Pub Night and SO Much More

Yesterday was a big day! We had our first international student pub night, which was such a blast. It was hosted at this pub called The Counting House and there were lots and lots of people! I was able to publicly purchase my own alcoholic drink! Or three! haha. So that was an exciting first for me. After about fifteen minutes at the pub we ended up chatting and hangin out with these really cool and funny french students here from paris. Surprisingly my elementary french actually made for good conversation. I nicknamed three people: pamplemousse (grapefruit), haricot vert (green bean), dinde (turkey), and yaourt (yougurt). And I was called la peinture. like my last name. I had a bartender's number written on my hand by the end of the night, so that was also memorable. I think we even took a picture of that one, just for keepsake, or in cased it smudged...Hum, I'm finding it really hard to sum up how cool and exciting last night was. You'll just have to check out the pictures on fb! Let's see, after the pub closed at 12 Katie and I wandered to the clubs because we could get in for free (so why not!). but we tried a really gross drink called stella's and it tasted like bad breath smells. and it was a very cave-like place so we decided to say goodbye to our new found french friends and hit the road. The walk home was terrible! There were hurricane strength winds and it was literally blowing us up the stairs and to our dorm. But all in all a good night! Today I went to my first two classes, which were fast paced because there was a lot of material being covered, but I have to tell you it was the slowest two hours of my life because I was running out the door this morning and I missed my most important and favorite meal of the day. Breakfast. So. I stocked up on cadbury chocolate and caramel from the pound store because they didnt have granola bars. it's delicious! One thing that I find extremely funny is the fact that every water bottle Ive bought says "detox with evian" or "detox with...whatever name brand" but it just proves how bad of pub culture their really is here. which I guess I think is funny? any way. One class tomorrow, then we're all celebrating Katie's birthday!!!!!

Making My Way Around Town

So I am in LOVE with my room and my flatmates. I live with 5 other girls and we all have our own rooms, but we share a suite and it's lovely. We've actually got quite the variety of people from all over the world living here. I'll list where they're from: Scotland (linz), Sweden (jo), Canada (joyce), Geogia (Carrie), and the Netherlands (Amy), and me! Tonite jo cooked for us and we all had dinner together along with wine and cheeze! Tomorrow I have my second international student meeting and the guy who talks at this one gets all of the study-abroad students together every wednesday for pub night. Not sure which one we're going to tomorrow, i'll have to blog about that one though. Today a couple of us went shopping and it was amazing. People here from the ages of 3 to 80 are fashionable, it's SO intense. But I made a few good purchases to start me on my way. I still don't have AIM, but the library told me that MSN works for sure. So if I have to, we'll see. Still havent been able to go to class, because I don't technically have any yet. They say and repeat to all of the study abroad students that moving in, registering, and going to class all works out in time. I'm really banking on that statement. Im all moved in and ready to start filling my free time with school? Well at least something that makes me feel educationally productive. Oh! I learned today. I made a PB&J for breakfast this morning and one of my flatmates said that it was the weirdest thing ever to mix peanut butter and jelly! She said it must be an American thing! But she had heard of hazelnut nutella and cheeze. Ick! How about that combo. And I'm finding out that even though I'm far away from home, it's still a very small world and there are many things that I have in common with almost every person I've met. So all in all, it's been a LONG but exciting, interesting, funny first couple of days here.

OUT of the hostel!!

so I don't think I had enough internet time at the library on saturday to talk about how crazy/creepy/scary our hostel was. Good news: we found showers there though so that was a blessing in a dirty/broken/moldey disguise. And the owner guy only charged us £11 (aka $23.50) for three nights, instead of £11 each night. so that was nice. last night he invited us three girls (laura, katie, and myself) down for a glass of italian wine. we said maybe and ended up being creeped out and too busy to go for it. Well the fun part of our weekend adventures has been walking literally for 8 hours around the town. We wandered over to University of Glasgow and tried to get in because it's gated, and this old lady came up to us and said "I'll go ahead of you and if I get kicked out you'll know" and then we got in. but it was funny because we asked her if she was, you know, just out for an afternoon stroll or something and she said no, she was looking for the toilets! haha. good times. We also ventured over to the Kelvingrove art gallery/museum which was really really cool not to mention free. Lots of good things to look at and take pictures of. Today we moved out of our scary hostel to the dorm life at Strathclyde and it's okay so far. It's been a difficult and LONG day running back and forth everywhere trying to get things sorted out. and lugging my 100lb luggage everywhere has given me gross bruises on the back of my calves! I'll be posted pictures of that! And Im of course on the top floor of our dorm. no elevators. so im getting in shape to say the least. we're about to go shopping for things like an ethernet cord, towels, converters, and the like. ahh! breathe~! any way, I guarantee there are many more adventures to come tonight! So stay tuned! Cheers!

Here

I'm here finally at 3:30pm Friday, which means Ive been up for a straight 25.5 hours! I made quite the sight carrying so much luggage, one thing learned: pack lighter. There have been many many happenings so far! To say them in sum--missed bus stop to youth hostel & told the bus driver so he literally stopped the bus and we (laura & I) got out on the side of the street! Keyboards are different. Met a four year old girl on the plane who told me her doll's name was fairytale and then she wanted to know if I needed to hold hands! Hum, oh yeah, our hostel doesnt come with a shower so I will maybe try some other method of making myself clean in the next 4 days. People are quite fashionable here which makes me feel FAR from home! just kidding, I was mainly just talking about myself being unfashionable. I need to brush my teeth. I watched three movies on the plane: atonement, bourne supremacy, and into the wild. I am really happy at the moment because I looked in my carry on and there was a giant rice cripie treat waiting for me. I got a library card within the first hour I was here and I dont even have an address yet. one very friendly man collecting his suitcases at the airport kept trying to converse with me but i kept saying "what?" because he was talking too fast and in foreign tongue. I cant believe Im here and it still feels surreal, but I think I'll feel more at home when I actually have a place to live with a shower and single bedroom! Alright, well I need to walk back and get a little shut eye. Fun times!

Leaving Day

I'm all packed and ready to go (or as ready as I can be!). Being at the airport by myself is a little frightening, but hopefully I'll make a flight buddy or something. With everything packed I have two big suitcases, my back-pack and my laptop.. which all added together probably weighs more than I do. But I'll manage I hope! Or at least make for a funny sight. I leave from Des Moines to Chicago, Chicago to Manchester, Manchester to Glasgow. The plane from here leaves around 3:30pm our time and I will arrive in Glasgow around 12:30 pm their time on Friday. I have a feeling I'm gonna be tired! There have been several questions to me about where my animals are staying when I'm gone. Guin-Guin the guinea pig is with Lyric and Tuffy the fish is here at home! If I could take both of them I would! :( sad. Any way on a happier note, I'm going to leave for the airport in a while, so I better make sure everything's good to go! BYE!

Getting Ready To Leave

Count down = 20 days! It's very surreal to know that in less than one month I will be leaving the country and studying abroad for half a year! BUT, some things have been on my mind every day. Like packing, for instance. Right now I cannot imagine being fully packed and ready to go. If you've ever been on a trip with me, no matter how short the amount of time spent there, no matter how trivial the occasion, I will try and pack most of the contents of my bedroom. I have to say that though this upcoming trip feels so far away I am nervous and trying to think ahead about all that I can. I'm absolutely cannot live on three jeans, four shirts, and a bath towel (well maybe I could, but still!). So I've got to be prepared. I've started making a list of everything I should definitely pack, but at the very bottom of my list there are the dumbest things that I would never need. I like to look around my room and imagine myself starting to pack and the same thing happens: I find clothes that I "might" wear, I see pictures that I "could" hang up on my wall, etc etc. I'm just an overpacker I think. Oh well! There are still quite a bit of technical and important issues that I'm left in the dust on right now too. Like my place of residence hasn't been mailed to me yet. HUM. Where shall I live?! No I'm kidding, sort of. I know where I'll be living I just don't know my exact room yet... I don't register for classes until the first day of school. The list goes on and on! Should be fun! Alright, well I will for sure keep everyone up to date on all the going-ons before my flight!