Student life in Glasgow

This blog update is not quiet as exciting as the others- I havent left Glasgow since my last 'skiing adventure' but am trying to see as much of my new hometown as I can. The weather here has been up and down alot over the past month- I have seen snow, sun and lots of rain but its starting to warm up now :) Glasgow has just implemented a smoking ban on pubs, restaurants and bars so no more reaking of tobacco- which will be great! My job at PDQ is still going great- its nice to have the extra cash flow at the end of every month. The people I work with are all great and have taught me lots about the local culture- stuff I would never learn in class. The teachers union is currently on strike at our Uni which is causing some problems around campus. Most of them are refusing to mark any of our assignments and wont even write a final exam- so I hope they can get it all settled over the Easter break or I will be coming home no further ahead then when I left.... only poorer.

St Patricks Day: Becuase I am so close to Ireland I was thinking that this place would have CRAZY celebrations going on everywhere- but I was wrong. Its not really any different then anything I have seen is Calgary and I think thats beucase lots of people take the short flight over to Ireland and party it up over there for the weekend. We still managed to have lots of fun, with our Irish friend Dave leading the way. He starting out by making us some Irish stew (that had LOTS of whiskey in it) then we walked to a place called "The Beer Cafe" and tried to find ourselves some of the infamous Guiness Green Hats. They dont serve any green beer over here- and when I asked for it at the bar they all looked at me really weird... I tried Guiness for the first time in my life and will definitly only be drinking it on St. Paddys Days from now on!


Glasgow Greens: This beautiful park is only about a 10 minute walk from where I stay. Its located in the Eastern side of the city (which is kinda 'dodgy') but ok if you go during sunlight hours. It's right along the Clyde River and is the perfect place to go play some frisbee or football- I would compare it to Bowness Park. The first time I went there we had just got a 'huge' dump of snow and all the international students (minus us Canadians) were out having the time of their lives. I did built a snowman however- and ended up throwing a few snowballs. In the middle of this place there's a huge terracotta fountain with statues of all the commonwealth countries on it. Canada is portratyed by an indian, farmer, beaver, and some wheat- very typical! There's also a museum in The Greens called 'The peoples palace' that has exhibitions all about Glasgow and its past. Its the perfect way to learn about how this city developed. They also have a small botanical garden attached to it where lots of weddings take place during the summer.

Glasgow Necroloplis: Yes I know that visiting a graveyard may seem kinda morbid- but its a popular local attraction and considering that I can see if from my window I thought I'd go take a look on a nice sunny day. There isnt too much to say about it besides that it's massive and includes the graves of many local glaswegions (some fallen soldiers, bankers, city chamber members etc.) You get a great view from the top of this hill but its kinda creapy to walk around.

Casino Night at the Students Union: I went to a James Bond themed Cancer fundraiser last weekend with a group of my friends. We all got to get dressed up in our finest clothes (or in my case my room mates finest clothes) and gamble away the £20 of play money we got at the door. They had blackjack and poker tables set up around The Union as well as a game on the stage: it required you to toss a neon ring onto a bottle and when it landed around it you got to drink it. Well the game turned out to be pretty easy and we all turned out pretty happy ;) We ended up dancing the night away and having a great time.

Night at the Theater: my roommate and I thought we should explore some of the local theaters so we went to see 'The Vagina Monolgues' last Friday night. It was the perfect girls night out that ended off with a great Italian meal in the city center.

As many of you already know I am leaving to see my family next Sunday in Italy. I then get to go to see some of my friends in Mulhouse (on the eastern side of France) & Paris, France. I have bought a ticket to take the chunnel from Paris to London which will be a good experience I hope. To end the trip off I am meeting a friend in London for 1 day then taking the LONG 8 hour bus ride back to Glasgow. I will have lots of updates to share after this trip!

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