A weekend in Inverness

Hello! This weekend was very exciting as a couple of us went to Inverness. Inverness is pretty well known for having the loch ness monster Nessie but the city also had a lot more to offer and see while we were there. A couple of us took an early bus Saturday to the Inverness bus station and checked into our nice hostel. We've been pretty lucky with hostels these last few weekends because they've been cheap, pretty central and no creepy room mates yet! *Lets keep our fingers crossed for that to continue* We decided to take a boat tour of the famous loch ness. The tour was 2.5 hours, about an hour on the water looking at beautiful Scotland sights which I loved and about an hour and a half at Urqhart castle, a very very old castle right on the coast. The tour was very sightful and I learned a lot about the history of loch ness.

After that we decided to go to an italian resturant for dinner with no shame. We've been here for a month and eaten pretty much only Scottish food (good and bad) and all four of us have a strong love for italian food so that was our resturant of choice. We then explored the city a little more and resorted back to our hostle for some down time aka....TV time. Such a luxary here to watch TV because in Scotland you have to have a TV license in order to own a tv, so this was a pretty big deal. After a good nights sleep, on Sunday we checked out some Museums, the St. Andrews cathedral. some city shopping and some other sights before heading back on the bus to Glasgow. It has been really nice going to smaller cities in Scotland to see really beautiful sights and get a true Scotland experince. Though I am really really getting used to the city life, I like the balance too. Next weekend I'll be off to Amsterdam! Here are some pictures from this weekend:

Inverness bridge

The inverness castle

View from the boat on the Loch Ness

We found Nessie!

Valerie and I before exploring the castle

The resturant where we ate the most delicious Italian meal

Great view of Inverness!

Scotland Highlands

Hello! This weekend was very interesting venturing into the highlands of Scotland for a few days. We started our bus ride early Saturday and three hours later were were on an island called Oban. We walked around the small town all day stopping for lunch and some really great shops! Dinner was provided for us nicely and my friends and I had an early night in the REALLY nice Hostle we were staying in for the night. It was really nice being back in a small town, I guess I didn't realize how much I really like Stout's small town atmosphere and how easy everything is to get to. Don't get me wrong, the city life is really great with so much to do and all the opportunities to take public transporation that I never have taken before, but it was nice to be back in a familiar setting :)

After a nice breakfast we took a ferry to the Isle of Mull where it was a VERY small island. My friends and I ended up taking a 3.5 mile hike around some of the bluffs. I found getting to the top QUITE the accomplishment given 1. I still have the flu 2. I am not an athletic person, lets be honest. After that we headed to a very local pub for dinner where we got to experince a charity fun raiser they were doing with live music and once again, a really great small town feel. I got to do quite a bit of sight seeing and ended up with some really pretty pictures, which I'm happy about. The next trip I will be taking will be in two weeks to ANSTERDAM! I'm overly excited. BUT here are some pictures from this weekend:

Oban

Great view of oban!

Molly and I enjoying the sights

So pretty!

Karin and I

On our Mull hike

A little ajustment, a lot of tea!

Hello! Sorry I haven't updated in a while, classes started last week and it's been such a rush to figure out how to get to them all and what I'm taking. My offical class schedule is: Sociology, Rendering the human form, Scottish Culture and, yes, a bagpiping class. As soon as I got a hang of my schedule I was struck by the flu :( so my week has been a little bit slowed, but since I'm aborad I haven't been slowed down too much! There really is so much to do in Glasgow. Last weekend was full of going to art museums, lighthouses and of course shopping! Today since a lot of us don't have class we went to "High Tea" at a really cute tea room in Glasgow. If any of you know me at all, I obviously love tea so I was basically in heaven for about two hours. Tomorrow I'm off to the Scotland Highlands to see beautiful sights in the north for a few days! I will have an update about that soon! Here are some pictures from today:

Mita and I with the cute china at high tea!

Valerie and Molly

The tea room

Beautiful scones, pastries and sandwiches

S0o0o0o artsy. Okay. I'll update soon!

First Day of Class

Hello! Today was my first day of class at the University of Glasgow, and I have to say there are A LOT of differences from where I go to school. First, is the public transportation; I live 45 minutes walking distance from the uni so we have the option of walking or taking a free bus from our hall to the uni, today I took the mini bus. It drops about 14 people off at the main gate and we go to our classes. Back in the states, my school is walking distance from just about anywhere you live and there are approximatly 7 buildings in which your classes would be in, this is not the case in Glasgow. The campus is in kind of one area but it's still so big it is kind of spread out through out the city, which again, I am not used to. After going to my sociology class, I learned that there isn't just one professor for the class; there is actually a different lecturer every day of the week. So, I have Sociology Mon, Tues, Thurs so on Mondays I'll have a different lectuer Monday than Tues, but I will have the same one the next Monday. It is also split up by what you are learning, for example, in my Philosophy class, every Tuesday we learn about Plato and every Thursday we learn about the history behind Philosophy. Once again, very different from home!

For Philosophy and Sociology, we have very big classes from 100-150 people in each lecture, so we have mini groups meet once a week called tutorials in which there are about 15 people who particiapte and talk about the class. Since my classes at home are already about 20-35 people in them, we don't have that, so that will be a cool experince. Another observation I made is lots of students dress up for their classes. At Stout, I would never put on tights for an 8AM class and instead roll out of bed in my sweatpants and go. Here, I was on campus by 7:30AM and students (espeically girls) look like they just stepped off the runway, absolutly no sweatpants in sight. This makes people watching really interesting and also livens up the city I think, I quite enjoy it! One last observation about the city so far is that yes, Scotland doesn't usually have the best food reputation,espeically in the dining halls at school, but I have been grocery shopping a lot and they have sooo many healthy choices! In America, it's really easy just to grab a slice of pizza or motzerella sticks inbetween classes, but cafes are filled with baguettes, high tea, soups and fruits. It's kind of impossible to eat unhealthy here and I really like that! Also, to go places are more uncommon here than I thought. A lot of places require you to sit down and they serve you and don't expect a tip, which is also nice.

I could go on and on about what I have been learning about this country but I'll try and keep it to an appropriate level of ramble. This weekend I'm going to Stirling, Scotland for the day on Saturday, should be fun!

Day trip to Edinburgh!

Hello! Once again, I have a lot to update. Yesterday the international students took a day trip to Edinburgh starting at 9AM. We took about an hour bus ride there and got a really funny and infomational tour for about an hour and had about four hours to shop and walk around. Once the tour was done, a couple of us went to The Elephant room where JK Rowling wrote some of Harry Potter so that was pretty exciting for my Harry Potter fan friends! We then proceeded to visit a few art museums, a fudge shop, some touristy places of course, tea shops,the Edinburgh history museum, and some big store shopping. When I visited Edinburgh my junior year of high school, I was convinced it was the prettiest city I have ever been to, and it still is very nice, but I think Glasgow is a little overlooked by some people. Edinburgh is stunning, but Glasgow has a very active night life with over 800 pubs and clubs and has just as beautiful campus! I am so glad I get to be very close to both of them because they're the greatest cities ever!

After that we rode the bus back to Glasgow where my friends and I prepared to get a Scottish dance lesson and then go to a club that was once a church. The Scottish dancing was SO much fun and I hope I get good at it so I can show people back home. The club was also very fun and it felt really funny being in a bar since I'm underage at home, but still a good time! Today some of my friends and I went shopping in Glasgow. We went to a five story Urban Outfitters, which happens to be my favorite store so I was basically in heaven. We stopped for some tea and then headed back for dinner in our hall. Tomorrow classes start so my actual "university" experince will begin then. Here are some pictures from Glasgow and some of the international students:

The Hot chocolate we got before Edginburgh. So pretty!

Edinburgh castle

Queens gate

We ate at the Elephant room!

The royal mile, a popular shopping block

Molly, Me, Peter, Mita and Valerie before Scottish dancing

My Australian friends and I! Mita and Molly.

I go to school here?!

Hello! I've pretty much been dying to update because SO many exciting things have been happening! I'll start from the beginning...I left my Dad at security and headed to TGI Fridays to meet Becky, the girl I would be flying with. We had some appetizers courtesy of my Mother for Chirstmas! We got to know each other and boarded the plane for Amsterdam airport. The flight was a long 9 hours and when we arrived to the Amsterdam airport and I could really feel the jet lag. After a 4 hour layover we had another hour to the Glasgow airport. After getting out visa and bags we hopped a taxi to our hall. Where I am staying is not exactly how I pictured living in Europe. I live in a single room and share a bathroom with about 6 other people and I'm 45 minutes away from the University. Our meals are also catered so the commons at Stout will always be with me this semester! The whole set up is pretty inconvienant compared to the other accomadations where they are minutes from the university with other room mates and cooking facilities. It all ended up being worth it because the international students who live here are AWESOME.

The first person I met here is named Mida and shes from Austraila. She's really funny, outgoing and has travled EVERYWHERE! I really like hanging out with her and her friend Molly from Austraila a lot! I've also met people from Boston, New York, Virginia, Singapor and Chile to name a few! The next day I woke up really early and Mida, Becky and I decided to make the 45 minute walk to campus with the other international students. We sat through presentations and after that went to lunch. I went to my first pub there called the "Vodka Wodka" haha it was really good food and drink! We returned to sign up for classes and I am signed up for Sociology, Philosophy, Scottish history and literature and life drawing and painting at the Glasgow School of Art! I am incredibly excited! After that we walked around and got phones and other essencials. We had to time to kill before heading to the first international students event so some of us went to a pub and I had my first cider, it was delicious!

After the pub we headed to the social international club where I met more people and some of us after headed off to go pub hopping which was really great to experince what that was like! Lots of live music and dancing, so great! I went back to my room and got ready to get up at 7:30 for another day. Today we had more presentations, another lunch and a city bus tour of Glasgow. I want to say direction wise, Glasgow is a lot like Minneapolis but much older and not as modern. But, it's pretty had to get lost because it kind of goes in a circle? I love the city, it's so glamerous in a very old way. After that the people from my hall took the bus back and had dinner and now I'm staying in and having tea with one my hall mates and gettign ready to go to Edinburgh tomorrow morning, literally my FAVORITE city. Sooo yeah! As you can tell, I'm having a great time. I didn't think I'd meet people as easily but it was the easiest part and I've barely had any time to be homesick because everything has been GO GO GO. It is really weird not having a room mate, and going to bed alone in a city I don't know kind of freaks me out every night, Miss ya Brittany! But that has really only been the only downfall.

OKAY! Here are some pictures from my school. It's pretty much like a castle, I've never seen anything like it. Love it.

View from the top of my school

The side of University of Glasgow

Entry to Glasgow U!

Part of the front

There's a whole room like this outside! So cool!

Amazing view!

Pretty much all the apartments look like this its SO nice!