Now this post (and any post in general) is long long overdue. So I'm putting it out there that just the act of going to art school and not a liberal arts school is a study abroad experience in itself. This might be taking more getting use to than even living in another country. School is such a system, and changing this system definitely throws a monkey wrench into the works, if you know what I mean. (man, that sentence was fun). Anyway, where to begin, where to begin...
So I suppose I'll start with what my classes have been like? I'm in the 2nd year of the Painting and Printmaking Department. GSA (Glasgow School of Art) is different from Penn in that everyone in the same year in the same department does the same thing. My year is split into four groups, and each group goes through a rotation of three activities, each activity lasting for two weeks. My schedule is two weeks of life (figure) drawing classes, two weeks of studio time, two weeks of printmaking. So this week was my second week of my life drawing rotation. Which leads us to....the description of my life drawing class:
I love love love figure drawing. Like a lot. I've taken Figure Drawing I at Penn, and I loved that, so I was really excited to have my group start off in the life room. For one thing, GSA is very unstructured and independent, and I think the life drawing is probably the most structured thing that I'm going to do, so it's been nice to ease me into classes here. Anyway, here's how my time in the life room works: I have class in the life room Monday through Wednesday, from 9:30 to 4, with a 30 minute break from 11:00 to 11:30, lunch break from 12:30 to 1:30, and a small break from 3:00 to 3:15. So I've basically been drawing all day long. It's wondddeeerrfulll. We start off with really short poses, maybe six 2 or 5 minute poses, and as the day progresses, the poses get longer and longer. Usually before lunch the poses aren't much longer than 10 minutes, then after lunch we have longer ones ranging from 15 to 45 minutes. I get to work in any medium that I want, so I've been ranging from compressed charcoal to pastel to charcoal powder and water to pen and sharpie. I've actually been doing a lot of pen drawing here. It's pretty liberating--to explain, drawing with pen can be daunting because there's no way to erase... but I've really been getting into it. I'll put up some of my work as soon as I find my camera cord.
Anyway, that's all for now, I'm losing steam. Art school is awesome.
Wednesday, 6 October 2010
Sunday, 26 September 2010
Music in Glasgow
I'm aware that I still have yet to describe the Old Crow Medicine Show show yet, so I thought I'd just compile all of the cool music-y experiences I've had since I've been here. Starting with, of course, OCMS.
Ok, so by incredible chance of fate, we stumbled upon this show at O2 ABC which is a music venue about two blocks away from school, it's really close. The tickets were only 15 pounds, which I think is pretty darn good. So we got to the venue, and had to wait in line a bit to get in. It was an interesting crowd--definitely a mix of older and younger, which was interesting to me, but the best part was all the Glaswegians were decked out in their country gear. It was kinda precious not gonna lie. They were all in plaid shirts an cowboy hats and boots and such. I thought it was great. It was endearing because it was like trying to be country, but it was slightly off: for example, during the show there was this big guy standing in front of me, and he was really enthusiastic and awesome, and he was wearing his western pearl snap, but I'm pretty sure he was wearing flip flops as well. Anyway, their trying to be country made me feel super legit, which is a nice feeling to have. So the venue was basically this big open floor, stage at one end, bar at the other, large disco ball overhead. The opener was called Dave Rawlings Machine, who I'd never heard before, but they were really really good. Gillian Welch was in the band, and I have heard of her. It drives me crazy that she pronounces her name Gill-ian, like Gilligan. Anyway. They were spectacular. Probably the highlight of their set was a medley they played that included This Land Is Your Land, and all the Scots sang along. Warms your heart.
Then finally came Old Crow Medicine Show. Words cannot describe (also because I've waited so long to write about this) how good they were. They had an amazing amazing fiddler. He sawed off like half of the strings on his bow during the show. They had mandolin, upright bass, banjo, fiddle, everything your heart could desire. Their main singer was a skinny guy with a mess of hair who was just very happy and relaxed and had a bluegrass-y voice. Lovely. I really wish I knew their music better before I saw them, but otherwise, it was wonderful. And then they played Wagon Wheel. Up there in the best moments of my life, for sure. Everyone loved it, and everyone danced and sang along, and the whole atmosphere of the room was so warm and so exciting, it was just wonderful. It was a moment where everyone in that room was alive and happy and totally suspended in the moment. Wonderful.
Alright, that's all for now. I'll possibly talk of music again, but as it is this draft has been sitting around for much too long, so I release it to the ether.
Ok, so by incredible chance of fate, we stumbled upon this show at O2 ABC which is a music venue about two blocks away from school, it's really close. The tickets were only 15 pounds, which I think is pretty darn good. So we got to the venue, and had to wait in line a bit to get in. It was an interesting crowd--definitely a mix of older and younger, which was interesting to me, but the best part was all the Glaswegians were decked out in their country gear. It was kinda precious not gonna lie. They were all in plaid shirts an cowboy hats and boots and such. I thought it was great. It was endearing because it was like trying to be country, but it was slightly off: for example, during the show there was this big guy standing in front of me, and he was really enthusiastic and awesome, and he was wearing his western pearl snap, but I'm pretty sure he was wearing flip flops as well. Anyway, their trying to be country made me feel super legit, which is a nice feeling to have. So the venue was basically this big open floor, stage at one end, bar at the other, large disco ball overhead. The opener was called Dave Rawlings Machine, who I'd never heard before, but they were really really good. Gillian Welch was in the band, and I have heard of her. It drives me crazy that she pronounces her name Gill-ian, like Gilligan. Anyway. They were spectacular. Probably the highlight of their set was a medley they played that included This Land Is Your Land, and all the Scots sang along. Warms your heart.
Then finally came Old Crow Medicine Show. Words cannot describe (also because I've waited so long to write about this) how good they were. They had an amazing amazing fiddler. He sawed off like half of the strings on his bow during the show. They had mandolin, upright bass, banjo, fiddle, everything your heart could desire. Their main singer was a skinny guy with a mess of hair who was just very happy and relaxed and had a bluegrass-y voice. Lovely. I really wish I knew their music better before I saw them, but otherwise, it was wonderful. And then they played Wagon Wheel. Up there in the best moments of my life, for sure. Everyone loved it, and everyone danced and sang along, and the whole atmosphere of the room was so warm and so exciting, it was just wonderful. It was a moment where everyone in that room was alive and happy and totally suspended in the moment. Wonderful.
Alright, that's all for now. I'll possibly talk of music again, but as it is this draft has been sitting around for much too long, so I release it to the ether.
Thursday, 16 September 2010
Edinburgh Trip 1
I suppose I should blog about occurrences relatively close to the time that they happen, so look at me, I went to Edinburgh yesterday and I'm blogging about it today. Pat on the back for me. Anyway.
So yesterday morning, I met up with Marlee, who is a girl from Brown who is going through the same program as I am (the Penn/Brown/Cornell consortium thing), and with Sabrina, who another study abroad girl from Boston, and we went to Vanilla Black, the cutest coffee/pastry shop ever, for breakfast. (After we roamed about for about 30 minutes looking for my stupid bank and not finding it, but that's a story that's not pleasurable for anyone.) Vanilla Black has very good tea and coffee, and amazing pastries, the most amazing being the sparkly meringues. They are literally these huge meringues with glitter worked into them. I have yet to try one, but I think it must be because I am in awe of their splendor. After said breakfasting, Marlee and I walked to the bus station and got on the Megabus (which was actually a citylink bus), and headed on over to Edinburgh at about 11. I should mention why we were going to Edinburgh--one of the ladies who is in charge of our study abroad program over here had called a meeting for all of the students studying in Scottish universities. We were to meet her at the University of Edinburgh from 3:30 to 5 for an informational session. We glaswegian students were NOT compensated for our travel costs, if I may mention. (point of contention for me.) Anyway, Marlee has a friend, Laura, also from Brown and the program who is studying at University of Edinburgh, so we were to meet her and hang out with her before and after the info session.
Ok, so back to the order of things--we were on the bus for an hour or so, not so bad, and then we got off on Prince street and walked over the Royal Mile, which is a shmancy streets with lots of nice things and shops and lots and lots of tourists. Side note--it was interesting to return to Edinburgh and see all the things that I had visited before, like the Sir Walter Scott Memorial, the St. Giles Cathedral, etc. Anyway. It was a beautiful day in Edinburgh, sunshine and gorgeousness and quaintness as only Edinburgh can offer. We met Laura on the Royal mile, and went down one of the side streets to a cafe that she had wanted to try. It was really cute. It was themed with sunflowers, and was all warm brown woods and stonework and such. Laura and I split the best waffle I have ever eaten. It was a belgian waffle with (british) bacon and brie on top, drizzled with maple syrup, and the waffle had little morsels of sugar throughout it. Delicious. After our wonderful luncheon, the three of us went back to Prince streets and shopped around a bit. Marlee is on a search for the perfect pair of black tall leather boots. I am on a less dedicated search for the perfect pair of black leather boot-ish shoes to wear all the time here. Anyway, neither of us reaped much, but we did run across the craziest heels ever, which were crazy and really exciting to look at. All in all, I enjoyed it. Then we walked over to the park that kind of makes a gorge in between Prince street and the Royal mile, because it's really low-lying. We sat on a bench, ate some apples, and did a crossword puzzle, which seems like one of the best activities one can partake in, in my opinion. There was a fountain, and beautiful flowers all around, and a view of the Edinburgh castle up on the bluff behind. It was very pretty.
After a while, we headed on over to the University of Edinburgh to go to our meeting. It was a lot of climbing up a hill of cobblestone. Along the way we ran across THE BEST STORE IN THE WORLD THAT I NEVER WANTED TO LEAVE. It was called Still Life, and we went in even though it made us a tad late to the meeting, but it was SO AMAZING. This tiny little store was stuffed full of antique dishes--china and pottery, old books, and paintings. It was so so cool. And I wanted to own every plate and cup in there. There were lots of pretty patterned teacups, ceramic bowls and vases and such, some really cool handmade glass mugs... If I lived in Edinburgh, my house would be completely furnished by this shop. And the man who ran it was an older man who, when asked the price of a piece, would answer and then ramble on about where and what age it was from, etc. I LOVED this shop. Anyway, we sadly had to go on to our meeting.
The meeting wasn't really exciting or mentionable, just that I met the lady who's been sending me oh-so-many emails. And I saw the two kids from Penn who I know, they're both going to the University of Edinburgh. Their names are Laura and Alexander. It was exciting to talk to Alexander, because he's an art major at Penn as well, so I got to tell him about GSA, etc. So that was nice. We also met up with the other glaswegian student in the program, who is Megan, a student from Penn who is studying engineering at the University of Glasgow.
Then we went back to Laura's flat for a bit, regrouped, and figured out where we were going for dinner. We decided that we wanted Nepalese food, which Marlee and Laura had had and really like d and I had never had before. We googled one up, and walked over. It was called The Everest, and if you're ever in Edinburgh, I would recommend it. The food was good and relatively cheap, and the wait staff was amazingly helpful and friendly. We shared three dishes, and I couldn't tell you what the things I ate were called, but it involved mushrooms, lentils, bamboo, spinach, cheese, potatoes, cauliflower, etc. And naan of course. Gotta love the naan. Then unfortunately, Marlee got a really bad stomach ache, so we took her back to Laura's flat and let her lay down for a while. We hung out a bit, because it was almost time to catch our bus, which was at 10:30. When the time came, we caught a taxi to the bus station, got on our bus and shipped ourselves back to Glasgow.
The day was incredibly satisfying, and I really like Edinburgh a lot. I think I'll say though, that I'm glad that I'm studying in Glasgow. While Edinburgh is more picturesque and classically European, it's much more touristy, and feels like it has less going on. Glasgow seems more home-y, but also more city-y, with great music and shopping and museums etc, and less tourists. Also all the native Glaswegians are amazingly friendly. It's been really nice roaming around here so far. Anyway, that's all for now.
So yesterday morning, I met up with Marlee, who is a girl from Brown who is going through the same program as I am (the Penn/Brown/Cornell consortium thing), and with Sabrina, who another study abroad girl from Boston, and we went to Vanilla Black, the cutest coffee/pastry shop ever, for breakfast. (After we roamed about for about 30 minutes looking for my stupid bank and not finding it, but that's a story that's not pleasurable for anyone.) Vanilla Black has very good tea and coffee, and amazing pastries, the most amazing being the sparkly meringues. They are literally these huge meringues with glitter worked into them. I have yet to try one, but I think it must be because I am in awe of their splendor. After said breakfasting, Marlee and I walked to the bus station and got on the Megabus (which was actually a citylink bus), and headed on over to Edinburgh at about 11. I should mention why we were going to Edinburgh--one of the ladies who is in charge of our study abroad program over here had called a meeting for all of the students studying in Scottish universities. We were to meet her at the University of Edinburgh from 3:30 to 5 for an informational session. We glaswegian students were NOT compensated for our travel costs, if I may mention. (point of contention for me.) Anyway, Marlee has a friend, Laura, also from Brown and the program who is studying at University of Edinburgh, so we were to meet her and hang out with her before and after the info session.
Ok, so back to the order of things--we were on the bus for an hour or so, not so bad, and then we got off on Prince street and walked over the Royal Mile, which is a shmancy streets with lots of nice things and shops and lots and lots of tourists. Side note--it was interesting to return to Edinburgh and see all the things that I had visited before, like the Sir Walter Scott Memorial, the St. Giles Cathedral, etc. Anyway. It was a beautiful day in Edinburgh, sunshine and gorgeousness and quaintness as only Edinburgh can offer. We met Laura on the Royal mile, and went down one of the side streets to a cafe that she had wanted to try. It was really cute. It was themed with sunflowers, and was all warm brown woods and stonework and such. Laura and I split the best waffle I have ever eaten. It was a belgian waffle with (british) bacon and brie on top, drizzled with maple syrup, and the waffle had little morsels of sugar throughout it. Delicious. After our wonderful luncheon, the three of us went back to Prince streets and shopped around a bit. Marlee is on a search for the perfect pair of black tall leather boots. I am on a less dedicated search for the perfect pair of black leather boot-ish shoes to wear all the time here. Anyway, neither of us reaped much, but we did run across the craziest heels ever, which were crazy and really exciting to look at. All in all, I enjoyed it. Then we walked over to the park that kind of makes a gorge in between Prince street and the Royal mile, because it's really low-lying. We sat on a bench, ate some apples, and did a crossword puzzle, which seems like one of the best activities one can partake in, in my opinion. There was a fountain, and beautiful flowers all around, and a view of the Edinburgh castle up on the bluff behind. It was very pretty.
After a while, we headed on over to the University of Edinburgh to go to our meeting. It was a lot of climbing up a hill of cobblestone. Along the way we ran across THE BEST STORE IN THE WORLD THAT I NEVER WANTED TO LEAVE. It was called Still Life, and we went in even though it made us a tad late to the meeting, but it was SO AMAZING. This tiny little store was stuffed full of antique dishes--china and pottery, old books, and paintings. It was so so cool. And I wanted to own every plate and cup in there. There were lots of pretty patterned teacups, ceramic bowls and vases and such, some really cool handmade glass mugs... If I lived in Edinburgh, my house would be completely furnished by this shop. And the man who ran it was an older man who, when asked the price of a piece, would answer and then ramble on about where and what age it was from, etc. I LOVED this shop. Anyway, we sadly had to go on to our meeting.
The meeting wasn't really exciting or mentionable, just that I met the lady who's been sending me oh-so-many emails. And I saw the two kids from Penn who I know, they're both going to the University of Edinburgh. Their names are Laura and Alexander. It was exciting to talk to Alexander, because he's an art major at Penn as well, so I got to tell him about GSA, etc. So that was nice. We also met up with the other glaswegian student in the program, who is Megan, a student from Penn who is studying engineering at the University of Glasgow.
Then we went back to Laura's flat for a bit, regrouped, and figured out where we were going for dinner. We decided that we wanted Nepalese food, which Marlee and Laura had had and really like d and I had never had before. We googled one up, and walked over. It was called The Everest, and if you're ever in Edinburgh, I would recommend it. The food was good and relatively cheap, and the wait staff was amazingly helpful and friendly. We shared three dishes, and I couldn't tell you what the things I ate were called, but it involved mushrooms, lentils, bamboo, spinach, cheese, potatoes, cauliflower, etc. And naan of course. Gotta love the naan. Then unfortunately, Marlee got a really bad stomach ache, so we took her back to Laura's flat and let her lay down for a while. We hung out a bit, because it was almost time to catch our bus, which was at 10:30. When the time came, we caught a taxi to the bus station, got on our bus and shipped ourselves back to Glasgow.
The day was incredibly satisfying, and I really like Edinburgh a lot. I think I'll say though, that I'm glad that I'm studying in Glasgow. While Edinburgh is more picturesque and classically European, it's much more touristy, and feels like it has less going on. Glasgow seems more home-y, but also more city-y, with great music and shopping and museums etc, and less tourists. Also all the native Glaswegians are amazingly friendly. It's been really nice roaming around here so far. Anyway, that's all for now.
Wednesday, 15 September 2010
Flowers
Ok, out of context and chronology and what not, but I love love love flowers, and they're everywhere here. There are window boxes and rose gardens and flower decorations and fountains with flowers around them, etc. Flowers don't grow that well in Texas because it's hot and rather dry, and even the flowers that grow there, even though I love them, aren't big blossomy flowers, they're more stalky, a la the bluebonnet. So I can't get enough of the flowers here. I saw so many beautiful roses in Edinburgh today. And there are these gorgeous flowers that grow in clusters of blossoms right outside my dorm, I can't think of the name, but they're lilac colored and gorgeous. And there are geraniums everywhere.
I've noticed that whenever I actually put in the effort to take pictures (which is a lot of effort for me), which I only do when I'm traveling somewhere by myself, I end up taking tons of pictures of flowers. Not documenting the trip, or the place I'm visiting or something reasonable, just lots of pictures of flowers.
I've noticed that whenever I actually put in the effort to take pictures (which is a lot of effort for me), which I only do when I'm traveling somewhere by myself, I end up taking tons of pictures of flowers. Not documenting the trip, or the place I'm visiting or something reasonable, just lots of pictures of flowers.
Monday, 13 September 2010
My first days
To whom it may concern:
It seems that blogging about my travels and schooling over here in Europe might be worthwhile, so I've decided to do it. I'll try to be regular about entries, but as I don't have a great record with journaling, we'll see how this pans out.
So I've been in the UK for 4 days and 3 nights now--I think I got that right, I got here on Friday, and it's now Monday. For those who don't know I'm studying abroad for the semester at Glasgow School of Art, in Glasgow, Scotland. I'm in the 2nd year of the Painting and Printmaking department. I'm here from September 10th through December 10th-ish. Anyway. So I left out of Philadelphia on Thursday night, at about 9:30, fly through the night to London Heathrow Airport. To be noted, on the plane I sat next to two real live irishmen with crazy accents, and though I didn't talk to them, listening to them talk to each other was really entertaining. When I got to Heathrow, I had to go to customs to get to the terminal to go to my next flight to Glasgow itself. Heathrow is HUGE, by the way. We had to take a bus from the plane to the terminal. That big. I got through customs just fine, and got my visa, which made me really really happy, because I was really worried about that and having all my paperwork in order. It turns out that the lady didn't even ask for any paperwork. She looked at my passport and my landing information card, asked me a couple questions like, "You studying here?" and "What are you studying?" and that was that. Anyway. I got into the terminal and eventually figured out which gate my flight was leaving out of, and then eventually got myself on the plane. It was a short flight, like an hour or so, and then we landed at Glasgow International Airport, which seems like a pretty small airport. I found a taxi, gave them an address, and got whisked away to Renfrew Street, which is in the city of Glasgow. It was terrifying, by the way, to have the driver on the wrong side of the car and the car on the wrong side of the road. My taximan was nice and asked about Philadelphia and such (which he knew was quaker country, points for him). He was supposed to drop me off at my hotel, but he ended up dropping me off right in front of the main GSA building, which was right down the street from my hotel.
So that was my first look at Glasgow, standing right there in front of the steps of the Mackintosh building, fresh from the airport. Glasgow that day was beautiful, beautiful, like it knew I was coming, and was all blue skies and sunshine and white clouds. There's the city which is beautiful and old like European cities are and American cities never are, and then surrounding the city are beautiful green rolling hills that make me want to go camping and hiking so SO bad. Needless to say, Glasgow made a great first impression on me.
So back to the chronology. I walked down the street to my hotel, the Rennie Mackintosh Art School hotel, that was cute and small. With lots of stairs in front. The lady at the front desk had a great Scottish accent that was mind-boggling for my jet-lagged brain. I got my fare paid and my room key, and hauled those damned suitcases up all those stairs. The hotel room had a little single bed and shower and a window looking out into a garden. Which had cats in it, that made me happy. The hotel is decorated in the Arts and Crafts-y Art Deco-y period, which is really really awesome. I think most of the buildings at GSA and around date from that time, which is awesome, because I love that aesthetic. Anyway. I got to the hotel at about 3 o'clock Glasgow time, and was incredibly exhausted. I got internet, informed people that I was still alive, and put myself to bed at about 5.
I slept till the next morning, at which point I got myself and went downstairs for the complementary Scottish breakfast. I had eggs (which were white and really fluffy?), bacon (which I had forgotten is really weird over here), tomatoes, toast, tea, and orange juice (which was disgusting for some reason. How do you make orange juice taste so weird?). It was really good, to say the least. Then I checked myself out and headed to my dorm which was about a block away and down the hill.
By the way, GSA is on a hill. This fact was very strange to me, as I've been studying the flat map of campus for so long. It's quite a steep hill. I got my key to my dorm, the Margaret Macdonald House--it's not the prettiest building on the block, but the rooms are really nice as dorms go, and there's flowers outside. I'm in the B block, on the 1st floor (which is really the 2nd floor in American), in room 2. There are 5 other people in my flat, all girls (somewhat disappointing, because I signed up for a mixed sex suite. But hey, it's art school, there are waay more girls than boys.). There's Seulah (sp?)--fresher from Scotland who's studying sculpture, Orlagh (pronounced Orla) from Belfast who's a fresher studying textiles, Raamah (pronounced Ream-ah)--fresher from Scotland (I think) who is also studying textiles, Kristi--another study abroad student from New York who is in the 2nd year painting with me, and Ryland who is also a study abroad student from New York who is studying photography. They all seem really nice and I think we'll get along.
Sunday the school took us on a bus to Ikea and we had a great jaunt around Ikea for about 5 hours, buying homey things. I bought bowls and silverware and such. I'm trying to keep the spending down, since I probably can't take most of this home with me.
I've made friends with Kristi and a girl named Ariel, and we went to the pound store and T K Maxx (UK version of T J Maxx, who knows why they felt the need to change one letter) and the grocery store (buying groceries is an experience). We did this all on Sauchiehall Street, which is about 2 blocks away from our dorm and has great shopping and eating and such. We happened to pass O2 ABC, which is as music venue here, and saw the sign for Old Crow Medicine Show. They happened to be playing that night! Kristi and I both knew the band and got really really excited. We bought tickets online for 15 pounds, not bad at all, and at 7 o'clock we were in line to get in. I'll start a new post to describe the concert (which was awesome).
It seems that blogging about my travels and schooling over here in Europe might be worthwhile, so I've decided to do it. I'll try to be regular about entries, but as I don't have a great record with journaling, we'll see how this pans out.
So I've been in the UK for 4 days and 3 nights now--I think I got that right, I got here on Friday, and it's now Monday. For those who don't know I'm studying abroad for the semester at Glasgow School of Art, in Glasgow, Scotland. I'm in the 2nd year of the Painting and Printmaking department. I'm here from September 10th through December 10th-ish. Anyway. So I left out of Philadelphia on Thursday night, at about 9:30, fly through the night to London Heathrow Airport. To be noted, on the plane I sat next to two real live irishmen with crazy accents, and though I didn't talk to them, listening to them talk to each other was really entertaining. When I got to Heathrow, I had to go to customs to get to the terminal to go to my next flight to Glasgow itself. Heathrow is HUGE, by the way. We had to take a bus from the plane to the terminal. That big. I got through customs just fine, and got my visa, which made me really really happy, because I was really worried about that and having all my paperwork in order. It turns out that the lady didn't even ask for any paperwork. She looked at my passport and my landing information card, asked me a couple questions like, "You studying here?" and "What are you studying?" and that was that. Anyway. I got into the terminal and eventually figured out which gate my flight was leaving out of, and then eventually got myself on the plane. It was a short flight, like an hour or so, and then we landed at Glasgow International Airport, which seems like a pretty small airport. I found a taxi, gave them an address, and got whisked away to Renfrew Street, which is in the city of Glasgow. It was terrifying, by the way, to have the driver on the wrong side of the car and the car on the wrong side of the road. My taximan was nice and asked about Philadelphia and such (which he knew was quaker country, points for him). He was supposed to drop me off at my hotel, but he ended up dropping me off right in front of the main GSA building, which was right down the street from my hotel.
So that was my first look at Glasgow, standing right there in front of the steps of the Mackintosh building, fresh from the airport. Glasgow that day was beautiful, beautiful, like it knew I was coming, and was all blue skies and sunshine and white clouds. There's the city which is beautiful and old like European cities are and American cities never are, and then surrounding the city are beautiful green rolling hills that make me want to go camping and hiking so SO bad. Needless to say, Glasgow made a great first impression on me.
So back to the chronology. I walked down the street to my hotel, the Rennie Mackintosh Art School hotel, that was cute and small. With lots of stairs in front. The lady at the front desk had a great Scottish accent that was mind-boggling for my jet-lagged brain. I got my fare paid and my room key, and hauled those damned suitcases up all those stairs. The hotel room had a little single bed and shower and a window looking out into a garden. Which had cats in it, that made me happy. The hotel is decorated in the Arts and Crafts-y Art Deco-y period, which is really really awesome. I think most of the buildings at GSA and around date from that time, which is awesome, because I love that aesthetic. Anyway. I got to the hotel at about 3 o'clock Glasgow time, and was incredibly exhausted. I got internet, informed people that I was still alive, and put myself to bed at about 5.
I slept till the next morning, at which point I got myself and went downstairs for the complementary Scottish breakfast. I had eggs (which were white and really fluffy?), bacon (which I had forgotten is really weird over here), tomatoes, toast, tea, and orange juice (which was disgusting for some reason. How do you make orange juice taste so weird?). It was really good, to say the least. Then I checked myself out and headed to my dorm which was about a block away and down the hill.
By the way, GSA is on a hill. This fact was very strange to me, as I've been studying the flat map of campus for so long. It's quite a steep hill. I got my key to my dorm, the Margaret Macdonald House--it's not the prettiest building on the block, but the rooms are really nice as dorms go, and there's flowers outside. I'm in the B block, on the 1st floor (which is really the 2nd floor in American), in room 2. There are 5 other people in my flat, all girls (somewhat disappointing, because I signed up for a mixed sex suite. But hey, it's art school, there are waay more girls than boys.). There's Seulah (sp?)--fresher from Scotland who's studying sculpture, Orlagh (pronounced Orla) from Belfast who's a fresher studying textiles, Raamah (pronounced Ream-ah)--fresher from Scotland (I think) who is also studying textiles, Kristi--another study abroad student from New York who is in the 2nd year painting with me, and Ryland who is also a study abroad student from New York who is studying photography. They all seem really nice and I think we'll get along.
Sunday the school took us on a bus to Ikea and we had a great jaunt around Ikea for about 5 hours, buying homey things. I bought bowls and silverware and such. I'm trying to keep the spending down, since I probably can't take most of this home with me.
I've made friends with Kristi and a girl named Ariel, and we went to the pound store and T K Maxx (UK version of T J Maxx, who knows why they felt the need to change one letter) and the grocery store (buying groceries is an experience). We did this all on Sauchiehall Street, which is about 2 blocks away from our dorm and has great shopping and eating and such. We happened to pass O2 ABC, which is as music venue here, and saw the sign for Old Crow Medicine Show. They happened to be playing that night! Kristi and I both knew the band and got really really excited. We bought tickets online for 15 pounds, not bad at all, and at 7 o'clock we were in line to get in. I'll start a new post to describe the concert (which was awesome).
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