It's as cold as the South Pole!

I officially started my semester abroad when I left St. Louis on Monday. Traveling was fairly easy -- no delays or problems -- but I did pretty much sleep my way through the entire thing. I woke up on the last leg of my trip just in time to see the city of Glasgow from the plane. It looked like something out of a movie, with snow covered hills and fields. It was absolutely amazing. Unfortunately I was still semi-comatose and didn't think to take any photos. I finally got to Glasgow on Tuesday around 4 pm and easily found a taxi who knew right where to take me.

I got to my dorm (or flat, as they refer to it here) and was immediately greeted by a security guard closely resembling Mr. Bean. He took both of my bags, grabbed my keys, and led me to my flat. While the flats are pretty plain and boring, they are nice. I have a single and live in a flat with up to 12 other people. I've only met two, who are both freshman boys. This could get interesting.

No one was here on Tuesday night, so I just unpacked and passed out around 8. I woke up around 11 the next day (after not sleeping for half the night -- boo jetlag) and wandered around Glasgow by myself. It was an interesting walk and I definitely didn't go in the right direction. I walked around for about an hour, then found a small convenience store and got some new york bagel company bagels for breakfast -- they were the only thing I was familiar with! Then I came back to my room and took a nap.

My friend Heather got to Glasgow around 5 after a huge delay at Heathrow in London. Apparently the weather in the UK is the worst they've had in 47 years and no one here knows what to do. In Glasgow they don't really plow the streets and don't have enough salt to put down everywhere because they don't normally get snow. That night everyone here from Boston College (there are 7 of us: 5 girls and 2 boys) met up and went out to dinner at this cute restaurant called The Loft. It's a renovated movie theatre with delicious food at really inexpensive prices. I ate my heart out because a) Heather and I walked over a mile to meet everyone and b) I hadn't had anything of substance except my bagel since I'd arrived in Glasgow. It was great.

The next morning we had orientation at 9:30 -- kill myself. It was boring and pointless. They talked a lot about how this weather is as cold as the South Pole. I did learn that everything here is going to be very relaxed. In fact, although classes start Monday, we don't even register until Tuesday? It's going to be a very interesting semester. After orientation the seven of us from BC went out to dinner at Ketchup, a fun restaurant near The Loft and had big burgers and nachos. Then we headed to Vodka Wodka, a bar that we decided was a necessary detour simply because of its name. We probably drank too much here but continued on to Nude, a few doors down, to try some more drinks, like the "shake and bake" and "busting for a wee wee". Needless to say, I slept very well last night.

Today we had an amazing bus tour around Glasgow. We stopped at the Glasgow Cathedral, which was built in the 13th century. It had beautiful stained glass windows and what seemed like 5 million tombs inside. It was a really cool experience.

After we finished the tour, I went with the BC Girls, Heather, Sarah, Laura, and Laura, to get towels and blankets at this really cheap store called Primark. For the past week we've pretty much been showering and drying off with tshirts or bath wraps because towels were way too big to fit into our two suitcases. (I'd much rather bring another pair of shoes than something to dry myself off with, apparently.) We ended up in the City Centre, which was lit up with holiday lights and looked incredible. We had a gluttonous Italian dinner complete with cheesy bread and hot pasta to warm us up after a frigid walk. Although we were planning to go out tonight, we were all absolutely demolished from a busy week. We're planning to meet up tomorrow to explore Glasgow on our own, starting with the Art Museum. I'll keep you posted!