Arriving in Glasgow

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On Sunday evening, after an incredibly long journey to London Gatwick airport followed by a series of delays, I finally touched down in Glasgow, excited to take the university shuttle to the flat I would be staying in and start to get settled in. Unfortunately, however, the buses only ran every two hours and I had just missed the last one. So, I had to wait in the airport for about an hour and a half before the next one came. The journey to the university was quick, only about 15-20 minutes from the airport. We were the first stop, and I was able to walk across the street from the hall to pick up my keys. I'm staying on the third floor in a flat with four other people. We each have our own bedroom, sharing a bathroom and a kitchen/living space. When I got there, no one seemed to be around, but as the night went on, I met three girls who were living there who were all from California. I learned that the other guy living with us is from Colorado. I met him the next morning. After running out to grab a quick dinner at a fast food fish and chips joint (which wasn't that great), one of the girls, Anna, and I decided to try one of the pubs. So, we went to the Green Park Bar and had a drink. It was a very fun atmosphere, and they had live Irish and Scottish music.

The next morning started the orientation program. After waiting to get our visas confirmed, we went to get our IDs and then we had a walking tour of the campus. At this point, the campus was so overwhelming I really didn't think that I got much out of the tour. I knew that as I walked around more and figured it out for myself that I will have a better idea of where things are. Then, a group of us that met during the walking tour went to dinner together at a place called Ketchup in a cool part of town. Later that evening, there was an international student welcome social event for some of the students. There were three evenings, and each person got assigned to one of the three, so I didn't happen to know anyone that was going to be at the social event that evening. I found a table, however, with a few students from Germany, Lithuania and Singapore. It was fun meeting people from different cultures. They tried to teach traditional Scottish dances, but this was a struggle for most of the students. Two girls later came up to our table, from Germany and New Zealand and we learned that our flats were right on top of each other. Overall, while the Scottish dancing didn't go as well as it could have, the social event was a fun event and a good chance to meet new people.

Tuesday morning, I went to the visa confirmation and ID collection because I had some unfinished business I needed to take care of. I was able to successfully obtain my ID, which was very exciting. I then ran into a friend that I had met at the walking tour, and we decided to go for lunch at a crepe place which was outstanding and then walk around the Botanical Gardens in Glasgow. It was a beautiful collection of plant varieties as well as paintings and sculptures. We then walked back to the campus, where they were having an information session about registering for classes and the different resources they have for international students. They advertised a bagpiping course, which intrigued me very much and I decided to try to get into the course. I wasn't sure how hard it would be to get into the course, but I decided to give it a go. That evening, I went back to my room and worked on getting more fully unpacked and organized.

Wednesday, the morning started off at the registration for the bagpiping course which was at the same place as the registration for the Glasgow School of Art. I was able to get into the bagpiping course, which was very exciting. We have a lecture each week, and then an individual lesson with a teacher. It seems like a very cool opportunity, and I am very excited to start! I found Ashlee and Sabrina there (the girls from New Zealand and Germany, respectively), and we decided to go to the gym to pick up our memberships before heading to lunch. The gym membership is included in our accommodation fees, and they offer a ton of different workout classes and club sports which we will have to check out. After lunch, there was an information fair where in addition to picking up a lot of pens and give-aways, we learned about different opportunities such as the chance to stay with a British family for a weekend, which I am planning on doing at some point. After going grocery shopping and eating dinner at home, we watched a movie together.

This morning, I have nothing going on until this afternoon when we have a bus tour of the city of Glasgow, which should be very helpful and informative. Overall, it's been a busy, but fun week where I've gotten to know a lot of new people and get better acclimated to the city and the university.

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