Proper Glencoe Post!

This past weekend I went hiking in Glencoe! It was so much fun and beautiful (see previous post). Glenoce is a town north of Glasgow with a saltwater Loch and a few Monroes to climb up. I met up with the mountaineering club at 6pm in front of the GUU and we all hopped on a coach to take us to Glenoce. On the way we passed by Loch Loman (which is huge!) and stopped at a chip shop for dinner, The Real Food Cafe in Tyndrum, though this was a rather nice chip shop, more like a restaurant (therealfoodcafe.com), but quite good! After dinner we bused the rest of the way to where we were staying at Bellachulish Hall, which is basically the city hall of the town, there was a stage and it looked like we were pretty much staying on a gymnasium floor? It was an interesting set up, but worked quite well for all of us and we all fit so that was the important thing! After a bit socializing we went to bed to prepare for the next days hiking!
Sat we woke up bright and early to get started on hiking. Fortunately the weather was beautiful! Some people went outdoor climbing, scrambling, and the rest of us went hiking. Though the description of the hike was 'easy' (though thats how they described them all) and that all you needed was trainers, I'm very glad I have proper trousers and hiking boots, as the ascent was basically a vertical wall of wet moss and it didn't flatten out much after that, a few times I had to grab onto the plants to keep from falling off the hill! But it offered some spectacular views! After all the hiking in the cold and sleet, though only for a few minutes at a time, we reached the top of Sgorr Dhearg, height of 1024m, and I climbed all of those meters because the hill started at sea level (the Loch is attached to the sea) so it was quite a good distance up! Unfortunately when we reached the top we basically hiked into a cloud, so there wasn't much to see but the inside of a cloud and the sky, but still I felt pretty accomplished! Afterwards we started the decent down the hill. We were going to try and go for another Monroe but one of our group didn't want to go so we went down the hill instead. Though I was disappointed at first, after our hike down I was quite glad that we didn't end up hiking the second Monroe as we got rather lost in the forrest where we bushwhacked through pine trees and marshy bog where I slipped on the moss and got my foot stuck in ankle deep mud, but at least I broke in my hiking boots and landing on the moss was quite a soft landing! Right when we got to the road it started raining and we walked the rest of the way back in the rain, which was certainly better than hiking down that hill in the rain! When we got back to Bellachulish we had dinner and socialized until we all passed out, exhausted from the excisions of the day!
Sun a group of us decided that we didn't want to go traipsing around in the rain so we went tea shop hopping in Glencoe instead, which was quite pleasant! The first shop was a craft store/coffee shop where we hung out for a good portion of the day until we made our way further into town where we went to an art store and talked with a local woman before heading back to the hall to pack up and help clean. We left Bellachulish around 6pm, stopped off at the chip shop again for dinner, and returned to Glasgow around 9pm. It was nice to leave Glencoe in the daytime so we could see all the hills, it was dark when we initially come in, and it was so beautiful to see all the rivers and waterfalls that had filled up with all of the rain that had been falling all day, it really was a  beautiful area and I can't wait to go back and explore more!

Glencoe!

I went to Glencoe this weekend and I wrote a great post but then deleted it on accident and its too late to write it all out again, so here are some pictures until tomorrow when I can write out the whole story! Also I skinned a cat on Friday in anatomy lab, quite fun! Enjoy!

Our Accommodation 

Rainbow!

Sheep!

End of Town

More Sheep!

Start of the 'Walk'

Pap of Glencoe (pointy mountain)

Steep Ascent 

Glencoe 

View from Above

More Views!

Top of Sgorr Dhearg 1024m

More Sgorr Dhearg

More Sgorr Dhearg

Sgorr Dhonuill

What Does it Mean?!

Forrest We Bushwhacked Through

Poppies!!! 

Bellachulish, Where we Stayed

Americandy

Today we had more classes, its weird getting back into the swing of things since we haven't had much class so far, but today we had proper classes again. The first was on radiology, which was pretty interesting, and then a 2 hour lecture on proteins, so exciting. Afterwards and friend and I headed into town to get stuff for camping this weekend! Then we wandered around Buchanan St where we went to a few stores, one being the amazingly patriotic Americandy, a store with only American foodstuffs in it. And by American foodstuffs I mean soda, candy, sugar cereals, and thats pretty much it. Though they were all foods from back home and in the traditional US packaging, even foods that they have here that are packaged differently. It was interesting to say the least, and fabulicious, as the sign proudly displays, I have never felt more patriotic. There I learned that my friend (a Glasgow native) had never had root beer, so much like she opened me up to irn bru, I may have to buy her a can of root beer, just for the experience! Next time I'm near the store I'll be sure to snap a picture, I didn't have my camera on me at the time. Tomorrow I'm off to Glencoe! They filmed Harry Potter there, so pretty cool! I'm super excited and glad that I'm healthy enough to do some proper hiking! I'll make sure to take lots of pictures! Adios for now!
http://www.glencoescotland.com/p/v/harry-potter/

Cochno

Today we went to Cochno!! Which is the farm that is owned by the vet school. The drive up there was so beautiful and apparently there are a number of Lochs that are there for us to hike around, so one day I will have to explore further! We learned how to restrain cows in various ways, both mechanically and then with ropes. When our prof was doing the rope demonstrations the cow decided that she did not want to go where we wanted her to an proceeded to almost mow down the entire vet class. It was exciting to say the least. From now on anytime our prof tells us that theres a chance of being hit by something, we will all move! All in all it was a fun day though, as I have never done large animal work it was interesting learning about the different methods of restraint and pills that the cows take, seeing the dairy parlor, etc. Afterward, me being still quite sick and out of it, I went home for dinner but then had to go to the mountaineering meeting to see if it was something that I wanted to join. Well I'm glad that I did because I joined the club and we have a trip this weekend! Beautiful (hopefully) pictures to come of out of Glasgow Scotland! I can't wait! I have tomorrow off (woohoo) so i'll be doing errands or something, until then!

Ewes, Shearlings, and Gimmers Oh My!

Sorry again about the delay! I guess I figured my life wasn't that interesting to write about the past few days so it wouldn't be that interesting to read about! Well I had dinner with Dr. Seto and Kat at a curry place  on Ashton Ln, which was quite delicious! After telling one of my flatmates about it and discovering that she too likes curry we will have to make another trip there in the near future! After that they all had to go back to the hotel so my flatmates and I decided to hang around Ashton a wee bit longer, the night is young! We concluded that we would like to see a movie at the theatre thats located there, it only has 2 screens and is called the Secret Cinema, attached to Grosvenors. When we went inside to pick a time to see a movie we saw that they had a secret free showing of the Dark Knight for free at 11! So we got tickets and went to the attached bar to hang out for a bit until the movie started. The theatre was so cute! You can get couches in the back or all the seats were big a leather, so we got to see the movie quite comfortably! The subsequent days were mostly grocery shopping, orientation attending, general cleaning, and city exploration into the wee hours of the night (though unintentionally). Sat we ran some more errands, after sleeping in, and a friend gave us a grand tour of the city in her car, so we got to see more of Glasgow! Then Sun I was SUPPOSED to go on a beautiful hike to Ben A'an, google it its fabulous, but instead I woke up sick as a dog. I did not leave my bed except to get the odd cup of tea, had a fever, cough, it was delightful. Fortunately today, FIRST DAY OF CLASS, I felt much better, though I was still coughing a lot, but so was about 1/3 of the class, which leads me too....
FIRST DAY OF CLASSES!!
Did I meant ion that today was my first day of classes? Well it was, and it was great, except that it was a wee bit boring because I've had some of it before, and it was proteins which are not the most thrilling molecules. After that we had a break for lunch (delicious savory cheese sandwich) and then had our animal husbandry lecture chunk which was very interesting! I learned about cow and sheep production, for meat and milk and wool (sheep wool, obviously not cow wool) but it was more of an overview, though still very interesting! And now I am writing this blog, trying to will myself to not be sick since I have all but lost my voice, and its pretty much gone, so hopefully I get better soon! Happy Birthday Grammy! Until next time!

Freshers Week!

Hello! Sorry about the delay but it has been a busy couple of days! Monday was the first day of orientation, which was amazing. All of the people who work at the Uni sam really nice and encouraging! After that we all headed down to the Old School House for the Freshers Forum, basically all of the vet students hang out and mingle with each other. It was a little ridiculous, but so much fun and I met a bunch of my classmates and a few of the older vet students as well. When most of the people had cleared out a few of us hung out for a bit longer and then decided to meet up with some of the vets from the year above us later that night. It was a lot of fun to meet more of the vets who had made it through the first year, and I was introduced to Viper, a popular hot spot among many clubs and students. It was fun but crazy hot and crowded, but thats all part of the places charm.
Tues I didn't have to do much except be at the vet school for my health screening, which only took all of 5 minutes, so I walked all that way for basically nothing, but at least it was done. When I got back to my flat I was going to have a more or less relaxing day to clean and organize some more, when my flat mate form Sweden knocked on my door and asked if I was going to the sports fair. Since I had planned on going Thurs but had the rest of the day free I said yes and we head out to the main Uni together. We wandered around the Sports fair, signing up whatever grabbed out attention, which ended up being a lot of things. But most of the clubs here seem a little less structured so there is room in the schedule for flexibility. The ones that I am most excited for are mountaineering and sailing! Everyone was really nice and its a great way to meet more people from Uni who aren't vet students. Afterwards we went to the Queen Margaret Union, one of the student unions, and attended speed-mating, though by mating they mean meeting a friend (mate) not the act of mating speedily, which is what I initially though when Nina mentioned it. It was interesting to meet all of the people form the main Uni who were here and where they were all from. I met another girl from Sweden, someone from France, the Netherlands, and lots from around Scotland. Most of them were proper freshers so they were a little shy, but it was fun to meet them all. Afterwards we headed back to our flat to have dinner and change, as it had been windy and rainy all day, before we went out again. We decided to go to a comedy show in the QMU, but on our way through the botanic gardens we met up with the ranger who told us that the front gate was locked, so we were essentially locked in. He instructed us to wait for him while he locked the back gate so he could let us out. When he returned he had with him an exchange student from Sydney who told us that he was going to a comedy show at the Glasgow University Union (GUU). So we abandoned our previous plans and met up with his friend from Germany at the GUU. The show was hilarious! The comedian was so funny and we had a great time. Afterwards we were going to go to the silent disco at the QMU, which is basically 2 DJs battling for people to listen to them on headphones, so its silent but you're listening to the music. When we got there, however, the queue was so long that we decided to walk over to Ashton instead to hang out a bit before heading back to our flat, talking about Swedish pancakes and how to sing happy birthday in Swedish.
Today, Wed, we had to be up at Garscube again at 9:30 for more orientation. Basically how to work the school websites, the library, and a few student organizations gave presentations. After that some of us headed back to the main Uni to pick up ID cards and a we went back to the Sports fair because not everyone had been yet. We then went shopping at Iceland (so cheap!) and headed back to our flat after a long day out! Now Dr. Seto is in town so hopefully I'm going to meet up with her and Kat for some curry (nomz) so we shall see! Adios for now!

Botanic Gardens

Juice at Waitros, so much juice!

Main Uni

You Don't Get Medals For Wounds In Veterinary Medicine

Today was my first day of orientation!! The started out quite lovely! A bunch of the QM people met outside the common rooms and we all walked to the vet school without a hitch. There are 9 of us total, so a good number to take the 30 min walk up to Garscube. Orientation was so much fun, or at least very informative. The did a basic rundown of safety, code of conduct, the head of the school spoke with us, and the GUVMA people came and told us about all of the socials that they will be putting on. Last night I met to girl who lives in #2, the room right next to mine who is a vet student AND she is also a Tri Delta! So when the GUVMA people began talking about socials, philanthropy, and dressing up for theme parties we had a private chuckle to ourselves, certainly nothing new there! We then had a tour of the vet campus, which my big had already given me, but it was nice to see it all again and talk with some of my fellow classmates and get to know them. Unfortunately today was the day that the Glasgow weather decided to live up to its name. Wind and rain, brought on from a tropical storm apparently, made the tour a bit wet and the walk home even more so! But we were in pleasant company, so when my umbrella flipped inside out we all laughed and I put it away, 8q and you get what you pay for I suppose. I only have a brief break right now to change, have lunch, and then we are off to the Old School House for the Freshers forum where we will be meeting some of the years above us as well as our classmates. Should be fun! Hope this one tides you over until I have more to post!

The Training Wheels Come Off

First night in my dorm room! So far I am settling in nicely, though it has been interesting trying to figure out how to use UK appliances, like the show and the radiator. The shower was confusing because it has 1 knob for temperature and 1 knob to turn on, though the turning on knob doesn't look like it twists. The radiator keeps my room nice and warm, BUT it makes scary noises so I don't like to turn it on, and now its not turning on at all, I think it knows I'm afraid.  Today I went out with my big vet to explore the city some more and do a little shopping, as I have hardly anything useful, like plates and food. We started out at Lloyds TSB where I made an appointment to open a bank account as soon as I get the forms I need form school. At Lloyds we met up with Ashley (my big vets) friend Steve, his wee vet Steven, and Stevens dad Steven. So many Stevens. While Steven (wee) got his bank account situated Ashley and I went to smug (a coffee place) for coffee and breakfast. Once everything was squared away at the bank we walked around campus and gave Steven the grand tour, and me a refresher to ensure that I actually know where I'm going.  We saw some new areas, and a place where we might have professionals (finals), which if the tests weren't stressful enough, the venue certainly is! After all of the exploring we went to The Grosvenor, on Ashton Ln. a really cool restaurant that used to be a cinema the has fantastic food and really good drinks! We chatted for a while over food and got to know each other better and what to expect in the year to come.  After lunch we took the underground back to Buchanan St because Steven (wee) needed to get the world traveler plug adapter set for his Mac from the Mac store.  While the Stevens were doing that Ashley and I went to phone4u where I got a phone! Well its just a grab and go phone, but now I am able to text people in the UK, as all of my texting attempts to my big vet were unsuccessful. Because I can't get a proper phone until I have a bank account I may just hang on to this phone until the iPhone 5 comes out, but we shall see. After that I went to the most amazing outdoor store to get a backpack cover for when it rains so all of my stuff doesn't get ruined. They had so much cool camping stuff it made me want to go backpacking, so I may have to look into rounding up a couple of vet students to see who's game!  After we bopped around Buchanan for a while, listening to the music of the street performers and window shopping a bit, we took the underground back to Byres St where Steven (wee) and his dad went back to his dorms while Ashley, Steve (big) and I wandered around to finish up some errands. I got some school supplies, which was almost as fun as it used to be when I was in elementary school, and walked to the bus stop to go to Ashleys flat. I went into Morrisons (a grocery store) with them so they could do some shopping before we went back to Ashleys flat, and at the market I met 2 more vet students a year above me, one from Canada and the other from Michigan. After that we hung around Ashleys flat for a bit, watching British TV and Ashley made dinner while I did grocery shopping online because they will deliver everything to you! So i took that opportunity to get things like plates and hangers so I wouldn't have to schlep all of that stuff all over the city and back to my dorm. Once we were done with dinner and the sun was setting I figured that I should get home before it got too dark to know where I was! So I said goodbye and made my way to the bus stop. I counted my lucky stars to see the bus waiting for me at the stop! But once I got there I found that it was because there was no driver? So there was a bus full of people, 2 workers, and no driver. Now I know what Ashley means when she says you can't rely on the bus system here. So I had no choice but to wait for the next bus, which eventually came, but not before I saw a girl dressed in complete Alice (from wonderland) dress come out of a car with her 2 normally dress friends? I have no idea what they were doing or where they were going, but I wasn't the only one at the bus stop staring. Once I got on the bus I found my way back to my dorm without getting lost, success! It was pretty late so I went on here to start writing this blog, but not before I saw on Facebook that a few QM vet students were hanging out in the common room where there is wifi! So I packed up my computer and met 3 more of my classmates downstairs. All of them are east coast kids, I have yet to meet a CA person though there are a lot of us, and we had an enjoyable time talking about our time here so far and what is to come.
Notable encounters today: saw my first bagpipes! and there were many "hens night" aka bachelorette parties that passed us by and were at the Grosvenor as well. Also I learned about NEDs (Non-Educated Delinquent) aka kids between the ages of 10 and 16 who will apparently come at you with a knife. But apparently all you need to do is punch them in the face? So I'll let you know how that goes!

More School

Entrance to Exam Hall

Exam Hall

Exam Hall

Bag Pipes!

Ashton Ln

Burger Place (apparently very good)

Wall of Sewing Machines! (for Ann)

Can You Tell Me Where It Is?

Well I'm officially moved into my dorm! Or rather my hall, and the receptionist at the hotel kindly corrected as she called for my taxi to take me to me new home! Today was the first day it rained, though it wasn't "pissing down" as my big vet says, but it was misting a bit as I got on the underground to go downtown.  Since I was kicked out of the hotel at 12:00 and couldn't move into my hall until 15:00 (3pm) I had a little time to kill so I returned once again to the fabulous Starbucks I found yesterday so I could go over all of my orientation stuff to plan the rest of my weekend and next week.  So instead of a post full of exciting things that I did (since I didn't really do that many exciting things) instead I will give a little introduction to the University of Glasgow:

• It was founded in 1451 and moved to its current location in 1870, making it the 4th oldest University in the UK
• It's in the top 1% of the world's universities
• It is a member of the Russel Group; which is the equivalent of the Ivy League in the US
• It has a student satisfaction rating of 90%
• It has produced 6 Nobel Laureates, 1 prime minister, Scotlands inaugural first minister, Scotlands first female medical graduates 
• Notable alumni:
• Adam Smith: author of The Wealth of Nations
• Christopher Brookmyre: nicknamed Tartan Noir, he wrote the Jack Parlabane detective novels
• Karine Polwart: singer/songwriter
• George Saridakis: designed the Ford Shelby GR-1
• Alexander Trocchi: nicknamed 'the Scottish Beat' his book Young Adam is now a movie starring Ewan McGregor
• Charles Kennedy: leader of the Liberal Democrat party
• Emma Richards: first British woman to sail around the world in 2003
• William Boyd: novelist including A Good Man in Africa

So basically my school is the business. So once I was done soaking up some knowledge about Glasgow and orientation and such I hoped back on the 'Clockwork Orange' aka the Underground aka the Subway (I'm a pro at taking this now, too bad it only goes in a circle) I returned to Buchanan St. to head back to my hotel. Only this time I went out onto the street at a place I don't usually. And by usually I mean the 2 times I've used this station. So I was smack in the middle of Buchanan St. Well I had some time to kill so I figured I would familiarize myself with this shopping hotspot for future reference. Some notable highlights: I found the Mac store, a TGI Fridays, the Willow Tea Room (designed by Mackintosh), a kilt/Scottish store, and many other fancy and expensive stores. I shall have to make another trip for shopping purposes! And while I was there the most exciting thing happened! I was standing at a crosswalk (I have yet to be hit by a car FYI) and a girl turned to me and asked my how to get somewhere! Clearly I look like a regular Glaswegian, but alas I did not know where she wanted to go. Though she walked away disappointed I was rather pleased with myself.  Well I eventually found my way back to the hotel, got a cab, and rode to the Queen Margaret Halls. My cab driver was very nice and kept telling me that I was going to meet a nice Scottish man and never leave, so here's hoping!
Once I arrived at the main lobby I got my room assignment and my key. I'm on the 3rd floor (though its the 4th floor in the US as our 1st floor=their 0 floor) so I got to lug alllll of my stuff (weighing a collective 56 kgs/126 lbs) up to the top floor, and there's no lift! So at the very least, between walking 15 min to the main Uni, 30 min to Garscube, and up and down these stairs, I will be getting a LOT of exercise. So far, or at least as far as I know, I have 2 flat mates thus far. One girl is from China and when she found out I was from CA she almost died (she's totally obsessed with Berkeley, so go Bears!) and the other girl is from Sweden wootwoot! Nina from Sweden is studying English Lit, and Elizabeth (I forget her Chinese name, but I probably couldn't spell it anyway) is studying Electrical Engineering. They both seem really nice so far and though it would be cool for more people to move in, it also would be cool to only share the kitchen with 2 people, so we shall see, there's still 2 more days of move ins. In the room there was a little box full of goodies in it including candy, chocolate cereal bite things, tea, and RC cola (at least it wasn't Shasta). After going to the front office twice to get an ethernet cable (stupid misunderstanding on my part, they were probably thinking dumb americans can't even work the internet) I finally got online and spent the rest of the day unpacking. There is more space in here than I have things to fill it! Which just means that I have to go shopping! Well I actually do for things like hangers and pans, which is ever so exciting. Thats pretty much it for today, tomorrow I'm hanging out with my Big Vet again to go get stuff and walk around some more with her friend and his Little Vet, so I'll meet another person from my class! And tomorrow other kids from my class are moving in, so I'll get to meet them in person as well. See you all later and hope everything stateside is going well!
Also, I'm trying to make it a habit to sign on Skype whenever I'm online, so do the same and maybe we can chat soon! Adios!
Also I have a proper address now so email me if you want it!

View from my window 

view from my window

view from my window

view from my window

view from my window

my own bathroom!!

my own shower and toilet woooo!

my room! 

desk area

bed, so many quilts

view from the kitchen

view form the kitchen

view from the kitchen

the kitchen 

the kitchen

my door!

so much closet space

my beautiful room!