February Adventures: Part II

Okay! So! It may be a week late, but here’s February Adventures Part 2! Unfortunately, we come up with words of the week throughout the week and then promptly forget them when it’s time to write the blog. No worries though, we’ll have a few for the beginning of March adventures (appearing later today). And, of course, Tom traded off doing pictures (uploading, lightening, posting to facebook (CHECK OUT THE LINKS TO THE RIGHT OF THIS PAGE)) for blog writing today, so you’re stuck with Sandra’s writing!

So our last weekend in February, what did we do?! Well, my friend Kaylie came to visit, of course! Kaylie and I know each other from Camp O, and she’s currently studying abroad in the freezing tundra of Sweden! On her trip through Scotland, she was nice enough to stop and see us in Glasgow and stay with us for a few days. We managed to find our way through the ridiculously huge Central Station to meet her Thursday and then we all ventured to our Piping lecture together.

Since we ended up getting to Piping so early, we wandered around the Museum of Piping, and that was fascinating. Bagpipes actually weren’t created in Scotland, it is believed that they were first seen somewhere around Egypt. And so, there are actually bagpipes from all around the world, and a lot of them are on display in the Museum of Piping. They’re all slightly different and very interesting to see; there were even some bagpipes with chanters that  had keys on them – like a clarinet!

In lecture that day we learned about Canterach, which is a collection of different ‘words’ that are used to sing the notes in Piping music (it’s basically solfeg for pipes). We also learned more about Piobreachd, which is traditional Piping  Competition music. As a class, we learned (and sang) the Canterach for one particular Piobreachd song. It’s sort of awkward to sing as a class, but it was pretty fun. And Finlay started teaching us a Taorluath, which is this really complicated move, but he broke it down into really simple steps for us. We’re going to be Pipe Majors soon, I’m sure of it.

After an enlightening Piping lesson, we headed back to the flat only to discover that our lovely Chinese flatmates were in the kitchen. They’re really not bad people, it’s only an issue because when they make dinner, they cook an entire huge meal from scratch, taking up all the counter space, the stove, the sink, and sometimes the oven. And so we decided to go out! We went to the Inn down the road that we’ve been dying to try. Really, it’s a cute little place with a nice pub-like atmosphere and a kind bartender. So! Tom got Bangers and Mash (because he’s in love with that dish), and Kaylie and Sandra got the Haggis, Neeps, and Tatties! And of course, we had to order a drink, so I finally got my taste of Scotch Whisky, it wasn’t great, but it was okay, better with the food than by itself. Their food was great though, great presentation with the haggis, as they layered it with the Neeps and Tatties (mashed turnips and mashed potatoes), and gave a little pitcher of sweet whisky sauce to pour over it. Our only fright of the night was when the Rangers (football) scored a goal to tie up the game and a cheer erupted unexpectedly from quite a few people at once. And to top off a lovely day, we stopped to get a few tubs of Scottish ice cream on the way home, one regular and one honeycomb. We also saw this pre-packaged bag of mini-panqueques at Tesco, so we bought them!

The strange Tesco mini-pancakes were actually pretty okay, they were infused with maple syrup, so they were good for breakfast. After class that morning, we took off to explore the greater Glasgow! We went down/over to the City Centre and explored! We had baguette express for lunch, and proceeded to wander. The City Centre itself has a town hall (or the equivalent, really), and a big square with a whole bunch of statues, that you will be able to see pictures of on facebook. We then explored the Cathedral and Necropolis. And let me tell you, those were awesome. St. Mungo’s Cathedral is huge and beautiful, with crazy old architecture and fantastic stained glass windows. The Necropolis is something to see also, an enormous cemetery set on a hill overlooking the city with huge monuments.

We also visited St. Mungo’s Museum of Religion and Life, and that was pretty interesting. And then we crossed the street to see the Oldest House in Glasgow! It was built in 1471! It’s all stone and pretty cramped. The doorframes were absolutely tiny (see picture of Tom standing behind one, his head is completely obscured), even Kaylie and I had to duck a little to go through! And after that, we were completely exhausted and headed back to the flat for a nap, spaghetti, and some card games and ice cream with a crazy Irishman !

Unfortunately, Kaylie was on her way to Inverness Saturday (well, not unfortunate for her, but unfortunate for us and the beautiful weather she brought). So after a walk through the Kelvingrove, we wound our way from Central Station through the ridiculous crowds to Queen St. Station and said farewell to Kaylie. But we had a great time with her and would like to thank her again for visiting! : )

But of course, Tom became overjoyed on the way home from Queen St, as we found Forbidden Planet – a comic book store! It was actually a really big and awesome comic book store, but the crowds made it slightly less desirable. We vowed to go back and look around again soon. After a quick stop at a candy store to buy chocolate-covered banana candy (they weren’t real bananas, but they were good), we made our way back home. And of course, as soon as we stepped out of the subway, we knew Kaylie must be gone because it started to rain.

And then there was Sunday! Sunday I (meaning Sandra only) went to church. I chose to go to the church that is just down the road, about a five-minute walk. And, it was a little scary, because I’d never been and all, but the people were all very nice. And the building itself was absolutely beautiful; they have huge white cloisters and awesome stained glass windows. In fact, there was a big stained glass window behind the pulpit that, because of its position, the time of day and the sunshine, shone brightly throughout the service, which was awesome. They didn’t have hymnals, though, which bothered me a bit, they had books with the words in them, and then big projector screens up front to show the words to the hymns, but no music to look at! That was a bit unnerving. But all in all, it was a nice place and a nice service, though a bit too intense for me. It remains to be seen whether or not I will return, but I did get invited to lunch with George and Nan last time! And those were the second part of our February adventures! Photos via facebook. Cheers!

 

February Adventures: Part I

Hello world! Today, Sandra didn’t feel like writing the blog so I convinced her to let me write the blog while she cleans my room. Fair trade, right? So this time around we get to write the blog my way!

As ever, let’s start with the words of the week (American: Scottish)!  Plaster: Band-Aid, “J”: “Ji” (As in rhymes with eye), Factorizing: Factoring, and that’s all I can think of.

So, it seems like it’s been a month since we last blogged, and that’s a long time so sorry for the wait! We’ve been fairly busy though, as we visited Loch Ness last weekend and Sandra’s friend Kaylie came to visit us this weekend. The weekend before that we spent just walking around the city. It was a fairly uneventful weekend then, as we just wandered around and found where some nice convenient places are like a Hallmark store and I managed to find a comic book store too, so I guess that was a pretty big success. Other than our most recent trip and this weekend’s visits (which I will give more details on later) it’s kind of been same ol’ same ol’. Piping is fun, we’re learning a lot. My lecturer has been out for three weeks and his substitute was quite good, under his tutelage I’ve nearly even caught up to Sandra’s mad chanter skills! We’ve begun to play a few little songs, like Deck The Halls and I’m supposed to try and learn Auld Lang Syne but I can’t quite get it. We’ve also learned about Piobaireachd! I know, it looks like a funny word, phonetically spelt it’s Pibroch. It’s a style of song for bagpiping that’s played in competition and can last from 7-28 minutes! We also have been trying to learn a song called Going Home by ear and that’s proving to be both fun and difficult. All in all, our lecturer Finlay of The Finlay McDonald Band fame is quite a good teacher and the class is pretty fun. He’s also organizing a trip to one of the Highland Games in May for the class which should be an experience, too.

He also wants us to keep going to gigs, I can’t remember what he calls them. But going to a pub to listen to bagpipe music. He even told us he would be going to a pub called Bappity Bowsters yesterday to listen to some music, and Sandra and I planned to go but decided not to last minute, it’s kind of awkward to go and listen to music when you don’t really know what to order, and I’m not interested in going to drink so it woulda been weird. Going to have lunch or dinner is one thing, but it might have been weird to go just to enjoy a nice refreshing Coca Cola. So we decided to explore Buchanan Street first, and I found another comic book store! Another great success!

Now though, I’m being told I need to move on to “ranting about Inverness,” and boy will it be a rant. It cost us 55 pounds to go on this trip, which was a pretty decent deal considering all they offered, but it ended up being a huge disaster. We left Uni at 8 o’clock, a little after because no one is on time here, and headed off. We used Google Maps earlier in the week to know how long it would take to get there, and it’s about a 3.5 hour bus ride, and we figured 4 if we take the scenic route. We got there at 4. We made three stops on the way, and each one was equally frustrating. Our first stop was in a town called Perth. A nice place, had a shopping mall, an art gallery, a nice looking church. It would have been nice to spend a half hour there to look around. But it was POURING. And they gave us an hour and a half to explore. In the rain. It wasn’t quite lunch time, and they said this was a bathroom break and the next stop would be for lunch. So we wandered in the rain for a little over an hour, found a book store, took pictures of the city hall. It woulda been pleasant if it wasn’t raining, but it was raining, and cold, and boring, and a disaster. So we try to go on the bus a little early, we got there about 15 minutes early, figured we would wait on the bus, and the drivers weren’t there. Eventually they did come after we waited in the rain, and then after waiting ON the bus soaking wet for another 15-20 minutes for our trip organizer to arrive (because he got lost) we set off again.

Our next stop was in Pitlochry, which was even smaller than Perth with even less to do and even worse weather as now we had rain, colder temperatures and snow/slush on the ground. When we got there, we found we had a half hour to explore, and that and I quote “the only thing to see here is a dam and a fish ladder.” Well, that would have been great if it wasn’t the middle of winter when no fish would be out! And then after visiting it, there was no time to grab anything to eat so we went back to bus, and having been fooled twice, the bus drivers were still not early, and we still waited in the rain. When we finally got on the bus we waited again and set off late again. By now, Sandra and I are NOT happy campers, but we’re optimistic happy campers as we did come on this trip to go to Inverness and Loch Ness and Urquhart Castle which were still yet to come!

But, before we could get to Inverness, we had one more stop, at the ski resort Aviemore. There, Sandra went to use a public toilet, which they make you pay like 30 pence  for, and only take exact change. Now, as the story has been told to me, she did not have exact change, and then while looking for it, the guy working the counter next to the turnstile to get in just told her to go and not worry about it. So she went, and then ran as fast as she could when she left because she didn’t know if she’d have to pay for it when she got back out or not. Then we finally got subway for lunch, because the Fish & Chips shop had a 20 minute wait and we only had 30 minutes to visit this creepy doll-house village. Here wasn’t too bad, it was set in the mountains and  if it wasn’t so darn creepy it would have been pleasant because the sun had finally come out! We got back on the bus, did more waiting, and then left for Inverness finally!

On the ride there, they passed around a sign-up sheet for rooms in the hostel. Now, as per normal paper-passing rules, the paper was to go down the right hand side of the bus where it started, get to the end of that aisle, be passed left, and continue up the left in a giant U. But of course, even paper-passing protocol was not followed on this trip, and thus we had a hostel debacle. Just before the paper was to be passed back to us, the kid in front of us, who was a Canadian whose name will be left out in case he happens upon this blog, and he was horribly annoying and ignorantly insensitive. He actually brought up the topic of Tiananmen Square to the Chinese girl sitting next to him by saying “Yeah, remember that student protest in china? It wasn’t too long ago… they like brought in tanks and stuff?” Yeah, he was a complete fool. And he passed the paper to the left! And so it got to everyone but us. But then somehow Sandra managed to snag the paper before we got to Inverness and signed us up for one of the only double rooms on there, so we wrote down our room number and were pleased that the trip seemed to be looking up, phew!

When we get to Inverness, we all unload and go to the lobby of the hostel, where our trip organizer Hojatt begins to call out numbers for check-in, only we were apparently the only ones who wrote down our room number, as no one was listening/caring/coming up to get their keys. So then he had to start calling out names, which was even worse as he couldn’t even pronounce them. Luckily our room number was near the top of the list, so we got our keys quickly and left to drop off our stuff before our adventures in Inverness ( Sandra was even applauded by Hojatt for remembering the room number, but really, why the heck wouldn’t you???).

After dropping off our stuff, we grabbed a map from the hostel reception and set off for an exploration! Only to quickly realize everything had closed at 3:30 and we got there at 4. Castles, Cathedrals, a Museum, a Battlefield, all of these great attractions, and because of people not showing up on time, and visiting places that seemed just foolish, we missed visiting essentially everything there is to see in Inverness. And so, we resorted to just walking around all evening, exploring the new city we were in. It was pleasant, Inverness means “The Mouth of the River Ness” in Gaelic, so it was a town seated on the river that leads right in to Loch Ness, and there were castles and cathedrals and it was pleasant, but it could have been even better if we got to see what we came to see. But, we didn’t get discouraged, we had a McDonald’s dinner (because everything was too expensive and I don’t eat chili which is what Hojatt was so kindly making us for dinner for free at the hostel), and set to bed semi-early while everyone else went out clubbing – the only reason they came to Inverness it seemed like.

Then, in the morning, we went down for breakfast, where half of our group wasn’t awake and the other half was disorganized and eating another group’s food, checked out, and loaded on the bus, thinking this new day would bring better luck! Not quite. Our first stop was The Nessie Center, an exhibition center with lots to see and do regarding Loch Ness and more specifically the monster that resides in the waters. We were given two options, to watch a presentation lasting a half hour at the exhibition center or explore the surrounding area, but whatever you did, you had to be back on the bus in a half hour. So, being forced to choose one or the other, Sandra and I saw the presentation on Nessie, and it was very interesting. Did you know that you can fit the entire world’s population three times over in Loch Ness? It was huge! After finishing the presentation, we snapped some quick pictures on our way back to the bus and then after waiting again, set off for Urquhart Castle!

Urquhart Castle was incredible, the ruins of a castle sitting right on Loch Ness, a huge gift shop, another presentation to see, and we had one hour to look at it. We had more time in the pouring rain in boring ol’ Perth, than here! Heck, the total time we spent waiting for other people on the bus was more time than we had here! But, we decided it was best not to complain and to just use the time as wisely as we could. This though, was when we realized that we had definitely gone on the trip with the wrong kind of people. Because as we are marveling at the size of the trebuchet just outside the castle walls, members of our group ran across the grass and down the hill, tearing off their clothes as they did to jump in Loch Ness. Sigh. But anyway, we set out to explore the castle and it was magnificent! We may or may not have grabbed a little piece of it for my Aunt Susie, as requested. If you haven’t a Facebook and therefore haven’t looked at the pictures yet, click the links on the right side for Scotland Album 2, they should be available for everyone to look through and you’ll see how incredible the castle and the Loch really is.

After exploring the castle and getting some souvenirs, we went back to the bus and sat on there to continue waiting. Only this time, we had to have waited a solid half hour, at least, for them to round everyone up. Time that could have been spent exploring the castle, and that was pretty much the last straw when it came to our patience for this trip. We will most likely go back in order to do this trip right, but at that point we had given up and just wanted to get home – sadly, there was more left!

On the way back, we took the scenic route again through the mountainous highlands, and Sandra got some pretty amazing photos of the mountains, including Ben Nevis the highest peak in Britain, from the bus. We stopped at a monument for the Commandos of the British army in WWII, (which involved pushing Asians, who feel the need to take pictures in front of everything they see, out of the way). And then we stopped for lunch in Fort Williams, another town that is literally a parking lot and a road and not much else. But we had lunch in the gift shoppy area next to the bus and it was good, and then loaded back on the bus after our hour long visit there, and as always we waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. Until finally, after an hour and a half of waiting, we left with one of the buses about half full, because people had gotten lost in this tiny town, partly because of their own stupidity and partly because we are dropped off in these places with no directions. So, we left without half of the people from the second bus and set off, but of course after waiting all that time, we found them at the bus stop a quarter mile from where we parked and set off again.

We made one more stop, and I don’t even remember where, but because of all the delays, the main toilet facilities were closed, as with almost everything at this time of day, and so 80 girls had to use 2 toilets in about 15 minutes – yeah, not gonna happen. So more delays. Finally when we got back, Sandra and I vowed over pinky promises not to go on another weekend trip with ISoc again. A day trip, maybe. But relying on so many people with different agendas and everything to be on the same page for an entire weekend, when they are going to these things for different reasons than us, it doesn’t work.

Now here are some *exclusive* pictures, not posted on facebook, especially for our dedicated readers (and we realize that most of you are related to us and feel a familial obligation, but you’re special too). Enjoy!

FUMAR

Named so because Tom refuses to admit that the word is ‘fulmar’, not ‘fumar’. On to words of the week (American: Scottish)! Ketchup: Tomato sauce. Curb: Kerb. rappelling: abseiling. Out of breath: Out of puff!

And so we realize our blogs are getting further and further apart, but that’s only because we’ve been busier! (Check the links on the right for the pictures if you don’t believe it!) On Thursday, Tom made another friend, he makes at least one each day (we haven’t figured out why). After his class, he was leaving to meet Sandra when all of a sudden, he heard someone yell his name from behind! It was the girl he had met and she chased him down to invite him to a church event, and said Sandra could come too. So we decided to go as long as it fit into the schedule because we had a piping lecture that night and were planning a feast of Chinese proportions! But it ended up working out, and the church event, which was Crescendo, was awesome. It was basically a showcasing of talents, everything from songs to poetry to stand-up. (And Tom went inside of a church without any lightning! )

Oh, and speaking of Piping! We each had our first lessons last week and our second lessons this week! And we are… well.. we’re not really that bad, really. We’re learning. The chanter is weird for both of us, Tom because it’s a foreign object and Sandra because it’s not a clarinet. We both discovered with have issues with overactive saliva glands, and have to dry out our reeds during our practices. They’re little plastic oboe reeds that go inside the instrument. It’s pretty neat. We can both play a (distorted) scale and we’re working on some gracenotes! Because really, bagpipe music is all about the gracenotes. Oh! And Tom’s been assigned to learn “Deck the Halls” this week and Sandra will probably attempt it also.

What else have we done?! Well, besides learning that Chinese food containers make awesome free Tupperware, we’ve explored the greater Glasgow and beyond! Early on Saturday morning, we decided to venture out down the street and across the River Clyde to go to the Glasgow Science Centre. It was a fun walk there and the Science Centre itself was a blast! (Until it was overrun by wee children with inattentive parents.) But it had a lot of neat exhibits and experiments and brain teasers (we successfully completed the 3-D tetris cube!). They also had a game called “Mind Ball” where you used your brain waves to move a ball into the opponent’s goal, the more relaxed you were, the better your chances of moving the ball. It went on for far too long until Tom won, finally. We saw a show called “Fantastic Forces” which was pretty class, and we also visited the Planetarium (which Sandra has never been to), which was awesome and beautiful, and only slightly dizzying. We also had lunch at the Science Centre, which was surprisingly decently priced. They boasted the best hot dogs around, and Tom did end up rating them an 8/10 overall.

Speaking of food, after we left the Science Centre, we took a long walk, looping around the river. We found a lovely restaurant with Tom’s mom’s name in it! Frankie and Benny’s New York Italian Restaurant and Bar! We decided we will return there for lunch someday. It’s funny how you can find little pieces of home even without looking for them. But anyway, we really liked the restaurant, both ordering fantastic calzones. 

After dinner, we had to find our way back to the Science Centre in the dark with no map or directions. We succeeded and we were early to see ”Tron: Legacy” that evening in 3-D on one of the largest IMAX screens in the UK. We also discovered Maltesers. Does anyone know how to say that? They’re fantastic, you all should import some. Okay, so after Tron we walked home by the light of the streetlamps and collapsed into bed. Only then we had to get up the next morning to go on our second adventure of the weekend: St Andrews!

 We left in the early morning, around 8:20 to be exact and made our way to Uni. We then were on a bus by 9 and ready to go. We stopped at some wee town along the way and that was awkward but provided a much-needed toilet break. Two hours later, we arrived at St Andrews! A beautiful wee town right on the North Sea (see pictures in albums). We wandered around at first, looking for the essentials, a toilet and food. Come to find out, in these nice touristy towns they charge you a whole 30 pence to use the toilet! What a rip off. Anywho, after that nice discovery, Tom made a new discovery: Bangers and Mash. Now, we passed a pub with a poster in the window proclaiming that it had “The Best Bangers and Mash in Scotland”. And according to Tom, it was true. Also, a Full English Breakfast, for anyone that’s wondering, is also quite good. So our first pub experience was a success! (And no, we didn’t have alcohol.)

We then explored St Andrews, wandering through the ruins of a castle (it was as awesome as it sounds, check out the photos by clicking the links to the right). We walked up on towers that were still left standing looking out over the sea. We crouched our way through the mine and countermine. We took a ton of pictures and just marveled at the granduer of the castle for a bit before stepping down to the water. The sea was cold and salty, but the beach was beautiful and Sandra got her feet wet, quite on accident. Tom didn’t because he was standing on a rock. Yay for him.

We then ventured to the ruins of the cathedral, which was absolutely massive. We wandered through the biggest cemetary we’d ever seen, noting the names on the tombstones and staring in wonder at the dates, which ranged from 1500 (or earlier) to 2008. We walked around the ruins of the actual cathedral building for awhile, standing atop the remains of columns that were five feet wide. The sheer size of it all was incredible. There isn’t much to top seeing that. So, we finished off our day with a walk out onto a very long pier, a trip to an office store, a bag of lemon curd and oatflake Scottish shortbread cookies, and a long bus ride home.

And now, we have purchased tickets to Loch Ness (Feb 19-20), have a brand new pot and pan (thank you UK ebay), and Tom is lighting yogurt on fire and feeding Sandra “Peanut butter surprise” sandwiches (turns out the surprises is a cookie, yay!). Have a good week people, survive the snow! (And for you eight people who may follow us outside of the NY, enjoy your FL/TX/UK? weather!)

ADVENTURE TIIIIIME

Hello everybody! First off, words of the week (American: Scottish)! Cookies: Biscuits OR Cookies. Underwear: Pants. Pants: Trousers. Little: Wee (it’s used ALL the time). English muffins: Crumpets.

We’ve had quite the busy week and we’d like to share it with you. So where to begin? Well, we did end up going to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum Sunday. We brought a camera, but you can’t take pictures of some of the art in there, so out of fear we have not posted those pictures. Regardless, we did have a good time poking around the Museum! They had dinosaurs (fully reconstructed but not living), they had an Egyptian display (complete with creepy for realsies mummy), and they had a ton of art (hence the name “Art Gallery”). A good time was had by all!

What else did we do this week? Well, Sandra had a crazy lab Monday. It wasn’t really crazy, it was just new and different. Actually, it was a lot easier than labs at home (it was for Power Electronics), and the Professor is really nice also. And, she made a new friend working with a girl from Malaysia! So that was a good experience overall. Unfortunately, she still doesn’t know whether her classes will count back home or not. This has been a bit of a fiasco trying to get classes to match up, but we’ve both finally got our schedules worked out and only nine weeks of classes left! Yay!

Our biggest adventure this week was certainly tackling the subway to get to Piping Class. That’s right, we’re taking a Bagpiping course. This week was just introductory, and we don’t yet have our chanters or books. But! Sandra has her first one-on-one lesson Tuesday, and due to a schedule conflict with the instructor, Tom has his first one-on-one lesson Wednesday! It’s so exciting! There’s also a small Museum in the Piping Center and we got to see a bit of that during our first class. We also almost got lost in the city! Our instructor decided to take us on a mini-field trip to the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall to see some amateur artists. We didn’t stay long, and soon wandered off into the night by ourselves. Fortunately we managed to find the underground station, but not before j-walking and taking a wrong turn or two.

Our biggest win of the week was probably our awesome grocery shopping abilities and sweet dinner-making skills. I mean, besides the whole, we burn the bottoms of pots and pans because the burners aren’t the best and we turn them up way too high. Seriously, people. One night this week we had roast beef, mashed potatoes, and corn, all ready in a timely manner, and all delicious. (Mostly because they sell frozen mashed potatoes and they are fantastic.) And grocery shopping consisted of meeting up Friday afternoon after classes to travel up the road from the University to a place called Iceland. Then, after our adventures buying most of what we needed at Iceland (and marveling at some of the things we didn’t need), we continued down the road to Farm Foods! There we picked up the essentials, you know, frozen broccoli, frozen mashed potatoes, milk, Yorkshire puddings, biscuits (cookies), and profiteroles (like mini cream puffs)! Thank goodness for our set of life skills that lets us grocery shop and feed ourselves and sit down at the dinner table every night with a well-prepared and well-timed dinner in front of us.

We have yet to really explore any food places, besides grocery stores, but we have slowly been exploring Byres Road and Argyle Street near us. We did venture into Baguette Express for their daily meal deal, which makes a delicious lunch; they’re basically a subway for baguettes. So, so far we have not explored much of the city, but yesterday we walked up to Kelvingrove Park and had a nice stroll through there, and today we will be venturing down to the City Centre again to hopefully catch Tron: Legacy in 3D at Cineworld. Now, we did catch a glimpse of Cineworld Thursday while we were taking our piping field trip, and just… WOW. That cinema puts every movie theatre we’ve ever seen to shame; It is huge and has crazy lights and has 3D movies and is beautiful.

But back to Kelvingrove Park, that was beautiful too. We pass the park every day on our way to class, but we’ve never really ventured in. We decided that yesterday would be the perfect day to venture into the park. It was foggy and chilly nearly all morning, and nearly the whole time we were in the park, but it made for rather nice walking weather and peaceful scenery. You can see the photos from yesterday on either of our facebook pages or by using the links on the right side of the page. We had a grand old time, got a bunch of exercise (it’s all hills here, for realsies), and we plan to walk around again when everything is in bloom.

Now, after a lovely morning of Tom using Sandra’s musical skills to attempt to make a crazy medley of songs from Zelda on Finale, and a superb lunch of grilled cheese and salami, we will venture off into the great kind-of-known city to see Tron: Legacy which we wanted to see a month ago! Cheers!

 

A Rainy Saturday

A Rainy Saturday

Today it is Saturday. Today it is raining. Therefore, we are stuck inside with limited activities to keep our smallish brains busy. We’ve been in Glasgow for a little over a week now, so we figured we should probably bring you all up to speed. Orientation was nice but wasn’t completely helpful. The system here is actually quite terrible for visiting students, and isn’t very easy at all to figure out. Each class is different, and each has their own rules regarding registering, tutorials, and labs. They all also have their own timetables, which you then need to find from various people or places. It’s terribly confusing. But we have started to figure it out and so far Tom is taking Physics 1, some weird math course, Exploring Scottish Culture, Piping, and auditing Physics 2. Sandra is taking Applied Mechanics 2, Power Electronics 2, Exploring Scottish Culture, and Piping.

Originally, neither of us planned to do Piping, but it was too good an opportunity to pass up. The Piping course is run by the Piping Center in Glasgow, and includes one-on-one lessons to learn to play the chanter (and eventually the bagpipes if you get good enough)! So that was just too exciting, and we’re anxious for our first class this Thursday. The Exploring Scottish Culture class should also be interesting, as it is a mixture of Scottish History and Literature lessons taught by some very energetic guys!

Wow, the wind sure is blowing out there! It really is raining. We thought of going to the cinema, but a 40 minute walk in the rain didn’t really sound appealing, especially because we’re both getting over colds. There’s no bus stop very close to here anyway. Besides, the buses aren’t the most user-friendly thing I’ve ever seen either. They’re quite annoying actually, unless you take them every day or always happen to carry pocketfuls of loose change.

But no matter, we’re here, in the flat where some random Chinese kid periodically takes over the kitchen and  we awkwardly slink out (no joke, it’s happened at least twice, we don’t know his name and he doesn’t live here). Tom is engrossed in some of the brochures we picked up in Central Station last week. Do you know how many castles there are in Scotland? Like a bajillion, that’s how many, and it seems as if he’d like to visit every one. Maybe we will! : ) But first, we think we should go to the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum (where admission is free because it’s a Museum!). Maybe tomorrow.

We have managed to do a bit of exploring around Glasgow. We’ve found and figured out most of the University campus. We explored Byres Road next to campus, even stumbling upon a Blockbuster (that doesn’t take American Blockbuster cards). We ventured into the City Centre last weekend by bus (not the best travel experience ever), and found the place to shop. Poundland. And yesterday we found a fantastic supermarket called FarmFoods. Most of the food was frozen (but that’s fine), and it’s a bit of a walk (20 minutes), but the price is right and they don’t rush you bagging. Plus! We get their flyer delivered to our door (with some coupons that we forget to use when we’re there).

Speaking of food! We’ve been eating well, and mostly American. Though, while we toured Edinburgh (we’ll get to that later), Tom did get to try Haggis! He liked it but said it didn’t taste like anything he could really describe. Though we did buy Haggis bites yesterday so we’ll see if Sandra can put words to it (other than disgusting) sometime later this week. We also tried, and loved, neeps! (Though, personally I just like saying neeps!) Neeps aren’t actually that exciting, they’re just mashed turnips with a better name. I’m being yelled at to tell you that they’re Swedes, but I think that gives a terrible cannibalistic impression because they’re just Swedish turnips. We did have fish and chips one of the first days we were here… it was delectable. Tom also, after hours of begging, got his can of Irn Bru, and promptly poured it down the sink after drinking a bit more than half the can. Their favorite soda, we concluded, tastes more like cough syrup that was nearly completely watered down with seltzer. We have not yet had the pleasure of trying a deep-fried Mars bar, but we can’t wait.

And speaking of eating and drinking, we have not yet been to a pub or had an alcoholic drink. Although, we pass a pub called the Goat every day on our walk to class, we haven’t yet plucked up the courage to go inside (or rather, Sandra hasn’t built up the strength to drag Tom inside). We will soon, though, hopefully… Anywho!

Also speaking about drinking, we’ve got a flat mate from Northern Ireland! Though we haven’t actually seen him drink yet. But he’s mad cool, his name’s Matt and he’s pretty much the only flat mate we ever talk to (because he’s mad cool), and he teaches us words and such in a nice, easily understood accent (that Sandra can’t tell apart because she’s bad at that). We also have a flat mate from Germany whose name we’ve been debating since we met her because we both forgot and feel terrible about that. She’s nice though, she just keeps to herself mostly. And then there’s Amanda. We don’t really know what she’s like because we’ve never actually talked to her, but she does cook a lot, and her friend is in our kitchen a lot cooking without her, and we never know what to say, and we’re not completely sure they speak English (they speak Chinese to each other) but who knows! And that’s the flat! We also each have our own little bathrooms with our own little showers that steam up the whole room and toilet bowls with no tanks. Cause that’s how they do in the UK.

What else didn’t we talk about? Well, being in the UK. It’s fun, really. It’s quite a bit different. I mean, Tom still falls off the bed, it’s just (thankfully) a lot lower. We’ve taken tours of both Glasgow and Edinburgh (pronounce that Edinburrough) now, and they’re both beautiful cities. The architecture in general is exquisite; you’ve seen the pictures of the University, it’s honestly like going to Hogwarts every day, it’s amazing. And the city architecture, the flats, ohhh, they’re beautiful and old and beautiful. And it’s weird because they’re just flats, they’re ugly little flats with shops on the ground level but the sheer majesty of the buildings themselves and their age and the hustle and bustle of the city, it’s simply incredible.

They also have funny name for things! LIKE! Stickyootwindees: Bay windows. Jumper: Sweater. Cheers: Thanks. University: College, school. Wee bit: Little. Bits: Parts. ‘Zed’: “Zee” (as in letter). ‘Jie’:”Jay” (as in letter). Chicken FilleT: Chicken Fille(t). Queue: Line. Chips: Fries. Crisps: Chips. Biscuit: Cookie. Mash: Mashed Potatoes. Tea Time: Dinner. Mobile Phone: Cell Phone. Underground/Tube: Subway. Petrol: Gas. Pieces: Sandwiches.

Culturally, it’s interesting as well. We’ve been exploring the BBC website in search of entertainment (until we get comfortable with the city, we prefer to learn culture through tv). We found British Wipeout and backwards Family Feud! It’s fantastic. And other than that we’ve been completely addicted to Chuck. Seriously, if you’ve never seen Chuck, rent the first season and watch, you’ll be absolutely hooked. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say it’s the best show ever, clean comedy, crazy characters, and an almost-believable story line.

Anyway, since Tom is currently attempting to shave my head with his mobile, I think we’re going to do something else now. Perhaps plan dinner? (We are so ordering Dominos tonight.) Or watch more Chuck? (For realsies, it’s fantastic.) Or look up more places to go and mark our calendars? (All those brochures should be good for something!) Or skype a family member? (It’s only 8:30AM back home though.) Anyway, you all have a good week, we’ll update when we can. We miss the snow, we miss you. TTFN!

 

P.S. GO SEAHAWKS!

 

PHOTOS

So, we have been quite busy settling in here in Glasgow, but we’ve found time to write this little blog to let you know we have put up an album of all of our pictures so far. If you’re on facebook you’ve probably seen (and liked, and commented) on all of these already. But for anyone else, here’s the link! Enjoy!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=346884&id=679153625&l=6e44f532a5

SCOTLAND FACT COUNTDOWN – 1!!!!!

Tomorrow we leave! So, to wrap this up, I figured we’d go with the most obvious Scotland fact there is… NESSIE!

The first recorded sighting of the Loch Ness Monster (AKA Nessie) was in 565 AD by St Columba. Nessie was actually first seen in the River Ness before it became associated with the loch. The monster was next seen in 1933 when Mr and Mrs Spicer reported seeing a large animal crossing the road. Normally, the Loch Ness Monster is said to have a small head, long neck, broad body, four flippers and a long tail. The scientific name for Nessieis a plesiosaur (acarnivorous aquatic, usually marine, reptile). Nessie is the most famous cryptid in the world. (Look the word up, feel educated!)

And so we set off!

NESSIE!

SCOTLAND FACT COUNTDOWN – 2!

SEA! HAWKS! WOOO!

I didn’t post the fact last night because I was too busy cheering on the Seahawks winning the NFC West and making it to the playoffs. Happy times. So now, in honor of this, I have researched (on Wikipedia) how one may find these games on Scottish television!

Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster that started in 1982. It’s a “publisher-broadcaster” so it commissions all of the material it airs that’s not it’s own,  So it as well as its’ offshoot channels or sister channels air certain American television shows as well, such as Family Guy, The Simpsons, Everybody Loves Raymond, Will & Grace, etc., as well as Sunday Night (American) Football games. Here’s to hoping that they show the playoffs as well!

 

Channel 4!

 

SCOTLAND FACT COUNTDOWN – 3!

Sports are quite popular in Scotland, and Glasgow in particular has a few teams of note. The first international football (soccer) match was held in Glasgow, a 0-0 draw between Scotland and England. The Scottish Football Association and the Scottish Football Museum are both in Glasgow, as well as four other football leagues. The city also is home to three different football teams, the Celtic F.C., the Rangers F.C. and the Patrick Thistle F.C. They also have a Rugby team, the Glasgow Warriors, and a swimming organization; the Arlington Baths Club is the world’s oldest swimming club, dating back to 1870! In 2003, Glasgow was given the title the European Capital of Sport and in 2014 the World Commonwealth Games will be held in Glasgow. So, as you can see, sports are quite popular there, and that’s only a few quick notes I found and jotted down before bed because I’m tired from staying up for the New Year!

 

WOOO!

 

 

 

SCOTLAND FACT COUNTDOWN – 4!

So, Sandra has had some worries about the food in Scotland, but have no fear, the cheese is here -er, there! Scotland has over two dozen cheese producers across the country! They range from tiny little cheese producers to industrial cheddar creameries! Scottish Cheddar cheese accounts for about 70-80% of the output of the principle creameries and remains a favorite of the Scots and their visitors. There are also over 20 different kinds of cheese made in Scotland, including:

Bishop Kennedy, Bonnet, Brie (Howgate Scottish Brie), Brodick Blue, Brodick,Caboc, Caithness, Cream Cheese (including Caboc (Ross-shire), Howgate (Perthshire) and Lochaber-smoked), Crowdie, Dunlop, Dunsyre Blue,Drunileish, Isle of Bute, Mull of Kintyre, Highland, Arran cheddar, Inverloch,Isle of Mull, Kelsae, Lanark Blue, Loch Arthur, The Orkney Isles, Pentland, St Andrews, Scottish Cheddar, Stichill, Strathkinness, Swinzie, and Teviotdate.

St. Andrew’s Cheese