Glasgow

University of Glasgow

The Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum

City Chambers

Today was our ISS trip to Glasgow. It rained all day but we couldn’t complain since we’ve barely seen the rain since we’ve gotten here. My friends and I spend 10 pounds and rode one of those bus tours to get a bit of history about the city and help us decide which places we wanted to see. Since we were allowed to get on and off the bus as much as we wanted with our ticket, we used it as our transportation around the city. We saw all the sites. We visited a great museum, The Kelvingrove, and got to listen to an amazing organ player inside. We also saw City Chambers (with beautiful marble everywhere inside) and the University of Glasgow. It was started in 1451. It amazes me how old everything is here. Everything was free–a relief after pricey London.  I loved seeing Glasgow. There was so much history and beautiful buildings to look at without the insane hustle and bustle. I finally picked up some good Scotch for my family and we headed back to Stirling. After a tiring day and all this rain all I feel like doing for the night is making some soup and curling up in my bed to watch Netflix.

Tastes of Britain

Yesterday was my lazy day. With no class or excursions to worry about I ventured into town to pick up groceries. It’s a different experience having to lug my bags back on a bus and up a hill to my room rather than loading them into the back of my car. The squirrels here are worse than back home at CMU. At Central, they’re a little too brave for my taste and never run away when you approach them. In Stirling, they like to scale walls, sneak in your windows and eat your food. Now I’m constantly paranoid that every time I enter our kitchen there will be a squirrel waiting for me. This morning we got our weekly delivery of “Taste of Britain”. The ISS coordinators deliver typical British foods every week to us to taste. Last week it was Irn Bru (an overly sweet orange pop) and this week was a tea cake. I didn’t like those too much either. It was a shortbread cookie with marshmallow on top coated in chocolate. I’m not a huge fan of marshmallow so I didn’t eat all of mine. Tonight I have to venture into Bridge of Allan (the neighboring town) to take pictures for my photography class. Other than that, it should be another relaxing evening. 

London Calling

Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey

Buckingham Palace

London Bridge

London was absolutely amazing. It’s one of those cities that you say you’d like to go someday and are amazed when you’re actually stepping foot in it. I don’t know how we did it, but in two days we managed to see the “must sees” of London. We got up at three in the morning to catch our flight from Edinburgh. When we landed in London we dropped off our bags at the hostel and headed downtown. Getting off our train we saw London Bridge and made our way around town to stop by Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, a walk by the Thames River and on to Buckingham Palace.  Yesterday we ventured out again and saw Kensington Palace (just to check up on my royal friends Will and Kate), the Tower of London, walked around Notting Hill and visited the British Museum. In it we saw things like the Rosetta Stone, the stone faces from Easter Island and a few mummies. I couldn’t believe I was seeing all of these historic, famous landmarks of London. Today I headed back to Stirling. After a busy weekend in bustling London I was happy to see the green hills when I landed in Scotland. Being back in Stirling feels more like home. I managed to get a paper written on the flight back. It’s hard managing my time between schoolwork and touring around. I want to see as much as I can while I’m here but I also want to do well in my classes. I feel like I’m constantly going from one thing to the next with few times to just be lazy but I might as well fit as much in as I can. Another difficult thing to manage is my money. I’ve never had to pay for meals, laundry, transportation and sightseeing in my previous trips abroad. It’s tough paying to go see things and not break the bank. Even though London was an expensive town, I couldn’t be happier that I got the chance to see it. 

St. Andrews

St. Andrews University

The beach

St. Andrews Cathedral

Seaside town of Crail

Today's itinerary included a trip to St. Andrew's. It's been one of my favorite visits so far. To see something so old (the campus alone is celebrating their 600th anniversary) is truly amazing to me. Since I'm such a royal family nerd I loved to think that Will and Kate went to school in the very grounds I was walking. The weather was once again beautiful--I'm waiting for this Scottish rain that's supposed to be typical of the area. I wandered the little town with a few friends. We saw the golf course (the first one in the world), St. Andrews Cathedral (or what's left of it) and various other churches around town. My photography class had an excursion and we visited the University Museum and a town called Crail. We took lots of photos with our camera obscuras and had fish and chips at a quaint and delicious little restaurant by the sea. The beaches by St. Andrews remind me so much of Lake Michigan. Light blue water, soft sand and similar plant life. I loved all the history around me. Tomorrow, myself and three other friends wake up extremely early (3:30 am is our departure time) and head to London. To say I'm excited is an understatement.

Hills and Meals

Views from the top of Dumyat Hill

Last night was a nice night out to a local pub and club. We met up with a lot of the other American students and had fun dancing. Today was very eventful. I had one class this afternoon and then my flatmate and I grabbed some lunch and trekked up Dumyat Hill--a mountain if you ask me. It took us two and a half hours round trip to make it up and down (we got lost a few times.) The views were unlike anything I'd ever seen. By the time we reached the bottom my legs were so sore and my body was exhausted. The cardio from that hike was more than I've ever done in a gym. Once again in our flat we rested a bit and took the bus downtown Stirling for dinner. We ate at an Italian restaurant called Cibo e Vino. Very good italian food, great wine and excellent atmosphere. After returning to our flat for the evening I'm so tired. Heading to bed early tonight wouldn't be the worst idea since tomorrow is a busy day at St. Andrews.

First Day of Classes

I started my day today at 10:30, thank god I didn’t have any classes until noon. My first class was photographing the urban. We made homemade “camera obscuras” which distort your image slightly and give you and artsy finish on your photos. I also had religion and conflict today. I think it’s going to be an interesting class. It was yet again a warm sunny day. I’ve yet to see all of these rain and clouds that are typical for Scotland’s summer weather. I booked a trip to London for this weekend with a few friends. I’m so excited, London is definitely a city I’ve always wanted to see.

Arriving in Stirling

 Doune Castle

 Dunblane Cathedral

 Stirling Castle

View from Stirling Castle

The past few days have been jam packed with things. My flight was long and uncomfortable–expected though with such a long flight. After landing in Edinburgh there was a 45 minute car ride to the University of Stirling. My flat wasn’t what I expected, I was thinking it to be more like an apartment. This has very closed off living quarters. I already made friends with one of my flat mates and people she knows from her travel company. The campus is spectacular. Everything is so green and hilly, much different than the CMU campus I’m used to. There’s a beautiful loch here and you can see Wallace Monument looming on a nearby hill. The weather has been nice since I’m here–fairly sunny (not the usual Scottish weather.) Today we went on a few tours. We walked around campus and downtown Stirling. We were shown where the local pubs, shopping centers and supermarkets were. We toured Stirling Castle which sits on a massive hill near campus. We couldn’t walk inside but we walked the grounds surrounding it. The view was breathtaking. We also saw Doune Castle and Dunblane Cathedral. They had such amazing, old architecture to them. The supermarket was an experience for me. I’m not used to the British pound system yet. I'm still a little jet lagged but ready to start my classes tomorrow.