The train from London was beautiful! We went through the countryside and through many small towns with loads of sheep. I tried taking photos but it was difficult on a moving train.
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| Not sure if it's visible, but those little white dots are lines of sheep. |
The little houses were gorgeous, and it's very cool knowing that many of them are centuries old.
I got into Glasgow Central Station and ran with my massive bags to the Queen Street rail station only to find my train had been cancelled. I exchanged my ticket and about half an hour later, I was on my way to Stirling.
There was a free newspaper that someone gave me on the train. On the cover was an article about a man whose home had been broken into, and the "thugs" started drilling into his head. A very nice first impression of Scotland, I must say. Apparently Glasgow isn't the best place to be, but the university officials insist the Stirling campus has been named one of the safest in Europe.
The train from Glasgow took about 40 minutes, and I took a cab to the university. It was my first time in a car since I arrived in the UK, and it was a very strange experience. I looked in the front left of the car and thought, 'Why is there no steering wheel?' It's definitely going to take some adjusting.
I arrived at the campus and brought all my luggage into my residence. I began unpacking when my flatmate Gavin came outside his room. He is a second-year student from a town called Peebles a few hours away. He was going to walk around the campus and so I put my unpacking aside and joined him.
The campus is really pretty. Right by my residence is Airthrey Castle, an 18th century castle that has been used for a variety of purposes in the past. The cab driver told me it was a hospital from the 1930s to the 1960s, so anybody born in Stirling between those dates were born in the castle. The law students have classes there. I'm jealous at the fact that it is a castle as well as that it is so close to my residence. Everything else is about a 15 minute walk. At least I get to walk by a castle every day!
I picked up my "Freshers' Week" wristband which gets me into all of the events. I was informed that upper year students all participate in the events, but so far I haven't found anyone, so I have not gone to anything. It's all club nights, and drunk first years taking advantage of being away from home for the first time seem to be the same as the ones back home. I am considering the rock club night, but I'm still undecided. Waste of $60!
I got back and another flatmate had moved in: Saori. She is from Japan, but she is fluent in English and she speaks with a perfect American accent. She said she studied at a British school and learned British English, but when she moved to an American English school, everyone made fun of her English accent, so she got rid of it. She spent a few years in Connecticut in middle school, but she lives in Japan now. Hopefully I'll be able to practice my Japanese with her, but it seems so inconvenient when we can just speak English. I tried speaking Japanese to the other Japanese exchange student, Ryuji, but I seem to have forgotten a lot since my exam in April.
On Sunday, I met most of my other flatmates: Anton from Scotland (though he seems to have spent more time living outside of Scotland than inside), Donald from Scotland (who offered to let Saori and me use his pots, pans, and dishes!), and Matti from Finland. Our final flatmate is Taila from Inverness (in the north of Scotland) and she moved in today.
The international welcome session was particularly good because it brought all of the study abroad students into one room. I met people from the US, Norway, France, Denmark, Austria, Switzerland, and more.
Initially, the study abroad manager welcomed each area of the world separately ("Raise your hand if you're from America! Now if you're from Australia!") but she forgot Canada. It was very sad. She is from Kansas but she has been in Scotland ever since she did a study-abroad year in 2004. When she speaks, it is mostly with an American accent, but every couple words is with a Scottish brogue. I wonder how long it takes to start speaking like a Scottish person?
Today was my grocery shopping day. I was very happy that I had time to go out since I don't know how many more meals I could take eating pizza and burgers in the campus pub. I have only had about one meal a day so far since I just don't want that much fried food. Now I have my own groceries in my kitchen, so I can get back on a regular eating schedule.
Tesco is the main grocery store here. It was quite big, though I found the sections to be very different from in Canada, making it a bit difficult to find everything. Food seems to be a bit less expensive, perhaps because I'm buying as much as I can from the Tesco brand. It only cost about $50 for today's shopping, which is quite good considering it's the first one of the year, and I had to stock up on a ton of things. Normally I spend double that on the first shopping trip.
It was quite a novelty to take a double decker bus to the grocery store. Not all buses have two levels, but many do. I wanted to take a photo but the plastic bags at the grocery store were terrible and broke before I even reached the bus stop on the way back to the university. I ended up trying to balance everything as I walked the 15 minutes back to residence. I was lucky it had just stopped raining.
I have a lot more to write, but it is 12:40 now, and I need to work on getting my sleeping schedule back on track. I slept in until 1:00 today–something I never ever do at home–so I need to get into a decent sleeping pattern. Goodnight!
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