Glasgow

Last weekend Michelle and I took a train to Glasgow to see her friend, Lael, who studies abroad there and to explore the city. Getting to Scotland was a lot harder than getting back. We nearly missed our train (though we'd been ready and waiting for it for an hour). We didn't get out of the little waiting area fast enough and by the time we got to the train (a whole ten feet away), the doors has closed on us. Apparently trains don't stay in the station for too long! We ran the length of the train and managed to hop in at the front.

So after that small hiccup, we arrived in Glasgow successfully where Lael was waiting for us at the train station. We spent the Friday night just hanging out and woke up the next day ready to see Glasgow. We went to the Glasgow Botanical gardens where we had a little picnic lunch. One of the nice things about England/Scotland/the UK? is that in pretty much all of the convenience stores and grocery stores there are fantastic pre-made sandwiches. I've really become addicted to Chicken Tikka sandwich wraps from Spar (which is a convenience store chain here).
The botanical gardens and the park surrounding it was really nice to stroll around in. Though it's a little weird to see bright green, healthy grass in the middle of winter!



After that, we decided to go somewhere a little warmer and went to the Kelvin Grove museum. It's been a while since I've been in an art museum, and it was great getting to leisurely stroll around and look at everything (though we could have spent the entire day in there and still not have seen everything). I think my favorite piece were these guys hanging from the ceiling:



We walked around the city some more, bought some groceries, and headed back to Lael's flat (ie apartment) to make dinner. Quick side note: Her flat has a great view of Glasgow and is right across from BBC Scotland. (My inner journalism minor-self geeked out, I'll admit.)



That night we stayed up later than we probably should have, but had a great time goofing around, facebook stalking, and making dubious chocolate chip cookies. (Note: making desserts without measuring cups and all the proper ingredients is hard.) We somehow managed to wake up at a decent time Sunday morning and we were off to explore a little bit more of Glasgow.

This time, we walked over to Hogwarts, which was really close to the flat.


Okay, so it wasn't really Hogwarts. It was the University of Glasgow. But I think it bore a remarkable resemblance to it! We poked around there for a while, marveling at the architecture and wondering why we weren't going to such a cool-looking university.

Also, this guy made me laugh:


After that it was a quick lunch in town (I was going to go for the haggis, but decided to save the Scottish food experience for when I'm in Edinburgh - I had potato/leek soup instead) and then packing and then we were on our way back to Lancaster.

The weather was actually nice and sunny throughout the weekend, so it lifted my spirits considerably. Though now it doesn't seem to matter, because I've gotten sick. All this week, I've been pretty much dragging myself to the classes I absolutely have to and hanging out in my room the rest of the time, trying to recuperate. I'm very, very tired of coughing. Luckily, I have two entire weeks to get better before I go to Edinburgh (and the weekend after that is Stonehenge and Bath).