Last week, I had a typical week of classes here. It was pretty laid back and enjoyable. The only stressful thing was picking groups during my Entrepreneurship class for our business plan project. Luckily, I'm a business student and apparently in this class business students were in high demand. As soon as I raised my hand, three fifth year engineering students grabbed me and adopted me into their group. It should be pretty interesting, since they're all boys and have never created a business or marketing plan before -- I'll keep you posted on this one.
On Thursday night, we went to our first student union event here at the Glasgow University Union (GUU). Every Thursday, students at "the Uni" go to the club at the GUU, called The Hive. We all met up at the student apartments and made the trek to the club with a bunch of the Lauras' roommates. When we got there, it was absolutely INSANE! Students were everywhere, just dancing, drinking, and partying. It was the most crowded place I've seen here yet -- and compared to the average club here on a Friday night, the cover to get in was incredibly cheap at only two pounds. At one point in the night, all of the girls actually got behind the DJ table and got to "spin" some of the songs. After a while, the DJ got pretty annoyed with us because we only wanted to hear Lady Gaga, which was apparently "not his style." We danced the night away to our favorite songs and woke up the next morning feeling like we had an intense workout the night before.
On Friday, we all met up for a late lunch and the girls decided to go shopping downtown at the City Centre. I'd been absolutely dying to go to one store and one store only: TopShop, which I've heard a lot about from my roommate Meghan. They had the cutest clothing -- I didn't do too much damage but did end up buying a pair of simple black pumps and a high-waisted skirt. Unfortunately, when I got home after TopShop, I got online to check my bank account and found that someone was dabbling in my bank account without my permission. Luckily I spotted the transaction immediately and had my credit card cancelled, but now I'm without my Bank of America card again!
While that afternoon wasn't the best, the night that followed definitely made up for it. After shopping, we had another family dinner, this time made by the girls (aka me, Sarah, and Laura). We made an incredible chicken parmesan with pasta and garlic bread -- so nice to have a home cooked meal every once in a while. After our dinner, we got ready to go out to our second student union event, this time at Queen Margaret Union (QMU). Each Friday, the QMU puts on a dance party called "Cheesy Pop" and plays only the cheesiest pop songs, like Hanson's Mmm Bop or Cotton Eyed Joe. We danced for hours upon hours, and I came home sweaty and tired -- another successful night.
On Saturday, we woke up moaning and groaning due to the pain in our bodies from our nights of dancing. Heather and I left our dorm around nine in the morning and headed to campus to meet the rest of the international students for a trip to Edinburgh put on by the International Society. This trip was absolutely amazing. The day was beautiful -- for once it wasn't raining or foggy, the sun was actually shining and it was warm enough to be comfortable. The seven of us started our trip in Edinburgh with a hike up to the Edinburgh Castle. We must have walked more than a mile of stairs, because when we got to the top I was sweating like a pig. The hike, however, was definitely worth it. The views from the castle were breathtaking. You could see all of Edinburgh! We toured the castle for a few hours, visiting the crown jewels, the prison of war, the war memorial, and some of the residential quarters of the castle.
Once we left the castle, we made the trip down the Royal Mile, which is the mile that stretches from Edinburgh Castle to Scottish Parliament. It's lined by shops of all kind selling every type of tartan you could ever imagine. They have kilts, tights, dresses, hats, shot glasses, flasks, boxers, and more in every plaid ever made. All the girls are determined to get a pair of plaid tights to bring home with us. Who knows, maybe I'll even get a kilt!
After walking the Royal Mile, we ended up at the Holyroodhouse Palace, the Queen of England's official residence in Scotland. I thought that Edinburgh Castle was very cool, but Holyroodhouse Palace blew the castle out of the water. Holyroodhouse was absolutely gorgeous and full of so much history. The rooms were all decorated with intricate plaster work and rich fabrics. I wish I could have taken pictures of the inside of the house -- it was so beautiful. That tour ended with a stop at the Holyrood Abbey, which was founded in the 12th century by King David I, who had a vision of a stag with a cross between its antlers in the very spot that the abbey was built. It collapsed in 1768, but the ruins are still standing.
When it was time to head back to the bus, we were all exhausted. None of us could bear the thought of walking even an inch more, let alone dancing the night away as we had done for the previous nights, so we each headed back to our dorms where we relaxed and fell asleep relatively early.
This Sunday has been very similar to last Sunday. That is, I've done absolutely nothing worth writing about. I'm actually still in my pajamas and it's nearly 6:30 here -- yikes! Good thing we've got plans to watch American football again. This time we're hoping not to be bothered by belligerent Glaswegians who want to dance in our faces, so we're going to a new place: Three Judges. This pub is very close to the university campus and hopefully won't be as much of a trek as the pub we went to last time. This coming week should be fairly relaxed though, now that I really have to get back in the swing of things with my classes. The one big thing on my plate this week is beginning to finalize spring break plans -- I've already got trips to London and Paris planned with my dad, but I want to make it to Rome, Florence, Prague, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Madrid, and somewhere in Ireland before the semester ends. I'll let you know my travel plans as soon as they're concrete!
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