Advertisement
Hello everyone! I hope you're all having a fabulous week and preparing lots of fun activities for the holiday weekend. It will be odd not really celebrating the 4th this year, but I will get to spend my weekend in the highlands so I won't complain. This week has been a bit of an emotional roller coaster due to some health complications with my dad back home, but I take comfort in knowing that all is well and he is being well taken care of. I have been ordered by my dad to enjoy my trip. Alright, if I absolutely have to. It's hard to believe that the third week of my trip is already coming to a close and that at the end of next week, the group of block 2 students will be joining our program. The program is split into two 4 week blocks, and students had the option to stay for the first block, second block, or both. I can't imagine only being here for 4 weeks, as there is so much to see and do. So lucky me, I still have more time to explore the land of my people. Over this past weekend, a friend
and I decided to conquer the beast that is Dumyat hill once again. The hike is about 10 miles round trip with an elevation change of around 1,200 (essentially vertical) feet, and I can feel every single inch of it. We made it up in about an hour and a half with multiple breaks to keep our lungs from exploding and legs from falling off. The view from the top is always worth it, and I'm sure I'll find myself hiking it once more before the program ends and I'm sure I'll question why I ever decided to do it again about halfway up. It's a vicious cycle, really. Today we took our last group trip for block 1 to Glasgow. To re-cap, we have taken day trips to Edinburgh, St Andrews and finally Glasgow. Glasgow is much different than the other two cities, and although it is a beautiful city with many many things to see, I think that it falls to 3rd place in my order of favorite cities. I grew up in a tiny town and my home university is in a tiny town, and Glasgow is a very large city. The largest in Scotland, to be
exact. There were many parts that reminded me of Portland (I'm not sure if that's good or bad). Even though it was not necessarily my favorite, it was still a lovely city. We were dropped off in George Square which is a nice central point. There are lots of grassy areas and benches, as well as lots of lovely statues that are covered in bird droppings. Lovely, eh? Fun fact: George Square is actually featured in the beginning of the movie World War Z, and in said scene of said film the square is overtaken by zombies. In the movie, they tried to pass off the location as Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Because apparently the writers of the movie didn't think that people who live in Glasgow would recognize their own city. While there were no zombies lurking about, for which I am thankful, there was still so much to see. We started off the day with a lovely breakfast at a tiny restaurant. I have had an unhealthy craving for pancakes lately, and my prayers were answered this morning in the form of delicious blueberry pancake goodness. Fun fact number 2: the bacon in Scotland comes in huge pieces, almost like
pieces of ham, and it's delicious. Apparently, strips of bacon like we have in the U.S. are called streaky bacon in Scotland. So that's what I will be calling it from now on, even once I come home. After breakfast, we walked to Glasgow cathedral. I always love a good cathedral, as I always absolutely love the Gothic architecture and stained glass windows. We also walked to the necropolis and looked at all of the graves that overlook a small part of the city. I'm trying to figure out what one does to be buried on a necropolis. I'll let you know if I find out the answer. Today, I did probably one of the most touristy things I have ever done in any country that I've ever visited. And it was wonderful. A friend and I took a tour of Glasgow on a double decker hop on/off bus. Basically, you get a ticket and get on the bus at a certain location and all throughout the route there are different stops that are made, where if you so choose, you can get off and explore as much as you want and then get back on when another bus comes
and continue the tour. It's pretty self explanatory, really. Nevertheless, it was a lovely way to see the city considering that many of the stops that were made would've taken easily an hour to walk to. There is so much to see and take in in Glasgow that it's a bit overwhelming, but I enjoyed the things that I was able to see. It's sad to know that it was our last day trip, and I'm thankful for the places I've gotten to see and experience so far. I'm going to get 100% nerdy (shocking, I know) and say that the highlights of my day were first seeing a green TARDIS, then a blue TARDIS, and then a painting of a TARDIS on a random wall. This is why I love Scotland. They all understand me and my love for Doctor Who and all other related shows. That, and they make delicious pancakes. I'm now going to get sappy (for those of you who are anti-sappy, avert your eyes). As this week comes to a close, I find myself feeling thankful for so many things. I am so so so thankful for my parents and family, who moved all of my poor college kid belongings from my old apartment to my new house last week in the miserable heat. I am very thankful that my dad is going to be fine and that he is already on the road to recovery. Mostly, I am thankful for the opportunity I have been given just to simply be in this wonderful place. I have gotten a chance to feel more connected to a part of my family heritage, and I have very much enjoyed it. I will be extremely sad when I have to leave this beautiful country. What I am not thankful for, however, is whoever decided to send the hot weather that is happening in Oregon here to Scotland. I mean I always appreciate gifts, but I would like to return this. It does not ever really get abnormally hot in Scotland. 75 or 80 is scorching here. I was enjoying the nice cool weather, and then something happened. The past couple days, I think it has been around 80. Normally I would not mind this. I wouldn't love it by any means, but I would survive. However, it has also been completely overcast with about 90/95% humidity aaaall day and all night. It's horrific and disgusting, and I'm not having any part of it. Take it back, please. I hope that everyone enjoys their weekend and that nothing catches on fire. I would like to come home to a green Oregon, not a burnt one 😊
Advertisement
Tot: 0.231s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 9; qc: 48; dbt: 0.0323s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb