of diversions and downtime

My first full week in Glasgow is already gone.  It's been a lovely and grand time thus far, filled with flatmate fun and sightseeing.

Last week brought with it all sorts of adventures:  classes, orientation, Burns Night, International Student pub night, exploring Glasgow, the Mackintosh Tower and Centre, shopping and more.

Last Tuesday was Burns Night.  Burns Night is a holiday in honor of Scottish poet Robert Burns' birthday.  My flatmate, Andrea, and I decided to attend the formal three-course Burns Supper followed by a Gaelic dance at the Student Union with some girls we met the previous night.

On our way to Burns Supper, we went to the Barony Bar (also in the Union) which has a 12-hour Tuesday special.  I was rather excited when the first song played while we were there was Mumford & Sons' "Little Lion Man."  However, the music quickly turned to a rather strange mix of a lot of American songs.  Slightly disappointing.

The dinner started with traditional toasts of Scottish whisky to the haggis, laddies, and lassies.  Once the toasts were complete, the first course of potato and vegetable soup arrived.  The second course was, of course, the haggis.  We were told by Allie, who was here last semester too, that it wasn't served in the traditional way (haggis with neeps and tatties on the side) but in a layered dish of tatties, haggis, and neeps with whisky gravy on top.

Haggis, according to Wikipedia is:

a dish containing sheep's 'pluck' (heart, liver and lungs), minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and traditionally simmered in the animal's stomach for approximately three hours.  Most modern commercial haggis is prepared in a casing rather than an actual stomach.

You may be rather surprised to learn that I did actually try the haggis.  It was okay, but I really didn't like the meaty texture.  The haggis was followed with a delicious strawberry cream dessert.

The Gaelic dance commenced following the supper.  It was entertaining to watch the Scots perform a few dances for the Burns' attendees and equally fun to watch my friends attempt the dances.  I did end up dancing a few highland dances with Chris, a Scottish boy from a neighbouring university.  It was a pretty fun night.

Wednesday involved some more registration activities.  I don't have class on Wednesdays, so they are pretty relaxing, free days to use for study or sightseeing.  I finally got my classes confirmed and sorted out on Wednesday:  History 1B (Britain 1900-present), Victorian Literature, and Adaptations of Literature to Cinema.

Wednesday night is apparently Strathclyde International Society pub night.  Every week, they choose a different pub in the city centre for us to go to and meet other international students.  Andrea, Jacquie, Ashley and I went to this week's pub, Maltman's Bar, and met some people from France and Germany.  We mostly spent the night chatting with Maxime and Mathieu from France.  It was a great night out with my flatmates.

Thursday I only had my lecture and tutorial for my Adaptations class.  On Thursday afternoon, Jacquie and I went exploring Glasgow.  We visited the Lighthouse, home of the Mackintosh Tower and Centre.  Charles Rennie Mackintosh is essentially Scotland's Frank Lloyd Wright.  He was an architect in the early twentieth century who designed a number of beautiful buildings in and around Glasgow.

We climbed this awesome spiral staircase to the top of the tower, where we had great views of the city.  It was definitely worth the visit (and long climb).
Since we were already there, we decided to head to the nearby Gallery of Modern Art.  Modern art is weird.  One piece on display was a pair of ventriloquist dummies accompanied with a creepy video called "New Meat" with the dummies quoting lines from horror films.

On Friday, I had my first history lecture.  That class was sooooo huge.  There was at least 70 people in that lecture.  Contrarily, when I went to my Victorian literature tutorial a few hours later, there were only four people in the tutorial.  This lecture and tutorial class system is strange, but I guess I can't complain about only seven hours of class per week.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday ended up being pretty chill nights.  We mostly stayed in, swapped music, and watched British TV, which is fantastic.  The shows are ridiculous.  Our new favorite, Come Dine With Me is absolutely absurd.  It involves four strangers (who truly are STRANGE) who take turns hosting dinner parties and rate one another.  The winner gets 10,000 pounds.

British TV is also not censored, like American TV, and there are fewer commercials.  Unfortunately, we only get five channels.

Saturday night, Andrea, Jacquie, Ashley, Anna and I went to The Ark to play Snookers (British pool?) with Maxime and Mathieu.  I am just as bad at Snookers as I am at American pool.  :S  It was still a fun, pretty low-key night.

Here are my reflections on the week.  Laundry is very expensive:  it costs two pounds to wash and one to dry (the equivalent of about $5 American).  Instead of saying "For Rent," buildings say "To Let."  There is not baking soda, but there is bicarbonate of soda.  "Cheers" is not a toast, it is what you say when leaving.

The Scottish, British, and English accents still sound way cool.  Most Scottish students have accents that are pretty easy to decipher.  Older Scottish people have accents more difficult to understand.

It has NOT rained in Glasgow yet.  Weirdly.  It's been partly cloudy, and, dare I say, sunny for the past eight days.

All in all, it's been a fantastic first week in Glasgow.