Newcastle Invasion!

I'm finally getting used to living here in Glasgow and life is starting to seem a little less like a long-term vacation. This past week classes really got into full swing. Homework is starting to be assigned, books are being read, and projects are being worked on. On Wednesday, I had my first group meeting for my entrepreneurship project. It was actually a hilarious meeting; my all boy group is turning out to be one of my favorite things here. The three engineering students have been friends for a while, so they all make fun of one another all the time. They've also started making fun of me and calling me "cheeky," which is their term for "smarty pants." In the meeting we talked about ideas for our project. In the end, the boys ended up liking my two ideas the best, so we're either going to be making "floppies," which are flats that roll up and fit in a girl's clutch so she doesn't have to walk forever in high heels, or we're going to be creating a service that brings towels and other necessities to international students who have just arrived at the university. I think we're going to do really well! We have another meeting planned this week and the boys want to do some "group bonding." I'm not sure what that entails, but I'll let you know.

Last week I did some more exploring of Glasgow. Heather, Sarah and I ended up in Merchant City and George Square looking at some absolutely incredible architecture. George Square, named for King George III, is the heart of the city. Most of the buildings in this area were built in the 1800s. The most beautiful building in the square is the Glasgow City Chambers, which is the headquarter of the Glasgow City Council. It was definitely influenced by Italian Renaissance architecture and has gorgeous sculptures all along the facade. Then we ended up doing a little bit of shopping, heading to Primark for some cheap bedding. I ended up getting a new duvet cover to replace the ugly, 80s duvet they give you in the dorms here. Now my room looks like I actually live here and is actually pretty cute, considering my new duvet cost only six pounds!



On Thursday, we all went to the Hive, the club at the GUU, again. We were originally supposed to go to an international society party called the UN Party, where you dress in your country's colors, but when the time came, we felt like the bar where their party was being hosted was too far away and decided to stay on campus instead. As usual, there was some great music and some very interesting people. I should also mention that all seven of us were dressed in our American gear -- head to toe red, white and blue -- so I'm sure we were standing out in the crowd. There were also boys dressed in those wrestling onesies. Not exactly something I'd consider club wear. But who was I to judge in my US attire?


We had another family dinner on Friday night. We are really starting to become like a family here -- it's really nice to truly like everyone I'm here with. I have gotten so lucky with this group of people. I really love all of them. But this time we invited three more people to join us: Briana, who goes to Providence, Jessica from Smith, and AJ from Villanova. We've all started to become good friends and it's good for the BC kids because we've been hanging out exclusively with each other pretty much for the past three weeks. Liam, Sarah, and I made delicious fajitas and "the family" sat around and talked for a few hours. After family dinner, we all headed to cheesy pop again. As usual, we absolutely loved it and danced until we could literally no longer walk.

In retrospect, dancing our butts off on Friday probably wasn't a great idea considering we had to be on a bus at 9 am on Saturday morning to head to Newcastle. Newcastle is about three hours from Glasgow, so the bus ride wasn't that long, but since we were all exhausted it seemed to take forever. We stopped in this little village called Gretna Green, which is famous for elopements. In England, the legal age to get married without your parents' consent is 21, but in Scotland, the legal age is 18. Since Gretna Green is close to the border of Scotland and England, those who couldn't legally get married in England would run away to Scotland and elope in Gretna Green. It really reminded me of the Disney World ride "It's a Small World," because the village looked so much like the scenery on that ride. When we finally got to Newcastle, we put all of our bags down and checked into our rooms for the night. Since it was just the seven girls, we all split into three rooms. Laura C and I were roommates, and apparently the International Society head thought that Laura and I were together together and kept apologizing for putting us in a room with a bunk bed instead of a full bed. I'm not sure why people keep mistaking me and Laura for lesbians, but it's been pretty funny.

After cleaning ourselves up a little, we got back on the bus and headed to Grey's Monument with the group. The monument was named after Charles Grey, who introduced the Great Reform Act of 1832 (a big deal in the UK). It's also close to a great shopping area of Newcastle, which, being girls, was obviously where we wanted to sightsee. We walked around the area and ended up in this HUGE shopping center near the University of Newcastle. They had some absolutely outrageous shopping and we found some great deals. I ended up buying these ridiculous shoes -- they are so high! -- that were originally 140 pounds marked down to $39. I'm not sure if I'll ever be able to walk in them, but they will always remind me of Newcastle and its crazy style.


Shopping tired us out even more, but we had to head back to our rooms to get ready for dinner and a night out with the International Society. We took the metro back (we're really getting the hang of public transportation in the UK) and started the getting ready process, which didn't last very long because none of us had time or supplies to shower with. Laura and I were dancing around and doing our makeup when we heard a knock on our door. We thought it was Heather, who said she wanted to come up and use our face wash, but it ended up being this random boy (we thought he was just a stranger, but he was actually in our program) who asked if we wanted to come over and drink some vodka. Laura and I looked at each other, said thanks, but no thanks, and immediately locked the door. When we were finally ready (it really only took 20 minutes) we headed back to Grey's Monument to meet the rest of the International Society. Hojjat, the International Society head, took us all to this wonderful Persian restaurant. Most of the girls were a little bit hesitant about the food because they'd never had Iranian food before. I, on the other hand, was loving life because Rana and her mom have made me fall in love with Persian cooking. They had all of my favorites (none of which I know how to spell) but I have to admit that no one makes Persian food like Mommy Cooney.

When we were finished, everyone on the trip walked to Revolution, a bar that is housed in an old bank building. The inside of it is absolutely astonishing -- it has 22 foot ceilings, incredibly ornate woodwork, and these huge columns. It was definitely worth going to just to see the interior. Unfortunately, all of the drinks were extremely expensive, so all of us were hesitant to buy very many. The people watching in the bar was absolutely insane, though. Women in Newcastle dressed outrageously! Some of the outfits included a sequin bra with a mini skirt, see-through lace leggings with a thong and a tank top, and some of the shortest dresses I have ever seen. Top all of this off with two pounds of makeup and a giant poof of hair, and you've got the typical Newcastle club-going girl. The seven girls all felt underdressed and somewhat out of place in this scene, but we had fun laughing at the girls and talking to one another anyway.


The night continued at Madame Koo, an underground club next door to Revolution. This club refers to itself as a "hidden bar & sneaky disco," and was a great time. The DJ played all of our favorite songs -- including Lady Gaga -- and we had a fabulous time dancing with everyone. We headed home fairly early because all of us were practically on our deathbeds from dancing too many nights in a row.

On Sunday morning, we had to wake up at 9 am again to get back on the bus. The group decided that we wanted to make a few detours before heading back to Glasgow for good. First, the bus took us to the seaside, which was beautiful. We spent about a half hour at the beach, just walking around and taking pictures of the scenery.



Then we got back on the bus to take us to our next destination: Durham. Durham is a city in Northeast England and is most famous for the Durham Cathedral and the Durham Castle. We only had an hour and a half to explore, so we had to do it efficiently. We immediately started the walk to the castle and the cathedral, making it there with plenty of time to spare. The Durham Cathedral was ENORMOUS. The interior was ornate and beautiful as well, but they wouldn't let you take any photographs at all. I would usually try to sneak a few pictures without the flash, but they had all of these employees looking out for photo snipers like me, so that was pretty unfortunate. The castle was very cool, but the main highlight of my day was the fact that I was wearing Betsy's "It's not easy being a Princess" tee and got my picture taken in front of the castle.




We made it back to the bus and began the long journey home. Durham was about an hour out of the way, so we had a four hour bus ride back to Glasgow. Since the majority of us were grimy, smelly, and tired, the bus ride was not exactly enjoyable. When we finally made it home, Heather and I took the mile long walk back to our dorm, where I immediately hopped in the shower to get the sweat from the previous night's dancing off of my body. The rest of the night I relaxed, worked on cover letters for internships, and read for one of my classes. I would definitely say it was another successful weekend in the UK!

Today, I went to the gym for the first time since being here. I have to walk a mile to and from class every day, so I've been pretty laid back about actually hitting the gym. But after the weekend of gluttony in Newcastle, I decided it was time to try it out. I headed there around 4 pm and was so confused when I entered. The gym here has something like eight floors and is pretty complicated to maneuver. I finally found Laura C and she taught me the ways of the gym. I put my stuff in a locker and headed to the cardio center to get on the treadmill. After that, Sarah, Laura C and I all went to this Core Balls class. The gym classes here are apparently for "beginners" but I don't know what they're talking about when they say that. I literally thought I was going to die during the exercises this woman was making us do. I also fell off the exercise ball. Twice. If I can walk tomorrow, it will most definitely be a miracle. The girls are planning on going to a kickboxing class tomorrow. Hopefully I'll be able to move enough to do it with them!