Glasgow
Getting from Edinburgh to Glasgow turned out to be much easier than I anticipated; there is an hourly train that connects the two cities, and both stations were located a short walk from my respective hotels. Taking the advice of my cousin A’s friend M, I sat on the right hand side of the train and was treated to some lovely Scottish scenery. It’s amazing how gray the cities can seem, even in the bad weather, but the country side comes in shades of green Crayola hasn’t even imagined yet. It was really beautiful.
After I arrived in Glasgow, I set about finding my hotel – the one that was only a few blocks from the station. It turns out the hotel was very close by, as evidenced by the fact that I walked past it 6 times before realizing that the fluorescent colored building was mine. I have no explanation, except that maybe I was blinded by the Starbucks on either side of the street (there were 3 in Glasgow proper and 1 in the airport)? I am happy to say that once I was finally in the hotel, it was a lovely place. In fact, it was kind of like staying in Ikea. Except without an alarm clock, which didn’t make for a great night’s sleep when I was afraid I would miss my taxi to the airport.
The area around my hotel was as different from Edinburgh as day is from night. I felt like I was in a city wide shopping mall. Everything was new and shiny and every store was recognizable (you know, Gap, H&M, Starbucks). I walked around for a bit, had lunch at an Indian buffet, and found a cozy little tea shop to write some postcards and catch up on some reading. Truthfully, it felt a lot like walking around Walnut Street in Philly and not like I was on the other side of the world. But all that changed when I went to dinner…
My cousin A happens to be a pretty smart guy, and a good cousin to boot. He has a good friend in Glasgow, M, who happens to be a research scientist at the University of Glasgow. Now, both A and M are experts in things a million miles away from criminology, but I won’t hold that against them, so A put me in touch with M for when I was in Glasgow. Luckily for me, M was able to meet me for dinner on Thursday night, so I took the subway up to the University to meet him. First, the Glasgow subway is teeny tiny (and looks just like a tube). Second, the University of Glasgow is one of the most amazing places I’ve ever seen; I felt smarter just standing there. It was like walking around a castle, but one with a state of the art library and views of the loch in the distance. It was absolutely amazing; I was inspired to be smarter just standing there. Of course, I’m not sure I would get anything done if I had that kind of view, but it’s nice to dream!
After giving me a tour of the campus, M and I went to dinner at this great fish restaurant called “Two Fat Ladies.” It was great to get to talk to a ready-made friend half way across the world (thank you A for introducing me and thank you M for your generosity)! Plus, it’s always fun to talk to another person who works in academics and exchange stories. M, like A, is in the hard sciences, so it was fun to hear about a different side of things.
The coolest thing about Glasgow was that when I got off the subway at 11:00, it was still light enough to walk safely back to my hotel. I then spent the next 90 minutes trying to fit everything back into my suitcase. I have no idea how two sweaters and a couple of Scottish guidebooks could have upset the luggage baggage so much (okay, there were a few gifts in there too, but sorry Mom, I’m not ruining the surprise). And if there’s one thing I learned, it’s that European baggage charges make it look like the American airlines are paying us to check baggage. I’m still not sure how I managed to make it all work (and as soon as I find the post office in this town, I can hopefully avoid another attempt to stimulate the world economy).
Because my hotel was sans alarm clock and I wasn’t quite sure if I was getting the time difference correct, I had two cell phones set for the morning and woke up every hour to make sure I didn’t miss my plane. I even got up once in a panic (two hours early) and started getting ready before I realized that I needed to go back to bed. Oops! But luckily the taxi was at the hotel on time and I got to the airport with plenty of time to drop off my bags (which cost their weight in gold), grab a Starbucks latte (probably the last one I’ll see until August – the closest Starbucks to my apartment is in Madrid), and peruse the airport shops until my flight was called. Right on time. Only to be delayed for 5 hours approximately 5 minutes before boarding. After I had exchanged all of my pounds to Euros. And delayed another 90 minutes while I was eating lunch. Fun stuff. But you already know how that ends – a terrible trip that ended with a fabulous landlord, a terrific meal, and an apartment with a view to die for. So in the end, it was worth it, even if I was stuck in an airport for 10 hours. At least there was a Starbucks.
After I arrived in Glasgow, I set about finding my hotel – the one that was only a few blocks from the station. It turns out the hotel was very close by, as evidenced by the fact that I walked past it 6 times before realizing that the fluorescent colored building was mine. I have no explanation, except that maybe I was blinded by the Starbucks on either side of the street (there were 3 in Glasgow proper and 1 in the airport)? I am happy to say that once I was finally in the hotel, it was a lovely place. In fact, it was kind of like staying in Ikea. Except without an alarm clock, which didn’t make for a great night’s sleep when I was afraid I would miss my taxi to the airport.
The area around my hotel was as different from Edinburgh as day is from night. I felt like I was in a city wide shopping mall. Everything was new and shiny and every store was recognizable (you know, Gap, H&M, Starbucks). I walked around for a bit, had lunch at an Indian buffet, and found a cozy little tea shop to write some postcards and catch up on some reading. Truthfully, it felt a lot like walking around Walnut Street in Philly and not like I was on the other side of the world. But all that changed when I went to dinner…
My cousin A happens to be a pretty smart guy, and a good cousin to boot. He has a good friend in Glasgow, M, who happens to be a research scientist at the University of Glasgow. Now, both A and M are experts in things a million miles away from criminology, but I won’t hold that against them, so A put me in touch with M for when I was in Glasgow. Luckily for me, M was able to meet me for dinner on Thursday night, so I took the subway up to the University to meet him. First, the Glasgow subway is teeny tiny (and looks just like a tube). Second, the University of Glasgow is one of the most amazing places I’ve ever seen; I felt smarter just standing there. It was like walking around a castle, but one with a state of the art library and views of the loch in the distance. It was absolutely amazing; I was inspired to be smarter just standing there. Of course, I’m not sure I would get anything done if I had that kind of view, but it’s nice to dream!
After giving me a tour of the campus, M and I went to dinner at this great fish restaurant called “Two Fat Ladies.” It was great to get to talk to a ready-made friend half way across the world (thank you A for introducing me and thank you M for your generosity)! Plus, it’s always fun to talk to another person who works in academics and exchange stories. M, like A, is in the hard sciences, so it was fun to hear about a different side of things.
The coolest thing about Glasgow was that when I got off the subway at 11:00, it was still light enough to walk safely back to my hotel. I then spent the next 90 minutes trying to fit everything back into my suitcase. I have no idea how two sweaters and a couple of Scottish guidebooks could have upset the luggage baggage so much (okay, there were a few gifts in there too, but sorry Mom, I’m not ruining the surprise). And if there’s one thing I learned, it’s that European baggage charges make it look like the American airlines are paying us to check baggage. I’m still not sure how I managed to make it all work (and as soon as I find the post office in this town, I can hopefully avoid another attempt to stimulate the world economy).
Because my hotel was sans alarm clock and I wasn’t quite sure if I was getting the time difference correct, I had two cell phones set for the morning and woke up every hour to make sure I didn’t miss my plane. I even got up once in a panic (two hours early) and started getting ready before I realized that I needed to go back to bed. Oops! But luckily the taxi was at the hotel on time and I got to the airport with plenty of time to drop off my bags (which cost their weight in gold), grab a Starbucks latte (probably the last one I’ll see until August – the closest Starbucks to my apartment is in Madrid), and peruse the airport shops until my flight was called. Right on time. Only to be delayed for 5 hours approximately 5 minutes before boarding. After I had exchanged all of my pounds to Euros. And delayed another 90 minutes while I was eating lunch. Fun stuff. But you already know how that ends – a terrible trip that ended with a fabulous landlord, a terrific meal, and an apartment with a view to die for. So in the end, it was worth it, even if I was stuck in an airport for 10 hours. At least there was a Starbucks.
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