Ashley, adventuring...

May 16th, 2016

2018-05-16T23:05:00.004-04:00

May 16th, 2016

On our second day in Fort William, we got up fairly early and headed to the train station - we had plans that were basically our main reason for coming up to Fort William... taking a ride on the Jacobite train (otherwise known as the Hogwarts Express)! It's an old fashioned train that goes from Fort William to Mallaig, and then comes back after a few hours. It's a very scenic ride, and the train itself is pretty cool, too.

When I was studying abroad, I had come up to Fort William with my friends so that we could take the Hogwarts Express, and my mom had wanted to do it as soon as she heard about it. So when I knew that we'd actually be able to come to Scotland, that was one of the first things I planned for us to do.

We even splurged and got 'first class' tickets.

People watching the Jacobite train go by.

Mallaig, Scotland

Back in Fort William

I will say - this trip on the Jacobite train was slightly disappointing, especially compared to my last trip in 2011. That's not to say that it wasn't enjoyable, and beautiful, because it definitely was. However, when we bought our tickets, we decided to book the table for 2 instead of the table for 4 - no specific reason except that there are only two of us and we figured we'd definitely get the window seat if there were only two seats. But the tables for two are ONLY on the right side of the train - and the best views are only visible out of the left side of the train. When we got on board and realized this, I didn't think it was that big of a deal at first, because the last time I was there, I got my best pictures by going into the inbetween area (where there are no seats) and taking pictures out of the window, so I thought I would do the same thing this time. But unfortunately, the people who were across from us in the table for four, weren't quite happy enough with their view out of the window, and a couple of them decided to camp out at the other window. I don't necessarily blame them, because I would want to get great pictures too, but at the same time, I wish they would have just taken turns taking pictures out of their window. It was just disappointing. I think I only got a couple of pictures on the train ride, and we couldn't even see out of the window when it was time to go over the Glenfinnan Viaduct. And then to top it all off, I'm 90% sure that last time, once the train got to Mallaig, they turned the train around so that the other side got the good view on the way back, and they didn't do that this time. So both rides, we got not so great views. Like I said, disappointing, but what can you do. I'm definitely thankful that I was able to go on this trip, and to go on the Hogwarts Express with my mom like she always wanted, but I love taking travel photos, and I would have loved to have gotten a few from this trip.

Even still, I would highly recommend going on the Jacobite Express - it was fantastic. The next time I'm able to go to Scotland, if we end up in that area, I would want to find a scenic spot to watch the train go by - we saw quite a few people that were doing that, and I'm sure they got amazing pictures too.

We finally got back to Fort William after a looooong day. We were exhausted, so we got some dinner, checked out a few souvenir shops that were actually open, and then headed back to our B&B for the night (and yes, had to climb up that awful hill again).

May 15th, 2016

2018-05-15T18:24:00.002-04:00

May 15th, 2016

We started off the first full day of our trip by going to a restaurant that had gluten free options, Bill's Restaurant. It was only a few minutes walk from our hotel. By the way, we loved this restaurant! The overall look of the restaurant was really cool, the food was great, and they had gluten free stuff, too.

My mom

The inside of Bill's

View of the street from inside Bill's Restaurant

Eggs Benedict - my mom loved this!

After breakfast, we spent a few hours walking around the city centre and doing some shopping. I showed my mom some of the places that I used to go to. Then, it was time for us to check out of the hotel and head to our next destination. We went to the train station, and hopped on the train heading to Fort William, Scotland. The train ride took a few hours but the scenery was beautiful!

Finally, we arrived in Fort William, and headed to our next hotel. This time, we were staying in a B&B - St Andrews Guest House in Fort William

Funny story about this B&B... we walked from the train station and apparently we didn't see the entrance that we were supposed to use, so we dragged our suitcases up the stairs (the ones that you can kind of see in the picture above). It was incredibly difficult, and probably took about 10 minutes for the both of us to get our bags up the stairs (which were made of gravel and wood). And of course one we got to the top, we saw that the people inside could see us struggling with our bags. And then later on, we realized that if we had come from the other direction, we would have seen that there is a driveway that is MUCH easier to get up. Oops.

Our room - as you can probably tell, as soon as we got into the room, we both flopped down on the beds, exhausted.

The window in our room, and the view outside.

An old chest, and the stairs inside the B&B

The entrance to the B&B

We then decided to check out Fort William, and went to the High Street. Unfortunately, for as much planning as I did prior to the trip, I never considered the fact that we would be arriving in Fort William (a pretty small town) on a Sunday, and so the majority of the shops would be closed. We found one small souvenir shop that was open, and picked up a couple of souvenirs. We had dinner at The Grog & Gruel. Then we headed back to the B&B for the night - which involved climbing up a huge hill.

The hill that we had to climb to get back to the B&B - the pictures seriously do not do it justice.

Mailing some postcards

High street on a Sunday afternoon

Peekaboo!

May 14th, 2016

2018-05-14T18:49:00.000-04:00

May 14th, 2016

We arrived in Glasgow at around 9 am local time. We picked up some snacks in the Tesco Express in the airport, and then took a cab to the City Centre (where our hotel was). We were both exhausted - we barely sleeping on our overnight flight.

Our first hotel was the Grand Central Hotel in Glasgow, which is connected to the train station.

Not my picture.

We were too early to check in, but they held our bags for us, and we went back out to kill some time until we could check in. Like I said, we were exhausted, so we didn't have enough energy to do some of the sightseeing options that I had picked out for us to do. We decided to do a bus tour of Glasgow on one of those 'Hop on, Hop off' buses. I love these types of bus tours, because it's an easy way to get around a city (assuming that you want to see/visit some of the more famous landmarks). And they're usually not too expensive.

Kelvingrove Museum

University of Glasgow tower

University of Glasgow

George Square, Glasgow

Finally, after a few hours of trying not to fall asleep on the bus, it was finally time for us to go back to the hotel and check in.

Our hotel room

View of the train station from our bathroom window

I had been happy to find out that there was a Taco Mazama in the train station. Meaning that I was only a minute or two walk away from Tacos! That was one of the first things we did once we got into our hotel room.

Just as good as I remember! I can't wait until the next time I can have Taco Mazama!

We then fell asleep (at like 4pm). After a few hours, I woke up and went back to get more tacos (why not?), and stopped at a Marks & Spencer that was also in the train station, and got some snacks and desserts.

We then went back to bed! And slept until the next morning! Not a very exciting start to our trip but at least we got Taco Mazama :)

Oops

2018-05-13T13:17:00.002-04:00

So I'm not quite sure how I managed to do this [who am I kidding... I'm a procrastinator, that's how], but I am two years late on this blog post.

Two years ago today, on May 13th, 2016, I left with my mom to go on a trip to the UK and France. I had been planning and preparing for the trip for over a year. Since I'm two years late on this post, I'm probably going to forget some things, but I'll do my best. And sorry in advance, this is going to be kind of long.

I have two main reasons for wanting to do a write up about our trip on this blog. The first is that I want to try to record my memories of the trip, because reading my old posts from study abroad makes me feel like I'm right back in that same place. The second reason is, that I don't think this second trip would have happened if it wasn't for my study abroad experience. My mom is not great with directions, navigation, or trip planning (she will admit this, and it's not an insult). So for us to go on a trip this big by ourselves, that meant that I would be the sole navigator and planner. If it wasn't for my experiences during my study abroad trip, I don't think I would have had the skills or the confidence to be 100% responsible for the trip. Because I studied abroad, and did that extra travelling, I was familiar with navigating around unfamiliar cities, figuring out public transportation, and all the other things that go along with travelling.

Anyway, my plan now is to post each post on the corresponding day. We left for our trip on May 13th, 2016, so today, on May 13th, I'll write about that day. And hopefully I won't forget to do this for the next 2 weeks :) You know how it is.

The idea for this trip began while I was studying abroad. Every time I went to someplace new, I kept thinking that I wished my mom could be there with me, to see these different things that I knew she would love or appreciate. I travel frequently with my mom (although it's usually shorter, long weekend trips to places not too far away), so I immediately decided that I wanted to bring my mom to the places I had been in the UK. However, study abroad really killed me financially. In fact, I'm still paying back the parent loan that my parents got to help me pay for study abroad. And on top of that, I lost my job while I was away, so I came back after study abroad to no job, and a lot of debt. It took awhile for my financial situation to stabilize. Once I had a good job, I started contemplating the idea of the mother/daughter trip to Europe again. I started saving for this trip in the beginning of 2015, with the hope that I'd have enough money to go by 2016.

By September of 2015, I had enough money to buy our plane tickets, and the trip then went from being a hopeful dream, to being reality. Even my mom said she wasn't 100% sure the trip would happen until I actually went and bought the plane tickets.

The flight would be from Boston to Glasgow, with Icelandair. The total cost was $1805.30 for two round trip tickets. After the plane tickets were booked, I started seriously planning the specifics of our trip. We would be gone for a little over two weeks, and go to 7 different cities. After a ton of planning, and counting down the days, it was finally time for us to start our trip.

Packing, the day before.

Friday, May 13th, 2016 (Yes, I actually booked a flight on Friday the 13th without realizing it)

To limit the amount of time we had to take off of work, my mom and I both decided we would work for a few hours on the day our flight would leave. So we both worked until about 1, then went home and finished up a little bit of packing. Then it was time to leave for Boston.

We each had one suitcase, plus our backpacks.

Boston is about a 3 hour drive from our house, and we flew out of Boston because it was significantly cheaper than flying out from our local airport. Like $700 cheaper. My dad drove us to the airport, dropped us off, and then our trip really started. Our flight left Boston at 9:30 pm, and then after a layover in Iceland, we would arrive in Glasgow at around 9 am, local time.

The flight itself was not super fun, because neither of us could sleep, and we would be arriving in Glasgow in the morning with a full day ahead of us. I was impressed with the airline - the plane was nice and had lights that looked like the Northern Lights. They also had the screens in the back of the seat that track your flight and all of the other flight info. It was very nice to be able to track our progress and know exactly where we were.

We had a brief layover in Reykjavik, Iceland, and then we got on our next flight to Glasgow!

One whole year?! Where has the time gone?

2013-01-07T22:57:00.002-05:00

Oh my goodness! It has been more than a year since I returned home from my study abroad adventure. I really can't believe it. Sometimes it feels like it's been 10 years and sometimes it feels like I was just in Glasgow yesterday.

I don't intend to say much because I'm basically still feeling the same as I have since I returned home - I'm extremely grateful for the experience, I'm glad to be home, and I miss Glasgow, my friends, and all of the amazing things I experienced.

I'm hoping to be able to visit Glasgow soon (and hopefully when that happens I'll be able to drag my mom along because I really hate that I have all of these experiences and memories that I can't fully share with her).

My main purpose for doing this blog post is actually a somewhat selfish one. As there have now been two full school semesters since I've returned home, I'm hoping to get a little bit of feedback about my blog and whether or not it's actually helping anyone. I'm a little bit nervous asking this, but I'm hoping that if there's anyone out there reading this who has either studied abroad at all or studied in Glasgow and read my blog, that you can let me know if anything I've written about actually made sense once you got there? Or just helped at all? Or even helped you because you did the opposite of what I recommended, haha. I'm just curious.

So I would really appreciate it if you could let me know!

Tip about Pictures

2012-07-22T20:25:00.002-04:00

These are three pictures that I took in Paris (the first night) that I didn't really realize I had taken until a couple of days ago. Well, I knew I took them, but I overlooked them and didn't know they had actually come out well and looked good.

So I posted this as a friendly traveler's tip: Unless you absolutely have to, don't delete pictures while you're out on a trip until you're able to go home and make sure they're not good. I almost deleted these pictures right after I took them because I thought it was took dark for anything to come out, and I really couldn't tell what they looked like on my screen.

Just my thought for today! :)

Guide to the University of Glasgow

2012-07-16T23:27:00.002-04:00

I stumbled upon this video while searching random videos about Glasgow, and thought it would be worth sharing. I think its a pretty good guide/introduction to the University of Glasgow, and a bit of the surrounding area. Yes, I am kind of cheating by using this. Enjoy!

Sidenote: While you're preparing to go abroad, it can be a good (or at least, just fun) idea to search on youtube for the country or city that you'll be visiting. It can help you get an idea about where you're going and what you can expect, and it's also just exciting to know that you're going to be seeing those places soon. Also, one cool thing is to go on imdb.com and find out what movies have been filmed in the place that you're going, and then watch them, if you can. However, just be aware that even though a movie may be filmed in a certain place, doesn't mean that the film is depicting that place. For example, the movie 'Dear Frankie' had parts of it filmed in Glasgow (great movie, by the way). But the movie itself doesn't take place in the actual city of Glasgow, but in a smaller town kind of nearby-ish.

That's all for now!

Study Abroad Do Over

2012-07-11T23:43:00.001-04:00

My school's study abroad program's Facebook posted a link to an article the other day, and I thought it would be worth sharing. In it, someone who went to Paris for study abroad talks about what they would do over if they had the chance to do it over.

I don't really think there is anything specific that I regret, but I thought it would be an interesting thing to think about and put out here - who knows, maybe it'll help someone

1. Theoretically, I would like to have waited, just to be more financially stable before studying abroad. I had some difficulties with financial aid and didn't realize until about a month or so before I was supposed to be leaving that my study abroad program would not in fact be covered by my regular student loans (which they had basically told me repeatedly that it would), and so I had to rush around and find the money. So my parents took out a parent plus loan, which I wish hadn't been necessary. Also along the same line, I made the stupid mistake of not saving my tax return money that I received in the beginning of 2011, thinking, once again, that my regular student loans were supposed to cover my expenses. (Although even still, I should have saved that money anyway). And so now, I'm in a lot of debt, and probably will be for awhile.

I wish that I had realized that studying abroad costs a lot more than I thought it did.

2. I would have taken more videos. I took tons and tons of pictures, and I'm really glad that I did - I don't regret the pictures that I have. But I have a couple of videos from the various places I went (one from the top of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, one by Big Ben in London, etc), but I just wish I had more. Watching those videos brings me right back to being in those places, and it would have been nice to have more. Even just for normal stuff like walking down a street in London.

3. I would have liked to make more friends who were locals and/or not Americans. And I do not mean that as an insult to my American friends because I am so glad that I met them and am friends with them. But I also wish that I had made more friends who weren't Americans. However, I'm not sure if this is something that is my fault. I don't think that the University did a very good job at encouraging interaction between local students and study abroad students. It might sound stupid but, during the first couple of weeks, you pretty much become friends with the people you'll be friends with the whole time, and all of their orientation activities for us kept us completely seperate from local students. And as much as I enjoyed the fact that we got an extra week to get to know the city before classes started, we were alone in Cairncross House for a week or so before local students moved in.

My last do over is not a true do over, but:

4. I would like to have eaten all sorts of local cuisine, and I really regret the fact that I didn't eat pastries or baguettes in Paris, couldn't have a pint of Guinness in Dublin or have pretty much any of the other traditional foods. I do feel like I missed out on something. I hate the fact that the only food I ate the entire time we were in Paris were McDonald's french fries. However, there was nothing I could do about that (I am on a gluten-free diet), so its not a real do over. I only put this out there because I feel like its something that people should make an effort to do when they go to these different countries. Now I'm not saying that you need to eat the seriously gross sounding stuff, but I think eating traditional food is important.

Thats pretty much it for my do overs. Anything else is either very specific (and I was trying to look at the big picture), or I consider it as part of the study abroad "learning experience". For example, while in Paris, we went to the Louvre on a Friday night, when it had free admission for students. I'm super glad we did that because it saved us money, but we never really got the best view of the outside of the Louvre, because obviously, it was dark. And none of my pictures came out. We had hoped to go back at some point during the day but ran out of time. So I wish I had been able to see that during the day. I also wish that we had gone up the Eiffel Tower during the day, both because of how cold it was at night, and because maybe we would have been able to see something. So those are a couple of very specific things.

And then as far as the "learning experience" ones, there is the whole, missing our flight out of Paris and then wandering around Paris at 2 am, thing. As much as that sucked and I didn't enjoy it and wish it hadn't happened, I do consider it to be a very important experience for me. And I know that might sound stupid but... I was basically in an emergency situation and had to try to figure out what to do for myself, without my parent's help. I hate to sound arrogant or something but I am proud of myself that I was able to not fall down crying, and able to come up with ideas on what to do (even though some of them didn't work). I'm also happy that my brain knows more French than I thought it did, and I was able to communicate with people in an attempt to fix our situation (even though I don't think THAT helped either). So yeah. DISCLAIMER: I am not advising you to get stranded in Paris at 2 am in an attempt to become a stronger person. :)

Ok thats all for me. At the bottom here is the link to the article I was talking about. I think she's got some very good points but while reading the article it was very clear to me that these do over things are something that are really specific to each person, so don't necessarily take any of these (hers or mine) as being rules or advice you should live by... just something to keep in mind.

One last thing... All last summer I was thinking about this really cool thing I was going to do during my whole study abroad trip, where I would take pictures of my feet in all the different places that I went (so some would just be me standing on random streets, and some would clearly be places like the Eiffel Tower or something else recognizable). It's a lot cooler in my head than I'm describing it here, but anywho, I never did it. I don't know if I forgot or if I just thought it would take too much time or be too silly or something. But I really wish I had taken the time to do that. I still think it would be really cool.

http://bostinno.com/channels/if-i-had-a-study-abroad-do-over/

Paris and Language Concerns

2012-07-06T00:39:00.000-04:00

I've heard many a rumor about what its like to be a visitor in Paris, particularly if you're American, and particularly if you are not fluent in French. Prior to actually visiting Paris myself, I believed the majority of these rumors. So I thought I'd do a blog post that addresses concerns that I had about visiting Paris, and the actual experiences - in regards to French. Obviously, things may be different for different people in different areas, but this is what it was like for me.

I had heard that people in Paris could be very tough on those who didn't speak French, or who weren't fluent. I had heard that Americans were not exactly well liked (although that is not really a France-specific concern). When I went to Paris, I went with three others - two did not speak a single word of French and one knew some French. I have studied French for quite a few years but was not confident in my abilities and so I was concerned. The friend who spoke some French and I decided to try and teach our non-French speaking friends some French words that would probably come in handy. My main concern is that I had heard that if you entered a store and didn't say 'Hello, how are you?', that the storeowners may decide to not let you buy from them (or something along those lines). So that was my main concern for my friends. I had also been taught in French class that if you didn't ask for help in a very specific way, that a French person may just ignore you completely.

My experience in Paris was that essentially, it was not necessary to know any French. Most people visiting Paris are in tourist zones, and most people that we encountered in tourist attractions or surrounding shops either 1) spoke English 2) spoke enough English to get by or 3) it just wasn't necessary to speak, as clearly you were buying what you brought up to the counter, and the rest is just money.

During the regular part of our visit (see my post about coming home from Paris if you're confused), I spoke French once. To a woman selling food in a cart thing (?) because my friend had a question about the price and sizing.

I did have to use more French at the end of our trip but it still probably wouldn't have been super necessary. The fact that I could speak French didn't REALLY help us get out of our situation. But who knows. Oh wait, okay, one situation in this part that French helped was in the hotel that we ended up staying at, the guy didn't speak any English. But after a few minutes, he went and found some guy who did speak English so boo, that was no fun.

To sum it up... don't avoid Paris because you don't speak French. A lot of people speak English, and I know that sounds really American or something to expect people in another country to speak English for you, but if they're already speaking it, why not take advantage of it, right?

However, I do recommend learning a couple basic words because that will make your encounters with people much easier. Even if you don't pronounce things right or say the "right" things.

6 Months Home, and a random bit of advice

2012-06-12T21:53:00.001-04:00

It's been 6 months since I came home, which is a little hard to believe. Sometimes it doesn't feel like it could possibly have been that long since I was in Glasgow, and sometimes it almost feels like I was never there - until I remember walking down the street to the grocery store, taking the train to go shopping, or sitting in an 150 year old building to take an exam. It makes me even more grateful that I bought way too many souvenirs. (Okay so maybe I shouldn't have spent so much money but hey, you only live once right?)

As far as adjusting back to "normal" life after study abroad, I still don't think that its really that hard... mostly the same as my last update.

I'm beginning to really miss Glasgow and the whole study abroad experience. Not to say that I didn't miss it before but now its more substantial. I keep wishing that I could live my life here, but then pop back to Glasgow for a little while, before coming home again.

I'm not sure if this is part of a delayed reverse culture shock or something, but I miss small things about life in Glasgow, like being able to shop at Tesco, which is bizarre because shopping at Tesco isn't really anything spectacular except for the fact that it's British.

However, I'm still glad that I chose to only go for one semester, rather than the full year (which some people that I was friends with in Glasgow did/are doing). I think doing a full year may have been too much for me, and I don't just mean financially. I'm really not sure I would have been able to go back to Glasgow after coming home for Christmas break, because it took me awhile to actually begin missing Glasgow. That might just be me, so don't just take my word for it if you're trying to decide whether to do study abroad for one semester or two. Also, keep in mind that according to my school, you can sign up and go for one semester, and then while you're there, potentially choose to stay for the other semester. I suppose it would be better to sign up for one and stay for two than to sign up for two and "leave early".

Anywho! I was randomly thinking about my flight to Glasgow and a couple things about my flight popped into my head that I thought I'd share. I don't know if this should be labeled as advice - perhaps just a perspective to keep in mind.

For my flight to Glasgow, I picked a flight that would leave from Albany (basically my hometown) around 3PM, went to Philadelphia, had a 2 hour layover, and then flew to Glasgow, arriving around 7 in the morning local time.

I chose this flight for a couple of reasons:
1. I wanted to leave at a decent time, so that I wouldn't have to worry about rushing around in the morning, especially when I knew that I'd already be nervous about leaving.
2. This one is fairly obvious, to make sure that there was a decent layover at whichever airport I had to stop at.
3. There are no direct flights from Albany to Glasgow, so I specifically chose a flight where the layover would still be in the US. I didn't want to have to deal with immigrations and all of that at some airport in the UK (or wherever. Iceland?? Eek!) and then still have to fly to Glasgow. Plus, if I went to another airport in the UK, it would more than likely be Heathrow in London, which (I've heard) is usually crazy busy. So who wants to deal with that? I was fortunate enough to fly directly into Glasgow, deal with immigrations, customs, and my luggage there, and then be in my final destination. I highly recommend doing something like this, if possible.

So to end my post, I'm going to share a video that was played at the end of our study abroad orientation last year. Its fairly popular so you may have seen it but I really like it and am sharing it anyway :)

Enjoy!

How much money should you bring with you?

2012-05-12T16:09:00.001-04:00

Now let me start off this post by saying that I went back and checked out a bunch of my other posts, and I'm almost postive that I never really talked about this topic. I know I talked about how I got the money I brought with me, but how much I never really addressed.

And obviously the situation for every person is different, but this is just how I worked it out.

I decided to bring with me $300 worth of pounds (which I think was like 175 pounds). I came up with this amount for a couple of reasons.

One was that when I was leaving for Glasgow, I wasn't 100% convinced that I would actually have a place to stay when I arrived there. As I previously talked about, I had signed up for "pre-term accommodations", and you had to pay a separate fee for housing for the week before the rest of the students (non-study abroad) students arrived. However, there hadn't been a way to pay this fee prior to arriving, which concerned me. So I made sure I brought with me enough money to cover this fee, if they asked for it at Cairncross when I "signed in", and if for whatever reason, they just decided to not give me a room and not let me pay the fee (meaning I would have no where to go), the money would then cover a hotel, at least for the night.

I then added in a little bit for some of the expenses that I was pretty sure I'd have to pay for right away, like a blanket (I knew I'd have to buy one), a cell phone.

I also added in a little bit incase I had to take a taxi from the Glasgow Airport- even though I had signed up for the Welcome Shuttle.

Incase you haven't noticed, I like to be prepared.

So all of those expenses added together, plus a little bit extra (for food, etc) and I wound up coming up with the $300 (175 pounds) total.

I also had on me about $40 for expenses in the Philadelphia Airport. I highly recommend bringing some of your own currency with you. I was able to buy a bottle of water (which I desperately needed), and then the money I had left over, I used on the way back home.

My recommondation is that you 1) bring some of your own currency with you (or at least have access to your debit card or something, even though cash can be more convenient), 2) figure out what type of expenses you may have in your first few days there and try to anticipate how much you will need, 3) add in a little bit extra.

Also, don't bring too much money with you. Say you were going to have $5,000 total available to you for your entire study abroad program. I think its fairly obvious to say that its not safe to do so. Plus I think you may encounter some type of issue at customs but I don't know 100% about that.

If you don't think that you'll have many expenses straight away that you'll definitely need cash for (say you already have a British bank account or already have a debit card that can be used in the UK), just bring a small amount for things like food, taxi rides. Say maybe... 50 pounds. Just a guestimation.

Cultural Differences

2012-05-09T21:14:00.002-04:00

I thought I'd share an example of cultural differences between the UK and the US -

While we were in Glasgow, one of my friends who is from the UK told us this riddle:

'Throw away the outside, eat the inside. Eat the outside, then throw away the inside. What is it?'

She told us this joke at dinner and it wasn't really occuring to any of us right away, so she then gave us a hint as to the answer, which was that it started with the letter 'S'.

   This then completely baffled us. No idea at all what she was talking about.

She finally had to just give us the answer... Sweetcorn.

Sweetcorn.

Thats why we didn't get it - in the US, corn is just corn, but in the UK, its sweetcorn.

Just a small cultural difference, but I thought it was a bit of a funny one

    :)

   (Also, I've just realized that this is my second blog post that is completely devoted to corn... Hmm...)

Review of All-Unied (now currently known as Click 2 Campus)

2012-04-27T21:50:00.004-04:00

So I've been saying for probably close to 6 months that I was going to do a review of All-Unied*, the company that I purchased my housewares and such from.

The way the company works, is that you purchase the items that you want on their website (www.all-unied.com)*, and then you choose the date to have it delivered to your University dorm/hall room. You can either choose a "pack" which contains all the items that they think you'd need... such as the 'All Essentials Pack" which has 63 items (various bedding and kitchen items) and costs 95 pounds, or you can select individual items to make sure you only get what you need.

Then after you pick out the items that you need and want, you select the date for delivery (they don't deliver on Saturdays or Sundays), and tell them what University you are at, and your dorm/hall. If you know your room number you can list that too, but if you don't have a room number, they will just deliver it to the reception desk in your hall and you can either pick it up there or sometimes they will bring it to your room (apparently).

I purchased the Essentials Pack for One, which comes with:

(taken from the website)

2 dinner plates: white porcelain, 27cm
2 side / salad plates: white porcelain, 23cm
2 cereal / soup bowls: white porcelain, 17.5cm
2 tea / coffee mugs: white porcelain
2 dining knives: stainless steel
2 dining forks: stainless steel
2 dining spoons: stainless steel
2 teaspoons: stainless steel
2 tumblers: glass mixer (34cl)
2 tall glasses: glass hi-ball (41.5cl)
small saucepan: stainless steel with glass lid
medium saucepan: stainless steel with glass lid
frying pan: black with non-stick coated interior (24cm)
colander / food strainer: 20cm plastic
5 piece kitchen utensil Set: durable black non-scratch nylon (bagged)
- solid spoon
- slotted spoon
- fish Slice
- potato masher
- ladle
3-piece container set: plastic food containers with sealable lids
chopping board: medium sized, anti-bacteria Nylon
paring Knife
utility Knife
chefs Knife
scissors: general purpose
3-way food grater: stainless steel encased in plastic
can opener: stainless steel
multi peeler: durable plastic & stainless steel
measuring jug: clear plastic (2 pint)
2 drying-up cloths: plain cotton

sleeping / night-time
face cloth. cotton, 500gsm (12in x 12in)
hand towel. cotton, 500gsm (20in x 36in)
bath towel. cotton, 500gsm (27in x 54in)
10 coat hangers: plastic with 360° swivel hooks

While I didn't expect to use every single thing that was in the pack, I thought it would get me what I did need at a fairly good price (as far as I could tell, not knowing what would be available in Glasgow and at what price)

This pack was 75 pounds, plus I also got an oven baking tray and two UK plug adaptors. In total, I paid 83.90, and it includes free delivery.

There were a couple reasons why I decided to actually buy stuff through All-Unied:
1. I wasn't sure what would be available in Glasgow
2. I wasn't sure that the stores that were nearby would have things I would need
3. If I'd be able to get to those stores soon after arriving to be able to get the things that I would need, or if I'd be able to get to these stores at all.
4. I also wasn't sure if the prices would end up more expensive or if I'd have a hard time getting stuff like pots and pans back on public transportation.
5. I liked how simple the whole thing was - I picked out what I wanted and then chose when to have it delivered to my hall. I didn't have to worry about getting this stuff.

So! I arrived in Glasgow on September 4th (a Sunday), so I set the delivery of my order to be on the 5th. On the 5th, the package was at the reception desk by the time I got home around 4 or so. Unfortunately I then had to carry it up to the 4th floor but that was inevitable. They didn't put it in my room (like some of the reviews had said) but 1) it arrived after I had already moved in so I wouldn't have expected them to "break into" my room to leave my box there and 2) I was on the 4th floor.

Everything in the box was packed very well - the box was pretty big but not too horrible to get upstairs to my room.

This is the box before I took anything out - Anything that was somewhat fragile was wrapped in bubble wrap, and everything was in packaging and plastic (for some reason I had been afraid that the products wouldn't be new)

Overall, I think my opinion of this company and this service is good. I didn't wind up using the majority of the products that I got but thats because my kitchen was really really horrible and I tried to avoid using it as much as I could. Add to that that some of the kitchen products I never would have used originally - like the fish slicer and a couple other things.

Most of the things that I did use I probably could have found within a few days of arriving in Glasgow. Not really sure about prices, because I didn't check. Also, probably still would have encountered a bit of difficulty getting this stuff back to Cairncross using public transportation. On my first day in Glasgow, we went to one of the main shopping areas and I wound up buying a duvet and duvet cover (and a couple other things) and I had to get everything back on the train. While it wasn't impossible, it was tiring and a smidge difficult to manage the crowds.

I would say that if you cook and use certain things frequently at home, then there shouldn't be a problem buying them. If you're like me and basically just cook frozen things and boil pasta, then its probably best to just get the things that you would need for that (maaaybe a couple other things but nothing super fancy).

I also just want to point out that one of my items arrived broken (the handle was broken off one of the pots). A friend of mine also had an item arrive broken, and when she contacted the company, they replaced it for her. I'm sure that if I had gotten around to contacting the company about my broken pot handle, they would have replaced it for me, but alas.

Also, another thing that I didn't really love about the products, was that all of the dishes that I received had these stickers on them that were extremely difficult to get off. It took me probably a good 15-20 minutes per item to get the sticker off, and even then, there was still residue from the sticker on the plate.

Two plates - one with the sticker still on, one showing the residue left by the sticker (not sure if you can tell very well).

However, I do think the company is offering a very good service. It was very comforting to know that I already had these products on the way to me in Glasgow and I didn't have to worry about finding them.

The only thing is that All-Unied* doesn't really offer any type of personalization (in terms of saying what color towels, plates, blankets I'd want). That probably doesn't matter to some people, but for me, it does - at least in terms of my bed comforter. I didn't want them to send me some random design or color, so I didn't buy a comforter through them, and had to buy one in Glasgow on Day 1. That's not really "their fault", but still.

I was pleasantly surprised, however, that the two mugs that came in my package, were not just plain white mugs, but somewhat fun :)

**Edit 6/17/13: Whilst googling All-Unied to give the link to someone else, I've discovered that the company has apparently changed their name - so now the company is called Click 2 Campus, and the website is click2campus.com. However, if you google All-Unied, the correct/current link will still come up. I'm assuming that the company is still basically the same, just with a different name, therefore the way the company works (and my review) would still be the same. But, obviously, I can't guarantee that how they did things when I purchased from them almost 2 years ago is the same as it is now.**

Email Address

2012-04-08T20:15:00.000-04:00

This is just a little post to let everyone know that I've created an email address for this blog. It's ashleyadventuring@gmail.com

That way if anyone wants to send me a question but doesn't want to just leave a comment, they can do that. So if you're a visitor to my blog and you have a question, feel free to send me an email and I'd be glad to answer any questions - if I can!

What I Packed

2012-04-03T23:18:00.002-04:00

So after all of the logistics have been taken care of and I officially knew I was going, one of the first things I thought about was... 'What am I gonna bring with me... what am I actually going to need' (Who am I kidding, I'd been thinking about that wayyyy before I knew I was actually going). It may not seem like a major thing but planning out what to bring can be, in some ways, just as important as every other study abroad preparation.

When I was trying to figure out what to bring, I did countless google searches, and looked at things ranging from general travel packing lists, college packing lists, to camping packing lists (I still don't understand this one but I think I was desperate). I even tried searching things like "What to pack for 3 months studying abroad in Scotland". And while I found plenty of packing lists, I never found anything that completely helped me. Either they were too vague, not specific enough for me, or said to bring or not bring something but didn't give reasons. So I am going to give my exact packing list (everything that I actually bought with me), and say if I shouldn't have brought something. There are also a few things that I didn't bring and should have.

A bit of advice first: Definitely make a packing list, and do it a few weeks in advance. I edited the list that I made many many times, and because I had time to really think about what I wanted to bring, there weren't TOO many things that I shouldn't have brought. And it also made it really easy when it came time for packing, because all I had to do was find the things on my list (with a few exceptions).

Ok so here is my packing list (I'm literally listing everything that I brought, along with my notes about each thing):

Various little things:

Small address book (important for sending postcards while traveling)
Mechanical Pencils (I like a specific type of mechanical pencil... what can I say, I'm a nerd)
Towel
Hand Towel
Twisty Hair Towel
Washcloths (I think about 10 but I didn't count)
Mesh Shower Tote
Laundry Bag
A reusable grocery bag thing (used this many times for grocery shopping)
Small Mirror
Jewelry Box
Battery powered Alarm Clock (This is extremely important - even if you use your phone for an alarm, there may not be a place near your bed to plug in the charger or something - is just better to bring one.)
Photo Album
Ethernet Cable (some people got them from Reception in our hall but it was so much easier just to have one)
Adapter (Bring one with you, don't try to buy it there. I got mine from Target - adapters for multiple countries for less than $10)
Electronics Chargers (Iphone, Ipod shuffle, Digital Camera, Laptop)
Toiletries (Travel sized shampoo, conditioner and bodywash, Q-tips, Bandaids, Chapstick, Razor, Toothpaste, Toothbrush, Make-Up)
Medicines (Advil, Excedrin, Excedrin PM (small))
Knee support thing (obviously, this is specific to me)
Two small framed photos
Two small knick knacks
Small stuffed elephant
Small stuffed turtle
Three small prints to decorate wall
6 books
Pillow
Oh, and obviously, my laptop, iPhone, Digital Camera, and iPod shuffle

Clothes -
3 pairs of jeans (in addition to the pair I wore there)
1 set of jean shorts
lounge pants
lounge shorts
flannel sleep shirt
lighter sleep shirt
underwear (about 12 pairs), bras (3), socks (I only brought 3 pairs, and I bought some cheap ones there), camis (I wear these everyday, so I brought 5)
6 sweaters - different colors and styles, a couple were thicker
3 button down shirts
7 Long sleeve shirts - once again, various styles, colors
3 short sleeve shirts
UAlbany Hoodie (definitely recommend bringing one if you wear one at home. Don't feel like you'll be made fun of or something)
Thin hoodie
2 Nicer tops
1 Open front cardigan
Black Jacket
Blue jacket (wore)
Green Hooded Jacket
Swimsuit and Cover-up
Shoes (Slippers, Flip flops for shower, 1 pair of flats, 1 pair of boots, wore slip on shoes on plane)
Two small purses
Regular sized purse
Messenger bag (used for classes and traveling)
Laptop sleeve/bag

So there you have it - everything that I brought with me. I know some of it is very specific but I wanted to be clear (and honest) about what I brought with me. Oh, and some of these things went in my carry on, but I just want to say again that everything fit in one 28" bag, with space bags.

Now, here's my list of what I didn't use, didn't need, or shouldn't have brought (sorry if the way this is organized is confusing at all, but the way I had it originally was just way too messy and even more confusing):

Hand Towel (would have been fine without but I still used it a little)

Twisty Hair Towel

Mesh Shower Tote – Tried to use this but it just didn’t work well with the bathroom situation in Cairncross (wasn’t anywhere “clean” to set it, so I had to hang it off of the hook on the back of the door, but then there wasn’t any room for my clothes). However, it packed flat, and if I hadn’t brought it, I may have wanted one.

Toiletries - since I didn't really know where stores would be and how soon I would be able to get to them, I brought enough toiletries to last me a week. While it wound up being unnecessary (I found a grocery store on Day 1), I would still do the same thing again - who knows where stores will be or when you will be able to get there. Also, they can be used if you travel anywhere or near the end of your trip when you're out of shampoo but don't want to buy a big thing of it right before you leave.

Ipod Shuffle – I didn’t use this, but I only brought it because I’ve had problems in the past with my iPhone and I wanted to have a backup for music just in case. They’re so small that it was no big deal to bring it.

Jeans – I brought 4 pairs total, but would have been okay with fewer… 3 or even 2 pairs.

Jean shorts – I never wore these, as it was too cold, even from day one. However, it was good to bring these just in case, and they don’t take up too much room.

Lounge/sleep shorts – Never wore these, but 1) a friend borrowed them on a trip, to save space in her suitcase, and 2) always good to have just in case, and like with the jean shorts, they don’t take up much room.

Two sleep shirts – I never wore these, mostly because I wouldn’t have been comfortable wearing it to go out to the bathroom in the hall. But I definitely overestimated the number of pajamas I would need. In all, I brought 5 things (2 sleep shirts, 2 lounge pants and 1 lounge shorts) – definitely not necessary.

“Nicer” White button down shirt – never wore it, but mainly because I was afraid of the washer ruining it, like it ruined another one of my white shirts. General recommendation – don’t bring white shirts.

“Nicer” tops – I didn’t really wear these much. I think I wore them twice but it was just on days that I felt like dressing up, not because I was going to a formal occasion. Probably still good to have something nicer though, just incase.

Black Jacket – I shouldn’t have brought this. It was intended as a “nicer” light jacket, so it was definitely not something I could wear in the rain, and it took up quite a bit of room.

Green Hooded Jacket – Also shouldn’t have brought this, because I intended it to be my rain jacket but it isn’t waterproof. And once again, took up a lot of room. However, in my defense, this jacket is my rain jacket at home, and I’ve never had issues with it – it’s just that because it rains so often in Scotland it was constantly wet and so it got saturated and soaked through. Still shouldn’t have brought it though. Either invest in a good waterproof jacket before you leave, or plan to buy one as soon as you get there.

Swimsuit and Cover-up – I didn’t use or really need either of these, and when I packed them, I didn’t envision using them, but they didn’t take up much space and they were another one of those “just in case” things. Unless you can easily buy a swimsuit and have it be the right fit for you – bring your bathing suit.

Shoes – Looking back, I shouldn’t have brought the flats, because it wasn’t something I could wear in the rain, and they weren’t good for walking, which are both things that were pretty much constantly happening. But, they didn’t take up too much space, and they would have come in handy if I’d had to go to a formal event. Also, I shouldn’t have brought my boots because they are “suede”. I really really really underestimated exactly how often it rains in Scotland. And suede doesn’t like rain. So I never wore these. And they did take up some space. And there was no real purpose to bringing them other than the fact that I like them. So no suede boots. Even if they’re really cute.

Things I should have brought but didn't:

You may have gotten the point about this by now but - a waterproof jacket! The essential point is, to actually be prepared for the weather you are about to live in. I mean, I knew it rained but I figured that what I had would be fine.

Also, if I could re-do it, I would buy good walking shoes before I left, but only for vanity. Because I got my walking shoes in the UK, which is apparently unaccustomed to my big feet, I could "only" (I say "only" because I only went to one store, who knows what I would have found at other stores) get men's shoes. I would have liked shoes for women. Even if the shoes from Glasgow were only 8 pounds.

Thats it! I can't think of anything else that I didn't have but wanted or needed.

A side note on something I read a lot in packing lists (and hear a lot from study abroad websites, including the one from my school)... they always say to bring gifts from the US (or whatever your home country is), to give to the people in your host country. Personally, I disagree that this is necessary. If you are going to be living in a dorm or on your own in an apartment, I don't think it is necessary to bring gifts. This may be a necessity (of politeness) if you are going to be staying with a host family - but otherwise, I would say don't bother. On the flip side, I guess it would have been cool (?) to give something that I had brought from the US to my friend from Scotland, but only for the novelty of giving her something from the US, not because of politeness or anything. Just my opinion. This always bugs me because I see it everywhere.

Ok thats it! Hopefully this wasn't confusing and that this helps someone (fingers crossed)!

And, if you're currently in the process of applying for study abroad, maybe for fall 2012, good luck! I found out first from my school that they had accepted me, on April 8th, and then from the University of Glasgow, that they had accepted me, in the second or third week of May.

6 Months Ago...

2012-03-15T21:57:00.000-04:00

I had only been in Glasgow for a little over a week!

6 whole months ago! Its crazy to think about.

To me, it still feels like it was only last week that I went to London and Paris and everywhere else - either that or the whole thing was just a dream.

And a year ago, I had just finished submitting my Study Abroad Application, and just beginning the super long (ok so maybe not as long as I thought) waiting process to find out if I was accepted.

If you're in the middle of this process right now - take a breath - try to limit the number of times you check your email ( I know I checked mine probably every minute at one point)

I had my first Taco Mazama craving the other day :( And I had been doing so well. And of course, that unleashed the floodgates because now I'm craving chips from the 78, and all sorts of other "UK" only foods. Darn it!

In honor of my 6 month anniversary of arriving in Glasgow (give or take a few days) - I'm going to post a couple of pics and videos that I'm almost positive never made it onto my blog (forgive me if some are repeats, I started going through my blog to see if I had posted them before but it was just such a long/tiring process that I gave up - yes, I admit it)

So here we go!

(Sidenote: My original intent was to organize these pics by general location - all of the London pics together, etc, but my blog is not cooperating with me, so they are essentially random - apologies! But I will make sure to say what/where each pic is from)

So this is a ... brick, statue... thing? In Glasgow, right near the Glasgow Cathedral and the Necropolis. I just thought it was really pretty, and it has a nice message.

Ok so obviously this picture sucks, which is why it didn't make it onto my blog before, but for whatever reason, I just think it looks really cool. This is from Edinburgh (the second time, right before we went to Paris), when we were on the Ferris Wheel. Its a building that I'm taking a pic of.

From a park in London - I just like how the swan's bum is sticking up (teehee)

In Edinburgh (the first time we went). I overlooked this photo before but when I took a closer look, I just thought it was actually a neat pic. I like the sky, and the building, too.

Incase you can't tell, this is a picture of the changing of the guards in London. I did not actually see this for myself, I just stuck my camera up above everyone's heads and took this pic. You can't even really tell whats going on - overall, its just a really crappy picture, which is why I left it out in my London blog, but I figure, hey, its my only picture of the changing of the guard, might as well include it.

This is from Pollok Country Park, when we went to go see the Highland Cows (go read that blog post if you don't know what those are). "Way Out" is the fancy British way of saying "Exit". Their way is so much better, I think.

This is in Edinburgh - they have a bunch of these things all over. The green elephant that I blogged about the first time I went to Edinburgh is part of this "collection", if I recall correctly.

Once again, in Edinburgh. I just love everything about this picture - the sky (it was such a beautiful day when we went the first time), the angle, the details in the buildings...

This tree was outside of Hampton Court Palace (which is 'outside' of London). This tree reminded me of Dr Seuss!

Ok so this is a pic that is a repeat - its the Admirality Arch in London, and I did include it in my London blog post. I'm including it now only as context for my next picture, which I didn't post about.

I don't know if you can see it, but that lump thing in the middle there, is a nose! Its on the inside of one of the arches of the Admirality Arch (see above). Its apparently been there since 1997 - I guess that there are some political/social reasons but I'm not 100% sure what those are or if I could even start to explain it correctly. Anyway, its kind of cool.

These are part of a display in the Kelvingrove Museum, in Glasgow. I believe the theme here is against Women's Rights. If you click on the pic you should be able to read them all clearly. My "favorite" is the one in the middle on the bottom.

This was taken in the same park as the picture of the swan butt further up (I can never decide exactly what the name of the park is, but we were right in front of Kensington Palace). Anywho! We stopped there to have a bit of lunch, and that place is craaaaawling with birds, so obviously they were attracted to our lunch eating activities. Curiousity on our part and hunger on the birds' part led to the events taking place in the picture.

Tower of London (London, obviously). These are wire (I think?) monkeys. I think they are supposed to be "in honor" of the Tower of London's past as a sort of zoo.

A bench! From the Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow. Its got engravings on it to represent Glasgow, and is just overall neat looking.

That is one funky lookin' cannon - at the Tower of London

At the Kelvingrove Museum, Glasgow - there is a tiny, cute little chair on the railing! So unnecessary but delightful!

A really pretty building and sky in Dublin, Ireland (I'm not sure what exactly the building is, but I believe we were on the Trinity College campus when I took this pic)

An Elephant at the Tower of London - also wire - same as the monkeys, above.

Edinburgh. I posted some of these in my post about Edinburgh but I didn't put them all, and I like this one :)

Edinburgh Castle, (from the first time we went to Edinburgh). I never got a chance to actually go to Edinburgh Castle. So now that I think about it, this might not actually be a pic of Edinburgh Castle.

Also Edinburgh. This is another one of those things like the green elephant and the blue and white patterned Gorilla. I'm not sure why they were there, but I'm glad they were.

Teehee. I included this only because its funny (probably only to me and my family, or people like us). This was in Mallaig, Scotland (that was our destination when we took the Harry Potter train)

This is from one of the rooms in Kensington Palace, London. Its hard to tell, but this is a bunch of toy soldiers all set up like in a battle (and then on the back wall, there is a mirror, so you can see whats going on in the back). Like I said, its hard to tell whats going on, which is why I left it out. But its really cool, so ... yeah.

This is from Stirling Castle. I know I included pictures that were similar to this but I really like this one. To me, it looks like pictures I saw from when my mom and brother sky-dived (sky-doved? went skydiving?) Almost like falling or something.

I took this picture mostly for my mom. No idea what this store sells (but based on the stuff in the window it doesn't look like anything special), but its called Pink. Oh yeah, this is in London.

A Fish & Chips sign in a (duh) Fish & Chips shop in Mallaig, Scotland. Figured I'd include this because its so traditionally British.

This is a little statue thing of kids (don't know what for) in Dublin.

London, of course!

I just really like this pic - its from Dublin, when we were on our way to Christchurch Cathedral (the building on the right is actually the "backside" of the Cathedral). Sayuri, Alissa, and Mikaela.

From Inveraray, Scotland. I don't know why I never included this in my blog post about Inveraray - I think maybe I was still nervous about putting too many pictures in a blog post, haha. Anyway, its become one of my favorite pictures, so I just had to share!

A random view from Stirling Castle. Its not particularly exciting, but I just like it. Plus, look how far away the cars are!

Same thing :)

A funky shaped door in Christchurch Cathedral, Dublin

This is from a little courtyard thing at the Parliament buildings/Big Ben (thats Big Ben on the right). This is not with any special filters, the light is just like that right there. Love that little tree.

Tower Bridge (London) - this is the first time we went there. I posted pics from when we went the next day, cause those pictures came out much better. The pics from when we went at night were generally not good but I'm putting this one up anyway.

These are some of the costumes from the show The Tudors, on display in the crypt (I think they call it that) in Christchurch Cathedral, in Dublin. Apparently some scenes from The Tudors were filmed at Christchurch Cathedral.

A pic from the way to the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge in Northern Ireland. I like this one because you can see the path ahead of us, curving around.

Another one from the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge in Northern Ireland. I'm including this because that land in the distance may or may not be Scotland. As we were leaving, our tour guide (aka, our cab driver that decided to go on the rope bridge with us), said that you can see Scotland from here, but I'm not sure if that bit of land is Scotland or not. So I make no promises (and so thats why I didn't post it the first time).

London at night, from Tower Bridge. And, if you look a little closer, you'll see fireworks :)

I'm only posting this because our cabbie is in it!

Just a funny little thing on the ground at Tower Bridge, London.

Paris - the Place de la Concorde is ahead of us to the left. We were on our way to les Champs-Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe.

Metro sign, in Paris! In the Montmartre neighborhood, on the way to Sacre-Coeur

A cool shot from Inveraray - I use the same excuse as the other Inveraray pic as to why it wasn't included before.

Once again, Inveraray. Just a cool little boat.

Inveraray again - I like that the boat has 'Glasgow' on it.

A neat lookin tree - on the road to Inveraray Castle, from the town of Inveraray.

And now, a couple vids that I'm almost positive were never posted.

From the top of Dunadd (the old hillfort) on our Archeaology fieldtrip.

From Inveraray, Scotland. Right outside Inveraray Castle.

Another one from our first Archaeology field trip. In Kilmartin, Scotland. Not the BEST video but I still thought I'd share.

Also from Kilmartin, Scotland. A little tour outside of the church and cemetery there. I wasn't trying to be creepy or anything (lol) - 1) It just looked really scenic and historical and 2) One of my friends who was in this class was sick and couldn't go on the fieldtrip, so I was trying to make sure I documented enough that she wouldn't miss anything.

Parts of this vid aren't the best, but I really wanted to get a video from London - and this is really the only one I got. Obviously, this is from right near the Parliament buildings and Big Ben.

Another one from London - but its really only just about the birds, lol. Oh yeah, this is the park outside of Kensington Palace.

I took this video in Mallaig, Scotland (after the Harry Potter train ride). Its "generic" because its "just" ocean, but I thought it was still nice.

A quick one from Northern Ireland, from the walk to the Giant's Causeway

Another one from the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland. This one is taken from the very tippy top of a little "Giant's Causeway" mountain thing. Funny little note, one of my friends was at the top of this thing with me, and as I turned around in a circle, she ducked down.

Standing in the same place, at the Giant's Causeway in Northern Ireland.

Another Giant's Causeway one. The place is very video-genic (yes I know thats probably not a word)

I may have posted this video before - I'm not sure. But, I'm on a roll and it goes with the previous theme of videos from Northern Ireland, so voila! Crossing the Carrick-a-Rede rope bridge!

Just a quick video of the view from Dunluce Castle, Northern Ireland.

Not the best video - but its the only one I have of the Eiffel Tower, so onto the blog it goes! I was trying to record the light beam that goes around the Eiffel Tower, so thats why the video is so long- you can just skip to the end to see that...

From the top of the Arc de Triomphe, Paris - I love this! The sky is so pretty, and so is the city... and come on, its Paris!

The next couple videos are from Pitlochry, when we went to see the Highland Games:

There you go! Theres a couple more videos but I'm saving them for a rainy day.

(Thats a lie, I just got sick of the really slow way that blogspot allows videos to be uploaded - but I will share them at some point)

Until then, enjoy!

2 Months Being Home

2012-02-26T17:19:00.000-05:00

Ok so I've been a bad blogger. First, I was going to update after being home for a month but that anniversary came and went so then I was going to update at the 2 month anniversary. I've missed it by a few days but I'm still going to do a post anyway.

So yeah, like I said, I've been home for just over 2 months, which I find fairly ridiculous. It doesn't even seem possible that I haven't been in Glasgow for 2 months. Its not that theres anything wrong with being home, it just doesn't feel like its been that long since I came back.

Classes started a little over a month ago, so thats probably part of the reason that the time has gone by so quickly. And I must say - I am SO thankful to be back at UAlbany. Never really thought I'd say that, especially compared to the University of Glasgow, but its just that I am so much better suited [adapted?] to the US Education system. I feel much more capable of handling what is required of me here than I ever did at the University of Glasgow. This is clearly just a result of conditioning and only being exposed to US Education (meaning, that there is nothing wrong with the education system in the UK or the University of Glasgow, its just not something I'm used to and so I struggled with it). If you're considering study abroad and the difference in education scares you... its ok to be nervous about the education system in the country you're going to go to, but don't let it stop you from going abroad, and don't just treat it like it doesn't matter. My personal opinion is that if you try [fairly] hard (it can be hard to do your absolute best in the environment you're in abroad), then whatever happens, happens. As for my grades from last semester, I think I did ok in University of Glasgow standards, and I think that my grades will translate into two B's and a B- at the University at Albany. I don't have my grades from UAlbany yet, so its not official.

As for adjusting back to non-academic life... I haven't really had much of a problem. But then again I didn't really have a hard time adjusting to life in the UK. I've heard that this can be because the cultures of the UK and the US are very similar, so there isn't as much chance for culture shock. My only real
"problem" is that while I was abroad, I lost my job. I left with the understanding that I would more than likely have my job when I returned so it was both a surprise and not a surprise. I knew there was a chance I could lose it when I left, and I had already decided that I would rather go abroad and lose my job than not do it at all. But still, the lack of income was a bit of a shock and I've had to deal with that.

One thing that is mentioned a lot in literature about studying abroad - school issued stuff, and study abroad books - is they talk about how when you come home, it can be difficult to deal with the people in your life because you are "such a different person now" and your family and friends just can't deal with that. I just have to say that I haven't encountered this at all, and I don't think its because studying abroad didn't change me. I don't feel like a completely different person. But there are things I notice about myself, sometimes multiple times a day, that are directly related to my study abroad experiences. And personally, I would rather have small "improvements" than to be just a completely different person. Let me see if I can think of a couple different examples...

- I have an easier time "dealing" with being concerned about what people think of me. This is something I've struggled with being concerned about for probably my whole life. Like not wearing certain clothes or doing certain things because I was worried of what people would think of me. And now I find myself being a lot braver about stuff like that, and not being as bothered that someone might judge me. I have no idea what exactly made me change my opinion on this but I know it has something to do with being abroad.

- I've also been trying to appreciate my local area more. Because, after all, places like Glasgow, London, Paris, Dublin, Derry, Inveraray, Fort William - those are all people's home towns, and I could be missing out on really interesting things in my own hometown because I've been taking it for granted. So this summer (most things aren't open until spring/summer), I'm intending to find local historical sites and other places like that and go visit them.

- I also have more confidence in my own abilities, particularly in my ability to navigate and get around. In fact, this summer, I will be going to Boston with my mom, and I'm not nervous about getting around and finding things at all. (This is also connects with appreciating the local area, because there are plenty of places right in the US that are worth visiting).

Ok thats all I can think of right now, as far as examples go, but I thought it might be important to some people to see an actual (and specific) example of what studying abroad might do for you. Instead of just what is usually written - "gain confidence", and everything like that. Too generic.

Hmm... what else was I going to mention...

Oh! I was going to say that there are a couple of things that I have, I guess you could say, disliked since being back. (This is really odd phrasing but I think you'll understand once I'm done)

I find it weird that I've been to all of these places (Paris, London, Glasgow), and yet people that I meet, or at school, don't know it. I feel oddly compelled to tell people. And definitely not in a braggy kind of way. I can't even fully explain it. But it just feels weird to me that I had such an amazing few months and yet no one really knows (I'm not counting family and friends).

Somewhat related is just the sadness that all of the people that I was with in Glasgow (and the friends that I traveled with to various places) are all in different places now. But thats to be expected.

Well, I'm done for now. Not much more that I can think of about transitioning back after studying abroad.

Oh, and I'm doing surprising well without Taco Mazama. Thankfully.

My next blog post I'm going to post some pictures that either never got posted before, or just ones that I really love and want to share. Kind of like, a best of the best from study abroad.

Until then!

A little bit about Cairncross House

2012-01-29T21:33:00.000-05:00

This post is all about Cairncross House. Now, there's not a super lot to tell, but most of its stuff that I wanted to know about before leaving so I thought I'd include it.

Obviously, the University of Glasgow Residential Services has a lot of the basic information about Cairncross, like how many students live there, how many rooms, what amenities the rooms have. But some of the info just isn't there. Or they pretend its there but when you click on the link it "can't be found" (which isn't very helpful at all).

This is the general Univeristy of Glasgow accomodations website: http://www.gla.ac.uk/undergraduate/accommodation/

And this website is just for Cairncross House:
http://www.gla.ac.uk/undergraduate/accommodation/residenceprofiles/cairncrosshouse/

Some of the basics about Cairncross House (I'll try not to repeat anything thats on the U of G website):

There are four floors, and as far as I can tell, the top floor (the 3rd floor if you're from the UK or the 4th floor if you're American), is a girls only floor. At least, there is always a girls only floor - I have no actual guarantee that it's always the top floor.

To get into Cairncross, you use a key fob on a pad near the door, and that lets you in. Then you're in a little "reception" area I guess you could call it, and the desk for Reception/Security is right in front of you. If you go to the left, there are the doors for the Common Room, which is pretty big. It has a bunch of couches, some chairs, a TV, ping pong table, and two vending machines (one for sodas and one for snacks). This is also where mailboxes are, and you get a mailbox based on your last name, and share it with everyone else with the same last initial. You all get a little key to go with your key fob. Back in the reception area, if you go straight ahead from the door, that's how you get to all the rooms.

Here's a video that I took going from outside Cairncross House to my room.

It appears that there are about 12-15 people assigned to each kitchen (which in my opinion, is way too many people). It works by your room number. There's a sign on each kitchen's door that says which rooms the kitchen is for. Bathrooms are not assigned (this kind of confused me on my first day), and I think there are two full bathrooms for maybe 15 - 20 rooms (some of which are most likely twin rooms), and then there's also a room with just a shower.

Cairncross is NOT organized apartment-style. I couldn't quite tell this when I was looking into Cairncross. It is just long hallways, with rooms, kitchens and bathrooms off of it.

There are two laundry rooms in the building, one on the 1st floor, and one on the 4th floor. Two washers and two dryers per room. A friend sent me this website at one point during the semester, and it was very useful to me to figuring out when a washer or dryer was available.

http://www.circuitgroup.com/viewsanctuaryglasgow

As for the rooms themselves, they're in pretty good condition. I've never seen dorm rooms (in person) in the US, so I can't say if they're better or worse than in the US. One perk of Cairncross is that the rooms all have their own sinks. This was one of those things that I didn't think was a big deal but it was VERY nice to have. It would have been fairly miserable without that.

The link for the floorplan for a large single room doesn't work on the Glasgow website, so I drew one up based on my room. I am no artist, so its not fantastic. And it doesn't quite show how big the room is, but at least it shows what was in it, and the placement. I saw a couple of other rooms that were large singles and they all had different furniture placement, but it was fairly similar.

And to end, here are some pictures of Cairncross that my friend Linda took for me (I never got a chance to take them while I was there).

A generic bathroom at Cairncross (although usually they have showers, not tubs)

And then these pictures of my kitchen (yes, these are actual pictures of the kitchen that was assigned to me), I'm posting partially to show the "typical" setup of a Cairncross kitchen, and partially to shame the people I shared the kitchen with by showing what a pigsty!

Two stoves/ovens per kitchen

Tons of cabinets (I kept my food in my room)

Two fridges per kitchen, but the fridge is only the top half of each one. There isn't a lot of space... One microwave, one toaster

Trash is supposed to be taken out by the people that use the kitchen, and there is a kitchen rota to say who is responsible for it each week.

Two tables, with four chairs at each table

Lockers in the kitchen, I guess for storing food or something? I'm not 100% sure - I never used them. But you need to bring your own lock

So thats pretty much everything I can think of that would be of use to know - I hope it helps somebody! If I think of anything else about life at Cairncross, I'll add it in.

And oh, by the way, every Thursday around 2/2:30, they test the fire alarm bell. It ALWAYS rang just long enough for me to start to get up to evacuate.

Glasgow - Local Stores

2012-01-15T22:24:00.000-05:00

One thing that had me slightly worried before going to Glasgow, was trying to figure out how to get certain items that I would need right away (most particularly, a blanket for my bed). I tried to look into it before I went there but it was very difficult to look at a map and try to figure out if a place was close or if it just looked close. Or if that big line was a road I could walk on or a big uncrossable highway. So this blog post is intended to hopefully help out anybody who may be wondering about the same things (although I know that I overthink things a lot, and this could be an issue that nobody but me ever thinks about!)

First things first... a slight disclaimer that this comes from the point of view of someone who lived at Cairncross House, and I'm sure that some of this would be irrelevant depending on how far away from Cairncross you lived.

In general, I found the best place to shop for generic household goods is the shopping area on Argyle St by Glasgow Central Station. In my experience, the best way to get there is to take the local train. Its somewhat possible to walk there but its just much better to take the train (I think its a 30 min or so walk). To take the train from the Exhibition Centre station (nearest to Cairncross) its £1.30 for a single (one way) ticket and £1.40 for a return (round trip) ticket.

To get to Exhibition Centre is fairly easy - although it does take a few minutes. Here's a handy dandy map to show you how!

Then once you get to Glasgow Central, I can never remember if its a left or a right, but go in the direction that has a McDonald's (no, not trying to be a stereotypical American but its pretty much right there so its a good landmark). Once there, right on that main street there is a ton of shopping.

Personally, I shopped a lot at Primark, TK Maxx, Priceless Shoes, Poundland, Waterstone's and a couple of other places that aren't occuring to me right now.

Primark I found to be somewhat similar to Sears (at least in terms of price and the types of things you're going there to get). You can get cheap clothes there - although the majority were not my style. Also there are a lot of housewares. I got my duvet and duvet cover there (for less than £20 total).

Also nearby is TK Maxx which is the UK version of TJ Maxx (tough to guess that one, right?). Only its a lot better than any of the TJ Maxx's I've ever been in. Obviously lots of discounted clothes and other housewares and things like that.

Priceless Shoes is ... whew, hard to describe. Cause they don't have a ton, and what they do have isn't the highest of fashion, as far as I could tell. But I'm not really the one to ask about their women's shoes because both times that I shopped there I was forced to choose from the men's section! Which basically consisted of sneakers. Anyway, I found that they were a good place to get cheap shoes, as each of the pair of sneakers I bought cost £10 or less.

Poundland. Gosh I could write a book about my love of Poundland. If you hadn't guessed from the name, it is a store where everything is £1. And when they say that, they mean it. Its not like in the US at the majority of "dollar stores", where stuff can still be $3, $5 or more. I thought the quality of the products there was somewhat higher, too. Definitely a great store to check out, especially when you're a student, and especially especially when you're a study abroad student (and you're having to buy housewares and other things that most likely won't be able to travel back home with you).

Waterstone's is just a UK bookstore chain. Not much to really go into there because its just like any Barnes and Noble, but its right there on that same street. Its also where I got my copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

Argyle St is also the location of St Enoch Centre, which has a ton more shopping (including a ridiculously awesome toy store, and a Ness store).

Buchanan St (a famous shopping street) is located off of Argyle St, too, but for whatever reason, I never really shopped there.

As for more local (to Cairncross House) shopping, the most important place is going to be the Tesco Express on Argyle St. Its not very far from Cairncross House and is one of the best (read: most convenient) places to get food from. And not far from there is one of my favorite little stores, Roots & Fruits. Its one of those Organics/Whole Foods stores, but it also has, clearly, fruits and veggies. And you can buy them individually instead of having to buy a big bag of apples or potatos. Also has a little gluten free section, which was delightful for me.

Roots & Fruits (you come across this first walking down Argyle St, away from Cairncross)

This is one of the perks of living at Cairncross House - the 78. Its literally right next door to Cairncross House (as you'll see in the second picture), and its a vegan Bar & Restaurant. While I don't follow a vegan diet, it was very convenient to go there for food (either to eat in or for take away). Order the chips! Super yummy.

Another good shopping area is on the other side of campus, on Byers Road. I didn't do a TON of shopping there (and barely got any pictures of places so I'm not going to go into too much detail). But on Byers Road is a place to get school supplies, a couple more supermarkets (Waitrose, which has a nice gluten free section, and Iceland, which I never went to). Also a super cute store called Papyrus which has a bunch of stuff that you never knew you needed until you walked in there. You'll spend the majority of your time there saying "Oh my God! Thats SO cute!"

And now, my absolute favorite thing located on Byers Road... is Taco Mazama. Mmmm... tacos. This place has such delicious tacos (and I'm sure the other stuff is good too but the tacos are the only things that are gluten free)

So yummy. Seriously, try these. I mean it.

Thats all for now - hope this helps someone!

My Journey Home

2012-01-10T01:39:00.001-05:00

So! It just occurred to me that although I had said that I was home and had talked about how I was going to get home prior to leaving, that I never actually went over my trip home and the details of it. Oopsie! So I just thought I'd do a little post about that because, like some of my other trips, the journey home was quite an adventure!! (And just for the record, I think 'adventure' can be in either a negative or positive way)

As I'm sure I mentioned before, the last few days in Glasgow were a bit ... crazy, in a way. Sometimes I was so bored that I didn't know what to do with myself, and sometimes I was so busy that I wished I could pause time just to be able to get everything done.

The day before I left, I had finally managed to get all my bags packed, with the unfortunate bonus of having to pay for one of my bags to be overweight. Joyful! Spent a while Skyping with my mom, trying to pack a carry on bag (ended up with two :-\), and then at 3 am on the 20th, I started bringing my bags down (I wanted to give myself plenty of time incase it was ridiculously hard). Speaking of which, whew, that was really really tough. Glad I don't have to do that again. Heavy bags are heavy. But I eventually got all of my stuff downstairs and into the common room. Then sadly, I discovered that there was no possible way to include everything that I had in either my luggage or my carry on, so I wound up donating a few more things (that I didn't want to, like my Christmas Crackers). Finally, a little before 5 am, my taxi pulled up outside of Cairncross House.

This is where the fun started.

The first sort of "issue" was that I had been kind of hoping (expecting?) that my cab driver would be able to help me get my bags into the cab. Not really sure why I thought this but, its true. And unfortunately, my cab driver was both not capable of getting my bags into the cab, and insistent on doing it. Which leads to me awkwardly standing nearby and trying to help this guy lift my luggage in. This was also an issue when we finally got to the airport and he tried to lift the luggage out. And also when, after getting me a luggage cart, he tried to lift the luggage onto it. (Each time I had to basically force my way past him and get the bags). I gave him a tip - I don't care about those stupid British no tipping laws.

The second issue is that I'm still not certain whether or not he was drunk. Either that or he was extremely tired. But I was definitely concerned. Made it there in one piece though, hurray!

Got to the airport around 5:15 or so, but unfortunately the check in desk for my flight was open yet. And for whatever weird reason, there is no real area to wait in the airport prior to check in. So I waited with my trolley on the floor for an hour. Then the real trouble began.

When checking in for the flight, my luggage was weighed, and the fact that the one bag was overweight was acknowledged, blah blah blah. But then she asks the question I'd been afraid of hearing... how much hand luggage did I have? And unfortunately for me, although I had "one carry on and one personal item", which was allowed, it appeared that I had close to 40 pounds of it. Oopsie again. Not allowed. So my only choices at this point was to either pay 200 Euros (or pounds, I'm not sure) for a 3rd bag (in addition to the 75 for the second bag and 75 for overweight), or try to fit everything extra into my other suitcase that wasn't overweight, and pay 75 for the second bag, 75 for the first one being overweight and 75 for the second one being overweight. So I went through my luggage on the floor of the airport and made all/most of the second carry on fit into the other suitcase. Had to throw out some things, however, including my green messenger bag that was my carryon on the way to Glasgow. Not thrilled about that, but... what could I do. So I go back (because my luggage has to be weighed again). They weigh it, tag it, take it, and send me on my way to pay for the luggage (a different desk)

Then the next problem comes up. I only had enough money (both on my emergency credit card, and in my bank account), to cover the original plan of the fee for a second bag and the overweight fee. Not two overweight fees. I try to use my credit card just incase it will go through anyway (you never know). But it doesn't. Starting to panic because the only other thing I have is my debit card, and I don't really WANT that to go through because if it does, its going to cause SOO much in overdraft fees. "Fortunately" it doesn't go through. But now I'm stuck. Its around 7 am, my flight is at 8:15, they have my bags, and I have no way of paying for them.

My only option (and it literally takes me about 45 seconds to come to this decision), is to call my parents internationally, on my UK cellphone with less than a pound of credit, at 2 in the morning their time. Yay. (Sorry again, Mom and Dad). They end up giving a credit card number over the phone, thank God. And I get to go on my way. I've basically lost all sense of time at this point (what with the shaking and crying and all of that), that I've convinced myself that I'm going to miss my flight. But I go through security with no issues, walk the 800 miles to my gate, and sit numbly for the 25 minutes before my flight boarded. Guess I wasn't running late after all.

Flight goes well, land in Amsterdam. Now, I have been looking forward to going to the Amsterdam airport for ... months? Because one of the places that I wanted to travel to but didn't get the chance was Amsterdam. And I wasn't going to miss out on an opportunity to get some neat souvenirs - even if I didn't technically visit Amsterdam. So I stop in one of the little souvenir shops, finally end up with a tiny little pair of ceramic shoes (I obviously didn't want to use my credit card after the fiasco with my luggage) that was around 3 Euros. But nope, the guy in the store wouldn't allow me to buy it without my boarding pass! Which I didn't have because it was a different airline than what you could check in for in Glasgow. And by the time I finally found where to check in and had gotten my boarding pass, I was 800 miles away from all of the little stores (including one that apparently sold all elephant things!!!). So I didn't get a single thing from Amsterdam!

Fortunately the rest of my trip went fairly smooth, minus just the normal airport frustrations, like waiting in line at Immigrations and going through Customs and such. But I got through that part and met up with my parents (yay!) and it was sooo nice to finally be home (even if I wasn't home, I was just in Philadelphia).

I don't know what it is about trying to get home from someplace, but it apparently has to be difficult. Would still do it all over again, though.

Sorry for the long post but I have an inability to leave details out!

Oh and if anyone has been to the Elephant Store in the Amsterdam Airport, could you please tell me that nothing is for sale or that each one costs a million dollars or something - to make me feel better?

Group Pics and Whats to Come!

2011-12-30T11:30:00.001-05:00

Ok so now that I've been back for awhile now (almost 10 full days! crazy!), I thought I'd try to get back into doing some of those blog posts I talked about doing. So coming up soon will be a blog post about some of the stores that I shopped at while in Glasgow (and pictures of them, if I could get it). Also in that post will be a little bit of "where to get what", to make coming to Glasgow a little bit easier.

Then after that, I'm finally going to go through my packing list and let you know what I needed, what I didn't need, and what I wish I would have brought.

As for today, I'm just going to post some pictures from this semester that I've never really posted before. These are all pictures of me and my friends during our various adventures. So here we go!

Because I'm feeling somewhat lazy and these pictures aren't organized in any particular way, I'm just going to post them in a random order (not chronologically or anything). Sorry! :)

Arc de Triomphe! (Either going up or down the stairs - and I am resting in a little alcove/step, not going to the bathroom, Mom). Me, Mikaela, Erica

Arc de Triomphe. I am the only one who knew the picture was being taken and actually didn't hide. Reason enough for it being included here, I think. Me, Mikaela, and Erica (at least, the sides of their heads)

Our "Going Away" dinner at Bella Italia (missing Rahela, though). I'm thinking it was Dec 13th. Me, Linda, Alissa, Mikaela, and Erica

Same dinner. Me, Linda, and Alissa

Linda and I. Me and Linda? Linda and Me?

My surprise birthday party! Wheee! Mikaela, Erica, Rahela, Me, Alissa and Linda

The Brazen Head. I'm sure you've seen this one before! The Oldest Pub in Dublin!! Me, Mikaela and Sayuri.

Haha a bit of a story behind this one. Hope you read my Getting Home from Paris post. So this picture was taken in Charles de Gaulle airport (before we could check in for our flight and all of that). By this point we had already rebooked our flights, had our nightmarish night in Paris, had to pay for a new hotel, pooled our money to pay for metro tickets to CdG and everyone was starving and dehydrated. So we pooled our remaining Euros and found out we had just enough for a large order of fries and two bottles of water. Hence, the picture above. Yay, sharing!

Christmas Party!! Like our crowns from our Christmas Crackers? Sadly, I don't know the name of the girl on the very left, she's Erica's friend (Natalie? Am I making that up?), then Erica, Rahela, Alissa and Me.

Once again, Christmas Party (I think I missed the memo on this being a "weird face" picture, lol) Me and Alissa

All sorts of people at the Christmas party, not going to list all of the names because theres a couple people that I'm not certain I can remember their names (just met them that night). But it was a ton of fun!

More Christmas party! Me, Mikaela, and Lauren

Lunch in Dublin (and a yummy yummy Caesar salad) Sayuri and I.

Getting ready to go see Highland Cows!! So excited!!! Me, Sayuri and Mikaela

On the Thames River Cruise in London! Yay London! Mikaela and I

Some random park with a funky slide in Derry, N. Ireland. In case you can't tell, there are actually people in this picture. On the left slide is Erica, Mikaela is in the middle, and I'm on the right. I've been told that when zoomed in, we actually still look good! (Aka, not just a good picture because you can't see our faces, lol)

This is a Rota Rock - a super fun park toy thing! These pictures don't even show how fun it is. Oh, this is also in Derry, N. Ireland - why, yes, we did get a lot accomplished there!

More Rota Rock

After falling off the Rota Rock (from the standing position). Yes, there is laughter here...

After successfully crossing the Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge in Derry! See, we did stuff!! Paid 1 Euro for these certificates (But, they write your name on it, faaaancy) Me, and Mikaela

On the way to see the Giant's Causeway. Mikaela and I

A fairly unsuccessful attempt to get my picture in front of prettyness in Ireland. Did you know that Ireland is windy? Yeah...

A short doorway! (Or a tall person? I still haven't decided for sure)

Eiffel Tower!

Botanic Gardens, in Glasgow, from way back in the beginning of September. See, there IS nice weather in Glasgow!

Mikaela and I from Linda's birthday party

Linda's birthday party again (notice the extremely large birthday badge?) Me, Alissa, Erica, Rahela and Linda

Take 2 - Linda's Bday again: Me, Alissa, Erica, Rahela, and Mikaela

London! In the Tower of London - Me, Mikaela, and Erica

London, I believe where we are is considered to be Kensington Gardens (Thats Kensington Palace behind us)

London, Ice Bar (Have to be honest, not my favorite place - it was super cold, and for whatever reason I couldn't get my hood to cover my head) Me and Erica in the back, and then Mikaela and Rahela in the front.

Lunch in London - Me and Rahela

London, outside some fancy arcade/shopping centre - Me, Erica and Mikaela

London, again. Near the Wellington Arch, trying to quickly eat food before our walking tour started.

Hiding in the closet of our hotel room in London. Our hotel room was only supposed to have two people in it, so Mikaela and Erica checked in and then we (Rahela and I) came up seperately. But then there was an issue with not having enough beds/towels (funny seeing as there were only "two" people in the room and there was a king size bed and two towels) - so they brought up an extra bed and more towels, but Rahela and I were already in the room. So first we hid in the bathroom (when they brought up the bed), but then we were afraid they'd want to put the towels IN the bathroom for us, so we had to hide in the closet. This is us after the "danger" was over.

The Monument, London. Not my most favorite vaguely named Monument (a LOT of stairs... a LOT) Great views though.

Once again, the Monument. Mikaela, Rahela, Erica, and I. I didn't know this picture was about to be taken until just a few seconds before.

Somewhere in Paris. Honestly can't remember where. Erica, Me, and Mikaela

Pollok Country Park, Glasgow - trying to find out where to go to see the Highland Cows! Me, Sayuri, and Alissa

First real-ish adventure in Scotland - our trip to Pitlochry! Erica, Rahela, Mikaela, Me, Alissa. This was before I knew that my green jacket thing that I'm wearing there is not waterproof. I knew it a couple of hours later.

Sacre-Coeur, in Paris. Its cold. Erica, Me, Mikaela

Snow in Glasgow! Outside Cairncross House, after our Christmas party. (Its about Midnight on December 4th/5th) Rahela, Me, Linda, Liz

Same night

Again

Look how excited we are for snow! Mikaela, Me, Linda, and Rahela

Rahela and I

One of our first outings to the 78, near the beginning of the semester. One of the only times we actually ate there instead of getting it for take away. Me, Linda, Erica, Alissa

Other side of our table :) Rahela, Mikaela, Liz

On Tower Bridge, in London. Me, Mikaela, and Erica

Ok so that is for now, I hope you enjoyed and didn't get sick of all the times I had to type out who was in the pictures (half of why I didn't post them usually) Hope everyone had a good holiday and has a good New Year!

I'm home!

2011-12-21T00:08:00.001-05:00

I'm finally home! And I mean it, all the way back to my house, in my own room, and my own bed. Its a great feeling - especially after the crazy day I had. I'll do a post about that later because its a long and crazy story and its really late. I just wanted to do a quick post saying that I'm home.

I also wanted to do this post because I'm trying to be honest about the study abroad experience, and I found out something today when I got home. One of my cats passed away while I was gone, about 3 weeks ago. She had cancer (we didn't know this until the day that she passed away), she was only 8 years old. Obviously my parents didn't tell me while I was away because that would be horrible news to hear while I'm essentially alone, half a world away. And I'm very thankful that they decided not to tell me, as hard as it was for them. But I felt it was my "duty", I guess you could say, to talk about all the things that could happen during study abroad, and how to deal with them. I'll admit that right now, I have no idea how to deal with this. It was so unexpected, and I'm seriously upset right now. Hopefully in the coming days I'll be able to better talk about this, in terms of "what to do" and "how to deal", but as of right now, I just can't believe she's actually gone - and I find myself crying everytime I think of something else that reminds me of her. So, not to go off topic with the picture posting, but I'm going to post a couple of my photos of her.

Phoebe:

Leaving Troubles

2011-12-19T07:43:00.000-05:00

I leave Glasgow tomorrow. Technically, in my head, tonight - because my taxi comes at 5 and I decided it would be better for my well being to just stay up all night. These last few days have been very interesting. In a way, it might be better because it makes me want to be home even more (not that I was lacking in that department). I'm at the point where as nice as Glasgow is, and as much as I will miss the UK, I am just over it, and desperately just want to be home.

People have been leaving at various points over the last few days, which is good because its spread out and its not one big sobfest as everyone leaves at once, but its bad because its harder to pinpoint when someone is leaving and make sure that you say goodbye to them. Still not sure why yet, but I never got a chance to say goodbye to one of my friends.

So now its Monday morning, and the last of my friends just left. And although there are some people here, I feel super alone. Not necessarily lonely, just like, there is no one here to help me with my bags or to vent to in person if things are going wrong. I know that sounds dramatic, its just a weird feeling. Its almost worse than my first day here when I didn't really know anyone and wasn't sure what to do.

Anyway, I've had a couple issues over the last few days.

First, I tried packing my bags but discovered that I wasn't anywhere close to having everything fit. I tried repacking my bags probably 3 times and it just wasn't working (I don't know if I mentioned this ever, but I purchased a second suitcase). So I wound up having to a) take out my old carry on to use as a "laptop case" to fit a few more things in and b) packing my one bag overweight and just being prepared to pay the overweight fee. Which wasn't as easy as it sounds, I am literally broke right now.

And then today, I went to go check in for my flight with KLM, and for whatever reason, it refuses to let me. I go through the whole process and put my info in, and then it tells me that I can't check in online because I have some internet check in restriction, and I have to do it in the airport. Which isn't a huge deal except for the fact that when you check in online, you get a 20% discount on your baggage fees, which obviously is a big deal for me. So still haven't figured out that one, but it appears the only thing I can do is just check in at the airport and hope they'll give me the 20% discount. I'm just so frustrated - all I want to do is be home and in addition to having to wait until tomorrow, theres all these issues that keep popping up. I know it sounds silly to be mad/frustrated over these things, but I am just so done that everything seems like the end of the world.

For my last day in Glasgow, I'm going to go to Tesco to get a last minute food item (shh, its a secret), and a drink for my dinner. Accompanied by a lot of picture taking of course. Then I'm going to walk to campus (more picture taking) and try to pick up my politics paper, which I forgot to pick up. Then, the most exciting part of my day, is that I'm having tacos from Taco Mazama as my last Scotland meal. Yes, I know, its not haggis or fish & chips or anything else even remotely Scottish but a) these are some really good tacos and b) I can't eat that other stuff :-\. I can't wait to have these tacos!! I don't know if I've ever mentioned Taco Mazama before - I don't know why I wouldn't have but, you never know. I'll take more pictures. Then its back to my room to chow down on tacos and get ready to leave.

My itinerary is something like:
Taxi at 5 to Glasgow Airport (maybe takes like 30 minutes)
Flight to Amsterdam at 8:15 (yes I know I'm getting there early but after Paris can you blame me?)
Arrive in Amsterdam at like 10ish I think, then 2 hour layover
Flight to Philadelphia at 1ish
Arrive in Philadelphia at 3:30 or so (EST)
Back home in NY a few hours later!

Can't wait to be back home! Will miss Glasgow though, for sure.

Off to get tacos!

Winter at the University of Glasgow

2011-12-17T09:36:00.001-05:00

Just thought I'd do a little post with some pictures I've taken lately - my blog has been lacking in pictures lately. Hope you enjoy!

The University on my way to my last final

Inside the courtyard!

Love the tower and buildings with the snow in the courtyard

Love this shot! View of the University from a bridge (think its the Kelvin Bridge but I could be making that up). The Kelvingrove Museum is to my left up the road a smidge.

Kelvingrove Museum (we just went here today)

Dinosaur footprint! :D

A very sad statue. Its a father and daughter, and the mother has passed away :(

Cows! This painting looked sooo pretty up close

This painting was really funny. Its about a woman with two suitors, and neither of them are happy about it, but she's tickled pink!

Also, a little treat from the Kelvingrove Museum:

(Side note: Sadly, I had no idea that 15 seconds after I stopped doing this video, the organist finished the song with a grand finale, so I missed out on that on the video...)

Well thats all from the Kelvingrove Museum. I'm going to continue working on my packing - you wouldn't think I would have accumulated all of this "extra" stuff in only a couple of months, and yet I have. So much to do! Leaving in a couple of days!! Can't wait to be home with my family (although I will miss Glasgow).

Oh, I am currently making a list of the things that I will miss about Glasgow/UK and I will post that soon - maybe after I am finished packing. Until then! :)

How to decide when to book your flight home...

2011-12-15T09:53:00.000-05:00

My flight home is on Tuesday, Dec 20th (8:15). Picking this date was a somewhat random thing for me, as I had no idea how to even begin to decide which day to fly home. Especially as I was booking both of my flights at the same time, in August. So how do you decide, months before, which day would be the best day to fly home.

I still don't know 100%, but I will share a couple of things that I've learned, particularly dealing with finals, the end of the semester, and the knowledge that I have about when everyone else is leaving.

Our last day of finals is tomorrow, Friday the 16th. That date is given to us as the "you must be here for at least that long" day, and you are allowed to fly out any day after that. I picked the 20th for a couple of reasons. I figured that with the possibility of having a final on the 16th (which I do, by chance), there a) wouldn't be a lot of time to prepare for leaving before the final, and b) there would probably be a little bit of time for saying good bye to people that I'd met.

So my original fly back date was going to be Monday (the 19th), but I decided to push it back one more day, just incase I had things that would need to be done that could only be done on a weekday (such as possibly closing a bank account, or something).

Right now, as far as I can tell, this won't be necessary. I don't seem to have anything that will need to be done on a weekday. But how do you know beforehand, right?

It seems to me, based on when everyone else is leaving, that the best day to leave would either be Sunday the 18th (two days after the last final day), or Monday the 19th (three days after).

My reasons for this are:
- You still get time to say good-bye to whoever is still here
- A lot of people are leaving or have already left to go on either last minute trips, or are starting "Christmas in Europe" types of trips. So its not like everyone is here anyway.
- Like I said, theres nothing that I really need to do on Monday that couldn't be done between Friday and Sunday, if that had been what was necessary.
- By the time I leave, there will be pretty much nobody here. I can't actually think of anyone (of my friends) that will be here on Monday.
- Gives an extra day to get home, especially with Christmas being so close.
- As most people are leaving the 18th/19th (as far as I can tell), its been very easy for them to find someone to share a taxi with to get to the airport (sidenote: a taxi from the city centre to Glasgow Airport is listed as being around 20 pounds)

I know one or two days might not seem like a big deal, but when this last week has been dragging, it really makes me wish that my flight was even 24 hours earlier than it is.

Obviously don't just completely take my word for it and book to leave right after finals and get mad at me or something - I'm just adding my two cents, and my view from over here, in case anyone is looking for some sort of opinion to help in their decision making. I know that if I had read ANYTHING that gave me SOME sort of clue as to what day to leave, I probably would have left a day earlier, at least.

(side, sidenote: Accommodations contracts - at least for Cairncross House/University of Glasgow - go up until the 31st of December, so technically, you can stay that long. Just putting that out there. I know plenty of people that are technically "in" their rooms until the 31st, but are traveling around Europe, and just using their room as a place to keep most of their stuff)

And theres still time to vote in my poll - which of the places that I went to was your favorite? Just a quick click is all it takes, and I'm really curious to know which one is your favorite (I know which one was mine... and I also know which one wasn't :-\ )

Also, I reuploaded my walk to school video at 2x speed instead of 4x speed, so hopefully that is a little better (its still bumpy but... you can only do so much) You can find it here: Walk to School!

Only a few days left (and one more final :( )
See you soon!