Do not fret. I am still alive & writing! I merely find that it is impossible to find time to sit down and write my adventures during the weekend & then come Monday I feel I have sooo much to write about that it is too big a task to tackle in one moment. As the week goes on, I have more to write about, thereby making the need to procrastinate that much more pressing. So here I find myself, nearly a week later not having written anything and yet feeling I need to tackle everything. It’s a relentless circle, you see.
I need to stop this procrastination. I need to realize that some people in my life like hearing about what I am doing and accomplishing in this green-brogue speaking country, & with time the details dim more and more. So, BEAR with me & I promise, eventually I will be more religious about this. Especially since my father checks this blog as confirmation that I am still breathing, and therefore my lack of dedication may send him into a downward spiral that may result in him flying across the pond to ensure my pulse continues.
Thus far, a summation of my trip to Scotland must be: Instant coffee, to be “wee”, & sacrilegious-ity. Shall I explain?
Well, first off, Instant coffee has become both my financial and life saver. My roommate and I decided early on that we were going to accomplish a “tour de St. Andrews coffee shops”. We started out strong and with pure determination, but quickly found that this goal was not one to be rushed. Despite the relative cheapness of a cup of coffee here (we were naïve in starting with Starbucks, perhaps in hopes for a little piece of home) we quickly found that our bank accounts did not appreciate this quick “go-getter” attitude. So, to calm our financial morality, I bought an entire container of my first instant coffee and decided to save the cute little coffee shops for those special pick-me-up days. Lacking any form of official directions on the back of the container, I now begin every day with a ridiculous ( & I am sure very unnecessary) amount of instant coffee mixed with hot water. It is not the most ideal caffeinated situation, but it gets the job done.
On a broader note, I will try to do a quick but thorough recap of my weekend. While Mike & Hannah decided to stay in St.A this weekend, Erin & I made the decision to go to the largest city in Scotland, Glasgow, to visit our two Scottish friends Louis & Josh. Perhaps it was the dim expectation of a quiet & boring weekend if we stayed in Fife that solidified the decision to take the 2 ½ hr bus ride to Glasgow, but I like to think it was the expectation of seeing a little piece of home. You see, as explained by Josh & Louis, Glasgow is the Detroit of Scotland. Their crime rate, driven by bored privileged hoodlums, is (I believe) the highest in Europe. Don’t get too scared padre, Louis & Josh had never experienced Detroit, so the comparison was an unjust one. I found Glasgow to be BEAUTIFUL! Perhaps it is because ANYTHING in Scotland I immediately fall in love with, but Glasgow’s center is bustling & gorgeous (Thereby, NOTHING like the empty & forgotten Downtown Detroit).
But I am skipping ahead, Erin & I expected a hard and complicated trip to Glasgow, but after discovering that the bus station was only blocks away from our dorm & learning that we merely had to hop on the bus that was labeled “Glasgow” & hop off when the route ended, it proved a simple one. Two & a half hours of (of course) a Rihanna filled bus ride later, we found ourselves in the center of Glasgow. We travelled mostly in the dark, which was a bit sad missing the scenery, but from what we were able to see, most of Scotland looks exactly like the cliché everyone pictures. So YAY FOR AMERICAN’S CULTURAL & GEOGRAPHICAL STEREOTYPES! Kids happily hop off the bus at a stop in the middle of (what looks like) purely grassy hills, solely marked by one pole reading “bus stop” & un-dauntingly head down a dirt road that looks to go nowhere. While American’s would be in an uproar with the lack of another car or bus to take them to their doorstep, these Scottish travelers don’t seem to mind the endless blank, yet beautiful, green road ahead of them. This just solidifies my belief in how lazy Americans have truly become.
AAAAAANYWAY: So, we hop off the bus and are greeted by our two Scottish tour guides. The bus station is in the middle of the city so we had to walk through the main shopping strips to get to the Tube. And yes, in case you were wondering, we DID walk pass the 50 SCREENED MOVIE THEATRE! 18 FLOORS of pure movie screens. Just ENVISION the movie-hopping possibilities! :X Psssh…And the Scotts were amazed at America’s drive-thru dairy queens… WHAT is the necessity of 50 movie screens in one central building? Riddle me THAT you Scottish men!
So, simply to say that we DID it, we took the tube (aka, subway) to josh’s house. Now, when everyone in the world says that America does it big, they aren’t just talking about the Big Gulp at 7-11. After experiencing the subway station/tube in Glasgow compared to New York’s subway, you quickly realize that EVERYTHING in America is jumbo-size (either for necessary reasons, or pure gluttony). I know the Scottish is well known for not being too tall in stature, but I find it hard to comprehend how anybody above the average height can fit into the tube. It’s perfect size for me, but beyond that it becomes necessary to awkwardly bend your head at an angle to simply fit inside the door. Perhaps that is the allure to the tube, who knows. After getting off the subway we took a long walk through the “South side” of Glasgow to get to Josh’s lovely home. It is well known that in Glasgow, the gap between social statuses is just as wide & defined as that in America. Josh’s father is a criminal lawyer, & in Glasgow that proves a very profitable occupation. Thus, Josh’s family is very well off & lives in the wealthy part of the city. Yet, despite the prestige of his neighborhood, from his doorstep you are able to view the “projects” & subsequently, the worst part of Glasgow. He says that only blocks from his house, you hit a bad part of the city and it becomes unsafe to walk at night. It just shows how defined, yet close, the social lines go within Glasgow.
Side note: On the way to Josh’s house, one must pass this gorgeous church, that (do not be fooled) has now become a night club. Yes, this house of God has been transformed into the house of vices. Although not being a particularly religious myself, I find this a little too much for my eternal soul & would rather not test God by partying on his alter & dancing on what should be considered sacred ground. I will leave that task to more daring and potentially sacrilegious people.
The Hannah’s lovely home went well beyond anything I expected. Primarily, I expected this small, wee old Scottish mum, yet was greeted by this (still wee) beautiful & bright young lady! Mrs. Hannah proved the most hospitably and just LOVELY Scottish woman I could ever have imagined. Not only did she open up her gorgeous house to us, but she genuinely seemed happy to do it! Just the pure hospitality alone was more than I had ever expected! Apparently, its just the natural way of the Scotts. Americans, we need to take a lesson from our Scottish brethren. I don’t know if its just me, but sometimes I feel like such an inconvenience to others when pressing myself upon them & their hospitality. But the people that I have met here seemed simply happy to do whatever they can for someone. Yes, I know I am making generalities about individuals in each of the two countries, but this is my blog & I shall be free to make whatever over-arching generalities I want!
The house itself… breathtaking; It is impossible for me to explain, so go stalk Erin Marie’s facebook for the photoshoot we decided was necessary to take around the Hannah household. I am sure it came off a little odd to the residence of the house, but it was a judgment we were willing to sacrifice.
This blog is long enough, so I will go into detail of the weekend’s events in the following blog. If you’ve gone this far, you might as well continue!