My Second Week at Hogwarts (and other exciting tales)

oh look! it's me!

WELL. It's hard to believe I've already been here for almost three weeks already! The first two have been exciting and stressful, but now that things have settled down I've had a bit more time to explore my surroundings. The weather's been nice, at least, it was last week. Sunny and warm for days! That's all over now, though... now it's raining, pretty much all day, every day. It snowed for a bit yesterday. Actually, yesterday it rained, snowed, hailed, and there was a torrential downpour all on my 20 minute walk back from class. How wonderful! And of course, the sun came out just as I entered my flat. Apparently, in Glasgow, if you don’t like the weather you just have to wait half an hour and it’s different! I tend to always carry my umbrella with me, so that was good I suppose, but it was nice to come back to my room and dry off with a nice cup of hot chocolate. :)

a late night snack: my fire alarm-causing hot chocolate and some toast!

Speaking of hot chocolate, I've got a few entertaining stories for all of you. The first time I made myself some hot chocolate here happened to be rather late at night (maybe 1 or 2AM). I figured out how to use the water heater and such all on my own... additionally, I learned that our fire alarm is very sensitive! It started beeping the minute I poured the water from the heater into my mug, and I was so alarmed/confused/tired that I didn't know what to do, so I just opened the window, set my mug in front of it, and blocked all the steam from going into the kitchen. The alarm stopped beeping, so I'd say that was pretty successful. 

Over the past week, I’ve also had some time to hang out with my flatmates! Last weekend we made cupcakes which were delicious if I may say so myself. Earlier on this week we all went to the movie theater (or cinema, as it is known here) and saw War Horse. It was a beautiful movie, but I don’t think I could sit through it again. Too violent. While at the movie theater we saw loads of previews, as usual, and I also learned a new fun fact! Gerard Butler went to the University of Glasgow!! All of us collectively sighed as soon as he appeared on screen. It was beautiful.

4/5 residents of flat 7D with our cupcakes

In more exciting news, the International Society at the University of Glasgow hosted this Ceilidh party, which is a traditional Scottish dance, I guess. It was really entertaining watching a bunch of foreign kids try and learn Scottish dances. I got the first one down pretty well but I was just completely lost on the others… ah well. You win some, you lose some.

A lot of exploring was done this week since it was so nice outside. My friend Josie and I walked around the university a bit and it is SO pretty. I don’t have any classes in the main building, which is okay because that means I can see the main building out the window in most of my classes! But the main building is the staple of the University of Glasgow’s campus, so it was cool to walk around.   Speaking of classes, I have one class in the Zoology building on campus. That means absolutely nothing other than the fact that it is hidden behind the main building and is only identifiable by the huge sign that says ZOOLOGY on it. Needless to say I was wandering around the back of campus for 5 minutes completely lost, only to turn around and find the ZOOLOGY sign staring me in the face. Anyway, the Zoology building is one of the older buildings on the campus, and you can tell by its large-lecture rooms and lack of any signs of technology. As I was sitting in my psychology class (held in the Zoology building), I overheard someone say, “How exciting is this?! I feel like I’m in an American Uni!!” I giggled a bit. It’s weird to think that I’m not in America, because honestly, I forget half the time that I’m across the Atlantic.

Hallway in the main building. Typical.

Josie and I also explored City Centre during the week! City Centre is basically downtown Glasgow. It’s loaded with shops and restaurants and pubs and bars and everything. We, of course, went shopping. I made my first purchases from TOPSHOP and Zara, among other non-American stores, and then we had dinner at TGIF. So worth it.

okay, now I'm just putting in pictures because it's fun.
this is one of the quads!

Today, a couple of my friends and I met up for ice cream at this place called Cold Stone Creations (the first Cold Stone in the UK! ps – ice cream is not as tasty here). We started talking about the fact that quite a bit of our lectures had been cancelled, leaving us with 3 or 4 days to do absolutely nothing. Let the travel plans begin! There are three of us that are completely free Thursday – Sunday (this week, I happen to be free Thursday – Wednesday) and we decided we wanted to go somewhere! Originally, we were thinking Paris or London. Those both turned out to be way too expensive, so we decided to hold off on those for a time where we can book more in advance. In the end, the three of us booked a trip to Amsterdam! We leave Thursday the 26^th and get back to Glasgow the night of the 29^th. I’m sure they’ll be an exciting post after that! Post-trip planning, we were going to go to this party hosted by the university called “Cheesy Pop – 80s edition,” but when the time came, none of us really wanted to go out again. After all, it was cold and rainy and it’s a long walk to the University once the Gardens close. We ended up staying in and 5 of us watched Crazy, Stupid, Love and ate popcorn and cookies. I’d say tonight was a success!

That’s all for now! Next up: Amsterdam!

Love you all,

Mel

PS – I currently have a stack of post cards waiting to be sent out… I just need to find a post office and buy some stamps. I have not forgotten about you!