then the bus went to three different bars, back to Strathclyde’s student union (which is also a bar??) for pizza and then they walked us to a nightclub. And we could bring alcohol on the bus too. I’m in a flat with all exchange students, 4 of which are from countries where the legal drinking age is 19 or lower. So they’ve all been able to drink in their countries and are completely unfazed by this bus crawl while I’m over here with a blown mind. In America a student group would never be able to have an event like this for students.

I took a few pictures over the course of the night. The first was the street outside the first bar, which was just a pedestrian street. I thought the lights were super pretty and someone pointed out that it felt like a ceiling or that we were actually in an enclosed place. The next two pictures were of the bar seeing as it was my second time in a bar (we had a buddy social Monday night which took place at a bar – also organized by the student group & the bar is on campus?!) and because I thought the bar was very pretty and big. There’s a lot of seating that isn’t included in the picture. The next picture was one of the few shots I actually got of myself last night so proof I am actually in Scotland and doing things!! And finally, the last picture is of our bus group for the bus crawl. We had two buses go out for the bus crawl but they went to separate places seeing as how big our group was. Also the reason we needed a big bar.

I also took a few pictures of my drinks throughout the night because I am still amazed that I can actually drink here. First, I have the cocktail I got at the first bar since it was half price (all of the bars we’re running specials, I guess that’s what happens when you go out on a Wednesday night). I also took a picture of my dragon, Sorcha, with my drink from the second bar because even she is enjoying the lower drinking age.

I was also legally allowed to buy alcohol for the first time but forgot to A) take a picture of me buying it (the lines were long and I had to actually have someone check me out so it would’ve been awkward) and B) take a picture of me with the alcohol at all so here’s a picture of the alcohol in my flat’s kitchen.

Finally, my amazement with Scottish culture and drinking continues to tonight. I can not get over the fact that school events have alcohol just out. Tonight, they had a little social for everyone in residence life plus a presentation for us to actually know the rules of living in the halls. The main reason we went was the promise of free pizza and drinks. Now when I hear free drinks I think about pop (or soda because I actually live in the South and should call it that oops). That was not the case. Yes, there was free juice boxes there. And yes, I did in fact drink one and put one in my purse to have later because there’s no way I’n actually buying juice. But there was also red and white wine in the wine glasses being served to everyone. No ID or anything was needed. It was just out on the table for people to walk up and take. Like seriously?! In America you can’t even have alcohol in a residence hall at 21. At the legal drinking age it is still illegal to have alcohol in a residence hall!!! Residence life here was serving us alcohol. So yes, I will continue to be mind blown everytime a school event has alcohol or gives us alcohol. And yes, you will continue to get pictures of my alcohol like the wine glass below because I feel this must be documented as something that actually happens.

Once again,

Bon Voyage!