Glasgow Update

Hi Everyone!

Here's my Glasgow update on what's been going on with me thus far.

Weather
It rains a LOT and it's pretty cold, around 57F. When it's not actually pouring, there's a consistently falling mist. I always carry my umbrella with me because I never know when it's going to start raining. There hasn't been one day it hasn't rained yet. I thought I had lost my umbrella yesterday and I was so worried but I found it at the restaurant I had eaten at the day before! My umbrella is my most prized possession right now.

Accommodations
I live in a student apartment that's right smack in the middle of campus. My roomie is Hannah Guerrier and she's so sweet =]. Our room is huge, like 300 square feet but it's really slanted... like the ground is slanted down so sometimes my drawers open automatically and sometimes my pens slide right off my desk... It's really weird because it's an "apartment" but it's like living in a dorm, because we share our kitchen with the rest of our floor, and we only have 2 toilets and 2 showers for like 7 rooms. Also, we're here early because we're international students so we have orientation but some other people have begun to move in to our floor... but they're all guys. It's a little strange, especially when I first came out of the bathroom and saw there was an English chap in the bathroom right next to me. His name is Alex, he's cool though. Our heating hasn't started working yet, this is the worst part. I sit at my desk wrapped in a comforter because it's so cold.

This is the SUPER STEEP hill from the main road up to my apartment. I hate making this trek because I'm the laziest bum ever.

Food
Glaswegians love to deep fry everything. If you can batter it, they can fry it. They serve fries, or "chips" with EVERY single dish. I haven't had much green on my plate, mostly brown and gold. They have a lot of curry restaurants (yum) and small fish and chips places. Everything is so expensive so I really need to start cooking. Luckily the dollar has strengthened a bit so I can afford to live here, hahaha.

Campus
The campus really reminds me of Duke. It's all done with gothic architecture so everything kind of looks the same. It's very pretty and VERY green though!

Look! Duke chapel!

This looks like Crowell quad to me.

This is me and my roomie, Hannah, under the arches!

Nightlife
Pubs abound in Glasgow and everyone here loves to drink, but it's not like how Americans do it. Glaswegians order like one pint (still really big) and sip it all night and chat and stuff. I went to a pub the other night to watch Andy Murray play Federer in the US Open finals (Murray's from Scotland) and it was pretty fun. This one guy there with his girlfriend was talking to us and he was hilarious and when we were leaving he grabbed me by the head and surprised me so much when he kissed my eye. I think he was a wee bit tipsy.

Academics
Classes don't start until September 22. I'm trying to plan my schedule where I only have class Tuesdays through Thursdays... it is semi-successful. We'll have to see. Hopefully my classes aren't too hard, but at least they're pass/fail on my Duke transcript except this one seminar. I'm planning on taking this mandatory Duke class, two politics classes and an English class. Some people here are taking bagpiping, hahaha, that's awesome.

Travel Plans
I've already booked tickets to Rome for Thanksgiving weekend to see some Duke friends. Me and the other Glasgow Dukies are also going to London next week, all expenses paid, for some orientation thing which should be fun. I think the IV people in Europe are thinking about going to Brussels to meet up together... more planning on this later, hahaha.

Anyhoo, I'll definitely update once classes are under way and I've settled in a bit more. I miss you all a lot!

Beka