So, I am settled into my new flat in Glasgow and loving it! I officially arrived about two weeks ago, but have only been in my flat for a little over a week. My little room is all set up with stuff from home, and it’s quite cozy!
The first week was taken up mostly with exploring Glasgow with my parents and getting stuff for my new home. We got me a cell phone, a bank account, and tons of stuff for my dorm. There are 5 other girls who will be living in this hall with me, and so far 4 of them have moved in. We seem to be an international floor with 2 girls from China, Avril and Vivian, a girl from Spain, Lucia, and a Scottish girl, Julie. Julie, Lucia, and I get along wonderfully. Avril and Vivian just moved in last night, so we are excited to get to know them, too, and I’m sure we will all get on just fine!
Lucia has a ton of friends who have come here from Spain, so we have been spending time with them over at Glasgow Caledonian University which is just around the corner from us. They are all so nice, and I am slowly but surely going to use them to better my Spanish! We’ll see how it goes…
After a bit of a mixup, I got my school schedule finalized. I am taking three classes this semester, and am in school for 6 hours a week. From what I have heard, their classes are much more difficult than ones at home, so three classes is going to keep me plenty busy. Classes start on Tuesday, so wish me luck!
One of my favorite things so far about being here is the questions people ask me about life in America. ”Do you really party with red cups like we see in the movies?” “What do you eat for Thanksgiving?” “What is a s’more?” “Are parties in America like what we see on American Pie or American Wedding?” I gave Lucia and Julie their first graham crackers the other day. Unreal!
Now, on to the pictures! Starting at the top left:
Snapped this first one while wandering around with my parents. The buildings around my uni are insane!
This is the view outside of my dorm room. Unreal, right? The red buildings in the foreground are more campus accommodations, so my building looks similar to those, just much taller. The wee building on the very right is The Provand’s Lordship, and dates back to 1471. 1471!!!
My dad’s former colleague, Conrad, took us to his new job at The Royal Observatory in Edinburgh. It was an incredible honor to wander around the buildings with Conrad. They took us to see their library which is a collection of old books called The Crawford Collection. I got to see a first edition of Newton’s Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica. This was the one I geeked out the most at…I had never seen a first edition book, and this one was from 1687!!! This picture is from the roof of the observatory, looking over the Edinburgh skyline, and you can see the castle in the distance.
Lucia and I went on a walk around Pollock Country Park, an incredibly beautiful park about 3 miles from the city center. Unfortunately, it was seriously raining when we were there, and I mean non-stop pouring rain. But, it was still pretty even though I came home soaking! There are highland cattle all over the park, which happen to be goofier looking than normal cows!
A bridge at Pollock Park. When friends and family come to visit, I will be taking you to this park for sure. It was so awesome.
The soaking wet pathway at Pollock Park. Up to this point, we hadn’t experienced real Glaswegian rain. It would be sunny and nice one second, and then the clouds would roll in and it would start to rain, but the wind is so strong that it basically would just keep on rolling past, so it never rained for a long period of time. But it was really, really raining that day!
One of the buildings on the river shoreline at Pollock Park. There’s a pretty big river that runs along the park called the White Cart River.
The house on the park grounds! It’s a museum now, but it used to be the house of the people who owned the park. They still have flats on the top floor.
The garden in the courtyard was gorgeous! It would be a beautiful place to have a family party or wedding!
Now I am off to wander around my new little world some more. Love you all!
