It took nearly 24 hours of travel/waits, but I finally arrived in Glasgow at 7:30 (Glasgow time) a.m. yesterday morning. Conclusion? Never take an overnight flight with a morning arrival again...
My travels began Friday night at 11:30 p.m. (U.S. central time) with a 300 mile drive to Minneapolis, MN. Unfortunately, I realized after we had gone 45 miles that I forgot my six month supply of contacts at home and we had to go back for them. Luckily, we had left early, but unfortunately that cut out my non-airport breakfast time. I attempted to sleep most of the drive, but only managed about an hour of sleep.
Anyway, even with the delay, I checked my bag and was through security by 8:30 a.m. and boarding did not begin until 10:40 a.m. The Minneapolis airport is rather large and I was able to kill a bit of time wandering around it. $5 for a bagel and bottle of water is unnecessary and unfortunate for a hungry college student.
After finally boarding my flight in Minneapolis, I arrived in Newark, New Jersey at 2:52 p.m. (U.S. eastern time). The flight was an express jet, which I don't care much for. There is only three seats across, with one seat on one side and two on the other. I did get the one seat on its own, but it still felt so small. The Newark airport was more of the same for the most part as the Minneapolis airport. $6 for a big pretzel and bottle of milk.
About an hour or two before the flight boarded, I met four girls from the University of Strathclyde: Claire, Katy, Rebecca, and a Scottish girl whose name I did not catch. I think Claire and Rebecca were East Coasters and Katy is from Iowa.
The flight to Glasgow was not long--only six hours. In our complimentary supper, I unpleasantly discovered that airline food is equivalent to TV dinners. Blech. But after sustaining myself on essentially bread all day, it was okay. I spent most of the flight trying to sleep/watching TV on the monitor. One episode of 30 Rock, two of The Office and one of Romantically Challenged and a TV dinner later, I managed some (but not nearly enough sleep).
We arrived in Glasgow at 7 a.m. Sunday morning (Glasgow time). For my followers in the Midwest, Glasgow is six hours ahead. Katy, Rebecca and I shared a relatively inexpensive taxi to campus--just to discover that we could not get into our rooms until 11 a.m. Also misinformed was Jenny, who had arrived the previous day also from the East Coast. It wasn't so bad for Katy and I, but Rebecca had an extra suitcase. She really struggled dragging it around the city as we sought a coffee shop to wait in.
When we returned to the Village Office to get our keys, my flat was unfortunately not yet clean so I had to wait. But, just as the keys were ready, one of my flatmates, Jaquie from Michigan, showed up. We went to our residence, Birkbeck Court, where we struggled with the weird key for getting into the flat. It is literally a plastic strip with a hole in it that has to be inserted in a certain way to turn the knob. WAY tricky.
We began settling into our rather tiny rooms and commenced unpacking. Having packed lightly came in handy when it came to fitting everything into this small room. When I opened my welcome packet from the Village Office, I discovered a few interesting things enclosed. One: a "Drinks I Drank" four-week calendar. Two: a postcard for a campus bar advertising "Freshers Fortnight," a week of inexpensive drinks. You know, I wonder if Glasgow has a drinking culture... /sarcasm.
Something of note for my dear Interfaith Club back home. Our kitchen came equipped with a hot water heater. Hurray! There were also these adorable mugs with hot chocolate packets inside waiting on our desks. Unfortunately, as I was thinking about how hospitable and cute it was, the following quote came to mind.
"Do you see this writing...? Do you know what it means...? Hospitality. And you can't piss on hospitality! I WON'T ALLOW IT!" (The infamous Troll 2)
Anyway, having arranged to meet Katy, Jenny and Rebecca at the Village Office at 12:00 p.m., Jaquie and I left for Glasgow essentials shopping.
The shopping district in Glasgow is HUGE. There are so many shops. I also discovered a number of American chains present in the city. Some examples of what I have seen include: McDonald's, Burger King, K.F.C., Starbucks, T.G.I. Fridays and Perkins. There were also UK versions of American businesses, such as T.K.Maxx instead of T.J.Maxx and Walker's instead of Lay's chips. To Beloiters, there is no Moodle. Instead we have Myplace, which sounds like Myspace and looks exactly like Moodle. It is unavoidable.
Last night, in an effort to stay awake to best combat jetlag, Jaquie and I ventured out for a coffee shop with wireless since we had not been able to access the internet without our usernames and passwords that we got today. We found a Starbucks and also saw some neat architecture along the way, specifically George Square which is filled with statues and monuments.
Also, over the course of yesterday, I met the rest of my flatmates. Besides Jaquie, there is Andrea and Anna from the U.S., Ashley from Canada, and Sherry from Singapore. They all seem pretty nice/fun and it seems like it will be a great semester! By 9 p.m., however, I was so exhausted that I had to go to bed. Note to self: don't take an overnight flight with early morning arrival ever again.
Today, we had a registration thing this morning: the basic welcome to the university, get your ID and get your internet. Finally! Classes at the University of Strathclyde are so strange. I'm taking three classes (each worth 1.25 Beloit units) that only meet once a week for lecture and once a week for tutorial (essentially, a tutor explaining the material for a small section of the class). This will be quite a different experience from Beloit.
After getting my internet set up, I went to my first class at Strathclyde: Victorian Literature. The entire hour was an introductory lecture. I met Lesley from California in this class, and, to our dismay, the professor kept referencing page numbers of books and did not have a syllabus for us. While the prof. said it was on myplace, I have been unable to enroll in the class. :S
After class, I decide it was time for a gad about Glasgow. I just started walking down Cathedral Street and ended up in Cathedral Square. I found the Glasgow Cathedral, dating back to the twelfth century. It was a beautiful building but in the process of being partially restored. I hope it is before I return to the States.
Here's a few interesting things that I have learned about Glasgow thus far. For one, change is actually worth something, unlike in America, because the £1 and £2 are coins. For instance, £2 got me an ethernet cord for my room today. And, there's a nearby pub with £1 drink specials. There is also no recycling to be seen. The streets are also rather littered with trash and half-eaten food. But, the architecture is absolutely gorgeous!
Until my next gad about...
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