View From The Top (of a double decker bus)

So here goes for two days of fun adventuring.  Yesterday I met up with Roxie who is also on the trip with me, but has been staying in various hostels around Glasgow.  We were set to meet at the University main gate, so I went early to have a look around the place since from what I've seen it is one of the most beautiful places in the city.  I wandered a bit and found the gift shop which is across from the elevator that takes you up to the Hunterian museum.  Since I had about an hour and a half (and the museum is free, which I also found out that like all the museums in Glasgow are free, yay!) I decided to check it out.  Apparently a large portion of it was donated by Mr. Hunter from his own collection so it's mostly a hodgepodge of ancient tribal artifacts, gems and minerals, bugs, some dinosaur fossils, a science section dedicated to Sir Kelvin, and a large medical section with tons of diseased and healthy body parts and medical devices.  My favorite part was the small section of conjoined and mutated animals that were apparently of great fascination and were once termed "monstrosities."  The museum itself is beautiful and has large arching ceilings and I believe is one of the oldest buildings in Glasgow.

After my little tour I met up with Roxie and since we were both starving we headed down a little ways to Ashton street, which is this small very pretty little cobblestone side street with a ton of little restaurants (at least 5 were mentioned in my guidebook), clubs, and my favorite part, a little cinema called Grosvenor Cinema that has two screens and comfy leather seats where you can get a bite to eat and enjoy a pint with your movie...so I'll be there a lot.  We ate at a restaurant called Brel that used to be stables but is now known for there selection of Belgian beers.  They had live jazz going on on the back patio and we enjoyed a very nice meal and a pint.  From there we pretty much ended our night, although I have plans to meet Roxie again on Monday to find the Accommodation office and see if she can't move into the dorms early as well because the whole hostel thing is definitely not the most convenient situation.

Today I decided to hop on the double decker tour buses I've seen going around town.  They are only 9 pounds and you can hop on and off at any of the stops and the ticket is good for 2 days so hopefully I will get some use out of it tomorrow.  I learned a lot about the city and got a lot of good info about the East End which I had not been to yet. There is a place over there called the Barras which is pretty much like Saturday Market for those of you who have been to Portland, and I plan on scoping out some good deals there next weekend.  There are also a ton of other museums on the East side which I also want to visit, because again, free.  I hopped off at St. George Square where there are some lovely statues of Queen Victoria and other nobility and I took a few shots of the building where they conduct court.  I did some shopping and got some Starbucks, because I hadn't had coffee in days (and it was showing) and when I came out it was pouring.  Thankfully one of the buses pulled up right as I got to the stop and I spent a cold and wet ride back home.  Oh also the Celtics and Rangers played today so there were a lot of guys dressed up who were yelling very loudly.  That's pretty much it, and in the next few days I plan on going to some more museums and perhaps some pubs so I will keep you all updated.

First beer bought in Scotland (it's a proud moment folks)

That's Saint Andrew's Ale for those of you who can't read backwards :)

Cheers!

Jetlag

I'm glad to see people are reading the blog, it makes me feel connected. So the jetlag I thought I could beat got the better of me last night/today because I slept for a solid 18 hours and only woke up at 3 PM here...to a fire alarm. Don't worry though, as far as I could determine, nothing was wrong and the alarm just decided to act as a reminder that I cannot sleep my entire way through these two weeks here in Glasgow.
Once I finally got up and moving, I checked with the Cairncross House office that is across the street from my dorm to see about a little starter kit of cups and pots and stuff for kitchen that I had ordered before my arrival, but they pointed me in the direction of the Accommodations office at the University. They gave me a map and I walked through Kelvingrove park, which is beautiful and green and has some lovely views of the early architecture of Glasgow. I am happy that, though it is long, that route will be the way I get to class every day. I finally made it to the University district and managed to find the Film and Television building, the gym, and other offices, but had no luck with Accommodation. Since it was already evening, I decided that I would need to wait a couple days and go looking earlier and with a better map. I walked back towards home and then to the grocery store again to get a few more things, since I apparently forgot about half the items I had intended to come with me. I also bought my first beer here, which was exhilarating, even if I have no bottle opener and it was from a grocery store.
Tomorrow's plan is to head across Glasgow to the city center where there are many large shopping centers. I am still without a towel and now need a new blow dryer since mine shorted when I tried to plug it in, sigh. But I did figure out electricity finally, so at least that crisis is averted till another day. I have plans to meet some other people from my group on Saturday, so hopefully with another person I will have better luck finding places and exploring more.
Till tomorrow

Arrival

So welcome all to my spectacular travel journal!
I think that just getting to my final destination was probably the most challenging experiences of my life so far and for once I think I have glimpsed just a little bit of what it is to be an adult. I left Portland yesterday afternoon and had to say goodbye to my mom for longer than I have ever been away from my family and I'm not going to lie and say that I did not almost cry, because I did, and I probably freaked out some of the airline personnel. From there I had a crazy long 9 hour flight in which I watched like 3 movies and tried to sleep, which got me about 2 hours of fitful tossing and turning next to a guy who constantly hogged the armrest for the duration of the flight. We landed in Amsterdam, and after a few minutes of shear panic and confusion on my part, I finally settled down and worked my way down to the smallish airplane terminal. I then proceeded to play "Amsterdam" by Guster on my ipod because that's what you do when you're in Amsterdam. From there I hopped on a little city-hopper with a whole bunch of people who were either completely Scottish, or sounded like the Swedish Chef from the muppets.
Scotland is just as green and gray as you would think it would be, though from Glasgow, you can't really see the rolling hills or amazing landscape so much. It is a lot of brownstone buildings and the river Clyde that snakes through the city. I managed to get a taxi and figure out where I was going and I chatted up the cab driver on the way over about Scotland and Glasgow. My dorm, truth be told, is in a somewhat sketchy area, and is nothing to look at really, but hopefully when there are people here, it will be a bit less depressing. Also the electrical outlets in my room don't seem to work really, so most of my computer time will be spent hooked up to the ones in the kitchen, yay! So far I have already had to navigate a wee bit around the city to buy groceries and a plug adapter, so by and by I feel that I have already made a substantial accomplishment.
Hopefully the next posts will be more exciting, but I think that if I'm going to do a travel journal I should at least give all the gritty details.
P.S. I am already noticing the open, gregarious nature of the Scots and am looking forward to some very satisfying conversations in the near future :)